The report of a meow rings out behind me as I open the fridge and reach for a plastic container of food. The label calls for ocean whitefish with organic emulsified kale, kelp, and bok choy. I’m hungry as a grizzly in Spring, but this food’s not for me. No, for the first half of January I’ve been asked to cat-sit for a friend. And the cats always eat first.
This gig calls for 17 days of all-out, no-holds-barred feline supervision, complete with two meals per day, medicine administration, and daily cat litter changes. These cats are old, too, so in truth I’m just here to make sure they don’t visit Kitty Heaven on my watch. In cat years, these three gericatrics total 263 years, which gives them an average feline age of 83 years-old. In human years, the cats range from 14 to 22. So yes, Hobo’s got his work cut out for him.
And by work, I mean serving animals organic zucchini and beet greens. Is this really happening??
When I got here, Milo, the youngest (or second youngest? Shit, I didn’t really ask…) refused to eat. So I applied my Hobo Magic, isolating and supervising him during meals. Now, voila! The bastard eats. At least I can feel accomplished while I hermit away these first days of January.
I’ve limited my work schedule these first couple weeks of January to accommodate my time here at the house. I’m keeping myself unavailable for my part-time day gig, working with kids, while my evening shifts at the lounge are relegated to weekends. So between December 20 and January 15, I’ll have worked only 25 hours or so. Coupled with holiday expenses and a recent repair on my truck, this meant I had to dip into my savings a bit, but I plan to write some articles and pull a few extra work shifts later this month to make up for it.
This has the added Catholic-guilt effect of increasing my eagerness to create in the meanwhile. I’m working on pitches to a few major magazines and online news sources about home-free related content, as well as catching up on old blog posts and outlining a plan for a third, slightly more outrageous home-free living situation to be named later! My one non-Hobo project, a sizzle reel promoting a indie feature film I co-wrote, is being edited now by a third party and we expect to have completed in February. Also, I’m taking very seriously the issue of tackling the next draft of The Office Hobo: A Memoir, which I admit is far behind schedule. I can offer no legitimate justification for this delay, except to say that drafting a competent book is something I now regard with the utmost respect. Finally, the Home-Free docu-series which is in development with Brian Graden Media under the care of CAA is picking up steam again this month. As fortunate I am to have the distraction of being so far along in this process, I am still slapping my own wrist for not being further along with the book. Okay, I’ve self-castigated enough for now…
***I almost forgot!!! This past month, I celebrated my THIRD ANNIVERSARY of home-free living! I was so engrossed in my day-to-day, I failed to realize it at the time. The occasion has since passed and I can hardly believe it. Clearly I did not celebrate, but I hope to make good on that by re-dedicating myself to the project in the New Year and producing quality material for those interested in the lifestyle and my journey through it. This includes working to complete and make public the above projects at as high a level as possible, as well as take my notes and go back through the past six months to draft entries for what’s been going on in the life of The Office Hobo.
For now, it’s back to the cats. I think it’s time for their evening meal, and this one calls for free range bison with wakame seaweed and sage. What will I eat after? An embarrassingly simple plate of eggs and toast.
Eat well, y’all.
– TOH
