Friday, June 24, 2011

Annoyance.

Location: Bed
Listening to: "Rumor Has It" by Adele






I know everyone has things that annoy them and probably only them. Like, just little things that irk them to the point of wanting to, you know, rip their hair out or throw unnecessarily large objects at people. Whatever.

As it goes, I'm not generally an easily annoyed person. But there are a few things that bother me to no end (some more rationally than others). And I am going to detail them here for you. Just because. :)

1.) Loud chewing. Ok. This is seriously my least favorite thing in the entire world. The sound of people chewing makes me feel like I'm about to gag. I don't know what it is about it, but if I'm near a loud chewer, I get all edgy and annoyed and have to start chewing equally as loudly to counteract their chewing noises. Which is odd, probably. Open-Mouthed-Chewers are just as bad. Not only does it sound disgusting, but you have a disgusting visual.

Keep it in your mouth, people. Your closed mouth.


2.) People who actually call their parents "mother" and "father". In a modern age where everyone abbreviates every word they possibly can, you hardly expect anyone to refer to their parents as Mom and Dad, let alone Mother and Father. My roommate last year would do this, and it struck me as incredibly pretentious. I know it's not something she picked up from her family, because I've hung out around them enough to know that her parents refer to each other as "Mom" and "Dad" in their childrens' presence. It's just a habit that she's affected. She calls them that while speaking to them as well as speaking about them. And it just kind of irked me.


3.) Books where you spot the set up for the twist in the first 20 pages, figure it out, but which you still feel compelled to read. Sadly, this is most books that come out nowadays. With the exceptional few who manage to surprise you and catch you off guard, most books are pathetically predictable. But I always feel the need to read them, anyway. Even if I figure out the twist or resolution or whatever right away, I still want to read to make sure I get it right. But it's not as fun as reading when you have no clue what will happen.


4.) Comic sans. This font should not exist. I don't know anyone who actually likes to use it. The sight of it makes me feel like I've entered a kindergarten nightmare. Because that's what it makes me think of. Kindergarten. And my teacher showing us boring posters and things typed entirely in comic sans. Seeing it used in professional situations (notices, announcements, etc.) is...well...comical. Which I guess might be where they got the "comic" part from?


5.) People looking at the book I'm reading. I have absolutely no idea why this bothers me so much, but I suffer agonies when I'm either in the process of reading and people ask me what I'm reading, or I'm carrying a book I'm halfway through somewhere and someone asks me what it is and if they can look at it. I get weirdly possessive about my books and it annoys me to no end when people are grabbing at them or staring at me reading them or whatever. This is probably the least rational thing that bothers me. Because if I read a good book, I love telling people about it and recommending it to them. But when I'm reading a book, I want it to be a secret so that I can be the only one who knows how awesome it is for a little while (which makes no sense, because I know I am never the only person who has bought any of the books I've loved and hoarded).

What weird or not-so-weird things annoy you? What types of things bother you for no particular reason? Leave them in the comments!

More later!

Friday, June 17, 2011

I'm A Customer, I Own Your Soul.

Location: Couch
Listening to: Regis and Guest-Co-Host
Followers: 38!!!!



YAY MORE FOLLOWERS!!! Welcome Simon and Kels! :)

The one thing I'm disliking about summer (besides being far away from my lovely and amazing boyfriend) is not having anything to talk about. At school, I always have things to do and classes to complain about and things to inspire ideas for posts that area actually interesting to read. At home, I have significantly fewer of these things.

Except, I'm starting to understand why some people would never want to work at a restaurant. Don't get me wrong, my job is still pretty great. The people I work with are awesome and honestly, busing tables and leading people to their seats is not difficult work. But some people are just awful.

For some weird, inexplicable reason, nearly everybody who comes into our particular restaurant wants to sit in a booth. I kind of get it. They're more comfortable than the wood-backed, unpadded chairs. But what I don't get is how some people are SO SET on the idea of sitting in a booth that they will not consider anything else.

Yesterday, it was me, a girl who started working a week or two ago, and a guy who's only been here slightly longer than me. I was supposed to be seating people, and the new girl was supposed to be coordinating (our term for making sure that the servers' sections get seated in order so no one get's ripped off by getting fewer tables and therefore fewer tips). It was her first time coordinating, and it's kind of complicated, especially because all of the servers start at different times, so before 4:30 we can only seat certain sections.

A couple came in and I was told to take them to a small table that seats two people, so I led them there and told them that's where they'd be sitting. The lady looks at the table, looks at me and goes, "Um. We'd like a booth."

This is fine. Whatever. People request this all the time. So I radioed the new girl and asked if there were any open booths. This probably seemed kind of ridiculous to the couple, because we were standing right by an entire row of empty booths...but they were part of a section that couldn't be seated yet. So the new girl radios me back and tells me that no, all of the booths are full.

So I attempt to explain to this couple that we have no open booths because all of our servers were not there yet, so I couldn't seat them at the empty ones, but would they still like this small table? Or I could find them a bigger table if they would like.

And the lady gets all huffy and goes, "No. We want a booth." And they start angrily murmuring to each other and walking back toward the door.

THEY WERE GOING TO LEAVE. BECAUSE THEY COULDN'T GET A BOOTH.

I quickly remedied the situation by offering them a booth in the closed section and getting a different waiter to take it. But I was not happy about it.

Some people, I tell ya.

