Roaches, Paint Odour and a Leaky Toilet

November 3, 2005 - Tonight marked a low point in my first week of living on my own.

Tonight, when I came home and found yet another bug in my bedroom, I finally lost it.

First, I'm just disappointed by the fact that the apartment didn't turn out the way I had hoped. Primarily because 1) it stinks because of the paint odour, which makes all my clothes smell like paint; 2) it's infested with creatures 3) it's really quiet and at times, even a bit lonely...

Seriously though, the bug situation has subsided. I still kill on average two bugs a day, but the size of them have decreased and we're talking about little creatures (don't see the big ones no more, touch wood)...but still...

So after finding yet another bug tonight, I decided to take action. All week I've been talking to the people at work and they've told me to get these roaches traps. So I decided to make a trip to Canadian Tire and buy a few for the apartment. I even did research on them all afternoon at work and have decided to get this one that will kill the eggs too (it's called Raid Eggs Bait or something like that).

Needless to say, the trip did not go as planned. The Canadian Tire at Bloor & Church does not carry roach traps anymore, because they are "out-of-season". Neither does the Shoppers Drug Mart at Yonge & Bloor. I was told to perhaps try the Canadian Tire at Eglinton and Laird.

Disappointed, I went back to Eglinton and took the bus to Laird. The Canadian Tire there was bigger, but still no traps. Pissed off that the whole trip was a waste of time (and fuelled by Jason's text msgs which also pissed me off - seriously, I think he doesn't quite know how this bug situation affects me), I finally just lost it and was THIS close to either knocking someone over with a can of Raid or burning down the apartment. I was just really upset that nothing seems to be going my way.

After cooling off a bit walking around the store (and with Jason finally figuring out that I'm ultra-pissed/depressed over this situation), I decided to buy that cocking gun, another can of Raid, and some steel wool to re-claim my apartment from those awfully disgusted creatures. I went back to my place, sealed up some cracks on the walls in my bedroom (that's where they seem to be found these days) and the bathroom, made a huge mess (I stopped caring though), while at the same time, cursed the genetic makeup of roaches for allowing them to survive past the Jurassic Period...

The other problem that I've found this week was that my toilet leaks water around the base. Though after some investigation, the problem doesn't seem that big nor important anymore. I mean, I flush the toilet maybe four times each day and it appears that the toilet will only leak under heavy usage (such as last weekend when my parents were around). A little paper towel around the base seems to do the trick for now.
At least that problem solved itself - sorta...

I feel better now that I've ranted...still, I think I might be a tiny bit home-sick...