Phobias and other irrational anxieties

[IronParrot]

It comes to me almost a surprise that supposedly, public speaking is feared more than death... but maybe that's because I love doing it, and I actually do better with large audiences than I do in small groups. On the other hand, I'm the same guy who couldn't and wouldn't dance to save his life out of fear alone, until I started taking ballroom lessons about two weeks ago.

So, the topic at hand: phobias, and other irrational anxieties. What are yours?

[osszie]

most certainly boredom..........to do/be doing nothing is too scary.........aside from that I'm not over keen on deep water (billy connely was right.........)

[IronParrot]

Ooh, ooh! Rejection, in all shapes and sizes... that's a biggie. :p Not a recommended trait for prospective writers :)

[Khadrane]

I hate public speaking. I also sometimes get freaked out at camp when I can't sleep at night. :o

[Lizra]

Hi Iron Parrot! I love public speaking (if I'm well prepared!) , of course I still get nervous, but I really enjoy getting up there and saying words of substance that are logical and make sense. :) I really like making eye contact with people when I'm speaking also! Gad, I HATE boring speakers!!! Just two days ago I sat thru a talk on orchids that put me to sleep AND made my butt go numb! Ouch, it still hurts! :) I also love to dance! :) I'm afraid of driving to places I've never been before, especially if the interstate is involved! :eek: I'm totally freaked over heights, I know some day I'm going to fall down some stairs. :( (and die probably) I really like spiders (as long as they are outside) hmmm, irrational....Stairs, steps, curbs, cliffs, .....

So why'd you start taking ballroom?

Oh yeah, not being able to fall asleep is horrendous! That's what started Elvis on the road to ruin! He couldn't fall asleep, so, sleeping pills, then uppers to wake up, and of course the famous aluminum foil on all the windows.

[Rána Eressëa]

Being shunned in any known way is really the only thing I can truly fear aside from unsettling dead corpses. The only reason I don't like public speaking is for fear of being shunned. Same goes for everything else. Screw rejection - it's when they find it stupid or funny that hurts.

[IronParrot]

"So why'd you start taking ballroom?"
Looong story. The short of it is that I took a girl to my high school graduation dinner and dance, and made it about as far as the dinner.

[Menelvagor]

Public speaking and spiders, although I can generally keep them under control. Mostly I fear myself, I know that I'm the only person that can ever really hurt me, and that, if you think about it, is a frightening thought.

[Claenoic]

What I fear... I fear about everything. Mostly I can't sleep at night. Put a CD on, though, and I'll be absolutely fine. Backround noise always seemed to help. My mother tells me that whenever I couldn't sleep when I was little, she'd take me on a short car ride. I was usually out like a light at the end.

[Duddun]

I hate public speaking, it terrifies me, everyone is looking at you and i always think atleast one person has to have not liked what I said. I also hate having to play like an instrument or something by myself in front of anyone.

[BeardofPants]

Isn't this very similar to the fear thread?

No, I don't have any phobias, just the usual amount of fear. :rolleyes:

[Khadrane]

Originally posted by Duddun
I hate public speaking, it terrifies me, everyone is looking at you and i always think atleast one person has to have not liked what I said. I also hate having to play like an instrument or something by myself in front of anyone.
Me too! I hate anything and everything where I have to get up and perform (especially by myself).

[Erawyn]

I hate public speaking to i get all shaky, which is not good for someone who wants to be a lawyer...

[TinuvielChild]

I don't like playing the violin in front of groups larger than 4 people, but I love dancing in front of people, and public speaking. I am terrified of the possibility of my house burning down, and I don't like crowds. I'm terribly anti-social, and I'm deathly afraid of the undead/ghosts.

[Catgirl]

Well, my fears are bugs that fly, deep water, being the center of attention, and the dark. :(

[Lefty Scaevola]

Etruscans usually drive me to homicidal rage. :D

[Goldberry1]

my biggest phobias would have to be public speaking and critizcism of anything that i write!

[Philia]

Arachnaphobia. I could barely read about the ...big ones...in the Hobbit.

[Varda Oiolosseo]

SPIDERS!!!!! I can't stand them!! they are horrible and i can't go anywhere near them no matter what size they are the really, really big ones or the tiny ones!!!!
I'm getting freaked out now even talking about them :eek:

I don't particually like speaking in public either.
I love dancing though :D . I'm gonna be in a show aswell soon!!

[Elven Archer]

I don't like spiders. even the most poisonous spider in the world, granddaddy long legs, creep me out and they can't even do anything to me.and then there's heights and public speaking and really deep water. actually water doesn't have to be that deep i'm just afraid i'll drown on accident. and heights aren't that bad i just really don't like them. yesterday i took a ride in the thing on fire trucks that they use to get people out of high buildings with, i think they call it a cherry picker, anyway it went pretty high. there's other stuff i'm afraid of but that's the major stuff i guess. O yeah i almost forgot.....CLOWNS!! they creep me out and then some.

[samwise of the shire]

I hate the wind and dreams where you cant fight or run away. Those scare me TERRIBLY, not fun at all. I'm afraid of big shadows in swimming pools...even after I got over my fear of sharks I still hate big shadows in swimming pools, and swimming over deep water....EEEESH. Makes me shiver thinking about it.
I get nervous when I get ready to perform but after a while it wears off and then comes the thrill of being on stage. It's fun...then when I get done I collapse.
Well those're my fears,
Cheers,
Sam

[Varda Oiolosseo]

Ooooooooh I don't like clows either they are really freaky and evil! :(

[Varda Oiolosseo]

Sorry that was ment to say clowns not clows!!:rolleyes:

[Khamûl]

Varda, you know there is a wonderful little thing called the 'edit' button.;)

[kiwi]

i'm not quite sure why but i'm afraid of doctors and hospitals. They wre lucky they got my in one when i had my accident at the start of the year! I also don't like public speaking although I will happily play in my band in front of a lot of people.
Really I'm just weird!:p

[Blackboar]

Wasps!!!

6 years ago I got attacked by a whole swarm of Wasps!! I got156 stings.

I've been scared of them ever since!!!

[Elven Archer]

that's alot of wasp stings!
when i was little i stepped on a wasp barefoot but it didn't hurt me, then about a year or two ago i was folding towels and picked up a dryer sheet off the floor and a wasp stung me. it hurt REALLY bad and it kept hurting for a couple days. 156,that must have been horrible!

[Varda Oiolosseo]

156!! Blimey I'd be scared of them!!

I HATE spiders and I really hate the noise of scraping ice and I don't like Tin Foil, I literally won't touch it! wierd I know!:rolleyes:

[Ma Uai: Ua Nemti]

I read somewhere that public speaking gives you the same stress response as being attacked by a rabid dog.

I have a horrible phobia of not dying exactly the way I want to. I'm also deathly afraid of not being accepted by everyone, but I'm also afraid of being popular.

[Renille]

Dentists. I've dentist- hopped for awhile, and have met enough to be traumatized. I'll never forget my last filling appointment... "Open your mouth wider! Honestly....you aren't listening!"
"BU...I...Han't!!!"
Then he stuck this big metal thing inbetween my teeth for some odd reason. It hurt even through what I think was a novocaine overdose. *Shudder* Ee...I would almost never eat sugar again so I could never see a dentist. But I'm not quite that dedicated.

SPIDERS! I screamed during Harry Potter 2. That's how very pathetic I am. A nest of spiders once grew in our shower. Even though I had to shower, I could never look at the wall. If I did, I felt so sick.

[Elenka]

~spiders. Nothing anyone says will onvince me their harmless, so don't try. I clung to my friend's shoulder when the spiders came on during HP, and she said later I nearly cut off her circulation.

~Doctors. Doctors are SCARY!!!!!
~So are hypodermic needles. Shots. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! NO!! Stay away!!! I'm the little kid who hides under the table and won't come out.

~Deep water, and the drains at the bottom of pools, and seaweed in lakes.

~Being alone at night

Yes, I am a total wimp.

[samwise of the shire]

Fish or weeds hitting my feet when I'm in deep murky water...AUUGGGHH. Slippery roads. Slide outs on the road. It's weird but there's this shop in Lava Hot Springs (which is this REALLY REALLY big hot spot for tourists) called "The Purple Moon" that has this big ole' dragon statue in the window that scares the heck out of me. I dont know why because dragons are cool creatures and I like them and stories about them, but this thing freaks me out. Actually the whole stinkin' town's freaky...and I go to church there. It's weird.
Cheers,
Sam

[Laurelyn]

Friendly science teachers. (lol, inside joke. Sorry. Anybody remember when I used to be terrified of my science teacher? Yeah, that.)
Anger.
Public speaking.
Anything for any reason at any time. Or no reason at any time.
(Whee, I like this thread.)

[Elven Archer]

i hate public speaking! i practically had a panic attack once. i couldn't catch my breath and stuff. i don't like public speaking cause i'm afraid i'll embarrass myself so that made that much worse.

did you know Sean Connary has arachnophobia? I'm not sure i spelt his last name right, but he was the first James Bond and he played in The Hunt for the Red October and stuff. he's the old guy that has a Scottish accent. if you still don't know who he is then oh well. ANYway he has it so bad he couldn't film a scene in "Docter No" that had him find a spider in his bed. after trying glass between the two and a stunt double they finally just made a mechanical spider and when they were done with the scene he collapsed in a panic attack.there's some useless info for ya:D

[Elf.Freak]

if there's silence, i start twitching, but i'm getting over my phobia of spiders

[Blackboar]

Originally posted by Elven Archer
that's alot of wasp stings!
when i was little i stepped on a wasp barefoot but it didn't hurt me, then about a year or two ago i was folding towels and picked up a dryer sheet off the floor and a wasp stung me. it hurt REALLY bad and it kept hurting for a couple days. 156,that must have been horrible!

Tell me about it, I had one on the back of my throat, one on my eye(It could of blinded me but it luckily didn't) one in my nose, they got EVERYWHERE!!!! I looked like a polka-dot baloon!

[Celebréiel]

Deep deep dark water and spiders! *shudders* I went swimming in this freezing glacier rock lake thing, it was soooo deep, the middle was almost black!! :eek:
~Celebréiel

[Evenstar1400]

i hate hospitals. theyre all clean and have no windows and bright artificial lights. i hate not having a connection with nature.

i also cant stand the trepak song (the russian nutcracker song) cause .......... well i dont know why. i start spazing if i hear it.

i also have a fear of coral. ever seen blue crush? its just that noise of her hitting her head on it... crunch squish that bugs me. im afraid the same thing will happen to me.

id also have to say the fact that the movie trilogy will end soon scares me as well. when it comes out on dvd and ive seen it a million times, what will be there to get me through the day?

[eowyngirl14]

I hate spiders! Once my sister took me to her science classroom I put my hand down on the counter and a little movement cuaght my eye. THERE WAS A TARANTULA IN A CAGE RIGHT NEXT TO MY HAND! I almost dies that day..

I hate snakes! I was on a Girl Scout camping trip this fall and I was climbing a mountain with Evenstar and some of my otherfriends... there was this 10000 foot snake thing that tried to eat! me! I started to cry. Wouldn't budge for 5 minutes!

I hate deep dark water! (common phobia I see) One I went swiming in a quarry. I was soo scared something was going to grab my foot and pull me under! It was terrifying.

I hate chairlifts! I am always afraid I will fall off! I always have to sit on the right side... otherwise I freak out!

Evenstar!- there is always hope!
The coming of dawn is ever the hope to the hearts of men.
-both said by Aragorn!

[Wayfarer]

*/used to have Acute Social Phobia.

[Rían]

I see I'm not the only one who's scared of spiders! Ugh, they're so creepy, and then if you accidentally get their thread on you, you can't even run away from them because they're tied on to you :eek: :eek: (is that sillly or what? I'm bigger than them by about a million times, but they still scare me!)

