The Scary Stuff

I've never been all that much of a thrill seeker, I'm too much of a hedonist for that. I firmly believe pain is your body's way of saying, "there are plenty of other things you could be doing right now that would be a lot more enjoyable." So, suffice it to say that I've never been a big believer in the "no pain, no gain" philosophy, to say nothing of Eleanor Roosevelt's famous suggestion, "Do one thing every day that scares you." I'd much rather take the Red Queen's advice to Alice and "believe six impossible things before breakfast." I'm sure that would be much more comfortable.

Which leads me to mention my son. As a young child he was always a little cautious. Not timid--not timid at all, in fact! But definitely sensible--not the kind of kid who would run out into the street without looking. I attributed this to his Virgo rising sign. He's "Pisces, Virgo rising" just like the Kenny Loggin song. Then he got older and significantly less cautious and began to do things I kind of wished he wouldn't, like jumping down flights of stairs on his skateboard, or jumping off a balcony while holding a video camera so he could record footage to use later, or jumping off roofs for really no reason at all.

I assume you're seeing the pattern here, yes? Okay, good. More on that later.

At one point, when he was still in his teens, I asked him about this behavior and wasn't he scared...and why wasn't he scared when any sensible person would be, and he told me something that, while it probably wasn't very original, did make me think. He said guys are less afraid of being hurt physically than they are emotionally and for girls it's the reverse. I know such generalizations are silly but, hey, he was a teenage boy at the time. I mean, c'mon, what do you expect? On the other hand, I thought it a brilliant insight to several of my male characters...but that's probably beside the point.

As I've mentioned on Twitter, a few days ago I found out (via Facebook, where else?) that he was planning on jumping out of a plane to celebrate his birthday this year. See? There's that pattern again. This time, when I asked him if he wasn't scared he said he was, actually, but he felt it was important to conquer his fears.

And I of course told him that maybe he could just acknowledge his fear and leave it at that. Yeah, he didn't buy it either. Unfortunately.

Anyway, I think there must be some weird celestial alignment happening right now (Neptune did just ingress Pisces, that could be it) because even before I learned of my son's plans, I had decided to do something for my birthday that I've been kind of afraid of. I'm going to be on a live radio show tonight (to celebrate my birthday).  I know, I know, it's not quite the same as jumping out of a plane, but Hedonist--remember? I'm excited, but a little uncomfortable just the same.

On the plus side, I'll be discussing one of my very favorite things, my book Old Sins, Long Shadows. The show is only an hour. I'm pretty sure I can talk about that subject for several days if I had to!

If you'd like to tune in (and I really hope some of you will!) the show airs at 11 p.m. EST tonight, Monday February 27th. at: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/other_worlds_of_romance  Or, if you'd like to call in and ask questions, the number is: (646) 727-2932     

Now, if you'll all excuse me, I have to go and practice reading aloud. :)