Conference rdvax::grateful

    Well, them damn black crows on Captain Kangeroo scared the sh*t out of
    me!!  And tv advertisments for scary movies!
    
    This is a bit of a digression: I had an invisible friend when I was
    young.  His name was Barney, he was invisible and he lived on the roof
    of the front porch.  Every time I would go to the bathroom, which
    overlooked the roof of the porch, I would talk to him.  
    
    I remember sticking my finger in the electrical outlet for the first
    time. 
    
    dave

  one of my children dying.

   john

I remember watching the original King Kong (no Lisa not when it first came
out) and getting real scared.

I also used to freak out everytime the town fire horns went off, particularly
in the middle of the night.  One night there was a huge fire near where we
lived and even after it was out I couldn't sleep for 2 nights.


Today, as John said, I'm afraid of one of my kids dying...even if they get
a minor illnes I get nervous.

I'm also afraid of walking on ice on a pond, even if its 2 feet thick..I 
took one of my kids ice skating a couple weeks ago and walking on the ice
freaked me out.

I also find I'm not as crazy about flying as I used to be.




Jim

    ....family dying (tragic)
    ....heights(other than self induced)
    ....BIG SPIDERS
    
    rich

    Things that would scare me . . .
    
    Well my brothers and sisters (Especially my brothers.  I don't know
    what it is, but I think brothers are there to painfully annoy you until
    you grow up), took care of all the scary things for me.  When we would
    all go up stairs (all five of us), to go to sleep, my brothers would
    start telling me about "THE STICK", and all I could picture with my
    wee little mind was a big, huge, blackened branch from an old tree
    with tiny crooked branches reaching out.  They would say "Cathleen,
    the stick is going to come get you tonight".  I would scream, NO, NO
    it's not going to come tonight, it doesn't even exist!  And although
    I knew it truly didn't exist, I was scared of the damn thing anyway.
    
    Then when I got to be a little older, I could share my sister's bedroom
    with her.  Of course, I had to go up to bed before anyone else, seeing
    that I was the youngest and all.  Well, that long dark hallway would
    get to me everytime.  I would quickly run through it (that is if nobody
    was up stairs to walk me to the bedroom), and jump onto the bed.  Then
    I would lie there thinking that someone was under the bed and they were
    going to reach up with their long creepy fingered hands and grab me!
    And the other thing was the closet door.  That closet door never could
    close all the way.  The handle was just too old.  Anyway, I use to 
    look at that door with a steady, often wide-eyed gaze.  I just knew
    a ghost was inside that closet, and someday it was going to open that
    door up and come out to get me.  And sometimes I could see the door 
    move (after stareing at something long enough, it can appear to move).
    You'll never believe this, but one dark and quite night, just after I had
    just told myself that the creepy hands weren't going to come up and 
    grab me that night, the closet door slowly swung open and left a shiver
    up and down my spine.  Can you believe it, I asked myself.  The door
    opened!  I didn't know what to do.  Quick, I said.  I must run out the
    door and tell someone.  I jumped out of bed, ran down the hall, flew
    around the corner, down the flight of stairs, screaming, "There is
    something in the closet, there is something in the closet, the door
    opened!".  Well, my oldest sister came upstairs with me lagging two
    or three feet behind.  She marched in, turned the light on, and looked
    in the closet for me.  There they were, two glowing eyes that quickly
    glared up at us.  It was my cat Skippy.  I couldn't see him open the
    door because I couldn't see over the end of the bed.  So remember,
    when your children scream out for you, and tell you something is
    there, go see, there really could be something there!
    
    --Cathleen

    
>    I remember sticking my finger in the electrical outlet for the first
>    time. 							    ^^^^^
     ^^^^^

	I take it this means you have repeated this?  ;^)	

	When I was a kid, I would always jump into my bed quickly for I feared
that the alligators would bite my feet and legs.  This was something I made
up from my own mind.  My brothers did not make this up for me.

