A Cricket Near Penn Square

I came to Barnes and Noble to work and kill some time this afternoon – it’s interesting to see what people are up to in the middle of the day. It’s been a weird week for working – on Wednesday I bailed altogether and went to Delaware with my cousins. But this is one of the perks of working remotely; I’ve got to get my social interaction SOMEHOW.

There’s a girl sitting near me who looks like she’s about twelve, although she might be older or younger. I can only WISH we’d had a Barnes and Noble when I was 12—I would’ve been there every weekend for a sugary drink and BOOKS! As it is now, I come to the big chain bookstores now to read the books I don’t want to wait for at the library—usually 3 or 4 hours and I’m all finished and happy. But I think of all the times I spent waiting to either buy or borrow books back when I was 14, and it makes me sad. I could’ve had such good afternoons at B&N!

My house is overrun by crickets. I’ve killed one in the kitchen and one in my bedroom. I’ve seen one in the basement that I didn’t bother to kill. And then last night, when the lights were off and the computer was on, a freaking cricket hopped across my laptop. Hopped slowly, not jumped, which is good. Had it come flying out of nowhere onto my laptop, I probably would’ve screamed. And then I couldn’t find it to kill it. I don’t love killing bugs, but I draw the line when they show up in my bed.

As far as bug infestations go, crickets aren’t the worst. (Although there is one currently in my kitchen tweeting away that needs to die. Talk about annoying.) But the thing is, I really hate the hopping things. They’re just so unpredictable – they could be in your hair or your mouth or up your pant leg at any moment! – and that’s what makes me crazy. Mice, too, because they can run so fast. Give me roaches and stink bugs and snakes and even spiders any day. While they can run and slither, they don’t seem so uncontrollable.

This is the first year I’ve ever seen crickets in my house, though, and it’s very strange. Where are they coming from—and why?

Okay, back to work. I need to go research baby boomer marketing strategies.