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You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / That &#%$*@ Thing You Do!

That &#%$*@ Thing You Do!

by Betty Cracker|  April 9, 20139:41 am| 244 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics, Open Threads

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I don’t know where everyone else is, and I’ve been avoiding politics lately because it makes me feel stabby. So let’s engage in an online Airing of Grievances. Or just have an open thread. Whatever works for you.

As a conversational hare to set your virtual hounds a’baying, allow me to relate something my beloved does that drives me absolutely fucking crazy: He cuts his fingernails and leaves clippings all around the goddamned sink. Giant, crescent-shaped, waterlogged clippings that put one in mind of an Elephant Graveyard. It’s gross.

Have I complained even once in nearly two decades of matrimony? Nope. It’s a small complaint in the scheme of things, and lord knows I don’t want to open up a floodgate of recriminations from him about my tendency to peel stickers off fruit and apply them to random items.

How do the people in your life drive YOU crazy? Do you think it’s better to leave things alone or address them forthrightly?

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Reader Interactions

244Comments

  1. 1.

    Davo

    April 9, 2013 at 9:45 am

    She takes the fucking tweezers from the bathroom.. Over and over and over again and I cant find them and I gotta hair on my face thats driving me batshit and Im late for work and IT DRIVES ME FUCKING CRAZY!!!!

    Whew. Thx I needed that. Carry on.

  2. 2.

    TooManyJens

    April 9, 2013 at 9:45 am

    and lord knows I don’t want to open up a floodgate of recriminations from him about my tendency to peel stickers off fruit and apply them to random items.

    You and my 6-year-old. :)

    But yes, this is why I don’t always bring up things my husband does that bug me. (The slurping, OMFG…) I’m not sure I want to know how much I bug him.

  3. 3.

    EconWatcher

    April 9, 2013 at 9:47 am

    There’s some old wisdom that goes something like this: The secret to a happy marriage is remembering to leave some things unsaid, every day. As the veteran of one failed and one (knock on wood) successful marriage, I think this is true.

    So what do I have bottled up inside? The piles of recycling around, but not in, the bin in our garage, which drip on me in my work suit each and every week as I try to collect them up and get the bin to the curb, just in time.

  4. 4.

    Todd

    April 9, 2013 at 9:47 am

    When mine cooks, she doesn’t clean up as she goes. As a former line cook/prep cook/expediter, this drives me up a fucking wall.

  5. 5.

    c u n d gulag

    April 9, 2013 at 9:48 am

    It’s always better to leave things alone, until that time the same thing finally sets you off, and you go all Krakatoa, East of Java, on the offending party, leaving a path of destruction in your wake.

    Or, maybe not…

  6. 6.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    April 9, 2013 at 9:48 am

    So who is Brendan Johnson from South Dakota, why is there an ad wanting us to draft him to run for senate, And is he actually a strong progressive Democratic candidate? This is an ad currently on this page.

  7. 7.

    schrodinger's cat

    April 9, 2013 at 9:49 am

    Betty Cracker @ top

    don’t want to open up a floodgate of recriminations from him about my tendency to peel stickers off fruit and apply them to random items

    .

    I put them on my kittehs’s foreheads like an Indian bindi. They hate it and try to get it off with their paws. It is hilarious.

  8. 8.

    JPL

    April 9, 2013 at 9:49 am

    I just watched the season finale of White Collar online and I hated it. Understandably, they want to leave you with a cliff hangar but really was it necessary to end the way it did?
    pffft!!!!

  9. 9.

    Nicole

    April 9, 2013 at 9:49 am

    My husband leaves half-empty (or half-full, depending on your outlook, I guess) glasses of water everywhere. Makes me bananas. WHY CAN’T HE FINISH DRINKING THE WATER IN THE GLASS AND PUT IT IN THE SINK?

    That said, the older I get, the more truth I find in the adage that you can’t change people; you can only change how you choose to react to them. So I empty the stupid glasses and let it go. Because that’s a really dumb thing to pick a fight about.

