Searching for ticks ...

I have rarely been so freaked out in my life. Sitting in the car a few days back, some of my new Delawarean and Marylander friends hit on a rather interesting and life-changing topic: Lyme disease.

The name certainly rang a bell ... in the distant, rarely used quadrant of my mind. I mean, I've heard the term before. But I didn't realize just how CRAZY INSANE it really was. Apparently, according to wikipedia - that know-it-all internet-based friend - Lyme Disease causes "severe and chronic symptoms affect[ing] many parts of the body, including the brain, nerves, eyes, joints and heart."

And do you know the worst part? It's all caused by ticks - ticks that are very common in the part of Delaware where I live. I'm getting creeped out just thinking about it.

This all came as a horrible and uncomfortable surprise. I mean, up to this point, my only actual knowledge of ticks came from "The Tick" - the most amazing cartoon (and live-action) superhero satire ever created (sorry "Mystery Men" ... that includes you). He made ticks seem somehow ... well, awesome.



But now, thanks to ticks and well-meaning-but-incredibly-freaky-knowledge-sharing friends, on top of male pattern baldness, spontaneous dental hydroplosion, and high blood pressure, I have to worry about a disease that could cause "[m]yriad disabling symptoms ... including permanent paraplegia."

Fffhfhwhfwh ... thanks a lot.