Yesterday I was woken at 5:03 by the shrill sound of my phone. My fingers instinctively pressed 'Silence', but then I started to wonder why my sister would call so early. Only if something was wrong, of course. My brother Elliott is in Indonesia working with the local Marines on humanitarian missions to distribute medical supplies, food, and water. While they were in the middle of the jungle in Java, they had an incident when a presumed-dead cobra suddenly came to life:

"We were in the jungle on the island of Java in Indonesia and we were doing a jungle survival course. We were catching and eating snakes and making dinner using plants, berries, fruits, and roots from plants around the area. It is a big deal in lots of Southeast Asian countries to drink cobra blood. They wanted me to help cut the throat and bleed it into a cup. They don't cut all the way through the head because then you get venom on the meat and in the blood. The Indonesian Marine lifted the snake's head up while I was holding the cup. But the snake was still alive and, as soon as he saw me, shot venom into my eyes from a foot away."

A quick life-flight ride landed him in Bali, but not after the locals sacrificed the snake and offered the beating heart to my brother. The venom entered his bloodstream and caused his vision to go out, which caused quite a scare. Although his eyesight is still not 20/20, I can pronounce this story as awesome since he is on the mend. Stay away from snakes Elliott...