Friday OT - Don’t Tell Me Not To Be Afraid

Janny is a fantastic driver, but not the best parker. I was taking photos of some of the doozies and putting them in a “Janny Parking Shaming” album on social media, but that was less-than-appreciated. (He could easily have made one of “**** Angie has backed into accidentally.”)
Within a month of any new vehicle my wife gets, she will hit another one of our vehicles in our driveway or once just the garage itself.
 
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Extension ladders. Had a former co-worker years ago who took a 10 foot fall from an extension ladder into the flower bed in front of his house, fractured his leg, ended up being a dirty wound, and they ultimately had to amputate below the knee. Very sad deal, freaked me out, haven't gotten onto an extension ladder since.
 
Do you pass out?

If I actually get a shot I tend to get close. A doctor didn't believe me when I let them know. "Oh. You ARE passing out". They wouldn't let me drive home the last time.

I can also get a strong fight or flight reaction. I haven't had blood drawn this century. The last people who tried that....it didn't go well. Like really really bad.
 
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Extension ladders. Had a former co-worker years ago who took a 10 foot fall from an extension ladder into the flower bed in front of his house, fractured his leg, ended up being a dirty wound, and they ultimately had to amputate below the knee. Very sad deal, freaked me out, haven't gotten onto an extension ladder since.
I was just about to post just ladders in general. I'm not sure what it is, as I've never fell off one or even come close, but something about not being totally secure gets me every time
 
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Fish, sort of. The ocean really. I do not like going into deep water where there's lots of sea life. I get real tense, which is of course the worst thing you can do when swimming. Went snorkeling once, and all the large fish way under me, couldn't figure out how to breathe right, just basically went into "NOPE" mode and turned and swam back to shore (probably 100 ft away). Except it wasn't even the ocean - it was like a contained super large pool in the Caymans with absolutely NO dangerous sea life in it. I just kind of flipped out. Totally dumb, but NOPE.

Boats are fine, went on a cruise once and it was OK. But give me a mai tai and an umbrella on the beach; you can go in the water and get stung by jellyfish and step on coral and all that crap. I am a fire sign, and that's just too much water!
 
Getting struck by lightning.

In college I had a very vivid dream about getting struck by lightning outside of LeBaron Hall. No idea why it was that building as I'd never had classes in it. Anyways, there is a big flash, and I fell down, everyone ran over and is yelling at me to stay awake and I tried so hard not to close my eyes but couldn't. Everything went black and I had it startled me awake.

Rest of my time in Ames I never walked the east side of Morrill Road in front of LeBaron. Even now I don't like being outside in storms and get nervous walking into buildings when it's thundering out.
 
It's just popped up, but I get slightly spooked locking the gate at our jobsite in the dark.

We're up here in the mountains / woods, and it's f'in DARK. I'm typically the last one out and even with the light over our security gate, the walk from the gate to my truck is freaky
 
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I can't sleep with the closet open.

I know where it started. I was in high school and deep into reading Stephen King. In the opening third of Cujo, he goes into great description of the boy's belief of the monster in the closet, including glowing red eyes. Well, it's summer, so I'm up super late reading. I finish that chapter and look at the foot of my bed. On the other side, the closet is open and pitch black.

Even all these years later, if the closet is open, I'll have a bad night of sleep.
 
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It's just popped up, but I get slightly spooked locking the gate at our jobsite in the dark.

We're up here in the mountains / woods, and it's f'in DARK. I'm typically the last one out and even with the light over our security gate, the walk from the gate to my truck is freaky

That sounds pretty rational. Robbery, murder, kidnapping, chupacabra, bear, sasquatch....

Any goddam thing could happen in that scenario

Edit: Add on alien abduction. Can't believe I forgot that. Seems ripe for an unscheduled visit to the mother ship.
 
I've woken up on more than one occasion in a panic thinking I was sleeping through class even though I haven't been in school in 9 years
Don't worry - this little problem and the "Oh crap it's the end of the semester and I kinda forgot I was registered for this class and now I'm in a final that I am wildly unprepared for" dream never go away, or at least they haven't gone away after 12 years.
 
I'm not a fan of ladders since falling off one several years ago. I still get up there at Christmas time but I hate it.

I used to have a fear of being put under but after having a couple surgeries the last couple years I have gotten over it. In fact, I almost look forward to it so we can get the damn thing over with.
 