	Today, I fear a few things.  Loneliness.  While in college, I wrote
a long essay on loneliness, my greatest fear.  I got an A on the paper, perhaps
because it is something that really scares me.  Think about it for a moment.
Being lonely is a sobering thought.  Feeling alone is scary.  Can't say I've
been there before...

	Another, growing older.  Time just seems to pass so quickly these days.
No way to slow it down.  The days peel by, the seasons change, a new year 
passes, my birthday passes, distant friends grow more distant, etc...

	One thing I do not fear is darkness.  I enjoy walking late at night
when everybody else is sleeping.  I like it when it's dark and cold and the
night is filled with glitering stars.  While living at home with my parents,
every night, during the winter time, I would head down to the frozen lake
and ponder at the endless sky.  Cold nights were the best, when it was 10
or below.  The lake would freeze and make sounds only heard during the quiet,
dark, night.  My mind would expand and tension would ease.  I've seen 
hundreds of shooting stars brighten the dark, quiet sky...

	JC

    As a kid, I feared all of the architypes of the collective unconscious:
     
      - Things under the bed
      - Things in the closet
      - Things looking in the window
      - Anything unknown or unseen (but felt) in the dark

    As an adult, I fear the very real horrors created by::
    
      - Politicians
      - DEC managers (same thing)
      - Society
      - The economy
      - And, of course, our "little war in the gulf"
    

This is a true story.......

A friend of mine had this told to her from a fellow worker.....take it for
what it's worth.

A women was sitting in her home one night, and she had a cactus plant (quite
large) in her living room. All of a sudden she thought she saw the plant move.
She watched it closely, and sure enough, it moved again. she really thought she
was losing it, and continued to watch it again.....sure enough it moved again.

I guess it happened a couple of more times off and on, and she decided to get in
touch with someone who might know why this was happening.....I believe it was
either a florist, or plant store that she called, but whoever it was told her to
get the cactus out of the house, and DO NOT go near it again!!  

Sometime afterwards, this cactus "exploded" kind of, and hundreds of baby 
tarantulas (sp?) came out of it. This is a true story....I guess the person 
that told her to get it out and stay away from it, had heard of this same kind 
of thing at some other time, and luckily, forwarned her. This plant was 
bought at a Pier 1 Import store also.  Can you imagine this actually happening?

I guess that's why you can't bring plants, etc., in from other countries, etc..

But luckily for this women, the person she had gotten in touch with, had heard 
of this same happening with the same kind of plant. She said there were hundreds
of them......I know you're all saying, OK where is the punchline of this joke, 
but there is none, this is REALLY a true story.

Mike...are you sure it wasn't a spider plant?






:^)

re:              <<< Note 120.10 by KOBAL::MROGERS "Terra primum!" >>>
   

>Sometime afterwards, this cactus "exploded" kind of, and hundreds of baby 
>tarantulas (sp?) came out of it. This is a true story....I guess the person 

I've seen this on nature shows courtesy of PBS. Can't remember if it was
tarantulas or not but tarantulas do use plants for breeding zones. A 
favorite place is within bunches of bananas. 

Shawn

re < Note 120.8 by BIODTL::FERGUSON "Is it just a waste of time?" >

>	Another, growing older.  Time just seems to pass so quickly these days.

I heard an interesting theory about this on TV once ... lemme see if I can get
this straight.

The idea is that the rate with which time seems to pass is inversely 
proportional to your heart rate.  As you get older, your heart rate slows down,
and time seems to pass faster.  Smaller animals have faster heart rates, and
have shorter life spans then ours.  I think this TV program even mentioned
some mathematical relationship between mammals' heart beat rates and their
lifespans.  Something like that.

Anyways ... when I was a kid I was afraid of:

	- Pictures of faces.  I was afraid that one would blink at me while I
	  was looking at it ... I had a Barnum & Bailey poster of a clown
	  which terrified me, but I was embarrased to take it down.
	- (On the subject of faces) Large mirrors ... I was afraid I'd look in
	  one and see a face behind me, then turn around and noone would be
	  there.
	- Dogs, especially terriers, because I got attacked by one once.

