Our Weird Pet Peeves

Hey, everyone! Sorry I haven’t posted in a while but it has been a rather busy week and I finally have time to sit down and let my mind wander, not like it hasn't been wandering all week, but I finally have time to sit down and write everything down. Let me first off say how surprised I was to find out most of my page views are from a Russian social media site, so to all my comrades out there, hello from America! It’s very weird that Russians want to view my profile and read my blog, but hey, you got to start somewhere.

Anyway, something that has been on my mind lately is what makes people tick. We all have that one thing or maybe a few things that just make us frustrated or angry for no immediately rational reason, but it just does. That’s right; I’m talking about our pet peeves. We all have at least one that is fairly prominent and can easily be brought on at any time. I’ve always found pet peeves to be pretty fascinating because it just seems crazy that something so small can insight such a big reaction from anyone. It can turn a great day into a terrible one or make you completely shut someone in particular down from ever getting close to you at the risk that they may set off your pet peeve again in the future. At the risk of sounding like a jerk and completely pretentious, let me let you in on a few of mine.

I only really have one major pet peeve that drives me completely insane, which is loud chewing. I actually don’t consider this to be a pet peeve as much as I consider it rude which is probably why when I encounter someone who chews like a hippopotamus, I am immediately offended by that person. When I was growing up, my parents taught me and my brother how to act properly in public so we do not offend and act accordingly so we can be perfect little gentlemen when we were out on the town. Of course their lessons sunk in which I thank them for so I don’t end up on www.peopleofwalmart.com, but one of the biggest things they taught me was to simply chew with my mouth closed. It’s really not that hard considering I don’t want food to spill out of my mouth when I chew anyway, so it made sense. Yet I still find people in this world that smack their lips when they chew and keep their mouth open for the whole world to see what they are chewing and their personal techniques on how they break down food in their mouth for easier digestion, all to the tune of “Nom nom nom nom nom,” only a lot louder, and a lot less funny than “Nom nom nom nom nom.” I consider this act extremely rude and it shows that person’s complete disregard for those around him. It’s not like that person can’t hear himself chew. I mean, for God’s sake, the entire room can hear it, so it clearly represents that person’s lack of acknowledgment for those around him.

Another pet peeve of mine, and this is more of a subtle one in terms of reaction, is ignorance – for lack of a better term - on either common knowledge or current events. Now I don’t mean current events as in Angelina Jolie’s double mastectomy, which I actually applaud her for doing. That’s pretty inspirational to be honest and a great preventative measure to eliminate the risk of breast cancer later in life. Especially if she has a family history of breast cancer. Current events in my mind covers topics such as the conflict in Syria, the saber-rattling in North Korea, the recently announced IRS investigation, and everything in between that can affect our lives.

It may not seem that these topics are relevant to us because we do not live in Syria, North Korea is just trying to get attention, and the IRS is always hated by Americans because they take taxes from the taxpayers, but each issue CAN affect us. We CAN go to war with Syria and North Korea while at the same time the IRS can be stealing from us without us even knowing while at the same time play favorites among party lines. Everyone should be informed of what is going on and with the multitude of media outlets there are now compared to just a decade ago, we have every bit of information at our fingertips 24/7 to stay informed with everything going on in the world that may affect us. But the reason I consider this to be a small pet peeve is because politics and world events simply do not appeal to most people like it does to me. I would love to have a conversation on any of these topics with someone, but I know it just is not a prominent issue for most, which is okay. I guess this is more disappointing for me than a person’s lack of knowledge, which is completely understandable.

Common knowledge however, is even more of a head scratcher for me. This isn't something I will call out if you do not have what I consider to be common knowledge because we all have different ideas of what common knowledge may be. I know I certainly may not know simple things that someone else may consider common knowledge, and I will no doubt look completely useless to someone if I display my lack of knowledge on a particular topic. But we all took 3^rd grade science so it boggles the mind to know people out there still don’t know there were 9 planets in our solar system (before Pluto was kicked out), we are the 3^rd planet from the sun, and that we are located in the Milky Way Galaxy. Or how about the meaning behind the 13 stripes on the American flag? Any child in America should know each represent one of the original 13 British colonies. For whatever reason, if someone does not know something simple like the examples I posted, it bothers me a little. Of course the knowledge should be there, but once again, not everyone considers that information to be important to their lives. But really… come on, dude. Get it together.

So there you have it; a small list of some of my pet peeves. I have a few others as well such as rudeness and the sound of squeaky rubber (don’t judge), but I think I sufficiently made myself out to be a completely judgmental and arrogant fool. I never said my pet peeves were completely rational though. We all have weird pet peeves. Just by writing mine down I realized how irrational mine are aside from the loud chewing. I have friends who don’t like being wet or being touched in any way (including being hugged by anyone). Some people even have pet peeves against people who are bald or people who have lisps. You name it, there is someone that has a pet peeve for it. In the end there is no way we can control what makes us tick. It seems to be ingrained in our DNA. In any case, it would be pretty fun to hear some other people’s weird pet peeves, so make sure you comment on what yours are and subscribe to my blog. Thanks for reading!