The Organ Grinder’s Monkey

As part of the 24 Blogging Days Until Christmas thing that I’m almost keeping up with, blogger-in-chief Dina suggests we do a meme post. Yanno, one of those, “Here’s my list. Tag, you’re it,” things.

So, since it’s the day before my parents show up for the holidays and my mind is so eviscerated by holiday braindrain that I just now tried to move the cursor on the screen with my tea mug (which, in my defense, is sitting on my mousepad), perhaps I should just take her suggestion and not try to actually think of something to write today.

So, here it is, my entry in the 5 Things You Never Knew About Soni meme.

1. Coming as it does almost exactly 9 months and a few days after New Years Eve, my birthday - October 5 - is one of the most populated birthdays in the world. Hubba hubba.
2. I was once chased up a half-wall in my undies by a performing tiger. Long story short, I used to be an exotic dancer. One feature act that came through had a tame tiger in her show. One day, she neglected to check to see if the dressing room was empty before bringing the massive kitty through, and I was in there along with a few colleagues, sitting around in our skivvies grabbing a pre-shift snack. Kitty smelled my PB&J (apparently a fave, who knew?) and came around the counter after it. Me? I just saw massive teeth closing fast. Guess what? As it turns out, I can mountain-goat up a countertop structure in platform heels in no time flat when properly motivated. Happy ending: The tiger was just an overgrown kitten - harmless and playful. But scary. And very, very fast.
3. I once wrote and uploaded 90 web articles in one week to meet a challenge deadline. Why? Because I can’t turn down a decent challenge, that’s why. Can you say “carpal tunnel syndrome?” Ouchie.
4. My full name is Soncire (sohn-seer’-ay) and I am named after an Apache Native American princess from a Jimmy Stewart movie. No clue whether or not that’s an actual Apache name, or just something plucked from Hollywood’s vat o’ random syllables.
5. I’m absolutely petrified of granddaddy longlegs spiders. Which, as it turns out, are actually neither spiders nor daddy longlegs. They belong in their own order of arachnids, called Opiliones and are properly called harvestmen. There are actual spiders called daddy long legs (also called vibrating spiders or cellar spiders), which just adds to the confusion.

   We have the actual spider version all over our apt, and they don’t bother me a bit. Neither do other spiders (in fact, I think little jumping spiders are the prettiest, cutest things ever - the kittens of the spider world, if you will). Harvestmen, though? Shudder.

   Oh, and contrary to urban legend, neither are dangerously venomous. The cellar spider does have some venom, but almost never bites humans and doesn’t cause more than a small bump if it does. OTOH, harvestmen have no venom glands at all, although they do stink to high heaven if you annoy them. So why do they freak me out? No idea. Could be the legs (although, as I said, the real longlegs bother me not a whit). Maybe I was traumatized by one as a kid. *shrug*

   Nonetheless, drop one on my arm or leg and watch me go into full-on prey mode, all fight/flight with lots of jerking, spazzing out, squealing and hyperventilating. It’s like an epileptic fit, without the restful afterglow.

So that’s my list. Tag, you’re it.

Tags: Random Silliness //