Be afraid ... be very afraid

It's October. That means that Catalyst is available! Yay! Want to click on over to Amazon and like it? Yes, you do, you do! The link is over there in the sidebar. As for the paperback ... it's there, it really is. But it's not there. For some reason it's still not up on Amazon. But you can get from Createspace, which is a division of Amazon. So it's the exact same thing for the exact same price. UPDATE: The paperback is now available on Amazon. The link is in the sidebar. If you see the price and gulp, it's because its a long book: 438 pages! But it's worth every cent. Am I right or am I right?

Were still in the midst of our Fall Fun Fest, but it won't last much longer. The final contest is the Generations Pop Quiz and the winner gets dinner at Applebee's. You don't need to worry about getting the answers right, you'll still be entered to win even if you bomb the quiz. And the more people who enter, the more $ the winner gets for dinner: so tell your friends to come play along. I'm giving you until Oct. 12th to get over there and enter. The winner will be announced on Thursday the 13th.

And then the Fall Fun Fest will be over. But it will still be fall. And we'll still have fun. It just won't be a fest.

So since it's the month of spookiness, let's face our fears. And let's name our fears. Did you know that there is a name for pretty much every phobia out there? I'm a bit of word nerd and I came across a 4 page list of phobias in my thesaurus. I thought it was hilarious. Look at these examples:

Pogonophobia : the fear of beards. I'd never really thought about that one before, but I guess when you see this picture, it's understandable.

Aulophobia: the fear of flutes. I'd say that any fifth grader who chooses to learn this instrument gives their parents aulophobia. I'm glad to say I never gave my mom aulophobia, unlike some people whose screenname might just be PaulaShawn.

(Not an actual picture of PaulaShawn. But if I had a picture like that of her, it'd be PRICELESS. I might have to look through some old photo albums next time I go visit mom and dad.)

Gymnophobia: the fear of nudity. This one cracks me up because of the name. It's obvious that too many people go au natural in the locker rooms of gyms. And it's not the buff people who do this. It's the droopy people. Don't worry, I won't post a picture. I'm sure your imaginations work just fine.


Didaskaleinophobia: the fear of school. I have at least on child who has this. Again, it's the name that's funny. I think it got the name from someone who "Did ask" a question and got made fun of and humiliated so bad that they developed a permanent fear/hatred of school. 

Pentheraphobia: the fear of your mother-in-law. I can't stop laughing about this one. There's a name for that?

Ideophobia: the fear of ideas. What the? Ideas? Really?

Kakorraphiaphobia: the fear of failure.This one is understandable. I think we all have this at some time or another, like when publishing a book. :)

And finally, my phobias: Entomophobia: the fear of bugs. Glossophobia: the fear of public speaking. And I couldn't find the name for this one: fear of crying in public. (Especially while speaking in public.) I'm going to give it a name myself: Bawlbabyophobia.

So what are your fears? If you know the scientific name, tell us that too. If you don't know the name, make one up! Together, we can overcome our fears! And to all you blog lurkers/never commenters out there, now is the time to overcome that fear. Leave me a comment. Come on: what are you afraid of?