    Not to mention, I’m a total slob and really have no room to talk, anyway.

  10. 10.

    Forum Transmitted Disease

    April 9, 2013 at 9:51 am

    I’ve got a slew of domestic issues. I’ve got even more work issues. If I lost my shit over any of them I’d end up losing my shit over all of them, and wind up in a mental hospital.

    So I just stay cool, because nothing’s going to be changing anytime soon.

  11. 11.

    Punchy

    April 9, 2013 at 9:52 am

    drives me absolutely fucking crazy: He cuts his fingernails

    followed by…

    my tendency to peel stickers off fruit and apply them to random items.

    We must be related. We are exactly the same on these proclivities…(I prefer sticking them on the dogs)

  12. 12.

    Zifnab

    April 9, 2013 at 9:53 am

    Austin is getting the Google Super Internet Supreme. I live in Houston, and am pretty much mired in the city into the foreseeable future.

    (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

  13. 13.

    Bighorn Ordovian Dolomite

    April 9, 2013 at 9:54 am

    My wife throws those fruit stickers in the sink. This is especially puzzling since the garbage sits immediately under the sink, and the damned stickers will eventually be fished out of the sink and put in the trash. I’d like to suggest skipping a step and just putting them immediately in the trash, but well, I think we all know how welcome that statement from me would be!

  14. 14.

    RobertDSC-iPhone 4

    April 9, 2013 at 9:55 am

    I’m tired of the President’s capitulation to GOP terrorism.

  15. 15.

    chopper

    April 9, 2013 at 9:55 am

    wifey uses my office chair as her laundry hamper. drives me nuts.

  16. 16.

    Cassidy

    April 9, 2013 at 9:58 am

    @Nicole:

    …half-empty (or half-full, depending on your outlook)…

    Pessimist or optimist, that just means there is more room for whiskey.

    Traffic. I understand that morning traffic is a part of life. My problem is tha tone asshole insisting on driving the speed limit or just under it when the reality is that the majority of people drive faster than that. DRIVE WITH A FUCKING SENSE OF PURPOSE! Or, at the very least, since it’s morning and everyone is trying to get to work, drive like the people behind you have somewhere to be and don’t be a douche. Get off the fucking road if all you’re going to do is hold up progress.

  17. 17.

    Legalize

    April 9, 2013 at 9:58 am

    I also put fruit stickers on kitty heads.

  18. 18.

    Betty Cracker

    April 9, 2013 at 9:59 am

    @Nicole: Someday, hostile aliens whose only known vulnerability is being splashed with water will invade the earth, and you’ll be damned glad for all those half-full water glasses all over the house! /”Signs” snark…

  19. 19.

    MPAVictoria

    April 9, 2013 at 10:00 am

    Since meeting my significant other I have not been on time to a single planned event. Not. One.

    It doesn’t matter how much time she has to get ready or when the event is. Somehow we are always rushing out the door 5 minutes late. Drives me up the wall.

  20. 20.

    Bighorn Ordovian Dolomite

    April 9, 2013 at 10:00 am

    @Todd:

    Yeah mine too–and my background is the same as yours, so yeah. And my wife is a pretty damned good cook, I just characterize her style as “full contact.”

  21. 21.

    RoonieRoo

    April 9, 2013 at 10:01 am

    Hmmmm…..do I dare. My husband reads the comments threads too frequently.

    Hi Grumpy! Nope. Not gonna tell.

  22. 22.

    Smiling Mortician

    April 9, 2013 at 10:01 am

    I will cop to the fruit-sticker thing, although I’m neurotic enough that I often try to stick them to something else that “makes sense,” like a bread package or an onion or something — which takes way more time and energy than putting them in the fucking trash.

    My spouse, however, will almost-but-not-quite close drawers all over the bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen. So they’re always sticking out just an inch or maybe two … perfect for bashing my shins, knees, or hips, depending on the drawer.

