New Bugs

This is a roach

I show you this picture I took because prior to tonight I didn't know what one looked like. In fact, when I saw it on my wall I thought, "Wow, that's a REALLY big beatle." I then looked at it again, and thought, "Could that be a cockroach? Of course not, they only get that big in more tropical locations like.........southern California." After giving myself the "duh" slap to my forehead, I tried to figure out what to do next.

Do I need to kill it some special way? Will it crunch when I kill it? And most importantly, will it retaliate if I miss it the first time?

So I sent a text messages to some of my friends to which I received the following suggestions:

• - Call a Man
• - Use a giant shoe
  
• - Try a nuclear bomb
  
• - Tell it depressing stories and wait

Since I couldn't wait for a man to get here, I decided to try the shoe option. First I built a barracade in case it could fly and attack, and then I went for the kill. I hit it once and again and again and again. It took a good 10 hits to stop it from moving, and then I waited.

I'd heard they were hard to kill, so I certainly wasn't going to take its lifeless body as proof that it was dead. Instead I stared at it awhile. Sure enough a few minutes later it got up, and started to run, so I beat it again. After the 5th time of beating it death, only to have it jump up and run away, I decided it as time to look for a nuclear bomb or more appropriately a poisonous substance. I scoured the cupboards looking for something like Windex, tub/tile cleaner, or Diet Coke, but to my wondrous surprise I found a can of Raid. As quick as can be, I doused the creature with Raid. All it's little legs spasmed, and then it stopped. Now I was sure it was dead.....until it's legs started to move again, and I doused again. This was the end result:


Before the assault, he was about 2 quarters long, after the beating it was roughly the size of one quarter. What do you think? Is he coming back to life anytime soon? Perhaps I should go ahead an try the last piece of advice from my friends and tell it depressing stories and wait. :)

Marriage: Anthropological Study

I have become an anthropologist in my own home--a modern day Jane Goodall in the my very own apartment. You see my roommate recently got married and her husband has moved into our place. Yes, you read that correctly, I live with a newlywed married couple. Before you question my sanity, let me just mention that they knocked my rent in half. Still think I'm crazy? LA ain't cheap these days so this is a mutually beneficial situation. :)

I've been single a long time, all my life in fact, and I have to admit I've grown baffled by how marriage happens. When I was a kid is seemed very simple, but now it seems ridiculously difficult. Another single friend put it this way, "Every marriage is a miracle, especially if it lasts." How does it work? How do two very different people find each other, fall in love, and get married? I am also baffled by my own desire to get married. I've lived this long without a husband, surely I'll be fine if I don't get married. Yet, there's no denying the fact I would very much like to get married, and I don't really have an explanation for it. So now I have a rare opportunity provided to a single adult in the US--I get to see a new marriage up close and personal at home. I figure there are three possible outcomes:

1. 1) I will grow to understand how and why marriages happen, and perhaps even understand my own desire for one.
   
2. 2) I will discover that living with a married couple curbs my interest in marriage, much like how babysitting can be excellent birth control.
   
3. 3) I will remain just as mystified by marriage as ever.

Who know? I certainly don't, not yet anyway. Jack and Jill (my nicknames for my roommates) have only been back from their honeymoon for two weeks so my stories thus far are limited.

I can tell you it's facsinating watching them blend households. Based on my observations I'd recommend a couple move into a new place that is brand new to them both instead of trying to figure out how to fit another person into a space previously occupied by just one person. There's also all the gifts to consider. Where in the world do you put the new mixer, breadmaker, hot cocoa maker, and new dishes into a tiny kitchen that's already well-stocked (i.e. cramped)? You definitely need a new place for a new start, unless one of you owns a house. If that's the case, what a great opportunity to start problem solving together by figuring out what stuff needs to be thrown out from both your households. :)

P.S. Jack and Jill gave me permission to blog about them. Infact they suggested it, sort of.