Pet Peeves Plus Purposeful Penalties

Now, do any of you have a list of annoyances or events or people that make your blood boil and your blood pressure to reach the very top of the nurse's BP gadget? Well, if you don't--I do and I'll share my list with you. I know a couple of very good friends who love animals, but apparently have very short memories. Perhaps they're both over 70 and AARP members. They have a couple of cats and a dog in their home. They continue to send me emails with animals as the main subject. I don't want to waste my time on the computer reading jokes or information about animals. I don't care for dogs, and cats make me sneeze. I've asked these friends not to send me any emails about animals several times, but they continue to do so. I don't know what else to do about getting them to remember and comply with my request. Perhaps I can just flood their inbox with automatic messages from the San Diego, the Bronx, and the London zoos every single day...if there are automatic messages. Otherwise, perhaps I can send them an animal's picture every day--not a different animal, but the same animal. With this kind of a nudge, perhaps they'll desist occupying my inbox with non-human subjects.

So, there you have it; animal fanatics sharing their hobby with me when I'd rather not be bothered; especially with an election coming up. And speaking of elections, there lives a family member who sent a hysterical email to Rhoda about Barack Obama and outlining in tsunamic detail all his "faults". It echoed many of McCain's attacks on him with a few of her own thrown in. But her letter went on and on like a runaway train filled with tales about his shortcomings...but not one of her own...like her unmitigated fear and prayerful panic that Obama would be elected and the country would be taken over by the Chicago mafia, Rev. Wright, Islam, Hamas, & blacks. I wrote her that she should send her letter to Colin Powell, Carol and Ted Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, and half the newspapers in the country who apparently had not heard about the things she had to say about Obama. I thanked her for her enlightenment and I told her (my niece) that her views constituted a beacon the likes of which we hadn't seen since Patrick Henry and "One if by Land, and Two if by Sea." Perhaps she needs to use all three and get the militia ready in the event of Obama's election. Now, her political views will not interfere with our relationship, but to me it's more than a pet peeve to have someone of intelligence spout out venomous and vicious allegations about a presidential candidate--regardless of party affiliation.

Daily life in the 21st Century has become a mecca for drug companies looking to sell aspirin, xanax, and anti-depressants. I know I need a dose of all three after trying to get a human being who speaks English on the telephone when I need answers to any questions I might have, be it a doctor's office, a computer techie, a bank officer, or the like. Whose idea was it to have to press "1" in order to get someone or a robot who speaks English; and then to have to wait until the explanation gets done in Spanish with the likelihood that they have to press "2"? If the idiots had thought about it, not having anyone to speak Spanish on the telephone might induce the Latinos to learn English a lot faster. I don't know of any other country that uses "1" and "2" on the telephone for two different languages. And when you finally get a human being instead of a humanoid to speak to you, it's a shame that you hadn't taken up Hindi in high school. The Indian on the other end of the line speaks Hindi English with melodic intonations reminiscent of Beethoven's Eroica. This sort of annoyance happens at least twice a week.

Of course the 21st Century has many other annoyances making life difficult and nerve wracking. I detest going out to dinner and enjoying the company I'm with--and then having to listen to someone at the next table talking so loudly on the cellphone so as to force me to pay attention to his private conversation. It is one of the rudest things a person can do with a cell phone. Cell phones turned on in restaurants should be banned along with smoking. So, gone are the days when life was much simpler and quieter with fewer technologies and less anxiety. In fact when I'm out to dinner with friends I would prefer that everyone be banned with one exeption.