aah! it's summer tym in pakistan again... waat B-liss :p it's typically characterized by a scorching May sun, blistering June heat, pouring July rains, stifling August humidity, and a combination of all four that lasts through september, october, and half of november. if the weather doesnt kill you, the insects will. the good thyng about pakistani summer is you witness two whole weeks of strawberries and spring before the sun sets in and wilts everythyng... the flowers, the fruit, and needless to say, ice cream. the flaming trees that line the canal make the most amazing pictures. too bad i cant find some pix taken by our photographers, but when the trees are in full bloom, the whole atmosphere is indescribable. then there are the gladiolas, and the tuberoses (you may have guessed... im a flower-flower person)... That's the good side of summer/spring. the bad side, is the end of winters. hence the hybernation period of insects, reptiles and bears. while fortunately for us, there are not too many bears in lahore, there are way too many lizards, cockroaches, spiders, mosquitoes and mango-bugs for my comfort. lets begin w/ lizards. i dont mind lizards. in fact, them and i have shared the bathroom and showers a number of times. ive seen all kinds. with tails, without tails, pregnant ones, black ones, orange ones, striped ones... the list is endless. but then there are tyms i like my privacy and my space. for such tyms i keep a gun w/ me. it's an unlicensed rifle, and used specifically for hunting birds and reptiles scaling your walls. i'd say my aim is good, except there was thys one tym, when i shot a huge FAT lizard, and leaving a trail of blood on the wall, it ran off. i saw it again a couple of tyms, carrying a huge hole in the stomach. didnt have the heart to kill it again. *sigh* then there are the cockroaches. i know ALL living thyngs have been granted a right to live OFFICIALLY, through the United Nation's Human Rights Charter, but since law is never really executed here in pakistan, you can get away with murder, literally. i love stamping on these red/brown, 8-legged, winged creatures i studied in bio class... but the icky whitish blood stains they leave on a blue carpet arent very nice. the idea is, i just wish they'd go away and leave me in peace... im not a violent person by nature, but provoked, i have a tendency to do thyngs i may regret later. i feel most helpless against these bloodsuckers. you cant shoot them, you cant step on them and almost invariably, they attack, do you to blisters, and fly-off, all before you can say "bless you". i remember seeing black ones with white polka dots, and black ones with white stripes (on one kind running horizontally, and on one vertically) when i was in college. and their bites were painful. i drown myself in Mospel everynight, before going to bed. it's guaranteed to keep mosquitoes away, but personal experience has shown it's as effective against men. then i could go on and on about mango-bugs, that a) arent necessarily exclusive to mango trees, b) are extremely slow in their movements, and c) can be seen all over my house. these thyngs are incredibly small, and carry their homes on their backs. on squashing them, you find their blood is yellow, and leaves permanent stains (on blue carpets). i plan on doing a whole seperate blog on spiders, cuz trust me, they ARE really facinating creatures. but for another day. right now im hungry and want a bite. on another note (you may want to wonder why i chose to bring thys up in an entry about insects and all thyngs icky) pakistan's politics has become a joke. and it isnt even funny. i seriously really like thys guy, so naturally, i hate reading headlines that go: "benazir will only come to pakistan if musharraf promises to take off uniform" very funny. :p