✨Highlights and Bombshells💥

[Love_Is_Blonde]

*tattoo image removed*

Very cool!! How long ago did you get this tattoo? What meaning does it hold for you?

 

[inkandiridiumnibs]

Very cool!! How long ago did you get this tattoo? What meaning does it hold for you?

2011, it was a spur of the moment tattoo. I was at a bike show and flipping through her photo album when she got the call her client had to cancel, she said if I had any art ideas she could knock out in less than 2 hours, I could have the slot. I pointed to the tiger photo she had used for someone's full color and asked if she could do just the stripes and the eyes solid green.

I've always loved white tigers, and have often been told by metaphysical people that I have never met and don't know me that they are my spirit animal, they never say "Tigers" or big cats, they always clarified it with "White Tigers"

 

[Mei5ter]

When I was a kid Jaws 3 was always on HBO. I knew that movie by heart and I wanted to work at Seaworld and have a girlfriend like Bess Armstrong!

Was that the one where you needed the red and green 3D glasses, and the severed limb floated towards you at the opening credits?

This got me interested in sharks, fascinated by them. But something about being torn apart, crushed and drowning, all at the same time, with nothing to grab onto and nowhere to hide really...

Now I wasn't sure where you were going with this. You might have continued...

"excited and thrilled me. That's why I now work for the IRS, where I get to do it to real people EVERY SINGLE DAY!! BWAHAHAHAHA!"

But in fact you went with...

freaks me out.

...which is reassuring.

 

[Dayhoosier]

It sort of fits in with your running long distance races.

Sort of....but it's just important that there's emojis that fit! .... It actually does make some sense

Yeah. My brain works in weird ways. Shrug

Not weird....fascinating. made me do some thinking about that stuff and I appreciate it. Hadn't spent any time on this thread before and I enjoyed it

 

[LadyLascivious1]

Is this because of the movie Jaws? I know you’re a horror movie fan. Is it more than that?

I’m leery of sharks but I also count myself lucky because for years, each summer, my friends and I would go night swimming (most times sans swim suits) in the ocean off of the southern outer banks of the East Coast. For. Years. I can’t count the number of times I would float in the waves staring up at the moon and the stars. It was a ritual. We would talk and catch up with each other. It was wonderful.

Then over the last few years, there have been two or three shark .. I don’t want to say “attacks”, but bites that required a rescue or medical assistance right near where we’d swim. Right there! So, I figure that somehow the sharks were cutting me some slack. All those years and all that happened was i stepped on a fish or sharp shell or something. I was super lucky.

Does anyone here have that fear of the open water? I don’t know what that is called, but it’s a fear of the deep open ocean water or lakes.

When I was a kid Jaws 3 was always on HBO. I knew that movie by heart and I wanted to work at Seaworld and have a girlfriend like Bess Armstrong!

This got me interested in sharks, fascinated by them. But something about being torn apart, crushed and drowning, all at the same time, with nothing to grab onto and nowhere to hide really freaks me out.

Side note: I did live in Orlando for awhile, I knew people who worked at Seaworld, but I was very unhappy when I found out it’s about 60 miles inland from the ocean!

That movie lied!!!

All that stuff you can't see. Sharks!

I was on a kick for a few years where I try to force myself through things I feared. In this instance it meant resort diving in Grand Cayman.

Three days of solid terror.

It would have been four, but I balked when it came time for the night dive. *shudder*

I don’t love confined spaces due to how stuffy it gets, but I LOVE scuba diving. Somehow it’s the opposite of stressful to me. It’s like you’re on another planet both in terms of the view and the very quiet, steady sound of yourself breathing. I find it almost meditative.

There are moments of adrenaline…like when you’re night diving and peek down through a large rock formation you’re swimming through and see a huge shark. He was chill though and it was just a cool experience. And I now realize my ability to categorize it as such is likely due to the fact that I’ve never watched Jaws

 

[Endless_Night]

I don’t love confined spaces due to how stuffy it gets, but I LOVE scuba diving. Somehow it’s the opposite of stressful to me. It’s like you’re on another planet both in terms of the view and the very quiet, steady sound of yourself breathing. I find it almost meditative.

