People tend to unwatch me most on Tumblr when I post cockroach-related things. That’s fine, I understand, even though it should be obvious that I’m a fan of them and make posts about them all the time… perhaps they didn’t notice.

I’ve had people leave comments on my insect (specifically cockroach-related) photography where they ignore the photo itself and just ramble on and on about how they killed this one huge roach in their room. That’s fine; it’s rude, but people just don’t know any better sometimes and they act on impulse when they’re grossed out.

I’ve had people come into my home, knowing the pets I have, and wind up freaking out about them and I’ve had people refuse to visit me, just knowing that there are roaches kept in a glass tank in a room they won’t even be going into. That’s fine; it makes me sad but people have their phobias and I’ve no right to judge how extreme their phobia may be or guilt trip them about it.

I’ve had people say, “oh what a pretty tattoo! What’s it of, a beetle?” when they can see my roach tattoo peeking out the top of my collar, and when I show them the rest, and they see it’s a different insect, suddenly the tattoo is disgusting and no longer pretty because of what it is. Then they give me “that look” of “why?” which is fine; to each their own, I think Tweety bird tattoos are stupid looking, everyone has opinions…

But shit like this actually really… kinda hurts. This girl is likely just another young, sheltered, shallow girl only on YouTube to watch makeup tutorials and One Direction videos. I shouldn’t give two shits. But this is like, the third comment I’ve received so far on THIS video actually saying I deserve to die, and one of countless comments I get -daily- that I don’t approve and thus can’t be seen that otherwise talk to me as if I’m some disgusting, crazy bitch only posting roach videos for shock value. I honestly can’t comprehend what can make a person feel legitimate HATE towards another human being for recording a video of the rarely-seen act of a perfectly clean, natural animal giving birth. It’s okay to find it gross, but jesus, keep it to yourself or at least try and pretend to be humane and decent about it.

God I love these, but why do they have to be midcalves??? I HATE midcalves. They always scrunch down and BLEGH so uncomfortable. I won’t wear anything below my knee, but there are so many socks with awesome patterns that are midcalf or shorter, ugh. :c

“In an effort to understand the makeup of Earth’s prehistoric atmosphere, a group of researchers has been trying to grow insects as large as their giant ancestors. It’s all fun and games until they start overrunning the countryside.

Ancient Earth saw dragonflies with wingspans up to 28 inches, and their size is thought to be linked to higher levels of oxygen in the prehistoric atmosphere. Now John VandenBrooks of Arizona State University has tested that hypothesis by growing himself some big bugs.

VanderBrooks raised groups of dragonflies, cockroaches, grasshoppers, meal worms, beetles, and other insects in atmospheres with different levels of oxygen. As predicted, the dragonflies and many of the other insects raised in higher oxygen matured more quickly and became larger adults; when these same species of insects were raised in atmospheres with oxygen levels lower than modern Earth’s they grew to be smaller than those reared in modern atmosphere.

There was, however, a significant exception. Ancient cockroaches were no larger than modern ones, and in VanderBrooks’ experiment, the cockroaches grew no larger in higher levels of oxygen. In fact, the cockroaches raised in hyperoxia stayed in their larval stage longer, as if waiting for less oppressive levels of oxygen. So at least this particular bout of mad science won’t end with giant roaches raiding your pantry.”

:C

“dirty ass cockroach lover, why not live with them in the sewers where you belong.” lol

I had the most amazing, beautiful dream whilst napping on the couch with Eyeball… I was swimming in this murky, muddy lake, after a big rainstorm (it was still lightly misting), and the bank all along the left side was steep and chunks of earth were falling down into the water along with streams of muddy water. There were so many amazing critters swimming around and crawling along the side of the bank where cakey mud would fall away… salamanders, giant and of many wild colors, purple trapdoor spiders, some ground-dwelling, burrowing leaf insects whose “leaves” would fold away as they entered the ground, massive earthworms slithering through the water like snakes (they were very easy to catch, as they had blood-red midsections that were thinner than the rest of their body), tiny frogs with wild colors and eyes, chitinous invertebrate mice and catfish with legs. I just had to draw some of them before they slipped from my visual memory. I remember trying my best to catch as many as possible but had nowhere to put them but my soggy pockets!

