Monday 20 August 2012

The Joys of Living in a Basement

I've lived in the basement ever since the router moved there. My old room barely had any WiFi strength for my laptop and that was unacceptable to me. And I like it down there. It's always cold even in the middle of the summer, I have my own bathroom around the corner, and I can move around better at night and am less likely to wake others up.

My only fear is that one day I'll become "that guy" in his parent's basement forever.

Kill me before this happens please.

That being said, I do miss the sound of rain on the roof. I don't see sunrises or sunsets anymore. But the biggest problem I have with living in the basement, is the bugs. No matter how hard you seal up every crack or gap in your home, insects and other creatures will find a way into your basement whether you like it, or not.

I generally don't mind them. They tend to congregate in the bathroom. It's not uncommon for me brush my teeth and watch a spider crawl down beside the mirror. Or watch as a couple woodlice scurry around outside of the shower. I've given up catching and releasing them outside, they'll probably just find a new way back in.

And they aren't that gross, could be worse.

However, it's when these things arrive unexpectedly that really bother me. Somehow, things keep crawling through the vents and into my bedroom. I have a duct directly over my desk and I've had woodlice suddenly drop down into my lap.

Once a moth popped out and started flying around me room until I finally caught it in a cup. It died throughout the night though which kind of surprised me. I thought that the thing could have waited a few hours for morning to come.

That's still not as bad as waking up in the morning, groping in the darkness for your alarm clock only to grab a woodlouse-like object on your pillow instead. Yes there is a vent over my bed. I haven't liked it since. And yes, I did somewhat panic in my groggy state and threw it somewhere.

Replace the table with a bug and that was pretty much me.

But the worst case I've encountered was one day discovering a dead spider in the corner of my bathroom. Being the lazy person I am. I leave it. I mean, who wants to go around touching dead spiders? They don't really bother me but who has "Clean dead spider off bathroom floor" on their to-do list.

A few days later I find a fairly large centipede eating said dead spider.

Centipedes scare me. I wouldn't even touch that thing. I wanted nothing to do with it. I actually had to have someone come into my bathroom, and get rid of that centipede for me. That's how much I hate them.

I'm not even going to go look for a picture of a centipede.

I eventually get around to cleaning the dead spider remains and it was like mush. Was it decomposing? Had the centipede injected something into the spider corpse to make it easier to digest? Are all spider corpses this mushy?

I don't know. But lately, I've been reconsidering moving back into my old room upstairs.

39 comments:

  1. Yeah, you better go in your old room. Besides, I hate bugs, and frankly your scene disgusted me.

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  2. I haven't experienced living in the basement, but I guess it brings many surprises, as you say.

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  3. Dude, you're honestly never going to be "that guy," I mean the guy in the photo itself is someone who I'm sure is single and has been single for a long time and you're not like that. If you don't like it maybe you should move back upstairs, the stigma of living in my parent's basement would grind at me I reckon.

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  4. I think that there are some upsides to living in a basement, but it sounds like there are plenty of downsides too. If you can you should move things away from the vents. If not, then you can consider moving again.

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  5. Ahhhhh ewwwww, Bugs. Ick. Go upstairs.

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  6. Blah all those bugs would annoy me, I get a few being on the first floor of an apt building, but thankfully the cats eat them, so I'm good haha Oh and yeah don't become that guy haha

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  7. Who you gonna call? An exterminator!

    Good luck on avoiding becoming one of those people who lives in there parents basements for ever! If you do become like that, don't forget to get lots of porn and never cut your finger nails.

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  8. Spiders and Centipedes sounds like the beginning of an epic children's story, haha. I can imagine it's nice being in the cool in this summer heat! xxx

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  9. To be honest, I've never seen a house anywhere that had a basement. Maybe houses in Malaysia/India just don't have them. Perhaps because in the hot climate it would be unbearable going down there.

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  10. ...who cleans that place? I don't think it's common for basements to be _that_ bug-infested? In any case, the vents seem like a huge problem. Chances are most of them get in through there. I suggest either moving, or preventing bugs from entering the fence via a really fine wire mesh.

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  11. Dude. MOVE BACK UPSTAIRS IMMEDIATELY before the centipedes start feeding on you!!!!! GAH!!!!!