It absolute feels this way to me also. The pressure, the silence, the rhythm of breath and heart. Even the languid slowness of movement contributes to a meditative feel. So peaceful.

And then I think of SHARKS.

And other human eating creatures, like cephalopods and leviathans and . . . .

- the fact that I’ve never watched Jaws

 

[Love_Is_Blonde]

There are moments of adrenaline…like when you’re night diving and peek down through a large rock formation you’re swimming through and see a huge shark. He was chill though and it was just a cool experience. And I now realize my ability to categorize it as such is likely due to the fact that I’ve never watched Jaws

And then I think of SHARKS.

And other human eating creatures, like cephalopods and leviathans and . . . .

When I was in Belize snorkeling, part of the day was feeding nurse sharks. And they were throwing things - fish or something - from the boat into the water and the sharks were eating them- diving around - WHILE WE WERE IN THE WATER. I remember thinking “these look like big puppies, tumbling over each other trying to get the food”. And then “um…maybe we shouldn’t be in the water?” But I trusted the guides who said it was fine… and it was? I mean.. I didn’t get bitten but I wouldn’t do that again. I think I’d watch the sharks safely from the boat.

 

[Slickrick123]

When I was in Belize snorkeling, part of the day was feeding nurse sharks. And they were throwing things - fish or something - from the boat into the water and the sharks were eating them- diving around - WHILE WE WERE IN THE WATER. I remember thinking “these look like big puppies, tumbling over each other trying to get the food”. And then “um…maybe we shouldn’t be in the water?” But I trusted the guides who said it was fine… and it was? I mean.. I didn’t get bitten but I wouldn’t do that again. I think I’d watch the sharks safely from the boat.

I did something simmilar in the Bahamas with reef sharks. It was a very tranquil experience. I'd do it again in a heart beat.

 

[cheekygirl75]

When I was in Belize snorkeling, part of the day was feeding nurse sharks. And they were throwing things - fish or something - from the boat into the water and the sharks were eating them- diving around - WHILE WE WERE IN THE WATER. I remember thinking “these look like big puppies, tumbling over each other trying to get the food”. And then “um…maybe we shouldn’t be in the water?” But I trusted the guides who said it was fine… and it was? I mean.. I didn’t get bitten but I wouldn’t do that again. I think I’d watch the sharks safely from the boat.

I did something simmilar in the Bahamas with reef sharks. It was a very tranquil experience. I'd do it again in a heart beat.

My one and only experience scuba diving was actually in the shark tank at an aquarium. But no one was feeding them at the time!!

 

[Love_Is_Blonde]

I did something simmilar in the Bahamas with reef sharks. It was a very tranquil experience. I'd do it again in a heart beat.

I LOVED the snorkeling. Everything about it was amazing. The sharks made me nervous though.

 

[Love_Is_Blonde]

My one and only experience scuba diving was actually in the shark tank at an aquarium. But no one was feeding them at the time!!

I like watching them do that. They use those long poles to sort of nudge them out of the way and point them in another direction

 

[jason28053]

My one and only experience scuba diving was actually in the shark tank at an aquarium. But no one was feeding them at the time!!

So you were their meal

 

[Slickrick123]

I LOVED the snorkeling. Everything about it was amazing. The sharks made me nervous though.

My one and only experience scuba diving was actually in the shark tank at an aquarium. But no one was feeding them at the time!!

I remember being very nervous getting in the water but the second I was fully submerged and saw the sharks swimming around it completely went away.

 

[hotwords229_A]

due to the fact that I’ve never watched Jaws

How is this even possible?!
2025 marks the 50th anniversary of Jaws.
There are a lot of celebrations going on in Martha’s Vineyard including watching Jaws on an outdoor screen while floating on an inner tube. Maybe this would be the best way for you to see it for the first time!

 

[Endless_Night]

How is this even possible?!

