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(no subject)
Since it's Friday the 13th and supposed to oh-so-scary, I thought I'd share a "stupid fear" of mine.
I......... am afraid of public transportation. There, I said it. It's stupid and it's silly but OMG, I am petrified when I have to navigate public transportation. It's not that the buses are dirty or that there might be homeless people on the subway or any of that. It's because I'm scared of ending up on the wrong end of town because I got on the wrong bus/subway/train/what-have-you.
When I was a kid, I grew up in farming country. Our local market (note not "supermarket" because it was a simple market) had a hitching post that was used for the horse and buggies that would come to it. Yeah, that rural. The only public transportation we had were the school buses and I had to walk half a mile to get that (half of that was on my own frikken driveway) but not uphill both ways as the path was actually fairly flat.
When my parents separated, we moved to where they had a mockery of public transportation but, really, the "city bus" stopped three times a day. They didn't run very often at all, so we still only had cars. I was down the street from the school so I walked everyday.
We'd go to DC and my mum would navigate the metro for me. When we'd go to NYC, my aunt would navigate the subways. I never learned how to do it. Even when traveling in other countries, I always had someone there to navigate for me.
When I moved to Tucson, I didn't have a car and I needed to use the bus. I studied up on it and..........I froze stepping on the bus. I didn't have exact change but no one had mentioned that need to me. In addition, I didn't know that you were supposed to put the money down the little slot so the bus driver yelled at me for holding up the bus. To make matters worse, I ended up about fifteen miles EAST of where I wanted to be. I had to buy another pass and beg the driver to help me out. On the way, this driver hit a bicyclist. I never did get to the mall that day.
A month later, I braved a bus again. Ended up that it was the same driver. Ended up that this guy hit ANOTHER bicyclist. Yet again, did NOT make it to the mall.
After that, I gave up on public transportation in Tucson and got really good at finangling rides from friends until I got my own car.
Put me in a car and I can drive cross country without a map. My sense of direction in a car is amazing. Make me rely on someone else to do the steering and I become a frightened five year old, scared to even step on a bus.
About two years ago, I went on a vacation with a friend from Britain and, you guessed it, I made him navigate the public transportation for me, even though he'd never been to that state let alone that city. Yeah, I'm that lame.
So there you have it, my confession of a stupid fear.
Anyone willing to share theirs? Do you have a fear that even you mock and yet, you can't seem to beat it?
I......... am afraid of public transportation. There, I said it. It's stupid and it's silly but OMG, I am petrified when I have to navigate public transportation. It's not that the buses are dirty or that there might be homeless people on the subway or any of that. It's because I'm scared of ending up on the wrong end of town because I got on the wrong bus/subway/train/what-have-you.
When I was a kid, I grew up in farming country. Our local market (note not "supermarket" because it was a simple market) had a hitching post that was used for the horse and buggies that would come to it. Yeah, that rural. The only public transportation we had were the school buses and I had to walk half a mile to get that (half of that was on my own frikken driveway) but not uphill both ways as the path was actually fairly flat.
When my parents separated, we moved to where they had a mockery of public transportation but, really, the "city bus" stopped three times a day. They didn't run very often at all, so we still only had cars. I was down the street from the school so I walked everyday.
We'd go to DC and my mum would navigate the metro for me. When we'd go to NYC, my aunt would navigate the subways. I never learned how to do it. Even when traveling in other countries, I always had someone there to navigate for me.
When I moved to Tucson, I didn't have a car and I needed to use the bus. I studied up on it and..........I froze stepping on the bus. I didn't have exact change but no one had mentioned that need to me. In addition, I didn't know that you were supposed to put the money down the little slot so the bus driver yelled at me for holding up the bus. To make matters worse, I ended up about fifteen miles EAST of where I wanted to be. I had to buy another pass and beg the driver to help me out. On the way, this driver hit a bicyclist. I never did get to the mall that day.
A month later, I braved a bus again. Ended up that it was the same driver. Ended up that this guy hit ANOTHER bicyclist. Yet again, did NOT make it to the mall.
After that, I gave up on public transportation in Tucson and got really good at finangling rides from friends until I got my own car.
Put me in a car and I can drive cross country without a map. My sense of direction in a car is amazing. Make me rely on someone else to do the steering and I become a frightened five year old, scared to even step on a bus.
