There's a three year plan that has been put into effect in my little city to eradicate mosquitoes. Apparently there's an epidemic of mosquitoes and people are becoming extremely alarmed about this ever-growing vampiric population. So far this summer, I haven't received a single mosquito bite.(touch wood) I don't see them. I'm out almost every night til around 7-8pm, and I've yet to cross paths with one of these gnarly bastards.

However, I am forever afflicted with spider bites. Somehow they make it into my room, mostly without me knowing, and they sneak around stealthily until I go to sleep. Then they attack me! The next morning I wake up with welts on my arms and legs. I once had a spider bite on my chest.

Last night, really late, I was on the phone with a friend of mine, and noticed a spider scurrying across my wall. I wasn't able to kill it as it was smart enough to go behind my bookcase to behind a picture frame until it safely reached my window ledge where it promptly hid behind some assorted doodads sitting on this ledge. After I hung up the phone, I pushed my bed and night-table away from the wall in an attempt to thwart his evil plan of munching on me during the night. Seeing as it was close to midnight I wasn't about to turn on all the bright lights and sit and wait for him to come out of hiding.

He bit me anyway. I don't know how he did it. I was wearing pajama bottoms, socks and a t-shirt, but somehow I have a spider bite behind my knee. Why do they love my skin so much? I don't know.

Anyway, right now my parents and I are waging a war against the infestation of ants. (mostly colonizing in MY ROOM! "Forward....MARCH!") We're using assorted traps and sprays to no avail. Dad insists that if we "keep spraying the bastards they'll learn their lesson!" Yeah.

So let me ask this: Why the hell do they call it Raid? To me, raid is "Raid the house for loot!" That’s what the ants are doing! So HOW is that a repellant? It probably HELPS them raid more effectively!

!!!!

They have quite the brigade set up at my house.

And I'm remembered of the olden days when I was a kid/tomboy and had moved on from worms to having pet ants. I'd sit there letting them crawl on my arms and hands and for some reason they were always named Charlie 1, Charlie 2, Charlie 3... And now they're just Charlie Company Brigade, South Montreal.