I watched War of the Worlds on Sunday, and something that bothers me about these movies, these aliens take over the world movies, is that I think the people in them never demonstrate enough surprise. They’re surprised, sure, but it’s like their terror always overcomes their surprise. If an alien spaceship climbed out of the ground in front of me, I would be SO surprised. So surprised. Like, I would think I had gone crazy. I would just stand there, staring at it, even after it started moving around and shooting people, because I would think, This cannot possibly be a real thing. What an interesting hallucination for me to have.

I introduced a two-year-old to my cat today, and as soon as she saw the cat, who was sleeping, curled in a ball, the two-year-old took my hand, said, “Sarah, outside,” and walked towards the door. I tried to be all, “The cat is friendly! Watch Sarah touch the cat.” But some part of her brain just knew: Claws! Teeth! Bad! And that was obviously a stronger instinct. Because she just looked at me like, “So that animal clearly has really sharp claws and teeth and I don’t know what your problem is but I am saving myself now.” And continued to walk towards the door.