Sitting at your desk, is there anything that you can imagine that might give you a start, or cause you to feel uneasy?
Mine is falling. Specifically falling due to someone pushing me. (Wait a minute, that's not a phobia, that's a paranoia.)
Uh, Mine is falling. The interesting thing is that I do my own roofing and ladder work and have even flown in a hot air balloon several times. While there is an initial thrill, it rapidly goes away. Yet, I can sit at my deck and flipflop my stomach thinking about falling.
Posted by mikemunsil (Member # 2109) on :
something dripping down the back of my neck, sepecially if it were warm
Posted by NewsBys (Member # 1950) on :
Gruesome mike.
Since I sit with my back to a wall and the only way to get behind me is to walk around the desk, a voice whispering to me in my ear would be creepy.
That earthquake we had several months ago was startling. A big concussive boom, accompanied with a dropping feeling. I thought WWIII had started. Duck & Cover!
Posted by TaShaJaRo (Member # 2354) on :
I work in a help desk room with five other people and we're all fairly loud and constantly startling each other for kicks, so I'm quite desensitized to sudden, loud noises. But, if someone touches me, even just a soft hand on the shoulder, I jump out of my skin. Don't like being touched. Posted by Minister (Member # 2213) on :
The last time I was scared at my desk was when an oil barge exploded not too far away. I'm not usually startled by loud sounds, but something of that magnitude will do it; something to do with it rattling the entire house, maybe.
Posted by wbriggs (Member # 2267) on :
"Hello, Mr. Briggs. Can you --"
"No thank you, I'm not interested."
"I'm not selling anything. I just want to know if you can see the sun from where you're sitting."
"What?"
"I want to know if you can see the sun from where you're sitting."
"Well -- no. Why? Who are you?"
"Thank you, Mr. Briggs." And, as the man put the phone down, I could hear him say to someone, "It's OK. He didn't notice."
(I can't remember where I stole this from.)
Posted by djvdakota (Member # 2002) on :
While I'm sitting at my desk it means one thing--I'm sitting at my computer. So the thing I fear the most is my computer crashing and taking all my latest, non-backed-up writing. Which reminds me...
So an electrical storm would make me feel uneasy. What if the power goes out while I'm right in the middle of something brilliant? That auto save only saves every few minutes. What if the most brilliant stuff I've EVER written went on the screen AFTER the last autosave and before the power failure?
<the sound of running feet and blinds being lifted...a sigh...walking feet...the creak of an old office chair>
Phew! Clear skies.
[This message has been edited by djvdakota (edited February 17, 2005).]
Posted by TruHero (Member # 1766) on :
How about I'm typing late at night and a shadow appears for just a split second inside the monitor. It had slight features of a face, but I'm not sure. It's late and I'm sleepy, so I rub my eyes and continue. A few minutes later it suddenly appears again. Only this time it is in clear view, with eyes that fill the screen and it calls my name in a voice like grating metal, that fills the room. Then it dissapears just as quickly.
I think that would get my attention!
Posted by AeroB1033 (Member # 1956) on :
quote:How about I'm typing late at night and a shadow appears for just a split second inside the monitor. It had slight features of a face, but I'm not sure. It's late and I'm sleepy, so I rub my eyes and continue. A few minutes later it suddenly appears again. Only this time it is in clear view, with eyes that fill the screen and it calls my name in a voice like grating metal, that fills the room. Then it dissapears just as quickly.
I think that would get my attention!
Time for a virus scan?
Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :
Um, I think that we're all getting off-topic due to a very simple misunderstanding. As far as I can tell, the question isn't whether there is anything that could happen to you while you were sitting at your desk that would scare you. The question is whether you can scare yourself, at your desk, simply by imagining something.
Nothing happens, there is no external stimulus allowed, you can't put in a scary DVD or play a scary game or drip blood on yourself or anything like that.
For purposes of this discussion, I'm also going to say that this also means that you can't deliberately summon anything, you can only imagine it. In which case my answer is no.
Posted by Pyre Dynasty (Member # 1947) on :
Something that makes me uneasy as I sit at my desk? When I'm writing and I realize that the char I'm writing about is going to die.
Posted by xarius (Member # 2168) on :
When I sit at my desk, my back is to the door, so it is very easy for me to imagine someone behind me. If I am up real late and everyone else is asleep, I sometimes feel the need to look behind me. That's why I work with the door closed.
Posted by goatboy (Member # 2062) on :
Hmm, Other than a noise or the knowledge of an open door, what other stimuli could make you need to look over your shoulder?
Posted by xarius (Member # 2168) on :
You've never been alone and had the feeling someone was watching you? Sometimes I get a tingling on the back of my neck and I have a sense of being watched. I know this sounds cliche, but when you grow up with a family who loves to scare each other, that's what you get.
[This message has been edited by xarius (edited February 20, 2005).]
Posted by HSO (Member # 2056) on :
I suppose one does wonder what effects staring at a CRT Monitor all day would have. If I think about it too long, my eyes begin to water and twitch. And whatever radiation a monitor emits could be a concern now and then.
Sometimes I'm so focused on what I'm doing at the computer that I don't hear or notice anything except for what is right in front of me (this drives my wife nuts, sometimes). So, strangely I worry about what could be happening in my house without my knowledge, even though I'm right there. Break-ins are common in London -- our neighbors have been broken into twice in the last year. It makes me uneasy thinking about someone breaking in while I'm here. I'm not worried about my safety -- it's theirs I'm worried about.
