pet peeves

old advice made new

Remember bulletin boards in elementary school? Before those teacher supply stores sold all the specialty borders and letters? Before chalkboard paint was a thing?

I saw a hand-lettered board just the other day. The poorly stapled message would have benefitted from a level. It annoyed me, possibly because it was shoddy work, but more likely because I was already annoyed by someone on Twitter.

True story. I was annoyed by a stranger on Twitter.

Unfollow you might say. Block. Well, yes. That’s an option. But it got me thinking about this person who is, quite possibly, a chronically unhappy individual and is constantly posting rounds of negativity, whining, and complaints. It’s a sad cycle of unhappiness, followed by complaints of unhappiness, which can’t possibly lift anyone’s spirit, so back again to a renewed round of unhappiness.

Unfortunately, it affected me.

I got to thinking, how often do I post something negative on Twitter because it is a convenient sounding board and forget someone is going to read it and perhaps have a reaction to it?

Do I really want to be that person spewing the garbage all the time? So I decided to make my own bulletin board here, reminiscent of the kinds I saw in the hallways at school:

T.H.I.N.K. Before You Tweet

T — is your comment truthful?

H — is it helpful?

I — does it inspire?

N — is it noteworthy?

K — is it kind?

anti-social must be my temperament

I am at the oral surgeon — Christy is having her wisdom teeth removed. Why didn’t the dentist just pull ’em out? Yeah, well, this isn’t about that adventure; it’s about the waiting room.

There are 12 seats here. I know because I counted them. Twice. For emphasis.

I am annoyed because there is all this space everywhere and no one here except me, and the woman who has chosen to sit right beside me. Yes. She is sucking up the air in my personal space bubble. And it is choking me. That’s a heckuva statement to make coming from a person that generally doesn’t have personal space issues. [full disclosure: If I like you, then I don’t have personal space issues. If I don’t like you, sharing an armrest when it isn’t necessary is not going to endear you to me].

ANYWAY, I am annoyed. Did I say that already? It bears repetition. I am annoyed.

And then I had a moment of surprising charity and thought maybe she was there alone. So I smiled at her.

She stared me down and went back to her 2009 Good Housekeeping.

Really?

it’s that time of year…

This is about the point in the commercial insanity of the season when I turn into the Grinch. It is inevitable, but there it is.

I begin to say “No” to stupid crap I really don’t want to do. The absolute joy in that statement frees me. “No” to generic holiday parties where I don’t particularly want to share any additional time with people I wouldn’t socialize with in June. “No” to ringing bells for the Salvation Army at the mall. “No” to playing Christmas music 24/7.

Don’t worry, I’ll soften up. My heart will grow three sizes sometime after next week.

I feel a rant coming on…

It’s probably not directly related to the fact that the french fries were so salty it rendered them inedible, or that after rifling through a ridiculous amount of wasted napkins there was no straw…

or that after pulling into the gas station and up to the pump, and getting out of the car do I discover the credit card thingie taped up with no sign or any other direction. Every other visible pump had the same tacky cover up…

or this interminable and oppressive heat…

or the general state of affairs of poor customer service.

Or even interacting with cranky pants everywhere, no doubt also affected by all of the above.

No. It’s obviously me.

I clearly don’t smile enough.

some yang for the yin

Things I don’t like:

1. allergies

2. mean girls who grow up to be mean women

3. bifocals

4. slow internet

5. selfish ingrates

6. laundry

7. fakes

8. traffic

9. detective stories

10. creamed spinach

and another thing…

toilet-paper-over

I am pretty annoyed by toilet paper that isn’t placed correctly on the turny spinny thingie. It should be placed so that the loose sheets hang over the top of the roll, away from wall, not up against the wall. First of all, it’s just unattractive to hang it backwards, but it’s also difficult to reach the loose sheet that way. I’m old and not quite as flexible as I used to be.

It also annoys me when I start a new roll and somehow the two or three-ply sheets get separated and I end up pulling the paper apart.

That is all. I really didn’t have anything deep or profound to share with you today. I just wanted to have a post. Thank you for reading.

