Countdown meme, Day 4

[dreamflower]

Scaredy-cat day...

Day 1 - Ten random facts about yourself
Day 2 - Nine things you do everyday
Day 3 - Eight things that annoy you
Day 4 - Seven fears/phobias
Day 5 - Six songs that you’re addicted to
Day 6 - Five things you can’t live without
Day 7 - Four memories you won’t forget
Day 8 - Three words you can’t go a day without
Day 9 - Two things you wish you could do
Day 10 - One person you can trust

7 phobias/fears:

1. Snakes. I've had this phobia since I was very small, as in pre-school age. It's not so bad as it once was, but it's still there. I used to freak even seeing one in a picture or on TV--now I just shudder and avert my eyes. But if I see a real live one in RL, I still go berserk.

2. I also have a fear of saying "goodbye" to someone who's going somewhere without also telling them to "be careful" or "be safe". This always goes for family members and loved ones, but sometimes even for relative strangers--if the weather's bad, I will always tell my customers to "Please drive safely!" I guess I'm afraid something will happen to them if I don't.

3. Cockroaches. This goes back to my college days when my dorm room was infested for a whole semester. I am not only afraid one will get on me, but they squick me as well, with all those gross skittering sounds they make.

4. Rats and mice indoors. They don't much bother me if they are running around outside, (mice are kind of cute running around in the grass) but inside the house they freak me out.

5. There are some things I am afraid of in dreams, but not awake: sometimes I will dream that someone I know--often, but not always, a family member--is an evil imposter who has replaced them. Sometimes I will dream that I am suddenly falling from a high place. Another is that I am walking or driving along an endless road or bridge, only to find it stop abruptly in mid-air leaving me nowhere to go. These things never bother me when I am awake.

6. I used to fear atomic annihilation enough to keep me awake at night, not so much anymore. Probably a common fear for the "duck and cover" generation.

7. Being alone and homeless when I get old.

Comments

[engarian.livejournal.com]

Cockroaches scare the "X" out of me. This dates back to a trip my family took when I was a child, and I've never really gotten over it. In fact, I'm right there with your rats and mice thing too. But if I had problems with rats and mice, that's probably when I would look into getting snakes because I think snakes are amazing and quite awesome.

- Erulisse (one L)

[dreamflower]

My snake phobia goes way back before my cockroach and rodent phobia. I was about four, and the family had gone to a popular South Alabama beach for the day. I was walking ahead of my parents through a palmetto thicket when I saw it, coiled, and raising its head, and it looked at me, and I ran back to my parents shrieking. I've no idea if it was a harmful snake or not, but I've been terrified of them ever since.

[shirebound]

My college dorm room was Cockroach Central. It was awful.

[dreamflower]

Yep. Cockroach Central was what I had too. I think it was because I had an outside corner room. For a whole semester, I slept with the light on and my bed in the middle of the room.

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

Mice don't scare me much, but they do creep me out. Most bugs do too.

[dreamflower]

Little white mice in a cage don't bother me; little field mice running around in a garden are kind of cute. But a mouse running around in my kitchen? No. Just no.

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

7 especially.

[dreamflower]

*nods*

Because of all the fears on the list, that one is possible.

[ysilme]

Your "dream fears" are really interesting; I never heard something like this before.
I don't share your animal phobias/fears, but then I only lived in countries where snakes are not an issue and the cockroaches are much smaller and less frequent. I had my share of encounter with them - the flat I lived in during some Uni years was a former U.S. housing site, and they had brought cockroaches with them, but only a small variety. Still, not funny - mostly from the ewwww-point of view for me. Did you know they can be dispelled by cat mint? I had a cat mint spray back then, and it really worked. Not that they left the flat or so, but they didn't cross sprayed surfaces, which went a long way for me being able to use the kitchen again.

[dreamflower]

I often have dreams that are not exactly the same, but have the same elements. Not all of them are frightening (I rather enjoy flying dreams). But those particular ones are very scary.

I grew up in the South (which in the US generally refers to the states that were on the wrong side in the American Civil War) along the Gulf Coast. Snakes are always an issue there, especially in rural or semi-rural areas. Cockroaches are also a bad problem in the South, especially in South Florida, where they are not only prolific but very large.

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, cockroaches are SO GROSS. One of the houses that M. and I lived in when we were first married was infested, and I've had a really bad fear/squick of them ever since then. I about freaked when I saw how huge they were in Florida, lol. And Helo used to take care of a little mice problem I had in my last house! :)

Oh, the atomic annihilation fear? Also of those of us who were growing up in the 80's with all the scary movies like "The Day After" etc.! I remember having nuclear war nightmares back then...

[dreamflower]

Y'all were in South Florida, right? The cockroaches there are huge! I went to college in Miami, and sometimes I thought they might be able to carry me off!

I've always avoided those sorts of movies. I remember having to watch "Failsafe" in a social studies class, and it scared the bejeebers out of me. When I was in my teens, I expected the world to be blown up before I turned thirty.

I'm glad I was wrong.

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

Nope, we were in northern Florida (Jacksonville). Still, that didn't make the cockroaches any smaller....lol! :)

[dreamflower]

I lived in the panhandle from fifth grade through college,though the last three years of college were in Miami during the school year. But from fifth grade through eighth we lived just north of a little town called Bonifay and from ninth grade on we lived in Panama City.

Yeah, the roaches in FL are humongous!

[grey-wonderer.livejournal.com]

atomic annihilation, yes, I think about that from time to time, especially with the things in the news lately. Too many people have that ability and can wipe us all out if they decide to do so. I try not to think about it but I do.

[dreamflower]

Yes, I know that is all still possible; but nowadays I seem to worry more about some random madman shooting up someplace I happen to be than a country "pushing the button".

What a world, what a world.

[asia27.livejournal.com]

I can deal with mice, catching them in sticky traps and tossing them out but cockroaches are another thing. Years ago, we moved into the second floor apartment of a house which seemed deceptively nice. I should have known; my neighbor on the 3rd floor set off a bomb which literally had those German roaches pouring out of every crack and crevice -- the bitch did it on purpose! Hubby and I wondered why roaches were staggering under our front door; opening it, they were literally POURING down the walls...I bought $60 worth of bug spray and fought my way to her apartment where they were covering every single space in her studio place; what was worse, this idiot had a baby there!! We didn't stay there for long but it became a case of duelling bug bombs during the time we were there! I now have to fight those bastard Palmetto waterbugs here and I keep 6 half- or full cans of bug spray and many sticky traps handy. I HATE these critters!!

[dreamflower]

I never really thought about roaches until I actually had to personally deal with an infestation. They are so GROSS! and I hate,hate,hate the sound they make on those scratchy little legs of theirs.