On Bedbugs

Taking a break from doing some cleaning around the apartment. We've definitely let the place go, and as I had the day off today I decided to work on that a little bit. I made a calming bath salt for the tub, after a few months of having meant to.

So I'm sitting here, listening to the Latter Days soundtrack (highly recommended, by the way) and I can't help but think of our hopefully finished months-long battle with bedbugs. The culmination of that battle is one of the major reasons the apartment has felt so cluttered and dirty this last week. Over half the linens are still in bags, most of the electrical and light plates are still detached, bottom shelves still empty... in short, our home feels enormously disheveled and undone. When you add in the idea that we had toxic pesticides sprayed all over the damned place our apartment just ends up feeling energetically dirty, and not as welcoming as it once did.

Now - bedbugs. Let me set the record straight. Yes, I'm damned sure that they originated in this apartment, and yes, I feel bad that our downstairs neighbors ended up receiving them. Yes, I admit that I'm glad we hopefully won't be dealing with them any longer. They're pests.

Nonetheless. I hate that we had them taken out with conventional pesticides. We were doing really, really well with the natural stuff. Even Lizzie wasn't having any major problems, and she's most certainly had it worst of us all. The only reason it came down to a conventional method of extermination was because our neighbors got them, and they freaked the hell out.

I have news for the world, and most especially our downstairs neighbors, should they be listening.

Bedbugs are pests. Very true. They are annoying, and their bites can cause a mild to medium itching sensation amongst most people.

There is, however, nothing dangerous about a bedbug. They transmit no disease, inject no deadly venoms, and are a complete non-threat to animals. There's nothing to be afraid of in a bedbug. They're merely parasites that give a bit of an itch now and then. The itch doesn't even last long.

I know that this subject is taboo to a lot of people. I personally think that's a heaping pile of stupid bullshit. To a logical person there's nothing scary or even disgusting about bedbugs. They're just annoying. There's nothing dirty or lower class about them, either. They just are. Your apartment can be spotlessly clean, and you can still get them as easily as a homeless man sleeping on a discarded mattress. You can sleep in the seediest hostel or the grandest 5-star hotel, and still be bitten by a bedbug at night. They live everywhere. Parasites - bedbugs included - are a part of nature. They're annoying as hell, but they're not always dangerous and they're never actually disgusting. They just are.

Yes, I'm glad to be rid of the damned little beasts. They have been an enormous nuisance, and it's never nice to see a bug carcass lying next to your bed when you wake in the morning. I just wish that it wasn't such a taboo that they be spoken of, or that they be in a space at all.

That's what I've got. Off to dust the altars.

-George

Comfiness

We need a movie night! just a simple night of snacks, drinks, movies and people we love, sacked out amongst the pillow pile.

That's all.

Maybe some Midol?

This is the house speaking.

I am grumpy.

That is all.