Comments on: Why You Should Question Your First Reaction

By: Josh Hanagarne

Josh Hanagarne — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 01:45:58 +0000

Kathy, this is getting absurd. I thought I had proven that Megan was a lunatic, and people keep showing up to say that she actually got it right by leaping out of the car.

By: Kathy Casey

Kathy Casey — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 01:27:14 +0000

Josh,
So, as you know, I just found your blog and in my spare time I am learning all sorts of things about Tourrette’s and Kettleball. These happen to be two things I knew very little about, and I can’t really understand my current fascination. (Other than besides high anxiety issues I also have my own version of attention deficit disorder which causes me to hyper focus on certain things at certain times.) My point is, I’ve been reading many of the archives, and then I come across this: Of all things- the (according to you) IRRATIONAL fear of grasshoppers. I was, myself, attacked many years ago. I almost killed one of my children by pulling down the live Christmas tree we were decorating when a grasshopper flew out of it into my hair. In South Carolina, our grasshoppers are much larger and have much more murderous tendencies. Luckily my daughter could run pretty quickly at the time – so she was not in fact killed or mamed in the process. I broke most of the ornaments and said some very un-Christmassy words while I pitched a hissy fit about my husband bringing home a tree that was both too large for our den and bug infested. Sorry to take the side of your sister….but hey -they are scary, horrible little creatures!

By: Josh Hanagarne

Josh Hanagarne — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 21:04:00 +0000

Sara, I cannot believe that you just showed up and validated Megan’s insanity. I’m never going to hear the end of this.

By: Sara

Sara — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 20:54:05 +0000

Freaking hilarious!! I myself am not a native to Elko but rather was transplanted here by my wonderful Hubs David. I do believe he went to school with you and Megan.
I do have to say that I have a strange yet very real fear of these predators. In Idaho, where I am from, the grasshoppers are of a slightly less aggressive breed however are equally terrifying. When I was, I would say around the age of 6 or 7, I was sitting on my fathers lap driving the old Ford truck that we had at the time. We were on our way back from a camping trip, on a dirt road. Looking to our right was a wall of rock and directly to our left was what seemed like a 100 foot drop off mind you I was 6 or 7 so it would be safe to say it was in reality about a 20 foot drop off, which in the instance of falling off neither would be an ok outcome. Back to the story, I was on my fathers lap driving along when a monstrous grasshopper flew in the window and landed on my shoulder. Needless to say I let go of the steering wheel and while frantically screaming and flailing around the cab of the truck, I almost seriously injured my family by driving off of the cliff. Thankfully my Father was able to correct the truck and save us all from the fiery death that was waiting at the bottom of the cliff.
Quite a few years down the road I am now here in Elko, Nevada where if you dare to venture into any form of brush these nasty bugs will attack you at the first chance they get.
I have just recently in the last year or so been able to understand this fear that I have for the grasshoppers. I have come to understand that it is their erratic behavior and unpredictability that I fear.

By: How To Have Tourette's Part 4 - Insomnia, An Orator To Rival Cicero, And Some Tough Talk | World's Strongest Librarian

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:04:34 +0000

[...] always been nice to have a little sister who can fight my man’s battles. In this case, her first reaction was fine with [...]