These days I'm afraid of:

	- Needles.  I wasn't when I was a kid ... have no idea why I am now.
	- Burglars.  Because I have my own place now, I guess.
	- Heights.  I can get an adrenaline boost anytime I want by just
	  *thinking* about standing on the roof of a building, for example.
	  I have to be able to see the ground, though - planes don't bother me.
	- Nuclear war.
	- George Bush getting reelected in 1992.

    ...hey I'm a DEC manager and i don't consider mayself that sssscary
    
    rich

    Here's a fun way to psychologically torture kids, stolen from Saturday
    Night Live's "Deep Thoughts."  It went something like this:
    
         When my nephew was younger, I promised him that someday I'd
         take him to Disneyland.  Finally, the big day came and we
         drove off, only I didn't take him to Disneyland, I took him
         to an old burned out warehouse.  When we got there I yelled
         "Oh, no, Disneyland burned down!!"
         
    Another fun one (my own invention): tell kids that there used to be a
    Santa Claus, but he died years ago.
    
    Jamie
         
    
    

re < Note 120.15 by FRAGLE::IDE "now it can be told" >
                            -< :^)  sick humor :^) >-

>    Here's a fun way to psychologically torture kids, stolen from Saturday
>    Night Live's "Deep Thoughts."  It went something like this:
    
Another one:  When a child asks you why it is raining, tell him "it's because
God is crying."  Then when the child asks why God is crying, say "probably
because of something you did."

(from some comedian on A&E)

  I told my little brother, when they were young and impressionable, that
there was no longer an Easter Bunny!! Santa Claus ate him for Thanksgiving.
My mother just didn't see the humor.

  john

    We had a pet tarantula live in our house in Phx. for the summer...ate
    all the cockeroaches....let me know where I can get a trantula
    plant!!!

                               rfb

    speaking of fears we instill in younger siblings....
    
    when i was younger i used to baby sit my little-brothers-from-hell...
    
    when they would act up and go crazy, driving me up the wall, i hit on 
    the most ingenious method of getting them back under my thumb and 
    throwing a little of the ol' fear of god (well, fear of big brother at
    least) into them...
    
    i would pick them up, and dangle them upside down over the toilet
    bowl...  of course with the admonition that "if you don't behave--down
    you go!!!"  with a flush and a shake or two for good measure!!!  ever
    see a little kid upside down grasping the sides of the bowl, watching
    the swirling waters, and screaming "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!"
    ???
    
    mom didn't find out about it for years...
    
    now she says she knows why it took so long to toilet train the last few
    kids....  :^) :^) :^)
    
       				da ve_who_knows_now_that_it_was_cruel_but_
    				it_was_effective_and_even_funny_back_then

    Rats! When I was about 9 years old I opened the toilet in our
    downstairs bathroon and here was this huge soggy rat staring at me.
    Needless to say I was scared.
    
    It seems all the toilets in West Lebanon drained directly into the
    Connecticut River (sounds gross). Apparently this river rat made its
    way in the sewer pipe several miles up a hill to our house.
    
    Scott
    

Scott,

  I would NEVER NEVER have sat on that toilet again.

Hmmn, I am glad I started this note ... now, on top of everything else,
I am afraid of cacti, bananananas, and toilets!  ;^/

I had some wierd dreams last night ......

Lisa

    Well, to this day I HATE clowns.  Could be a fear of some sort.  Seeing
    the first Poltergeist movie made it worse. And then one day my mother
    brings home a clown that a friend made her.  It was an exact duplicate
    the damn Poltergiest clown from hell and she even sat it up in a
    chair!!
    
