Ways to Tell I've Been Here Too Long, # 87348957

[d_aulnoy]

For the first few weeks, the crickets were cute.  Well, except for when they were in my house.

Then I started catching them under random spare glasses to toss them outside, because, a) everybody knows it's bad luck to kill the frikkin' things, just like with spiders*, and b) just like with waterbugs, the remnants are ... less than charming ... to deal with.

And now?  Now, I have had the same kind of an epiphany that I had when living in my 2nd apartment ever, the one where I just lost the basic gross-out factor of civilized humanity; I just picked the cricket up in my hand and tossed it off the balcony.

On the one hand, this will be considerably less time consuming.  On the other, it more or less guarantees that I will continue to be The One Called Upon to Dispatch the Insect, Yea, From Now Until Eternity.

And from coast to coast, no less.

*Unless it is with the heel of your left shoe, but, even then, why would you?  Leave enough of them alone, and you will have no problems whatsoever with other insects!

Comments

[rosefox]

I find crickets easier to deal with than waterbugs for some reason. There's just something slimy and nasty and gross about waterbugs that sets them apart from the rest of insectkind.

[d-aulnoy.livejournal.com]

Nooooooo argument here: while Epiphany #1 involved cockroaches and the killing of sans other utensils, waterbugs have freaked me out for all of my life and will, in all likelihood, probably continue to do so until my dying day.

It's probably something about how they aim at the head, but, then again, it could just be innate. A conundrum somewhat like, if rather more disgusting than, that of the chicken and the egg.

[upstart-crow.livejournal.com]

I find millipedes to be the worst. There is a certain kind that has long, jointed legs. I got them in my apartment in Louisville all the time.

Yuck!!!

[upstart-crow.livejournal.com]

:) I routinely feed crickets to my fire belly toads, but the big ones can be kind of ick.

I didn't know it was considered bad luck to kill crickets though!

[d-aulnoy.livejournal.com]

I've never *heard* of fire belly toads before, but I'm delighted to learn of their existence!

And, at least according to my mother, who told me of this particular superstition when I was trying to decide amongst dresses for the wedding: she was *violently* averse to the concept of my wearing black, and when I pointed out that the whole white-dress thing wasn't really *our* tradition, as such, she said that that didn't matter, a belief was a belief, and told me a story about how she hadn't known about the cricket thing, killed one, was told about it by a neighbor afterwards, and attributed a few instances of bad luck that came about shortly thereafter to it. I dunno if I buy it (I mean, for one thing, before she told me, I may have slain a cricket or two myself), but I figure I'll observe it from this point onwards, because ... why not?

ETA: I could be wrong, but I believe it's a Chinese belief at its core, the cricket being considered lucky in that region.

[vschanoes.livejournal.com]

Some spiders bite people, leaving itchy welts like unto those of mosquitos. Until I'm given a way to tell at a glance which are bloodsuckers, I'm smashing first and asking questions later.