Five days and already a disaster

Written on 5th January 2019; 10.00 p.m.

It’s only the 5^th day of the year. And already I’m ready to give up.

First, it was the drain pipe in my bathroom that was clogging. The water was going out, but very slowly.

Then, my worst nightmare came true. My mother is my alarm clock (that’s not the nightmare). Every working day she calls me at 6 a.m. sharp to wake me. One morning in late December my handphone beside me rang and I picked it up. On the screen was a real live cockroach. Cockroaches are to me what kryptonite is to Superman. I threw the phone away and ran helter skelter for my life. The phone kept ringing (God bless my mother, she is persistent if nothing else). I came back armed (Shieldtox) and looked for my arch enemy. It wasn’t there! Ah, but I spotted it! And I attacked! And it ran! I sprayed everywhere. I don’t know where it was. I found it dead later in the evening and got rid of it with a broom with the longest handle that I could find.

The next 2 days I couldn’t sleep peacefully; I kept waking to check that I wasn’t in any danger. Then I went back to Kuantan and there was peace. But then I had to come back. I found 2 dead cockroaches in the bathroom. The clogging situation with the drain pipe was getting more dire. I needed help. I called for reinforcement but they could only come 4 days later. 2 days passed without incident. On the 3^rd day, the enemy attacked! I found 2 cockroaches in the bathroom and emptied a can of Shieldtox in my defence. That night when I slept I had a weird dream about how the clogged drain pipe was somehow connected to the sudden appearance of so many cockroaches.

Whatever it was, I wasn’t taking any chances. Before I left for work I fumigated the entire room and bathroom, as soon as I got back from work I fumigated it again. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Finally my reinforcement arrived and unclogged the drain pipe which took a long time, a lot of effort, and left a mess behind. But at least no more clogging and hopefully, no more cockroaches.

Today I decided to spring clean due to the mess. Moving my bed to sweep and mop under it, it gave way and finally died. Actually my bed was ill for more than a year. I tried medication (hammer and nails), alternative medication (industrial tape, cellophane tape, any kind of binding material) and physiotherapy (minimal movement while sleeping) but all of this only served to prolong its life. Finally it gave up and died. So tomorrow I have to go look for and buy a new bed frame. Which means tonight I have to sleep on the floor. Not a problem except for this lingering paranoia about cockroaches.

Only the 5^th day of the year and already so many things gone wrong. What a disastrous start!