As some of you might know, the cicadas have once again awaken and clawed their way to the surface of Cincinnati. As I sit here at least twenty of the hard-shelled insects (their hard shells make them rather painful when they fly into your head. They're no match for a windshield going 45+ mph, however. They get their revenge, though, by having extremely sticky innards that require several hours of hard scrubbing...) are clinging to the window screen, almost as if they're just waiting for me to step foot outside...

Now working outside in fields on most days, I'm used to all manner of insect life finding its way into my hair and up my shorts, and am not really bothered by the cicadas. I was a little upset, however, by the scene I woke up to this morning: outside my screenless window a huge splotchy spider (that probably has a more scientific name than "huge splotchy spider") had built a web that caught a cicada, and had proceded to begin to suck its juices while the cicada struggled and screamed (at least in my half-asleep mind it registered as screaming). I know spiders have to eat and the circle of life blah blah blah, but the side of me that has problems even killing flies felt really bad for the cicada and the torture it was going through, despite the fact that it was too late to save it. It's a bug eat bug world out there.

And, believe it or not, this situation actually reminded me of some trouble I recently went through in my life with my ex-housemates (hey, spending hours on end tagging thousands of bushes alone in a field will lead you some deep thinking and metaphors about everything).

Don't get me wrong, it's not like my housemates (ex-housemates) tied me up and attempted to suck my juices, but it feels like they cornered me and are sucking the life out of my bank account as I watch helplessly.

I knew ever since I signed the 12-month lease that I would be subletting my room for the summer, and my housemates knew as well. Beginning winter quarter, I began looking for someone to rent the room (you may recall some of my previous frustrated blogs about the process...) and really did everything in my power to attract attention to the situation (including hanging illegal flyers and randomly asking people on buses where they were living in the summer). My housemates did nothing except send a facebook message to their younglife groups after I asked them to the twentieth time. So they didn't want to help, no big deal, my room, my problem.

Fast forward a few months. It's move-out time. I'm super excited. And I've had only one offer on the room. No big deal, it only takes one. Except that the week of move-out, my housemates decide that they'd feel uncomfortable with and don't approve of my new person (who I happen to have known for a few years and trust not to be a psycho killer). It's a problem, but no big deal. I understand that they're the one's who will have to live there. But I did my job and found someone--someone who would be saving me a whole lot of money by renting the room. If they were going to put limits on who I could consider, they should have helped a little more to find someone they approved of. So I asked for them, in exchange for me not renting the room to this person, to buy out my room. I don't know, in my mind that seems fair.

After I moved out they sent me an email explaining that they have decided not to pay me any money, and that if I rent out my room to this person they'll pretty much take me to court (they're willing to pay for a lawyer, but not help with my room?). They also graciously decided to use two bills I missed payment on as my payment for my parking pass they were going to buy back. Which is good and fine, except I never missed a payment. So not only have I been working since winter without help to find someone only to have my housemates disagree in the last week, I still have to pay rent on a room I'll never see again, didn't get any compensation for my parking pass, had my name dragged through the mud by them saying I didn't pay bills, and face the threat of them taking me to court if I do anything to try to change it. Vicious. It's definitely a bug eat bug world out there.