No sleep for me

Last night I mostly just chilled at home, and went to bed with a book around 11:30. I didn't intend to read that long, but the book was really good (Last Argument of Kings) so I didn't end up turning out the light until about 1:30. The Kitten was curled up next to me and we were drifting off when suddenly there was a Noise. It was a scritching sort of noise that sounded like it came from close to my window, and the Kitten meeped and jumped over me to check it out. I didn't hear it again, but it was exactly the sort of noise a giant (shudder) cockroach would make if it was walking across the wall, I thought.

I grabbed my glasses and turned on the light, but I didn't see anything. The Kitten was still staring fixedly at the wall above my bed, however, her pupils dilated. Maybe from the light, maybe from her predatory instinct to hunt and kill whatever hideous monster we'd heard.

I regretted then having so many things hanging from my walls, all providing spaces for things to hide from the light. I looked (very bravely) behind the wall hanging and curtains, shook out the pillows, even moved the blinds.

Nothing.

But the Kitten was still staring at the wall. I tried staring at the wall for a while,
but nothing suddenly leaped into view the way it does after you stare at a 3D hidden picture long enough. Which is good, because no one should ever make a hidden picture of a giant cockroach 2 feet away from where you were trying to sleep 2 minutes ago.

I debated sleeping on the couch, but was determined not to give in. If I gave the cockroach my bed, it would want my bedroom, and then my bathroom, and then my whole apartment, and then maybe my whole life! Hopefully someone would notice if a giant cockroach came into work one day instead of me, and didn't just think I was trapped in Kafka's head.

So I turned out the light and tried to sleep, but the Kitten was still fascinated by the wall. For the next hour. It made sleeping a bit difficult, so I didn't get very much last night.

I've heard cockroaches don't like the smell of bay leaves, and they don't seem to be poisonous to cats, so I may recarpet my apartment in them.

It could be worse, I guess, I could be living in Papua New Guinea. No, on second thought, I would never live there ever ever ever.