# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/121 "2002-08-25T05:17:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by OldBroad \* > \*\*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! \*\* Wonders if he should tell OldBroad that Fruit are actually swollen Plant Overies. ---
**Author:** ![TheRob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@TheRob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheRob)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/122 "2002-08-25T05:20:00Z")
You ever realize something that somebody else hasnt realized, or have you ever told some one something that they just dont believe? That freaks me out, it’s like \*\* how can you not realize this\*\*. Also, when people can’t or don’t understand something that you do quite easily, after it has been explained to death. I know some people are dumb, but come on, some things that come so so so easily are just lost on others. Also, people who dont realize that others DONT LIKE THEM. Like friends of mine (who are teens) who can’t get it into their heads that they shouldn’t like people who are mean to them and who have expressed dislike for them. Such as “Hey he said he hates my guts but I still love him!” ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/123 "2002-08-25T05:37:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TheRob \* > \*\* > > Also, people who dont realize that others DONT LIKE THEM. Like friends of mine (who are teens) who can’t get it into their heads that they shouldn’t like people who are mean to them and who have expressed dislike for them. Such as “Hey he said he hates my guts but I still love him!” \*\* Well, in the example, it sounds like your friends are suffering(well, they would disagree with that word) from hormones pumped into their bloodstream from the infatuation they are feeling, giving them that “LUV” feel. They don’t realize it because they are under the influence, and you “just don’t understand”. ---
**Author:** ![Mastertypo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/439d5e/32.png) [@Mastertypo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mastertypo)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/124 "2002-08-25T06:30:05Z")
My squirrel. It sits outside on my porch, and no matter what i do, it is always looking at me. It lays on its back and stares. I give it food and it watches me. It scares me. Also the fact that i sometimes have this dream i have had at least once a month since i was 4, okay hard to describe, I am just falling and there is something pressing on me, and I can always SEE the outside world when it happens, and then whenever I wake up, I see a wierd image like me walking around with this big huge block on my back. Sometimes when i close my eyes, i see these pictures of these, these, THINGS, that are absolutely HORRIFYING to me, like demons. I am scared. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/125 "2002-08-25T11:23:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mastertypo \* > \*\*. > > Also the fact that i sometimes have this dream i have had at least once a month since i was 4, > okay hard to describe, > I am just falling and there is something pressing on me, > and I can always SEE the outside world when it happens, > and then whenever I wake up, I see a wierd image like me walking around with this big huge block on my back. > I am scared. \*\* There have been several thread in the past in which people enquired about this exact same scarry thing (being able to see while unable to move when falling asleep/waking up, feeling a pressure on their chest, sometimes having vivid and frightening hallucinations) . I can’t remember how it’s called, but it seems it’s a relatively well-known condition. Some people have even posted links to sites about it. I’m just saying that in order to let you know you aren’t a weirdo. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/126 "2002-08-25T14:13:57Z")
I thought of one more: schizophrenia. From what I understand (and I may be wrong) you can get it at almost any time without warning. Why, I could start hearing voices tomorrow and then my mental wellbeing goes downhill from there. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/127 "2002-08-25T14:25:42Z")
> [@](#): > > mommy, how’d the baby get in your tummy? did you eat her?" “no, i didn’t eat her” -but not quite ready to explain further yet. “she just grew there”. i know, i need to explain more, but he’s only 4. The stock answer to our 4 year old son asking, " Mama, how did I get out your tummy?" " The same way you got in." ---
**Author:** ![papergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aca169/32.png) [@papergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/papergirl)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/128 "2002-08-25T15:10:14Z")
The ocean is a subject I try not to think about too much…it has _abyssal plains._ And the _continental shelf…_[shudders]. Just the whole idea of all that water, and the weight of it, gives me shivers. It freaks me out to look at my baby girl. She’s 19 months old and just learning to talk, and I wonder what it must be like to live in her head. How do babies think about things when they have so little language? Bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![c\_carol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@c\_carol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c_carol)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/129 "2002-08-25T19:02:59Z")
