Nothing to fear but fear itself... and spiders

Well. It's Friday. Finally. And I'm going home for the weekend! That's right, I have an internship interview on Monday, and I'm flying in today. Always love a good flight. Airports, layovers, and bears, oh my! (Don't worry, there usually aren't actually bears, that was a one time thing).

More importantly though, I saw the Reduced Shakespeare Company last night!... No, that's inaccurate... I didn't just see- I was on stage with them!! I was one of their 2 "volunteers" (who are pulled up on stage without volunteering). I got to run back and forth across the stage to metaphorically represent the psychological distress Ophelia goes through before killing herself. It was quite the experience. The strangest part though (other than the audience yelling "cut the crap Hamlet, my biological clock is ticking and if you liked it then you should've put a ring on it") was the fact that I wasn't nervous. Why is that strange? Well I get nervous when I speak in front of class, but I was fine in front of thousands of people. They say that public speaking is the chief fear of the American people. To that, I say BS.

I'm pretty sure that
Death, snakes, spiders, and taxes
Are much scarier

Really, I get nervous during public speaking, but I don't fear it. I do, however, fear spiders, taxes, heights, fear itself, and Dick Cheney. Chances are whoever did that study measured fear based solely on nervousness being an indicator for fear, and as a result had skewed findings, since people don't tend to get butterflies in their stomachs when they think about death. Good lord. Sociology has me thinking all sociologically. I need to stop!

EXIT PURSUED BY BEAR

The title quote is from a Robot Chicken sketch. And yes, I know that I've discussed public speaking as a fear before, but this is in a different sense. So there.

The Fear List

Well today is an incredibly ugly day, and it appears to have rained last night. Don't worry, this post will not be about the weather. Let's see... on a positive note, I took a hot shower this morning. I also saw St. Vincent last night, which was amazing. On a negative note... I don't really have anything. Except for the weather. Oh, and I have a quiz this morning for Survey of Jazz as well as a presentation. I suppose that now would be an opportune time to discuss public speaking.

Hmm, now what to say. I am no stranger to public speaking, although I still despise it. Well, despise is such a bad word. Maybe hate would be better? I don't really hate it though, I just struggle with it. I don't even struggle with it really, it's just annoying. Yeh, I have really no idea.

Surveys show that public speaking comes before death on a list of fears. This result is peculiar, considering that death is usually considered to be the ultimate unconquerable fear, while public speaking is something that can be remedied with a couple of night classes at your local community college (or if you're in college, a speech class). This brings me to my haiku, which I have yet to even think of an idea for.

If public speaking's
Feared more than death, why's it not
Used as a threat more?


Do you see what I'm saying? I mean, people always threaten others with death to get them to do their bidding. Why don't they do that with public speaking? Like instead of holding a gun to someone's head, why don't they hold a mic to someone's face and make them speak if they don't do their bidding? Why do people say "do this or die" when they could say "do this or speak"? I think if this was the case, the world would be a much better place overall, and people could finally overcome their fear of public speaking. Although then I guess guns would come back in to play. So it really wouldn't be a long-lasting solution. Oh well, still a good idea I'd like to think. I also wonder if they've done anything with public speaking on Fear Factor... probably not, unless the person was in a tank full of leaches whilst speaking....

Three more posts until your surprise!