Scared? Scary?

I have a few sadistic idiosyncrasies. Little things that give me schadenfreude. Scaring people is one of them.

This is either genetic or learned, I can't tell which. Either way I know I'm not alone in this. It is just too funny to scare people to the point where they make a mess.

There are boundaries. If it results in any required visits to any type of physician (cardiologist, psychiatrist, urologist, etc) it is not funny. If any legal intervention (lawyer, police officer, legislative change) is required, it is not funny. Scaring my Mom or my wife, not funny. All else is fair game.

I've now taken it to scare my kids. This is pretty lowbrow stuff: hiding around corners and yelling. Once in the dinosaur exhibit at the Calgary zoo I did this, roaring to put the fear of extinct animals into their little dreams. I misjudged their distance (they can be quite loud you know), and also the fact there was a young couple between me and them. I don't know who was more embarrassed, me, or the guy who jumped up screaming and grabbed onto his girlfriend for defense from the crazy man jumping out from behind rocks.

Being a recipient: VERY unfunny. I'm not a person who feels most alive when they expect to die. Which raises the point of why are there so many scary movies out there?

Most aficionados of horror movies claim they like to laugh at how bad they are. That's amazing. I don't know anyone masochistic enough to listen to awful music just to laugh it. Except Weird Al fans, but they are a category all their own aren't they.