August 26th 2008 7:16 am
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Boy, it was hard getting up the nerve to go to this show. Up until now I've always been an underdog, so was happy to get any prize at all, but this time I was the defending champion, the number one cat in the premiership! Meowmy thought I was going to be ornery because she's been ignoring us in favor of the little orange boy, and she was right. I hissed at most of the judges...although a lot of the other cats did too. On the other hand, Meowmy was also worried that I would be losing out to all the Tokyo cats, after my successes in Osaka, but that wasn't the case. If not for the hissing, I would have gotten a really stellar score. As it was, I am still the #1 Maine Coon, although there's a Persian who's winning a lot of the finals, so I may no longer be the #1 Premier. The official results won't be out for a while yet, but I probably got around 60 points in this show, which means I have a total of around 430. Remember that last year's 25th best cat in the Premiership Class had some 550 points, so I am almost guaranteed a place in the top 25--BUT there's going to be some new, strong competition, and this hissing thing is causing me to lose points.
Results:
Two 2nds (Nagayama--loves my jawline and sleek body; Hayata would have given me Best Cat (against 16 others) if I had been the sweet boy I was two weeks ago...).
Two 4ths (Ueda, Takano)
One 10th (in the longhair specialty ring, out of 10 cats--the judge likes me, but gave me 10th place because I hissed when she put me back in the holding cage. Hey, it was the last ring, and I was hot and tired...)
I didn't place in Akiyama's ring because hissed at her too--and she was going to give me Second Best of Breed, too.
I did get 4 Best of Breeds out of six rings, which was pretty good. The judges are starting to see my good points. Also, my muzzle seems to be filling out a bit, and Meowmy used a new shampoo on me that really made me look FURRY, despite the fact that I've shed a lot during the summer. So if only we can figure out a way to get me to stop hissing, things should go smoothly...
Anyway, I miss Meowmy. She won't let me in the computer room because there's another cat, that little orange boy, in there. I take out my frustrations about this at home by hissing and growling at Chibi and bopping her in the face whenever possible. They say that redhaired cats are highstrung like this. Usually I'm pretty mellow, but when I'm mean, I'm mean. Once I get used to the orange boy, Meowmy figures I'll be back to my old mellow self.
August 11th 2008 8:26 pm
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The data for the week ending 8/3/08 has finally come out. My rankings for this week:
#1 Cat in Premiership, Japan Region, with 368.85 points. (Note: the 25th Best Cat in Premiership for the last show season had around 550 points, and there are still 8 months left in the show season this year, so I'm pretty much guaranteed to make the top 25 this year, although I'm never going to be #1 for the year.)
#9 Maine Coon in Premiership Internationally.
Not too shabby for a cat sold as "Pet Quality," heh heh heh.
I should add that Chibi is still the #14 kitten in Japan, although her score will not hold her up in the top 25 much longer. She's also the #48 Maine Coon kitten internationally. Showing kittens is tricky--they have only four months to compete, and it's best to show them during peak months when there are lots of shows and lots of kittens to win against. She competed during a period when there weren't many kittens being shown--but on the other hand, that made it easier for her to score points...
August 4th 2008 6:07 pm
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I've decided to keep score of my show life in my diary, not to brag about how cool I am, but because otherwise Meowmy forgets what I got in which show.
So, for the 8/2-3 show in Osaka, I got:
2 Seconds (Yamashita, Hayata)
4 Thirds (Takano Kenji, Takano Yaeko, Maeda, Ueda)
1 Fifth (Akiyama)
1 Seventh (Arai)
(Heh heh, guess which of the above judges doesn't like me too much.)
My regional (Japan Region) ranking as of last week (not including this show): # 2 Cat in Premiership.
With this show, I may currently be #1 (the official results don't come out until later this week), but there were a lot of very good cats I was competing against, and while I became the #1 Maine Coon in Japan with this show, there are some fabulous cats who will, no doubt, overtake me in time.
It is important to keep in mind that this is the beginning of the show season, so Grand Premiers like myself are almost automatically given preference when it comes to making the Finals rings and getting ribbons. Right now, I'm mostly only competing against Premiers. Once the Premiers become Grand Premiers (and this year's crop of Premiers is superb), my ranking is sure to sink. That's why it's important for me to appear in all the shows NOW while I still have that advantage.
Since there are so many Maine Coons to compete against (MCs and American Shorthairs are the most popular breeds), unless I get a Best of Breed or Second Best of Breed in the primary ring, I won't make the Finals. At this show, I had no real competition (my friend and rival Mack the Truck left midway because he was in a bad mood and scratched up his Daddy pretty fierce), and got Best in Breed in almost every ring, so that's why I did so well. Also, my strongest competitor at this moment, a female, will not travel to shows outside the Tokyo region, so I have a much better chance of getting points when she's not there. I love traveling to shows out of Tokyo, but Meowmy is worried about the expense...
Meowmy wants me to become a Regional Winner this season, which me |
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