THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)
Comic Discussion => QUESTIONABLE CONTENT => Topic started by: lunchmeat on 21 Sep 2010, 18:15
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Hannelore is doing a lot better lately...she's cleaned up vomit, hugged Marten, she's been able to have people touch her....and now she's dealing with dirty people and major messes at the coffee shop! This is major.
I'm having trouble predicting Hannelore's reaction when she realizes the truth (http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1719) about the plunger, though. Will tensions increase between the two friends? Stay tuned to find out!
Seriously, though, I guess it's almost like immersion therapy or something. You guys out there - what are your phobias and how have you dealt with them? (If you have?)
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Bees. More specifically, bee nests (especially hornet paper nests).
No, I'll likely never get over the fear, and yes, I will go catatonic if I'm near a nest, especially if I don't notice it until it's very close. Full on skin crawling, hair standing on end and unable to move.
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I think Hanners is pretty much the only character of Jeph's that I've never had a 'do I actually like this character?' moment with. The fact that she was flawed, but not in a dramatic way, I think touched me? I dunno. Whatever it was, I've been glad to see a slow progression on her.
Aaaand, roaches are my big problem. Wood roaches, to be precise. The big suckers that can fly.
And it's not just a 'ew, they're icky' fear. It's a full-blown THIS THING WILL EAT OR KILL ME fear. I am completely aware that it will not, in fact, eat or kill me...but it's hard to remember that when it is a.) flying at me or b.)scuttling VERY quickly around my floor.
A weird thing is, I'm not too bad off when I'm outside with them. I feel like I can escape, I guess.
Lucky me though, I have an awesome cat to combat this problem when it arises INSIDE my home.
Her name is Gozer and she destroys all.
Roaches, that is.
edit: Yeah, I totally just looked up 'Wood Roach' on google and my fight or flight response lit up like a light. Ugghghghggg
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being abducted by aliens, I saw "Communion" staring Michael Keaton when I was 3 or 4.
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Snakes.
Why did it have to be snakes?
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Centipedes. I've refused to sleep in my own bed because there was a centipede in the room that I'm not sure was dead after it was hit with a book. I've avoided not just entire rooms, but the rooms and hallways near it just because I saw a centipede there the night before. It's a sickness.
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As a character, Hanners' OCD is balanced by her preternatural adorableness, plus she has one of the most positive outlooks in the strip. This does not always happen in life. It is definitely good to see her continue to push her boundaries and grow.
Centipedes. I've refused to sleep in my own bed because there was a centipede in the room that I'm not sure was dead after it was hit with a book. I've avoided not just entire rooms, but the rooms and hallways near it just because I saw a centipede there the night before. It's a sickness.
You mean House Centipedes, right? Unless you live somewhere tropical. Here's an explanatory link, but do NOT click it if you already know that this is the kind you mean -- there is a pic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scutigera_coleoptrata (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scutigera_coleoptrata) Blarg.
I strongly dislike them as well, but ever since I found out that they eat other bugs, I have less of an urge to fumigate the entire house. I kind of take a "Enjoy whatever bug buffet you find as long as I never see you" approach to them. Fun fact: when you squish one of those things, the legs keep running, even when not attached to the body anymore.
*shudders*
By "fun," I apparently meant "horrific."
The only other phobia-ish thing of mine I can think of is vertigo/fear of heights, but only when I'm stationary and looking down. Evidently, when I am hurtling through the air on a rollercoaster, everything's hunky dory.
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Like the Harry Dean Stanton character in Paris, Texas, it's falling. Not heights, just falling. So I'm fine going up the Monument, for example, or going to the top of 30 St Mary Axe (the "Gherkin" tower) when it was open to public on the Open House London weekend a few years ago. Great panoramic views over London, wonderful for photography.
But I cannot bring myself to climb up a ladder higher than the ground floor, and several times during that Youtube video with the engineer climbing to the top of the 1768 ft radio mast with no safety harness, I had to look away from the screen. (No link because the safety board are a bit pissed about it and got it taken down, but other copies have been re-posted. Search Youtube for "climbing tower stairway to heaven", and it's the 7-minute clip).
