Pet Peeves

Today, my homework assignment is to "come to class able to articulate something that annoys you/ pushes your buttons." Yes, I'm in college.

Although I feel like I am bothered/annoyed A LOT, I of course I couldn't think of anything. Maybe it's like the whole favorite-candy dilemma. Last night at Bible study, I had to  say my name, sport, and favorite candy when I introduced myself. I simply said "I don't discriminate, and could never narrow it down" while eating Jelly Beans. (Yes, yesterday was Candy Hearts + Jelly Beans in the same day! Just need some candy corn & candy canes for a holiday candy extravaganza.)

Maybe one day my blog will contain no reference to candy. Don't hold your breath.

I googled "things that annoy me" and turned up some funny results. Yes, www.GetAnnoyed.com actually exists. Just in case you're dying to be reminded of the most annoying occurrences on planet earth. Many of them had to do with driving/bad drivers...which means I am often the one doing the annoying (does that make me the annoyee or annoyer?) Regardless, if Helen Keller drove a Honda Civic, she would drive it better than me.

This sign should warn everyone who drives near me.

With the help of the internet, I narrowed my Pet Peeves down to 2 things:
1.) When People act like experts on Subjects they know little to nothing about. (And correct me when I'm right).
2.) Back-handed compliments

Yeah, I need to work on the whole "articulation" part for #1 before my two o'clock class. Basically, I hate correcting people. So, when someone corrects me when I'm right especially in front of a large group of other people I have two choices:
a.) correct them back, and potentially start an argument.
b.) sit there and look stupid in front of other people.

I think why this particularly annoys me is I don't go around correcting people for fun. Even if someone's like "2+2 is 5" I try to respond with something non-commital like "cool." I'm sure there are times when I do this to others by accident - so I'm definitely trying to never do this again since I've officially proclaimed it as in my top-2 pet peeves.

 #2: Backhanded compliments. Example: In Acting, I had to perform a monologue. I preformed it once, then "made improvements" and re-preformed it. During feedback-time after round 2, a classmate said:
"That was so so so so so so so so much BETTER than the first time."


Which made me think that the first time I sounded like an English-speaking two year-old attempting to recite Hamlet's soliloquy..in German. Or perhaps a tone-deaf boy, whose voice is changing, taking a stab at the national anthem. Either way, the so-called compliment screamed "at least you don't absolutely suck anymore."

Being a tall athlete, I've received a plethora of backhanded compliments including, but not limited to:
* "You're faster than you look"
* "You're stronger than you look" (back in the day before my arms looked jacked, thank you lifting 3 times a week for 4 years)
* "Even though you're so tall, you're still pretty" (Which begs the question, has this person ever heard of the modeling industry?)
* "You're cute, even though you're so big." Which brings up another pet peeve, BIG and TALL are not synonyms!

And that, my friends, wraps up my rant on pet peeves - one of my easier posts. There's something to be said about venting via the internet. It also makes me determined to try to not annoy other people... regardless of my inferior driver skillset. Thanks for helping me with my homework :)