I'm trying so hard to NOT pass my phobia to my 3 kids - "oh look, kids, there's a spider" *smiles brightly while sweating bullets* - "who wants to take it outside or smush it? Gee, I'll just, uh, check the laundry while someone takes care of it" *sets speed records running down the hall away from the awful spider*

[eowyngirl14]

That's funny! My dad is terrified of spiders too... he always smushes them under his shoe! Once I woke up and there was one crawling on MY BED! I screamed and my Dad had to come squish it with a book! That was terrifing! I had to sleep on the floor for days! (Yes, I was told repeatedly that there were probobly more spiders on the floor than on my bed...) I was really nervous at the end of TTT because I was afraid that the Shelob would scare me so bad that I would ahve to leave... then, she wasn't there at all! I was really dissapionted!:) :)

[Gwaimir Windgem]

Hmm, I guess some people were too seriously impressed by Shelob... ;) Let me see...Hmm...I'm a bit shy when talking to people in person (not on the Net ;)), but that's not strong enough that I'd would call it a phobia. I'd be very afraid of a Dragon if I met up with one. Does that count? ;) I can't think of any now, but I'm sure I have some hidden away somewhere!

By the way, I actually like spiders...and snakes...and bats...and (certain) rodents, i.e. mice, and most tame varieties. Don't like rats though. Now that I think about that, it could be a kind of a miniphobia, but certainly not a full-blown one.

Hey! I'm afraid of deep dark water too! Sometimes when I swim in it, I feel like some great creature (a giant turtle-like thing, a prehistoric aquatic reptile of varying sort, or a Watcher in the Water usually) is going to drag me down. :eek: :eek: But not always, thankfully.

[Baby-K]

I reckon spiders win hands down (or feet down - all eight of 'em), actually anything that has to get around by crawling, sliding etc really close to the ground is a bit creepy.

Worst is when you encounter them in a cold, dark place.........

[BeardofPants]

Poor spiders. They do an awesome job ridding the world of flies, and other related pests, and people squash them.

Bats are cute. I like bats.

[Baby-K]

I'd like bats - if they ate spiders... Do bats eat spiders?

[Laurelyn]

I'm the spider-squasher for several of my arachnaphobic friends. I don't like squishing them ("are you sure you don't want a pet?") but they tell me to. :(
I'm losing my mind, you know. Literally. Everybody tells me I'm crazy, but they mean weird-crazy. I'm losing my mind, It's scary. It's because of fear, acutally; of overblown reactions to things, especially people's anger. About a page or so ago in this thread I said anger scared me, right? I have become, in the past three months, literally incapable of handling someone being really mad. When our teachers lecture us in class I lose it.
I freak out when the atmosphere is really tense or cold or uncomfortable, too. Or sometimes just random.
Geez . . . sometimes I wonder what the heck is wrong with me. :confused: :) :D

[Baby-K]

Glad 2 hear some1 else is losing their mind too (kidding) - lost mine a long time ago & have now given up the search - I reckon it will come back 2 me eventually.

My brother is my designated bug squasher - I was stuck in my bedroom 4 about half a day once 'cos there was a spider at the door. Stupid thing wouldn't move.

[kiwi]

awww! Thats a shame!
Spiders don't bother me, ifact i would quite like pet taranchula, but i don't know why? one time I was over at my best mates house and i was in one room and she was in another.
Suddenly all I heard was a loud scream coming from the room. There was 3 spiders. One at the door, one one a cd box and another hanging from her window! She was terrified!
Her mum wouldn't touch them so i ended up having to pick them up!

[eowyngirl14]

Aaaahhhh! Spiders! My twiins science teacher has a pet taranchala, his name is Terry. i was in her room once and put my hand down on the counter and i saw a small movement in the corner of my eye and the stupid spider was crawling in the cage right next to my hand! I COULD HAVE DIED!!

i too, am very shy. i won't talk to anyone i don't know face-to-face. hence i don'y meet very many knew people...:) :)

[Lady of Rohan]

I don't like spiders, but I don't not like them enough to call it a phobia. I don't mind talking to new people. Some times I'm a little shy at first but then I get used to them.

[Legolaslvr!]

same with me except 4 the spiders part im totaly afraid of spiders and other discusting incects!!!!!!!!

[Baby-K]

I think spiders are mother nature's way of taking revenge on us for screwing up the earth - she's laughing her head off at us thinking - suffer suckers suffer!

[Elenka]

I have a new fear. Sean Thomas. Possibly the most arrogant b*tch ever to scar the earth, he seems to want to pick on me. I'm half scared because even though he's a jerk, he does have at least a few friends and they could all hurt me if they wanted to. I'm also scared of him because of how much I hate him. I'm scared that I could hold that much hate, but everytime he walks within ten feet of me, my hands tremble and I can barely stop myself from punching him. He always acts like he owns everything. The other day in tech ed, he randomly walks up and tried to steal my ruler, with the excuse, "You're not using it." I lost control and stabbed him in his hand with my pencil. No blood, thank goodness. I've never hated anyone this much. And everytime he says something to me, I say, perfectly calmly, something insulting that is sure to make it worse.

Chants: I will not murder Sean. I will not murder Sean. I will not- Die!! Die!! *Stabs desk with pencil.*

That's better.

[Elenka]

Originally posted by Laurelyn
I'm the spider-squasher for several of my arachnaphobic friends. I don't like squishing them ("are you sure you don't want a pet?") but they tell me to. :(
I'm losing my mind, you know. Literally. Everybody tells me I'm crazy, but they mean weird-crazy. I'm losing my mind, It's scary. It's because of fear, acutally; of overblown reactions to things, especially people's anger. About a page or so ago in this thread I said anger scared me, right? I have become, in the past three months, literally incapable of handling someone being really mad. When our teachers lecture us in class I lose it.
I freak out when the atmosphere is really tense or cold or uncomfortable, too. Or sometimes just random.

Thank you, Laurel, for being the spider-sqasher for me. Tis wonderful. And anger freaks me out too, but it depends on the type. It's mostly atmospheric, or getting blamed for stuff I disdn't do. A couple weeks ago, I went to answer the door 'cause my dad was waiting outside. I went and pulled back the curtain so I could see who it was. When I let my dad in, he exploded, saying that I should have just let him in, instead of making him wait. I didn't get why he was mad. I just started screaming at him, and crying and screaming at him and my mom as loud as I could. Both my parents looked really shocked.

[Sminty_Smeagol]

I am terrified of the green clowns that visit me every night when nobody is around...

[Sminty_Smeagol]

that and my counsellor. :rolleyes:

[Coney]

*claustrophobic*

My bag is my therapy.

[wahine]

Actually, I have the dumbest phobia for what my hobby is, as I'm sure everyone has figured, I love to surf. BUT I'm afraid of drowning~~!!!!!!!

This is why since I was 12 I've taken swim lessons, I was on the High School Swim team, and would have been on the college if they would have had one. I have taken many classes on extreme life and death situations involving the ocean, and have gradually gotten over my fear. Yet, I still have that knot in my stomach when I look out at that ENDLESS ocean, but it subsides, and I know it doesn't matter. It's my survival instinct gone into hyperdrive.

[Coney]

I can understand that ........... it took 12 million yrs for life to get out of the water......why do ya wanna go back?

*Rabbits don't swim*

[wahine]

*feels dumb*

I just got the significence to your name. CONEY a RABBIT!

Evolution smevolution, I'm an agnostic.

Well I was conflicted, I love the water, and fear death by it. I've been held under SO many times and figure I'm gunna die, but never did. It's all those prayers "I'll never swear again, I'll never spit on whats-her-face again, I'll never flash again, I'll never go to that acursed ENTMOOT AGAIN!" :D ;)

[Coney]

I'll never go to that acursed ENTMOOT AGAIN!"

I can appriciate that.......you meet the most unsavory herbivores here:p

*still good with herbs*

*natural bouancy of a rock*

[wahine]

Lol! I know so many like you!

..herbivores...ugh, your a veggie!!! AH! *evil eye* it's catching.

It's like everyone I knows a vegetarian. urgh. Meats good...yeesss preciousss its issss, bloody, me likes it BLOODY! Precioussssss...*superhuman bright reflective eyes grow menacing* rabbitsss iss good preciousss yesss....oh yessss.....*gollum* *gollum*

I am a sick human being. :D

[Coney]

...*superhuman bright reflective eyes grow menacing* rabbitsss iss good preciousss yesss....oh yessss.....*gollum* *gollum*

Very disconcerting *looks worried*

Nah.........I'm not a veggie;) ....the only creature I know that "eats..shoots and leaves" is a panda in a brothel...old joke.

*Coney still refuses to swim for his dinner*

[eowyngirl14]

Sometimes at night, I just get this feeling that if I close my eyes, I will never open them again...

[Elenka]

Sometimes when I'm at the beach, I remember this story I read about someone who got sucked into an undertow and I feel like, if I set foot in that water, I'm gonna get pulled out and drown. Drowning is one of my biggest fears. In pools, in lakes, in oceans. Several times, when my friend and I were playing in the big waves of a big lake, I got pulled under, and after many cycles of full summer-saults, slamming into the bottom and getting pushed under more waves, I resurfaced. I was vomiting water and screaming and crying. My friend kept asking, "What's wrong?", because normally I can take anything with out a tear. But while under the water, I suddenly thought, what if this is it? What if Kelly or I get pulled out and we DIE? We'd never be found!! The water would pulls us under until we lost the strength to live. The shore might still be in sight, taunting us! Now I won't swim in lakes unless someone else is also in the water.

[eowyngirl14]

Now you have me scared too Elenka! That sounds really scary! (cool avatar btw!) I won't go anywhere unless one of my friends comes with me! I am really afraid to go to camp by my self, mainly because I have to go on a plane to get there and I HATE flying alone! :eek: :confused: :mad: :(

[Elenka]

Originally posted by eowyngirl14
Now you have me scared too Elenka! That sounds really scary! (cool avatar btw!) I won't go anywhere unless one of my friends comes with me! I am really afraid to go to camp by my self, mainly because I have to go on a plane to get there and I HATE flying alone! :eek: :confused: :mad: :(


Sorry I scared you. But I really think it's something we should consider when we're about to swim in the deeps. Thank you about the avatar. Took me awhile to find it but i really like it!!

[Evenstar1400]

heres one thing that really disturbed me........
i come home after school one afternoon a couple months ago, and MY KITCHEN WAS GONE! yeah. the construction worker tore it out and the kitchen cabinets were in the dumpster outside. pretty scary.

now their ripping up one of the bathrooms tomorrow........

[Gwaimir Windgem]

I was just thinking earlier, and I remembered a phobia I used to have.

Bears. I used to be positively terrified of bears. Hearing stuff like about a bear ripping someone's whole face off, stories about bears slowly tearing people apart piece by piece while still alive, or of course just plain eating them alive...and then of course stuff about charging bears being able to keep charging for like 100 yards after getting shot right in the brain. It was so bad I was positively terrified to be in areas near woodlands when I wasn't in the sight of someone else. And there weren't even any bears in our area. Fortunately, haven't been afflicted by that fear for a while. :)

*eyes window nervously*

[Elvellyn]

I'm afraid of spider crickets. *shudder*

BTW I'm at school now and their computers are much faster.:D

[Linaewen]

I'm not really scared the typical things that people are scared of, like spiders or injections. i'm scared of falling though, which is different to a phobia of heights- i don't mind going up, i'm just terrified i'm going to fall down and smash myself on the ground. Apart from that, i think that's it.

[support_your_local_elf]

Linaewen, I'm really afraid of falling too. I'm also afraid of heights, but the not the usual stuff like snakes and spiders ( I LOVE arachnids and reptiles!) I'm kinda afraid of public speaking, but mostly I'm afraid of myself and what one human being can do (isn't that weird?) and most forms of government.

[eowyngirl14]

very very scared of spiders and snakes! please don't get me started on them!

[Gwaimir Windgem]

I like snakes and spiders a lot too!

;)
:D

Snakes-and-spiders!

[eowyngirl14]

*shudder* i hate snakes and spiders

[support_your_local_elf]

Thanks Gwaimir Windgen. Now I don't feel so weird for enjoying handling snakes:D

[Gwaimir Windgem]

Bats too. Like bats. :D

[support_your_local_elf]

Yeah bats are o.k. They're kind of cool. But I find ALL noctornal animals intriqing (sp):)

[eowyngirl14]

oooooh! I really like bats! they eat bugs! DId you know that they spray bat poop on chips to keep the flavoring in? it is on all doritos and such cheesey chips!

you will find it listed as guano or guanilite. i am not sure on the spelling.

[support_your_local_elf]

That's really gross...but I'm still going to eat my chips:)

[Coney]

Originally posted by eowyngirl14
oooooh! I really like bats! they eat bugs! DId you know that they spray bat poop on chips to keep the flavoring in? it is on all doritos and such cheesey chips!

you will find it listed as guano or guanilite. i am not sure on the spelling.

