GammaGlobulin

Come to think of it.... Maybe it would be the very best for everybody if I would now just decide to... Rest on My Laurels...

You mean, "TONIGHT"? Or, do you mean, sometime around 2AM, tomorrow morning? I really have no idea...

I have...Many Times. Lost Cause, I was told.... "The best you can hope for", the Shrink told me, "is to just wait it out, and hope to not embarrass yourself too much before you die." Sure, it was the best advice, given the circumstances.... But I still can't believe I was paying USD100.00 per hour for such drivel, back in the days of "Last Summer", 1969... Those were the days... The bodily fluids were flowing... And it was de rigueur to have one's own personal shrink... I mean, I don't mind talking about it. It was the thing to do... Many guys at my school spent hours, and hours, on the couch. What is the the Last Summer?: And don't you just wish you were there! It was a BLAST, Man!

Are free samples ever offered, in order to drum up business? What about five-minute-quickies? (But never for me...)

No worries. Trolls are mythical entities, and do not exist. Everybody knows trolls don't exist. Therefore, your fear is irrational. Anyone who believes in trolls needs to see a Shrink, PDQ.

You can always come back to check for updates next Sunday, and the following Sundays...

Lesser of Evils becomes The Favorite... Simple concept. Easy to grasp... This is just Psych 101...

I have a phobia of ANXIETY! When I see anyone with symptoms of ANXIETY, especially HIGH ANXIETY, I become apprehensive, and seek a SAFE PLACE... Anxiety is a KILLER... For SURE...

Actually, what the girls in Thailand say is: "It UPS to you."

No. The answer is, "No, this guy is not normal. This guy is anything BUT normal". At least, this is exactly what I was told when I went here: Normally, when I tell my friends I went to PENN, they all think I mean that I got some kind of "degree" from PENN. But, NO. Of course not! When I say that I went to PENN, what I really mean is that I was an IN-PATIENT at the Perelman School of Medicine, Penn Psychiatry. This is where I learned what I know about Psychology, for example. It's very relaxing there at the Perelman School of Medicine, and I got to be good friends with all my nurses. I would take leisurely walks here, as in this photo of Perelman, but my walks were never unattended. The doctors would not let me out without a staff "minder". Anyone can go here, even without HIGH SAT scores. My fellow-alumnus Leon was there, too, at PENN Psychiatry. He was the looniest of them all. He didn't have any phobias, but suffered many symptoms of Delusions of Grandeur, for example. They also treated me for certain Specific Phobias, here: The program was OK, but I had many relapses after treatment at PENN when I went to live in Taiwan. There are just so many things to fear when one is living on Formosa. It's no wonder they all put us under Martial Law for our own safety... Sort of like being back at PENN Psychiatric Center, all over again. Very little freedom, and nothing to do. I am less bothered by my phobias now.. Except I have this nagging fear of my own death in the not too distant future. I cannot say if this fear is irrational or rational. On the good days, I believe that I will never die, and that my fear of death is completely irrational. On other days, I feel that my fear of death within the next two or three decades might be justifiable. The mind, especially to each individual, is not an open book. There is always that slight smell of fear around.

I was stuck in an elevator several times. I was even stuck in the SAME elevator three times, and once at 2AM with no service phone, and nobody in the building. I had to wait several hours in pitch blackness, and that was in Taiwan, a place not known for great elevators. After being stuck so many times in Taiwan elevators, I developed a phobia of elevators. My only option was to take the stairs. Sometimes I had to visit people on high floors. That was no picnic, believe me. I still don't like elevators,... And, I still hate Taiwan. Your mention of steps is somewhat similar to my experience about a decade ago. I visited a factory and fractured a femur which was replaced at Taiwan University Hospital Trying to negotiate steps is not something I like to do, and I avoid steps without railings. Here in Thailand, many outside steps at entrances to buildings do not have railings. IMHO, this is a serious oversight, and a design flaw. I normally will not use stairs without railings. Concerning the fear of steps: I would say that this is NOT a phobia, so much as it IS a rational fear of falling on stairs. I would say that this is a very common fear for those my age, particularly when negotiating stairs without railings, banisters, whatever... If I fell on a long staircase, it might be curtains for me. And so I fear going down staircases, although I have no problem going up them. Falling while going up a staircase would not be much of a problem, comparatively. My only strategy for going down staircases without banisters is to stay close to the wall, where I can at least run my hand along the wall to ensure that I maintain balance. Do I have a "stair phobia", just because I refuse to use long staircases? NO. I have a rational fear of stairs based on valid past experience. I also have a fear of returning to a wheelchair, should I fracture my other femur...on another staircase.

