This is what entails when you let the fear of a certain small creature dominate your life:
1. Every little noise strikes fear into your heart. Even the sound of the fridge breathing makes you jump out of your skin in terror while almost giving you a heart attack.
2. You fear to venture into your own kitchen alone without anyone tagging along as your bodyguard - or in this case, a buffer whom you'd most likely push towards the offending creature (on the off chance that it comes out of hiding) as you beat a hasty retreat out of the kitchen.
3. You stopped cooking for as long as you suspect the little creature is still roaming around the kitchen. The image of the ugly furry thing climbing up your leg while you're busy cooking is enough to make you swear off being anywhere near the kitchen, let alone near the stove underneath which you suspect the tiny creature is making itself a nice, cozy home.
4. It becomes an absolute must to store all food and garbage in the fridge. Yes, that includes garbage too. Along with the good food, all to be discarded food shall also take up residence in the fridge until the next time you remember to throw them out.
5. You will never ever dare walk into the kitchen barefoot again. No knee-high boots to fend off any attacks - imagined or otherwise? No worries, walking with each leg in a knee-deep bucket will still do the trick.
6. You can't help but make weird loud noises before entering the kitchen - one you hope would scare away the creature into hiding and thus spare you from any unwanted sightings of its ugly furry self.
7. Finally, it gives you a silly excuse to buy a portable electric cooktop.
Tadaa! Cool, huh? Now you can cook wherever and whenever you want: in the tv room while watching some commercials, the dining room just before dinner time or even in your bedroom at midnight - just so long as the cooking is not done in the kitchen.
And what's more? The cooktop doesn't cost a fortune as I initially thought. Nor does it consume as much energy as the conventional oven or rice cooker.
Now, that's saying a lot!
