i mentioned last night that i am acrophobic. phobia is defined as an abnormal or irrational fear of a specified thing. is a fear of heights really all that abnormal or irrational? my fear, though, isn't the paralyzing, gibbering fear (think Robert Hays in The Ledge from Cat's Eye). i just get a bit dizzy, a bit nauseated, and my legs start to ache.

but if you want to talk about irrational and abnormal fears, try out cnidarophobia (ok, i'm not sure that's actually a word, but it seems right). i, who have lived in land-locked Oklahoma since birth, have a very powerful fear of jellyfish. i've never seen one, save for photographs and video. there are no jellyfish within several hundred miles, yet they scare the knickers off me. i have no desire to go play in the ocean, or surf, or deep sea fish, or reef dive, or sail, or anything else that people do in the ocean. so, if ever you decide to take me to the beach, please ensure that you've also brought some little plastic buckets and shovels, because i'll be building sand castles all afternoon.