I’m fascinated by time zones. I understand how it works perfectly well, but it still amazes me that I can have a real-time conversation with someone who lives in Tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7feea3/32.png) [@PatrickM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickM)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/130 "2002-08-25T19:21:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Homebrew \* > \*\*I’m with you on the clowns. But the dummy thing, I’d say you’ve watched too much Buffy. \*\* There is no such thing as too much Buffy:D I’m freaked out by electrons. I just can’t wrap my head around how it is exactly that moving electrons enable us to have so many lovely modern gizmos, like indoor lights, TVs and the computer. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/132 "2002-08-25T22:21:24Z")
Teeth. I first started thinking about this after I read that Ray Bradbury story about the guy freaked out by his skeleton (mentioned above). Your teeth are the visible part of your skeleton. They’re bones, basically, there for the whole world to see every time you speak or smile. They’re the part of your skeleton that’s trying to escape your body. Have you ever “made out” with someone, deep French kissing, and your teeth accidentally knock together with a big jarring noise? (_Shudder_) The shock waves resonate through your whole skeleton. I hate teeth. Ditto what everybody else said about clowns, dolls, and especially deep bodies of water. The temperature gradations that you can feel from the surface to where your toes are, the sudden patches of cold or warmth that you sometimes inexplicably come across, the utter unknowability of what might be directly below you (perhaps hundreds or thousands of feet down, or perhaps within biting or squelching distance from your feet)… if you sank all the way to the bottom, what would you find there? Nasty sharp slime-covered stuff, I have no doubt. ---
**Author:** ![Quonk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ed655f/32.png) [@Quonk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quonk)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/133 "2002-08-26T03:09:25Z")
Locker rooms. Public nudity is very frowned upon, but go into this single-sex room and all of a sudden it’s perfectly acceptable to walk around naked. I don’t know who decided this was a comfortable arrangement. Cold places. Like Northern Canada. I think about how cold 30F is, and then I wonder how people can survive in temperatures as low as -60. I also wonder why people decide to build big cities in places like Minnesota. Sex. Sex has to be the most overrated thing there is. I’m sorry for not seeing the big deal, but am I a freak or something? It’s just weird, it’s a ritual, and it’s kind of unpleasant what with the smells and the sweat and disgusting bodily fluids. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/134 "2002-08-26T05:51:03Z")
I didn’t used to feel that way about sex, but I do now. Temperature layers in deep water. Like at the lake I spend time at every summer… there is a warm layer about 3’ deep from the surface, then it gets much colder all at once. I don’t let my feet go down into the colder water. That’s where the monsters live. I just know it. Pooping. Everyone does it. Try to picture your favorite movie star or singer straining away, or splattering diarrhea around… well it happens. ---
**Author:** ![Fugazi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@Fugazi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fugazi)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/135 "2002-08-26T07:00:27Z")
I’m going to chime in on the altered perceptions thing also. This has been happening to me recently too. I’ll either be really big or really small, sometimes flip flopping back and forth. It’s really disturbing and keeps me from falling asleep until it stops, usually about 10 or 15 minutes. I actually thought of starting a thread on it but didn’t know how to describe it without everyone thinking I’m nuts. I never get sound with it though, just the perception of my own body. The spinning ball thing kind of rings a bell too. It used to happen when I was really young. One thing that freaks me out that hasn’t been mentioned is memory. Here I am, 36 years old, and I don’t have 36 years worth of memories. Where’d all the time go? I try to think back 15 or 20 years ago and it’s all just hazy memories with a few vivid snapshots. It doesn’t help that my memory pretty much sucks anyway. One last thing, someone mentioned about the 5+ billion people in the world. What I find weird about it is the vast majority of them you’ll never meet. There’s probably hundreds or thousands who would be your best friend or perfect mate, but you’ll never get to meet them. Kind of depressing if you think about it too much, so I try not to. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/136 "2002-08-26T08:05:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by japatlgt \* > \*\*WHAT!!? I’ll never sleep again! Bellybuttons leak!!?? \*\* Yes, sometimes. It’s a sticky liquid, like plasma or something. Smells bad. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/137 "2002-08-26T08:08:43Z")
