Fear of the Dark

I've always harbored a fascination for the unknown, whether it be government conspiracies or undiscovered creatures. The element of uncertainty is utterly fascinating. Not to mention the potential threat of losing your life to belligerent extraterrestrial beings armed to the teeth with disintegration rays and probes that'll feel a hundred times worse than that time you spent sleeping in a certain part of San Francisco. Always a rush, right?

My favorite area of "recreational study" has always been cryptozoology, the study of unknown organisms. I've always found biology to be really cool, at least in the sense that I like learning about things in nature that can kill you. Survival instinct perhaps, wanting to know whether you can eat a hundred of those mushrooms or whether poking at it with your thumbnail is enough to kill you and your dog. Of course, studying mushrooms isn't very exciting, they don't have long necks and a mouth so full of teeth that Great White Sharks need to be renamed Great Green Sharks because they're so jealous (oh fuck off, mate). How fucking cool is it to know that a Leedsicthys , the largest fish that ever lived may be drifting about right now, sucking up huge amounts of plankton? Or if a Megalodon, the ancient ancestor of a Great White Shark was terrorizing populations of seals? (This would be fucking awesome)

I suppose the reason why I'm so infatuated with these prospects is because most extinct creatures, or most unknown animals are presented in a way that makes them incredibly badass. Not just Jurassic Park tyrannosauruses, but aquatic monsters as well. The Plesiosaurs were long-necked, gigantic predators that can take down dinosaurs. Badass. Remember when you were a kid and you were obsessed with dinosaurs? (Well, probably not because you're hella lame) Same situation applies!

Or maybe I just haven't grown up.

PS. Fuck nuclear weapons. Fuck anthrax. Fuck peak oil. Flying Megalodons are the biggest threat to mankind.

PPS. The connotation for "dinosaur" evokes an image of a bloodthirsty, raging lizard with a desire for flesh. That's pretty goddamn impressive.