I am a homeless nomad…and my cat is, too

I haven't talked about it much on the blog, but anyone who has seen me lately, no matter how briefly, has probably heard me refer to myself as a "homeless nomad." And while this may conjure images for you of Little Ms. Bossy carrying one of those hobo sticks with all her earthly belongings tied in a red handkerchief, in reality it entails a 5' x 5' storage unit, a couple large suitcases, and a cat carrier. While I'm on contract at HGO, the kitten and I have housing, but in between contracts we are…you guessed it…homeless nomads.

The life of a homeless nomad suits me pretty well for the moment. I get to travel wherever I want staying on friends' couches, seeing opera, and having the occasional interview or meeting so that I can write off the trip on my taxes find new career opportunities. For the 3 weeks I'm off contract this time I'll be spending a week in the Windy City (probably more accurately called the Snowy City right now) before jetting off to Southern California to spend 10 days with family and then making it back to Houston in time for opening night of Last Acts.

My kitten, however, is having a harder time adjusting to homeless nomadism (yes, it's a word, otherwise how could I have just used it?). She doesn't like travel nearly so much as I do, and too many of those same friends' couches come with "no pets" clauses in their leases. Which means that every time I travel between contracts, I have to find a place for her to stay.

Tonight she had a playdate with a new friend to determine whether they might be able to be roommates. She needed to get out of the house anyway. She's been moping around the apartment for the past few days, wishing The New Oregonian was around to play with her. I took the kitten over to Little Miss Sweet Tea's house to meet Bella (see right).

It went as well as could be expected. My kitten spent a fair amount of the time behind the couch, and Bella spent a fair amount of the time hissing and baring her fangs. At the end of the night, though, Little Miss Sweet Tea and I agreed that the girls were going to be just fine living together. And if we weren't sure before, as I was getting ready to go we had proof that the kitten, at least, would settle in to her new surroundings pretty easily.



Yes, that's her, sitting contentedly on Bella's bed.

That's my adaptable girl. Born to live the life of a homeless nomad.