Bugs are scary :-(

[In My Memory]

I thought I was going to die today Most people dont know, but I am the most insectphobic person ever. I run and scream like a little girl whenever I'm around them or see them.

 

So today, around 6:30 AM, I was driving home from work and I had the windows rolled down, and the radio turned up loud, and I was minding my own business. Then at a stoplight, this huge insect (a grasshopper about 2 inches long) flies into my car and lands on my dash, and it scares me half to death, but I cant pull over to shoo it out of the car.

 

The bug is just hanging out, looking at things go by through the window, so I wasnt worried about it... until it turned around and faced me... and started crawling straight toward me... and then little pieces of me start to die inside...

 

I'm dont take my eyes off the bug for about a minute, and unconsciously I'd accelerated the car to about 70 in a 55. And then I look up and there is a line a cars at a stop light so I STOMP on the breaks and the car squeals, and I was so glad I didnt hit the person in front of me.

 

And then the bug crawled toward the driver-side window, so I'm leaning waaaaay far over to the passenger-side trying to keep the steering wheel straight and I'm almost in tears So I find a good place to pull over, I put on my hazards and a few minutes later the bug flies out of the window.

 

When I sit back in the seat I think "did it just rain or something" because the seat was just SOAKED, same with my skirt, same with my shirt, and my face was completely red. And I swear I would have had a panic attack if the bug had landed on me. The whole experience made me so upset.

 

So in conclusion, bugs are scary, and I need someone to hold me now.

[why?]

Ya, bugs are scary. I hate beetles and bees. They freak the shi* of out me.

[YT2095]

they`re Damn lazy too some of them! Anything for a free ride rather than Fly, and they`re bad tippers too!

 

you had every right to be upset, Bloody freeloaders!

[GutZ]

I had quite the phobia for Bees because when I was younger (like 6 or 7) I stepped into a wasp (or yellow jacket?) nest, got stung like...it was either 17 or 12, 5 on the chest including or excluding. They didn't die, and there were millions of them. The worst was that I was screaming and one managed to get on my tongue and stung me there too.

 

*shudders*

 

I use to scream like a little girl too, but now I just scream like a big girl when I see them. Actually I am not too scared of them anymore. I will do a little dance though when one gets frisky with me, saying something like "I'll kick your @#$!!!"...People stare at me when I do that

 

The only thing I hate is when someone crushes them, but naturally most insects creep me out, except pray mantis, kung fu is strong with that one.

[Phi for All]

I read something once where the author speculated that most of the accidents where people seemingly "lost control for no apparent reason" were because of bugs flying in the window or flying against the window and startling the driver.

 

(wraps IMM in a big bear bug) There, there, it's gone now. You did really well. You kept your cool and didn't freak like so many before you. Everyone's safe, including the grasshopper. You did the right thing by pulling over. Go take a shower.

[YT2095]

well I know you`re a Vegan and all that, but I had no idea you were THAT scared of Meat.

and just think how many thousands of times Bigger you are than (s)he was.

 

the only bugs I don`t like are Flies, wasps (I kill them both on sight), and things that eat my plants, other than that I get on quite well and in harmony with bugs, in fact I actively Encourge many insects to survive by making nests for them in the winter, I also keep Bees.

 

most of the time, if you don`t mess with them, they`ll just ignore you as you`re boring to them.

[Rocket Man]

huntsman spiders! they are freaky! theyre so fragile but so big and hairy,

occasionally they crawl out from behind the steering wheel when you turn the car on. the best part is, theyre not venomous, however, i would watch out for septic bites.

 

i mostly commute by bike, i have had a bee land in my eye once, i swear it had evil intents! no matter which way i duck, it just keeps coming straight for my face.

and of course glasses would help, but i cant get a pair which won't distort the image.

three days later, i was fine. i cant say the same for the bee though...

[insane_alien]

its moths that get me. spiders, ants grasshoppers, flies, bees, wasps, butterflies they're all cool but if a moth comes within 2 meters of me i'l scream like a little girl. it can be quite embarassing at times.

