unhealthy fears

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted, it seems... and I think it's because some days I feel like I've done enough thinking between 8a-6p, and because I've been enjoying my Nook a little more lately and spending more time reading. And mostly, I haven't really had anything to say or cooked anything new to share. I've spent a little time with friends, and had a family weekend that was pretty cool last weekend (the guys hit up 2 twins games! I just went to one.) But as I sit here, decompressing from the week a bit, the inspiration hit me. We're watching some show called Dual Survivor where these two guys are put out in the elements and they use their survival skills to live.

Part of me says: There's obviously a camera crew there filming you, so I'm sure if it came down to it, someone would save you.

Another part of me wonders:  Does the camera guy slip them twinkies and sandwiches off-camera? All I see is them eating sting-ray and bugs... but what happens behind the scenes?

Anyway, that's all besides the point. Right now, they are tracking a snake in some rainforest or something because they saw the tracks. Why they are actively looking for it, I do not know. And no, they are not trying to watch for it to avoid it.

((ewwww he just grabbed the snake - some kind of python))

((omg. they are going to eat it.  hey, camera guy? got a twinkie? I'll live off of that.))

 I'm actually watching this as I write, and as you have probably gathered by now, I have an unhealthy fear of snakes. I've made progress, although this show is starting to make me feel ill, and I'm more listening than watching at this point. But believe it or not, it's progress.

I didn't used to be able to watch anything with snakes in it, and I didn't even like the stuffed fuzzy ones at the toy store. A friend of mine once told me that, based on something she learned in a psychology class she took in college, that I should do something to face my fears. Her bright idea was that I should be put in a room where there was snakes, and eventually I would realize that they aren't all bad.

I thanked her for her concern, but respectfully declined.

This same friend offered to pay me to go to the movie, Anaconda. I, again, respectfully declined. At this point, she pretty much just likes messing with me.

When I was in college, I went to a friend's house who had a snake. I didn't leave the kitchen for a long time (the snake was in the living room). Eventually, I ventured into the living room. I even went by the tank it lived in and looked at it. Progress. And then they took it out, and I returned to the kitchen.

So, now, I can watch them for brief periods of time on tv - but really prefer not to. And I still don't liked the stuffed ones, but it's a little better. It's probably a little irrational, but it's my unhealthy fear and it's probably never going to go away.

What are  your unhealthy fears? I know I'm not the only one irrational about something. :)