first entry of 2009

What is the matter with the ants at home?! They're driving me nuts!! Okay, a little background. In my home, lives this colony of ants. They've been around since the day i moved in, and for the past 6 years, we have lived together in somewhat of a balance of life; we do our stuff, and they do theirs.

From time to time, they will come and crawl over some crumbs of biscuit dropped a while ago in the kitchen or coffee table. Then they will try bravely to carry the loot back to their den, wherever that might be. Its almost comical to see them try to steal a drop of gravy. like, you get this 12 ants(i counted!) all positioned around this drop of brown stuff, and its as if they are trying to lift it... when i had more time to kill, I'd watch them... then there are these ants that cannot fit into the "circle of gravy", and they will just be running rounds around the rest. Pretending to be busy only la.

It was all fun and games for them when i watched, because the moment i got bored, a huge blanket of tissue will likely to befall upon the raiding party, and the brave vanguard are likely to be submerged into this roundish porcelain bowl with some water at the bottom. Following that, there will be a switch pushed and they will get sucked into some super long and dark tube, and they probably will get medals of honor back home.

These days however, WOW, talk about speed. I pour myself a glass of mango juice and i leave it on the coffee table for five minutes, maybe i went to answer the phone, or maybe to take a dump. But by the time i'm back, those damn ants will be all over my drink! Freaking gross! Same thig with some grapes or half eaten apple.. They just swarm. What in the world are they doing? Its not like they can carry the damn thing off, or they can take a bite from the apple. What are they doing, and who do they think they are?

What makes it worse, is that its hard to trace where they are going, because these ants have evolved into lightning strike troopers. Unlike infantry ants, who marches as 1 long line of ants like the ones you see in jungles or in cartoons, these guys have no obvious supply line! When you hit one, they all just scatter, and run off in different directions! Commando ants! Next thing you know they'll be parachuting onto my dinner table, or breaking into my fridge wearing little fur coats..

I still kinda like them, i mean, they're the little teeny weeny brown little house ants that can't bite. Not those black ones you see in the park of jungle. So putting out poison is out. But i'd like to leave my food out in the open in my own home for more than an hour without having to worry about freeloaders coming in.

The next best solution i have is to go on a holiday for a month or something, hopefully by then they've starved to death or moved on to my neighbours =P

Till then i'd just have to eat really quickly.