About two years ago, I went on a vacation with a friend from Britain and, you guessed it, I made him navigate the public transportation for me, even though he'd never been to that state let alone that city. Yeah, I'm that lame.
So there you have it, my confession of a stupid fear.
Anyone willing to share theirs? Do you have a fear that even you mock and yet, you can't seem to beat it?
no subject
Like, when I get scared, I get very sweaty palms (that always make me feel I can't hold on to anything properly, thus aggravating the fear) but the funny thing is, I can have that physical reaction to heights that do no in fact threaten me. Like, in films. If I see a bad situation involving heights - the original cliff-hanger, f.x. - my palms will spring a sweat even though I'm not the least bit nervous.
Also, sometimes this sweat will jump out so fast that I physically feel it pressing out - it hurts.
So yeah, there's today's laugh on my expense ;-)
And we should go travelling together - I love sorting out transportation and am very good at keeping my cool in it. Probably due to doing my first cross-country train trips at the ripe age of 11. (Note: My country is smaller than an average American state.)
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But, the sweating thing? Oh man. I want to say "that's so odd" but it's not really as it's something alot of people have. It's just the whole movie thing.
Yes, we travel together and you're in charge of the buses and trains. God, I hate those things.
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Yeah, the sweating at films really is odd *G* I mean, I honestly do tell people for laughs because it's just weird. The biggest laugh I had at it myself was when it happened during the watching of a cartoon LOL
It's a lot more annoying to have your fear than mine, I think.
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I'm glad you're battling the fear though :).
Cartoon? *giggles*Err, nothing there ;).You should try the skydiving to really confront your fear. You're strapped to someone who really knows what they're doing and it's so much fun. Not to mention, that both times I've gone, the dude was really really hot.
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I've actually thought about the skydiving as a therapeutic meassure, but I'm still a little too scared to do it. I still might some day. And I'd sort of like to.
I figure that, since I'm not afraid of flying, it wont be bad to get up there. And if I can just get myself to jump, then I'll be stuck in mid-air when the panic hits me.
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There's no reason for me to be scared of them; they don't bite or anything. They just look gross and hop. I'm not afraid of other hopping bugs like grasshoppers or field crickets, just cave crickets.
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Completely understand on this one.
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The only time I've ever fainted was when a cricket hopped on my foot and up my pants leg. My standard screaming-failing-oh-god-there's-a-cricket! dance failed to get it out and I hyperventilated.
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Because they ALWAYS go for my ears. D: They'll flutter around me and flutter around my ears and I HATE THAT SO MUCH.
FOrtunately it's just the big ones which freak me out. The little ones are OK, it's the giant furry ones which bang around blindly which get to me.
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Although, OMG, I had this moth the size of jupiter (ok, it felt that way) in the bathroom at the house I was dogsitting at and I was in such a panick that I shut the door and didn't go back in there for three days. Luckily, I don't know what happened to it but it was gone.
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omg. I would have done the same! ....I'm assuming there was another bathroom, though.... right? O_o
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Oh, yeah, thank the maker there were like 3 bathrooms in that house else I would have cried.
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See, I didn't know that you had to stand on a certain side of the street to go in one direction so I got horribly mixed up. I also wasn't familiar with the town at all so I didn't know that I was heading the wrong way.
I'll strike a deal with you... if we ever need to drive somewhere together, I'll drive. IF we need to take public transportation, you're navigating.
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oh, yeah, i can see how someone who is very familiar with public transportation would take that for granted and not think about explaining that.
that's an excellent deal :D.
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Now, I lived in a dorm in Manhattan and it was crawling with them and I never got used to them. Now when I see them, I freak out. Blech. *shudders*
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I have a thing for moths, too. And, not in the good way. I hate them; big, small, whatever. They just creep me out for no apparent reason.
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My secret stupid phobia is the dark. I know that there's nothing there, but a part of me always thinks 'what if someone/something is'? It's not enough to stop me from functioning, but I can't sleep alone in the dark. I suspect this has something to do with the fact that a) there will always be a tiny miniscule chance and b) I've never lived alone. I lived with my parents, then briefly roomates, then my SO.
*hides in shame*