Looking back on the blogs I have written both this semester and last, I realized that they are all filled with topics that I love, which makes sense because those are the most interesting ideas for me to write about. That being said, I want to take this blog in a different direction and talk about some concepts that I really do not like, whether those be phobias that I have or situations that annoy me.
In my eyes, there is nothing better to start this blog off with
than bugs. I have hated bugs for as long as I can remember, and would always do my best to avoid them even when I was playing outside as a little kid. Whenever I tell people that I do not like bugs, there is always that one person who goes on and on about how they are good for the environment and necessary to the food chain, but their nasty beady eyes and weird hairy legs make me genuinely not able to care any less. One of my least favorite bugs has to be the house centipede (on the right) because its legs are disgusting and it is so hard to catch because it’s so fast. I do, however, have a few exceptions for my hatred of bugs; ladybugs are 
relatively bearable, butterflies are pretty, and earthworms would never end up in your house. Other than that, my bug hatred is all-encompassing and I would be happy never seeing another ever again.
This next one is a bit more of a phobia, but I have always been scared of deep water; it is specifically called thalassophobia. It started when I was in Mexico and my family and I were on a snorkeling tour, which probably was not the best place for me to
suddenly get really scared. I was fine in the shallower water, but we suddenly got to a section with rougher waves and an abundance of sea creatures living way under my feet and I found my heart rate speeding up as I started to panic. A large part of that trip went like that, but because I did not want to be left out, I kept making myself go into deep water with lots of fish, and I continue to do so for some reason. Thankfully, the water in most places I have snorkeled is typically quite clear, so I could at least see what was under me. That fact definitely does not apply to lakes and most large bodies of water, so I pretty much always refuse to go into them. If I do, I end up frantically swimming until I reach shallower water. I just really hate the idea of there being seemingly endless murky water underneath me, and that I have no way to know what is lurking under there.
This next section is more of a list of things that annoy me, pertaining to everyday life. I find it annoying when people do not understand the rules of walking in a hallway and decide to stop right in the middle to have a conversation. Similarly, I do not like when people walk really slowly in the hallway; I know it’s sometimes not their fault but people with short legs can still walk fast. When I am driving, I tend to get annoyed by the driving habits of others, especially if they are driving obnoxiously under the speed limit, but also if they are driving recklessly over the speed limit. I also get annoyed when someone pulls out in front of me while I am driving and they clearly did not have enough space to safely do so, so I have to hit the brakes really hard to make sure I don’t hit them. I always forget that I’m able to hit the horn though to warn them, so I just hope they can figure it out themselves.
As I said in the introduction, a lot of my previous blogs are extremely positive and optimistic, which would be the expected tone when I am talking about topics that interest me. Despite my belief that optimism is one of the most important qualities you can implement in your perspective on life, part of being able to be optimistic is to have a safe space to vent about the more negative aspects of life, as those are just as much a part of the natural human experience. It is important to give yourself somewhere or someone that you can utilize when you have something you need to complain about, because the sooner you are able to accept the negative emotions you are having and learn to process them, the sooner you can part with those emotions and push yourself to have a more positive outlook.
aahale
I totally agree with everything you said in this blog. Bugs absolutely terrify me with the exception of butterflies, but any other insect-like creature is a no from me. I kill spiders even though it absolutely terrifies me because I’m even more terrified that they will crawl to somewhere else in my house or crawl on me in my sleep. I wouldn’t say I’m scared of deep water, more of what could be lurking in the deep water. I always get scared when I’m swimming in a lake or the ocean and a piece of seaweed touches my leg. In terms of things that annoy me, I definitely get annoyed by people walking or driving slowly. Sometimes I’ll be walking on the right side of the hallway and someone is walking straight toward me on the wrong side and they run straight into me. I honestly don’t understand what goes through people’s heads when they’re walking.
cychen
Hey Alyza, this was such an interesting post to read! First of all, I completely resonate with your phobia of bugs: I hate centipedes (and millipedes) so much, which is incredibly unfortunate because they somehow always show up in my basement when I least expect them. Some more honorable mentions are cockroaches (which once showed up by the swimming pool when I was getting out) and stinkbugs (because you can’t even kill them without the whole room stinking up). I also totally get the fear of deep water: I think that a large part of it, at least for me, is the unknown of what’s down in the water (since all we can see is darkness). Unfortunately, my imagination always gets the best of me. I agree with your grievances about hallway and road traffic: I’d like to add that it’s pretty annoying when people walk in a big horizontal line blocking the entire hallway, so you can’t even pass them from the side. Overall, I agree that although optimism is great, it’s also healthy to talk about things we dislike. Thanks for sharing!