1. Mirrors at night – because WHAT IF somebody looks back at me . . . that isn’t ME? I also hate rearview mirrors at night when I’m driving alone, in case I look into them and SEE SOMETHING OR SOMEONE IN THE BACKSEAT!

2. Getting stabbed to death in an elevator (because you can’t escape! Unless somebody else calls for that elevator, and it arrives on their floor in time for them to come in and save you. Wow. Maybe that’s not so bad.)

3. Flying in planes.

4. Heights, and falling off of them.

5. Swimming in deep water (If I start thinking about what might be floating around underneath me, like ugly fish or decomposing CORPSES or if I think about what might happen if my feet touched the bottom EW EW EW then I panic and start splashing around like crazy and freaking out. And might actually drown myself someday because of that behaviour. Ironic.)

6. Getting sued. If I ever become a lawyer, I just want to be the one doing the suing. Or representing somebody being sued. Just not, myself, getting sued. In fact, I’m hoping that if I get through law school, I will at least have a better idea of what may, or may not, be sue-able, so I can relax somewhat. Or maybe I’ll become even more paranoid. Hard to say.

7. Not being successful.

8. Looking stupid in front of people. And I don’t mean, looking stupid like “Oops! She tripped on the stairs! She looks stupid!” Because I’ve done that often enough that I have to be OK with it, basically. I mean, somebody asks me a question, and I go “Umm . . . Hmmm? I’m not really sure.” Or I say something, and then somebody else goes, “Actually, that’s not true. Here’s the correct info.” AWFUL! For a wannabe know-it-all like myself.

9. Ghost stories/paranormal stuff. My imagination is way too vivid to handle this type of thing. It really freaks me out. But I’m also addicted to ghost stories of all types. Here’s what happens when A Haunting comes on the Discovery Channel on a Friday night:

STEVE: “Is that A Haunting you’re watching?”
AL: “Ummm . . . yes. I just want to see what’s going on. See, it’s crazy – there are objects flying around this person’s house, and I just want to know why.”
STEVE: “You’re seriously going to watch that? You’re just going to freak yourself out.”
AL: “No, no, it’s not that scary, I just want to know what’s happening. Shhh.”
STEVE: “You’re going to leave the kitchen light on tonight so you don’t have to walk to the bedroom in the dark, aren’t you?”
AL: “Shhh. I’m watching – see, there’s something in that room, she just saw a shadow go by . . . AAAHHHH! OH MY GOODNESS! OH MY GOODNESS!” (From underneath a blanket, peeking out).
STEVE: “Yeah.”

10. Getting sick in public. Which I have done, once, on a main street in Red Deer. On the crosswalk. Throwing up into my hand. It was awful. I am only thankful that I had at that point been sick for so long that there was literally nothing left inside to throw up so it wasn’t like I made a big mess. I was sick because I was pregnant, but because you couldn’t tell yet, people most likely thought I was a drunk, reeling across the crosswalk at 11. a.m. on a Wednesday.

11. Bees and ladybugs.