Are you a MAN or are you a MOUSE?

[Iamme]

Ha. Really. I'm not joking. This could be an interesting topic of discussion.

Are YOU man enough to voice what some of your fears are, and how you suppose you got these fears? Or, can you share how brazen you are? This could be fun. We don't know each other...really. So, don't be bashful.

Are you afraid of failure? Success? A tv camera? Being in a courtroom or anywhere there are authoruty figures? Heights? Girls? Cynical?-or fellow posters that might 'show you up' on the board? Sky-diving? Public speaking? Appointments? Dentists? Doctors?...or EVERYTHING?

Can you attribute some or all of your fears to your genetics? Was one of your parents timid? Was one of your parents...and are YOU nervy. You know...you aren't afraid to scream at your boss, while workers are gawking. You wouldn't be afraid to stand up in church and address the minister, etc.

Have you ever had a panic attack that you could trace to any one fear? Have you ever been so trapped by a fear that you felt you couldn't leave the house?

Were you 'brave' when you were young...but lost your nerve as you got older? Why do you suppose THIS is?

O.K., I'll start. *I* was braver once...more than I am now. I walked 6-12 story beams once. Not NOW though. No way, Jose'. I also fall to pieces when trying to get small talk with some girl who I think is really hot...a potential marriage candidate. I can talk to the ugly ones, or the married ones all day long.:mad: As I get older, I think more about aging and what a bummer it can be, based on what I see has befallen others. It's not just a casual fear either. It really bothers me. I have become more claustrophobic...of any situation I feel trapped in. Why? I can attribute it to being rooted in rationality, as I have a condition medically that I am afraid of (that however is my little secret). Other than these things...I'm o.k., I guess.:D

Got the nerve to share?

[arcticpenguin]

Neither, I'm a penguin.

[Phil]

I'm afraid of dinosaurs, 50 foot tall women, and evil robots. The not evil ones are okay, but watch out for those evil ones, man. Oh, and I'm also afraid of Richard Simmons.

[roger]

Originally posted by Phil
I'm afraid of dinosaurs, 50 foot tall women, and evil robots. The not evil ones are okay, but watch out for those evil ones, man. Oh, and I'm also afraid of Richard Simmons.
That's because he is an evil robot!

[Phil]

Originally posted by roger

That's because he is an evil robot!
:jaw:

[Iamme]

Seeeeeeee? I KNEW it! Whimsical responses. You are MICE. You are afraid to reveal to other posters, as you feel this will open you up to vulnerability, that could be used against you in your verbal warfare, I bet. Chickens!!!!!!

We should lay you down on the psychiatrists couch to analyze you people, about this fear of not being willing to send into cyberspace, what your fears might be. Heck...you could post how BRAVE you are. Maybe somebody wrestled a gorilla or something!

Come on, you guys. Nobody is staring you down, eyeball to eyeball. Open up. Come on.

I'm also really afraid of tornados. i saw one high in the sky a few years ago, and frantically drove to a lady's house. i pointed up in the sky. She shreiked. Ha! it was like 5 miles off. She told her kids to head to the basement and called 911. I had a camera with me and didn't have the presense to take a photo of it. All I could think of was that i might wind up like the wicked witch of the east, in the Wizard of Oz.:eek:



What did I get out of this event? A little glory, actually. The call-in made the newspaper. I was instrumental in creating countywide havoc, by having the entire county warning system sound their sirens! The newspaper said meteorologists attributed the funnel cloud to being a cold-air funnel...whatever that is.

[Nyarlathotep]

Anyone who says that he isn't afraid of anything is lying to you. I couldn't begin to list the things I am afraid of, there are too many. But I nonetheless consider myself to be a brave person because when confronted with those things I can function despite my fear. That, I think, is the important thing.

Driving, is a good example. I hate driving because traffic scares me to death. I drive everyday anyway, becaue I have to and I can't let my irrational fear get in the way of doing a necessary task.

[Starrman]

Spiders and peas - the only two things I am afraid of.

[Sundog]

Originally posted by Starrman
Spiders and peas - the only two things I am afraid of.

How silly. Peas can't come after you in purposeful groups of thousands the way spiders can. Except in your dreams, of course. Like the one you're going to have tonight, for example.

[arcticpenguin]

Originally posted by Sundog

How silly. Peas can't come after you in purposeful groups of thousands the way spiders can.
Oh c'mon. Give peas a chance.

[Sundog]

Originally posted by arcticpenguin

Oh c'mon. Give peas a chance.

Oh, that was corny.

[Upchurch]

Originally posted by arcticpenguin

Oh c'mon. Give peas a chance. ...

How long have you been waiting to give that line?

