Taking Care of the Cat

My youngest was one of those kids who participated in the library-sponsored events celebrating reading the novel The Hunger Games last year. The film made from the book became available on DVD this weekend, so today we rented it and tonight watched it together.

These are the moments, as a parent, you cherish. Even if I didn't like the movie (I did like it), sharing it with her is the special part.

We also shared something else today -- shopping for our cat. She picked out his water and food bowls and his tag, which we then had engraved with his name on one side and my cell phone number on the other side.

Not that he appears to be a pet that will ever be in danger of getting lost.

Either he is severely traumatized by relocating to this flat or he is the shyest cat in history, but Biggie rarely moves from a stationary position in the closet, between the couch and the wall, or, more rarely, from whatever place in the apartment my daughter has lured him to visit.

He never runs, but walks. He never, ever makes a sound. Is he capable of speaking?

I'd describe him as low-energy.

The one thing he will do, when he is close to you, is thrust his head into your hand. He loves to be petted, scratched, or rubbed.

***

School starts tomorrow, for public school students. Summer is officially over. Not just for them, but for me, although I still get a reprieve of sorts, for another week and a half, before my daughter starts her 8th grade year.

After that, the cat will be my only daily companion, unless something changes in my life.

Today, a neighbor showed up to say good-bye. He and his girlfriend are moving to Concord, in the far east bay.

Their building was sold.

They are nice people, "creatives," and therefore the types of people who can no longer afford to stay in this city with its tech boom. He said the studios they looked at around here cost $3,000/month, which of course is insane.

My ambivalence in celebrating startup culture, which I do week after week, is moderated by the knowledge that tech companies, flush with VC and angel funding, are driving artists and writers out of this town.

Capitalism.

Artists and writers are the true heart and soul of San Francisco, along with the entrepreneurs and innovators I profile weekly in my professional blogs.

Will we all be priced out of this place?

If that should happen to me, someone will have to take care of the cat...

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