That's why Doritos alway come with a salsa.......the chilli burns bat excrement off;)

That's not really true is it?....how the heck are they allowed to add bat droppings

[Elvellyn]

Im not afraid of spiders. Im afraid of spider crickets. There is a difference. Spider CRICKETS are uglier and scarier.:D

[eowyngirl14]

Originally posted by Coney
TThat's not really true is it?....how the heck are they allowed to add bat droppings

ya thats true all right! they are perfectly harmless! bat droppings i mean! they help hold the flavouring in! lol! I LOVE telling people this. i have gotten some pretty weird looks. some people accualy stop eating the chips and throw them out.

[Coney]

Originally posted by eowyngirl14
ya thats true all right! they are perfectly harmless! bat droppings i mean! they help hold the flavouring in! lol! I LOVE telling people this. i have gotten some pretty weird looks. some people accualy stop eating the chips and throw them out.

*blech*....well I only eat them once in a blue moon.........now it's literally going to have to be a blue moon:(

Erm, thanks for sharing that info E14...I think;)

*Books his place at the health spa for a quick rinse through with the colonic irrigation*

[wahine]

If you think that's gross.

Seaweed is added to a number of foods, Chocolate milk to keep the chocolate from seperating, ice cream for that lovely smooth taste/feel etc.

Interesting stuff. You never know what your eating these days...

[Smaug]

Disodium guanylate is a flavor enhancer based on guanosine, which is based on the amino acid guanine. :)

As far as I can determine, it has nothing to do with bat guano. :)

[Linaewen]

Linaewen, I'm really afraid of falling too. I'm also afraid of heights, but the not the usual stuff like snakes and spiders ( I LOVE arachnids and reptiles!) I'm kinda afraid of public speaking, but mostly I'm afraid of myself and what one human being can do (isn't that weird?) and most forms of government

Exactly the same with me. I love snakes too! I'm so terrified of public speaking (though im apparently very good at it- my teacher said so :D )
I'm not really scared of governments, thought. Just dislike them.

[Lanelf]

~Used to have arachnophobia but now I combat it with arachnocide. (Translates into: I used to be scared of spiders but now every time I see one, I kill it! With a shoe! And many cries of "Die, fiend!")

~Public performance or speaking. I hate the thought of trying to be serious and everyone's laughing at you, or vice versa.

~Being in a dark, quiet house late at night. It might sound weird, but if I'm not in bed before the main lights go out in my house, I start to freak. I've just seen way too many X-files episodes and scary movies to believe that there's nothing there. Carrying around a large, solid object tends to help though. If someone attacks, I can at least bludgeon them.

~Like a lot of other people, swimming in deep murky water. Particularly when not wearing shoes. I hate wearing shoes, but if the soles of my feet aren't covered when swimming in aforesaid water or even in bed, I feel uncomfortable.

~Speaking of which, years ago I used to tuck the end of my rug under my feet in bed because I was sure there was something down the end of my bed waiting to grab my ankle. Got over that now, though.
Lanelf.

[Lotesse]

Cops. I have a phobia about cops, cops cause me tremendous anxiety. Insects are cool, love snakes and heights and water and stuff like that, I'm not worried about rejection or spiders or the dark - it's cops that freak ME out.

[Andúril]

Being ripped apart by Great Whites.
Driving over cigarette butts.
Below-the-neck paralysis.
Tubgirl.

[Lotesse]

Below-the-neck paralysis is a very RATIONAL phobia, I think. I dread, dread, dread the thought of being like that. Have you seen "Million Dollar Baby"? I'd want someone to do me like Clint Eastwood does her in the movie.

[Andúril]

Oh, and falling off a cliff while rock climbing.

[Lotesse]

Oh, BTW Anduril, what is "Tubgirl"?

[Andúril]

I'd want someone to do me like Clint Eastwood does her in the movie.Haven't seen the film, but your request sounds very interesting and exciting.

[Tessar]

*ahem*

Spiders, Roaches, bugs of almost any kind, most lizards, being anywhere NEAR a dead body (although I didn't have that one before my grandfather died), being disoriented in a dark room (I totally flip out), cutting off my fingers while I'm chopping food, that I'll suddenly lose my ability to sing, that I'll stop being able to compose music, falling from high distances, being attacked by a rabid dog that slowly mauls me to death, killing someone else in a car accident, dying and not making it to heaven, and just generally hurting myself physically in some way while doing something ordinary.


Yes, I am a paranoyed person. :rolleyes: Most people that I meet in person either think that I'm really sweet and friendly, or that I'm a paranoyed freak who should be locked away.

[Lotesse]

Anduril, get your mind outta the gutter! :rolleyes: In the movie, he gives her a lethal injection to put her to sleep, as per her desperate request because she can't bear being alive like a vegetable.

[Andúril]

Oh, BTW Anduril, what is "Tubgirl"?I really don't think you want to know. Anybody who has experienced Tubgirl will wish they hadn't, unless they are depraved in a bad way. Trust me, Tubgirl is only too worthy of gratuitous fear.

[Lotesse]

My God, Tessar, you ARE high-strung! I think you've got all the phobias from being a natural perfectionist, a high-achiever. I used to freak out in the dark, too, for a LONG time. Just recently ix-nayed that phobia.

[Andúril]

Anduril, get your mind outta the gutter! :rolleyes: I wish I could. May I blame my badness on a boring, lonely childhood?

[flupke]

You mean 'm going to end up like you :( J/K ;)

[katya]

I've watched too many episodes of Haunted History, and when I'm going to sleep I don't like to look into the dark because I'm afraid I'll see a ghost or something. I almost don't even want to say anything about it though because I feel like I'm too old to still have a fear like that. I just have this thing about ghosts and supernatural stuff. I remember saying once, years ago, that I'd rather run across a balrog than a ghost.

[Lotesse]

Well, ghosts exist, but they're nothing to be afraid of because most of them can't affect anything in the material world, and additionally most of them are benign anyway. They don't "feel" like harming anyone or anything. This is what I think, anyway.

[Lotesse]

Balrogs are f--ing terrifying. I'll take a ghost over a Balrog any day.

[flupke]

Ghosts are more scary then balrogs but balrogs can do more harm

The only thing I'm afraid of is that I won't die soon enough

[Lotesse]

How can you be afraid of not dying soon enough? Expliquez-vous, s'il vous plait because I cannot understand such a fear. Of growing old? Of being stuck on a respirator? Please explain...

[Andúril]

Neither ghosts nor balrogs have anything on Tubgirl. Just saying.

[katya]

Ghosts are more scary then balrogs but balrogs can do more harm


Exactly.

[Lotesse]

Anduril, WHAT - IS - TUBGIRL?? I'm not scared; tell me!

[katya]

If you're not scared, you should be.

[Andúril]

If you're not scared, you should be.Ooh, you've seen Tubgirl. That's very adventurous. I might like you.

[flupke]

not dying soon enough is something like Below-the-neck paralysis, only then, all your friends died, tyou see your children dying,etc...

[Lotesse]

well, that seems frightening enough, but it's all part of life's rich pageant, no? Or, as some sarcastics would say, "life sucks and then you die". Meh.

[katya]

Yeah, same reasons why I wouldn't like to live forever. That would suck. I don't share that fear though.

[katya]

Ooh, you've seen Tubgirl. That's very adventurous. I might like you.
Haha. Yeah, I have witnessed this horror. Don't remind me. ^^;

[flupke]

It's just, I have a thing with dying, every time I see a bridge something tells me to jump down from it, don't know why that is,... very strange.
Heh a bridge
*jumps up and heads for the bridge*

[Lotesse]

Jesus, calm down, flupke. Relax. Think happy thoughts, :) find a happy place...

[flupke]

come's back and thinks of the tavern

anyway, enjoy your fears, I'm off

[Lotesse]

Well, found tubgirl, big deal. How is that fearsome or scary? Just creatively disgusting, is all. I always find it amusing how easily people are "shocked" about stuff.

[Andúril]

Haha. Yeah, I have witnessed this horror. Don't remind me. ^^;I just PM'd the URL to Lotesse so that she may share in our mutual fondness.... I mean fear. Yummy. :)

[Lotesse]

No wonder you're called "The Original Corrupter", by the way! How funny, I just noticed that! :D

[katya]

No wonder you're called "The Original Corrupter", by the way!
My thoughts exactly. :)

[Andúril]

Well, found tubgirl, big deal. How is that fearsome or scary? Just creatively disgusting, is all. I always find it amusing how easily people are "shocked" about stuff.I think I fear the events that occured in her life which caused her to be in a place where such an act could be perceived as remotely enjoyable.

We all have our kinks, I suppose. Some a little less edible than others.

[Andúril]

No wonder you're called "The Original Corrupter", by the way! How funny, I just noticed that! :DI'm not THAT bad.

Unless.....I'm even more twisted, and merely testing the waters. ;)

They'll never know what sick, dark stuff is going through my mind, he thinks to himself.

[Lotesse]

No, you're probably "that bad". But, it's all good! :D *laughs lamely, then slinks away, after silly attempt at pun*

[Andúril]

No, you're probably "that bad". But, it's all good! :DI smile to myself when l think about all the innocent, naive mooters, urged to investigate the Tubgirl phenomenon after reading this thread. YAY! GO ME! :)

[flupke]

I found it to, just sick, I'm trying to come up with someone I know that would attempt that, but I can't come up with someone THAT crazy :(
Shocked I am, not scared.

[tolkienfan]

I have a different one! I'm phone-a-phobic. I don't know why but I get all tense and freaked out when I have to call people on the phone. I go over what I'm going to say 100 hundred times before I call and I usually hang up a lot halfway through dialing. I have no problem answering it however. I'm weird. I'm also deathly afraid of public speaking and meeting new people.

[Lotesse]

Hey, I can relate about the phone-phobia; I hate talking on the phone too. Not scared, or anything, but for some reason talking on the phone has always annoyed me. I prefer writing, like here on the Moot, or face-to-face communication where I can see what people are REALLY saying, with their body language and their eyes.

[Spock]

Cops. I have a phobia about cops, cops cause me tremendous anxiety. - it's cops that freak ME out.

That says volumes about your past life. You need to focus on building your new life and overcome that phobia. One day you'll be able to watch "car 54 where are you?" and smile. :rolleyes:

[Lotesse]

I don't think that day will ever come, Spock, but no worries - the "rational" part of the phobia in my life is now past (meaning I'm no longer involved in stuff that would attract them), so I've no longer reasons to fear them, but I never DID care for cops my whole life, and I highly doubt that that fear/mistrust/dislike will ever fade away.

[Lotesse]

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/blm/1986/blm860525.gif

[Spock]

you have WAY too much time on your hands......but that's better than doing time....be well, truly.

[Lotesse]

You have as much time on yours, if you've got the time to read & respond 2 my posts, my brotha! :D :p

[Spock]

Word Up! :)

[Spock]

it's my yob :D

[Lotesse]

http://rocr.xepher.net/weblog/archives/chufrontpage.jpg

[Lotesse]

http://www.getinfo247.info/Sesquipedalian-BW-cartoon.gif

[Spock]

hmm, seems straight forward enough to me :D

[Rían]

I'm also deathly afraid of public speaking ...Whew, very few people aren't!!!

I'm speaking to 100+ women tomorrow at our church ... I get so nervous when I do that, my jaw shakes and I feel cold and shaky - but they say I don't look nervous ... *gets cold just thinking about it...*

[-elfearz-]

Good luck RÃ*an! :D I'm sure you'll be just fine.

I'd drag out the old advice about imagining the audience naked, but that usually scares me more than the whole public speaking thing :eek:

[Rían]

Lol :D

[Nurvingiel]

Whew, very few people aren't!!!

I'm speaking to 100+ women tomorrow at our church ... I get so nervous when I do that, my jaw shakes and I feel cold and shaky - but they say I don't look nervous ... *gets cold just thinking about it...*I bet you really don't look nervous! We are much more aware of what's going on with our bodies (shaky voice etc.) than our listeners are.

I feel nervous and shaky voiced, but the last time I gave a presentation I got a great mark and did well. My only faults were speaking too quietly (probably more due to lack of sleep than nervousness), and speaking too quickly. Speaking quickly is something I do when I'm nervous.

