Transcript: “Listening Time” Episode 43

Welcome to the Listening Time podcast. Hey everybody, this is Conner, and
you're listening to Episode 43 of the Listening Time podcast. I hope you're all doing well
today. First, before we get into today's topic, I want to just announce a couple important
things. So, the first thing is that, for now, I'm going to have to reduce the amount of
podcast episodes I produce. So up until this point, I've released an episode every
Monday, but from this point on, I'm going to start releasing episodes every two weeks
instead of every week. So, there will be two episodes released each month instead of
four. I'm sorry for this. I know that many of you will probably be a little bit disappointed
about that.
I don't want to do this, but to be honest, right now, I've been dealing with some
financial problems... just being perfectly honest with you. I've had some unforeseen
expenses that I've had to deal with. In English, the word "unforeseen" just means
something that I couldn't predict, something that was a surprise. So, I've had some
unforeseen expenses recently, and during this period, I haven't had as many students, I
haven't worked as much. And so, I've had to expand my work hours, my availability, to
try to recover some of those hours that I no longer have. So, I can't spend as much time
producing my free content at this point because I need to try to spend more time in my
actual job where I make my living. So again, I apologize for this. I hope that it's just a
temporary change. I hope that in a few months, things will be a little bit better, and I'll be
able to dedicate more time to my free content. But for right now, I need to focus on my
work.
But of course, for those of you who are Members and Super Members of the
Listening Time podcast, don't worry, you will still get all the same rewards that you have
been getting so far as members. So obviously, I'm still going to produce my new
seminars, my Listening Practice Seminars, and you'll still receive a bonus podcast
episode every month. So, don't worry about that. You won't be affected. But of course,
for my free content, I'm going to have to reduce this a little bit for now, but like I said,
hopefully in a few months, my situation will be a little bit better, and I'll be able to spend
more of my time producing this free content for all of you, because I really like doing it.
And as I've said in the past, I really want to be able to release a new episode every
week. So, that will be my goal in the future to return to that pace. But for now, it's simply
not possible for me. I need to focus on my job and focus on my financial situation right
now. So, my focus is going to be on my teaching and, of course, on the membership
program for the Listening Time podcast.
So, now that the bad news is out of the way, I can also announced a little bit of
good news, and that is that I'm releasing a free seminar, or I actually already released it,
but I'm just announcing it here just in case some of you don't follow me on YouTube, you
might not know, but I released a free Listening Practice Seminar. I'll put the link in the
Episode Notes so you can click on it and go watch that seminar. And if you like it, then I
would suggest that you become a Listening Time Member or Super Member at
www.patreon.com/listeningtime so you can receive more seminars like this. So of
course, we have our membership program. It's $2 to become a Member and you
receive one new seminar and one bonus podcast episode every month. And Super
Members receive one new Listening Practice Seminar, one bonus podcast episode and
one additional seminar that I recorded in the past every month, and that's just for $3. I
hope to be able to open a $4 tier soon. The word "tier" just means level. So, I hope to
open a $4 tier soon for people who want even more. But again, I have to see if my
current situation allows me to do that, or if I need to spend more time just on my
classes, but we'll see. We'll see how things go.
Alright, so for today's episode, we're going to talk about fears, things that people
are afraid of. So, this is an interesting topic, and I hope it will be good practice for your
listening. And so, before we start, remember that you can access the transcript in the
Episode Notes and use that to help you understand what you're hearing, or to
understand new words or phrases that you might have missed the first time or that you
haven't heard before. So yeah, let's get started.
Okay, so the first fear we're going to talk about is the fear of the dark. This is one
of the most common fears that people have, especially children. But of course, adults
can also have this fear as well. I think this is a very natural fear, because it comes from
our natural fear of the unknown. So, when we're in the dark, we don't know what's there.
We can't see it. It's unknown. And so, this is scary for us. We don't know if there's some
danger waiting for us in the dark. Of course, when I was a kid, I was afraid of the dark
like most other kids.
