Besides I really don't have a choice because if I let him go outside I'll just think about him finding his way back in. So after a brief homestay I hope we'll be on good enough terms that I can take him to a nice pile of trash away from my building and set him free on a civil note. So far I just shudder and flail my fists a little bit every time I look at the jar, but I am trying very hard to overcome my prejudices.
Monday, May 11, 2009
I could have been born a cockroach, too
My aversion to cockroaches is a little severe. Last night was traumatic. The thought of another close encounter with a cockroach almost makes me cry, but I'm sure it can't be avoided if I'm going to live in Tokyo. So, I decided that it is time to get serious and make peace with cockroaches. I'm not sure Ayabean is going to be very happy about this when she gets home but I hope to help her understand that making friends with Gregor is simply the only reasonable thing to do.
Besides I really don't have a choice because if I let him go outside I'll just think about him finding his way back in. So after a brief homestay I hope we'll be on good enough terms that I can take him to a nice pile of trash away from my building and set him free on a civil note. So far I just shudder and flail my fists a little bit every time I look at the jar, but I am trying very hard to overcome my prejudices.
Besides I really don't have a choice because if I let him go outside I'll just think about him finding his way back in. So after a brief homestay I hope we'll be on good enough terms that I can take him to a nice pile of trash away from my building and set him free on a civil note. So far I just shudder and flail my fists a little bit every time I look at the jar, but I am trying very hard to overcome my prejudices.
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15 comments:
hey! I love your blog and decided to become a follower so, hi :) I just moved to Tokyo last month and think your posts are great....thanks!
thanks, i'm glad you dig! looks like you're feeling tokyo, too. hey did your company go nuts on the swine flu thing too?
yeah! I'm feeling it...I'm in Kawasaki Kanagawa which is like a 25 minute train ride to Shinjuku...if I were out in the sticks I would probably be miserable. Yeah our school president sent a special letter to all of the branches about the swine flu...so ridiculous...even if you DID get it all you need to do is see a doctor and get meds. I have a feeling you would really need to make an effort to let it get out of control. What about yours?
Hahaha... I do the same with with spiders! They scare me, really scare me, even the teeny tiny ones! But I never kill them, ever. I always take them outside, crying the whole way.
+1 for compassion.
Have you ever seen Creep Show? Your peace treaty with bugs is probably for the better.
lauren, i got two phone calls and two emails about it. i don't know what happened with people who did leave the country for golden week, a mandatory check-up or something?
aimlessambition, the thing is bugs don't generally bother me but dead bug carcasses send me into a serious panic. so no matter what happens i can just never kill bugs.
jer, i don't even want to know! but i always think of the scary stories for sleepovers story with the kid who is mean to his ant farm and then at night his room is swarmed with ants and they cover his body and march down his throat eughghghghghghghghghgh!
so like making peace with the cockroach wasn't going that well but i was pretty determined so yesterday i planned to put the jar in my room before i went to sleep.
BUT! GREGOR IS DEAD!
!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
i thought cockroaches were supposed to be invincible??? and i put him in a jar with lettuce and peanut crumbs and even a damp cotton ball!!! i gave him airholes! how could this have happened?
this bodes very ill for me/cockroach relations in tokyo. if word gets out all of his little friends might show up to demand an explanation. noooooooooooo!
Rest In Peace
Gregor the Cockroach
??? - May 13, 2009
Something tells me you were a particularly melancholy cockroach. I'm sorry I made you die in a jar.
I think he died of loneliness. Roaches are really sociable, they like to be with other roaches. So maybe that was it? That happened with a pair of rats I had (Dex and Tress). Once Dex dies, Tress (who wasn't injured at all) passed away two days later.
Who knew roaches could get their hearts broken?
Gregor was born a ramblin' roach.
If I leave here tomorrow
Would you still remember me?
For I must be travelling on, now,
'Cause there's too many places I've got to see.
But, if I stayed here with you, girl,
Things just couldn't be the same.
'Cause I'm as free as a bird now,
And this bird you can not change.
Lord knows, I can't change.
Bye, bye, its been a sweet love.
Though this feeling I can't change.
But please don't take it badly,
'Cause Lord knows I'm to blame.
But, if I stayed here with you girl,
Things just couldn't be the same.
Cause I'm as free as a bird now,
And this bird you'll never change.
And this bird you can not change.
Lord knows, I can't change.
Lord help me, I can't change.
;___;
this eulogizing is very helpful though. now that gregor is becoming a minor hero on my blog i feel much more at peace with cockroaches i think. maybe that's why he died. what a martyr. the jesus of cockroaches.
...Doesn't that mean he'll rise from the dead?
ホウ酸団子。Housan dango. Boric acid pellets. You can get boric acid (the above housan) in powder form at a drug store. Mix it like fifty-fifty with flour. Add water enough to make a paste. Pinch off bits. Roll out a bunch of little pellets. Let them dry (no you don’t need to dangle each one individually from clothes pins on a line. Across a newspaper will do fine, thank you). Scatter them around your room as you like. Voila. No more cockroaches. A possible last line of defense against those now amassing and very pissed off friends of Gregor coming after your sorry ass at this very minute.
Did I mention that boric acid is non-toxic to people and pets?
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