A Few Notes on COVID and Cats

Rufus F.

Rufus is a likeable curmudgeon. He has a PhD in History, sang for a decade in a punk band, and recently moved to NYC after nearly two decades in Canada. He wrote the book "The Paris Bureau" from Dio Press (2021).

Related Post Roulette

10 Responses

  1. Jaybird says:

    A lovely essay. It sucks that you got it.

    The Onion had a funny point/counterpoint set of editorials where The Dog said that he hopes that Quarantine lasts forever and The Cat points out that this Quarantine thing is old already and can we go back to the old schedule where the humans disappear for 10 hours.

    Our cats, in contrast, *LOVE* the quarantine. They sleep on Maribou while she works on her laptop and enjoy interrupting me in the basement telling me to open the window, sprinkle catnip on the cat furniture, stand behind me while I eat dry food.

    I hope you can return to something approaching normalcy soon. All of us.Report

  2. dhex says:

    wishing you a fast and complete recovery, rufus.Report

    • Rufus F. in reply to dhex says:

      Thank you! It’s been about three weeks so far and I seem to have shed most of the symptoms, aside from the one where I have zero energy and brain fog. So, we’ll see about next week.Report

  3. North says:

    I am so sorry you got it. I’m very happy you have such a sweet kitty and I hope you get through this entire ordeal unscathed. On the plus side, it clearly inspired you a little because this was a bang up essay!Report

  4. Philip H says:

    I’ll add to the chorus of well-wishes. And I’ll add to the notes about cats – though I am not presently staffing one, I do know from decades of experience that it is a full time gig all to its own.

    Your insights about the keeping up processes to keep up appearances in the workplace are also spot on – its a thing we really aren’t reckoning with well in any place. As the internet meme notes well, we have learned how much work can be done from a sofa, but no one wants to stay on the sofa. Except the cats. We should be more like them.

    Rest. Be well. We need you around here.Report

    • Rufus F. in reply to Philip H says:

      Thank you. I definitely feel like I’m on the right side of this thing after three weeks.

      I should mention that we have an available apartment in this place that has a used couch and desk in it, which Iggy has already claimed as his room. He’s probably on the couch right now.Report

  5. You write better with exhaustion and brain fog than I ever do.Report

    • Thank you. It’s an interesting experience! I thought of Lou Reed’s description of reading a book after electroshock, in which he would get to page 5 and have to start over again. I would write a sentence, like it, write a few more, and like them, and then get to the end of the paragraph and think “Wait, what am I writing again?!” When I got done with the thing after hours of doing this, I got Andrew and Em to read it and make sure it made some sort of sense. But writing took about three times as long as usual. It’s okay- slow work is good too.Report