Annoyed - not happy........

For the non-psychology majors out there, some mental illnesses/social disorders/psychologies ARE communicable.  Obviously you can't transfer something like schizophrenia or retardation because that requires the wiring in your brain to be scrambled. Okay I have seen retarded people rub off on others though.  However, things like some personality disorders can be transmitted and passed.  We can even create a social pre-disposition for susceptibility to other issues like alcoholism.


AT any rate, arachnaphobia runs rampant in my house.  Okay, more like screams freely in paralysis than runs rampant.  I don't see much running but do hear a child now and then screaming bloody murder because a spider dropped down a bit on a web from the ceiling (and I'm not going to say which parent it comes from). 

I grew up getting whacked with spiders or crawled on by them or whatever and I must say - all the bloody screaming over a spider triggers a whole lot of stuff from the military in me that's just not healthy for me and isn't to be wasted on a spider.  Its beginning to take a toll on me actually.  We live in OREGON.  And....there's spiders here.  Most of them are pretty mellow.  I mean, they like anything else are going to stick up for themselves if they are threatened but I don't think they CHARGE AT YOU the way my wife says when they are on the floor and you bump one because they plan on killing you and actually believe they can do it and are going to die trying. 

Personally I think they might be sensitive creatures that are so hurt by your fear of them they are running towards you trying to make friends and apologize.  Or they just see the crevice in your shoe between the heel and sole as a good place to hide - not smart though. Usually in Oregon we have these damp little sorry looking things that look like they had a rough's night sleep in the cold and wet and until they get their morning coffee just want to be left alone.

One of the most familiar is the wood spider, or "garden orb" spider but I call them "Tetherball Spiders."  Harmless. And can be entertaining.

I call them tetherball spiders because their butts are so big, (compared to the rest of them - about 1/3 the size of a pinkie knuckle) and they like to hang in the way when you're working on your house or going through the forest.  When you whack them, they chicken out, their legs fold up and all you have is a round butt hanging off a piece of string and they go out away from you.....and come right back like a tetherball whacking you back.  They will even spin in circles if you want to have fun (and be like a 5th grader....ask how I know) and will hang on for dear life until they get dizzy and their legs get near absolute exhaustion and they can't hang on anymore and they will just "let go" and then collapse on the grass and barely be able to drag themselves off somewhere to have a heart attack and an aneurism.  When they aren't spinning around like tetherballs they are EATING BUGS and keeping your house or property free of annoying bugs including wasps and flies.
So anyways, because I got awokened by the bloody-I'm-being-murdered-scream of arachnaphobia this morning and feel like I've run a mile in 10 seconds in terms of the strain on my heart , as a public service I'm posting a video of spiders on drugs to lighten the mood towards this one of God's creations. Not my favorite creation, but Gods nonetheless. 

If you have arachnaphobia and we ever meet - you are free to have it.  I will support you in it.  Even pretend I have it with you.  But the screaming?  Please run silently over the side of a hill or something  before you lose it where I can't hear it.  My heart can't take it and my military reflexes need to be spent on better things that can actually kill me - not LOOKED LIKE IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO but - confirmed threats.  I doubt a spider is going to kill me but arachnaphobia in someone else just might!

And now, a video of spiders on drugs for your entertainment.