I loathe birds. More broadly stated…“I don’t like living things that fly.” Even the idea of going to a butterfly garden is totally unappealing to me. Flying creatures are just too unpredictable. Plus, they often sting or bite. As for birds, I particularly dislike them for two reasons:
1. I don’t think of myself as one who has a particularly large head, but believe it or not, more than one bird has flown into my head. I think that is gross. I don’t like their filthy little feathers fluttering in my hair right next to my face. Eh…
2. I have seen many “lethargic” birds. Sounds weird, I know, but it’s true. I realized my disgust for lethargic birds during my college years. At my school, there was a bat problem (yes, another flying creature) and the maintenance people put bat poison in the attic. In the spring and fall, I would often notice birds just kind of slowly rolling around on the sidewalk, and it freaked me out. Turns out, the birds would sometimes eat the bat poison. (Between the bat problem and lethargic birds, my college is sounding really awesome right now isn’t it?!?) Anyway, to this day, whenever I see a sickly bird rolling around on the sidewalk…I get really annoyed. I know it’s not the bird’s fault…but it’s just so gross!
3. Oh, I just remembered a third thing…I’ve had birds fly into my house. I am not a fan of being in a confined space with an unpredictable, germ infested, flying creature…especially when it’s in MY space.
4. Point 3 makes me think of my sophomore year of college when a bat was trapped in the lounge area of our dorm floor…still gives me the willies…
5. Oh, and I also hate when birds repeatedly fly into a window. That gross repetitive light thump on a single pane of glass is simply nauseating.
6. Over the past 30 years, a number of birds have taken the liberty of pooping on me. This first happened to me as a young child one summer afternoon as I innocently picked cherries in my backyard. I’ve been told getting pooped on by a bird is “good luck”. Sufficed to say, I’m still waiting to win the lottery.
…hmmm…two reasons turned into six. See…this is a very authentic dislike for birds. If I sat here long enough…I could probably come up with 10 good reasons I think birds are disgusting.
Please don’t fault me for my strong opinion on birds. If anything, I hope you have a better appreciation for my beliefs.
In my last blog entry about the book “Tipping Point” I mentioned I often get into conversations with people about “human nature and the economy”. Well, for some reason, I also frequently find myself in the middle of an “I think birds are gross” conversation. At least 50% of the time, those conversations end with, “Have you ever seen the movie ‘The Birds’”? I always reply with, “No, but I need to”. So…that is why “Watch The Birds” made my list.
On my 11-hour flight (on British Air) from London to Cape Town I had an opportunity to choose from a large (and diverse) selection of movies. One of those movies was Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds”. I thought…”Hmmmm, this is prefect. I can essentially ‘kill two birds with one stone’ (pun kind-of intended…) by watching the movie while I fly to South Africa”….it was a fantastically productive plan!! However, I refrained because only a few days before I left for South Africa, my friend Rebecca mentioned she wanted to watch “The Birds” with me…So, after a few minutes of internal debate, I decided to watch “The Hangover” instead…I don’t regret it, it was funny.
To make a long story short…I watched the movie on Halloween night (only seemed appropriate). Rebekah was out of the country but “the show must go on” and though she was missed, I had fun with my gal-pals Ryanne and Stacy. None of us felt like doing the big Halloween “thang” this year, so it was nice to just be low key.
What’d I think about “The Birds”?? I expected it to be scarier, and quite frankly, I think we ended up laughing more than getting creeped out. I won’t tell you how it ends…but I will tell you the ending was kind of dumb and unpredictable…just like birds. And now we’ve come full circle.…if you’ll remember…the primary reason I don’t like birds (or living things the fly) is because they’re too unpredictable. Interesting…
After I saw the “The Birds” my loathing them was only validated. In the spirit of having a “take away” (which is something I’ve incorporated in to most of these blog entries…) I decided I don’t need to feel too bad for not liking this part of nature. I can appreciate the fact they’re part God’s creation…but it’s okay if I think they’re gross.
PS...The picture above is from my London/South Africa trip about a month ago. Ryanne and I were at St. James park in London and it was FILLED with birds, mainly pigeons. The large bird I'm pretend petting is both huge and real.
Holly - you're so dang funny.
ReplyDeleteWow. I didn't know we had this in common. I really can't stand birds. Actually, I'm OK with small birds, but it's large birds that really CREEP. ME. OUT. I actually don't know if I believe you about not liking birds, though...after seeing that picture. I would NEVER attempt to touch a bird that large. I take a wide circle around caged birds in pet stores. That bird could snap back at any time and "get you" somehow. Yikes.
ReplyDeleteIt was fun remembering about the bats in Burritt, though. I had more than my fair share of "incidents" with bats to tend to as an R.A. Fun stuff.
I actually remember one autumn...being in the attic of Burritt with Maren trying to find her boxes she stored there over the summer and having to dodge bats that were swooping down at us. Great.
Stupid bats. Seriously . . . I wonder if they still have that problem. I know someone living there now. I think I'll ask her.
ReplyDeleteMy husband, too, has a problem with birds. We've been married for 7 years and I had no idea until last winter when we were at Disney and he was frustrated that I chose open air dining because there were birds wandering . . .