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  12. OH MAN. I hate bugs. With a burning passion.

    But to pick between good internet and bugs...?

    Tough choice, my friend.

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  13. You must be really bored man, writing about cleaning up dead bugs Good blog none the less.

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  14. it will be good if you keep changing location as per environment and net connection.
    like the pic of bug

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  15. I don't like centipedes, either. They're just too crawly.

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  16. I don't know how i'd feel about living in the basement. You'd have all the space to yourself but definitely it's a lot darker than the rest of the house.

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  17. When I moved to the East Coast, I was introduced to the House Centipede. I. DON'T. LIKE. THEM.

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  18. Kinda makes me wish that my parents had a basement that I could live in.

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  19. OK...I think you've convinced me that I hate many legged creatures as much as snakes. Can I blame any nightmares tonight on you???

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  20. I used to work with a guy that looked like a older version of that basement nerd.

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  21. Under those conditions, I think I'd move too. Unless I could re arrange the bed somewhere else, in that case.. I'd just move the bed so I can sleep in peace. Everything else is pretty cool.

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  22. Maybe someone have to clean.this basement lol
    I dont like bugs but I try to dont look thrm lol

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  23. Omy im.sure I. Let a comment I think. About where you live is you dont like maybe is better you return where you live before.
    I dont like bugs:(

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  24. i mind bugs. and i would not live in any place where bugs appear every now and then. hate spiders and centipedes. even typing them out, make my hair stand.

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  25. I can help you with the centipedes if you help me with the roaches... shudder...

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  26. I can't become that guy, we don't have a basement!
    >:D

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  27. I don't think I will ever leave in a basement. might be very scary I guess? hehe..

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  28. ewwwww I hate bugs :( I couldn't live in a space where woodlice fell on my lap, I'd scream!

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  29. there's no natural light in the basement? Oh, man! That's like living in a cave....

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  30. Well look at this way young one. By living in the basement you'll be prepared in case you're ever thrown into a cell on Devil's Island. Have you seen Papillion?

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  31. you know, i try not to kill insects cos I want to be that person (kinda am that person) who doesn't want to harm other creatures. But those insects, especially those spiders-big ones freak me out ever single fucking time that i end up automatically pulling out a slipper and SLAP. End of story. It's self defense, i tell myself.

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  32. I remember watching a discovery channel documentary about this biologist who had set his entire house as a natural eco-system.

    So to combat mosquitoes he planted certain flowers/trees for certain animals, etc. Very interesting and was reminded when you didn't have to clean up spider remains.

    Along this note, my cousin is also deathly afraid of spiders. I get called in to clean them up all the time.

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  33. I'm similar in the basement part, except it's my basement, all mine. As for bugs normally not a problem and I let them go but one day I saw an insect I'd never seen before, called a bug guy described it he said he'd never heard of such a thing and certainly not around here. Had him come out, he found it caught it and after he found out what it was and how poisonous it was he gave me a discount and insisted I get it done then and there, and so I had him bomb the place and spray and fumigate like the entire house was a giant bug. Two days later I caught a vietnamese centipede in my yard and suddenly we had an army of bug experts at my place dealing with it.
    one bite and you'd wish you'd died
    still not quite as scary though as the time I was camping and woke up with a giant fist sized wolf spider in my tent, you wanna see a grown man scream like a little girl put that in his bed

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  34. Are you living there temporary? Because if you are only there for the summer, you won't end up like that guy unless you stay there for like the whole year. Followed:d check me out.

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  35. And the worst thing is that it's a picture of a woman.
    Who has REALLY let herself go.

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  36. I don't mind spiders, but I can't stand centipedes. Thankfully, even though we have them around here, they never seem to get into the house.

    We do have black widows though. Probably the creepiest was one sitting on the wall, watching my wife. Like, my wife would take a step to the left, and the spider would crawl to the left and stay in her line of sight. She moved right, and it moved right, also. Creepiest damn thing I've ever seen, and she ordered me to kill it on the spot before it stalked and murdered her.

    Damn nature, you scary.

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  37. can you remove the vent covers? if so you may try placing some cheese cloth over the back of the vents and screwing them back on.

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  38. All the cool kids live in basements. It's a bachelors dream pad!

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