strange snake test

I've always had a really bad fear of snakes. So bad that I jump at the sight of something that might vaguely resemble a snake. My dad has gotten to the point where he can ignore when I seize up because I've seen a tree root that looks snake-ish. I've wrecked my mountain bike numerous times because I've seen a snake or something that looked like a snake (one memorable time I rode over a black snake that was stretched out to get sun on the bike trail, and then I fell off my bike as it lifted its head towards my foot).

But the other night I had a dream about snakes that I think might have cured my phobia. In the dream there was a guy who's face I couldn't see because he was wearing a big beige hat. He was handling different snakes and trying to get me to pick them up. I was frozen with fear but he kept yelling at me in this australian accented voice "Pick up the black mamba! Just pick it up!"

Finally, I reached out towards the ground and picked up this bright green snake. "Oh," he said, "that one's a poisonous viper!" I didn't know what to do next because I had thought the snake was fairly harmless and now that I knew it was poisonous I didn't want to hold it anymore. "Just put it on the ground" he said, and the snake slithered away.

"Now that you picked up the worst one, pick up the black mamba. Just get it right behind the head." I started to reach for the black mamba and as my hand got closer the snake's head got smaller and smaller. But its fangs stayed the same size. "It doesn't want to be picked up and it's making it's head too small," I whined. The guy said "Right when they don't want you to do something is when you should do it because you have the element of surprise." I picked up that snake too.

When I woke up from the dream it was 230 in the morning. I had this thought that maybe my snake phobia was gone. To test my theory I first thought about a snake being under my bed ready to strike when I put my feet on the floor. I put my feet on the floor but didn't experience the heart pounding fear that I normally would from visualizing this scenario. Then I decided to put my belt on the floor so in the morning, when I woke up, I would see it in the dark and think it was a snake. But when I woke up and saw my belt, I didn't panic.

I was very happy when R, my new customer boss, came to pick me up in the morning. I explained to him on the way into work about my dream and how I thought I was cured of my snake fear. Apparently my story had some effect on R because he missed our exit for work, even though he's been driving to the same building for over a year.

"So, you think you're cured of your phobia because you've had this dream and then you put a belt on the floor, and when you saw it you didn't think it was a snake and you weren't afraid of it?" he asked me. "Yep" I said, very proud of myself for not being afraid of snakes anymore.

"That has to be one of the stupidest things I've ever heard in my life," he said. "Is everyone in the US so crazy, or just you?"

I know it sounds doubtful, but I really do think I'm cured of my snake phobia. I was trying to get R to take me to some place in Abu Dhabi or Dubai that might have a snake that was real so I could verify that I'm cured. He said "I don't go places with crazy people that think they aren't afraid of snakes because if you see a real snake and are afraid of it you'll probably freak out and somehow injure me."

Heh. Ever since I wrecked one person's car in the desert and he got a little hurt (I did as well - I still have a bruise on my side from where the metal of the seat belt squished me when we were landing) everyone here is afraid to go anywhere with me.

Franki phobia. I kind of hope it spreads, actually.