What meteorological phenomenon (phenomena) affects you this day ?

[ShortNCuddlyAm]

My main fear of wind in a wooded area would be bits of trees coming through the windows and roof Not that I lack an imagination, but I spent far too much of my childhood outside with no-one else about to have any fear of it as an adult.

Too many people around, on the other hand, scares me witless. Which is a bit of a problem given I commute into London each day, and live only just outside it... I have a love/hate thing with the city.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by lilac_jive

SHUMS?

seriously ? you don't know about the SHUMS ? scourge of the earth, bane of my existence ? huh. neither did Uncle Duke, so here's the reply i gave him :

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

ah, sweet innocence... would that i could return to that happier time when i, too, was ignorant of the nefarious existence of the SHUMS... (cue ominous music...)

do a search for "shums" to learn all about their history, or just start here and here.

Originally Posted by ShortNCuddlyAm

My main fear of wind in a wooded area would be bits of trees coming through the windows and roof Not that I lack an imagination, but I spent far too much of my childhood outside with no-one else about to have any fear of it as an adult.

aah, but there's the rub : no people at all is not too scary. however, just one person around can be terrifying, if it's the wrong person. seriously, the scenarii my imagination can concoct with no encouragement whatsoever and despite my best efforts to distract it are blood curdling. in fact i'm going to change the subject now because even just talking about it puts me on edge.

Too many people around, on the other hand, scares me witless. Which is a bit of a problem given I commute into London each day, and live only just outside it... I have a love/hate thing with the city.

you need a happy medium. too many people doesn't scare me but it does make me really cranky, unless it's the crowd in a concert, as long as i'm not in the back (and no-one is jumping off the stage onto the crowd. god i hate that).

[lilac_jive]

Sooooo SHUMS are annoying people? Or particular people?

[ShortNCuddlyAm]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

aah, but there's the rub : no people at all is not too scary. however, just one person around can be terrifying, if it's the wrong person. seriously, the scenarii my imagination can concoct with no encouragement whatsoever and despite my best efforts to distract it are blood curdling. in fact i'm going to change the subject now because even just talking about it puts me on edge.

It's odd - I can concoct the worst scenario imaginable, almost always ending in a grizzly death of some sort, if some-one asks me what's the worst that can happen, but that sort of scenario never occurs to me. My preferred horror reading/watching is more gothic and Hammer horror though.

you need a happy medium. too many people doesn't scare me but it does make me really cranky, unless it's the crowd in a concert, as long as i'm not in the back (and no-one is jumping off the stage onto the crowd. god i hate that).

Too many people doesn't always scare me (it does always put me on edge though), but sometimes the crowd will do something like all fall into step together and then it really does scare me. Or if I'm in a very crowded place and start thinking about things like fires or building collapses, and how everyone else will react...

[nekokami]

I don't know about "scare," but too many people around definitely makes me uncomfortable.

Unless, oddly enough, I'm giving a lecture or presentation. You'd think that would be worse, because then they're all looking at me, but no, that doesn't bother me at all. Go figure.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by lilac_jive

Sooooo SHUMS are annoying people? Or particular people?

in two words, shums is loud children. but those two words really don't do justice to the pure evil of the phenomenon, so instead we refer to the Shrieking Hordes of Unwashed Minions of Satan, or SHUMS.

Originally Posted by ShortNCuddlyAm

It's odd - I can concoct the worst scenario imaginable, almost always ending in a grizzly death of some sort, if some-one asks me what's the worst that can happen, but that sort of scenario never occurs to me. My preferred horror reading/watching is more gothic and Hammer horror though.

my preferred horror is the stuff i never learn about and never gets anywhere near me. i hate horror in any medium. i don't find anything pleasant at all about being terrified by a book or a movie and i don't understand the attraction. (no, i won't watch The Ring with you. don't even bother asking.)

Originally Posted by nekokami

I don't know about "scare," but too many people around definitely makes me uncomfortable.

Unless, oddly enough, I'm giving a lecture or presentation. You'd think that would be worse, because then they're all looking at me, but no, that doesn't bother me at all. Go figure.

that's just weird.

[ShortNCuddlyAm]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

my preferred horror is the stuff i never learn about and never gets anywhere near me. i hate horror in any medium. i don't find anything pleasant at all about being terrified by a book or a movie and i don't understand the attraction. (no, i won't watch The Ring with you. don't even bother asking.)

