SHARK ATTACK!!!!!

I understand how the first JAWS scared me as a child, especially watching it before hitting the Jersey Shore's LBI (when I was five - parents will argue this fact, but in my memory it was watching JAWS or going to bed at 7pm, obviously I wasn't going to bed early), but to retain the fear of sharks in any body of water - to this day - from bathtubs to swimming pools is beyond me. Given the way my memory works, I don't believe I had seen JAWS 3 before the original and therefore hadn't seen it before going to Sea World when I was four, but I was still the child who ran and screamed, trying to claw my way against the current of the moving walkway to get to higher ground in the tunnel walkway aquarium. Active imagination or pure paranoia, I'm not sure.

Like I said, to this day I'm letting my imagination get the better of me. No longer do I envision my bathtub's bottom giving way and dropping me off in the open sea infested with sharks, but I still see shark vision of my kicking legs when I'm in the ocean - no matter the depth - or cleaning out the algae of the swim through aquarium here on property. It's pretty terrifying to tell you the truth. I know it's completely impossible, but there's this twinge of fear that draws out adrenaline and it's like whoa.

Being frightened of sharks here in Guam seems pretty legit. Granted I live in a bay, but there's been cases of sharks swimming through rivers - hello!? Have you ever seen Discovery Channel's SHARK WEEK? Sharks in rivers!! It happened in New Jersey. Close to the Hudson. Back when people in America wore swimming costumes (that's what the British call them). The made for TV movie was something like "Blood in the River Water" or "Watch Out!: Sharks in the River" something like that...it was awesomely re-enacted and they used real sharks to keep it life-like.

Anyway, I wrote the above like a month ago (and also just now), and I'm happy to report that I've since managed my fear of sharks in the swim through aquarium and pool water. Granted I'm still a tad bit nervous when I start going out further in the bay where I work, but I know I should be okay as long as I have sand underneath me or attractive blonde kids in a sailboat close by.