Carlton vs regular cat

That's my cat, the long one. Even when he was a month old, the vet told me he was going to be a big cat. He had large paws for his size. I had never heard of cats having large paws like that. Well, the predictions came true. He is not from one of the usually large cat families either. He is the garden variety born on a ranch in CA and sent to the feed store for adoption kind.
He has been a lifesaver for me. He makes me get outside of myself. He comes up to me and pats my arm when I have been too long on this computer. Play with me, feed me, let me out into the halls, brush me, let me sit on your lap. Granted, when he sits on my lap, my legs go numb after a short period, so sometimes we compromise and he sits next to me on a footstool.
His name is Carlton and it fits him to a T. He is a gentleman. Calm, loving and vocal.He will not be ignored. In the morning, he lets me know when I have had enough sleep by walking all over me, licking my hair, tapping my face, or, when none of those work, walking across my head. For that , he gets pushed off the bed several times before I wake enough to get up and feed him.
He is always hungry.
I have him on a diet because we need to fly on a plane together and the weight limit for a cat and a carrier is 20 pounds. It's close, I tell ya. I am trying to put a little more leeway between the 20 pounds and the package of cat and carrier. Mind you, it is a soft sided carrier.
Well, Carlton and I are trying very hard to diet, but you know how that goes...

my cat's picture

Don't you think that he looks like he is in a christmas stocking or something? Actually he was in his now defunct bed. He gave it up because it was too small for him. He is a very looooonnnng cat. Next to a regular cat he looks huge. So, he has decided that the book bag that I had gotten from Goodwill is a better bed. Sigh. So, I went and got me another one and he was about to take that one over too, but this one is a backpack and it can be hung from the chair. I get to have some things too, ya know.
He has taken to chewing me if I don't give him his bedtime snack in time. I have taken to getting out the water bottle to cool him down with when that happens. Poor thing. We moved from a many windowed house with at least six views and a wonderful flight of stairs to an apartment that looks out onto a parking lot. And, there are no stairs except those in the hall.
The bedroom window looks out onto the backside of a pharmacy. A lovely shade of brick if I do say so.
I was going to hang a feeder, but then I thought that the people living downstairs may not appreciate bird doo on their windows.
I think he is suffering from cabin fever.I got him some of that grass in a cup and a plant of catnip. The grass went tits up and the catnip is on a high shelf to let it grow over 1/8 of an inch before he chews it up.
I try to play with him, but he is so easily bored. He will chase something for about 3 or 4 minutes and then plop himself down on the floor like the slug that he is.I even got him a laser pointer. He loved it for about a week then he figured out that I was controlling it and that he could never really catch it and he lost interest. Even after I let him 'catch' it. He knew there was nothing in his paws. He is too smart for his own good.
What I really want to do is get him a playmate. Problems are:
1. I am in school and short on extra money.
2. I go away from time to time and have to hire a cat sitter. Two cats would cost twice as much.
3. I will be moving to Florida at the end of 2009 and it will be difficult enough to move with one cat, nevermind two.
4. I am again on a guilt trip. I grew up catholic, you know. It is what we do best.