the third cockroach was the biggest

last night anelda and i returned to my "flat" (as she calls it) to find a cockroach quietly sneaking in from my balcony door. (i'm not scared of bugs. i'm grossed out by two-inch cockroaches crawling in my living space). apparently the crack under the door must be sizeable enough for the nasty buggers to make it in comfortably because this guy was enormous. he froze upon discovery and played along with our game of trying to get him into a bag for removal. that didn't work, so anelda used her patented method of dousing the poor guy with bathroom cleaning liquid and letting him wander, dying all the while, through the apt. until flipping over, wiggling legs to the final excrutiating moment. BLECH!!! he died after taking his last steps under my couch and then anelda (my brave hero) scooped him into a bag and deposited it all into the alternate garbage at the very end of my hall. i couldn't watch the actual last moments of life slip away, nor the bagging and removal, so i'm not exactly sure if the thing was dead. i assume and trust anelda's diagnosis, but for all i know he could reappear for some revenge tonight.

let me tell you, he was not the first and he will most likely not be the last. he was the third and not the worst. the absolute worst was the first. she (she's a she because she was a touch smaller *cringe*) was CRAWLING on ME in MY BED one night as i slept. i woke up to brush 'something' off of me (my arms and neck) THREE times. on the third i finally realized it was a crawling something-or-other and not the tassles of my blanket. i wiped 'it' off for the third time while snapping awake and flipping the lights on, all in one motion. the first thing i saw was Her at the very corner of my bed, near my feet. i ran to turn the extra lights on by the door and by the time i returned, she'd slipped into the night. i scoured the bed, sheets, pillows, floor, furniture, everything for a few minutes and decided the couch was the safest place to sleep, but definitely NOT with the lights off. roaches love the dark and i loathe roaches... so lights it was until dawn. it was restless 'sleep' until i absolutely had to give up hope of spotting the critter again (to throw her out the window, of course). luke slept through the whole ordeal and was uncooperative when i want to lift the mattress and hunt that thing down. i think he's the one who planted it in the bed in the first place. maybe they're friends and co-conspirators.

i've got to find a way to secure my living space from the inevitable Roach of Thailand. though one (of the three) died, thailand has trillions more. they barely escape the step of my feet each and every night on the sidewalks. one might suggest a roach killing type product purchased from a store. pff. try to read the bottles, people! i've been searching for a Goo Gone type product since the first day i stepped into my classroom. the former teacher was in love with the EXTRA sticky tape and it has left unremovable stains of goo on my whiteboard.

eh. enough of that. cockroaches were here before i was. maybe the three cockroaches were indeed one and i have rid my life of this problem. for some reason i highly doubt it.

the saga continues, i'm sure. beth vs. the city roach. my life's important to me, right? don't ya think they're lives are important to them? anelda doesn't think so. next time i'll get photos of the action so you have a healthy visual.