    Did I mention that I bruise easily?

  23. 23.

    pharniel

    April 9, 2013 at 10:02 am

    mawwage…..mate’s infuriating habits – decision to radically change at the last minute vacation plans.

    sudden and overwhelming desire to be bothered by something that cannot now be changed – such as state of kitchen 5 minutes before leaving to catch a flight – despite ample opportunity to address issue prior to being unable to do something about it.

    TT Game companies – “rules are for munchkin losers, they don’t have to be tight or coherent or innovative. And if you don’t like them you can always houserule man.” Then what, precisely, am I paying you, ostensibly a professional game designer, for? I can make up my own fun seeming but in reality crappy rules all the live long day. I pay people for things I cannot create myself.
    Also – I lived through the 80’s and 90’s and have recently replayed those games. They’re crap compared to new ones with gigantic flaws and easily exploited rules gaps. Stop pretending like ‘fighter is best at fighting and thus can’t do anything else because that’d be unbalanced’ is 1) true. any of it, especially the ‘best at fighting’ part. at all. and 2) a problem that you cannot solve.

    Politics – The general regressive reactionary backlash which is drowning the country in stupid.

  24. 24.

    Cassidy

    April 9, 2013 at 10:04 am

    @pharniel:

    They’re crap compared to new ones with gigantic flaws and easily exploited rules gaps.

    I have some bad news for you about the new D&D. Although, since this is a thread for getting out agitations, maybe I should save it.

  25. 25.

    Amir Khalid

    April 9, 2013 at 10:05 am

    I happen to be reading Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by The Bloggess. Right now, I’m in the chapter where she talks about this very thing. So I appreciate that stories like this can be very amusing to a third party.

    @c u n d gulag:
    Damn, that movie title has always annoyed the hell out of me. Until the eruption that blew it off the face of the Earth, Krakatoa was located off northwestern Java. It lay in the strait between Java and the southeastern tip of Sumatra.

  26. 26.

    raven

    April 9, 2013 at 10:06 am

    @Todd: Ha, I do almost all the cooking and shopping but the princess likes to bake now and then. I always tease her about how gooey everything is. Faucet handles, oven mittens, the counter tops. . .everything!

  27. 27.

    raven

    April 9, 2013 at 10:08 am

    @pharniel: Yes, no matter how far ahead we plan our trips she can’t get out the goddamn door!

  28. 28.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 9, 2013 at 10:08 am

    @Nicole: @Cassidy: The glass is always full. It may be half full of water, but the other half is full of air. It is never empty.

  29. 29.

    raven

    April 9, 2013 at 10:11 am

    And yet, she let’s me have a six foot tuna on the wall in the living room, a rack of rifles above the door and a colony of flesh eating beetles a few feet from her beloved fabric!

  30. 30.

    schrodinger's cat

    April 9, 2013 at 10:11 am

    @Cassidy: Worse than people driving slowly are people who text or talk while driving. Another pet peeve, pedestrians who just step in front of your car, without looking, wearing ear-buds and/or texting.

  31. 31.

    maurinsky

    April 9, 2013 at 10:12 am

    My SO is a terrible dish washer (nothing is quite as clean as it could be when he does the dishes), but having been previously married to someone who did the dishes maybe twice in 21 years, I will not complain about it, I just generally try to get to the dishes before he does. He is not a person who ever leaves a task undone!

    I do have a teenage daughter, though, and he has two teenage sons. When his boys are here, one of them leaves a trail of socks whereever he goes. My daughter leaves half empty drinks all over the place. Also, only the adults in the house seem to understand that light switches can be turned off. Oh, and one of his kids, I don’t know which one, leaves water all over the bathroom counter after he’s done brushing his teeth.

    My ex has never been on time for anything, ever, in his entire life, and I have negative patience for that after 21 years of it. It’s a deliberate thing, IMO – if it weren’t, then sometimes, a person would be on time, even just accidentally.

