11.03.2008

harpaxophobia

I am a self diagnosed harpaxophobic. For the millions of sufferers out there - You are not alone!

I too - know what its like to experience the deep pangs of fear every time a household item goes missing - to assuming it's been stolen.

I too - constantly wonder if I locked the door.

I too - assume that a cat burglar has stolen our laptop if it takes me longer than 20 seconds to find it.

I too - try to assuage my anxiety of loss by purchasing heavy duty locking mechanisms to secure my bike.

I too - leave my key attached to my bike chain - an open invitation for any idiot to walk away with my bike.

Oh wait - you don't do that? Well... good for you.

The other day I accidentally left my bike key attached to my bike chain. Granted, it was a little out of the way next to Pasadena Town Hall. But still - it was like leaving a car running with the keys in the ignition and the doors wide open. Had an opportunist struck (like I normally fear), I would've returned to that light post completely dumbfounded.

I got really lucky.

I still live in fear of being robbed - but it's good to know that even thieves miss an obvious take every now and again.

10 comments:

aisy said...

i once went out for an early morning run to discover my roommate had left her keys in our front door ALL night. good times.

sad thing is, i'm sure if i didn't go through the garage i might do something like that.

your picture cracked me up!

Ryan Kaltenbach said...

We do this at least once a month on the front door. Most of the time overnight. No robbers yet. Come get us suckers! You don't know me, you don't know where we live! Bring it on!

Unknown said...

We have been robbed before. It sucks. I am really glad no one stole your bike! We would have had a fundraiser for you.

Johnny said...

When the twins were born we upgraded to the minivan with the automatic side doors. It is great since our hands are always so full getting out of the car we can just close the doors with our keychain as we walk away. However, the downside:

(from neighbor almost weekly)
"Hey we saw your van with the doors wide open so we closed them for you."

(or at church once)
"Hey I was going into Target the other day and I saw your van in the parking lot with the doors wide open. So I closed them for you."

mindful mule said...

Which would be worse, stealing the bike or just the key?

Don't worry, no one knows how to ride fixed in Pasadena...

David said...

rob - stealing the bike would've been worse - cause i have three more of them at home.

but then i'd have to live with the fear of that person stalking my bike, looking for the opportune time to steal my bike. harpaxophobia overload.

i've sometimes left my keys in the mail slot at our old apt. twice. nice people return them to me.

i just get so excited about the mail that my brain shuts off periphery functions.

betsey said...

I always think that Richard is dead. If he doesn't answer his phone or is more than 15 minutes late, he is clearly dead. I start planning what we are going to do with our lives now that he is gone. Is that some sort of illness? I think I need to look this up.

Congrats on the baby boy. Are you going to discuss your name options on the blog? I found this website about hipster baby names and unique baby names from "baby naming experts" (credentials not included). http://nameberry.com

David said...

thanks betsy!
i think you have thanatophobia.

it sounds like a cousin to my affliction.

i don't think we'll be dicussing baby names. maybe ashley will want to, but reasons for not doing it include:

1. having very strong opinions on the matter - and probably offending people in the process

2. i want to hoard our good names and not give them to random people sans good taste.

maybe we'll use faux names to throw people off the scent.

thanks for the site, i'll definitely check it out. we like the baby name wizard, that thing is awesome.

bex said...

i leave my keys in my scooter all the time by accident. No one has stolen it yet, thankfully, though once I found a note left for me by a police officer who had noticed my keys and took them himself for safe-keeping.

Liz said...

When I lose something, I don't assume it is stolen. Which I guess is weird because I have such raging anxiety, you would expect I would always assume the worst.

But instead, I assume the correct thing... that I'm just a bonehead and I left it somewhere. I lose things ALL the time. And it makes me flip out. I absolutely cannot calm down or rest until I find whatever it is I'm looking for.

I'll spare you the stories, but rest assured that I am a crazy person. At least Scott isn't annoyed by it, I think he finds it entertaining.