To: Ilaine who wrote (49787 ) 4/30/2000 11:51:00 PM From: Crocodile Read Replies (2) | Respond to
Buzzing fluorescent light ballasts, the kind that buzz constantly in a forlorn 60-cycle hum, and make the metal grill on the lamp fixture vibrate in sympathy. Especially in the wee hours of the morning over the dairy case in a 24 hour supermarket. I don't voluntarily spend much time in the presence of fluorescent lights.
Interesting... I can't stand fluorescent lights... Something very bad happens to me when I'm anywhere near them... I seem to not be able to see unless I really make a physical effort... It's as if I lose my peripheral vision... I used to feel that way all of the time when I was in school and I never realized why... Made it hard for me to concentrate, especially if the ballast in one of the fixtures was going kaput and the tubes were flickering... Made me feel like something was hitting me on the head repeatedly... painfully... but I don't know if I was ever able to explain what was happening to anyone...
Actually, almost everything on your list has a very negative effect on me... especially smells... I like certain good smells... what I call "clean smells" of the forest and fields, or of fresh fruit....
I dislike heavy, cloying, fake smells... Those plug-in air fresheners have the same effect on me that Kryptonite had on Superman...
Actually, volatile chemicals do that too. A few years ago, I was giving a course on spinning wool and one of the students brought a freshly varathaned spinning wheel into the room. After about 5 minutes of being in the room with it, I excused myself and ran to the washroom to be sick... My muscles in my legs were shaking so bad that I could barely stay standing up...
Interesting how various sensory experiences can bother us...and it isn't just a matter or aesthetics.. definitely a lot of things at work...
