Update approximately the length of War and Peace...

Facebook isn't working right now. This is highly frustrating. How can I creepily stalk random aquaintances without the informative News Feed?

In other news, I GOT A JOB! I am incredibly excited slash relieved. It is a reception position in a busy optometry clinic. The interview was great and I know the job will be a good fit for me. The people seem really positive which is important to me. The thing I strive for most in every job I've had is to be kind to everyone I encounter, no matter what. Kindness and a positive attitude can really soften people up, patients especially, which ends up lowering stress for office staff and creates a smooth experience for everyone. My personal goal at work has always been to treat every patient equally and to treat all people with respect. The thought of spending the majority of my waking hours in a miserable, negative environment is enough to make me depressed, so hearing that this clinic highly values the same qualities that I do is excellent news. Also, I live a literal 5-minute walk away. How convenient is that?! I won't have to learn a strange and new city bus system. Love it.

Moving on. As you can probably tell, there hasn't been any news about George Michael. I ended up calling the pet rescue lady and she brought her scenting dog to my parents' place a couple of weeks ago. We were really optimistic because a neighbour had called the night before telling us she had seen a cat fitting George Michael's description hiding underneath the fir tree in her front yard. The scenting dog took us straight to this tree as soon as the search started. Unfortunately we looked everywhere and couldn't find anything. It was a really hot, humid day, which is apparently the worst type of weather for a search. The scent evaporates too quickly for the dog to be able to follow it. The dog lost the trail soon after taking us to the tree. We thoroughly searched the area around the neighbour's house anyway but didn't find any clues.

We were pretty hopeful after that for a few days because it seemed that George Michael couldn't be too far away. The neighbour lady called again a few days later to say that she had seen the cat under the tree again. My parents borrowed a humane trap from the local vet's office and set it up under the neighbour's tree overnight. Unfortunately the trap worked... on the neighbour's cat. It sounded like quite the incident. The neighbour had to get up in the middle of the night to let their yowling and terrified cat out of the cage. My parents realized we had to stop inconveniencing the neighbours and took the trap back to the vet's office. There were tufts of orange fur everywhere around the trap... evidently the poor creature was quite traumatized. I know I shouldn't find it funny but I definitely laughed when I heard the story.

Anyway, missing cats who fearfully hide when they can't find their way home usually return between 7-10 days after disappearing. Their hunger overtakes their fear and they venture out to search for their home. They are basically directed by their instinct to survive. The 7-10 day period has long come and gone for us and there still has been no sign of George Michael.

I feel that he was probably in the area for awhile. It seems now like he probably won't come home. This is really sad for me because I have no idea if he is trapped or injured or in pain or kidnapped or was hit by a car or ANYTHING. The not knowing is the worst part. A tiny part of me still thinks that he might come back, but one has to stop hoping at some point. "Hope deferred makes the heart sick." There's only so much I can do and I think it's time to let go of this. This loss really pisses me off because I know a million people with cats who couldn't care less if their cat went missing, and would even give their cat away if such an opportunity arose. I feel like I'm one of the only people out of many cat-owners I know who really cares for their cat, and mine is the one who goes missing. Sometimes this life just doesn't seem to make sense.

Anyway. Other than the cat situation life really is good for me. I am excited about moving in soon with Kristi and Micah. I get the first week of July off before my new job starts, which works really well for me because it gives me a week to settle in at my new place, paint my room, whatever. The timing is amazing. I will really miss my current job but I think the time has come for me to move on to something else. I'm just glad that I had a great experience there (for the most part) and that I ended up with a couple of valued friendships as a result of my time there.

Speaking of my current job I have to go now and finish up on some typing.