Medicine. How on earth did anyone ever figure that shit out? ---
**Author:** ![Milossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Milossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milossarian)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/138 "2002-08-26T15:02:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*I’m fascinated by time zones. I understand how it works perfectly well, but it still amazes me that I can have a real-time conversation with someone who lives in Tomorrow. \*\* I love how, on overnight, international flights, you can watch the little television screen that shows you how far you’ve traveled and how much farther you have to go. It has that slowly moving band of darkness, making its way around the globe to the left. In the darkness band it’s night. To the right it’s morning, to the left it’s evening. You can watch the change. Cool! Related to the already-stated stuff about eating, think way back, to the earliest living creatures. One looked at the other and thought (or, more accurately, felt), “I want to rip parts off of you with my mouth, grind them into a pulp, and force it down into my abdominal cavity. For some reason.”\* [sub]\* Recognizing that when this process first started, the creatures in question couldn’t look, think or didn’t have a mouth.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Winnie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e480ec/32.png) [@Winnie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winnie)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/139 "2002-08-26T20:17:46Z")
I’ll second the deep water freak out. I’m not afraid to be in water per se, but more afraid of what would happen if suddenly I was trapped in deep water. Like a freak wave came up and swept me out to sea and suddenly I was in 250-foot deep water with unknown things swimming around me and the possibility of drowning definitely ranks as one of the top ways I’m afraid to die. It freaks me out how people don’t like certain foods. I mean, a tomato tastes like tomato, steak tastes like steak, souffle tastes like souffle, how can I like it so much and someone else thinks it’s dreadful? How are some people so damn picky where they’ll only eat friggin chicken fingers and grilled cheese while I’ll eat anything under the sun? Very, very, very tall ceilings freak me out. Like being in an office building where there’s an atrium that reaches the highest ceiling (10 or 12 stories). A church with a very high ceiling, or someplace like Carlsbad caverns in NM where you’re very low beneath the ground and the height of the top of the cave is 150 feet above you. But I’m not afraid of heights… how odd… ---
**Author:** ![Velma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/85e7bf/32.png) [@Velma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velma)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/140 "2002-08-26T21:38:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by clairobscur \* > \*\* > > 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? \*\* Yes! I know exactly what you are talking about. It also happened to me when I was little, and mostly when I had a fever. I still get the sensation now sometimes when I have a fever, especially when in bed, almost asleep or drowsy, or somtimes I will wake up and have this feeling, like I am waking up from a dream I can’t shake off. It used to really scare me as a child. It is like a ball, or a balloon, and along with it I get the feeling that I am part of the balloon, or becoming one. I feel like my hands and fingers are huge, grotesquely puffy and my body is so heavy and puffy I can hardly move, along with the image of the balloon. It is so bizarre that I am strangely relieved and excited that someone else has experienced this. I would have an accompanying feeling of dread, or panic. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949/141 "2002-08-26T22:39:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Quonk \* > Sex. Sex has to be the most overrated thing there is. I’m sorry for not seeing the big deal, but am I a freak or something? It’s just weird, it’s a ritual, and it’s kind of unpleasant what with the smells and the sweat and disgusting bodily fluids. In _1984_ Orwell has Winston Smith describe sex as “a slightly disgusting minor operation, like an enema.” Mirrors. You can take a flashlight and point it at something in the mirror, and the light beam goes straight through the mirror and actually hits the mirror object! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-things-that-freak-me-out-the-more-i-think-about-them/124949.md?page=8)