u/Important-Tomato2306

Like I'm sure most of us experience from time to time, but I struggled to sleep last night. It was like my drugs were a fluke. For any normal person, one rough night sucks. In media, this is often portrayed as someone with 5'o'clock shadow, frazzled hair, falling asleep during a meeting or cab ride, and consuming comedically grandiose quantities of black coffee.

That may be how some feel missing one quality night of sleep. We obviously don't get that luxury because we already feel this regardless of sleep. But what normal people often don't realize is, just because we are used to poor sleep and not feeling rested, doesn't mean these aren't extremely difficult days for us as well.

So last night, after multiple hours of hoping I'll fall asleep soon, I started doing some work-work and then got distracted and watched a YouTube video about modafinil. I thought it was going to help explain the drug to me a little better (the more you know, you know). But it was actually a video about modafinil being this "smart drug" like Adderall or Ritalin and people have been using it to improve their performance at work, athletically, and just in life in general. I would need to see if I can find it again because the video seemed like it was telling people how to "safely that a prescription drug that they have no script for" which is pretty horrid.

But it got me thinking about how I'm going to pop my modafinil tomorrow, and I'm going to pop a second midmorning, and all I'm really going to experience is not being able to get a quality nap in. I won't be more effective at work today. I won't be more efficient at packing. I'm won't be hitting the treadmill or the weight room or much of anything besides the hay a few times today as I try to continue this charade of being human.

So the medicine I need just so I don't fall asleep during a meeting in not a theatrically comedic way that catches the attention of the boss who tells me to take more vacation leading to me somehow leading this year's Hallmark classic, but in the way that is just making life harder, that medicine is a pill that normal people can take to improve their cognitive function and allow them to actually create and work and focus? How is that fair?!

I finally tried Adderall about a year ago to see if it would help along with or instead of modafinil. It only made me sleepy! It just feels very frustrating that the meds that simply prevent me from crashing out for 3-6 hours in the middle of the day, not that make me feel alive and refreshed, let other people alive and refreshed!

To make matters worse and to add the final blow with my early morning rant, guess who gets to enjoy the fun task of not only existing but also packing up a 2 bed townhouse I've lived in for nearly 11 years now within 2 weeks alone? Me of course. I spent about 3 hours in one room last night, going through donations and packing up, and that's what I could tolerate. This is going to take me forever. I took off 3 days from work over next weekend to hopefully give me more time.

This is going to be one of those days. I'll have a 2 hour call this early morning for work, I'll try to sneak a nap (but I took 200mg of modafinil with my morning meds so I likely won't be able to get the quality of nap I really need), go to therapy, try to nap again, give up and pack until I'm too tired to do anything else but watch Working Moms before calling it and then charge 8 hours to the office, begrudgingly crawling back into the sheets of disappointment, and the cycle starts over again.

Back in early March, my beloved highlander went missing. The most likely explanation was that he was stolen. He was young, I only had him for 2 years, and I had adopted him from a family off of Craigslist.

Since he went missing, I've had constant ads on Craigslist, posts on nextdoor and Facebook and flyers all over. Nothing. Not even my offering a $1500 reward has brought him home.

Well, two Sundays ago, I got a random text from an unknown number. The person reached out and expressed condolences for my loss after seeing my missing ad on Craigslist. I thanked him and figured he was just being a nice person. But he kept chatting.

He told me that he had spent $3500 on a Maine Coon. He had always wanted one. But, now things were getting hard for him. He told me he travels a lot for work and his wife just neglects the cat. Mind you, this is all through text, no names exchanged yet. I expressed my sorrow for the situation when he said "look, I don't want any money. What I want is a good home for my cat. Would you consider taking him in? I know he'll never replace your lost baby but maybe you can do better than me?"

I was flabbergasted. Sounds like a scam and having lost my cat, I've had an awful lot of scammers reach out to me. But then he asked if I could jump on a video call. I agreed. He showed me Max, an adorable 🍊🧠🦠 cat. He himself was this large, 6'4 man from Senegal. He asked if I could pick Max up tomorrow.

Eventually, I talked my boyfriend into going with me, in case it was a scam or worse. He has a 22 lbs Maine Coon that he adores. I mean that cat is his life. I love him too. And he's always wanted more Maine coons so it wasn't hard to convince him.

We drive out to the address and lo and behold, here is this sweet, orange Maine Coon, covered in mats and so tiny but so sweet and gentle.

I've already taken him in to get shots up to take and had him microchipped. He clocked in at 12 lbs and he's 2 years old. Vets said I should try to get 2 lbs or so on him. But he won't eat wet food or much dry food. He eats treats and he's pooping and peeing just fine. But he's so skinny!

He's also covered in mats. Some are really bad. He's currently at the groomer and hopefully will get all clean and freshened up so he can feel better.

My boyfriend and I are about to move in together. The cats did great when we introduced them. Max is still very young and very timid. He chews on my fingers frequently, cuddles me, chirps... He comes to his name (so the debate on changing his name ended quickly).

I'm curious if anyone has tips for plumping up a young Maine Coon? I'm also curious what you all do with mats... He has 2 gnarly ones behind his ear that the groomer isn't sure she'll be able to get. Any advice?

We are hoping that as soon as we move and get settled, he'll just start to thrive. He's got a very silly personality. He's so sweet and he's already very attached to me.

I'm getting pretty tired of "smart drugs"

Max came into the world the usual way, but that's not the way he came into mine.