[Brown]

Originally posted by Iamme
Are you afraid of failure? Success? A tv camera? Being in a courtroom or anywhere there are authoruty figures? Heights? Girls? Cynical?-or fellow posters that might 'show you up' on the board? Sky-diving? Public speaking? Appointments? Dentists? Doctors?...or EVERYTHING? When I was younger, I used to get the butterflies in my stomach when I had to make a speech. So I deliberately got involved in programs in which I had to speak in public. At first I wasn't very good, but I got better, and the butterflies became manageable. And now, public speaking doesn't bother me at all. I've addressed groups of hundreds, even thousands, with no difficulty at all.

With practice comes a degree of self-confidence. (At least this is true with some things.)

I'm not afraid of cameras, courtrooms, doctors or dentists. I've found that most things that frighten people don't frighten me. A couple of years ago, I stepped forward from a group of people to "pet" a tarantula and a large cockroach because I wanted to know what they felt like. (The tarantula felt like velvet, the cockroach felt like polished wood.) No one else wanted to step forward, but I did. Heights make me a little apprehensive, but my intellect has always been able to prevail over my gut.

Women, on the other hand... they evoke a kind of fear in me because they seem so unpredictable and fickle. (Naturally, ladies, I don't say that all women are unpredictable and fickle; but I have encountered many representatives of your gender that are.)

[Sundog]

Other than that fear we all have, that general, overarching, nameless, numbing fear of the size, intent, implications and inhabitants of the Universe that blankets all other fears and makes conscious thought difficult, I can't think of much.

[bjornart]

I'm afraid of everything.

[CFLarsen]

Cut to studio: ordinary grey-suited linkman.

Linkman (MICHAEL) Yes. The Mouse Problem. This week 'The World Around Us' looks at the growing social phenomenon of Mice and Men. What makes a man want to be a mouse.

Interviewer, Harold Voice, sitting facing a confessor. The confessor is badly lit and is turned away from camera.

Man (JOHN) (very slowly and painfully) Well it's not a question of wanting to be a mouse... it just sort of happens to you. All of a sudden you realize... that's what you want to be.

Interviewer (TERRY J) And when did you first notice these... shall we say... tendencies?

Man Well... I was about seventeen and some mates and me went to a party, and, er... we had quite a lot to drink... and then some of the fellows there... started handing... cheese around:.. and well just out of curiosity I tried a bit... and well that was that.

Interviewer And what else did these fellows do?

Man Well some of them started dressing up as mice a bit... and then when they'd got the costumes on they started... squeaking.

Interviewer Yes. And was that all?

Man That was all.

Interviewer And what was your reaction to this?

Man Well I was shocked. But, er... gradually I came to feel that I was more at ease... with other mice.

.....

Linkman ...what makes certain men want to be mice?

Kargol Well, we psychiatrists have found that over 8% of the population will always be mice. I mean, after all, there's something of the mouse in all of us. I mean, how many of us can honestly say that at one time or another he hasn't felt sexually attracted to mice. (linkman looks puzzled) I know I have. I mean, most normal adolescents go through a stage of squeaking two or three times a day. Some youngsters on the other hand, are attracted to it by its very illegality. It's like murder - make a thing illegal and it acquires a mystique. (linkman looks increasingly embarrassed) Look at arson - I mean, how many of us can honestly say that at one time or another he hasn't set fire to some great public building. I know I have. (phone on desk rings; the linkman picks it up but does not answer it) The only way to bring the crime figures down is to reduce the number of offences - get it out in the open - I know I have.

Monty Python, of course... :D

[Sundog]

Originally posted by CFLarsen


.....



Monty Python, of course... :D


No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

You were not asked what MONTY PYTHON was afraid of. You were asked what YOU were afraid of.

The Larsen Counter is on..

[CFLarsen]

I'm afraid of Cheddar....! :)

[Brown]

Originally posted by CFLarsen
I'm afraid of Cheddar....! Luckily, we don't have much call for that around here (even though it is the single most popular cheese in the world).

[Tricky]

Pain.

[Iamme]

That's more LIKE it, folks. And to Claus: I swear.:D

Hmmmm. Actual pain. Not good. I wonder if colonoscopies are as bad as some have it? I know first hand that kidney stones are! That will make a mouse out of you in a hurry. AND, you'd even consider eating cheddar, if you knew this would help it go away!:roll:

Any women here who have gone through birth? My cousins wife turned into a mousette, after she had her first child. She made her husband run out the next day and get a vasectomy! I'm not kidding!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If A is a success in life, then A equals X plus Y plus Z. Work is X; Y is play; z is keeping your mouth shut."-Albert Einstein

[billydkid]

Originally posted by Iamme
Ha. Really. I'm not joking. This could be an interesting topic of discussion.

Are YOU man enough to voice what some of your fears are, and how you suppose you got these fears? Or, can you share how brazen you are? This could be fun. We don't know each other...really. So, don't be bashful.

