Giant squids kick my ass. I don't know if it's all the nature shows and creature features involving Japanese men wearing big rubbery outfits, flying three-headed puppets, and exploding toy tanks, but, God, I love that Vernesque titan of the deep.

I've always told my kids that there are no such things as monsters. I think that dissapointed my son. I thought "oh no another child spark of imagination snuffed out" until... A few years ago we watched a Discovery show about monsters of the deep that scared the bejeebus out of my boy. I had to tell him the squids were pretend. He actually turned away from the tv. Disappointment over, enter irrational fear.

Two years and a few emotional hurtles later...I took the kids to the St. Louis zoo. There was a life size replica of one dangling fom the main lobby. OOO! Were the creepy crawlies tingling on the spine! After seeing that and some horrible fictional dramatization of an undersea safari trip encountering one of the silly beasts, my boy is hooked. Disappointment gone. Irrational fear of the giant tentacled animal gone. Now it is replaced by a pure love that only a boy whose favorite communication consists of roaring and firebreathing could possibly muster.

My love is because it is something tangible, new, and so totally outside of our human control. Eh. Whatever, I think those small protozoans that they find in fresh, melting icecap waters are amazing too. Don't get me started on thermal tubeworms or ice fish. Iyiyes are the bomb. If only our flip off finger could be the lenghth of theirs. Jesus, as the only adult in the house, I would love to have chameleon google eyes to see everything those kids try to do.

What I'm getting at is this: We are still discovering life. It sparks my imagination, curiosity, and love of life. It's one of the reasons my Goddess name is Enarda. A play on the arcaic "innarda" or innards. I love biology. I love natural systems and how they work, look, and came to be.

To end this I'd like to leave you with a few words of wisdom...
"From now on, by court oder, I hereby decree that religon should stay 500 feet from science at all times."
-the judge from The Simpsons

Shoot just one more...
"Life's no fun without a good scare."
-Twas a Nightmare Before Christmas