  32. 32.

    bemused

    April 9, 2013 at 10:13 am

    Our one dog and two cats get a specified amount of dry kibble twice a day, less now or they are supposed to. My spouse has a strong tendency to give over generous amounts of food. Our 5 year old dog has put on weight due to a combination of not getting the extra playtime exercise since our older dog died and we had too much and deep snow for her to romp around while on walks in the woods. She used to get a cup of kibble and my husband would scoop an overflowing cup with kibbles falling to the floor on his way to the dog dish. He does the same thing with the kitty food. I keep trying to explain what a scant amount looks like but he keeps “forgetting”. I think he is just a big pushover.

  33. 33.

    Cassidy

    April 9, 2013 at 10:13 am

    @schrodinger’s cat: I will admit to have pulling up beside said person texting and leaning on my horn a time or two. It’s deifnitely not the safest act, but watching said person losse their shit is entertaining.

  34. 34.

    raven

    April 9, 2013 at 10:13 am

    @Amir Khalid: The Blogess gets it!

    My father is a professional taxidermist, so it’s not like I had a fighting chance. And besides, I think the real question here is, who wouldn’t be interested in ferrets in cancan dresses? Old anthropomorphic taxidermy is fascinating and I’ve collected an entire menagerie of creatures that make up my personal posse. Cuban pirate alligators, Shakespearean mice, heavily armed squirrels, vampire-slaying ducklings.

  35. 35.

    schrodinger's cat

    April 9, 2013 at 10:17 am

    @Cassidy: Also too, bicyclists who drive on the wrong side on the sidewalks. If you are too chicken to ride on the road get your exercise on the recumbent bike in the gym.

  36. 36.

    AdamK

    April 9, 2013 at 10:17 am

    I live alone and I leave fingernail clippings all over and IT DRIVES ME FCKING CRAZY! But I don’t say anything because I’m trying to get along with myself.

  37. 37.

    beltane

    April 9, 2013 at 10:18 am

    @Todd: That’s funny. My husband is a former line cook and he drives me crazy by not cleaning up as he goes along. He seems to be under the impression that there are dishwashers standing by to do this. For this reason, I rarely let him cook any more.

  38. 38.

    Craig

    April 9, 2013 at 10:18 am

    Betty, all you need is a dog. Problem solved! They’re also great for kitchen spills.

  39. 39.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 9, 2013 at 10:18 am

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Another pet peeve, pedestrians who just step in front of your car, without looking, wearing ear-buds and/or texting.

    Don’t come to Madison. The culture here, especially in the Isthmus area (downtown and campus), is that traffic stops for pedestrians. I know it is the law as shit, but it actually works that way here – most of the time. I look both ways anyway; it ain’t the way I want to go out.

  40. 40.

    raven

    April 9, 2013 at 10:19 am

    RE “Honesty”. Don’t do it.

  41. 41.

    Walker

    April 9, 2013 at 10:19 am

    @pharniel:

    Also – I lived through the 80′s and 90′s and have recently replayed those games. They’re crap compared to new ones with gigantic flaws and easily exploited rules gaps. Stop pretending like ‘fighter is best at fighting and thus can’t do anything else because that’d be unbalanced’ is 1) true. any of it, especially the ‘best at fighting’ part. at all. and 2) a problem that you cannot solve.

    I used to fight with the posters at Grognardia about this all the time. To them game design was “hey, look at my table of overfitted outcomes based upon my gut feelings”.

  42. 42.

    schrodinger's cat

    April 9, 2013 at 10:19 am

    @Todd: Me neither, I clean up after I finish cooking, needless to add that drives the hubcat crazy. He is a neat freak and a hair’s distance away from being compulsive about it.

  43. 43.

    Randy P

    April 9, 2013 at 10:19 am

    People in my house keep leaving my tools in random places so it always takes me half an hour to assemble the tools for even a small job. If I can find them at all. This drives me crazy.

