Attack by a Six-legged Freak!

By Yang Xinzi
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Bedok New Town, Singapore. A cockroach (Periplaneta americana) of epic proportions pathologically attacked at the wee hours of this very unfortunate Christmas Eve as I was watching a rerun of Heroes on Starworld. This unruly pest glided past the large open window and landed right next to me on my couch causing a mayhem triggered by my very effective screams. My very wimpy father then appeared with a torch and Shieldtox Multi-kill All Insect Killer, the very hero of the day (the insect killer not my Dad). After sporadic sprays at random areas of the living room and almost drowning us in the Shieldtox fumes, my Dad insisted that the assailant has departed to the other world and has been in his exact words "gotten rid off for good" but things never turn out THAT well.

After a good five minutes or so, I began to hear the threatening fluttering of the vulgar bug. So, armed with the almighty Shieldtox I took another greatly accurate aim at the bug and this time it was incapacitated for good. What's the damage? You don't wanna see the post-mortem picture, it was a like watching Nightmare on Elm Street rerun seven times. It was sad (and damn frightening), I swear I almost felt the Evil Karma metre rising rapidly.

Here's the justification: cockroaches can become a public health problem due to their association with human waste and disease, and their ability to move from sewers into homes and commercial establishments. In the United States during the summer, alleyways and yards maybe overrun by these cockroaches. The cockroach is found in caves, mines, privies, latrines, cesspools, sewers, sewerage treatment plants, and dumps (Bell and Adiyodi 1981). Their presence in these habitats is of epidemiological significance. At least 22 species of pathogenic human bacteria, virus, fungi, and protozoans, as well as five species of helminthic worms, have been isolated from field collected American cockroaches (Rust et. al. 1991). Cockroaches are also aesthetically displeasing because they can soil items with their excrement and regurgitation. Seems like these creatures are out celebrating Christmas as well. Here's a visual description of the monsters and their fecal smears (reads: SHIT)

Kill the bug, save yourself.
Kudos to the Christmas Eve I killed a roach.