Important POSTSCRIPT: I NEVER laugh at the fears of OTHERS. I ALWAYS TRY to laugh at my OWN fears, although... Sometimes...It's Difficult, I must admit.

That's why I posted this thread on a Sunday. Sundays are good days for threads such as these. You can kick back, and think about your phobias... At your leisure. Nobody has time for phobias, Mondays through Saturdays...

Each to their own opinion. Personally, I laugh at fear. I even give fear the finger! Remember what we all studied in Psych 101? We are afraid because we run.

I have never contacted an Escort Service. What's it like? Are the girls educated? And, what do they talk about? Also, do poor people use these Escort Services?

So then... It's too late to login to this site, is it?

I had initially considered posting a list of potential phobias from which to choose...but... I didn't wish to in any way influence the respondents.

When you do return to CM, and if you find the photo you mention, I am sure that posting it here would be most appreciated, as well as being informative to others who are in the same quandary.

My Phellow Phobics: How many of you fear being buried alive? There must be at least one or two members here who suffer with me concerning this rational fear. Reading the above paragraph from Wikipedia, fear of being buried alive is actually not completely irrational. And this is what I have been telling people…For YEARS! Even Edgar Poe wrote about this problem, and maybe this is why Poe was so into drugs, etc. It seems that many people from Philly suffer this fear, and who can blame them? This is why, when I die, I just hope I have a cask of Amontillado buried with me: Or, if not a cask, the equivalent volume of a cask, but stored in bottles, instead. But we digress from the actual thrust of the OP: What are your phobias? How do you cope with them? Wine? Women? Prescription meds? Therapy using newer techniques, such as the use of Beta Blockers, etc.? Do you have a phobia of sharing the name of your phobia with others? And, even if you do not have a favorite phobia, then what phobia would you imagine might be the most unbearable phobia of all? Now I’m getting scared. Regards, and,... The Horror! The Horror! Gamma Horror? Or... Horrible Actor? Bad Actor Above... And, Good Band below.... I swear...the guy in this video doing the digging and the singing... MUST be from Philly. Philly was, and probably still is, the Land of Taphophobics, and not just the City of Brotherly Love...as everyone originally thought.

If this is true, as you maintain, then, in this case, they should not be issued work permits, obviously. Instead, they should be made to do forced hard labour on a work farm behind barbed wire, and then forced to eat 50 hardboiled eggs within an hour, on Sundays, their only half-day of rest.

I think your suggestion could be useful. I might wish to plant trees or plants that will repel mosquitoes, and which will grow FAST. However, there seems to be some debate about whether or not just the planting of trees would be an effective strategy for repelling mosquitoes. For example, one might need to actually BURN the trees to have the desired repellency effect: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844021014766 Still, what has been your experience with growing so many trees, and for a number of years? Have you noticed any appreciable mosquito repellency effect? This is a very interesting solution. The trees grow super fast, and require little or no irrigation, and might possibly repel mosquitoes. Worth investigating further. And, there is really no need to worry about them falling over...IF one just cuts them down, and plants new trees every few years or so, in a staggered way so that there are always the desired average number of trees sticking up out of the soil.

Is there, or will there be, any restrictions on number of persons on motorbikes? What about children standing in front of driver while riding on a motorbike? For many years, I have seen a family of 5 on a motorbike, for example. Does this mean that this overloading of motorbikes is now disallowed?

At the moment, I am searching for a plant or tree that is toxic to mosquitoes. If I find the right species, I will plant it.

I forgot the corollary to my personal motto: Be a Curiosity on TV

I did not know that.. Both that you have been to Timor, and that buffalo steak is not considered beef. I had some decades ago in south Thailand, and did not enjoy it. BUT, I LOVE water buffalo, Especially with those gorgeous white birds riding on their backs in the paddy fields, at sunset or sunrise. I would be Hap, Hap, HAPPY to have a head of water buffalo in my front yard. That would be REALLY SUPER COOL, to me. (I could even plow my front yard, and grow rice, too, maybe.) But I will not. I am looking for very low maintenance, but beautiful. I am now leaning toward planting Bougainvillea... Reminds me of James Michener's writings, at least some of them.