jeeziz, aren't we cheery today? at least if you get knocked off in a disaster you will become part of something important, as a statistic...LOL
i live a couple hundred feet from a fault and i say bring it on! the worst that could happen is that it would shake the dishes, as the house is so old and overconstructed that it would probably float, too, like an ark if it flooded, but since i live at 5000' in elevation, that isn't a big worry.
The best case scenario is that i would end up with geothermal heat, as the whole rift valley i live in is underlain by hot water, and the nearest hot spring is just a few hundred feet away.
The vulnerability/mortality shift is an interesting phenomenon. As a youth, i had a hang glider, a very early one, serial #3 of Will's Wing, and for some reason i survived some situations that i never should have. Then i used to bail out of perfectly good helicopters while fighting fire, again, getting into hairy situations was desired, just for the rush. I couldn't get enough action to keep me sated, and i felt the imperative to prove i could defy death constantly.
At about 45 a switch happened. i am now basically afraid of heights, and i have turned weenie in the personal demolition derby. When i go in a skyscraper and look down, my knees wiggle. It sort of pisses me off to have a physical reaction that is out of my control, but there it is.
I think it is genetic. Back in the cave man days, risk-taking meant you provided more for your family, as if you never took a risk you never slayed the beast. So even though you probably got your ass kicked regularly or worse, you had to keep doing it to make ends meet.
Normally, by 40, you slowed a step or two or your eyesight failed and you were killed by one thing or another. Now we live past that, and many guys i know sort of hit an "adrenaline menopause", as doing crazy shit isn't as much fun cuzz we have figured out it hurts. The feeling of mortality and the avoidance of it that you are talking about is a side effect of the adrenaline menopause, IMHO.
So don't worry, i will make a note if you become a statistic of the new volcano. I will even post it on my refrigerator. I think you are on to something... when we get to this age, death comes to us, and we don't have to go looking for it. Unless you decide to live on the Oregon Coast. ROFL
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