If you speak too fast too, concentrate on speaking 1/3 slower than normal. Your audience will hear a calm, not too slow, easy to understand speach. I have never, ever heard someone speak too slowly in a speech.

My last bit of unsolicited advice is don't worry too much about the audience. If you drop your notes, no one is really going to judge, instead, they all feel your pain because they are just as nervous speaking in public as you are. If you goof up or forget part of your talk, just carry on, and the incident will be forgotten by the end of the talk.

You don't have to be perfect up there, but I'm sure you'll do a great job! :D

(Have you done it already? How'd it go?)

[Rían]

I bet you really don't look nervous! We are much more aware of what's going on with our bodies (shaky voice etc.) than our listeners are. Yes, I think you're right

If you speak too fast too, concentrate on speaking 1/3 slower than normal. Your audience will hear a calm, not too slow, easy to understand speach. I have never, ever heard someone speak too slowly in a speech. Yeah, that's a good reminder - I imagine we all speed up when we're nervous!

You don't have to be perfect up there, but I'm sure you'll do a great job! :D

(Have you done it already? How'd it go?)thanks, and it's Tuesday morning...

[Lotesse]

http://www.kurilka.com/cards/road_rage.jpg

[Rían]

oh, that is hysterical, Lotesse!!!!! That made me laugh!

(ps - Nurvs - talk went well - I thought of you and slowed down a few times :) )

[Lotesse]

:D Glad U liked it, Rian! Yeah, that'd really freak me out to see that in my rearview on the freeway. :eek: Back in my uber-paranoid days, if I thought about it I could actually psyche myself and my imagination into seeing something like this and thinking it was real. Paranoia + Creative Imagination = seeing a jet in your rearview!

[Lief Erikson]

:D That was good.

[Rían]

I remember once driving home from Uni (about a 4 hour trip) late at night and VERY tired; I invented a game that all the cars I saw were actually spies out to get me - the adrenaline kept me awake. There were very few cars on the road, so I was constantly checking my mirrors, and if they were ahead of me, I'd slow down a bit, etc. It was really freaky how scared I got, but it kept me alert and awake.

(and they didn't get me - haHA!)

(your pic reminded me of that for some reason)

[Tessar]

I worry about you people some times.

Then I realize I'm just as crazy. HAH! :D.

[Spock]

Actually Rian that is an excellent phobia to have. This, especially for a woman driving alone. I used to conduct womens self-defense courses and this was always on the list of things to be aware of. Keep on checking those mirrors.

[Rían]

good tip, Spock - thanks! I always thought that if I was driving alone at night and a cop came up behind me, that I would NOT pull over until I was with other people (like at a gas station) - I would put on my emergency blinkers to show I saw him, etc., but would NOT stop until there were other people around. There's been some fake cops around ...

[Spock]

Yep, two fake police officers were arrested just the other day, I forget where. You have the right idea about not stopping until a populated place; even more so if the car isn't marked and just has the revolving light on the dash board. Stay safe. :)

[Bombadillo]

I can't believe I've never seen this thread before.

I'm slightly afraid of public speaking, but what I'm scared of most is freaky animals that just stare at you. And it's laughable because I bet everyone's thought of this as a cheesy horror film scene before, but just picture some little animal staring at you, and it won't stop. You start to think "something's wrong," then "OMG, what is it doing?" and then "@*$% there's something wrong with this thing get me away from it."

Whenever I see something like that, I try to scare the animal just to get it to turn around and run away instead of looking at me, and if that doesn't work then it's a really creepy animal who doesn't understand human superiority, so I get myself away from it or have someone hit ot for me if they're nearby. :o For real.

But at least I think I know why: my aunt and uncle used to have a cat that some punk shot with a BB gun, which left it in a permanantly POed state. It would literally start trouble. One Thanksgiving when I was about five or six, it was clawing at people's ankles and necks as they sat in the living room, and it tried to eat my grandpa as he stepped over it while carrying the turkey (it would pretend to be asleep on the floor until someone would come near it, and then it would attack, and not in any playful, cat-like, tassle-swatting way), so they threw it in the basement, where I was playing with the trainset all by my defenseless self.

I was familiar with this cat already, and already hated it worse than death, so I tried to get out of the basement but it just wouldn't move from the top step. It sat there and stared at me, hard, for over twenty minutes, while I was screaming all the while for some adult to come it get it out of my way or kill it or something but the party was too loud upstairs, and so I just stayed there panicking. If I stepped any closer to it, it would have tried to kill me, and being that young I probably would have been shredded to a bloody mess.

I was right to think that too, because I'm not exaggerating anything here. The vet pressed my aunt and uncle to have it put down, but they wouldn't listen. Last year it died and I was so glad, you can't even know. Here's the first time I mention its name without some vulgar adjective before it: Finian. *shudder*

Luckily that's not anything I have to face every day.

Lotesse, how do you find the perfect picture for every thread? :D Do you know the Far Side panel where the hunter is standing at the edge of a forest, facing the trees, and the forest floor is just packed with squirrels and chipmunks standing upright and looking at him with gaping eyes? The caption ran to the effect of "suddenly Jim, a lifelong lover of the outdoors, became very uneasy with nature."

[Nurvingiel]

oh, that is hysterical, Lotesse!!!!! That made me laugh!

(ps - Nurvs - talk went well - I thought of you and slowed down a few times :) )Yeah, this hilarious Lotesse! Lulz :D

I'm glad your talk went well RÃ*, and that I was able to help! I bet it was a rad talk. :)

You know what I'm afraid of Bombadillo? Paragraphs on the internet with more than 10 lines. :p Eyes... unfocusing.


I think this thread is awesome. There's some really neat discussion in here. But I also think we're really abusing the word "phobia". This poor word is often abused in our society. For example, if RÃ*an really did have a phobia of fake cops, she might be unable to drive!

A phobic individual is gripped by paralyzing neurochemical mechanisms that render advice like "feel the fear and do it anyway" totally irrelevant. Nor does it help to tell a phobic person to take a Valium and wash it down with serveral in-flight cocktails while repeating to herself that flying is safer than driving.

People often use the word "phobic" to describe ordinary fear and trembling. "I'm phobic about flying," a client told me just this morning. He's a white-knuckle flyer who feels an adrenelaine rush when the pilot announces that he's putting the seat-belt sign on because he anticipates some choppy air. My client hates takeoff and landing, and he gets a mildly upset stomach whenever he flies. He also tortures himself with a certain amount of preflight catastrophic thinking. But he doesn't have a phobic reaction to flying. If he did, he wouldn't be able to board a plane in the first place.

If you or someone you know has a phobia, the good news is it can be treated and overcome. This is especially true if you have a specific phobia, thought help is also available for panic attacks that strike for no apparent reason, and for social phobias involving a paralyzing fear of social or work interactions. Treatment is important because avoidance won't work - in fact, it makes things considerably worse. Research demonstrates that the harder phobics work to avoid the things they fear, the more their brains grow convinced that the threat is real.
Excerpted from "Fear and Other Uninvited Guests" by Dr. Harriet Lerner (p. 29-30) :)

[Rían]

yeah, the fake cop thing was not a phobia at all - it was just a story that came out of Lotesse's funny picture.

As far as phobias, I do have a spider phobia :eek: which has improved since I had kids and had to smush spiders for them.

[Lief Erikson]

As far as phobias, I do have a spider phobia :eek: which has improved since I had kids and had to smush spiders for them.
Most of my family has phobias about creatures like crickets, cockroaches and spiders. I have no phobia whatsoever about crickets; I squash them with my bare hands routinely, and urge others to do so as well. With cockroaches and spiders, I've been a bit more antsy, but I'm trying to get over that. A couple weeks ago, I carried a largish spider out (and not one of these silly daddy-long-legs) of the house in my hands. So that was good for my morale. I'm very embarrassed about being a bit nervous around cockroaches. I should be smashing them with my hands by now, and I will try to conquer my nerves, next time I see one.

[Bombadillo]

Crickets!? :eek: But they're not even pests! They're the sound of the countryside! I used to try to catch them as a little kid on a small, lakeside beach in the Poconos with my brothers and cousins. They had been put there to get rid of all the fire ants.

You're evil!

( :p )

I don't kill bugs unless they're super creepy, like roaches, mean-looking spiders (not dady-long-legs), and centipedes or millipedes.

Rian, I read some of the posts in this big thread last night, and when I was out driving around today, looking for Christmas presents, not finding any, and getting bored and half-lost, I tried pretending all the other drivers were spies. :D That does really work.

You know what I'm afraid of Bombadillo? Paragraphs on the internet with more than 10 lines. :p Eyes... unfocusing.LOL! :D Yeah. You're right. I guess I'll fix it.

[Rían]

Bomb - it sure worked with me! I tell ya, I got myself WIDE awake! :eek: Glad to have given you a helpful keep-awake-while-driving tip :)

Lief - we catch crickets and feed them to our gecko! Spiders and cockroaches get smushed. Crickets are fine - OUTSIDE. Inside, they drive you INSANE if there's one in your room!

[Lief Erikson]

Crickets are fine - OUTSIDE.
Agreed.
Inside, they drive you INSANE if there's one in your room!
Several of my family members feel that way. As for myself, I can usually tune crickets out. However, I kill them for family cool points :). Also, I certainly don't fancy the idea of a colony of crickets living in our house. That has happened before, once or twice. So keeping their population numbers as low as possible is quite good for our family well-being.

Note: I realize I sounded quite absurd as I said that last sentence :D.

[Nurvingiel]

yeah, the fake cop thing was not a phobia at all - it was just a story that came out of Lotesse's funny picture.

As far as phobias, I do have a spider phobia :eek: which has improved since I had kids and had to smush spiders for them.Positive exposure (in this case for you, not the spider :D) would have helped a lot I bet. :)

My roommate is afraid of spiders, but I'm only slightly nervous of large spiders. She has become less afraid, however, because when we moved in there were loads of wolf spiders in the appartment since no one had lived here for a couple months.

Wolf spiders are large, grey spiders who are shy and utterly harmless to humans. You do have to remind youself of this fact when you see one of the larger ones, because they do look intimidating. My roommate is no longer afraid of small spiders.

I don't like to kill spiders. I prefer to trap them under a glass and put them outside. In the case of wolf spiders, they are beneficial to the garden too. I don't like having spiders in my hand partly because I don't want to accidentally pull off one of its legs, and partly because I don't like touching large spiders.

I don't like killing other bugs either. I actually felt guilty for a week about killing an earwig for my insect damage collection. I felt bad about this gal in particular because I killed her in a rather nasty way in order to preserve the sample. :( Crickets, sow bugs, and other insects go outside. Flies and mosquitos die die DIE. (But only because they annoy the heck out of me.)

I once got myself all worked up thinking I had seen a black widow (I only saw it out of the corner of my eye), but it was a harmless wolf spider (who proved nearly impossible to catch). Black widow's aren't aggressive, but I sure wouldn't want to surprise one! (This is common sense though.)

Did you know Daddy-longlegs are not technically spiders? They are insects! Cool eh? :cool:

Edit:

I read your post about staring animals Bombadillo. You would hate the squirrels on my campus! First, they're everywhere. Second, they're huge. Third, they are unafraid of humans (why should they be) and when you walk by them, they just stare at you until you're a safe distance away. They don't run away, they just stare. :eek: :D

[Lotesse]

I'm SO with you here! I absolutely hate to kill bugs, won't do it. I'm not afraid of any insect or arachnid, and the only bug which invariably gives me the digusted chills is the cockroach. They're the only insect breed that I just cannot abide. All the other bugs I love, and they fascinate me, and I believe it's very bad luck to kill a house spider in your house. I don't know why, maybe it's some old Italian superstition, but irregardless, I will NOT kill spiders. Or any bugs. Even with the cockroaches I'd have to hire a bug hit-man to do the dirty work. I hate the idea of ANY little animal or bug to suffer at my hands; NO way.

And Bombadillo, that Finian the Crazy Staring Cat had me rolling! And what a great little mini-story that is, for real.

[Rían]

Yes, Nurv! Those daddys are fun!

