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 3rd 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 3rd 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!