    I hate when that happens!
    
    dave

hey dave,

   my wife is afaid of clowns!!!  what do you think of the faces on 
merry go round horses??

    john

    The horse faces never really bothered me.  I loved merry-go-rounds as a
    kid.  My oldest brother used to work in the park where all the
    amusements were so I got on for free.  He used to drive the little
    kiddie train around!  My brother's name is Stephen, I used to call him
    Keega.  Hey, I don't, I used to call milk Oak.
    
    dave

 My biggest fear has only been with me since my son was born 16 and 1/2
months ago, losing him. Well my wife just called to tell me that he  has 
pneumnia (sp?) . This kid seems to getting everything that comes his way.

8-( Shawn

       One time when I was about 16, it was summertime and there was a 
    container of grape juice on the kitchen counter. I picked it up and
    started drinking it right out of the container, I suddenly felt 
    something in my mouth and I thought...what's this a grape?
     I spit it out on the counter and it was a huge Carpenter Ant!
    
     It was a few years before I would ever drink Grape juice again.
    
    
    
    Sean

	Vodka and orange juice, ever since I was 14 and overindulged.

I am afraid of elevators making funny grumbling noises, or worse, stopping
between floors (possibly with the doors opening).  If I am with at least one
other person in the elevator (even if it is a stranger), I am not afraid.

Before I started working here, I worked in the mailroom of an accounting firm
back home.  I would frequently have to take the elevator between the 2nd, 3rd,
and 4th floors (of a 6-floor building).  The summer of 89 was extremely hot and
humid, and, during the 3-week period I worked there, I hated to take the
elevator.

Because of the humidity (so I was told), the elevator would frequently pass the
floor I had selected, sometimes going to the 6th floor, sometimes to the
basement.  Other times, it would stop in between floors and the doors would
open, revealing the concrete and metal elevator shaft.  When that happened for
the first time, I started sweating immediately and began cursing seriously. 
One of my co-workers heard me on the floor I was half way under and was
laughing at me saying "f*uckin elevator, g*dammit!".  I was scared shitless. 
If I remember correctly I would first freeze up in the center of the elevator,
then frantically try to push all the floor buttons in an attempt to get the car
moving, while babbling "oh, no, god, jeez, i don't believe this, this sucks,
what the f*ck", etc.  The doors would eventually close and the elevator would
start moving again.

When the elevator finally stopped at *any* floor, sometimes a foot above or
below the floor, I'd jump out (quickly, for fear that the elvator would move as
I passed through the doorway, thus crushing my nerve-racked body) and take the
stairs (after a cooling-down period).  This sometimes happened several times a
day.

I'll take the stairs, thank you.

adam

re:          <<< Note 120.30 by GNPIKE::HANNAN "Beyond description..." >>>

>	Vodka and orange juice, ever since I was 14 and overindulged.

I haven't had a problem with vodka, it's whiskey I've overindulged in.  It's
not a tough thing to stay away from, most whiskies taste terrible to me.  I
have to force it down.  A good mixed drink may hide it well, though :-)

I love screwdrivers, as well as White Russians!

adam_who_hasn't_had_JD_or_SoCo_for_a_long_time

re:          <<< Note 120.31 by KALI::SIEGEL "Osmosis to the rescue!" >>>
>                                -< elevators!! >-

Gee Adam, looks like you've had your ups and downs with these things huh ?

;-)

RE:          <<< Note 120.33 by FURTHR::HANNAN "Beyond description..." >>>
                              -< nyuk nyuk nyuk >-


>Gee Adam, looks like you've had your ups and downs with these things huh ?


Yeah, but that's another story :^)





Jim

    
    Scary things:
    
    	.	300 lb. women (or men) on a nude beach
    
    	.	300 lb. transvestites named Dominic.
    
    	.	the beer tax
    
    	.	Dan Quayle
    
    	.	Jesse Helms
    
    	.	Glow-in-the-dark condoms
    
    	.	watching C-SPAN
    
    just a few, for starters....
    