[Severian]

When I was little I felt a bit left out that I didn't have any phobias. Everyone seemed to have one but me. So I made up a phobia about spiders. They didn't really bother me (I mean I don't like having insects or spiders crawling on me, but who does?) but I pretended to my family that they really scared me.

 

Strangely enough I have become sort of claustrophobic as I get older - it isn't really a fear of enclosed spaces, but it is a fear of not being able to move. I even find I am uncomfortable being hugged because I feel like I can't get away, and if anyone needs to torture me for secret information all they have to do it tape my fingers together and I will squeal like a pig.

 

I can't even wear mittens...

[ydoaPs]

The closest thing I have is I get a little nervous when there is a bee within a six inch invisible bubble around me. If I have a phobia, it's one I haven't found out about yet.

 

With you being a vegan, I thought you'd me more like me about bugs. I won't kill them, but I'll move them. In fact, it gets on my nerves when people kill spiders just because they are spiders.

[Phi for All]

As long as I can see the insect it doesn't bother me. I dislike having flyers buzz in my ears before I see them. It makes me flinch every time. I saw a baby in a stroller once with a wasp hovering near it's ear and I went cold all over, so maybe that happened to me as an infant.

I even find I am uncomfortable being hugged because I feel like I can't get away' date=' and if anyone needs to torture me for secret information all they have to do it tape my fingers together and I will squeal like a pig.

 

I can't even wear mittens...[/quote']What about shaking hands with someone? Ever met that guy who just won't let go?

[Severian]

What about shaking hands with someone? Ever met that guy who just won't let go?

 

I can handle that OK, as long as they don't shake hands for too long. I am fortunate that I live in a country where touching anyone else is considered rude. Handshakes are pretty rare (only for first introductions).

[In My Memory]

Severian,

When I was little I felt a bit left out that I didn't have any phobias. Everyone seemed to have one but me. So I made up a phobia about spiders.

Need phobias? Have some of mine

 

Bugs have always been my thing, ESPECIALLY cockroaches, and ESPECIALLY spiders, and moths, butterflies, beetles of any kind, and also most crustaceans.

 

And when I was a little girl, I used to be so afraid of the dark or being alone. I lived in a house that had a basement like this:

------------------
|
|       Top floor
|
|
====|      -------------------------------
|    =                                    |
|     |  Stairs                           |
|      =                                  |
|       |                                 |
|-------------------------------------     \
                            \     Laundry  \
                             \      Room    \
                              \              \
                               \--------------\

After you came down the stairs, there was a long long hallway, and then a laundry room all the way to the back. And it was a big laundry room too, about 25 x 25 ft, and the washer/dryer was all the way in the back...

 

You dont know how much I absolutely DREADED going down there, because I always thought something was down there and I could always feel something watching me. I had a pretty set routine: throw laundry basket down stairs, throw it in washer, RUN!!!!!!!

[Severian]

I remember being in a cafe in Paris for lunch with my wife. She had French Onion Soup, which as usual had crusty melted cheese on top. To her disgust she found a cockroach embedded in the cheese.

 

We complained of course and the distraught waiter went to get the manager. the manager panicked and tried to think of an excuse. The best he could do was "In the summer time when it is very hot, the cockroaches crawl all over the ceiling. It is inevitable that sometimes they will fall into the pots."

 

We left in a hurry.

[Skye]

A friend had a thing about moths for a while so I caught one and put it my mouth. Then I went and found him and went blah and the moth came flying out. Outstanding.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

A friend had a thing about moths for a while so I caught one and put it my mouth. Then I went and found him and went blah and the moth came flying out. Outstanding.

Cruel. Too cruel.

[Phi for All]

A friend had a thing about moths for a while so I caught one and put it my mouth. Then I went and found him and went blah and the moth came flying out. Outstanding.

IMM is heading back to the shower again.

[Martin]

A friend had a thing about moths for a while so I caught one and put it my mouth. Then I went and found him and went blah and the moth came flying out. Outstanding.

 

 

I'm sorry. can't help laughing.

that is so funny!