It's utterly beyond me how parachutists chuck themselves out of aircraft.
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I strongly dislike them as well, but ever since I found out that they eat other bugs, I have less of an urge to fumigate the entire house.
Apparently, they eat spiders, too. Which is a bit of a tradeoff in the "eating bugs" department.
May the greatest number of legs win!
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I strongly dislike them as well, but ever since I found out that they eat other bugs, I have less of an urge to fumigate the entire house.
Apparently, they eat spiders, too. Which is a bit of a tradeoff in the "eating bugs" department.
May the greatest number of legs win!
Yeah, it's a trade-off, but I don't mind if they go all Mortal Combat on each other, as long as it's not ON me. :wink: Spiders, you keep to your corners and eat the fliers, and centipedes, you stay in the dark and eat things I never want to see -- everyone wins.
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bee nests (especially hornet paper nests).
Wasp/hornet nests... As a kid on the farm, i got a few stings and once stumbled onto and disrupted a nest, whose occupants flowed right out and got me around the knee. That quick efficient liquid insect swarm flow still impresses gets me, if i see gnats or fruitflies swarm out of one little hole in a torrent... Or when my father would bring a smoking torch up to a vertical nest, watching them flow right down into the smoke was fascinating/horrifying.
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Ok, Carl and Tergon, you're right, I withdraw my story. But I'm still seriously creeped out by just thinking I'm close to an active nest.
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Going through customs and immigration at the airport. Yes, this started many years before 9/11. No, it's never been because I was carrying, or otherwise doing, anything illegal. No, it's not fear of flying; once I'm through the gate, I'm all relaxed, and nothing whatsoever about the flight itself bothers me in the least. No, it's not a fear of authority figures in general (e.g. police officers). It's specifically the customs and immigration grunts. I had a bad early experience with one, even though I hadn't started out nervous; he was just being an asshole, and it's made me terrified of them ever since. I avoid flying because of it, and when I have to fly I make sure to take Valium or similar, enough in advance of arriving at the airport, so that I don't look or sound nervous. Works for me.
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You mean House Centipedes, right? Unless you live somewhere tropical. Here's an explanatory link, but do NOT click it if you already know that this is the kind you mean -- there is a pic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scutigera_coleoptrata (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scutigera_coleoptrata) Blarg.
I strongly dislike them as well, but ever since I found out that they eat other bugs, I have less of an urge to fumigate the entire house. I kind of take a "Enjoy whatever bug buffet you find as long as I never see you" approach to them. Fun fact: when you squish one of those things, the legs keep running, even when not attached to the body anymore.
*shudders*
By "fun," I apparently meant "horrific."
I hate hate hate those things. The leg thing creeps me out to no end. Even knowing they eat other bugs, I want nothing to do with them. Any bug (or spider) I find in my house is dead. If they're outside, we're cool 'cause that's where they belong. But not in my house.
Other things I don't like/am afraid of: I hate being alone in my house at night. I hate horror/slasher/suspense movies. These things might be related.
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Mosquitoes.
What's worse, I work in the middle of a state forest.
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As a kid on the farm, i got a few stings and once stumbled onto and disrupted a nest, whose occupants flowed right out and got me around the knee. That quick efficient liquid insect swarm flow still impresses gets me, if i see gnats or fruitflies swarm out of one little hole in a torrent... Or when my father would bring a smoking torch up to a vertical nest, watching them flow right down into the smoke was fascinating/horrifying.
...I had a bad early experience with one, even though I hadn't started out nervous; he was just being an asshole, and it's made me terrified of them ever since...
OK, I just wanted to point out that, while early experiences can leave you with a conditioned negative response, and that's legitimte, it's not an actual phobia. Phobias are completely irrational, and usually not experience-based. My wife has a genuine snake phobia - can't even look at pictures of 'em. She will, if confronted with one, practically teleprt herself away from the area. Seems she's had this reaction since infancy, the first time she saw a snake she wasn't even a toddler, she was in a stroller and went hysterical immediately on sight. Never bitten, no bad experiences, just scared shitless of them.
