Luckily, it was only for a moment.
I was just intently reading slackergirl’s legal-help thread when a big dragonfly (three inches at least) came in and banged itself against my screen, complete with thrashing wings and audible thumps against the monitor.
I do admire dragonflies, but they really should stay outside. This one did leave on its own, but it took a few minutes for my pulse to get back to normal.
What other perfectly harmless things have given you a thrill like that?
Usually big giant huge spiders scuttling at four million miles per hour out from under furniture and between my legs.
Not so much a shock as a nice surprise - A kitten, wandering aimlessly about our front garden. To my dismay it had a phone number in it’s collar and the owners didn’t want to give it to us. (damn!)
I guess the 18 inch snake in the basement probably qualifies. Gave me a bit of a start when I noticed it. I tried relocating it back to the garden but it proved surprisingly strong and agile and eventually escaped underneath a workbench. I’m not anticipating much trouble from crickets this autumn.
I have an 18 inch snake in the basement…
The wasp which landed on my pillow when I was about to get in bed, sometime last summer.
Total complete panic ensued. In the end, the wasp was dead, but my sleep was ruined.
Insects jumping on my monitor and my computer desk out of nowhere, or crawling on the floor seemingly out of nowhere. (yes, I keep a fairly clean apartment… so it’s not that!) Definitely gives the old heart a jump-start!
F_X
During an underwater navigation dive near Vancouver (part of a PADI Advanced course), my buddy was using the compass and navigating and I was doing the look-out bit when this fish swam up behind us, and then past, and away…
Look at fish… that shaped tail… that shaped fins… that shaped Dorsal Fin… Shark!!
Yep, all of 18 inches long. 
But just for a moment there…
The wasp that somehow penetrated my bug defense grid. I was just sitting here minding my own business and I heard a light “thump” of something hitting plastic. I glanced over at the printer and there was a wasp sitting there. “Oh,” I said absent-mindedly, “a HOLY <Pit suitable language> HOW DID THAT <more Pit suitable language> WASP GET IN HERE?” By this point I’d mysteriously flown out of my chair and was across the room, shoe in hand…
I was out in the yard, gabbing on the phone and weeding in the pine bark. I turned over a large piece of bark and promptly fell on my ass, stumbling all over myself to get away from the two king snakes I had been practically sitting on.
It was a good thirty minutes before my heart rate went back down to normal. Those suckers had to be at least 8-9 inches long!
Yeah, I am a wuss.
This evening, on the way out of the subway, a mouse ran down the stairs. Yes, I shrieked like the proverbial little girl…thanks for asking.