Noelle’s First Public Appearance

Over the years I’ve had the distinct privilege of garnering a massive online following – one which has completely changed my life. The reason, and center of attention of course, is Noelle. For those unaware, she’s my mischievous Seal-Point Siamese cat who, though cuddly and affectionate once you get to know her, has built her own persona of ruthless offensiveness, unafraid to push the bounds of politeness. I’m merely her puppet – helplessly watching as she wrecks any future employment prospects I may have. All this is to say she comes across as a badass. The King (or Queen) of a crowd. An Alpha.

After three years of stardom, I saw it fit to finally take Bapkat to the public space. I now have proper merchandise to sell – sunglasses, shirts, playing cards – and when I found out a cat show was coming to my hometown of Knoxville, I saw it as a perfect opportunity for both a meet-and-greet and to sell some product (which you should buy too!)

Noelle had a different perspective.

I woke up early on the Saturday morning of the show. I went to set up the booth while my friend Max went to bring her once the show started. Beter to not wake her too early, I thought, she needs her beauty sleep.

What I thought would be a simple errand that’d take ten minutes ended up with Max showing up an hour later with scratch marks all over. Noelle sometimes goes easily into her carrier, sometimes she tries to run, and sometimes she chooses violence. Unfortunately for my friend violence was on the menu, and Noelle was serving an all-you-can-eat buffet. As I watch him walk into the venue I can see his forearms have been turned into a scratching post and he has a “why did I agree to do this” look on his face. Yet despite this, the feline celebrity cat had finally arrived. Now she was ready to perform.

Right?

Well as it turns out, no. Noelle may be sweet and friendly, but she doesn’t get out much. And with us throwing her into the “cat celebrity” deep end – a crowded room with hundreds of both people and cats – she was completely petrified with fear. Where there was once a ferocious hatred of the cat carrier, it soon became her safe space, refusing to leave except to bolt into the corner and hide.

“One anmeteur vendor and a scaredy cat”

There were a shocking number of people who knew of Bapkat. The look on some peoples’ faces when I told them that Noelle was THE Bapkat, and that she was here for you to meet made the whole thing worth it to me. Unfortunately for Noelle that meant the paparazzi had to meet their star, and she spent much of the day in my lap hiding her head in my armpit in fear. By the end of the day I too was covered in scratches, not to mention a heavy accumulation of cat hair.

So what did I learn from this? Well, travelling to meet fans was extremely fun and fulfilling, and I have no doubt that we’ll do it again in the future – hopefully in a city near you. It’s just going to require Noelle to undergo some crowd training, anger management lessons, and industrial levels of catnip.

Should be easy.