Are you afraid of failure? Success? A tv camera? Being in a courtroom or anywhere there are authoruty figures? Heights? Girls? Cynical?-or fellow posters that might 'show you up' on the board? Sky-diving? Public speaking? Appointments? Dentists? Doctors?...or EVERYTHING?



I am desperately afraid that I have thrown away my whole life. That I will never accomplish anything in my life that means anything. That I destiny to have no destiny.

[UnrepentantSinner]

I wouldn't quite call myself a coward, but I'm sure others would but they're afraid I'll beat them up if they do.

[fishbob]

Are you afraid of failure? Success? A tv camera? Being in a courtroom or anywhere there are authoruty figures? Heights? Girls? Cynical?-or fellow posters that might 'show you up' on the board? Sky-diving? Public speaking? Appointments? Dentists? Doctors?...or EVERYTHING?
no
no
no
no
no
maybe a little
not any more
no
yes - I refuse to jump out of a perfectly good airplane
no
no
no
no

[Janus]

I am pure fear shaped like a man.

[c4ts]

I'm a rodent of unusual size.

[BillyTK]

I can present to groups of strangers—but would have problems talking to any of them on an indvidual basis. I prefer to be anonymous but was always the singer in bands I was in. I get vertigo climbing up a 6' ladder but love scary amusement park rides—the scarier the better. I prefer the company of women but couldn't "chat them up" to save my life.

I am a mouse with a giant human ear on its back.

:D

[Leif Roar]

Originally posted by Sundog

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

You were not asked what MONTY PYTHON was afraid of. You were asked what YOU were afraid of.

Hungarian phrasebooks.

Seriously though, my main "quesiness inducer" is heights. (I also have a slight aversion to masked men with guns, but I understand that is pretty common. ;-) )

[jimmygun]

I am a man with a mouse. As a matter of fact I am using my mouse right now.

On the serious side...being a skeptic should help with irrational fears, if applied.

[Dragonrock]

I am totally, mindnumbingly, irrationally afraid of fish or more specifically, water. If I'm swimming I'm okay, unless I see any fish that are larger than 6 inches or so. If I don't see any fish then I'm okay as long as I can see the bottom.

Once I saw a rope that attached a bouy to the seafloor. I couldn't see the bottom, I just saw this rope disappearing into the gloom after about 50 feet. That rope disappearing was one of the most frightening things I've seen in my life.

There, I'm a mouse.

[Globert]

Long standing rule: Fear nothing you can kill.

I have embraced my humanity, I know we can kill everything.
ergo,I fear nothing.

[Babylon Sister]

:D
Are you a man or a mouse?

Come on! Squeek up!


(it had to be said)

[Sundog]

Originally posted by Babylon Sister
:D
Are you a man or a mouse?

Come on! Squeek up!


(it had to be said)

Shake it.

(likewise)

[Ladewig]

Oh, and I'm also afraid of Richard Simmons.
------------------------
That's because he is an evil robot!

Someone's been watching too much Simpsons.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have a fear of enclosed spaces, but it is not claustrophobia, per se. If you put me in a coffin and drilled a couple of holes in it, I'd be fine. If you put me in a ballroom and told me that it was hermetically sealed, I'd be anxious.

I've watched a few episodes of Fear Factor, and the honking big spiders give me the willies. On the other hand, I suppose I could eat a cockroach given enough motivation.

I fear Ashcroft. Is there a name for that phobia?

[Keneke]

Death. Yes, I know it's the natural order of things, but still. I dislike change, and death is the ultimate change.

[Jon_in_london]

Carnies!...you know... circus folk..... small hands...!!

[Aoidoi]

Dragonrock: You know, I had a similar experience snorkeling in the keys. I didn't mind the fish (even the barracuda didn't really bother me), but the one time when the bottom had been stirred up by a storm and I couldn't see it just freaked me out something awful. I sort of had a grip on it, but that was the only time I got back in the boat long before we had to leave. Something about looking down and just seeing murk had me imagining all the worst things that could be just out of eyesight. Not sure if I'd still have a problem with it, haven't been snorkeling in a decade.

There are many things I'm "afraid of" in that I don't want them to happen (i.e. layoffs, car accident, decapitated by an elevator...), but very little any more gives me that gut clenching "holy flurking snit" response that I remember having a handful of times growing up. Maybe I'm just more mellow about things now (hormones a bit calmer or whatnot).

Public speaking - unpleasant but not unbearably so
spiders et al. - it's amazing what you can get used to by spending a summer living in a basement apartment. Bugs bother me very little now (though admittedly in my current apartment they don't live long enough to do much)

[jj]

Originally posted by Sundog


Oh, that was corny.

Well, consider. If you have a green mashed substance in the blender, you're

VISUALIZING WHIRLED PEAS!

[Brown]

It's interesting that many of us belittle the fears of others, but our own fears seem to make a lot of sense.