    Unfortunately, the only people in the house are my wife and me. And she doesn’t use the tools. So the list of suspects is basically: me.

    We’ve been threatening to have that Airing of Grievances when we hit our 80s (“and I never liked your soup either”) so we have 25 years to go. I know the habit of mine that would be number 1 on her list: leaving socks around wherever I take them off. Number 2 maybe snoring. I honestly can’t think of one that bugs me, unless it’s her habit of closing doors and cabinets as she passes by, even if I’m right behind her with both hands full which is the reason I left it open in the first place.

  44. 44.

    Maude

    April 9, 2013 at 10:20 am

    The fingernail parings would make me gag.

  45. 45.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 9, 2013 at 10:20 am

    FWIW I hate the term “baby bump.”

  46. 46.

    Gin & Tonic

    April 9, 2013 at 10:21 am

    @Cassidy: Always makes me think of driving on the MassPike. If you’re going to insist on going 80, then fer gawd’s sake, keep to the right and don’t block traffic.

  47. 47.

    Cassidy

    April 9, 2013 at 10:21 am

    And I’m sorry, I don’t like pets. I have nothing gaainst cats or dogs and think they are just a ssweet and cute and whatever as everyone else, but I hate owning pets. Unfortunately, Everyone in my house was born with a lifetime membership to “save all the cute and furry things” club. I have two cats that were previously strays, and while they’re cool, I didn’t want them. One wandered into the house on a freezing night in Colorado. I just happenned to be on duty that night and the conversation started with “Don’t be mad…”. Any husband here knows where that conversation is going. The second was abandoned. I would go out to smoke and he’d come to me, I’d bring him some food, pet him and let him sit in my lap and then go inside. We had an arrangement. Then, the SO sees him and insists we can’t leave him outside, he’s a kitten, it’s too cold…BAM! I’ve got 3 cats now. The dogs I don’t mind so much, but still.

    The kids asked for a puppy. No way, no how. I told my oldest that even if we get another dog, after our current population dips to 0 or 1, we’re not getting a puppy. She asks why not and I tell her that I don’t like needy things. I don’t want to take him/ her out every couple hours, listening to the whining as we crate him/her, none of that. She then asks “well, what about us as babies?”. So I told her I didn’t like you guys much as babies either. You pooped all the damn time, demanded to be fed, wouldn’t stop crying. Of course, I was joking, but the look on her face was priceless.

    Seriously, though, I don’t like pets. Fish. I can do fish.

  48. 48.

    schrodinger's cat

    April 9, 2013 at 10:21 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Oh yes here too, traffic stops for the pedestrians, but still, as a pedestrian don’t you at least have to be somewhat aware of your surroundings especially when it is snowing and the visibility is not great.

  49. 49.

    Fester Addams

    April 9, 2013 at 10:22 am

    Ha! Our golden is always in the kitchen trying to cadge the butt ends of chopped vegetables. He’s totally going to get a tomato sticker on his third eye tonight…

  50. 50.

    raven

    April 9, 2013 at 10:22 am

    @Gin & Tonic: Guess I better strap it on for my May invasion with rental car!

  51. 51.

    Cathy W

    April 9, 2013 at 10:23 am

    When I began house-hunting, Hubby asked me what I wanted in a bathroom, and I said: either a dual-sink vanity or a husband who cleans up after he shaves. I got neither. Alas.

    Note to hubby, also, too: simply washing the sinkful of hair down the drain does the opposite of solving the problem; it actually changes it from “gross hair in sink from shaving” to “gross hair, residual soap, and toothpaste in sink from slow drain”.

  52. 52.

    japa21

    April 9, 2013 at 10:23 am

    Well, my wife is more than willing to tell me what annoys her, but most of the time she is nice about it. And I am sure that her list of myannoying behavior would be far longer than my list of hers. So for the most part, I just ignore it. My annoyance may last 30 seconds, but bringing it up would may it last much longer.