Now as an adult, I'm not afraid of the dark in that same way anymore. But of
course, if you ask me to go into some abandoned building at night where it's pitch black,
obviously I'll probably be a little bit freaked out. So, a couple of phrases I used there...
when I say the phrase "pitch black", this just means that it's completely black,
completely dark, you can't see anything. So, the phrase that we use in that situation is
"pitch black". And I also use the phrase "freaked out". So, if you say that you're "freaked
out" about something or something "freaked you out", this just means that it scared you,
or it scared you a lot. Okay?
So, if someone asked me to go into some dark abandoned building at night that
was pitch black, I would probably be a little bit freaked out. But in general, just being in a
dark place isn't necessarily scary to me anymore. But if I watch a scary movie, for
example, I can probably start to feel a little bit nervous in a dark house afterwards. If I'm
watching a movie alone in my house alone, and it's scary and the lights are off, it might
be a little bit scary, but I don't do this... at least anymore. I think when I was a teenager, I
did this a lot. But nowadays, I don't do this. So, I don't have to worry about that. But
yeah, the fear of the dark is definitely one of the most natural fears that people have,
and I think almost all children are afraid of the dark.
So, the next fear that we're going to talk about is the fear of heights. So, in
English, when someone says that they're afraid of heights, this means that they're afraid
of being in high places. They're afraid of being very high above the ground. This is
another very common fear. So, many people have trouble being in high places and,
maybe, seeing how far down below them the ground is. Like, if they go to the edge of
some very high bridge and look over, this might be very scary for them.
So, for example, my wife, she's afraid of heights, and if she looks over the edge
of some high place, she gets vertigo. So, I've never experienced vertigo before, so I
can't really describe it to you, but when people are afraid of heights and they experience
vertigo, they usually say that they get dizzy and they get very disoriented and it's a very
bad feeling that they get. So, of course, some people have this issue and so, it's not
good for them to go near the edges of buildings or high bridges or things like that. But I
don't have a fear of heights, and for me, there's not really a problem with looking over
high edges. It doesn't really affect me.
But sometimes, I get a little bit nervous when I'm flying, but not so much because
of the height, but because I remember that I'm in a man-made machine and I'm flying
above the ground, and at any point there could be an accident or something like that,
and this kind of freaks me out a little bit. But usually, I only get a little bit freaked out
during the takeoff. The "takeoff" is the point when the airplane leaves the ground and it
starts to go up into the sky. So, this is the part that freaks me out the most about flying.
But I don't have a big fear, in general, of just being high in the sky.
I've never been to the very top of any really tall building before, but I would be
interested in going to the Burj Khalifa, which is the tallest building in the world. It's
located in Dubai. I'm sure some of you have heard of it, and maybe, some of you have
already been there before. But I think it would be interesting to go to this building and go
to the top and see what it feels like to be in a building so far above the ground. I think
that would be pretty cool. So, maybe someday in the future, I'll get to go to this building.
But I've never been to the top of any really tall building before. But yeah, that's just
something I wanted to mention because I've always I've always thought that this would
be a cool place to visit.
Okay, let's talk now about the fear of spiders. This is another very common fear
that people have. So, the fear of spiders is not just something that children have, but I
think many adults are also afraid of spiders. I'm a little bit afraid of spiders, but I don't
have, like, a huge fear of them. If I see a small spider, it doesn't really affect me. Of
course, if there's some really big spider, this would definitely be a little bit scary for me.
Or if there's some spider crawling on me, this would also be a little scary. The word
"crawl" just refers to the movement that spiders make. Or people can also crawl... like
babies first learn to crawl before they walk, right, when they're using their hands and
their feet, their arms and their legs, to move on the ground, this is called "crawling". But
we also use this verb to describe the movement of bugs. So, if there was a spider
crawling on me, I would definitely get a little freaked out. But some people are very
afraid of spiders, and just thinking about spiders is a scary thought for them.
In the US where I grew up, there are a lot of spiders that we call daddy long legs.
These are those spiders that are very, very thin. They have these really thin legs and
they don't really have a big body either. And you just see these long skinny legs. And
these are everywhere. You find them in your house, outside, everywhere. And these
spiders are not poisonous. They can't hurt you. But still, a lot of people are afraid of
them because there's just something about spiders and bugs that's a little bit unsettling.
