Agoraphobia

I went to a party last night.   It was actually work related, so I had to be on good behavior.   My company has been working with a local magazine and there was a release party for the newly renamed magazine with our technology used prominently in the first issue.  

The party was very well attended.  That’s good.   My problem is that it reminded me how much I dislike being in crowds.    I’ve never felt very comfortable around lots of people.   I need to always have very clear access to an exit.    I guess it’s kind of a mild case of agoraphobia.  I’m afraid that something will happen and I will need to get out but there will be too many people in my way.   If you see me in place with lots of people, you will notice that I’m always on the outside of the crowd, probably near a door.   I understand that current building codes and capacity limits really mitigate my risk in an emergency.   The problem is that I have no faith that most people will react well in an evacuation situation.   Whenever I fly I try to get a seat that is as close to the exit as possible.   I’ve seen and heard far too many stories of panicked throngs of people crushing each other as they try to escape.   I would rather just be the first one out.

All this is really to say that I found that I just don’t enjoy being around lots of people.    I don’t go to many sporting events anymore.    I like minor league baseball; the games are never very crowded.    I don’t like big festivals.   I even go to the grocery store at off times.   I think that as our population swells and our cities compress ever further that things are going to get much worse for me.   I’m not quite sure what I should do about it.   Head for the hills, I guess. 

I know what you’re all thinking.   What’s wrong with this guy?  Why hasn’t he made any predictions all week?   The truth is, I found that making predictions is the hardest part of maintaining this writing.   Trying to force my visions of the future has clouded them to the point of near complete inaccuracy.    Going forward, I’m only going to make predictions on things I’m sure of.    I’ve got nothing for you today.   Avoid crowds, they’re dangerous.