I know someone who is afraid of water, which means that he doesn't swim, boat, take baths, or relax in hot tubs. Now, to me, that fear is silly, but to him, it's a serious concern. And he's a really smart guy; you'd think he'd be able to make his intellect conquer his fear.

I've known some women who were really smart but were scared of spiders. Little tiny spiders that you could swat with a magazine would have them running for cover. Seems silly to me, but it's real to them.

A couple of years ago, I was in a room with a bunch of adults when suddenly a bat started flying around the room. Only one other adult (besides myself) tried to shoo the bat away or knock it down. Everyone else dove for cover like we were under nuclear attack. That was an interesting experience.

A lot of things that freak others out don't bother me at all. And yet, when I have to face one of my own fears, it's really quite remarkable to what lengths my intellect will go to try to convince myself that MY fear is rational!

[Tricky]

Originally posted by Sundog


Shake it.


So fine! So young!

[Babylon Sister]

Originally posted by Tricky

So fine! So young!

Tell me I'm the only one.

[Sundog]

Originally posted by Babylon Sister


Tell me I'm the only one.

You're the... well, you're definitely in the club...

[komencanto]

I´m afraid of my own appearance and social rejection, especially by girls.

[LawnOven]

zombies

[Iamme]

billydkid---Were you serious in your post? I hope you are not suicidal!:eek:

[Iamme]

Dragonrock---Consider THIS, regarding fish: You are swimming in the water. Which way does your torso point? Down, right? A fish that is about to consider you his meal is probably below you, right? They say lightning strikes the tallest object. Where do you suppose that fish will strike first!:eek:

[Iamme]

Brown---By virtue of my job...I am the one who has to go after bats! Them darn creatures who know I'm out to get them...and they hiss and show that pink mouth and their fangs at me? "Take THAT!"...as I oven cleaner them. Ha. Or, ether them with starting fluid. The college guys like to see if they can make french fries out of them with badmitten rackets. I had to get one out of a washing machine once. He was hanging onto the inner tub basket holes for dear life as I tried pulling him out. He wouldn't let go. So, I ethered him. Then I got him with my 'grabber' tool. All ethered bats I have done, live. I toss them outside, and watch them, drenched in ether, recover. Their hearts are pounding out of their chest. In about a half hour, they fly away. I found one way up a college girls shoe once, after me, her boyfriend and some other guy spent two hours in her room, tearing it apart, searching for the bat. I told her, "Can you imagine if you grabbed that shoe off your shoe rack and put it on?" :eek:

[Tricky]

Originally posted by Iamme
Brown---By virtue of my job...I am the one who has to go after bats! Them darn creatures who know I'm out to get them...and they hiss and show that pink mouth and their fangs at me? "Take THAT!"...as I oven cleaner them. Ha. Or, ether them with starting fluid. The college guys like to see if they can make french fries out of them with badmitten rackets. I had to get one out of a washing machine once. He was hanging onto the inner tub basket holes for dear life as I tried pulling him out. He wouldn't let go. So, I ethered him. Then I got him with my 'grabber' tool. All ethered bats I have done, live. I toss them outside, and watch them, drenched in ether, recover. Their hearts are pounding out of their chest. In about a half hour, they fly away. I found one way up a college girls shoe once, after me, her boyfriend and some other guy spent two hours in her room, tearing it apart, searching for the bat. I told her, "Can you imagine if you grabbed that shoe off your shoe rack and put it on?" :eek:
Iamme, you cruel bastard! Bats are wonderful creatures that eat bugs, but you act like they were some kind of pest. It is true that they (very rarely) have rabies, but they never bite people unless you try to handle them. Flying around, they are harmless.

Here's another hint for you. Stop with the dangerous chemicals. Bats cannot fly when they are wet (it makes them too heavy). Simply spray them with a water bottle then pick them up with a heavy glove and carry them outside.

If you have an infestation, their droppings can breed disease, but this is rarely a problem in human habitats. But if this happens, simply install a bright light where they are roosting. They hate that.

Now if you were talking about cockroaches, then anything goes.

[Dragonrock]

Originally posted by Iamme
Dragonrock---Consider THIS, regarding fish: You are swimming in the water. Which way does your torso point? Down, right? A fish that is about to consider you his meal is probably below you, right? They say lightning strikes the tallest object. Where do you suppose that fish will strike first!:eek:

Probably whichever part of your dismembered corpse is sinking fastest.

(_|_)

[Agammamon]

Bees man, BEES! Actually pretty much any swarming insect gives me the heebee jeebees but bees and wasps are the worst. Seeing "The Swarm" at an exceptionally young age hasn't helped this particular phobia either.

Height and small enclosed spaces also but I pretty much have that under control.

Oh yeah, showing up to school in my underwear's a pretty bad one too.