Me, I got no phobias.
That I know of.
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OK, I just wanted to point out that, while early experiences can leave you with a conditioned negative response, and that's legitimte, it's not an actual phobia. Phobias are completely irrational, and usually not experience-based.
This which is a thing that is true.
I work as a tour guide in a gold mine that was abandoned in the 1950s and has been repaired to take folks underground and see the old workings. Sort of like a highly unusual museum all about mining and the Australian gold rushes. And because we go down over 60 meters (about the height of a 20-storey building) into very old tunnels deep underground, where it's dark and cramped... well, I get a lot of people who just sort of freak out. But you get it for a whole bunch of reasons - some folks hate the dark, some hate the loud machinery, some hate the fact that they're underground, some hate the tight spaces, it all varies. But generally there's two categories that I fit people into.
There's your Rational Fear people who are scared for intelligent reasons. They've heard horror stories about mine cave-ins, or they suspect the ground is unstable, or they don't trust that rock-crushing machine I'm using, or they aren't convinced our reinforcements are up to scratch, or whatever. These people can mostly be calmed down if you just point out that it IS safe, otherwise we wouldn't be taking tourists down there. I explain how the reinforcements work, and how mines aren't nearly as dangerous as the old stories make them out to be, and they can over come the fear.
Then there's the Irrational Fear people. They don't have an intelligent reason to be scared. They understand that obviously we take away as much risk as we can, and that the danger is incredibly slim, but despite knowing that, they can't deal with it. In some folks it's actually a reaction to the change in altitude, air pressure, oxeygen levels, light, etc. that comes from being deep underground, which causes a genuine physical response that makes them have a panic attack... and in other cases, it's just straightforward claustrophobia, or some other phobia, like small kids scared of the dark or loud noises.
I've seen toddlers laughing and giggling at a cast-iron rock drill as it carves through the stone, and I've seen big burly macho men who freak out when I blow out a candle. Every kind of fear is subjective. But genuine phobias are ones that don't have a backstory, or an explanation, or anything to justify it. It's just a fear that you cannot control.
And since it's the topic... I have no real phobias that I know of, though I do have an irrational hatred of ventriloquist dummies. No joke, the creepy little fuckers just give me chills.
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See, that right there's a perfectly rational fear...
(http://www.joblo.com/images_arrownews/dSilence3.jpg)
Even if the're not done up all evil, they really are creepy.
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See, that right there's a perfectly rational fear...
(OMG Please don't post pictures like this.)
Even if the're not done up all evil, they really are creepy.
Why hello friendly Mr. Doll, would you like to take a tour of this wood chipper? After that, I can give you an all-expenses paid tour of the inside of a furnace!
Aaaaaand I go zooming down into the Uncanny Valley. It's like a roller coaster ride!
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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaghawldehilhyasdlffjpplastagsh
Get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away get it away
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Tergon!
Quick! Hit it with your Broom Made Entirely of Dicks!
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*repeatedly thwaps Slappy the Dummy as hard as he can with the Useless Broom Made Entirely Out Of Dicks*
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Is it working?
Is the UBMEOD having any effect whatsoever?
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OH GOD I THINK HE LIKES IT
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THAT IS NOT THE RESULT'S I WAS EXPECTING!!!!!
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OH GOD THIS IS SUCH A TERRIBLE BROOM
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Get out of there. man!
SAVE YOURSELF!!!!!
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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
*door clicks shut*
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Aaaand, roaches are my big problem.
It's not a phobia exactly, but I don't like cockroaches one little bit, and I'm so living in the wrong place. I confess that I kill cockroaches without hesitation, even though I'm not supposed to. Centipedes, spiders, wood-lice, locusts, mantises etc. no problem; I capture them without injury and release them outside. But cockroaches...
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But cockroaches...
Yeah, I hate to kill anything, except those buggers.
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Yeah there's a difference between strong discomfort and a phobia. I'm not a fan of spiders, thunderstorms can make me flinch.
My phobia however is dogs - Cynophobia. To the point just writing this is making me feel sick and want to cry.
