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Welcome to my blog. Here, you will find information about my novels, life in Japan, as well as author interviews, discussions on writing, and more. Feel free to browse and if you enjoy a post, please comment. Thanks for reading!

30 April 2014

Childhood Fear

To anyone who knows me, I have an irrational fear of sharks. This is fairly ironic considering I grew up in Wyoming. I can barely look at a picture of a shark. That’s why there isn’t one for this post.
I honestly blame my fear on an overactive imagination and Steven Spielberg. I remember watching Jaws alone in the dark on TV when I was a very little kid. As a kid, we think in concrete terms. If A is true in this instance, then A is true in all instances. I grew afraid of pools and the ocean. After all, sharks lived in water. Pools are filled with water. Couldn’t a shark swim up through the drain and get me? Yep, that was my line of thinking. I really believe I was traumatized by that movie.
I have never gotten over this fear. I have tried looking at pictures, and watching the movie Deep Blue Sea several times. But I can’t get away from it completely. Any time a shark is shown on TV, I jump in the air. I can’t stand Shark Week on TV. My wife Yoko creeped me out when we were snorkeling in Okinawa and she quoted Bruce the great white from Finding Nemo. (But give Bruce a break, he never knew his father).
My friends love teasing me about it. How about you, readers? What scares you? Thanks for reading.

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