What's your biggest phobia?
Balaenoptera musculus. It all started when I was about 4 (or earlier, all I know for sure is that this occurred before I could read and that at the time it was an age-inappropriate book). I was flipping through the "Animal Encyclopaedia" my parents gave us (I can't remember which publisher it was from, just that it had a tiger all over the hardcover—front and back). At the very end of the mammals section, there was a comparison photo of a blue whale with a Homo sapiens diver meant to illustrate the size difference (and also gives you an idea of the vastness of the ocean). It left such an impression on me, sometimes I'd jump out of the bathtub panting if the image in my head became to vivid. I'm also claustrophobic to an extent and I know that, in reality, getting swallowed by a whale is nothing like the way it was portrayed in "Pinocchio" (the insides aren't hollow like that). It developed into a whole separate fear of large, deep masses of water as well (but the fear is more visceral, not in the same way the thought of space/the universe would make my heart sink when I was little). I never learned to swim (I'd make a perfect Ophelia). Thankfully, blue whales are rare, difficult to acquire, and quite large—so it would be difficult for someone to use my fear against me/pull a prank (like put them in a box as a birthday present or something).