Just read the synopsis of The Ring - that is a good example of something that isn't my sort of thing. Nor are any of the more modern, explicit, gory books and films. I don't find Hammer horror, Roger Corman's films, gothic horror books (by which I mean things like Dracula, E. A Poe's work and so on) terrifying. Creepy at times, camp and amusing at times (well, the films, anyway), but not scary.

I made the mistake of watching Arachnaphobia once - that was terrifying.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by ShortNCuddlyAm

Just read the synopsis of The Ring - that is a good example of something that isn't my sort of thing. Nor are any of the more modern, explicit, gory books and films. I don't find Hammer horror, Roger Corman's films, gothic horror books (by which I mean things like Dracula, E. A Poe's work and so on) terrifying. Creepy at times, camp and amusing at times (well, the films, anyway), but not scary.

I made the mistake of watching Arachnaphobia once - that was terrifying.

E.A. Poe i can handle. although... some of his stories, if you start to really think about them, late at night... the cask of amontillado, for instance is actually kind of gruesome.

i have no idea what is most of the rest of the stuff you named and i don't want to know (don't tell me).

arachnaphobia is a film that i wish i had never heard of, and the only info i have about it is the title.

[ShortNCuddlyAm]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

E.A. Poe i can handle. although... some of his stories, if you start to really think about them, late at night... the cask of amontillado, for instance is actually kind of gruesome.

True. And Berenice. I'd forgotten about Berenice til just now...

arachnaphobia is a film that i wish i had never heard of, and the only info i have about it is the title.

Eek. Sorry. If it's any consolation, I really wish I hadn't remembered it. Especially as I am now off to bed...

If I'm back on in an hour or so, you'll know why!

[lilac_jive]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

E.A. Poe i can handle. although... some of his stories, if you start to really think about them, late at night... the cask of amontillado, for instance is actually kind of gruesome.

i have no idea what is most of the rest of the stuff you named and i don't want to know (don't tell me).

arachnaphobia is a film that i wish i had never heard of, and the only info i have about it is the title.

I saw it as a child, and I'm not joking when I saw it scarred me for life.

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

...

arachnaphobia is a film that i wish i had never heard of, and the only info i have about it is the title.

I have very fond memories of this film, more for events associated with it than for the movie itself (though it is quite a good movie, for its type). It was this movie to which I took The Loved One, or The Loved One took me, on our first conscious-but-unspoken "date"(*) (including the preceding day at Whale Beach) and after which I discovered that I kiss on the first date, and more besides.

Cheers,
Marc (the slut)
(* as opposed to the merry mateship dance we'd been leading prior)

[Justy]

Originally Posted by Wetdogeared

It's 2 C at 5:35 AM PST on a noisy (because of the dog) Saturday morning in Vanouver.

You forgot to mention the FOG that has been plaguing us for the last week. It will be really nice when I can go for a walk or drive and see more than 20 feet in front of me. Though the sun did poke through for part of the afternoon and made 2 C, 35.6 F, feel almost balmy after the 1 C, 33.8 F, with wind we were living with yesterday.

This means I have to look after the dog alone most of the weekend, usually a joy, but having help is always a relief.

Help is usually a relief when it comes to care giving. I know I'm always happy to have someone to help out when the Small Child becomes whiny and cranky and demands "Child TV" at all times of the day. There are only so many cartoons aimed at 5 yr olds that I can watch in a day!!!

[GeoffC]

Beautiful morning, sun shining and no wind. Temp 2C (36F), but frost on grass and ice on puddles.

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by ShortNCuddlyAm

My main fear of wind in a wooded area would be bits of trees coming through the windows and roof

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

i would be scared witless by wind if i were living all alone out in the woods. (probably even without the wind. i have a vivid and unfettered imagination.)

Actually wind is low in a heavily wooded lot, it passes overhead, but in scarcely planted areas it can be devastating. The worst is totally open fields where you can see for kilometers around, but there again winds are mostly stable. You get more of those howling sounds where there is a mix of accidents of terrain. I've lived in all conditions and the most awful are in high rise cities.

[lilac_jive]

Originally Posted by montsnmags

I have very fond memories of this film, more for events associated with it than for the movie itself (though it is quite a good movie, for its type). It was this movie to which I took The Loved One, or The Loved One took me, on our first conscious-but-unspoken "date"(*) (including the preceding day at Whale Beach) and after which I discovered that I kiss on the first date, and more besides.

Cheers,
Marc (the slut)
(* as opposed to the merry mateship dance we'd been leading prior)

I am slightly worried for you and the Loved One.

(Just because of that movie)