Some fine fellows (and a girl)

Monsters, creeps and weirdos - ah, what fun those things are. As a kid I was obsessed with anything horrific or just plain odd. Adventure-type stuff was great, too - but anything with killer bees, blobs, giant insects, monsters, dinosaurs, gorillas or spiders - I just had to see, read or play with it.

And this obsession was actually somewhat useful - it forced my father to teach me how to tell the time one day. I was really little but could read enough to understand the tv guide, and noticed that there was a film on that evening about killer tarantulas (when you have this kind of obsession, the word "tarantula" is one of the first things you learn - and seeing it in print almost pops the eyes out of your head...). "Well," I thought, "when the hell is it going to be 8:30 at night so I can finally see this?!"

So I bothered my father about every ten minutes... "How long til it's on? How long? When's it going to be on?!!!"

My heart sank when he explained it. It must have been around 3 in the afternoon and he walked over to the clock. He said something like,"See, this is what time it is now. Three o' clock. The film starts at eight-thirty." With his finger he moved the hour hand foreward until it reached that wonderful moment when the movie (and the tarantula invasion) was to begin.

When he did it, it seemed pretty slow - but I understood what it meant. It would take even longer (forever, almost) for that damn thing to be on tv.

But we did watch it (eventually....) - my brothers, sisters, my father and me. And it was pretty scary - the tarantulas came in on an airplane carrying bananas, if I recall it correctly, and caused all sorts of problems. And til this day I am still on the look-out for those big hairy beasts everytime I buy a bunch. But alas.... it's just bananas.

Not as creepy as killer spiders, but a couple of weirdos who also enjoy a good horror film: