Where To Start

I tried to go to bed on time last night. I really did. Ask Aunt Julie. I was winding down at 9:30. My wind down includes turning off my overhead light and turning on my lamp to read by. Less light helps sleepiness ease on in. I finished my episode on Netflix, closed my computer, focused on my book and was cozy.

Then I saw something out of the corner of my eye. By the lamp. I look over. Well, hello there, VERY LARGE COCKROACH.

No joke, my heart stopped for a second. I froze. What am I supposed to do when there is a cockroach on my wall right next to my bed?!

I'm supposed to get a shoe. But it's dark because I turned off the main light. I make a move to get out of bed, slowly so the cockroach won't know I'm moving and getting ready to (try) to kill it. The cockroach knows, though. He takes matters into his own hands. He flies--more on this later--just a little bit, off the wall, and then LANDS ON MY BLANKETS.

I leap out of my bed, to a standing position on the edge of my bed--if I'm so much bigger and taller than it, it will die of fright, right? Really I think I was trying to get my face as far from where it was as possible--and scream words I don't quite recall, which startles the cockroach, motivating him to scurry away. Scurry he does, right between my bed and the wall.

So there I am. Standing on my bed. Staring at the place on the wall where he was, and the small little gap between my wall and my bed where he disappeared. I turned on my lights because cockroaches don't like light. I called in the cat because she likes to hunt bugs. She couldn't find it, though, and just curled up on the end of my bed and went to sleep. I was really at a loss. To sleep, I would need to turn the lights off. But if I turned the lights off, he would feel safe and perhaps come back out of the gap and into my bed.

I'm thinking it through, discussing my options with a few people and then I see it fly into the kitchen. He had gone under my bed and across the room and then decided to leave. At this point, I'm not sure if cockroaches can fly. I ask a friend to look it up for me, because I know if I look it up, the internet will inevitably give me a picture of a cockroach and I couldn't bear to look at one right then. She confirms that the American cockroach, while it seldom chooses to fly because it's so quick on foot, can, indeed, fly.

I ask you: why on earth does a cockroach need to fly? Here is this little insect that already has the power to terrify and disgust just about the whole human race, and not only can it go so fast on foot that it can often times escape murder, but its little exoskeleton protects it from the brutest of forces, and, just for kicks, it is also allowed to fly. So that literally no place, not a single place in the world, is free from cockroaches. They can get anywhere.

I want to get a mosquito net. Except its purpose will actually be keeping the cockroaches out of my bed.

Now we come to today.

I'm tired. I know my body will get used to the kind of work I'll be doing and it won't hurt so much over time, but yeesh. My knees hurt so much. It's not really my knees, it's above my knees on either side of the knee cap. Weird. And my feet hurt. And my shoulders hurt. But, all in all, I like my job. Two hours of each shift is sitting outside with the dogs and that is mighty fun. It can a little crazy because dogs will play too rough, or an excited dog will step on a grumpy dog by accident and the grumpy dog will flip out. Things like that. Today there was a little pitbull that was playing really rough with this other smaller dog; she didn't mind all that much, but there were times when the pitbull would hold on a little too long. I would step in sometimes, but so would Quincy, a German Shepherd who is being boarded there right now.

A lot of the other people at the kennel think Quincy is a jerk. I, however, am extremely partial to German Shepherds and I love Quincy. He's a goof ball, he breaks up fights, and he lets you pet his ears as much as you want. He will dunk his whole face in water when he's hot, and then rub his face in dirt. Then when he wants to wipe his face off he'll come right up to you and rub his fact off on your pants. It's the weirdest thing but he treats people like towels.

I really like German Shepherds and I think I'm starting to figure out why. There are two others being boarded right now, Ida and Ursa, and I like them a whole lot, too. And I think it's because German Shepherds don't like just anyone. They aren't unfriendly, they just aren't interested in everyone. You have to try with German Shepherds. You have to make an effort and then wait to see if they'll like you or not. Like with Ida. She's almost pure white--except for one ear that's speckled with some very light orange, so cute!--and kind of shy. I'm usually drawn to shy dogs for some reason so I tried to pet her a few times and then she started coming up to me on her own. Today in the play yard she stayed by me most of the time, unless exuberant dogs came over, which she doesn't like so she'd move away. Now her sister likes me, too. Both of them will come when I call them. Ursa is more relaxed, so she'll lay down by my feet and relax even if there are other dogs around. I like them a lot.

And I like knowing a dog likes me because it feels safe around me or comfortable around me, not because it feels safe around every human. Which is sort of how I feel about people, too. I'm skeptical of people that like other people instantly. Like labs.

It's about time for dinner, I think. Then I'm going to start a knitting project. Then read. Then go to sleep.

Hopefully no more cockroaches.