  53. 53.

    BGK

    April 9, 2013 at 10:23 am

    The alternative is a it’s-just-you-and-the-cats terminal feedback death-sprial. Which I can tell you gets to be a real drag.

  54. 54.

    schrodinger's cat

    April 9, 2013 at 10:24 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Also pop of color, fashion forward and statement anything..

    ETA: Fashion blogs I reads them.

  55. 55.

    different-church-lady

    April 9, 2013 at 10:24 am

    I’m always at a kind of loss as to why people assume the choice is between berate/complain and silent tolerance.

  56. 56.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    April 9, 2013 at 10:24 am

    Two things annoy me, leaving dresser draws open and not throwing his empty soda bottles in the trash but leaving them on the counter. What drives me bat shit crazy though is when he tosses a full ash tray on to an already full trash can and then leaves all the ciggie butts that fall out on the floor. The last time he did it I told him if he did it again I would murder him in his sleep.

  57. 57.

    Trinity

    April 9, 2013 at 10:25 am

    My husband is too calm. Drives me batty.
    Also, he is unable to place dirty clothing in a hamper. Damndest thing. There are evening dirty tshirts and socks currently in my garage. I don’t know how he does it. Dirty clothes end up in the oddest places at my house.

    He’s like the Merlin of dirty laundry.

  58. 58.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    April 9, 2013 at 10:25 am

    @Cassidy: D&D 4 or D&D 5?

    Don’t get me started on 4.

  59. 59.

    raven

    April 9, 2013 at 10:25 am

    @Cathy W: Yea, and I shower at the Y but it’s my job to fish HER hair out of the bathtub drain.

  60. 60.

    schrodinger's cat

    April 9, 2013 at 10:25 am

    @raven: I have lived in four states and I think Massachusetts drivers tend to be the rudest.
    *ducks from the incoming brickbats of fellow Massholes *

  61. 61.

    raven

    April 9, 2013 at 10:26 am

    @different-church-lady: because we are NOT church people?

  62. 62.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 9, 2013 at 10:27 am

    @schrodinger’s cat: I have a number of statement sweaters. They state: “I am a sweater.” Some of them are green – it brings out my eyes.

  63. 63.

    raven

    April 9, 2013 at 10:27 am

    @schrodinger’s cat: I’m actually going to Rhode Island but I assume it’s the same.

  64. 64.

    different-church-lady

    April 9, 2013 at 10:28 am

    @schrodinger’s cat: Naw, let’s take this peeve to the next level:

    a) Pedestrian pushes walk-light button.
    b) Pedestrian charges out into the street without waiting for light, seeing as how he/she has just noticed there’s no traffic.
    c) Just as pedestrian reaches other curb, driver (me) arrives.
    d) Light turns red for pedestrian.
    e) Drivers sit there at a red light for no good reason, pedestrian long gone.

    DAMMIT, IF YOU PUSH THE BUTTON AT LEAST HAVE THE COURTESY TO WAIT FOR THE THING!!!

  65. 65.

    Bubblegum Tate

    April 9, 2013 at 10:29 am

    My old roommate used to clip his toenails while sitting on the couch and watching TV. I finally got him to stop by threatening to pick up any clippings I might find and put them in his food.

    Also, the next Californian who learns how to drive will be the first Californian who learns how to drive. Motherfuckers are embarrassing themselves out there on the roads.

  66. 66.

    different-church-lady

    April 9, 2013 at 10:29 am

    @raven: I’m not church people either. In the same way Snoop Dog is not actually a dog.

  67. 67.

    Cassidy

    April 9, 2013 at 10:29 am

    @Gin & Tonic: And merging. ARGH! When did people stop merging into traffic. If you’re joining the flow of traffic it is you responsibility to speed up or slow down as appropriate to join. It is not the peoples job who are already traveling on the highway to let you in or adjus their speed.