Anyway, that's it for now. I have to go prepare for more work.

More later!

Friday, June 10, 2011

I feel tricked.

Location: Home
Listening to: The end credits of Defendor




As you may have gathered if you bother to read my location/listening to things at the beginning of each post, I just finished watching the movie Defendor. And, guys, I can honestly say...I feel tricked. (Warning: Anything past this point may contain spoilers.)

I stumbled across this movie when I worked at a local video rental store last year. It came out last spring and was on the movie preview reel we has to play at the store. The clips it showed were cute or funny, and it stars Woody Harrelson and Kat Dennings, so I figured it had to be good. Kat Dennings cracks me up, so I didn't think there was a way she could be in a movie I wouldn't like.

I was wrong.

At first appearances, this movie seems like it's going to be a superhero comedy along the lines of Kick-Ass and...um...those other superhero comedies. It's about a guy who has a superhero alter ego and gains an unlikely sidekick in a young prostitute.

What they don't tell you on the back of the box (or the website synopsis or the previews) is that the guy who thinks he's a superhero? He's mentally handicapped. And his young prostitute sidekick is a coke addict who's dad is a scumbag child molester or something. This sweet and innocent guy, played by Woody  Harrelson, who doesn't know any better is trying to get rid of "Captain Industry", the man he thinks murdered his mother when he was a child. "Captain Industry" is not a person. He heard his grandfather/older male mentor/caretaker refer to the drug lords who killed his mom as "captains of industry" and believed "Captain Industry" to be his mother's killer. So he poses as Defendor and tries to get rid of the scumbags that roam his city as he searches for "Captain Industry."

He comes across a young prostitute, played by Kat Dennings, and saves her once or twice, and they become unlikely friends. Except, she's using all of his money to buy drugs for herself and using his desire to avenge his mother's death to try and get rid of some drug lord/pimp/baddie who she didn't like by saying that he is "Captain Industry".

I'm not going to ruin the ending for you, except to say it isn't happy. In fact, it's rather sad. Not at all the uplifting, positive, moral-inducing conclusion you hope for.

Overall, it wasn't a terrible movie. But I can't for the life of me figure out why they advertised it as a comedy. Nothing about it was funny. Almost everything about it was kind of depressing.

Anyway, Internet, I feel duped. Tricked. Bamboozled.

I think this situation calls for ice cream.

More later.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Love is lovely.

Location: Home
Listening to: The news






Oh, you guys. I am in love. Absolutely, incredibly, deeply in love.

This seems like the time when I would pull a fast one and tell you that I'm in love with something ridiculous or predictable, like shoes or ice cream. But that's not the case. Well, it is. I love those things. But, I am in love with the most lovely boy ever in existence.

I try not to gush too much, because I know when all someone talks about is their sweetie, it gets kind of obnoxious. Like, I know you're in love and that's great, but, honestly, get a life. So, I try (and kind of fail) to keep my boy-gushing to a minimum here. But I just felt like letting my love flow tonight.

Brad and I have been dating for nearly 7 months, which is about twice as long as any of my most recent previous relationships have lasted. And every day I find myself falling deeper and deeper in love with him. I'm used to dating guys who are douchebags. I mean, they never tried to be, but they were. They would put themselves first and take me for granted (which sounds kind of conceited, but a relationship is supposed to be about compromise and balance, not ME! ME! ME! ME!).

This guy is totally different. He's adorable. He is incredibly cute and the sweetest boy alive. He's always doing what he can to make me happy, which is nice because I try my hardest to make him happy, too. He's constantly surprising me with little things and he's the best cuddler and makes me feel so safe and cozy and happy and loved.

When I went to visit him last week, we celebrated his birthday. I got him a pot and a bunch of macaroni, because he only had a frying pan and that severely limited the food he could make himself. I also got him a video game he really, really, really, really wanted, and a picture frame with photos of us in it. He told me he loved it all, but his favorite was the frame. He explained that he's never had framed pictures before, and now he has several of us together. It made me smile that the least expensive gift, something he hadn't asked for or expected, was his favorite.

He also surprised me with something. I have a claddagh ring that I've worn every day for the past four years. For those of you unfamiliar with claddagh, it's an Irish symbol depicting two hands holding a heart that has a crown above it. It's really symbolic. The heart stands for love, the hands for friendship, and the crown for loyalty. It's on all kinds of jewelry, but with rings, it takes an extra meaning. The way you wear the ring shows the status of your heart: single, taken, engaged, or married.

A few weeks ago, I noticed that my ring had a crack running halfway down the band and mentioned that I would have to replace it soon because it was at risk of breaking in half. Brad and I spent a little while looking up pictures online of different types of claddagh rings so I could get an idea of what I would want to replace mine. A few days later, he mentioned that he had a surprise for me that I would get when I came to visit him.

When I got to his apartment, we sat around waiting for the FedEx guy to deliver my surprise. And it ended up being this ring. I've never gotten jewelry from a guy before. And it's gorgeous. And it fits perfectly. And it's amazing and he's amazing and I love him.

He's coming up to visit me tomorrow and meet some of my friends. I'm so excited. This long distance stuff is no fun at all. It's working and we haven't had any problems thus far, but it's hard being so far away.

Sorry for the mushy overload. I hope you are all having wonderful summers! If you're looking for something fun to do in July, check out Allyson's blog for info on a potential blog book club!

More later!