//...strike!...\\

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Ever since my dad started placing pandan leaves in my bedroom, susposedly to let my room smell more 'fragrant', alot of strange unexpected insects started settling down right here. A couple of months ago I discovered lots of ants, tiny winy black dots scurrying around the floor, walls and even my study table. I wondered what attracted them and my first thought was the leaves, but I didn't remove them, instead using my trusty tissue paper to squeeze the lives out of those pests. I'm more worried that they will start invading my favourite hangout -my bed- and give me a hell lot of itch...

Fallen sick yesterday, got flu and returned home after suffering a few hours at school. And today I woke up not feeling any better. After breakfast and medicine, I felt extremely drowsy, even though I slept about 8 hours. As I strolled back to my room, something told me to look at my ceiling. I obeyed and looked up. "WHOAH!!!" was the first word to come out of my mouth. Up there on my ceiling are numerous black dots, and they aren't tiny winy too. I guessed that the ants somehow made a living out of my barren room, and I remembered adding some toxic anti-ant stuffs around my room. How did they grow so fast? I took a stool and had a closer look at the black dots.

What appeared in front of me was a huge and unexpected surprise. Praying mantis!! Juvenile ones! Wow! How did they end up in my room?! I started counting. 10 of them, spreaded out on my ceiling like some kind of war formation. No wonder the ants in my room were disappearing; I could hardly see one now. Is it some kind of signs? Don't know, don't care, I've watched enough Discovery Channel shows to know that praying mantises aren't insects that you can fool around with. Suddenly I realised something before I started squeezing them. They must have emerged from their eggs in my room, since I don't see any adult mantises around (thankfully).... It's my responsibility to ensure their future is somewhat secure. And they reminded me of my favourite Pokemon, Scyther. *lol* Momentarily my drowsiness was gone and I started collecting them, after my dad came in and killed some. I collected about 5 and went out of my house, releasing them on my bonsais. Although my room has everything: a perfect terrain (ultra untidiness), food (ants), hiding places (numerous holes at the wirings, air con etc...), it would be best that they are in an environment that is closest to nature. I can't collect ALL of them and transport them to Sungei Buloh or MacRitchie; they will be long gone to the afterlife.

Okay, so I released them outside, I went back to the room to clear the pandan leaves. I noticed a peculiar structure at one of the wiltering leaf. It was an egg sac, apparently of a mantis'. I cleared it and started cleaning up. "Whoah!" I discovered more juveniles as they emerged from their hiding places. After a 30 minutes frenzy collecting and releasing of the praying mantises, I counted about 13 of them, and there are still many left in my room. Right now when I'm typing this entry, I had already noticed another 3 scurrying around; one on my desk, another waiting in ambush at the air-con and the last (hopefully) on top of the door. Just caught one in a used ziploc for a medicine, I think I'm releasing it outside later. Hey another one! Just tossed it out of my window, hoping it will land on some tree and grow into a strong adult praying mantis, whacking the hell out of the stupid mosquitoes.

I guess this is my only way of saying thanks to them for clearing up the ants. Hmmm should I leave 2 behind to exterminate the ants once and for all? Ok so the one on the aircon is on the ceiling now... Now I can only cross my fingers and hope they won't land on my body when I'm sleeping and attack me -_- I think there are many more out there around my room, seems like I have to be patient to collect them and then release them.

Isn't life just like this? Our parents are responsible for bringing us to this world; they always try their best to secure a future for us by giving us the best education they can afford, providing all the necessities we need to have a memorable childhood and teenager years. However we will forever react just like these juvenile praying mantises, running away and escaping from my effort to release them to nature, their home. We will even attempt to hurt our parents physically or emotionally, just like how some of these babies tried scratching me with their claws.

Maybe I should go do my EoM now :)

//Brandon struck at 7:35 AM\\