| Friday September 20th 2002 LA and I are filling out quizzes about ourselves and sending them to each other; kind of a fun way to learn things that might not come up in conversation. One of the questions was 'pet peeves', which I didn't actually think I had a whole lot of until I was asked to think about it. So three of them come to mind: 1. People who walk on the wrong side of the sidewalk. Yes, like most pet peeves this is stupid and petty, but it bugs me. I'm walking on the right half of the sidewalk toward you, you better damn well pass me on my left. Why should I spent all those moments approaching you trying to figure out what side to pass you on so we avoid a head-on collision? Are you playing chicken with me, punk?? Don't you drive? Stay on the right side, idiot! 2. Meetings that go no where. Not that any of the ones I attend ever go on and on ad nauseum and make me wonder why I wasted the one, two or three hourse of my life when I could have been getting work done. Not that I've ever been to one where nothing was said except a recitation and review of the last meeting's minutes and when the next meeting is going to be held. Do I look like I have time to waste? I'm a busy man. Ask the people like JM who e-mail me all the live long day whether I have any free time on my hands to reply. Okay, bad idea, you got me. But still, pointless meetings - hate 'em! 3. Misleading newspaper headlines. Specific example: on the front page of the Ottawa Citizen today is a headline, 'Why the Japanese Don't Visit Anne Anymore'. Given I just visited the place myself a couple of months ago and took pleasure in counting the number of Asian tourists, this attracted my eye and the title alarmed me. Naturally I assumed Anne's famous attraction among the Japanese was waning for some specific reason which might interest me. So I buy the paper. What's the revealing answer? Tourism has been down in general since 9-11, and Japan has a bad economy at the moment. Wow. Was that even newsworthy, let alone front-page leader-worthy? Obviously it was intended solely to coerce foolish people like myself into believing someone who writes for the paper had written something worth reading. You'd think I'd know better by now. I subscribed once for a free month, and spent more time recycling the paper than I did reading it. Worst 75 cents I spent today. See, I can still write about something other than LA if I really put my mind to it - it's good to make sure, once in a while ;) |