Things I hate Today

So....have you ever had a morning where you woke up and for no real reason, you decide that you just hate some things? Maybe you don't wake up with a full list, but as your day continues, you realize slowly but surely that things that may be everyday occurrences suddenly and without warning make you so filled with unexplainable/uncontrollable rage and/or hate. Usually, this comes at the end of what is referred to as a "sneaky hate spiral" (http://www.hyperboleandahalf.com), but sometimes....there's no spiral about it. You just hate.

It's not even 10am but here are some things that I hate today:

1. Wet leaves. These things are disgusting and they stick on the back of my legs and are gross and I want to kill them all. And what's worse is that they ALWAYS stick to that one part of your leg where it's just too difficult or awkward to casually brush it off and so you end up spinning around yourself trying to get a stupid leaf off of you and end up looking like a moron. This might be amplified by the fact that I am already an uncoordinated and ungraceful person.

2. Pedestrians. I know that this was a kvetch a few weeks ago in the Daily Tar Heel, but there are 12 crosswalks on Cameron Avenue between Columbia and Raleigh Street....for the love of all that is Holy, USE THEM!!!!! This brings me to my next hated thing...

3. Drivers who let EVERYONE cross the street. I understand that there are rushes and a driver can't just start plowing through folks after they've had enough waiting, but we've all been behind that one idiot who, after a good 40 second stream of pedestrians, sees a straggler maybe thirty feet off, not moving particularly fast, and decides to wait and then wave them across the street. OMG Just move!!! Someone else can let the kid cross the street! Because of course what always happens is that by the time the straggler kid gets to the crosswalk, there's another rush about to start so it's another 20-30 second wait.

4. Umbrellas left in the breezeway. Okay folks, I know you don't want a wet umbrella inside, but don't make everyone else in the building try (and ultimately fail) to step around it so we can get to our mailboxes. Rude. We all have a linoleum entrance "square" inside our units...put the stupid umbrella THERE to dry.

5. Public Transportation. Alright, let me clarify: public transportation is an amazing idea. However, it can be exceedingly ridiculous at times. I have a class at 8am. If I want to take a bus, I have to be at the bus stop at 7:10. FIFTY MINUTES before classtime. The entire bus ride is maybe 8 minutes. Now, if you look at the schedule, you will see that the bus I need is scheduled to arrived at 7:24, and if it did arrive at 7:24, that would be fantastic and while a little early, not so early as to cause a fuss. But, the bus doesn't come at 7:24. It comes sometime between 7:12 and 7:22. Calling Chapel Hill Transit has thus far proved unhelpful except that they confirmed that the bus is suppose to be at the stop at 7:24. I think so far this semester, the 7:24 bus has been on time maybe three times.

Okay, so a lot of this had to do with general transportation, mainly because we have a tropical depression hitting campus which is really fouling up all forms of movement, be it walking, driving, or riding the bus. I'm sure that this hate was also compounded by the fact that the rain kept me awake all night and I didn't get up early enough to make coffee this morning.