    But no. Today, people just fling themselves into traffic, not even looking and jsut expect everyone else to stop. Fucking assholes.

  68. 68.

    Biscuits

    April 9, 2013 at 10:29 am

    This thread makes me want to go to al anon. ;)

  69. 69.

    Chris

    April 9, 2013 at 10:30 am

    How do the people in your life drive YOU crazy?

    I hate people who get on an elevator to go one floor up. Unless they’re handicapped, or old, or pregnant, or have something with wheels, or have little kids with them, or even just are carrying heavy. But, most of the people I see using the elevator to go one floor up don’t fit into any legit category. And I don’t like these people.

  70. 70.

    raven

    April 9, 2013 at 10:31 am

    @different-church-lady: jus foolin around

  71. 71.

    schrodinger's cat

    April 9, 2013 at 10:31 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: You should start a blog, putting up your photos in statement sweaters on the intertoobz. Don’t forget to pair the statement sweater with statement shooz.

  72. 72.

    Cassidy

    April 9, 2013 at 10:32 am

    @Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: I despise 4. I haven’t seen anything regarding 5 yet, other thna they’re working on it.

  73. 73.

    schrodinger's cat

    April 9, 2013 at 10:33 am

    @raven: Never been to Rhode Island, I have heard that it is pretty this time of the year.

  74. 74.

    Fleem

    April 9, 2013 at 10:33 am

    @Cassidy: The converse of this is, of course, people who come to a dead stop at merges, causing accelerating traffic to squeal to a stop and pile up behind them on the on-ramp.

  75. 75.

    Gin & Tonic

    April 9, 2013 at 10:33 am

    @schrodinger’s cat: No question at all onthe rudeness.

    Years ago I split my time between Boston and NYC, as did a few other people I knew. The tagline then was that NYC drivers are aggressive but predictable. Boston drivers are aggressive and insane.

  76. 76.

    Peter VE

    April 9, 2013 at 10:34 am

    @Cathy W: My beloved wife insists on cleaning the hair from her brush into the sink, then wiping down the sink. She maintains that none of the hair ends up in the drain, and it’s only our daughter’s hair slowing the drain. The last time I cleaned out the drain, I kept all the hair, and the evidence is mine (if I ever dare use it).

  77. 77.

    jibeaux

    April 9, 2013 at 10:35 am

    Mine drinks my drinks all the time, if he just wants a little, instead of getting his own glass. This bugs me and I yell but in a funny charming way which does nothing to change the habit. I have a habit of migrating the fingernail clippers away from the medicine cabinet, so he keeps a set in his car. He will literally go out to the car, bring them in, clip his nails, then go back and put them back in the car. Why he doesn’t just use his nightstand I do not know.

  78. 78.

    schrodinger's cat

    April 9, 2013 at 10:35 am

    @Gin & Tonic: Confession time : I am too timid to drive in Boston, I just take the train or walk.

  79. 79.

    Amir Khalid

    April 9, 2013 at 10:35 am

    @different-church-lady:
    He’s now calling himself Snoop Lion, and he’s not that either.

  80. 80.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    April 9, 2013 at 10:35 am

    I’m sitting on an airplane. I win the Gripe Derby for the day.

  81. 81.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 9, 2013 at 10:36 am

    @Chris:

    Unless they’re handicapped, or old, or pregnant, or have something with wheels, or have little kids with them, or even just are carrying heavy.

    Use of the term handicapped is discouraged. Just saying. But many disabilities are not readily apparent to the naked eye. My mother is 71 and had a hip replaced a year or so ago. She has found that climbing stairs can be an effort if she is tired. As a result, later in the day, she tends to use elevators. Don’t hate my mom.

  82. 82.

    beltane

    April 9, 2013 at 10:36 am

    This is starting to sound like an Andy Rooney thread.

  83. 83.

    Violet

    April 9, 2013 at 10:37 am

    my tendency to peel stickers off fruit and apply them to random items.

