Friday 5 for January 27: Shiver Me Timbers

Shiver Me Timbers! The title of this week's Friday 5 got me to think about pirate ships. How wrong can I be? None of these questions refer to anything about pirates or sailors. Don't they say "shiver me timbers"? Probably not. I think I first heard this phrase in one of those old Popeye the Sailor Man cartoons.

That said, here are my answers to Scrivener's Friday 5 questions this week.

1. When did you last make what could be described as a wriggling motion?

Do I wiggle? I am too old and stiff to do anything that requires wiggling. Maybe I reluctantly wiggled into something... um... yeah, a parking space! The parallel parking kind which I hate if you have maneuver your vehicle in between 2 others.

2. What never fails to give you the willies?

Those big damn flying American Cockroaches that can walk upside down on your ceiling. If you are in a dark room at night you sometimes can hear them wiggling and rustling their spindly legs and bodies over loose papers or whatever. The worst is when they fly and attack you! Yuck. I hate them. Gotta keep baited roach traps, cans or Raid, "slippahs" and a broom nearby.

Those big roaches give me the creeps! I hate having to deal with one of these invaders, especially in my small apartment where I don't have much room to run after spraying the damn thing with Raid. Often I spray, run out of my apartment and wait for an hour for the roach to die.

In the meantime the damn thing is running all around your home going crazy because of the deadly chemicals sprayed onto it, touching everything in its wake with those awful spiky and spindly legs!

Sometimes I bravely wait for the roach to crawl over the tile floor and either hit it with a shoe, "slippah" or the broom.

The aftermath of a roach encounter can be a time for the willies too, as you have to scoop the supposedly dead body of the thing and figure out a method of quick disposal. The offensive bug is not completely dead. Even after crushing them, roaches still kick and attempt to run.

The squirmy reaction to these big roaches only occurs if I am in an enclosed space... like my home or other, small indoor setting. I need a space to flee!

Outside I can flee or if I am lucky enough to be wearing shoes, step on them. I mostly opt to flee.

The American Cockroach. Yuck! (Photo not by me)

3. What’s something you’ve seen on TV or in a movie that made you squirm?

I don't squirm at movies or for TV shows, unless it is a real life documentary or a graphic news clip where a terrorist cuts off someone's head or something. For most movies, if I see a squeamish scene I will disassociate myself from the plot and think "how did they make or do that"?

4. What’s something in your life that could be described as serpentine?

There have been times when I have been mean or as cold as a snake.

5. Where can you get a really great shake?

Big Island of Hawaii - Volcanoes National Park: Also San Francisco - Los Angeles - just about anywhere in California - Japan - the Pacific "Rim of Fire". Get jolted by an earthquake? A big one 5 and higher? That is a big shake... big jolt... damaging and even deadly. Here in Hawaii we occasionally get big, damaging earthquakes in the magnitude 6 and 7 area. Scary!