This weekend I babysat a kitten named Cocoa for my brother Gabriel. I was so excited! I was going hang out at his condo while chilling with the little fluff and getting a ton of thumbnail sketches done over an awesome 3-day weekend of peace and fun. Well, I have never owned cats, therefore I had no idea the futility of this simple dream.

This weekend with Cocoa:

My good pen was stolen and dragged behind furniture; my pencil was attacked whenever I positioned it to draw (I had to hide it from her, geez! Or drawing standing!); my socked feet attacked repeatedly (I was forced to wear sneakers indoors the whole time); when Cocoa became quiet, I discovered she was often stalking up on me to attack, usually focused on the back of my head from behind the couch (I had to grow eyes on the back of my head; if I had a moment of peace, it basically meant she was lurking somewhere, watching me and my green mechanical pencil); and apparently drawing pads are delicious but also make good lounge chairs because—why are kittens like this??!?!! I just wanted to draw!!

Below is Cocoa in Harmless Mode.

And, below is please-adopt-me Angel Mode (and the picture that convinced Gabriel to adopt her).

I didn’t think to photo document Devil Mode (probably because I was too preoccupied being on guard against physical attacks or distracting her with toys so she wouldn’t destroy blinds and things). Needless to say, I didn’t draw all the thumbnails I had hoped to.

I feel like a lot of writers and artists mention owning cats though. How do you all get anything done?! Honestly, I’m curious! (On the random up-side, I may have developed innate ninja skills that has resulted in the ability to reflexively swipe things out of Cocoa’s grasp just as she’s springing at them; which at first I couldn’t do. So there’s that.)