    :-)
    
    tim

	- The power of the US government

    
    People who want to know what I'm afraid of. :-)

People who are worried about why people wonder what they are afraid of ;^)






Jim

The big bad wolf.


		Dave

    Getting in an accident on route 3 in Nashua. There's some real loonies
    on that road in the evening. Fortunately I can go home another route.
    
    I'm also afraid (or cautious) of anyone coming out of a side street in
    Nashua. Quite often they won't even stop and nearly force you off the
    road pulling out in front of you. If they can't see a car I really
    don't want to be around them on my motorcycle.
    
    Scott_who_had_like_3_close_calls_last_Thursday
    

   kryptonite     ;-)

   (also the best answer I ever heard to the interview question "What are your
	weaknesses?")

Jim

RE:                         <<< Note 120.41 by E::EVANS >>>


   >kryptonite     ;-)


   That's super man  :^)



   
   No ticket yet, Phyllis :^)




Jim
  

    	This bill from mass electric for 180 bucks ! Ive only been at this
    Apt. for @6months and on the ava the monthly bill @15 bucks which would
    come to 90 bucks ! (which is paid up-to-date) so I call them (shaking
    in my boots) and ask why ? and they tell me it not mine its the
    landlords ! huh ? then why did you give me the bill ? we would hope the
    tennets would pool together and pay the bill ! what ? are you F*&%ing
    Crazy ! I pay this guy enough already ! call him not me !
    
    		I hate BILLS ! they scare the S!#^ out of me !
    
    
    Chris

    
    a busy signal.

>    a busy signal.

Ah, but worse yet is the "All circuits are busy" message.  At least if you
get a busy signal, you're gettin' through....

Voice mail.








Jim

 

  J*O*K*E*S !!!!!!

    
    
    		S P I D E R S !  And they must know it too!
    
    

President Quayle ......

>                      <<< Note 120.49 by RGB::GOLDBERG >>>
>                          -< just a heart beat way! >-
>
>President Quayle ......

I want to point something out while everyone is running scared from the thought
of Quayle going further.  He is the YOUNGEST BY FAR, to get where he is ...  
granted, he may not be the most brilliant person in the world, but IMO, he
is better than some 75 year old geaser who's still thinking the way they
were taught in the 40s...

I can relate MUCH MORE to Quayle than Bush...  perhaps this is a start to
get some people closer to "our" generation in the places that count...

Flame at will.

>Flame at will.
OK! :-) :-)

Quayle is so conservative he makes Bush look liberal! I would rather have
someone intelligent and misdirected (Bush) than someone stupid and misdirected
(Quayle) - actually I'd rather have neither! Plus he is easily influenced by 
those around him, remember the last President that was easily led (I'll give 
you a hint, his initials are RR)?

>I can relate MUCH MORE to Quayle than Bush...  perhaps this is a start to
>get some people closer to "our" generation in the places that count...

This is *exactly* why Bush picked him - to sucker our generation into voting
republican regardless of ideology. I'll take an 90 year old liberal over a
25 year old young republican any day of the week!

Jonathan

re:                      <<< Note 120.51 by RGB::GOLDBERG >>>
   
>(Quayle) - actually I'd rather have neither! Plus he is easily influenced by 
>those around him, remember the last President that was easily led (I'll give 


 Name a prez that isn't/wasn't. They are all just puppets on a string. IMO who
 we see as "acting head of state" really doesn't have any say in what occurs.

Shawn

  I tend not to be a Quayle basher, but what scares me about him is that, even
for a Washington D.C. politician, he seems to have NO mind or opinions of his 
own.  I prefer people that have opinions based on some type of belief, even
if I disagree, to total followers.  Dan appears to me to have NO personal 
platform, no religious or cosmic standard, just nothing but what he is asked.
Were he to come into power, and I believe we have a powerless V.P. the hidden
faces would control even more than now.

   john  

    shame on you JC!




                    ;^)


                           rfb

    President John Sununu
    President Pat Robertson

    
    reading this note!
    