*pssst*

@LadyLascivious1 doesn't watch horror movies, remember?

And while I, too, am shocked, I really don't think that's a good starting point. I couldn't go into the ocean for about two years.

 

[hotwords229_A]

*pssst*

@LadyLascivious1 doesn't watch horror movies, remember?

And while I, too, am shocked, I really don't think that's a good starting point. I couldn't go into the ocean for about two years.

Is Jaws a horror movie?
Adventure?
Thriller?
Creature Feature?
Man vs Nature?

I think she should make an exception in this case.

 

[Endless_Night]

Is Jaws a horror movie?

I know you are not asking this with a straight face! What else would it be? Friendly creature of the sea story?

 

[LadyLascivious1]

Enny is correct about horror movies! And my mom deemed Jaws a horror movie in my childhood, so it didn’t even occur to me it wasn’t?

Maybe I’ll watch it when I’ve decided to never scuba dive again?

 

[hotwords229_A]

my mom deemed Jaws a horror movie in my childhood, so it didn’t even occur to me it wasn’t?

I wonder if I can ask a question that hopefully doesn’t derail?

What movie were you forbidden to watch?
Did you watch it anyway?
How did it affect you?

 

[LadyLascivious1]

I wonder if I can ask a question that hopefully doesn’t derail?

What movie were you forbidden to watch?
Did you watch it anyway?
How did it affect you?

Critters

My cousin snuck it into my house and my mom caught us about 5 minutes or so into the movie. I think Gremlins already gave me nightmares (I was 5!), so she was on high alert. Considering I can still remember the Critters glowing red eyes, I don’t think she was wrong!

To this day, I never even attempted to finish that movie. I think the next horror movie I watched was a Freddy Kruger one in the theaters when I was in junior high. I didn’t like that either, but it was the cool thing to do with friends.

I think it’s what turned me off of horror movies in general.

 

[LadyLascivious1]

I’m so sorry, @Love_Is_Blonde! I didn’t even realize until just now that this wasn’t either Hotwords’ or Enny’s thread!

 

[Mei5ter]

I don't have any personal shark experiences to share. But I did recently watch an informational video about them, from which I can share the following safety tips:

- You're safe while Baby, Mommy, Daddy and Grandma introduce themselves.

- When they decide to go hunt, you need to run away

- Hiding ensures safety at last.

Enjoy the earworm, folks.

( @Endless_Night - earworms are not in fact giant Mongolian death worms which attempt to invade your ear canal).

 

[Love_Is_Blonde]

I’m so sorry, @Love_Is_Blonde! I didn’t even realize until just now that this wasn’t either Hotwords’ or Enny’s thread!

Please make yourself at home here! I’m enjoying the conversation

 

[Love_Is_Blonde]

I wonder if I can ask a question that hopefully doesn’t derail?

What movie were you forbidden to watch?
Did you watch it anyway?
How did it affect you?

Derail away! I’m happy to have someone else pose a question. No worries!

I wasn’t allowed to watch Gremlins. My mom didn’t want me to see the blender scene. Also I wasn’t allowed to watch the Flintstones. Too violent. Also the show Moonlighting with Bruce Willis. She thought he was an ass.

I wasn’t dying to see any of these. I think I wanted to because it forbidden fruit and all, but of course I watched them and I can’t say she was really wrong about any of it. Maybe a little extreme. It’s just strange what really bothered her.

ETA- I saw Conan the barbarian though! That wasn’t too violent. But the flintstones was.

 

[Dayhoosier]

I wonder if I can ask a question that hopefully doesn’t derail?

What movie were you forbidden to watch?

Anything R or worse ...and PG-13 needed clearance

Did you watch it anyway?

Very scandalously watched First Blood at a sleep over. I was sooo nervous they'd find out!

How did it affect you?

Well as you can imagine, first blood did not exactly traumatize me except for a healthy respect for special forces vets who just wanted to be left alone while passing through my town

I avoided the horror movies anyway because I'm a chicken