Trying to study in a home with ten cats is a losing battle. Their presence is the easiest of distractions for a mind striving to concentrate. Besides, they seem determined to provide that distraction when they spot you with your books.
An open book, for a reason that's still a mystery to me, is to them the most tempting bed. Once sighted, they make a dash for it and sprawl all over the book, like liquid pouring out onto the floor. And now, this spot that they've secured, beating competition from nine others, is one they're not going to give up easily. If you're lucky, they'll fall asleep on the page you've already done studying or haven't got to yet. But the task of moving a sleeping cat is comparable to stunts they show on TV with a super that says 'these stunts have been performed by experts, please do not imitate.' Only difference is, there are no experts when it comes to cats. As it says in a Garfield comic strip- years ago someone lost the user manual! Then again, it depends on which cat has dozed off at your table. If it's the feisty Mili or the irritable Cindie, you can be sure to get out with a few scratches as punishment. Simba or Sony may peacefully move away. Sitting at the dining table gives me and the cats more surface area to spill over. In fact, I never have fewer than two kittens asleep at my books at such times. Oh! and the guilt of waking a sleeping kitten! I try to read slower, do the free portion of the page thoroughly and postpone having to turn the page and displace them. But moving them once isn't a permanent solution. It just opens up some space for another cat; or the same one you moved will come back, realizing no sofa or bed is nearly as cozy.
To a cat, humans are petting machines that also conveniently provide food and shelter. Apart from this, we're pretty useless creatures encroaching upon their territory. Hands were given to us for scratching them behind the ears, not for silly things like turning pages and using pens. Take Misha for instance. He jumps into my lap hoping to be pet. Realizing I'm busy writing and am ignoring him, he jumps up onto the table and sits square in the middle of my book. Now I'm forced to look up at him and when I do, his face is just two inches away from mine. Having got my attention, he lets out a loud, complaining meow, sharing with me his distinctive cat breath. A meowing cat that cute is impossible to ignore and so it's safe to say that he has been successful in getting me to abandon my books and massage him to his heart's content.
But all of this is just part and parcel of having cats. It's not something I regret, it's something I can't live without. I've grown so accustomed to these distractions that I'd probably find it harder to study without a cat bothering me! At the end of the day it's more amusing than annoying. Sure, cats have their irritating quirks, but that's just what makes me love them so much more.
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