We have lots of black widows in California. I think what started my spider phobia was that when I was a little girl, playing at the house next door, the kid I was playing with said "Hold still!" and then brushed something off my neck and squished it, and then told me it was a black widow and it could have killed me. Then there's just something so utterly creepy about how they can silently come down from the ceiling ... :eek: and how they can kind of stick to you with their web if you jerk your arm to get them off :eek: :eek:

[Nurvingiel]

I would definitely be afraid of spiders, and black widows, in that situation. Again, that's not technically a phobia though (just based on what you said). That is fear. A great fear of something does not mean it's a phobia. That doesn't make your fear any less valid though. :)

My sensei's neighbour asked him to come kill a black widow that she had seen walk across her front porch. She didn't want any black widows around because she had a four-year-old son. He got a can of Raid and killed it. After he sprayed it, he thought he saw a leg or something move under the siding of her house. So he took the can of raid and sprayed it all along the siding, which was slightly loose. About 30 black widows dropped from under the siding, dead! He did this all around the house and killed a huge amount of them! They certainly know how to keep to themselves. Sensei's neighbour: :eek:

Drgnslyer has a great black widow story. He is utterly unafraid of any spider, which may or may not be a good thing. :D

We have a lot of black widows in my home town too, since like California, it's quite warm and dry there. :) Vancouver has more of a problem with termites, carpenter ants, and cockroaches (<- in condition that favour the little buggers anyway).

[Rían]

but what I have is also an irrational fear, because just seeing one, even outside, gives me fear reactions disproportionate to the danger involved. I thought that's what made it a phobia, altho on the smaller end of the phobia scale because I can overcome it with a lot of will power.

[Lotesse]

Scaredy cat! :D

I just HAD to say it eventually; I mean after all this WOULD be the thread to call people scaredy-cats in...

[Bombadillo]

Well thanks for enjoying my trauma. :rolleyes: :D

Oh, Nurv, this summer a baby squirrel crept up my stoop, where my brother was sitting, and nearly jumped on his lap. It was really freaky. It might have had rabies, because after my bro noticed it there and freaked out, it just chased after him as he ran the length of our street. :D But that was hilarious, 'cause it wasn't me. I probably would go insane on your campus. Esspecially if the squirrels are bigger.

If you think about it, all fear is really irrational. At least it can all be rationalized away, IMO. (Some psychologists disagree.) But a true phobia always entails disabling panic attacks whenever you come across your fear, and are usually caused by a single childhood trauma that you've repressed. For example, there was a case study video I watched in psych class last year about a woman with a phobia of birds. She had stayed inside her house for three years, she was so afraid to see a bird. After many therapy and hypnotism sessions, she finally ventured outside, and actually didn't panic when she saw a bird, and was very proud, for about ten seconds, and then she literally went out of her mind, screaming like a banshee and apparently losing all muscle control, collapsing and writhing on the ground, and she didn't remember that after her husband had dragged her inside.

Later in the video, a hypnotic recording jostles her memory while she sleeps, and she dreams about a time when she was four years old and her grandmother accidentally let two pigeons into the apartment. They flew around like maniacs and eventually bashed themselves to death all over the windows, walls, and everything. Now that her therapist knew the specific event that had triggered this phobia, he was able to address that directly instead of with very general hypnosis, and in about a year she no longer needed regular visits to him.

There was another case study in the same video of a guy with a phobia of trains. His doctor tried exposure therapy before hypnosis or talk therapy, but when he brought him to the train station, he actually had a heart attack and nearly died of fear. Phobias are serious.

If anyone wants them I can copy and paste this section in my notes, come to think of it.

(Editted because I didn't indent again.)

[Tessar]

I hate bugs. ALL BUGS.

If I see a bug, and I'm not too afraid to get near it, it will die in a quick and painful way.

I -really- hate bugs.

[Rían]

Yup, I"m a scaredy cat when it comes to spiders!

The interesting thing is that what helped me the most in somewhat overcoming the fear was having kids - I wanted to hide my fear as best as I could because I hoped they wouldn't pick it up.

[Tamuril Sirfalas]

It comes to me almost a surprise that supposedly, public speaking is feared more than death... but maybe that's because I love doing it, and I actually do better with large audiences than I do in small groups. On the other hand, I'm the same guy who couldn't and wouldn't dance to save his life out of fear alone, until I started taking ballroom lessons about two weeks ago.

So, the topic at hand: phobias, and other irrational anxieties. What are yours?
i fear public speaking, dolls, clowns, SPIDERS,and i am clausterphobic( i cant spell it :D ) i am scared of small confined spaces, figuring that out as a child when my sister put a pillow over my head and me sreaming muffled bloody murder. i hate speaking in front of class or large groups. clowns i wont even go into the subject, nor SPIDERSor dolls. well ok dolls scare me with their porcelin faces and plastic and ugh scary. especially when you are at someones house and they have a room FULL of dolls and they bring you in there thinking you will like it. :D

[Lotesse]

Tamuril- I have always hated clowns and dolls, for as far back as I can remember. You ever seen that horror movie based on Stephen King's "It," with that terrifying clown? Stuff of nightmares, that is.

Rian - Spiders it pays to be a scaredy cat around if you've got small children. Spider venom could easily kill a bitten baby or toddler, and severely sicken any child. That's no joke!

[Tamuril Sirfalas]

Tamuril- I have always hated clowns and dolls, for as far back as I can remember. You ever seen that horror movie based on Stephen King's "It," with that terrifying clown? Stuff of nightmares, that is.

Rian - Spiders it pays to be a scaredy cat around if you've got small children. Spider venom could easily kill a bitten baby or toddler, and severely sicken any child. That's no joke!
Lotesse- yea clowns and porcelin dolls mainly scare me, they stare at you like they are saying im going to kill you in your sleep *shudder* and yes i saw the movie, and never again! as for spiders, dont get me started! i HATE them


Tessar- you hate all bugs? spiders included? well you know the pin sized spiders, too tiny to pay attention to? well there was one in my room and i screamed bloody murder. pathetic right? my sister laughed at me which wasnt nice atall but hey it must've been funny.

[Rían]

Rian - Spiders it pays to be a scaredy cat around if you've got small children. Spider venom could easily kill a bitten baby or toddler, and severely sicken any child. That's no joke!No kidding - esp. the black widows we have around here :(


We had a really big one in the garage once. It had a web in a corner near where I put the trash out, and I just watch the sucker grow and grow, until it got to be the biggest black widow I ever saw. Then one day, it moved over and strung a web across the doggie door! :eek: The cheek of that spider!

I killed it :D

well ok dolls scare me with their porcelin faces and plastic and ugh scary. especially when you are at someones house and they have a room FULL of dolls and they bring you in there thinking you will like it.yeah, they kinda give me the creeps, too! :eek:

[Lotesse]

About scary black widows like that fat one you mentioned - That idea earlier about spraying the whole underside or hidden areas of a house's exterior with the Raid can seemed like an excellent idea; I mean, if I had kids and lived in a home where dangerous spiders were kickin' it, I'd want to eradicate them all to protect my kids. That spray can of Raid idea was a good idea...

[Rían]

you shoulda SEEN the sucka! Biggest friggin' black widow I"ve ever seen.

[Lotesse]

Raid spray, I'm tellin' ya. I personally can't BEAR squishing insects or spiders, I can't bear it, but like I said if I had children I daresay I'd have no problem squishing ANYthing to protect them.

[Rían]

There's one up-side to squishing, tho - it's completely environmentally safe. Raid is poison, after all, and that is also dangerous to kids. Sometimes I do the Raid thing, though, and just keep the kids and dog away from where I sprayed for several hours. The good thing about spray is that it DOES get into those hidden, invisible places.

[Bombadillo]

We had to spray our house for some sort of pest once. You know those "bombs" that you just set and leave on the floor, and then you stay out of the house for seven hours or so with all the windows and doors sealed? Well it set the smoke alarm off as soon as we shut the front door. We just called the FD to explain and went to see a movie. Man, was our neighborhood pissed. :p

Ah, I forgot about dolls. Most of them aren't scary, but you know those antique ones with the painted faces that always have disproportionately gigantic eyes, that are always painted to look teary and seem to be staring straight at you. What kind of person would give that to his child I don't know. It's just as scary as having a cat stare at you; it just makes you feel wrong somehow. I saw an esspecially terrifying doll in an antique shop; it was perfectly life-sized and I guess anatomically correct, and the stupid porclain head was carved (molded? whatever) very well, so it was almost a characture of a child, but it was so glossy that it looked exactly like the kids' corpses in the movie Red Dragon after the weirdo put the mirrors in their eye sockets. :eek: :eek: That was long before that movie was released too.

[littleadanel]

Hmm, I'm not afraid of spiders... and they do bring good luck! :) Thankfully, there are no dangerously venomous nes around here; so most often I just let them be. I always remind myself that they catch mosquitos and flies :p

But what I am afraid of... are those small trucks going around in big stores, I don't know the name.. they use them to lift huge boxes of stuff up, to the uppermost shelves, up to the ceiling. I'm really afraid to go near to those, after I dragged my dad away from one ("I'm not gonna walk under that one!") and two seconds after the box it was lifting up fell down. :eek: *shudder* I don't want to be smashed by a box in a hypermarket. I don't dare going near these trucks :(

[Tamuril Sirfalas]

you shoulda SEEN the sucka! Biggest friggin' black widow I"ve ever seen.
i have a really bad memory about black widows. i lived in sand pines when i was little and remember i was on a swing set. i went near the wood pile and was chased by a HUGE black widow. never want to see spiders again, doesnt help t see eight -legged freaks in the basement with no one home and you think the movie will get you over your fear. fat chance

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

I have an irrational fear of...

AXE-WIELDING MANIACS!!! :p

[Spock]

and I of...................

[Lady Marion Magdalena]

I'm afraid of edges. As in, if I feel a metal edge against my skin (especially around the throat or wrist) or if I'm standing on the edge of a sheer/steep drop I will freeze up and won't relax until the edge has been removed from me.
It's weird, both those situations could point to other fears, such as fear of bleeding or fear of heights. But I'm fine with blood and I like looking down from a great height, it's the edge that triggers the actual fear.

Something that I wouldn't say is a phobia for me but that never fails to distress me is being stranded or left alone in a place away from home. It's especially bad if I've forgotten my cellphone (or if it's dead) and there's no clock around because then the time just seems to go on and on and on and there's no way of telling when someone will realize that I'm not where I'm supposed to be (e.g. with family or friends).

That particular fear isn't helped by the fact that I end up in such situations far more than I would like... :rolleyes:

Loud, unnecessary noises also upset me. Repeated loud, unnecessary noises can drive me into a near-homicidal rage. It's just one of those things. :evil:

[Lotesse]

Lady M, that fear of edges which you've mentioned immediately made me think of "past life trauma." There's this threory out there amongst those who believe in reincarnation and the like, namely that our unusual or marked phobias can be some "memory" of a trauma which ended in a death to us in a past life. My Dad insists that he was buried alive in an Egyptian tomb with a Pharaoh, which explains his intolerance for dark, confined spaces. He also thinks he was shot down in a wartime fighter jet in world war II before his "present incarnation," explaining his profoundly acute terror of being up high. One time I took him up the Space Needle in Seattle and he almost had a full-on panic/anxiety attack. Luckily, there's a bar at the top so he had a few scotches and was able to calm down - a little.

Dad used to do a LOT of drugs in the sixties and seventies. And eighties, too, actually...

But still, it's interesting to think about!

[Lady Marion Magdalena]

The Space Needle is fun... had my junior prom up there, very pretty. :)

I don't think I've had any past lives. A bloody lot of characters living in my subconcious, yes. Lives in parallel worlds, maybe...
But I've never felt there to be anything more to my past than this life...

