Passionate Passions and Pesky Pet Peeves

As I was driving into work the other day and used my middle digit to express my distaste for a fellow driver’s lack of vehicular control, I realized that I am someone who has extreme reactions to most things.  I guess you could say I’m passionate, which can be good and bad.  I feel strongly about a lot of things, one way or another.  So I decided that coming up with a list of my LOVEs and HATEs might be kind of fun.  So here goes…  

Things I Love…  

• I love getting alone time in the bathroom at work.  Getting in and out without seeing another soul is like a little slice of heaven.
• Sushi—I started out being absolutely frightened of the stuff and now I can’t get enough…it’s the crack of the seafood world.
• Après skiing—while I love to hit the slopes, let’s face it—the best part is definitely the fireside drinks afterwards.
• S’mores—whoever thought to combine marshmallows, chocolate, and a graham cracker ought to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
• Free food and swag-perhaps I will feel differently if I ever have a lot of money but, at this point, if I’m at an event that offers free food and such, I have a difficult time resisting the urge to open my purse and horde for later.
• The smell of bonfires at the beginning of fall-there’s nothing better!
• Movies that stick around the 2-hour mark —when did every movie start requiring us to carve out a quarter of our day and another quarter for the previews and commercials?
• Celebrity news—I admit it—I’m a complete and total celeb news junkie.  I suppose it’s the fact that so many of them are complete and utter train wrecks that it makes me feel better about myself.
• Watching my nieces and nephew dance—that lack of self-consciousness is just amazing, and I have to envy it every time they shake their little booties.
• Garnishes…hey, I know this sounds weird, but I personally think every drink should have a garnish.  This is particularly true for Bloody Marys.  I light up like a Christmas tree if I see my Bloody come out complete with pickle, celery, and olive. 
• The END of a work-out—no further explanation necessary!  I take special pleasure when I see the pained faces on the other poor saps just getting to the gym.  Yes, I am evil.

Things I Hate…  

• Group food—you know what I mean…the bowl of mints that people can dip their hands into as they leave a restaurant…the bowl of M & M’s at a Christmas party.  My all-time biggest pet peeve is this big jar of pretzels we have at work.  When people go to grab the pretzels, it sounds like they’re picking the Lotto ball.  Get in and get out people!
• Blow-hards who can’t hear themselves speak enough.  This also encompasses brown-nosers, particularly in class.  In graduate school, I’d have been home an hour earlier each evening if it weren’t for one or two of these schmoes that ruined it for the rest of us who just wanna get home and watch “Friends.”
• People who don’t turn left when the light has gone red.  C’mon, people, this is Los Angeles .  Three quarters of us are late and the other quarter is just impatient. Now turn!
• Gatorade caps and whoever made them—now I know this one is going to sound strange, but I drink a lot of Gatorade, and I just about have a brain aneurysm every time I open them.  By the time I get them open, I’ve lost the desire to work out.
• Holding hands in church—I might be struck by lightning for saying this, but God probably wouldn’t want to do this either, especially after He’d seen the kid in front of Him picking his nose.
• People who insist on using the Bluetooth headset no matter where they are.  They look insane and they probably are.
• Spiders.  Period.  Ewwwww.
• The post office—no matter what time of day I go, there are lines and there is one person working.  No wonder people “go postal!”
• Brace yourself, this one’s gross—I hate when I get sushi, which is one of my LOVES, and I get fish caught in my teeth.  There is no polite way to fish a piece of fish out of your mouth!  And I can’t think of anything else besides dental floss for the rest of the meal.
• Hot tubs—I don’t care how hot it is in there—it’s not hot enough to kill what I know is living in there.
• People who don’t wear deodorant.  Yes, that includes you, Matthew McConaughey.  I don’t care how manly you think it is.  I’m going to bottom-line it for you:  you stink.
• Guys who attempt to lose weight.  They notice they’re getting a little thick.  They run around the block and drop ten pounds.  Meanwhile, I’m sweating my a$$ off in Bikram Yoga six days a week and managing to gain weight.

Well, that’s about it—I’m sure I have many more for the list but these are the ones that just popped into my head.  And if you feel the need to make additions or comments on this, see my notation about “blow-hards.”  Yes, that’s you.