Word: seated
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...here we are. Five hundred bucks, a hole blown into a very delicate place and DNA evidence drying on the seat of a stolen car. Though Ethan had the wound, both teens were ashen when they got to the hospital--"My God, they were white as sheets," friends would later say. The tale the boys concocted--some highly unbelievable stuff about a gang attack, followed by only slightly more believable stuff about a joyride gone bad--had made the cops suspicious. Rustica would be the inauspicious conclusion to a 12-month robbery spree by two boys who were, everyone thought...
...feel fine. No sweaty palms, no tingling head; I can finally exhale. Along with some 25 million other Americans, I'm usually deathly afraid of airplanes. A bounce here, a FASTEN SEAT BELT light there, and I'm ready to start penning my will on a crumpled cocktail napkin. But I'm sick of being scared. So before boarding my last flight, I took a crash course in virtual-reality exposure therapy--a high-tech technique that is supposed to help people like me overcome our fear of flying...
...principle that if you can train people to relax in a simulation of a scary situation, they will relax when confronted with the real thing. I visited the Virtually Better clinic in Atlanta, which charges $150 for a one-hour session. It provides a headset and plane seat that immerse you in a 3-D virtual airplane, complete with vibrations, engine sounds, flight-attendant call bells, and--at touchdown--tire squeals...
...relaxation techniques: keep breathing, remember that the chance of dying in a plane crash is 1 in 10 million and use special tricks to distract myself from my mind's own in-flight horror movies. So far, so good. In fact, when I glanced over at the dorky plastic seat and headset I was about to don, I could barely suppress a snicker. No way was this setup going to scare me, I thought...
...through puffy white clouds, I was so comfortable, I could have taken a nap. I had a sudden craving for a diet Coke, but there wasn't a flight attendant in sight. When the thunderstorms and turbulence came along--the part I secretly hoped would make me scared--the seat simply didn't move violently enough to create that queasy, out-of-control feeling that usually makes me wish I'd packed a parachute...