We are living some kind of déjà vu.
If you will recall, last year we enjoyed a nice little snow dusting during our first week of April that was just entirely inappropriate after days of 75-degree temptation. In typical Charlottesville fashion, it seems we are doomed to repeat our past. At a time when we should be utilizing our sunroofs and Rainbows, this rain is dampening not only our resurrected North Faces, but also our moods.
(Sidenote: I think I need a meteorological lesson. A fellow Arizonan and I cannot fathom how these Virginia clouds can contain so much water. In Arizona, it rains hard and short, and it's all over. The glorious sun returns, and the day continues. It's like ripping off a Band-Aid, or more explicitly, like taking a shot.)
Anyhow, last year I found it fitting to run a little pet peeves list amid the misery. So at the request of my very limited audience and in honor of my last complaining column of the semester, here is what bothers, irritates, annoys, "rubs the wrong way," if you will, a random sampling of the University population, at times including myself. Anonymity has been preserved.
4 While we're on the topic of weather: walking with an umbrella. The "personal bubble" is increased from the mandatory two-foot radius to an awkward sphere where you must always be cautious of those around you, especially those who are shorter. It's bad enough that it's raining, cold and windy, but in that mass transit to a 12 p.m. class, you now must wield your umbrella high above you like a mushroom cloud, taking care not to fling water or take out the eye of some unsuspecting pedestrian, (who naturally, is walking much too slowly for you to get an aisle seat in Gilmer).
4 Another foot-travel aggravation: so I'm walking toward baggage claim at the airport, and this couple is clearly reuniting after some time apart (lots of PDA, etc.), which is fine, I can handle that. It's part of the whole "airport scene," and it's not like I intended on watching.
However, post-kissing and groping, they continue to walk in front of me down the length of the terminal with their hands in each other's back pocket. Now, normally I would turn away and avoid the grossness of this unnecessary touching, but it was in my direct line of vision. I had no choice -- I had to continue toward my suitcase, and I could not look down for fear of being run over by a Smarte Carte.
The "hand-in-the-back-pocket PDA" is a direct affront to those behind you. Not to mention that it's just weird. Never do it. Please.
4 People who wait behind the treadmill in anticipation of your 24-minute finish when they can clearly see you have 15 minutes to go.
4Daylight Savings switch-overs. That one lost hour was so crucial to my well-being. I passed out during class and had to take the rest of the day off.
4Characters on TV or in movies that enter a room and do not shut the door.
4Movies that end in a freeze frame, (exceptions: "The Breakfast Club," "Sixteen Candles" and anything by John Hughes). It's so after-school special-ish.
4"Kindergarten Cop." The entire film. It's always on USA, and it's just bad. Plus, it ends in a freeze frame.
4 The lack of Red Vines on the East Coast. This highly superior licorice is not even in the same category as Twizzlers.
4People who call you and ask for a phone number or address and then make you hold while they rummage around for a pen and paper.
4Reply-to-all e-mails. Very rarely does anyone ever need to hit the "multiple faces" icon on Webmail. It is really not that difficult.
4The tendency of computers, printers, even staplers to malfunction in the half hour before a paper is due.
4Guys who wear glasses only when they go out, even though you see them in the back of that large lecture hall sans intellectual accessory every Tuesday and Thursday.
4 People who ask you to take a picture with their disposable camera and do not wind it in preparation.
4 The excess of papers left at the library printers -- it's obvious you've paid for it with your Cav Advantage, so why not retrieve your 50 pages of toolkit reading?
4 Bad traffic zones: the near-collision corner by the exit on the second level of the bookstore parking garage, turning left from Chancellor onto University and the blind intersection at 17th Street and Gordon.
4The fact that they advertise those 3M sticky hooks as "easily removable" when they are indeed the most difficult things in the world to remove from a wall. And they do take off the paint.
4 Professors who give take-home essay questions in "multiple parts" that are in fact really just six separate essay questions. Still, you are expected to gracefully "synthesize" and "weave" six different issues into one cohesive, thesis-driven argument -- citing specific examples -- in all of 1,250 words, of course being sure to include the word count at the end.
4 People who screen their calls for no immediately pressing reason.
4 Animals dressed as humans. (Borrowed from "Friends," but true.)
4 Obviously, pop-ups in general. But there is that one for an MP3 download site that makes your computer play a melody which is reminiscent of Super Mario Bros. Particularly irritating when you are curled up studying with a playlist already running and you have to get up, close the pop-up, restart Dave or whatnot, etc.
4When you walk into a 50 or 60-person class and someone is in your habitual seat. You staked it as your own back in January and thus feel entirely uncomfortable on the other side of the room. The class period then becomes the longest hour and 15 minutes of your life.
4 Digital clock numbers on your cable box or the flashing battery light on your laptop when the rest of your room is completely dark and you are trying to sleep.
4Socks and sandals. This should warrant no explanation.
The list could go on ... but eventually it has to stop raining. Happy Spring, everyone.
Megan Peloquin can be reached at peloquin@cavalierdaily.com
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