h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Maggots.

The current US administration.

Ariel Sharon.

We could open a whole anxiety closet in here...

Never knew there was so much fear in this world.....

Not in any particular order.....

-not being able to breathe/asphyxiating (sp?)

-The Bushes (both Big and Baby)

-laying in the dark and feeling the bed give, then realizing the cat is curled up next to my pillow asleep (and I live alone!). No s**t, this happens to me every now and then; always too scared to look.

-beetle-type bugs. This should properly be mentioned in the "useless info" thread, but did you know that the only state in the US where the integrity of Tupperware (plastic sealed food containers) is not quaranteed against bug invasion is Florida? Palmetto bugs, you know. Thank God I don't live there!

-thinking too much about the Titanic. (3+ hours knowing there is no hope of rescue, and there's nothing to do but wait) This has creeped me out since I was 10, and read about it. When they found the ship, I almost couldn't hold on to the National Geographic to look at the pictures. BRRRRRRRRR

-the dark during/after an earthquake -- after the Northridge quake, I went and sat out by the curb until dawn, rather than stay inside. Pitch dark in L.A., except for car headlights from one of my neighbors, with the ground rocking violently under my butt every few minutes. It was the 6th one I'd been in, but by far the worst. Knocked buildings DOWN just a block and a half from my apartment.

Enough for now.

SC

PS -- just reviewed the list; please consider the Bushes at the top!

Just plain old death scares me. It didn't used to, but half the time these days I'm an atheist. At least, I seriously consider the possibility that there is no life after death, and that my consciousness and existence are unique, time-limited phenomena. I used to be comforted by thinking that even though people I love have died, I'll see them again someday. I can't believe that with the same certainty anymore. This does keep me awake at night quite often.

Most specifically, the scariest ways that I can think of to die are (in no particular order): drowning in quicksand, being crushed by machinery, and being trapped or sealed in to suffocate or starve.

lost chances
knives (really, most sharp ones scare me)
my brother being nice
Bush as President
arguments
lack of financial support
lost love

(quite a few more, but not time so I will be back)

Heights scare me, but only when I feel that I could reasonably fall. So highs with no handrail, or with only a low one tend to make me feel scared. I am getting better with heights. I am usually better with enclosed heights, such as in glass lifts, or on planes. Also the angle is important. Going at a shallow angle tends to feel safer than a sheer drop, and sometimes I have problems in the high rows on the top floors or theatres.

I tend to be just nervous, but go up anyway. I used to be a lot worse, but at one time I did not go up high places.

Dogs are also something I fear. I tend to have a bad relationship with dogs, especially when they are not on a lead. If they are on a lead, I tend to keep my distance, but am fine, but I am nervous around them otherwise.

Sometimes death can worry me, but only when I really think about it. I sometimes start thinking about it, but most of the time I am fine about it.

I am a bit panicky around wasps, and other midges. They move too fast for me to know what they are doing.

I loathe lifts. It's not the height, or the idea of being suspended, but it feels weightless, like you're falling.

dito to a degree

My cousin was stung by a wasp when I was 2yo and she ran inside, screaming, followed by the adult, leaving me on my own outside. It came and buzzed round my head.
This has left me with the rather embarrassing response of screaming, covering my ears and screwing my eyes shut every time a buzzing insect flies near me (Yes - even a fly )

Heights.

Being beaten.

Drunks (partly because they tend to get violent).

Madmen (or s) jumping out of the fields and stabbing/strangling/pulverising me when I'm walking/driving in the dark.

My eldest son.

The used to terrify me at one time, but I'm recovering...

List continued:

-Rush Limbaugh (the ORIGINAL Fat Old B*****d)

-the recent "tax cut" in the US (what will "they" do when everyone doesn't run out and buy DVD players and new TVs with the money, like "the government" thought they would?)

-the Internet going down

SC

No! Anything but that.

That would kill me...

The possibility, at any time, of hearing the two saddest words in the English language... "too late."

The current president of the United States.

Censorship.

Flamingo: WRONG WRONG WRONG.
What is that pink all about? Thats not what i expect from nature, you would think that they needed to blend into the background in fear of being eaten but no, not the flimigo. Then there is the whole knee ankle joint businsses.
They really do scare me, to the extent that i'm paranoid about there reasons for being here.

Dentists.

Now I know thats boring, but I'm really really scared. I was wondering if anyone knows of a dentist who can fix my teeth with out drills, injections, and preferably not being in the same room as me. Its now about 10 years since I visited one of those sadists and I'm getting a bit worried about the state of my oral health

Would it help if you were under a general anaesthetic as you can request this if you are really scared?
I quite like going to the dentists its all that latex !!!!!!

Hmmm interesting idea I might look into it. No doubt it would cost me a fortune and be difficult to organise, but I really do need to do something.

BTW Baggyfish would your favourite film be "Little Shop Of Horrors" by any chance

Sorry, just catching up here!

In answer to the Flamingo post, they are that color because of the variety of shrimp they eat. Truly weird. Probably safe from predators because they're too homely to eat ?!?

SC

Am i missing something: "Little Shop of Horrors?" Please explain if you have the time, very often slow on the up take!

Maybe the shimps should be watched and the Flamingo are the decoy!
Re-evaluating new situation.
<{{><

"Little Shop of Horrors" was a comedy musical all about a carnivorous singing plant. One of the characters was a psychopathic dentist played by Steve Martin who met his match in a masochistic patient who kept coming back for more and more extreme treatment. Well worth digging this film out from your local video store.