I have a deep fear of being cold. Really really cold. I was reading a Dick Francis book where his hero gets thrown off a bridge into a half-frozen river and I thought I would have a panic attack.
Yet I love books that are set in frozen environments. I love the idea of writing one. As a kid I would dream I was an explorer in the Arctic to relax myself.
So, I’m both fascinated and horrified by the idea of extreme cold.
Is there anything you find both fascinating and terrifying, or am I just weird?
Sharks. The idea of being in the water with one is horrifying, but I love watching videos of them and seeing them at the aquarium.
I guess my fascination with rape/murder and other horrid things is sort of close, except I don’t really worry that those things will happen to me…not too often anyway.
Murderers and stuff freak me out - like if someone was coming after me, I’d likely stroke out and finish their intended job for them - but reading about fucked up serial killers is really interesting, and I like shows like CSI and American Justice all about horrible murders. Think it is the psychologist-wannabe in me.
I’m also too scared (and maybe too smart…) to try any illegal drug past marijuana. As far as I know I’ve never seen any of these drugs in the flesh either, beyond pot. But I love books and movies about drugs. Think they are really interesting, but also so fucked up and dangerous and often life-ruining so I will never know what any of them are really like, unless I decide to say fuck it and try them when I get old.
Deep sea stuff. There are so many amazing creatures in the deep dark depths of the ocean. There may be insight to The Big Questions down there. But it creeps the ever-lovin’ bejeezuz outta me. It’s cold, dark, creepy-crawly, dangerous, and just fucking weird.
I’m with jsgoddess on the cold thing, too. I wish I could be one of those people who forges into the unknown with nothing but some jerky and a couple good dogs, but I’m NOT good with cold. It’s all I can do to ankle down to the mailbox when it gets below 30 degrees!
Right now one of my favorite video games is the Logic Puzzle subset of Purble Place (M$ game that came with Vista.) In the Logic Puzzle part of it, you have to guess what the Purble (children’s puppet/teletubby looking thing) wants to wear and by the feedback it gives you on how many you get right you narrow it down in the least number of guesses.
But when you first guess what they want to wear, you can “forget” to give them eyes or mouth. It’s pretty creepy to see an animated puppet without eyes or mouth, but I can’t resist doing it sometimes.
Spiders. I’m seriously spider-phobic. When I was younger, I couldn’t get within five feet of a spider, even a little daddy longlegs; I’d freeze up, start hyperventilating, that sort of thing.
And yet, I think they’re the most objectively fascinating creatures in nature. The ability to create webbing and webs is stunningly unique, and the variety of uses they put it to is mind-blowing. Big fancy webs, trap doors, hunting with a bolo, casting a net, tripwires, wrapping paralyzed prey, underwater lairs…it’s incredible. Some actively hunt. Some jump. Some pretend they’re ants and invade ant colonies. Some have 360 degree vision. Some have eyes that move independently to gauge distance.
Truly, fascinating. But I still can’t bear being in the same room as one.
I hate gore in movies and would never go to most of the horror movies made in these days of all-too-effective effects. But I sometimes go to one of the sites like “screenit” for parents to find out in detail just what I’m missing.
Westborough baptist church and mister Phelps come to mind.
Also, the many millions of people - who are educated and have influence - who believe in literal interpretations of the bible (and are waiting for a long haired person with a beard to come back*)
The fact that in some countries (I’m certainly thinking of the US, but I doubt they are the only one) you have to make sure people know you are religious in order to have any chance of public office.
*I once heard an evangelican on dutch tv naswer the question ‘How would you recognize Jesus Christ, when he comes back to earth?’ with: from his long hair and his beard…
Me too, to the shark thing but the rape/murder never crosses my mind.
As to sharks, I’ve seen some really big ones hauled out very close to the beach; I’m positive that anyone who swims in the Gulf of Mexico has been within six to ten feet of a shark although not necessarily a big one. I’ve seen a six to eight foot hammerhead swimming in water about three to four feet deep; I was standing on a seawall when I saw it. It doesn’t pay to think about it if you are going to get in the water.
A few of mine have been covered already-- drugs (especially hallucinogens and opiates) which I’d never do but love to read about, murderers (mass/serial killers).
One which hasn’t been is suicide. Lots of suicide in my family tree (concomitant with tendencies toward depression and other mental illnesses, alcoholism and drug addiction); I find I ruminate on it a lot, and have a morbid fascination with stories of others committing suicide. One of my favorite books as a teen was the collection of the first three volumes of Answe Me!, which collected not only recaps of 100 mass/serial killers, but recaps of 100 notable suicides. I’m terrified of the prospect of doing it, though.
From the benign: Heights. I’m not really afraid of heights, but I do have a healthy respect for them. I understand the danger of falling from a great height and I feel the fear of it when I’m in such a situation, but I am fascinated by it. Being up in tall buildings, climbing ladders, going out on a roof, I just get such a rush from it. And I love movies and video games with scenes or actions that take place in such elements.
There’s a new video game out called Mirror Image (I think) where society has turned fascist and the only honest communication is between “runners” who use the skyline of a fictional city as their thoroughfare … jumping over alleys, sliding down zip lines, bounding fences … all at 30 stories up – first person, excellent graphics … but I digress.
To the twisted: I spend probably more time than is healthy pouring over Wikipedia and Crime Library articles about serial killers, thrill killers, spree killers, child killers, murder-suicides, all the really twisted stuff that humanity has to offer. I find it fascinating even as I feel my stomach turning.
Giant waves, tornadoes, heights (the kind you stand on something and look down from , not the aviation kind)
I used to have a recurring nightmare as a child about a wave several times taller than me engulfing me on a beach as I tried frantically to run away. There was always a crumbly sand “sea-wall” kind of mini cliff that I couldn’t climb, and I would always look up to see the crest of the wave curling and breaking far above my head, followed by the astounding impact of all that water. Now I have a kind of fascination with storm in the North Atlantic, the seas of the high southern latitudes, rogue waves, and giant wave surfing, they kind they do with jet-skis.
Disease. I was reading the Japanese comic Black Jack on the train to work this morning and I became physically uncomfortable while reading about a child stricken with polio. I mean that I was squirming in my seat and turning my head from the page. I feel kind of uncomfortable now just thinking about it.
AIDS in particular gets me. I can’t sit through more than ten minutes of the movie Philadelphia before becoming seriously uncomfortable and having to shut it off.
But I find the concept of illness and infection fascinating. I’m enthralled by the science behind it.
But actually having to confront its effects on real people is something that I can’t do.
I’m fascinated by obesity because I used to be about 15 pounds overweight.
I lost the weight and continue to watch my diet and exercise to maintain it, but I fear that as I get older and my metabolism continues to slow that I may end up putting on weight despite my efforts. My mother is obese, and there might be a genetic tendency towards.