Last week I went to Elon University, the college I will attend as a freshman next year, to help other new students build a Habitat house and make some new friends even before the school year starts.

While the people were fascinating and kind, the work was grueling, and the memories will last a lifetime, this post is not about those. It's about insects.

See, the dorm we were housed in was really remote and recently built. Where the buildings now stood used to be a section of a pine forest which still surrounds the dorms. Because of this, there were bugs everywhere outdoors, especially at night.

This doesn't really bother me, since I am one of those odd people who has no fear of almost all animal life, whether furry, scaly or chitinous. Watching ants reminds me of people, moths are fuzzy and cute, beetles are comical with their clumsy steps and ungainly carapace. Even a Wolf Spider with its back covered with young is a good mommy watching out for her kids.

One of the girls there, however, was a severe insectophobe. Being around her made me feel like the Crocodile Hunter's entymologyst cousin. She must have lost a month of her life with all the starts she got when she saw the bugs walking right next to her. The wolf spider might have took a week off all by itself!

Another young lady shared my fascination with our little friends and, when confronted with an arthropod, would just "eww" in the tone that makes it a compliment.

What I wanna know is when and how these two gals parted ways in their development, causing one to fear insects and arachnids, while another finds them fascinating. And what about me? Why do I tolerate, and even enjoy the company of almost any non-threatening animal?

10"Croikey! Et's a Spidah! An ain't she a beauty?"Kan