Snags (and grammar, as it turns out)

I am usually a fairly cool-headed guy. In fact, I would say that I'm at a point in my life where my stress levels are likely the lowest they've ever been. Ever.

HOWever.

There is one thing that evokes a largely visceral reaction in me. I can't help it. It just happens and I don't know how to make it "ok" in my head. My heart rate jumps a tiny bit and my attention is suddenly completely engrossed in the matters at hand. I bet my skin may even start to turn green slightly.

I CANNOT cope with a snagged headphone cord.

While you may look at this and say "jezuss. Is this really the biggest problem in your life right now, Neil?",* I'd like to point out that this may actually have something to do with some sort of instinctual defense mechanism. It may be triggering some "life or death" situation detector. I am fairly convinced it has to do with the fact that the headphones are directly connected to my ear, an organ associated with a very coveted Sense. At least to me. The reaction does not happen with any other type of snag, however surprising said snag may be.

In the case of ear buds, getting something ripped out of your ear seems like a logical cause for alarm on an instinctual level. We don't like having "unexpected things" that close to our head, which houses a very large percentage of what makes us useful critters. This is why it's so damned entertaining to take a long piece of grass and poke it into your friend's ear when he's not looking. When you're 8 years old. He inevitably tweaks out like a marionette when the puppeteer sneezes. It's hilarious. When you're 8 years old. I have found that my reaction is less severe when I'm wearing full-on headphones for recording and such. But it's still there.

Lesson learned? Buying expensive sound systems and blasting the shit out of your music will lower your stress levels.

* I am unsure of the proper order of the punctuation here, but I strongly feel that what I put SHOULD be correct. The "?" is part of the quote. The """ (should that be "'"? That is, if you're using a quotation mark outside of its normal context, which elicits the use of quotation marks around it, should you then convert this quotation-mark-within-quotation-marks to an apostrophe? I would guess the default is just to spell out "quotation mark" [sans quotation marks]) indicates the close of the quote. The "," is a part of the sentence regardless of the inclusion of a quote. The "*" refers to the entire clump of punctuation. No doubt there. Except for starting the text after the "*" in the footnote (of which this sentence is a part). Should there be a space between the "*" and the "I", or should they be jammed together? The former looks correct; the latter looks cramped.