7 Quick Takes Friday: the SCAAARY Edition!

It seems that I've seen an awful lot of spooks around lately! What's up with that? I've never been one for scary things, but in the spirit of the holiday, let me tell you about a few of my scariest experiences:

1. Cleaning out my fridge. This is the stuff of horror films, and an ongoing fright. The worst one was finally cleaning it after a trimester... or two... after the morning sickness set in and kept me out of the kitchen for months. I could have sold my fridge to the local university biology department!

2. Being stalked by a cougar... almost. I was twelve and out camping with another family. I was walking out to my tent at night when I heard a low, menacing growl. I froze in my tracks, but the growling continued. All I could think was, Oh my gosh, it's a cougar, I'm going to DIE!!!! A half hour later, still petrified to the spot, I suddenly realized that the growling was from the other family's dad-- SNORING at a zillion decibels.

3. Dreaming that I died. You know how usually, when you have a nightmare, you wake up right before you die? I dreamed right through my death once, and it was weird.

4. Watching the Borgs from Star Trek: Next Generation. I was exposed a very young age to those scary cyber-beings that killed and assimilated everything in their path. They were scary then, but after seeing a feature full-length film all about Borgs at the ago of twelve, I had nightmares and stupid real-life fears about them all the way into college-- until Adam made me watch THE MOVIE again. And you know what? They are a lot less scary to a 21-year-old than to an 8-year-old. Go figure.

5. Finding half a fly in my macaroni and cheese. Even worse, I never found the other half. I took me a looooong time to eat mac and cheese again, and even now, I will give my macaroni a few stirs to check for, um, extra ingredients.

6. Getting a little too close to a mouse. Once again, I was twelve. Wow, that year is turning out to be a little more traumatic than I remembered! I was sitting on the floor, reading, when my cat came crashing wildly into the room. Before I knew what was happening, the mouse that she was chasing dove for the nearest hiding place-- up my pant leg. I was instantly on my feet, screeching and shaking like a madman until the mouse came flying out of my pants. Okay, that one was actually more funny than scary at the time, but I'm sure that the mouse was plenty traumatized.

7. Watching those stupid internet movies. You know, the ones that force you to turn up the volume and concentrate on the screen really intently for several minutes, and then flash a horrific picture and blast a blood-curdling scream! The first time I saw one, I just about destroyed my dorm desk and brought half the wing running to investigate the screaming-- from me, not the computer. Here it is, in case you were wondering:

And that finishes up my Seven Quick Takes! Here's hoping you all have a safe, fun, and fear-free Halloween!