K. Close III

Today’s Tweets

Friday, September 12th, 2008 | LiveJournal Archives | No Comments

• 06:55 I so prefer Gel over Paste. #
• 08:28 Wow, not only has the Xbox come down in price pretty notably, now the 120GB hard drive for it is soon to receive a price drop, as well. #
• 10:06 I really need to cut down on Genre’s on my iTunes… I need a clear and defined system. #
• 14:39 Too Much Pita! #
• 14:59 I need to blog, but I have no inspiration. #
• 16:50 #Blog: Creepy Crawlies… kclose3.com/blog/?p=66 #
• 16:54 Update, damn you, update! As soon as this computer finishes its patches, I can hand it off and leave! #
• 17:55 Finally, I can go home! #

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Creepy Crawlies…

Friday, September 12th, 2008 | Writer's Block | 4 Comments

…in which I talk about entomophobia.

Today’s topic on the LiveJournal Writer’s Block segment is “If one thing were to be stricken from nature, what could you stand to see go?” › Continue reading

Tags: bugs, LiveJournal Archives, random topics

Creepy Crawlies…

Friday, September 12th, 2008 | LiveJournal Archives | No Comments

…in which I talk about entomophobia.

Today’s topic on the LiveJournal Writer’s Block segment is “If one thing were to be stricken from nature, what could you stand to see go?”

I’m pretty happy with nature and all the things within it, all in all. Yeah, there are a lot of things that I don’t entirely appreciate, but what I do appreciate is the balance of everything, so realistically, I can’t say I’d want to see anything lost from nature. However, the question is not “what would I like to see go,” but “what could I stand to see go,” and while I have no ire against anything in particular, Heather’s terrorific fear of bugs can be almost a danger to myself and Ansel (though I know neither of us are really in danger).

When I was a child, I was very entomophobic (Google it) but as I’ve grown up, I’ve built up a tolerance for six and eight legged monsters. There are still a few here and there that break through my defenses, but for the most part, I can go about my business and let them go about theirs. I have a bad history of being stung, but at least I’m not allergic so there’s no tragic “near death” stories about any kind of stings.

Back when I was living in Connecticut, we had a slatted deck that ran the length of our house. I remember one day I hopped up and sat down on the deck only to be stung in the left butt cheek by a wasp that had been hiding down between the slats. It was gloriously painful experience that was equalled only by the embarrassment of being stung on the ass. Around that same time, I was walking past a poke-berry bush and just barely brushed against it and was stung in the shoulder by some other flying fighter insect. I think its the sneak attacks that are the worst, where you’re completely unprepared for the sting.

You see, if I can see the insect, and know its around, I can not only attempt to avoid it but also, I know its around and can prepare myself for the off chance possibility that I might get stung. Its with that thought that I have decided that these stirges aren’t nearly as frightening as I used to find them because they’re not really offensive, but more defensive. If I don’t antagonize them, then they usually leave well enough alone. Its only when you go blundering into their path, or home, that they get a little riled up and decide to attack.

Recently, I did unintentionally aggravate a stinger. It was flying around the house and, since Heather is completely petrified by flying insects (even those harmless junebugs), I decided to catch it and throw it outside. I did not, however, know that it was a stinging insect, so as soon as I had it in my hand, I was surprised to all of a sudden be in pain from its sting. This, of course, did not make Heather feel any better about there being a flying insect in the living room.

Heather is very paranoid of flying bugs, she tends to duck, dodge and even run from the room if something start whizzing around, often times with nearly reckless abandon, trying to escape often a completely harmless bug. The frequency of stinging insects in our house is actually pretty low, we are mostly plagued by moths, junebugs, beetles, and houseflys. Wasps, bees, and other more vitriolic threats, however, are a pretty rare occurrence in our house. They tend to hang out outdoors, under the eaves. We do get the occasional surprise attack from some wasps protecting their turf when we go out to get the mail or mow the lawn, but otherwise they just leave us alone. Still, Heather insist that I periodically go out and commit a cleansing act of insecticide and wipe out an entire clan. Its tragic, but I still get a sick thrill out of sending an entire hive of wasps to an early poisoned grave.

And then there are the cockroaches. Heather despises them, she feels that they are harbingers of filth and uncleanliness. While there may be some truth to that, they’re just looking for a cool, dry place to set up shop and raise a family of millions. It used to be that Ia was the great bug killer, destroying beetles and cockroaches with triumphant pounces and shoulder rolls, but lately she’s been to lazy to even bother. We’ve had to resort to toxic death chambers to keep their numbers at bay. Its not as exciting as the great insect hunter Ia, but they get the job done.

I’ve had some phobic experiences with crawlers, similar to the flyers in my past. I had a project in school, once, where we had to capture and preserve an insect for some nature lesson. In my attempt to catch a millipede in my back yard, I suffered a ringing in my ears and tunnel vision as I tried to scoop it into the pickle jar that would later be a lethal gas chamber for it. Much later, when living in the dorms, I was watching TV in Heather’s room when a sizable cockroach all of a sudden appeared on my forearm. After much flailing and flinging of large shoes and magazines, we finally decided there were better things to do than sit in her dorm room and watch TV.

Regardless, while I’m still not a fan of insects and their ilk, I wish them no ill will. However, in reference to the topic in question, I would not miss them if they inexplicably ceased to exist in our reality. This, of course, would have to come in some kind of mystical natural balance where the entire chain of predators and prey was not disintegrated by the loss of one link.