# Normal things that freak me out the more I think about them **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 21, 2002, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949 "2002-08-21T17:24:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![japatlgt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@japatlgt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/japatlgt)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/101 "2002-08-23T23:54:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by OpalCat \* > [B **belly buttons**. They leak sometimes. What is that stuff and where does it come from? \*\* WHAT!!? I’ll never sleep again! Bellybuttons leak!!?? ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/102 "2002-08-24T00:10:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jackelope \* > \*\*OK, I don’t know if I can describe this or not… > > Sometimes, usually late at night or early in the morning, I’ll completely lose perspective on _sizes_. I can look down at myself, and I can’t tell whether I’m three inches tall or three miles. The slightest twitch of a finger seems like it literally shakes the world, and everything feels very heavy, somehow. Not heavy exactly, but _massive_. The tiniest sound, like a single drop of water from a faucet, seems as loud as a bomb going off, and echoes around the house. > > It rarely, if ever, happens when other people are around, but it’s not really a sleep-state experience; I’ll be sitting on the couch or even outside when it comes on, but I’m usually physically calm; not moving much. > > This has been happening since I was a very young child, but I’ve never tried to describe it before. Does this ring a bell with anyone? > > Anyway, that’s what freaks me out. \*\* Yes, it rings a bell here. It seems that however weird could seem something you’re experiencing, you’re never the only one experiencing it. I understand perfectly what you’re talking about, apart from the “sounds” part. I used to experience this feeling from time to time when I was a child, since a very young age, and hated that. I doesn’t freak me much now, though, because it extremely seldom happen and essentially only when I’m ill (but not each time I’m ill). Also, I can usually manage to “reajust” my perceptions relatively easily. I even tried to deliberatly maintain this state of mind for some moments once or twice when I was barely feeling it just in order to analyze it. But never for long because it’s very displeasant. Since it essentially happened when I was ill and somewhat feverish, my take on the matter was that it had probably a physiological basis (related to brain chemisty, or whatnot), but it’s a wild guess, of course. Just in case : when I was a child, for some reason, this feeling was associated with the mental image of a big (or perhaps not that big) and somehow repulsive ball. Does it tell something to you? ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/103 "2002-08-24T00:26:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by brondicon \* > \*\* > > Wow, **jackelope**. I get the exact same thing. It’s usually as I’m lying in bed, before falling asleep. I feel as if the walls sort of recede, and fade into an empty grey space, and I become tiny and insignificant in the massiveness of all that’s around me. I sometimes start to hear voices, booming off in the distance, and after a while I’ll sort of twitch out of it. Your post totally creeped me out. > > \*\* There’s something weird, here. I can relate to **jackelope** post, you can relate to it too, but I can’t relate to yours. My feelings are much more related to my own body. So, there’s no grey space, but indeed I could perceive my body as receding, and becoming miniscule (or alternately massive). So, there are at least three of us weirdos… ---
**Author:** ![anyrae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e495f1/32.png) [@anyrae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrae)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/104 "2002-08-24T00:29:03Z")
The ocean. When I’m in a big group of people (traffic, concert etc…) I often think about how each and every person has their own little dramas and issues. Like bills are due, kids are sick, mother is insane, boss is an ass, brother is alcoholic, etc… amazing Anyone ever worry about what your matress or pillows are made out of? Do we really know? Sometimes I wonder if the entire Earth is like a being and we are all parasites. Our roads make it itchy, our buildings are like dirt or something stuck to it. Trees are really just fine “hairs.” Imagine what it would feel like to have cars tickling you all over. And specks of dust that are our airplanes flying from one part to another. Teeth are creepy too. Bones, just sticking out of your flesh. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/105 "2002-08-24T00:36:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sam Hell \* > \*\*This may be just me, but I am freaked out by deep water. Mainly the ocean, but I don’t like lakes either. Just the idea of this huge gulf below me, filled with liquid, and these animals swimming through it below me. > \*\* Exact same feeling here. I like swimming in the sea, though, but inevitably, at some point, I’ll think about that, and feel the urge to come back to the shore. It’s even more impressive at night. Despite the sea beingand some coastlines being extremely beautiful, I’ll never be able to love the sea for this reason. ---
**Author:** ![kevja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@kevja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevja)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/106 "2002-08-24T00:57:02Z")
I eat out a lot, but the more I think about it, eating in restaurants freaks me out sometimes. It requires a certain amout of faith on my part, or I would probably not eat in any restaurant. I’ve sold to food service establishments, and it doesn’t matter if they’re uptown or downtown, some of those kitchens are scary. And how about stuff like the cooks personal hygine. Angry food servers, doing weird things to people’s food. How many times has something been frozen, then thawed, and back again. Did my hamburger patty hit the floor before it made it to the bun? ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/107 "2002-08-24T01:56:50Z")
