I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords..

[darren_stranger]

There are ants on my desk.

Have been for weeks, maybe months.

I'm not sure where they're coming from - i don't leave food scraps about and they don't even seem interested in my coffee cup.  The only thing they do get into is my drinking water.

No matter.  They don't bite or otherwise give me any trouble and, while it's probably not especially hygienic, they generally don't bother me.  In fact, i've discovered lately that i quite like having them there.  Or, more accurately, i like the *idea* that i don't mind them being there.  Just today i worked out why that is - it's mainly because i know anyone else in this office would just automatically kill them without a thought why (beyond the fact they're ants, and you kill ants because they're ants), which in turn signifies a whole bunch of other attitudes and viewpoints that seem to be taken as a given around here, but that i constantly find myself completely at odds with.  So somehow having ants wandering my desk with impunity has now become a small symbol (or numerous small, mobile, six legged symbols) of disdain for the culture of this place (and their stupid minds - stupid, stupid!).

In a nutshell - i like my ants because my not being bothered by ants would shit people who shit me.  Simple as that.

I really do think i may be losing my marbles.

 

Edit - Ha! I've got it - i'm just being anti! :) 

Comments

[mr-e-cat.livejournal.com]

that was a long post for a terrible pun

I loved it!

[strang-er.livejournal.com]

Heh - the pun came after. The rest is true. :)

me mad too

[i-beloved.livejournal.com]

I think that's a wonderful trait to have. I bet your new friends are more interesting than the d-wads you're surrounded with at the moment.

You are definitely not losing your marbles. It's like when I removed all of the snails from the driveway so that my housemate wouldn't squash them when he came home that night in the rain. I also remember apologising to a snail I stepped on and continued to talk to it for a few minutes until I saw the neighbour staring at me through the bushes.. hmmm.. pervert! I guess he probably thought I was the real pervert or something.

Anyway, it's nice to treat all living things with respect and at least the ants like your water, most humans would say it's not good enough :) Humans suck, well, sometimes. I think we must be related.

Re: me mad too

[strang-er.livejournal.com]

I hate standing on snails too. Probably get that from mum (as opposed to other shit'eads who used to "take great delight in scrunching them").

Or maybe it's all that reading about Buddhism at an impressionable age (oh, no - the Tripitaka effect strikes again).

Tripitaka

[i-beloved.livejournal.com]

Labelled for life!

Hmmm.. who took great delight? Shi-ted? I know that some garden-proud people use broken up egg shells to repel snails (after they've shredded themselves on the shells, that is) from their plants. I wonder if snails feel that or if they have less sensitive nerve endings in their slimey bits, which is all of their body I guess. I hate thinking about the salt use in the garden, ick, bastards.

I know recently I killed a spider and I don't remember why but I remember I cried afterwards. I think I need therapy. I don't know about buddhism, but those hinduism books got me for a while there and that part stuck (sort of, says the meat eater).

Re: Tripitaka

[strang-er.livejournal.com]

Yeah, him.

I tend to get squeamish about killing anything (though i know it's necesary sometimes - like when the cats are suffering with fleas). Though that's no big news.

What i thought was interesting with the ants thing was just a case of what i'll grasp at to reassure myself i'm Not One Of Them.

[belegdel.livejournal.com]

I've tried tolerating ants but I can't.

It isn't because they're insecty, or bitey or even because they're crawly.

It's because of the SMELL they exude! It's crazy making and the more of them there are the worse it is.
*shudder*

[strang-er.livejournal.com]

I have a lousy sense of smell, but must admit they taste foul if accidentally eaten. Still, it's easy enough to avoid if i check my pens before chewing them (or, if i was smarter, i'd use that to kick the pen chewing habit).

Having a specific reason for not tolerating ants i can understand, but i guess i'm projecting the general unthinking 'just because' culture onto it (you know, where not driving a car, eating meat or cheating on your tax is 'wierd' behaviour). The ants are really just a two-finger (or two-antenna) salute to a bunch of other stuff that shits me.

(Maybe i am a little wierd, but not for those reasons).

[trayce.livejournal.com]

I'm... not sure I wanna know why you were accidentally eating ants, Darren ;P

[strang-er.livejournal.com]

Well, when you're snogging something that small, accidents do happen..

[belegdel.livejournal.com]

I've often pondered the practicalities of using ants as a dishwasher.
After they're done, rinse and *tada* clean!

Or maybe not.

[blackjewls.livejournal.com]

I've re-located ant nests around the garden. They are not nice when eating YOUR crop away and inviting snails along. The worst I find is when they hog the cat food, all fresh and clean

A work place I use to be in, we had rats eating the Wagon Wheels in the vending machine as well as cockroaches helping you with your breaky, yuck

[strang-er.livejournal.com]

Rats and roaches in the food supply would even push my squickometer. But a few wandering chocolate sprinkles with legs on my desk i can handle.

As well as the other stuff, i guess there's a whole 'unthinking revulsion for actual living things' issue in there somewhere, that modern culture is good at.

[txxxpxx.livejournal.com]

We found slugs floating in the base of the coffee machine at work & slug trails over the sandwich press.

It was at that point I started using my own coffee dripolator & bringing in lunch from home.

I swear I gagged when I saw it. *shudder*

[blackjewls.livejournal.com]

eeh yuck :(

[strang-er.livejournal.com]

I'm gagging just reading it.

[belegdel.livejournal.com]

I tend to brutally relocate green ant nests (at least I know them as "green ants"). But then, I live with someone who's severely allergic to them.

I tend to try and "manage" the other ants rather than annihilate them indiscriminantly. They're persistent buggers though and sometimes raining doom upon them is the only way to discourage them.

[siin.livejournal.com]

We're supposed to have marbles?

Shit I must have been taking the kids to the pool when they handed them out.

Damn.

[gothsuck.livejournal.com]

Ants smell horrible if you squash them. :)

[strang-er.livejournal.com]

They don't call 'em pissants for nothing.

[justaprimate.livejournal.com]

Hehe, you're not mental at all... Why must all humans automtically kill that which is living that is not a cat or dog (or human)? I really appreciated this post, as I feel really similar, and am quite jealous that you get to annoy sucky co-workers by not killing the ants...
I am COMPLETELY sure that pesticides are far worse for you than the ants will ever be...
Me, I never even use Rid or any other mozzie sprays for the same reason... I'd much rather have a few mozzie bites than some sort of weird brain cancer from all that crap!
Keep it up, I'll be cheering for you!!!
PS just so you know, you can kill garden snails without guilt, since they aren't even native to Australia... I leave the rest of the decision up to you though...