It is an interesting thought though. ;)

[Lady Ravyn]

i have this incredible fear of dolls and clowns and things. it all started when i read/watched "it". ever since then, if i see a clown? forget about it.
i don't know when the doll thing started. i used to have a million baby dolls and i loved them. but as i got older, they actually started creeping me out to the point that i packed them all away in my closet, then got creeped out that they were even in my room, so i moved them into my grampy's house next door. lol
i didn't realize how badly they disturbed me, though, until last saturday when i was at my grandma's house with my family. my cousin brought up one of her baby dolls and her and my other cousins were fooling around with it, dressing it up in her little brother's (who is 2) pajamas. i walked into the room for a second, and one of them threw it in my face and i screamed! i hid my face and told them to knock it off, so my brother said alright alright. but when i opened my eyes he shoved it in my face again and i actually started crying! and i mean, like, full-out, hysterical crying! it was awful! i couldn't believe how wussy i was about the whole thing!
so yeah, i'm a wee bit terrified of dolls...
lol

[inked]

I'd like to diagnose brownjenkins with absolutophobianorecognisis. That's when you make absolutes and refuse to recognize them - compulsively and repetitively and over and over and over and over ... again! ;)

[Lief Erikson]

My pet phobia: The giant cricket that will come after me to avenge all the little crickets I've smushed. :eek: :eek: :eek:
(joking)

[Spock]

I'd like to diagnose brownjenkins with absolutophobianorecognisis. That's when you make absolutes and refuse to recognize them - compulsively and repetitively and over and over and over and over ... again! ;)

Actually that is defined as exponentialy. :D

[Lotesse]

I'm not even gonna say what I'd like to diagnose Inked with. He'd get too offended and miffed. How does a diagnosis completely taken out of context relating to his beef with a fellow mooter from a TOTALLY DIFFERENT THREAD have anything at all to do with phobias? How insulting. :rolleyes: :)

[Earniel]

All, let's not get too personal here. This thread is about your own phobia's, not the imagined ones of others.

[Nurvingiel]

I have an irrational fear of...

AXE-WIELDING MANIACS!!! :pMaybe that's not so irrational eh? </being obvious>

I have anxiety about going to class. This is a problem for a university student. [Insert student life joke here. Go on, you know you want to.]

[It's not like you go to class anyway in university!]

There, now doesn't that feel better? :D

[inked]

The perfect thread for the following...

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles.php?article_id=5181&search=Christianity

paranoia, it's not just for conservatives anymore! :p

[Tamuril Sirfalas]

i have this incredible fear of dolls and clowns and things. it all started when i read/watched "it". ever since then, if i see a clown? forget about it.
i don't know when the doll thing started. i used to have a million baby dolls and i loved them. but as i got older, they actually started creeping me out to the point that i packed them all away in my closet, then got creeped out that they were even in my room, so i moved them into my grampy's house next door. lol
i didn't realize how badly they disturbed me, though, until last saturday when i was at my grandma's house with my family. my cousin brought up one of her baby dolls and her and my other cousins were fooling around with it, dressing it up in her little brother's (who is 2) pajamas. i walked into the room for a second, and one of them threw it in my face and i screamed! i hid my face and told them to knock it off, so my brother said alright alright. but when i opened my eyes he shoved it in my face again and i actually started crying! and i mean, like, full-out, hysterical crying! it was awful! i couldn't believe how wussy i was about the whole thing!
so yeah, i'm a wee bit terrified of dolls...
lol
poor you! yea im really scared of dolls and clowns...so i have a button i wear saying* can't sleep... clowns will eat me* exactly how i feel..

[Bombadillo]

paranoia, it's not just for conservatives anymore! :p :D :p

You know, if you're gonna believe in something so strongly that you attend rallies and conventions and whatnot, I would think that you understand what it's like to believe in something very strongly. From there, you should have tolerance, then respect for other people's beliefs. You should understand that yeah, people believe in stuff. And still survive together, even together in a democracy. Imagine! These paranoid politicians fighting for religious anarchy just haven't thought about it, or else they would have come to that conslusion. They're the blindly faithful zealots.

That was a good article. I figured I'd state that ^ here instead of any religious thread where it would be nitpicked and drowned in statistics, specifics, and whatnot in half a minute. People are nuts.

[Bombadillo]

On another note:
i have this incredible fear of dolls and clowns and things. it all started when i read/watched "it". ever since then, if i see a clown? forget about it.
i don't know when the doll thing started. i used to have a million baby dolls and i loved them. but as i got older, they actually started creeping me out to the point that i packed them all away in my closet, then got creeped out that they were even in my room, so i moved them into my grampy's house next door. lol
i didn't realize how badly they disturbed me, though, until last saturday when i was at my grandma's house with my family. my cousin brought up one of her baby dolls and her and my other cousins were fooling around with it, dressing it up in her little brother's (who is 2) pajamas. i walked into the room for a second, and one of them threw it in my face and i screamed! i hid my face and told them to knock it off, so my brother said alright alright. but when i opened my eyes he shoved it in my face again and i actually started crying! and i mean, like, full-out, hysterical crying! it was awful! i couldn't believe how wussy i was about the whole thing!
so yeah, i'm a wee bit terrified of dolls...
lolI saw the very end of "IT" on TV at my friend's house once when i was about 8 years old. (In fact i think it was my first time ever sleeping over someone else's house.) In any case, I still want to see that movie in full, 'cause after I saw the obnoxiously large spider I just cracked up laughing. I'm guessing that it's the rest of the movie that is consistently rated among the top ten scariest films of all time.

But I used to have nighmares about one clown in particular. That was different though; I had a clown at my 5th birthday party or something, and I dreamed that I came across him somewhere else, and I forgot my shoes but didn't want him to notice, and he didn't like me. It makes no sense, but could scare the pants off a sleeping five-year-old.

EDIT: Ah, shucks. Someone switched the "Edit" and "Quote" buttons on me again.

[Lief Erikson]

:D :p

You know, if you're gonna believe in something so strongly that you attend rallies and conventions and whatnot, I would think that you understand what it's like to believe in something very strongly. From there, you should have tolerance, then respect for other people's beliefs. You should understand that yeah, people believe in stuff. And still survive together, even together in a democracy. Imagine! These paranoid politicians fighting for religious anarchy just haven't thought about it, or else they would have come to that conslusion. They're the blindly faithful zealots.

That was a good article. I figured I'd state that ^ here instead of any religious thread where it would be nitpicked and drowned in statistics, specifics, and whatnot in half a minute. People are nuts.
OKAY, STATS TIME!!!!!!!!! :mad: :mad: :mad:

Joking :p.

[Bombadillo]

OKAY, STATS TIME!!!!!!!!! :mad: :mad: :mad:

Joking :p. :D :D

Not that statistical knowlege is a bad thing, just not for me. :p

[Tamuril Sirfalas]

another thing to add to my list...CROWS
LARGE AMOUNTS OF CROWS....a f***ing crow attacked me yesterday...just flew over my and raked its claws on my head..the bastard..shoot it shoot it! jk i know they're endangered...but shoot the crow who attacked me!

[Lotesse]

You're kidding; he just attacked you like that? How very Hitchcockian! Why on earth did the crow deliberately claw you; did he think you were some kind of threat or was he just being randomly terrifying? Animals are a trip, sometimes. :D

[Rev. Justin Timberlake]

Pigeons.

But not as the result of some Hitchcockitty attack, or the unlucky target of fowl defacation.

No, rather from the threateningly self-destructional thought processes stemming from the intrinstic chaotic incoherency of pigeon-thinkerence.

[katya]

I have an anxiety concerning the mentally disabled. It`s just because I don`t understand them and I don`t know what they`re gonna do or how I should act. I only really realized this today as I was at that concert. All the ones I`ve met have been really sweet but still, it makes me really anxious. I`m just not a people person in general, you know.

[Lotesse]

Katya, you should check out this awesome website/blog written by a young woman who is a retarded/developmentally challenged kid's teacher. When I got on this website of hers, I swear I could not stop reading until I'd read the ENTIRE thing through. It took me a few hours, but DAMN it was so worth it! She's amazing. It'll definitely give you a refreshed, funny, revealing, heartwarming and irreverent look into the lives of "tards." For real! It is an awesome site.

http://www.tard-blog.com/

[katya]

Wow, thanks Lotesse! I read through the whole thing too without being able to stop (disregarding a mandatory dinner outing with a couple of suits). Really interesting, refreshing and depressing at the same time. I don`t think you`ve helped my anxiety though. In fact I think it`s just gotten worse....

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

in all seriosness, i do actually have some real phobias:
i can't touch velvet, or foam (not foam which firefighters use, but like stuff from insode sofas and cushions an stuff)
and i can't speak in public, however i can sing in public, which is strange, i know

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

I have an anxiety concerning the mentally disabled. It`s just because I don`t understand them and I don`t know what they`re gonna do or how I should act. I only really realized this today as I was at that concert. All the ones I`ve met have been really sweet but still, it makes me really anxious. I`m just not a people person in general, you know.
hopefully not those with paranoid schizophrenia, katya? cos we are ok, half the time!

although i have actually been ok for about a year now, and don't even need my medication most of the time

[Tamuril Sirfalas]

You're kidding; he just attacked you like that? How very Hitchcockian! Why on earth did the crow deliberately claw you; did he think you were some kind of threat or was he just being randomly terrifying? Animals are a trip, sometimes. :D
i dunno it was crazy tho...mabye i was a threat but still...cant go by crows anymore..i freak out

[Bombadillo]

I was once chased by a kid with Down's syndrome. The talk about retardation and randomly attacking birds reminded me. I'm totally respectful of the mentally challenged, but to this day, it's among the funniest things I've ever seen. One of those things that you'd see in a sitcom or something, but wouldn't be funny unless it actually happened to you, and then it's hilarious. We were riding our bikes through a little patch of woods (for this suburban area, it was a gigantic patch of woods, actually), and he was walking along with his family on a path that intersected our own, until we passed him and he went entirely crazy, hollering, trying to grab us, and chasing us at really surprising speed down the rest of the way. It was maybe two minutes of pedaling away from his screams, and like some twisted, low-budget horror movie, one of my friends was lagging behind the whole time on what was a crappy bike in the first place but also barely able to breathe through his laughter. About two blocks after we escaped we had to lay down in a baseball field and just keep laughing until the pain in our sides made us cry. But really, if you weren't there, don't judge, because I have pity for him; the scene itself would make anybody laugh.

On another note, Chrys, I can see the rationality behind your fear of foam. I call that stuff "70s foam" because it always looks so old and recycled, probably filled with dust and mold and insidious germs that I would never feel comfortable resting on. I'm not paranoid of it, but really I hate that stuff too.

[Lotesse]

Foam is creepy, i've gotta admit. You know what I really hate? Styrofoam. I HATE that stuff. I do NOT understand how people can drink out of styrofoam cups, and the sound it makes when you rub one styrofoam thing against another? *shudder* PLUS, the freakin' stuff gets everywhere on this planet, and screws up the biodynamics of the environment. The fish in the sea eat bits of the stuff thinking that it's food, then of course they die, and the birds too. I hate styrofoam with a passion.

Bombadillo, I swear ta god you have the funniest storylets to tell all the time! That is too funny, the being chased by a screaming tard, while on a bike - I wonder why he was yelling at you guys? Hey, did you ever check out that story blog about the teacher of kids with severe behavior problems and retardation? She's a special ed teacher. It is a must-see - check it out, you guys.http://www.tard-blog.com/

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

styrofoam is what you call polystyrene isn't it?

i ate a polystyrene cup today...i got bored

[Spock]

styrofoam is what you call polystyrene isn't it?

i ate a polystyrene cup today...i got bored

Yes it is.

and

your eating habits may be the cause of some of your problems. ;) :evil:

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

hey, it was actually quite tasty

[hectorberlioz]

Yes it is.

and

your eating habits may be the cause of some of your problems. ;) :evil:


I eat apples and oranges whole sometimes...though I cut back on the apples, because I was getting bad stomach aches from the cores..(the arsenic!!!) :o :o

[Lotesse]

Apple seeds have arsenic? When I was five, my first step-father saved peach-pit interiors in a jar, and made me eat them every day. I come to find out many, many years later that the pit of peach has trace amounts of cyanide in them. He was an insidious freak bastard; he wanted to poison me to death. It's when we lived up in the remote Canadian mountains, too, oh happy memories. :mad: I hate fruit pits. There are many very valid reasons why to this day, I have the personality quirks and irrational phobias/anxieties that I do. You would, too, if your stepfather did the things this man did to me, since I was a toddler. (I had 2 son-of-bitch stepfathers; they were both wonderful gifts to the human race. :rolleyes: :mad: )

[Spock]

And little old ladies, elderberry wine has arsenic in it too. :D

[hectorberlioz]

Apple seeds have arsenic? When I was five, my first step-father saved peach-pit interiors in a jar, and made me eat them every day. I come to find out many, many years later that the pit of peach has trace amounts of cyanide in them. He was an insidious freak bastard; he wanted to poison me to death. It's when we lived up in the remote Canadian mountains, too, oh happy memories. :mad: I hate fruit pits. There are many very valid reasons why to this day, I have the personality quirks and irrational phobias/anxieties that I do. You would, too, if your stepfather did the things this man did to me, since I was a toddler. (I had 2 son-of-bitch stepfathers; they were both wonderful gifts to the human race. :rolleyes: :mad: )

How horrid! :mad: ...peach cores...I've opened up a few...looks weird.