Sadly dogs are a phobia thats not as easy to avoid, like heights or Flying. Unless I want to become a house bound hermit, I have to go out, where negligent owners allow their dogs to wander the streets. Visiting friends places can be difficult and embarrassing. People locking up their pets because I'm coming over is both kind and humiliating. I can be around dogs i know to a degree, but won't be left alone in a room or a yard with them, and the second they bark for someone to throw a ball I have to fight the impulse to bolt.
And whilst i know and I'm told over and over again that most dogs are lovely creatures, that doesn't stop the phobic panic attacks one gets just thinking there might be a dog around the corner. Leaves skittering on the pavement will throw me into a panic attack (seriously it sounds like claws on concrete). I have to close my eyes and cover my ears during dog attacks in movies and if they're part of a game I'm playing i have to get my boyfriend to get me past that level.
My father tried to get me to face my fear when I was younger by forcing me to go to a dog show. I was hysterical.
However I'm proud, and have defended myself many times. Whilst I do feel pant wetting terror when I'm out around dogs, or where i might come across a dog (pretty much any neighbourhood) I still go out. I walk to work, the shops etc. LOL I've taken to singing to myself to focus my mind on other things, so i get to look like a loon instead. I may burst into tears walking down the street where i see an unrestrained dog, but I still keep walking (usually... i have had moments of paralysis and the odd occassion where I've refused to get out of the car and had to park around the block etc.). Sure I feel Terror, but whether I want to or not I have to stand face to face with it on any given day. And I can also tell you facing your fear doesn't lessen it in any way, no matter how many times you do it. But you do get better at controlling your own impulses and thats something. I manage my fear, i don't let it control me (usually).
Seriously I wish if i had to endure a phobia it was one more easy to avoid, like clowns or potted plants.
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Wow.
Thank you for your story.
I don't know that what I've got is a phobia in that sense, or if it even has a name, but I do occasionally freak out a little when it comes to locked doors. I guess it manifests a bit like claustrophobia in that it mostly happens in enclosed spaces, but it's really to do with being locked in rather than simple confinement. Basically if there's a lock I don't/can't control on a door, I probably won't enter the room until I'm sure there's another way out, or I can break the door down in an emergency. Fortunately, that actually covers most household doors for me, so I'm good almost anywhere that isn't specifically designed to keep people inside. Still, it's never pleasant. It is also connected to past experiences with locked doors as a child (like when too small to reach deadbolts etc.) and someone's idea of a practical joke.
For this reason I am also entirely humourless when it comes to practical "jokes" too - you pull that shit on me and the best you can hope for is a screaming harangue. Woe betide you if you actually manage to piss me off in the doing. But that's less of a phobia and more of a contact sport/hobby.
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Water I can't see through. I've always had trouble swimming in lakes and streams that aren't clear, but ever since that time at the beach when a jellyfish got swept up my shorts by a wave...
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Technically not a phobia, and I've mostly gotten over it, but ladybugs. You see, my room is the highest and often warmest in the house, especially when bugs are just coming out of hibernation. Long story short, one day I walked into my room and got swarmed by ladybugs. It took me a long while to build up the courage to go into the room (armed with my trusty vacuum cleaner), and literally hours to get them all.
Also, my room smelled gross and weird for a little while after that.
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Eheh Awww. I kinda get it tho. Read a short story once about a man and death by snails (shudder)
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When I was a kid I was scared of anything with more than four legs. I've improved with age and although i wouldn't say I was scared of bugs anymore I certainly don't feel comfortable around them
I'm also scared of dogs but that's not a phobia because it's rational, the average dog is stronger than me and has sharper teeth, and the average dog-owner has very little control over their pet
also I am scared of clowns and honestly, in my mid-twenties, I'm scared of the dark
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I once made a test about fears and I got zero points. Meaning, I have only rational fears. Thats a good thing. Fear is an important survival instinct, to avoid dangers. But you always should fear fear, because it can lead to losing control. This includes the irony of possibly causing the thing you fear, because you fear it too much. But also all kinds of other fatal outcomes.