Friday already?

[blodeuedd]

Normally, I'm not really squeamish when it comes to bugs; I don't want them crawling all over me or in my food, but they don't scare me, and as long as cockroaches stay in the corner, I can live with them. I draw the line, however, at many-legged creatures scurrying across my carpet, especially when their colour blends right in and all I can see is that something is moving very fast. Come on, how freaky is that? It was quite a shock, then, when I stepped into the bathroom this morning, turned around and saw one of those nasty scurrying things sleeping in the corner. It looked like the result of an unholy union between a sowbug and a millipede and something with very long antenae, it was over two inches long and it really, really gave me the willies. Now I know, from looking it up on line, that it was only a common centipede, but it was nasty! I could only stare at it for a minute or two, praying it wouldn't decide to give the scurrying thing another go, especially in the direction of the carpet, before turning to my ready supply of bath and beauty products, finally selecting a large bottle of soap. I turned around and the thing was still there, unaware I was plotting its demise. Carefully, I stretched my arm out until the bottle was hanging directly above the thing, then THUD! It never even had time to scream.

http://lancaster.unl.edu/enviro/Images/Insects/housecnt.jpg

Isn't that absolutely vile? It had many more legs than that, too!

To change the subject a little, why would anyone in their right mind shrink-wrap tea-lites, for god's sake?! *claws at plastic*

Comments

[kimchii.livejournal.com]

I know these buggers! They live downstairs at Pat's house. Unfortunatly, I live downstairs too! They run fast as hell, don't they? Now that I'm used to them, they crack me up when I see them, because they zoom so fast and they're so weird looking. :D

[blodeuedd.livejournal.com]

Apparently, they like dark, humid places, which explains the basement; I don't know about my apartment, though, because it's rather on the dry side. I've only seen a few of them since moving in last year, but most of them were zooming across my living room, from the direction of the kitchen or the computer. They'd go hide under the chair by the door, then they'd head for behind the tv when I flushed them out -- I'm guessing they like the water heater?

As I said, it's the not seeing part that really bugs me. It's freaky when you're sitting there watching tv, minding your own business, and you see something moving out of the corner of your eye something you can't see when it's still, because the carpet that hides dirt and dust and crumbs so well also camouflages the critters.