[jellyfishannah]

Public speaking, definitely. I can be as prepared as anything, know everyone in the room personally and still... I just start stuttering and forgetting everything! I think I generally do not like to have anything I've written criticized. I am very self-conscious about my writing. Because it sucks!

I find it strange that so many people are afraid of spiders. I can sort of understand but they don't really bother me. (Even though I had a pretty scary encounter with a large tarantula a few years ago!) Bees and wasps bother me more. And needles. Ugh.

Snakes never bothered me until I went on a hike with my brother the other day. I turned over a rock and there were a couple baby snakes under there. They both slithered away into a hole. It was so shocking! And the thing that unnerved me was that they didn't really slither. They made a weird flip-flopping motion. But it was so fast! It was unnatural, I tell you! :(

[Lotesse]

Is THAT what they were on, in "Arsenic and Old Lace?" Elderberry wine? No wonder! :D

edit - Baby snakes definitely have high creepy-factor going for them, plus if they're poisonous, their venom is much more pronounced when they are babies.

[hectorberlioz]

Snakes in general scare me. (Like my sis, except worse).

I've had some very scary dreams involving snakes: in one, I came out of a tent-it was a bible-ish tent- because they were wiggling in, and when I started walking , I realized that the stuff I was walking on wasnt grass, it was snakes all over! (you know how it is in dreams, stuff transfosms as soon as you think it).

[Lotesse]

Actually, Hector, that sounds like a cool dream - you could think of it, and re-transform the snake-grass into something else entirely, like living spaghetti or something. Or sea anemones. :D

Here's a description of what eating fruit pits does; apparantly almond pits are the same as peach pits - It's interesting.

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/nov2000/974207625.Ch.r.html

[Bombadillo]

I've eaten some styrofoam cups too, Chrys. Never a whole one, but just sitting around as a little kid at some sort of formal roast, I got bored enough to make designs with my teeth in my cup, and then finally start eating it before my mom took it away. :D It's tasteless though.

Thanks Lotesse. :D A few years ago, NYC started an ingenious program to recycle a bunch of styrofoam. I don't know how it was scientifically possible, but they'd mash a bunch of foam into Lego-shapes, rectangles about the size of tissue boxes. Then they'd sell them at a nickel per rectangle at homesless shelters and soup kitchens so the people on the streets could sleep in something slightly more insulated than a cordboard box. But, no, taxpayers decided that they were eyesores, and would rather watch people age and starve right out in the open.

Anyway, Hector, I have a pet snake. Have you ever touched one? What scares most people is their sliminess, but in reality they aren't slimy at all. Nice and smooth and comforting in a way that I'll admit is a bit strange. Here (http://www.ncgeckos.com/images/hwcali.jpg) is what one looks like, but mine has thicker dark bands and near the tail his pattern switches to stripes, plus this one looks like a baby and mine is nearly full-grown. They're faces are the same though. California kings vary a whole lot in coloration.

EDIT: Forgot: I did read a bit of that blog, Lottesse, the intro to "Slow Children @ Play," but got called away to dinner or something. I'll read the rest of it pretty soon.

[Lotesse]

You know what my favourite snake is? Baby ball pythons. They are SO sweet, sweet little temperments, and their skin is so very soft and silky, and so sensitive. Snakes are quite delicate, you know, all you snake-scaredy cats out there. What's that old saying? They're probably more scared of you than you of them, or something along those lines? Well, they probably are, the poor guys. The way venomous snakes deal with their feelings is they bite and kill with their poison if they get the idea that you're either A. the enemy, or B. lunch. :D .

Why couldn't they just give the homeless very thick blankets, and tarps if it rained, so they could make tents? O.K. so I'm being unreasonable if it's the city, but still... and the a-holes who decided that compressed styrofoam was a nuisance and banned it ought to be made to be homeless and destitute without any options, for at least two eeks, and then see how they feel about nusances like compressed freakin' styrofoam. :( :mad: It ain't easy being homeless and familyless, in the streets, with nothing.

[Bombadillo]

Well you don't count until you pay taxes. Duh. :mad:

I'm reminded of a stupid riddle I read from an old kiddie joke book that used to be my mom's:
Q: What is a cobra's biggest fear?
A: Biting its tounge. lollol :rolleyes:

California kings have been known to beat mongooses to death by folding their midsecting into bludgeons! IMO, that's about as badass as snakes can get.

Also Hector, I can sort of identify with you though, because seeing a snake out in the wilderness is a real jolt. That's happened to me twice, and both times I totally jumped back like a schoolgirl trhowing a tantrum. :D But that's 'cause I didn't know what kind they were and if they were about to attack or what.

[Earniel]

I don't fear snakes but darn, did they give me a scare a few times! :D It's especially frightening when you and the snake are going for the same frog. One time on holiday I was stretching out my hand to a frog that was croaking and sitting rather strangely on a river bank. And I just happen to glance behind the frog in the bushes and I saw maybe 10 cm of snake-body wriggling, going straight for the frog as well! I didn't even see the head. I still don't know how I got to the other side of the river so fast but I was there before my brain had completely registered what I had seen.

The funniest part was my sister's reply when she saw me jump back like that. She said : "Whatsamatter? A snake or something?" And by that time I was standing besides her, pulling her arm in excitement and yelling "Yesyesyes!" I suppose it's a you-had-to-be-there-moment because I can't describe my sister's tone exactly. But it was so funny. Good memories...

[Nautipus]

I just stumbled across this thread and figured I'd post. I have an enormous, completely out of this world fear of parasites. Just the thought of something living inside me can have me trembling like a leaf and probing my abs with a finger.
Pictures can sometimes even do it for me. The strange thing is that I LOVE sushi. I cant go a month without it. But I always check it beforehand for cysts and eggs. Also, parasites fascinate me, but it's hard to learn about them because when I see a picture or read stories of human infestation I freak. I'm putting my will to the test by writing a horror about parasites, but it isnt likely to appear here.

[Thain Peregrin Took I]

I have this HUGE fear of spiders. I freak out when I see one, even if it's on the ceiling. I was in the car once, and this ginormous spider came on the backseat (ok, so I guess it wasn't that big, but still). I started freaking out, crying really hard, and almost hyperventilyating. And there was a daddy long leg in the bathroom a few weeks ago that had like inch long legs and it was so freaky and I was just about to turn on the shower when I noticed it, so I jumped away and breated until I got up enough courage to squish it (which was very frightening, too. I kept thinking that I hadn't actually killed it, and was scared that it would crawl out of the garbage can.)

I'm also scared of bees, but not the point of spiders. Just sort of mild freak-outage.

I kinda have a fear of heights, but it's not that bad. It's only for relatively high things, and it's a very controlable fear for me, so it's never really been a problem.

i have this incredible fear of dolls and clowns and things. it all started when i read/watched "it". ever since then, if i see a clown? forget about it.
I saw the first few seconds of "It" at a friends house when I was 10, but then my friends mom decided that it would be too scary for us. Then my friends friend explained the entire plot to us, and I was freaked out for a couple months after that.

[Nautipus]

Here's something wierd: I really HATE small spiders with spindly legs, but LOVE tarantulas. Love them to death. I'm afraid the little spiders will crawl inside me or something. Wierd, huh?

[BeardofPants]

Can't remember if I commented on this or not, but the only thing I come close to with regards to phobias is a fear of wasps. I recently spent what seemed an inordinate amount of time running away from wasps in Germany, Austria, England, America, and Hong Kong. o.0

[Lotesse]

I just stumbled across this thread and figured I'd post. I have an enormous, completely out of this world fear of parasites. Just the thought of something living inside me can have me trembling like a leaf and probing my abs with a finger.
Pictures can sometimes even do it for me. The strange thing is that I LOVE sushi. I cant go a month without it. But I always check it beforehand for cysts and eggs. Also, parasites fascinate me, but it's hard to learn about them because when I see a picture or read stories of human infestation I freak. I'm putting my will to the test by writing a horror about parasites, but it isnt likely to appear here.

Ooo! This is too ood not to tell you about, then. I was out to dinner at an upscale restaurant a fw years ago, in Monterey which is of course right on the northern Califoria coast - no shortage of beautiful fresh clean fish - and I ordered fish for dinner. The inside of the thick filet of fish was almost entirely ccupied by a giant worm-like blood-red and dark-grey worm parasite. As big as a grown man's middle finger. Chew on THAT for a second! And if you're so terrified of parasites like you claim t be, sushi is the last thing in the world you'd want anywhere near you, never mind put in your mouth and swallow. All raw fish contains microscopic parasites, all of it. Our bodies for the most part can deal with them whilst they're in our digestive tract, but you're REALLY kidding yourself if you think you're gonna be parasite-free eating raw fish. Chances are, you've got parasites living inside you nice and comfy for a long time; most people do, but especially raw fish eaters. MWA hah hah ha ha hah haaaaa..... :evil: :evil: :evil:

[Lotesse]

A major health hazard associated with the eating of raw fish has been attributed to parasitic infections. Anisakiasis has been recently become a leading problem in not only Japan but also U.S.A, Korea, and the other countries where people like eating sushi or sashimi. This disease caused by an infection of Anisakinae larvae, which are the visceral larva migrans following an infection by Anisakis larvae or related nematodes.

from General Survey of Anisakis and Anisakiasis in Japan by Ishikura, H. In Gastric Anisakiasis in Japan. Epidemology, Diagnosis, Treatment, Springer-Verlag, Tokyo, 3pp.


http://weblogs.madrimasd.org/images/weblogs_madrimasd_org/alimentacion/231/r_anisakis.png

If you feel epigastric pain after eating raw fish like sushi or sashimi, you had better go to physician and check your stomach by a gastroscope. In some cases, you can see a larva which is penetrating your stomach wall. In this patient, severe gastric ulcer and hemorrage were noticed.

A larva sometime goes through stomach and reaches terminal ileum. Then the larva penetrates into intestinal wall causing ileus.


Pathologically Anisakis larva shows unique features and numerous eosinophils were infiltrated arround the larva.


Anisakis larvae were parasitized in many fishes. Before you eat them, beware of the larva in the fish like this photograph.

SOURCE: http://www.tmd.ac.jp/med/mzoo/parasites/Images/9603/Parasite9603.html

P.S. - At least I'm kind enough not to post up the really graphic colour photographs of these parasites in the ssushi, which I found on Google images. I cannot bear to look at them myself, I wouldn't do that to you all. It's definitely cringe-and-shudder worthy. Man, now I don't want to eat sushi anymore, god here I was tryna play with you and now I've scared mySELF! :D :D

[Lotesse]

I don't fear snakes but darn, did they give me a scare a few times! :D It's especially frightening when you and the snake are going for the same frog. One time on holiday I was stretching out my hand to a frog that was croaking and sitting rather strangely on a river bank. And I just happen to glance behind the frog in the bushes and I saw maybe 10 cm of snake-body wriggling, going straight for the frog as well! I didn't even see the head. I still don't know how I got to the other side of the river so fast but I was there before my brain had completely registered what I had seen.

The funniest part was my sister's reply when she saw me jump back like that. She said : "Whatsamatter? A snake or something?" And by that time I was standing besides her, pulling her arm in excitement and yelling "Yesyesyes!" I suppose it's a you-had-to-be-there-moment because I can't describe my sister's tone exactly. But it was so funny. Good memories...


Awesome story! I can totally picture that, too, you and a wild snake both happening to be striking out to grab the same wee "prey," a frog - :D But with different designs on the frog in question, doubtless! That's a great mental image.

Reading this old page reminds me of Bombadillo and how much I miss him...

Me, I don't fear much tangible stuff, if anything to be frank. What I fear, and terribly so, is getting old, and failure, and regret. I fear regret. And I fear death, only because I want this experience to last as long as I want it to, this being alive on this beautiful earth. Hell no I do not want some "heaven" nonsense, I want to live, and create, and think, and love, and see and smell and feel this whole world and all her lovely animals, plants, places, peoples, cultures, histories, everything everything for as long as it lasts, I never wanna die. Someone once said(Maybe Otto Rank, or Freud or someone like that): "The difference between a neurotic and an artist is that a neurotic fears life, while an artist fears death." That's me. I don't want it ever to end.