    Enough with these presidents, okay?!
    
    :-/
    
    

Snow squalls from hell :^O





Jim

	Whatever you think is fine w/ me.  I voted libertarian for the last
prez election and I voted for the independent candidate for Mass governor.
It is going to be a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time
before the crooked republicans and democrats get beaten by the underdog
party... in my opinion, none of thewm are very good...

after all those years on the bus i'm afraid...
i've been reborn into a  KINKShead.  i am suffering from too much PHOBIA !  
what should i do doctor ?

PHOBIAticized lew

There's room enough on the bus for the Kinks.

If you get confused, listen to the music play ....

- DC

    
         you're not going crazy
         you're just a bit sad
         cuz there's a man in you
         gnawing you
         tearing you into two
    

"Wish I could fly, but I can't even swim..."

- i have my KINKS tix for Gratewoods (so i'm not afraid of not having them).
- i am no longer afraid, thanks to advice, of having listened to the KINKS
  for several months now without breaks. 
- mostly what i am afraid of now is that i sent my Boston Garden mail order to 
  myself rather than to San Rafael.  better go home and check my mail.

see you all there (hopefully in both places)!
lew

Lew - 

May the gods smile on you so that we can meet up again in the 13th row at 
the Garden like in '91...remember?

	dave

hey,

how can i forget the show that i lost my shirt at after meeting Dave
Levy ?  has any one had a similar experience ?  

take care,
lew

>how can i forget the show that i lost my shirt at after meeting Dave
>Levy ?  has any one had a similar experience ?  
    
    I've never lost my shirt, but I have lost my shoes before.....
    
    And before you say it, I know what you're thinking Rich....."whatevah you 
    do take care of your shoes." :-) :-)
    
    	Mike

    I lost my ass in Vegas one year....does zat count?
    
    Actually I'm so well organized at shows I've never lost anything. I put
    EVERYTHING i own for the tour in my belt purse and don't take it out
    unless absolutly necessary. Tixs are in a strategic place, as is monies
    and other things. 
    
    rfb

    yes....and what other things might that be...*;')
    
    dugo

    well, errr, notepad and pen for setlists, extra ballons, NTTH stickers,
    and of course the obvious.....obvious?????
    
    
    rfb

>     and of course the obvious.....obvious?????

yeah what he sedd, the obvious:  Tape deck, tapes, batteries for the mics,
batteries for the deck, mics, mic stand, t-bar, t-bar-to-mic-stand adapter,
wind screens, cables, power supply, patch cords in case mics don't work,
extra tapes just in case, extra batteries just in case, an umbrella and
plastic bags in case it rains, binoculars so you can see Jerry from the
tapers' section, and last but not least, the obvious...

>tapers' section, and last but not least, the obvious...
The #10 envelope that the tix came in, but that the tix are no longer in
because you thought they would be safer in <insert_favorite_hiding_place>,
but you spaced, and now you don't have the &&^*))(*$ TIX !!

 :-)

...and juggling bags...and water...

You guys keep leaving out the obvious...;-)

    
    :-) :-)
    
    ya gotta love a wise-ass one-liner.  Keep 'em coming Mr. Grady!! :-)
    
    

It's a dirty job, but....

    I have a fear that someone has snuck into my car and is hiding in the
    back seat.  I'm not afraid of getting robbed (stealing my car would be
    an airtight insanity defense), I'm afraid that they're listening to me
    sing along with the stereo!  Is there a name for this phobia?
    
    Jamie

lindamaccartneyphobia

    more like Yokophobia...*;')
    

loneliness is my largest fear.

	Ahhhhhh....it ain't that bad.  Things like grateful seem 
	to take off the edge.  :-)

    me...  i scare myself...
    
    	ooooo!   there i go again...  :^)
    
    					da ve_representing_poultry

Sometimes you scare me too...;-)

tim

    
    
    		booooo...
    
    					da ve