List One: Annoyances/Happinesses

Sometimes I feel the need to write down my annoyances if only because sometimes reading them puts them in perspective and I get over myself. Then sometimes someone else reads them and says "Hey that annoys me too" and I feel instantly vindicated. However, as I'm trying to become a happier person, I have decided that I will not produce a list comprised of only annoyances, but will instead balance out said list with things that make me happy. I will do the happy one last so it will end on the high note. I will also ensure that I come up with at least one more Thing That Makes Me Happy than Thing That Annoys Me. I'm positive like that.

Things that annoy me:
1. People coming to me at work before trying to figure it out on their own. Of course, if it was something I regularly did and was a part of my job then this wouldn't be an issue. But it never is. Today, for instance, I received an e-mail that our location on the campus map was incorrect and could I "have someone fix this immediately." I have nothing to do with campus maps, much less how they appear on the website. You know who does? Creative Services, as indicated on this webpage. There is a button at the bottom of the page for "Send us updates or comments." Instead of that person who noticed the issue--and is the only one WITH an issue b/c our location actually isn't "wrong" per se--hitting that button and filling out the web form, she e-mailed me when all I will be able to do is hit said button.

2. Someone asking me to do something because they don't want to do it. Again, it's not necessarily my job, they just don't want to do it. I know you don't want to order the lunches, but what makes you think I want to just because I've done it before? I hate doing it. It's coming to your people for your event and is getting charged to your account. What makes it worse is that you came to me for assistance and after I had provided you with all of the necessary information and contacts, you literally handed it back to me and said "Can you do this? I hate calling for this stuff." What the heck?

3. People who drive in the rain/snow/dark without headlights. Not only is it the law to have your lights on in these conditions, but we other drivers cannot see you otherwise. It's never the people who drive bright yellow or red cars either. Ninety-eight per cent of the time, it's people driving silver, gray, white, or some other color automobile that blends in seamlessly with the environment.

4. When people switch up their routine and in doing so, disrupt mine. I'm an intense creature of habit. I'm not a fan of change once I've established a routine that works for me. This was never more prominent than when I was in school and 8 weeks into the semester, a classmate had decided he or she wanted to sit in the seat I had occupied for the previous 8 weeks of class. I don't want to sit anywhere else, if I did then I would have sat there on the first day of class. That whole class where I sat somewhere differently would be a complete loss for me b/c I'd be able to think of nothing else and I'd be uncomfortable. I'd be wondering why, halfway through the semester, someone had decided they wanted to sit somewhere else and why that happened to be my seat. Likewise, if I've been parking in the same spot at work for a year and you've been parking in the same spot for about that long, don't decide one week that you'll take my spot. It's weird and it disrupts my day and we've established by now that I'm very important and can't have my day disrupted.

5. Christmas songs by former Beatles. Hate them. Give me Nat King Cole and Burl Ives and you keep your depressing Beatles.

6. People who always need your help but are too busy to provide you with some the very few times you ask for it. In a similar vein, people who ask for help they don't need. When I show up with 10 bags on my arms and I can walk to the front, please don't call me to come downstairs and open the back door b/c you have a single box--that I end up carrying.

Things that make me happy!:

1. Champagne. Hand me a glass of light crisp champagne and watch my smile illuminate my face. Korbel Brut=happiness in a flute. Or, you know, Solo cup.

2. Football. September-February I don't mind Sundays. The rest of the year though? Sundays blow.

3. Diet Dr. Pepper.

4. Snow!

5. My nephews. I could sit and watch them play and learn for hours. Hearing the oldest learn my name and actually want to hang out with me fills me with more joy than I could ever imagine.

6. MAC makeup. It's only the best.

7. My two cats. They're only the cutest things ever and I swear they understand me and we can communicate rather effectively. You've seen the crazy cat lady? That's going to be me when I get a larger house and find someone to divorce me and leave me alone, paving the way for increased feline presence. Enter 50 cats.