Monday, January 16, 2006

I'd Like To Introduce...

I wasn't looking for a new cat. My mom sent me an email expressing her disbelief that I hadn't told her about the new cat, and that she was surprised I had waited so long to get a new cat. But I was happy with Carrot and Krusty. I miss Zorro (and Sam, and Shadow, and Drezzi, and Figaro...), but not so much that I needed another cat to fill some sort of void. In fact, to be totally honest, I was doing just fine with two cats. Less feeding, less litter boxing, less things knocked over during the course of a day, etc.

When my mom was looking for the dog they have now, she said over and over again that she didn't want to bring home a dog until she found one that needed her just as much as she needed the dog. When she found Midgie, it was obvious that the wait had totally been worth it. Midget is the perfect dog for my parents.

But I wasn't looking for a new cat.
Amandamonkey said it best when she said that this gray ball of sweet love found me. I loved the suggestion of the name Boomerang (even though that name didn't ultimately win), since she just keeps coming back. I haven't let her out for a while, since now I feel like I have a lot more invested in her. I'm not as concerned about the coming back as I am about the crazy drivers, inconsiderate kids, and other animals in the neighborhood.

All that to say this: I love Newcat. I love that she wants to be here, I love how sweet and ornery she is, and I love that she needs me. Sometimes. She is a cat, after all. It's only been two weeks, but I can't imagine not having her anymore.

On to the contest. Thank you everyone for the fantastic suggestions! I have to admit that it was really hard to come up with my favorite name. I finally came up with my top three, and as promised, here they are.

#3. Nickel, submitted by my good buddy
Kate. I just thought that it was a good reference to her color and it sounded fun and cool and sweet. Thanks, Kate!

#2. This was a tough one, and it was a long hard battle to the finish, so this number 2 is almost more like a 1.5. I had to actually break up a suggestion given by my friend
Joy for this one. The name? Bandit. Joy suggested 'Smokey the Bandit' which I thought was cute, but Smokey is too common of a gray cat name for me. But Bandit was clever, since I don't know where she's been or what her life on the run has been like before she came to me. There's a good possibility that '... the Bandit' will be added onto her new name quite often. It still fits her personality. Thanks, Joy!

*drum roll please*

#1. The funny thing about my favorite name is that it wasn't actually and truly a suggestion. It was an inspiration for a suggestion. The suggestion was for the name 'Khan', given by
Brenda! But honestly, I didn't like the name Khan. One of the inspirations for it, though, was 'Chaka', and that's the name I've chosen for my new cat. So I'd like to give you...

Chaka!












Chaka is one of my favorite occasionally-recurring characters on Stargate SG-1. He's an alien who becomes friends with Daniel Jackson and helps SG-1 in various ways. I've always really liked the episodes that have him in it, and while pondering all these name suggestions, I realized that Chaka (on Stargate) and Chaka (on the floor, currently) have some things in common. The one thing I'll mention (so you don't think I'm a complete geek) is that little fuzzy Chaka has this weird way of smacking her lips every now and then which kind of reminds me of the way Chaka says his name. Okay, it's a stretch, but it works for me, and I think it's funny.

Anyway, this is Chaka the alien. And all of this means that Brenda is the winner! Brenda, look for an extra surprise in your birthday packages that hopefully will be coming soon. Congratulations!

And thanks to everyone who submitted names for the contest. It was really fun to see what everyone came up with. Lots of knitting updates for you tomorrow. Stay tuned.

3 comments:

amandamonkey said...

Great name and nice shot!

Joy said...

Congratulations, Brenda! And congratulations to Chaka the Bandit for finding herself the bestest family to adopt ever.

Brenda said...

I can't believe I won! I've never won anything before! Except that one time, and that other time, but this is definitely the best!