 

hope he wasnt traumatized for life:D

[Phi for All]

A friend had a thing about moths for a while so I caught one and put it my mouth. Then I went and found him and went blah and the moth came flying out. Outstanding.

"Sorry, I tried to say 'Moss' but I've developed a lisp!"

[swansont]

IMM would've passed out from fright had she been in the areas of Brood X of cicadas a few years back. They were all over the place (The evolutionary strategy of "survival by predator satiation" in action.). I had one land on my shoulder while getting into the car one morning. Good thing I wasn't driving fast when I noticed it.

 

A picture of one and the husk of its encasing, from which it had recently emerged. About 3" long. Ugly but otherwise harmless.

[YT2095]

when I was about 14, I went on summer holls away from home for a while, came back and couldn`t wait to get back into my "Lab" again (a shed down the very bottom of the garden), I opened the door walked right in as usual but not able to see clearly, a Large Cone Web about 12 inch across at the top and about 18 inch down I was wearing, all crawling with thousands of tiny little black and yellow spiders.

when I realised why things looked so dark and felt them crawling all over me i went outside and did my best to let them all go, I didn`t get them all and they were coming out of my hair for hours, but I left the door open and they all went off eventualy, eating nasty Flies I hope!

 

but no, I didn`t freak out or even make a sound, I knew when I found out what it was that they were just babies that had hatched when I was away, and couldn`t hurt me, but I could hurt them and didn`t want to if possible.

 

My Phobia is not a Naturaly occuring thing (generaly), and something I`m extremely unlikely to encounter

[AzurePhoenix]

About 3" long. Ugly but otherwise harmless.

How could you say that?! Cicadas are so neat and hulking and pretty, like super-flies on steroids. Their scream on the otherhand.... how I loathe their buzzing...

 

I've always liked buggies, so many are so pretty and others just cool, like cyborg-alien hunter-killer mutant assassins. I especially like lobsters, which puts me at odds because I love them buttered up on a platter even more than I like them alive

 

I've never been afraid of the standard moths, spiders, bees, wasps, hornets, but I am very skittish about letting ants get the chance to crawl over me (and now that I think about it, I just hate swarms of tiny skittery things in general), and I do have a repulsive aversion to american and german roaches and earwigs... I can't stand earwigs.

[Skye]

I remember living on a river that had was skirted by rainforest. Some people who moved next door thought the wonderful that there was this cool misty rain that came down in summer. Cicadas have mouthpieces sort of like a mosquito, but drink sap from trees instead of blood. They drink it all the time while waiting around to mate, so they are constantly excreting the watery waste.

[5614]

Eeeew! Me hate bugs and insects and crawlies and cockroaches and flies and spiders and moths...!

 

I normally kill them, unless they're big and scary (ie. 1cm by 1cm!) in which case I run away!

 

Nah. If they're really big you can catch em in a matchbox and let them go outside.

 

Although I do feel that killing off insects is just part of natural selection/evolution and survival of the fittest!

[padren]

I a like most bugs, its ones that worry me about nasty bites that do bug me though.

 

When I was young, I could never remember which centepedes were supposed to be poisoneous, or what spiders, so I just avoided all the pedes and any spider with shiny black and or red/yellow on it. Plus most others just to be safe.

 

 

At the old office where I worked (one of the inspirations for my current self employment ) my old boss's wife was bitten by a brown recluse. He wouldn't let her go to the doctor for a bug bite, even though she was a nurse herself, and she did go after a few days anyway and confirmed it was pretty darn nasty.

 

I was just a little more nervous working at my desk for a few weeks...

 

 

Still, its not a fear of bugs, just of being bitten by nasty nasty things.

 

 

And IMM: Glad you held it together and glad thats passed. Is there any methods for resolving those sorts of phobias? I've heard of various anti-phobia treatments, but I know very little about it.

 

 

I guess fears are my biggest fear - acting in some way because of something I think I should be able to control, so sometimes I act outright stupid to get past them when I find them. Hence I even started to dance lately, much to my liver's dismay (I didn't say I didn't need a little boost ).