The word "unsettling" just means that it makes you feel a little bit weird or nervous or
scared or something like that. I think it's in the way that they move. Something about the
way that spiders move, with all of their legs, this is a little bit freaky, okay? It's a little bit
disgusting. It's a little bit scary when you see this movement. So, even if there's a spider
that can't hurt you, many people still have this fear of those types of spiders because of
this movement, the way that they look. There's just something scary about the
characteristics of spiders.
 For me, like I said, spiders aren't a big deal, but cockroaches are a big deal for
me. So, if you don't know what a cockroach is, this is that bug that you find in your trash
or in dirty places. And you see many of them in tropical countries during the rainy
season. So, there are many cockroaches in tropical places and places closer to the
equator. And so for example, in my old city, there were a ton of cockroaches, especially
in the summer, during the rainy season. And so, this was always a terrible time period
for me, because I knew that we were going to find some cockroaches in our house, like
in our bathroom. It was terrible.
So, I've had some bad experiences with cockroaches in my life. Specifically when
I was younger, I had a couple really bad experiences with cockroaches, and I think that
this ruined cockroaches for me for the rest of my life. This happens a lot when you have
a bad experience with something when you're younger. It makes you afraid of that thing,
or it makes you feel negatively about that thing for the rest of your life. And so, I had this
exact experience with cockroaches. I had a couple bad experiences, and from that point
on, I was afraid of cockroaches. In English, when we say "from that point on", this just
means: starting from that time. It's a very common phrase that we use to talk about
when something started and continued after that. So, from that point on, I was very
afraid of cockroaches, and I'm still afraid of cockroaches today, even as an adult. But of
course, sometimes I have to kill cockroaches when we find them in our house. So, even
though I have this fear, I have to be brave enough to just kill the cockroach and get it
over with.
Okay, one other fear that we can talk about is claustrophobia. This is the fear of
being in small, tight spaces, without a lot of room to move. And this is also a very
common fear that people have. I don't think I'm very claustrophobic. I might get a little
bit uncomfortable if I'm in a tight space and I can't move a lot. Yeah, this is
uncomfortable, but I don't think I have a big fear of being in tight spaces and not being
able to move a lot, but I know other people really feel strongly about this. They feel
scared. They feel very uncomfortable in these types of situations. So, some people
might be really uncomfortable if they're in an elevator with a lot of people. They might
feel really bad in that moment, and they might feel scared in that type of situation. For
me, it's a little uncomfortable, but I wouldn't say that I fear this situation. But I can
definitely understand why some people have that fear. It's like this natural fear of not
being able to move or escape and feeling like you're trapped, I guess. So, I understand
that fear for sure. But luckily, I don't have that.
And oh yeah, one other fear I wanted to mention is the fear of clowns. So I'm not
afraid of clowns, but I know other people who are. And this is kind of a funny fear,
because clowns are supposed to be these happy, nice, funny people that you have at
children's parties and circuses and things like that. So, it's interesting that these, you
know, nice and funny people are actually feared by many other people. So, of course,
there are certain movies, like the famous movie "It", which depict clowns as these killer
creatures, and I think that has helped propel this fear of clowns. In English, the verb "to
propel" just means to move something forward, to promote something or move it
forward. So, these types of movies propel this fear of clowns, so I can definitely see how
that has influenced people's image of clowns. But for me, I don't think that clowns are
that scary. I just view them as, you know, funny people dressed up in a funny way that
are there to entertain children. And yeah, that's pretty much it for me.
 Alright, why don't we stop there for today. I hope this episode was interesting for
you, and I hope it was good practice for your listening. Remember that you have access
to the transcript in the Episode Notes, and remember to become a Listening Time
Member or Super Member at www.patreon.com/listeningtime
You can find the link in the Episode Notes as well. And make sure to become a
member so you have access to my Listening Practice Seminars, which will help you
improve your listening. And if you want to try out one of my seminars and see if you like
it before you decide to sign up to be a member, then you can check out that free
seminar that I just released. Click on the link in the Episode Notes and you can watch it
there for free. Alright, thank you for listening to this episode, and I hope you'll come back
for Episode 44 of the Listening Time podcast.

*Click on this link to become a member, and you’ll receive my Listening Practice
Seminars and extra podcast episodes: www.patreon.com/listeningtime