There's something about taking a shower that makes me completely paranoid. There is of course the fear of embarrassment should someone enter the bathroom unannounced, probably the simplest and thus the most likely scenario to occur. The shower starts normal enough, but soon enough the hiss of the shower and the dripping of water starts to sound like voices, like someone in a far-off room is calling my name. Sometimes the sudden smack of water against the tub floor sounds like people moving around upstairs, people who shouldn't be there. After awhile these auditory illusions work on the imagination to the point that I fear any moment someone will yank aside the shower curtain and, I don't know... stab me?

I like Alfred Hitchcock, but Psycho never was one of my favorites. I prefer some of the more experimental films, such as Rear Window where the whole story is told from a very limited view. Or Rope, where the entire story is told in Real Time and in one continuous shot. I like The Birds, because birds can be freaky. But as much as the aforementioned shower scenario sounds like a scene from Psycho, I don't think that's where the paranoia comes from.

By the time the shower comes to face or hair washing where I become the most vulnerable because not only am I naked but blind as well, I need to talk myself down from the building paranoia. No, those weren't voices. No, no one is moving upstairs. And no one is going to rip aside the shower curtain and lunge at me with a meat cleaver. At least, not yet. If that does happen, I'll let you know.

gg.