I'm afraid of 10/72 common fears

[phosfate]

The fear meme from mara:

[] the dark - if in an unfamiliar place
[] staying single forever
[] being a parent
[] giving birth
[] being myself in front of others
[] open spaces
[x] closed spaces
[] heights
[] dogs
[] birds
[x] fish
[] spiders
[] flowers or other plants

Total so far: 2

[] being touched
[x] fire
[x] deep water
[] snakes
[] silk
[] the ocean
[] failure
[] success
[] thunder/lightning
[] frogs/toads
[] my boyfriend's/girlfriend's dad
[] boyfriend's/girlfriend's mom
[] rats
[x] jumping from high places
[] snow

Total so far: 5

[] rain
[] wind
[] crossing hanging bridges
[] death
[] heaven
[] being robbed
[x] falling
[x] clowns
[] dolls
[] large crowds of people
[] men
[] women
[] having great responsibilities
[] doctors, including dentists.
[] tornadoes

Total so far: 7
I actually fucking hate clowns, unless they're really, really funny, but I suppose that counts.

[] hurricanes
[x] incurable diseases
[] sharks
[] Friday the 13th
[] ghosts
[x] poverty
[] Halloween
[] school
[] trains
[] odd numbers
[] even numbers
[] being alone
[] becoming blind
[] becoming deaf
[] growing up

Total so far: 9

[x] creepy noises in the night
[] bee stings
[] not accomplishing my dreams/goals
[] needles
[] blood
[] dinosaurs
[] the welcome mat
[] high speed
[] throwing up
[] falling in love
[] super secrets

Final Total: 10

.. if you wish to post this in your journal, it's been requested that you title it "I'm afraid of __ out of 72 common fears."

If you get more than 30, I strongly recommend some counseling.
If you get more than 20, you’re paranoid.
If you get 10-20, you are normal.
If you get 10 or less, you’re fearless.
People who don’t have any are liars

Silk? Welcome mats? really?

Stuff not on the list: Horrible filthy moths, drowning, big crazy-ass trucks, Martian fighting machines, accidentally killing small animals, swarms of things, that freaky diorama in Morrill Hall of cavemen looking at the moon, motion rides.

ETA: The tiny basement of the building that houses Gomez Art Supply and A Novel Idea.

Stuff I should be scared of but actually like: Ghosts, tornados, caves, monsters, the catacombs under the Capitol Building that you can't access any more because of fucking security, but I'm pretty sure lizard people live there.

Comments

[mtgat]

Silk = spider poop. (Kinda.) Dunno about the welcome mats.

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

Ah. So silk is like eggs. I thought maybe it was that noise.

[dr-tectonic.livejournal.com]

I am so with you on clowns. I kinda feel like Killer Clowns from Outer Space is actually a documentary.

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

I'm a clown snob. Putting on greasepaint and annoying children doesn't make you a clown any more than buying a notebook and a pipe makes you a writer. "I'M FUNNY! I'M INHERENTLY FUNNY! YOU CAN TELL BY THE MAKE-UP! I ENTERTAIN HOSPITALIZED CHILDREN! IF YOU DON'T LAUGH AT MY ANTICS YOU HATE JESUS AND KITTENS!"

Fuckers.

[dr-tectonic.livejournal.com]

I need a notebook and a pipe? Shit! I've been doing it all wrong!

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

Goddammit, Doc, do I have to tell you every little thing?

[aberrant1.livejournal.com]

Erm, I have a ton of notebooks. But my pipe is of the glass variety. Does that count?

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't a glass pipe conduct fiery burny heat liek whoah?

[aberrant1.livejournal.com]

They're made sort of double-layered. Like, one normal pipe, inside an inside-out outer pipe, only it's all one piece. They're often very pretty. Not very useful for tobacco, usually, since the bowl is smaller than a tobacco pipe. Although they are, of course, sold as tobacco pipes.

Like this: http://shop.grasscity.com/shop/grasscity/mjgccss1.html

ETA: Right, so my conclusion? They work like those double-layered coffee mugs -- the air between the two layers acts as insulation.

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

*nods wisely*

[dr-tectonic.livejournal.com]

I always wondered that myself...

[dr-tectonic.livejournal.com]

Apparently, yes. So what else have I been missing?

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

Um. Don't eat paste?

[dr-tectonic.livejournal.com]

Aw, man, this is complicated.

[aberrant1.livejournal.com]

I tried filling this meme out but was confused about what exactly constitutes a fear of something. Do they mean a full-blown phobia? Just stuff you try to avoid, but that doesn't keep you up at night?

I think I calibrated my answers wrong, because it said I was fearless, and... uh... no freakin' way.

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

I think whoever wrote it might be rather young, since it fails to include the IRS, nuclear winter, waking at 3 a.m. to the certainty that your entire life has been a waste, nursing homes, etc.

[aberrant1.livejournal.com]

Good point. Although I've always been afraid of nursing homes. My mom worked in one, and the times we went to pick her up at work scarred me for life.

I think the quiz does not differentiate properly between "healthy respect" (sharks, for example), "irrational fear" (welcome mats), and "intense loathing born of experience" (poverty).

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Needs to be more science-y, less vague-y.

[dr-tectonic.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

Although some people will argue for XML, for maximum usability and interoperability I think we should store this data in a plain-text columnar format with entries for type of fear (healthy respect / irrational heebie-jeebies / disgust & loathing) as well as intensity and reliability of response and a flag for whether it's also terrifying in the abstract as well as in actuality. I can get started on a metadata standard if somebody will send a mockup datafile to base it on...

Oh, wait. That's probably too science-y, huh?

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

Will there be Venn diagrams?

[dr-tectonic.livejournal.com]

I dunno. We might hit science overload.

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

IMPOSSIBLE!

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

When we were looking for houses, the owners of one old mansion confessed with some glee that it was haunted. Like, ghost = feature. Didn't make much difference to us (it was three floors + finished basement but only ONE working bathroom, which kinda put it out of the running for me), but we were wondering if the real estate agent was kinda wanting to strangle them.

[kosher-jenny.livejournal.com]

I always thought I was slightly weird for having such an intense phobia about deep water (the reason why I waited to rent Finding Nemo) but apparently it's some common primal thing. Go fig'.

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

Dude, stuff lives in there! It nudges your feet when you swim in it. WHAT WAS THAT WHAT WAS IT WHAT WHAT?