And come to think of it, I don't care for parasites, either, actually. They have always made me paranoid. I even went so far as to buy these parasite killing herbal pills just in case I might have stray murderous parasites skulking about in my bowels or something, the main ingredient is black walnut I think but I got over that fear. I got bigger things to worry about nowadays. For real. Death, failure, regret, aging and loss... I'll take defeatable little parasites any day over these big bad muthas of fear.

[Earniel]

Awesome story! I can totally picture that, too, you and a wild snake both happening to be striking out to grab the same wee "prey," a frog - :D But with different designs on the frog in question, doubtless! That's a great mental image.
Thanks. I still pass by that stretch of water. Much of the bank where the frog sat has washed away by winter floods, but the stone on which I stood is still on the right spot. Each time I pass, I still wonder how I managed to jump to the other side so fast.

And if you're so terrified of parasites like you claim t be, sushi is the last thing in the world you'd want anywhere near you, never mind put in your mouth and swallow. All raw fish contains microscopic parasites, all of it.
Not to mention the tuna used for sushi is majorly overfished. Tuna catching is even banned until the end of the year now in the Mediterrerean because they already gone way overboard with the quota in september already. Rather not the best food for an ethical future marine biologist. ;)

[The Gaffer]

Lotsy * waves *

Check out this interview with Dennis Potter, conducted just before his death in 1994:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/greatinterviews/story/0,,2155765,00.html

[Nautipus]

Ooo! This is too ood not to tell you about, then. I was out to dinner at an upscale restaurant a fw years ago, in Monterey which is of course right on the northern Califoria coast - no shortage of beautiful fresh clean fish - and I ordered fish for dinner. The inside of the thick filet of fish was almost entirely ccupied by a giant worm-like blood-red and dark-grey worm parasite. As big as a grown man's middle finger. Chew on THAT for a second! And if you're so terrified of parasites like you claim t be, sushi is the last thing in the world you'd want anywhere near you, never mind put in your mouth and swallow. All raw fish contains microscopic parasites, all of it. Our bodies for the most part can deal with them whilst they're in our digestive tract, but you're REALLY kidding yourself if you think you're gonna be parasite-free eating raw fish. Chances are, you've got parasites living inside you nice and comfy for a long time; most people do, but especially raw fish eaters. MWA hah hah ha ha hah haaaaa..... :evil: :evil: :evil:


*gag, wretch*

AAAAARGH! Why do you tell me these things! *gag*

But what nost people dont know about (most) sushi is that it's not raw, it's just chilled. Nigiri is usually raw, and sashimi always is.


Not to mention the tuna used for sushi is majorly overfished. Tuna catching is even banned until the end of the year now in the Mediterrerean because they already gone way overboard with the quota in september already. Rather not the best food for an ethical future marine biologist. ;)

AAAAAWW. *waves habd dissmisively* ;) :D

I know it is, so I try to avoid tuna, especially blue tuna, and I'll usually have eel and (rarely) salmon, but the only fish least likely to giove you parasites is eel.

[Lotesse]

*gag, wretch*

AAAAARGH! Why do you tell me these things! *gag*

But what nost people dont know about (most) sushi is that it's not raw, it's just chilled. Nigiri is usually raw, and sashimi always is.




AAAAAWW. *waves habd dissmisively* ;) :D

I know it is, so I try to avoid tuna, especially blue tuna, and I'll usually have eel and (rarely) salmon, but the only fish least likely to giove you parasites is eel.

Yeah, yeah. So basically you are not at all phobic of parasites in raw fish, it was all just something to post here for the hell of it the other day, I get it. Not a real fear. Well, keep on keepin' on, then, li'l buddy! More power to ya, and your wee parasites, too, meh he he he he he he.... :evil: :evil:

And you say "Bah" and wave your paw at the tuna netfishing depletion problem? For shame, seriously what, are you...are you a ... a REPUBLICAN, perchance? :D :D No just playin', who cares about politics. For years and years I was one of Them. Haven't been since the early nineties, but anyway who cares. However, you might want to consider caring about the depletion and human-enforced and perpetuated forced extinction of some of our world's animals, like what Earniel was saying. I mean, it would be cool not to be so cavalierly dismissive about it. It's way uncool to just say "yeah yeah yeah, whatever, ha ha" about species in our oceans rapidly swimming towards the end goal of extinction thanks to the efforrts of greedy fishing companies propelled to make business because of wanton consumers who love sushi and tuna sandwiches whenever they want it, wanton consumers like anybody in the wealthy western or Japanese areas of this planet.

Think about it.

And again, I am calling you out, Nautipus, on your so-called "phobia" of parasites, because I think you're posing and really don't have a phobia at all of raw-fish parasites. You seem more than content with continuing to eat whatever sushi you feel like, comfortable with your belief that all parasites die if they are "chilled." Must be nice, to be able to deny reality so deftly, must be nice, I do envy you that...

[Jonathan]

That's a nasty little nematode, Lotesse. Parasitology is interesting so thanks for posting! However I think when that site calls Anisikiasis a "major health hazard", they might be taking a bit it too far. The statement doesn't seem well-founded. Expressions like that are often used by the media to start a scare, so more people will buy their papers and whatnot :o

Anyway! I think if you eat sushi only occassionaly, the risks are slim that you'll get infected. So keep eating it, I sure will :). Sushi is healthy.

[Earniel]

I know it is, so I try to avoid tuna, especially blue tuna, and I'll usually have eel and (rarely) salmon, but the only fish least likely to giove you parasites is eel.
If the eel is sweet-water eel, then there's another point you could worry about. The European eel for instance resides in mud and in some regions takes in the pollution that has built up in the river beds. Some are loaded with heavy metals, not very healthy. Of course, that's over here, I don't know what sort of eels lands on your plate. (More phobias to worry about! :p )

But it is indeed wise to be picky about what fish you eat, I've always bagdered my family to buy at least tuna of which the can either has the Marine Stewardship Council logo (supposedly sustainably caught fish, although I have been hearing there have been some lapses in checking that, still better than nothing) or an emblem that signals the tuna is caught without danger to dolphins. Me, I don't eat tuna out of principle. I absolutely love well-made sole, but alas, over-fished as well, so only on special occasions... :( So sad, but no fish for me.

[brownjenkins]

I love fish, but prefer it cooked. Sushi is okay, but nothing like a well-grilled fillet. :D

[Nautipus]

Yeah, yeah. So basically you are not at all phobic of parasites in raw fish, it was all just something to post here for the hell of it the other day, I get it. Not a real fear. Well, keep on keepin' on, then, li'l buddy! More power to ya, and your wee parasites, too, meh he he he he he he.... :evil: :evil:

And you say "Bah" and wave your paw at the tuna netfishing depletion problem? For shame, seriously what, are you...are you a ... a REPUBLICAN, perchance? :D :D No just playin', who cares about politics. For years and years I was one of Them. Haven't been since the early nineties, but anyway who cares. However, you might want to consider caring about the depletion and human-enforced and perpetuated forced extinction of some of our world's animals, like what Earniel was saying. I mean, it would be cool not to be so cavalierly dismissive about it. It's way uncool to just say "yeah yeah yeah, whatever, ha ha" about species in our oceans rapidly swimming towards the end goal of extinction thanks to the efforrts of greedy fishing companies propelled to make business because of wanton consumers who love sushi and tuna sandwiches whenever they want it, wanton consumers like anybody in the wealthy western or Japanese areas of this planet.

Think about it.

And again, I am calling you out, Nautipus, on your so-called "phobia" of parasites, because I think you're posing and really don't have a phobia at all of raw-fish parasites. You seem more than content with continuing to eat whatever sushi you feel like, comfortable with your belief that all parasites die if they are "chilled." Must be nice, to be able to deny reality so deftly, must be nice, I do envy you that...



First, I was just joking with Earniel, I kmow that it's over-fished, and that's why I dont eat tuna and why I rarely eat salmon. But you must realize, that the salmon you order is usually aquacultured, not caught wild, at least the salmon I eat is, and the parasites that are usually found in the wild arent present in the aquacultured tanks. Now secondly, when I say "chilled", what I mean is that it has been cooked thourghouly enough to kill the parasites that could be present, then chilled. You can specially order it prepared that way, which is what I do.

Once again: I have only tried tuna sushi once, dont like it all that much, know it's overfished, so I stay away from it. But I mean come ON, when I did the whole yeah, yeah, thing, it was just playful banter, nothing more. I wasnt waving away the importance of the situation, so dont assume I did.

Now about my phobia. Alright, let's say it's not an all out phobia, but I am extremely afraid of them. I cant look at a picture of them, and I sure as hell cant look at a bottle of them in biology class. I HATE them with a passion, but I dont let that passion control me, so I guess it really isnt a phobia, but it is definately a huge fear. But for you to say I was just posting for the hell of it was extremely insulting.

[The last sane person]

Well, she has a habit of doing that, dont take it personally, she does it more or less to everyone.

Now, to be on subject; I have an outstanding fear of landmines.

[BeardofPants]

Roya? I think, given the chance, I could agree with you there.
*is very glad SHE is no where near landmines

Stay safe chica.

[Lief Erikson]

Now, to be on subject; I have an outstanding fear of landmines.
Is it the left-overs from the war between Iraq and Iran in the 1980s that caused that fear?

[The last sane person]

Why, however did you guess?

Nearly planted my foot on one yesterday, I was officially just a little jittery after that, and to think, I was walking along what was supposed to have once been a playground.

[Lief Erikson]

:eek: Jeesh.

[The Gaffer]

I think that would be enough to give you a phobia. :(

Landmines are a curse on humanity.

[Thain Peregrin Took I]

What's really weird is that sometimes I'm afraid of the dark, but sometimes not. Like you know when you're sleeping over at a friends house and you wake up at night, and there's no lights on, then you start hearing like little creaking noises or whatever that just turn out to be the house creaking or something along those lines, but you bulk it up to someone in the house and then you freak out. Yeah, but other than that, sometimes I just freak out a little bit when I'm going to bed at night and there's not lights at all and it's just really weird because lots of other times I'm perfectly fine.

[Tessar]

I'm not really dark-phobic either, Sane, but I always leave a small light on, like in my closet or in the bathroom down the hall from my room. Or even the little entrance light downstairs. Just enough that I can barely make things out.


I'm perfectly fine sleeping in a pitch black room, but if I have a really bad nightmare or if I can't sleep, I just prefer to be able to see ;). Not a requirement... just a quirk. You might consider a nightlight, as silly as it might sound. I personally have no qualms about indulging my little whim in this particular :p.

[Lief Erikson]

I'm not really dark-phobic either, Sane, but I always leave a small light on, like in my closet or in the bathroom down the hall from my room. Or even the little entrance light downstairs. Just enough that I can barely make things out.
Interesting. When I walk around after dark, I sometimes feel a bit less comfortable when there's a little light on than I do when there's no light on. So long as I don't trip ;). I think it's because that way I can't see all of the potential hiding places for some lurking marauder.

[Earniel]

It's not the dark that is scary for me, but what might be in it. At this point my prolific imagination usually -and unfortunately- runs away with me. :rolleyes:

I remember this one time I had to walk through a nice, pretty much remote tree-bordered lane to a gateway (think 200 meters) to pick up an abandoned bike. In the rain. After dark. With only lights at the house and at the far-away gate. (It wasn't even my bike. I volunteered to it, how stupid was I?)

I will not tell you how much I cursed myself for ever seeing and remembering (at the worst moment possible) some X-files episode with a werewolf. :p You know it will never happen, but at the same time I could literally envision something coming from behind the trees and attack me. Vivid imagination is one thing you do not welcome at those times. The more I started to near the house the faster I started to move. Had to force myself not to run 'cos, you know, a flight triggers a chase response. :rolleyes: When you know perfectly nothing is going to happen. I swear, if anyone had gotten it into their head to go out and help me with the bike, I'd have died on the spot.

[BeardofPants]

See, werewolves would have been the least of my worries - I would have been gearing up for the regular rape&pillage scenario. x_x