This was the first pleasant (let alone, non-horrific) dream I remember having in a long, long while. I am going to hold on to it as long as possible…

Just a few recent photos of bugs/nature and my house :)

Idea I just had to get out of my system. Ok back to art I actually got paid to do :I (That’s normal Vera in a cockroach costume running with a bunch of giant roaches aka my dream.) :D

Ziggyyyy. Such a good quality cat. They don’t make cats like this anymore, good ‘n sturdy. Good tank heater. Makes for a nice bookend as well!

Just realized I’d never posted my eyeball bracelet collection here before :o !!! I could have sworn I did.

From left to right: First one I painted on a wood bangle. Second is from Chival <3 Third is by Kreepsville, bought online a couple years ago. Fourth was made just for me by dumpysaurus. Fifth was a gift from my Aunt for Christmas. Sixth I bought myself on eBay years and years ago… was my first eyeball bracelet. It matches my own eyes. <3 NEED MOAR!!!

Edit: WOW. 119 notes overnight? Glad you like my eyeballs. :o) Here, enjoy my BIG collection of eyeballs:
http://penanggalan.deviantart.com/art/Optometrist-Monster-191467793
http://penanggalan.deviantart.com/art/My-Eyeball-Collection-151795483

PS I loved eyeballs long before they were the current “trend”… though it’s cool there’s so much merch of them now for me to hoard c:<

Roger’s mom was made by Josh’s mom years and years ago. It’s now my most prized possession. I’m the luckiest Bogmonster this side of the swamp. <3

Yesterday was Kristy’s cat, May’s birthday. It was the most disgustingly cute thing ever. They had a tuna cake, we had awesome Indian food, delicious little silver-flaked desserts and rose ice cream.

Packin’ to house-sit for Jonathan, Jesse & Dylan for a whole week! I’ll be spending most of it alone, I very much look forward to it. I love my family but I’ll always be a monster who loves her solitude. Their house is very cozy with the slightest creepy factor, I look forward to creeping myself out with horror movies and playing SH and Siren! :D

A photo of all the stuff I’m bringing, plus a photo of the stickers I put in my clipboard :) They’re not my favorites from my scrapbooking collection, but mostly are ones I had doubles of or that weren’t too hard to find. I’ve always been a sticker hoarder. :P

Oh! Also some photos of the two-lined stick insects I found at my parents’ new house :) The male is only about 2”, but the female’s body alone is longer than my finger! Need to get them some oak, privet, bramble, plantain and/or rhododendron to eat. It’s very common to find the male attached to the adult female. The male of the species typically attaches himself to the female when she reaches sexual maturity. There he remains – indefinitely. He’ll remain attached through her repeated molting cycles, frequently even observed being dragged behind her as dead weight…

YAYs of the day:

 Mail joys… woke up to find JP dinosaurs in the mail, which were sent to me by someone from FA. Chaos Effect Omega T-Rex, a much better conditioned Spinosaurus, another Tapejara, and Camo Xtreme Canyon T-Rex. Expecting two more lots soon so I haven’t taken pictures yet, but the next photos I take will be epic. Also got THIS Vera badge and THIS art card from Inkfall in the mail today <3 The badge is enormous! I adore the lettering, too. Also this marks my FIRST ATC card to be added to my Boogle x Gromble deck :D I’m going to put them all in a big card folder, and yes, I plan to fill it eventually. :P *Totally not obsessed*

 After much splee-ing and cleaning/playing with the dinos, I made myself some spicy chai and watched Rugrats while working on art trades, very much enjoying the house since we cleaned it and organized some things that were still packed (yes, we moved here two whole months ago and are still unpacking!). Got two ATCs inked and working on coloring Savi’s. I’m still conflicted about whether or not it’s even worth finishing, but I plan on making her another to make up for the horribleness of this one.

Went shopping, which was more stressful than usual but still nice because we got some of our favorite things to eat, as well as some stuff to cook when Shaun (a pal for the past 14 years) comes down, and I……

 …Got a new reptile friend! Believe it or not, I STILL have more extra tanks, space, bedding, water dishes, heat lamps, heat pads AND tank decor than I know what to do with. She’s a beautifully marked leopard lizard! Will post photos of her soon, her name is Harle, short for Harlequin. Spoken without the “e” so it sounds like “hurl”, which fits nicely with all my other pets’ names :P She spazzes out and “death rolls” when tickled, but is completely calm once you have her in your hands. I LOVE HER SO MUCH. (I’d bet money that no one will get the quote)

 Pet care joys… Fed Splorch, Egon, Ortin, Buster (actually fed him 3 days ago so he’s all set for another few days), Jax and Skankum… cleaned all their tanks, misted and gave them fresh water. All the non-invertebrates are in the bedroom, since the garage doesn’t have proper day/night cycles and the amphibians aren’t crazy about the heat like the bugs are. They’ve all been breeding like MAD though, and I just keep finding more newly hatched skunk roach babies! They are my third favorite type of cockroach that I keep, which is quite an achievement.

