I just had an utterly life-changing experience. We'd just gotten out of a grueling 3-hour evening neuropsych lecture. I headed to a school restroom....washed my hands..... was drying them off when something in my peripheral vision caught my eye and I turned my head.

Enter ROACHZILLA (thanks to Jeff for the name ;)). I swear to you, this thing was the spitting image of an African hissing cockroach. I'd never seen anything like it in my life. If my vision was blurry at the time, I'd have easily mistaken it for a small mouse. I immediately whimpered like an injured dog and backed into the middle of the room where I did a quick scan of the walls/floor/ceiling for any of Roachzilla's friends. Nope, he was a loner. Working up some courage, I whipped out my phone to snap a photo, but he scuttled into the mop closet. I decided not to pursue him any further. Unfortunately I had to walk right by him to get out of the restroom. I feared he would launch a sneak attack and chomp right through my sneakers and lay his (her?) eggs deep inside my foot.

But I escaped. The whole train ride home, I had zero social anxiety. All I could think about was Roachzilla. I was giddy, swept with the realization that some things just ARE scarier than other people.