Day 23: I Probably Could Have Handled This A lot Better..

I would like to think of myself as a fairly tough, strong person

But there are things that make me turn into a pansy in .001 seconds.

One of those things..

is a House Centipede.

One night, I stayed up fairly late to finish a project. Another typical night for me.

Except this night..a battle of wits, nerves and ingenuity would..unfortunately...commence.

floorplan of the battleground

I jumped into bed, looking forward to sleep..

I look up at the ceiling,

I see something black on the ceiling...a shadow perhaps?

No...

F*CK.

I hate these things with a passion. I know my hate is uncalled for, but I just..I just can't stand them. I cannot sleep if I know theres one in my room. I stare in horror at it for a few moments, feeling the blood pump in my heart faster..

I can't stay like this the whole night, I have to do something to relocate this thing and fast.

I stealthily roll out of bed..not keeping my eyes off it for one sec.

I could have just went and grabbed a tissue and smash this thing right? This issue would have been dealt with in 5 mins... tops. 

It took me roughly 2 hours to deal with this menace.

I can't kill bugs bigger than 1/4 an inch with my hand. 

(see post number 3 for an example of this)

Everytime I attempt to kill something with my hands, my hands go numb and renders them useless. 

I gotta come up with something 

I stand next to my bed, trying to calm myself down and formulate a plan

But of course...that fails.

and I run off into the corner.

The monster moves onto the other side of the room.

(where my dresser blocks my way, no less)

Ok, its time to get serious, Its too late for me to scream for help, (waking my mom just for her to get rid of this thing is much scarier than the centipede itself) 

I look around me, looking for something, anything that will help me capture it.

It hits me, I'm a design student! I'll MAKE something to capture it. 

I find a...

and with my BRILLIANCE (.::cough::.)  I create...this

Ok, I got my tool, now to actually go near it.
I stand on top of a wobbly desk chair..

Its very difficult for me to go near something that I don't want within 50 miles of me.

So you can imagine how long it took me to go near it.

In my mind..this is how it looked

(repeat this maybe 20...million times)

I start talking to myself, as if to will/reassure myself that its going to be ok.

I go for the kill.

Gotcha mofo!

...now what.

I forgot the other half of my battle plan...left it on my bed...a piece of paper to slide underneath the device and transport the bug out of my room.

My feeble attempts to get the piece of paper are futile.

I stand there...looking at my adversary for god knows how long. 

I don't want to let go of my device because it might scuttle off somewhere where I really can't reach it..

I stand there watching it..

Then I figure i'll carefully move my device, so that I can grab the piece of paper.


I slowly make my way off the chair..
but then..


I can see the tape beginning to loosen..
(stupid drafting tape)


my device is malfunctioning...joy


Forcing me to push the ruler onto the wall, so that the whole thing wouldn't fall apart..

This situation would be a lot easier if I were sanding on the ground..However I am standing on my chair, leaning over my easel and dresser..

I could have left out the ruler in the first place, but for me, it would have been a lot more difficult to go near this thing than without it.


I stand there for who knows how long, sleepiness empowering me, my mind losing its capacity to come up with anymore "brilliant" ideas.

I decide to just keep pushing onto the wall, while dragging the device down...


I slowly step down, 


slipping on my pajama pants on the way...


the desk chair, starting to roll away from me...


I fall down..


joy.


Another one of those moments where life goes in slow motion. I see the tape on my device unraveling, the bug falling, I see it scuttling towards me, as if wanting to kick my ass.

It pretty much did...mentally at least.

Out of instinct


I smacked it...

Then I realized... 

What I just did..

I run into the bathroom, not looking at my hand, right towards the sink, turning on the hot water at full force. 


Unfortunately the bathroom is right next to my parents room and they wake up to all the noise.


My mom runs in, seeing my pained expression, and me rubbing my left hand furiously with the hot water.


Thinking that I must have cut myself while working on my project, she screams

She was not pleased.

Overall..I wanted to sleep at 2 am...

I ended up sleeping at 5 or so...

I need to wake up at 6 to catch the train...

It was a long day indeed. All because of something that only about an inch long.

So really...I didn't win this battle..

the centipede did.