Category: meh

On spam…

I usually receive spam to enhance my manhood, or make her moan in bed, or buy a gorgeous replica watch. However today, I received one that stands out. Really.

They call me Sir, but they all do, informing me they are putting up the following for immediate transaction:

  • 1 Unit of BRAND NEW 7,000dwt Oil Tanker (Built Nov, 2008 in China)
  • 1 Unit of BRAND NEW 6740dwt Chemical Tanker (Built Nov, 2008 in China)
  • 1 Unit of 1002dwt Chemical Tanker (Built 1988 in Japan)

Out of interest I searched what these look like. Who on earth would contact them for more information?? One of these boats is almost 120 meters long, weighs tons and costs 0.58 MIL$.

Snowphobia and hypnosis

This is an entry on snowphobia and a failed hypnosis session some years ago.

I have snowphobia. I like snow (although it’s cold and I prefer things hot :). It’s walking and driving on slippery surfaces that freak me out.

There was a very local hailstorm over the Sophia Antipolis area last night and when I drove to the office this morning I was surprised the area was all white. At first it was beautiful. I was safely driving on ploughed roads.

But at the round-about near the office, the ice was there to meet my tires and it was no longer beautiful but unnerving. I did well. I “beached” my car where I could, blocking two others (leaving a note to the attention of the owners with my cellphone number on it, and it was tempting to add “and please, move my car yourself if it’s in your way” ;).

This reminds me of the failed hypnosis session that occured back in December 2004. Being impaired by my phobia, I did the sensible thing and made an appointment with a doctor who practiced hypnosis.

He made me sit on a comfortable leather armchair, rest my hands on my thighs, close my eyes and listen to his monotonous and quiet voice.

He made me imagine I was in a place I like and I was feeling good about it. So I was on a large beach of white sand, taking a nice walk and enjoying the warm breeze, the small number of people (at a good distance) and the melodic sound of the waves.

Then he made me go in my car for an enjoyable ride. He said it was starting to rain but I was safe. The rain was light and I was comfortable driving. Then I drove down a slope and I was still safe, and I was still enjoying myself. Then he made me go back to the beach.

I got off the car and was to transfer my fears on framed pictures. I was to carry the pictures to the air balloon that was moored on the beach. I carried the frames and put them in the basket. I cut the moorings and saw the air balloon lifting up.

At this point my friend Dino suddenly appeared in the basket and was waving bye bye, smiling at me!

I backtracked quickly to the previous scene so as to re-do it again, Dino-free. But there he was again! appearing in the basket of the air balloon and waving bye bye while smiling.

That was the end of the session. Too bad it was ruined so close to the end!

The doctor was confident that would do it. But in case I was still frightened to drive on frozen surfaces or snow, I was to schedule another appointment with him. I am still very uncomfortable with snow, ice and all slippery surfaces, but I never scheduled another appointment.

Chaetophobia

I was reminded of a phobia that I have had for as long as I remember. I meant to look the word up and Amy found it: Chaetophobia, the fear of hair. I don’t know how to pronounce it, but I can certainly describe my own version of the phobia.

When I was a kid and my mum was bathing me, I was terrified of floating hair in the water. So I already had long hair at the time. I remember curling up as far as I could from these long, threatening, floating and offensive threats. My word was “thread”, as in “there is a thread”. My mother had to remove the floating “thread(s)” from the water.

Now I don’t curl up so much, but I’m still really bugged by the occasional strand(s) of detached hair. A lot.

I don’t mind attached hair at all. How funny to make the distinction.

Post-Christmas contemplations

A few reflections that occured to me today:

  • merry post-xmas everybody!
  • there are two windows of direct sun light in our backyard lately:
        a little bit before noon and a little bit around 3 p.m.
  • really, I’m a summer creature.
  • it’s a great loss that James Brown died yesterday.
  • the one thing I dislike about the 100 Rolling Papers dispenser
        compared to the 50 leaves one, is that when one of the stacks is empty,
        the other one has this tendency to move where the other one used to be.
        Very frustrating.
  • unsurprisingly, I’m still an ISTJ (I78 S50 T12 J56).
  • there are 120653 files in my home directory today.
  • my Mum’s chocolate mousse and coffee cake is simply *awesome*.