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My biggest fear is getting my tax returns back from my accountant and seeing how much I owe. Hoping I have enough by April 15th to pay it.
 
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Tight spaces! Back in the 80's my sister had a waterbed with the headboard that had the deep shelves so under the shelves there was a small dead space about 12" x 12" that went all the way across the bed. occasionally I would have to go under there to fetch out a cat. They really loved to hide in it. Evidently one day, I had crossed that threshold between being able to fit and not. So I was temporarily stuck and started to panic. I finally calmed myself down and was able to wiggle my way out. After that I just stayed out and never went back in. Years later, in my 20s I went to Mammoth caves in KY. We all wanted to do a cave tour and the group decided on the wild cave tour. I should have taken it a little more serious, but they had to measure your chest size to make sure you could even take the tour. I was fairly barrel chested and barely passed the measurement. Let me tell you there were some really tight spaces. There were a couple of holes in particular that were very harrowing. One was a hole that in order for me to fit through required me to unzip my sweatshirt (for the extra room, and I had to push myself while fully exhaling. I swear I popped every single vertebrae squeezing through that hole. Another section was a wide cavern that was only about 12-18 inches in height. It required you to crawl with just your toes and hands and the section started a bit taller and got tighter and tighter about 10 feet inn. the space got so tight you could not lift your head or even turn it. I made it through the tour and actually had a great time. Years later as an older adult, if I see one of those spelunking videos, I can feel a huge anxiety well up. A couple of years ago we took the kids to Maquoketa caves in eastern Iowa. I refused to entertain going in any of the smaller caverns. I just couldn't do it. The shots below are not me, but are photos from the wild cave tour.
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It's just popped up, but I get slightly spooked locking the gate at our jobsite in the dark.

We're up here in the mountains / woods, and it's f'in DARK. I'm typically the last one out and even with the light over our security gate, the walk from the gate to my truck is freaky
If you hear banjos, run.
 
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Heights or cliffs/close to the edge.

Riding motor or speed boats. I feel like it's going to catch and flip at any moment. Give me a quiet, slow paddle any day.

Being around people that don't assess risk with their kids makes me anxious too. Like at a reunion I watched a JD gator practically flip with a pile of kids in it and I was the only one who noticed it.
 
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That sounds pretty rational. Robbery, murder, kidnapping, chupacabra, bear, sasquatch....

Any goddam thing could happen in that scenario

We actually had the buddy system for a while leaving / locking gates here because the of the slightly crazy homeless guy that was living in an abandoned building up here (the owner kept calling the cops, but he kept showing back up). He killed a guy with a sword about 6 months ago so he's locked up for good now.

We have seen some tracks for bobcats and other game around. No bears though (although I know there are bound to be some in the area).
 
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That sounds pretty rational. Robbery, murder, kidnapping, chupacabra, bear, sasquatch....

Any goddam thing could happen in that scenario

Edit: Add on alien abduction. Can't believe I forgot that. Seems ripe for an unscheduled visit to the mother ship.
Me too big time. Staying the night in the middle of nowhere still freaks me out.

I've woken up on more than one occasion in a panic thinking I was sleeping through class even though I haven't been in school in 9 years

I still get that nightmare on occasion. It's the end of the semester and I've realized I've been accidentally skipping a class and it's too late to drop it. Then I wake up and I'm like- you're not in college anymore, old man.
 
We actually had the buddy system for a while leaving / locking gates here because the of the slightly crazy homeless guy that was living in an abandoned building up here (the owner kept calling the cops, but he kept showing back up). He killed a guy with a sword about 6 months ago so he's locked up for good now.

We have seen some tracks for bobcats and other game around. No bears though (although I know there are bound to be some in the area).

Dude killed a guy with a sword and you say he's only "slightly crazy"?

I wanna party with you, cowboy. Sasquatch better be looking out for YOU
 
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Not sure if this counts, as it's not every day. While I don't have a fear of heights, I do have a fear of looking over the edge at high places. My wife and I were looking at an apartment building in Jersey City that was probably 40 floors. Viewed apartments on a couple floors that were 25+ floors up and told her I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving this high up, especially since I'd be working from home.
I don't have a problem when there is a guard rail or some safety device, but if it is an overlook like the river overlook at the lost lake trail at the ledges, I feel like gravity is actually pulling me over the cliff. I realize its irrational and can overcome it, but I do get some intense anxiety over it. I also hate doing things at the house on a ladder.
 
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