 A two-lined spittlebug (prosapia bicincta) landed on my stomach and sat there for the longest time moments ago, widdling its adorable little legs… then I found a gorgeous solid black spider on the carpet, caught it, fed it a pinhead cricket, and released it. Let’s hope he doesn’t go telling all his friends about the new restaurant in town, I only have so many pinheads left and they belong to the scorplings! :P

 Been selling original art lately… It feels awesome to sell an original work that I made just for fun, because there isn’t the usual stress of already having been paid as by commission and feeling pressured to finish it quickly.

 Making eggplant parmesan with Josh, which always takes forever and so we wind up having some interesting conversations :o)

Tomorrow’s plans:
- Start building Jax’s new cage -finally-
- Finish more ATCs
- Take Jax out and clean his cage (there’s a poop stuck between the bars and some got on his gator friend, but he’s asleep and I don’t want to disturb him lol)
- Make room on another shelf for dinosaurs, dino brites and other toys which are currently taking over the computer room
- Find my goddamn box of crafts and hope that if they’re in the garage, the heat hasn’t baked all my Sculpey! :P
- Re-plant my new calathea medallion and sit it in a shady part of the porch (the humidity, air flow and heat will be perfect for this gorgeous purple & green tropical plant!)

Photos from the walk through paradise my family and I had today :) Tumblr just cannot do these photos justice, so I uploaded them at their larger size to my Flickr, HERE: ~Tropical Paradise~ I’m amazed every single day at the beautiful, tropical world I get to live in… sharing this walk with my family at one of my favorite spots on this Earth was such an experience. I hadn’t been there for years, and it was even more lush, green and thick with life than I remember.

We saw so many things that I didn’t get to photograph, either because I was enjoying the experience too much to think of it or I couldn’t get a good shot due to not being allowed by the park to leave the boardwalk (alligators being in the water and all). But there was a massive and intricate orb weaver feeding in her web with a much smaller male above her… massive butterflies everywhere… several mystery bugs which were too flighty to identify… and Christmas lichen (cryptothecia rubrocincta) which is very reddish-pink in color and grow best in places where the air is damp and clean. It is used as a dye in Brazil. It was a really beautiful, surreal thing to see covering several of the trees. Must get photos next time we go, even if I have to risk an alligator attack! :P

Of all the 30 issues I have of this comic series, I tried to take photos of some of my favorite drawings, and share them with you <3 It was hard to narrow it down. May share the rest on Twitter later :B 

Creepshow: They’re Creeping Up on You (1982)

“They’re Creeping Up On You” features an obsessively-clean, ruthlessly cruel billionaire Upson Pratt (E.G. Marshall), whose Mysophobia has him living in a hermetically sealed apartment. The chapter is uniformly creative, filmed in garish 1980’s comic-book colors, and Tom Savini’s makeup effects are quite memorable. Mr. Pratt finds himself helpless when his sterile penthouse becomes overrun by endless hordes of cockroaches. His hatred of cockroaches was seen by some as a metaphor for prejudice. 

In Stephen King’s original script for the film, the final story, “They’re Creeping Up On You!”, originally took place in a lush, carpeted penthouse apartment. However, because with roaches this would have been unworkable, Romero opted for a more empty almost hospital room-like set for the story. 

The cockroaches were exterminated at the end of the film… but for a moment, they had their revenge on humanity… and “blattodephobes” everywhere still shudder while watching this film, much to the satisfaction of cockroaches, I’m sure, if they were to have a consciousness. I always found it beautiful, watching as Mr. Pratt’s pure white home progress into a dark, shiny mass of skittering roachy exoskeletons. This story gave me the least creeps of any other Creepshow story; but it was by far my favorite.

Post inspired by http://classichorror.tumblr.com/