Some have already mentioned mine: **sleep** –It’s like you’re dead for several hours. What if I never wake up? **dummies** –Those things are horrible! And they have those little legs that don’t do anything. **Insane Rulers** –I’m pretty into the Roman Empire, and people like Tiberius or Caligula freak me out. This goes for other insane rulers. Basically, if you are a common person, your life is based on if the Emperor is in a good mood or not. True, the more powerful you were (i.e. Senators) the worse your life was in danger, but I’m sure even common people weren’t in the clear. Shudder. I too often think “What if everybody is a robot and I’m just some experiment?” I even wrote a short story about it. It didn’t make me feel better. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/108 "2002-08-24T02:01:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kevja \* > \*\*I eat out a lot, but the more I think about it, eating in restaurants freaks me out sometimes. It requires a certain amout of faith on my part, or I would probably not eat in any restaurant. I’ve sold to food service establishments, and it doesn’t matter if they’re uptown or downtown, some of those kitchens are scary. > > And how about stuff like the cooks personal hygine. Angry food servers, doing weird things to people’s food. How many times has something been frozen, then thawed, and back again. Did my hamburger patty hit the floor before it made it to the bun? \*\* Shoot. If it freaks you out now, just try reading **Down and Out in Paris and London** by George Orwell. You most certainly will not think about fancy restaurants the same again. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/109 "2002-08-24T02:30:13Z")
Wow, glad to know I’m not the only one. Actually I’m glad I tried to describe it. And no, **clairobscur** , the big repulsive ball doesn’t mean anything to me… For me, the image is of being in a baby crib in a very quiet house. Hooray! I’m not crazy! Or if I am, a couple of the others are too… ---
**Author:** ![Broken\_Doll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbce88/32.png) [@Broken\_Doll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broken_Doll)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/110 "2002-08-24T04:37:35Z")
I have yet another - Has anyone here ever known a person for years and years, think they know what they look like, but one day _really_ stare at their faces and their face becomes someone you’ve never seen before? Like, you’ll notice that they have freckles here and there, and their nose is slightly bigger than you thought, or you notice that their whole face looks completely different to what you see everyday. This happens to me all of the time. I can’t explain it properly. ---
**Author:** ![Alma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Alma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alma)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/111 "2002-08-24T05:08:15Z")
Water has been mentioned a couple of times; what really freaks me out is that _it never stops moving_. I used to work on Navy Pier in Chicago and every so often I’d trot down to the end to eat my lunch or meditate or something. But I couldn’t stand it after a while because the motion of the water, constant and deep, got so loud in my head I’d scare myself. I thought sometimes that I understood why people go crazy. Sometimes being in a wooded area does it too, because the leaves don’t stop moving. I guess I’m disturbed by rotation of the earth or something, but the idea that we’re never still (even if we think we are) is frightening to me. On the lighter side, I have had many an interesting “dream”–the distorted reality you get just before you actually sleep–from falling asleep to the sounds of a foreign film. I’ve worked in a few small theaters where there’s nothing to do after a show starts but sit on the couch, where you can hear the movie playing, and read or stare into space. Eventually I’d start nodding off, and the dialogue of the film would start making sense to me, _as English_. The syllables and speech patterns would work themselves into something completely nonsensical but my mind would try to make a picture and story out of it. Try to nap while the TV’s showing something in a language foreign to you; it’s fun. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/112 "2002-08-24T06:41:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dwyr \* > \*\* > I think it was Myron somebodyorother, can’t recall the last name at the moment. > Now for another contribution… > > ever realize that the ovum that would become the unique individual know as “you” was created when your mother was a fetus? You’re a lot older than you think. \*\* Well, maybe half of you. The sperm provides the other half of you. (though I had a science teacher substitute who didn’t agree. She felt you get far more genes from your mom because the egg is so much larger then the sperm. I wonder if she was projecting some kind of feminist belief of her own onto biology). But then you have to think. If one of the other sperm had reached your mothers egg instead of the one that did, would you have turned out totally different? ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/113 "2002-08-24T07:02:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by clairobscur \* > \*\* > > Exact same feeling here. I like swimming in the sea, though, but inevitably, at some point, I’ll think about that, and feel the urge to come back to the shore. It’s even more impressive at night. Despite the sea beingand some coastlines being extremely beautiful, I’ll never be able to love the sea for this reason. \*\* I know. I used to have the same problem, particulary when I was in a lake. I kept imagining a huge squid with tentacles reaching up. And that was before I started reading Lovecraft… ---
**Author:** ![Mullinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@Mullinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mullinator)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/114 "2002-08-24T09:55:18Z")
Ever drive by a big parking lot at night? It’s dark, maybe only one or two lights in the lot are working and the lot is completely empty except for 1 car sitting in the middle of this vast nothingness in the middle of the night. So many bad things could be happening. ---