Top 10 things that really annoy me

peeved
Top 10 things that really annoy me:

10. selfish people who act like they are the only ones in the universe.
9. clueless people who are totally unaware that there are other people in the universe.
8. annoying people who behave like they are the only ones in the universe.
7. dumb people who can’t drive and are unaware of their surroundings.
6. selfish people in expensive vehicles who get in everyone’s way.
5. idiotic people who block traffic.
4. self-absorbed people who have no accountability for their actions.
3. foolish people who think they don’t have to follow the rules.
2. self-centered people who can’t be bothered by others’ needs.

and my personal favorite:
1. self-centered, self-absorbed, selfish cretins who have such a sense of entitlement that they can actually park their car in a road and not move even though traffic is lined up behind them, and do this with a clear conscience and not at all be bothered by the angry mob gathering behind them. if I were hindu, I
would want to come back as one of those people just to experience the elation of having such a moment of grandiose self-absorption. on second thought, if I were hindu I wouldn’t come back as that asshat, because the whole concept of reincarnation would take care of itself. that’s why I think chihuahuas are stupid little creatures.

Go ahead and flame me for insulting chihuahuas. for the record, I feel better now.

Rant! and a funny video.

My sister, Christi, knows that I am in a perpetual snit about a guy who lives along a rural-ish road that we take in and out of our area. The road is not at all lit at night, and even during the day can pose some dangers because it is full of hills and curves. Once upon a time, one would have called it a country road, but the incredible growth in our county has really increased the amount of traffic that moves through there. As recently as 10 years ago, one random car moving in one direction was typical. Today, during peak hours in the morning, lunch and early evening, there is traffic moving in both directions, and it’s moving at a clip.

Cue Wheelchair Man. I’m not going to begrudge his mobility, or his penchant for 12 packs of BudLight. I think it’s wonderful that he has an independent spirit, and frankly, admire that he ventures out into the world on his own when he wants to get out of the house or go for a beer run at the convenience store a mile down the windy road and across the street from a major road.

But see, that’s where I begin to have a problem: the 12 pack of beer that sits on his lap, or more often than not, he has consumed prior to getting on the road. I already think that sober (and not necessarily sane) he is a menace to drivers. There are no sidewalks in this area. One side of the road has houses, with run-off ditches and a very soft shoulder. The other side of the road is a ditch, and then woods. There is no real safe way for this guy to move, especially when it has rained (which never deters him). On the one hand, I am always fearful that he will take a tumble in front of me and I’ll hit him. On the other hand, I am fearful that he will somehow take a tumble and cause a car to veer and hit on-coming traffic. I would not be surprised to see him lying in a ditch one day.

Compound this with the fact that he does appear to be inebriated. I’ve seen him doing donuts in the middle of the ride, riding up and down the center stripe, and once, he decided it was going to be appropriate for him to dump used cooking oil across the street into someone else’s property. Yeah. That’s when I lost any sense of respect for him. He acts as if he is immune to any rules. And that pisses me off.

I wish I could issue him a citizen’s citation for Driving a Wheelchair While Intoxicated DWWI!

not a fan of being the harbinger of doom

The good people in Atlanta are a bit hysterical over the gas thing. I mean, we’ve already been paying over $4 a gallon — the fact that it dropped 35 cents and then went back up is, like, no big deal (please understand that I am outraged by gas prices, but not surprised that gas could go down to as little as $50 a barrel and we’d still be paying through the nose at the pump).

Anyway, Hurricane Ike has now caused a meltdown in the metro-Atlanta area comparable  to the depletion of bread and milk when there’s a threat of a quarter of an inch of snow.

There is no gas to be found anywhere, sparking arguments at pumps where people are trying to fill their tanks, and folks in line curse them out for “using up all the gas.” Get real people! We live in a consumer society and last time I checked things still worked on a first-come first-served mentality. I mean really–who told these goobers to drive around until they are on fumes and then hope there’s a station that still has gas in their vicinity.

And please don’t turn your poor planning into my problem.

Random Pet Peeve

Today I did the unthinkable. I totally blocked the intersection on a left turn and kept the on-going traffic from moving until my light changed and moved me through the intersection.

Thank God there were no cops or emergency vehicles trying to get through–not necessarily in that order although I would not have relished a ticket.

Sheesh. I really hate it when people block the intersection. Aren’t they paying attention? Can’t they see the flow of traffic? I share the pain and cursing of all the people who stared me down this morning. Ha! Oh well, I did it. It’s done.

Get over it.

What’s your pet peeve this fine Thursday morning?