**Author:** ![Krurst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b77776/32.png) [@Krurst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krurst)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/115 "2002-08-24T13:24:27Z")
something that freaks me out is computers and numbers. I have countless hours of movies and music stored on my hard drive but in reality its just a binary number that is something like 2^1,500,000,000,000 digits long but seeing it as this I realise there must be a number that sums up all of all past and present human achievement. This way we don’t have to teach the monkeys to type! we just get them watching a TV that spews forth the results of a random number decoded to video by a computer, and get them to respond to watchable things. There arn’t that many numbers that can fit into a 5Mb realy player format video… Will we someday in the future be able to lern fluent hex (or have a chip in our brain) so I can tell you my whole life story as number 12 4B E3 24 59 FF A8 47 …? This also means that given limitations in the amount of description (say a number 10^100 digits long…) we could calculate exacty how many lives there can be before they become almost identical with someone else! Talk about freak out… ---
**Author:** ![Kantalooppi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a5b964/32.png) [@Kantalooppi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kantalooppi)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/116 "2002-08-24T15:12:33Z")
That people like different music than me. I might download something that someone else has recommended to high heavens and find it crap - then I wonder why the other person didn’t find it crap, too. Or why don’t other people love some band that I love? I can understand people having different political opinions, or different religions, or different opinions about, well, anything, but when it comes to music, I just sometimes have to wonder. ---
**Author:** ![Marine\_One](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marine_one/32/3461_2.png) [@Marine\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marine_One)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/117 "2002-08-24T15:15:28Z")
- Air. I’m breathing something invisible. All the time. - Water. I’m drinking something invisible. All the time. - Glass. Like a force field. It’s invisible. - Hair. Dead cells on my head close to my brain. That can’t be healthy. ---
**Author:** ![OldBroad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@OldBroad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldBroad)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/118 "2002-08-24T16:10:57Z")
Eggs. As long as I don’t think about them I love eating them - hard boiled; omelets; scrambled; basted. Just never dwell too long on what they are. And I’ll never understand the health nuts who insist on having only _fertilized_ eggs - it’s a \*\* chicken embryo\*\* fer cryin’ out loud! ---
**Author:** ![\_etalhea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/779978/32.png) [@\_etalhea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_etalhea)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/119 "2002-08-24T19:42:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bifar \* > \*\*Faces, on reflexion, are very freaky. Three big holes in the flesh like wounds that have never healed properly, full of slimy, gunky stuff. Two slimy bits of gristle underneath thin bits of skin that flap up and down. Random bits of hair. Disgusting. > > Also: boobs. Big painful growths on your chest. > > Bees making honey. Eddie Izzard famously pointed out the freakishness of this. ‘Do earwigs make chutney? Do spiders make gravy?’ \*\* Honey is even freakier when you consider that it never spoils! What!?!? It’s totally sugar, and yet you don’t have to refrigerate it or throw it out ever. The worst that happens is it crytallizes. You can leave your little plastic honey bear on the table for a year and no hairy stuff grows on it. Leave a Dr. Pepper out for a month, floating green hair!!! Ditto on Milk too. If I wrote a science fiction story about another planet where one race held a race of lesser, stupider beings captive and every day they went out and squoze some of the other beings lower body parts and then drank the juice that came out, everybody would be grossed out. Nobody seems to mind milk tho. Ever seen a cow up close? Ever smelled one? Ever had to take care of a bunch of them? aahhhhhhhhhhgggg! I hate cows. I’m glad they die. ---
**Author:** ![butter\_pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@butter\_pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butter_pie)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/120 "2002-08-25T02:24:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by angelicate \* > \*\*Dreams: Do you ever have a dream, maybe even a really intimate dream, about someone you know, but don’t think of, or want to know in _that_ way? What about when you have dreams about people that you barely know? Someone from class/work/the guy that works at the bank, etc. > It’s odd. > It’s even more odd when you realize the number of people that dream about you. > > Ugh. \*\* Oh yes, I really hate this. I prefer my brain to make up people that I’ve never met and that don’t really exist. And it really creeps me out when someone tells me that I’ve been in one of their dreams, because then I think of them dreaming the things I dream about and I have a hard time facing them until I can shake it off. I’ve dreampt about people I know even being dead, and had to deal with that in dreams, and then of course they aren’t really dead… I hate dreams. I wish I never had them. I’m cool with strangers thinking about me all they want, but for some reason when it’s people I know well but I’m not comfortable with them thinking/dreaming of me in that way… then it weirds me out. Like, the stranger only knows what I look like, so it’s just my image, but this person knows me and is thinking all this…ick ick ick!!! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949.md?page=7)