    Ha! I got told off about that pretty quickly and had to stop leaving the stickers stuck to the sink. I put them in the trash now. So well behaved.

  84. 84.

    Gin & Tonic

    April 9, 2013 at 10:37 am

    @schrodinger’s cat: Not yet it isn’t. Long and cold spring so far.

  85. 85.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    April 9, 2013 at 10:37 am

    The plane door is jammed. You fail, Delta Airlines.

  86. 86.

    Randy P

    April 9, 2013 at 10:38 am

    @schrodinger’s cat: I think MD drivers have to be in the top 5. I lived in Maryland for years and soon got the trick of changing lanes: you turn on your turn signal. Immediately all the cars in the lane you want to get into will accelerate to cut you off. This will leave a nice opening 6-10 cars back which you can take.

    I talked to many people about this and they all swore they didn’t do that accelerating thing. But they all do. It’s a reflex. They can’t help themselves.

  87. 87.

    Roger Moore

    April 9, 2013 at 10:38 am

    @Cathy W:

    Note to hubby, also, too: simply washing the sinkful of hair down the drain does the opposite of solving the problem; it actually changes it from “gross hair in sink from shaving” to “gross hair, residual soap, and toothpaste in sink from slow drain”.

    Sure, but slow drains are traditionally a husband’s job to fix, no matter whose fault it was that they got slow. So complain about the slow drain and suggest that it’s his manly job to do something about it.

  88. 88.

    NotMax

    April 9, 2013 at 10:38 am

    People who whistle off-key.

    People who squeeze the toothpaste tube in the middle.

    People who eat the president’s camel.

  89. 89.

    kindness

    April 9, 2013 at 10:39 am

    Festivus in April!

  90. 90.

    RaflW

    April 9, 2013 at 10:39 am

    @MPAVictoria:

    It doesn’t matter how much time she has to get ready or when the event is. Somehow we are always rushing out the door 5 minutes late. Drives me up the wall.

    Ding. Ding. Ding. Substitute “he” for she, and we’re there.

    Unfortunately, I’ve started running late now, when I have things to go do by myself. Ugh.

  91. 91.

    Bruuuuce

    April 9, 2013 at 10:40 am

    She leaves the kitchen cabinets and drawers partly open. Not wide open, sticking out into the room. No; they’re just enough open that it’s possible — inevitable — that normal movements will bring sharp corners into soft flesh. Again, and again, and again.

    @Gin & Tonic: Boston drivers are nucking futs. I’ve never been in another city in the world where it’s apparently standard practice to make left turns across four lanes of traffic without using a turn signal. (I live in NYC, and the drivers here ARE aggressive, but not nearly like that.)

  92. 92.

    wenchacha

    April 9, 2013 at 10:40 am

    One discussion we can not have is the purchase of vehicles. When he decides to buy one, he looks obsessively, even though he is “just looking, don’t worry.” At some point, he finds one that cannot be resisted, it is such a great deal. I don’t want to commit more cash to it, or take on a car payment, or whatever. We just about always purchase the vehicle.

    Being fair here, he doesn’t buy lemons. If money were no issue, I’d just tell him to go ahead. He’s a great guy so much of the time.

  93. 93.

    schrodinger's cat

    April 9, 2013 at 10:41 am

    @Randy P: Driving on the beltway kinda sucks.

  94. 94.

    lamh35

    April 9, 2013 at 10:42 am

    Hmm, so Rubio jumping on the Bey & Jay Cuba trip bandwagon.
    Wow. Rubio doesn’t want this fight. JayZ and Beyonce fans are hardcore as Bieber fans. If Rubio thinks this is a GOP version of the Sista Soldja moment, he’s badly mistaken.

    Also, yes, JayZ is a “rehabilitated” rapper, but there is a reason he’s still on top an this couple has the money and power within not just the youth community, but with young Hispanics that if they chose to make a “beef” out of it would make Rubios life hell.

    Just sayin’. In what universe is this a fight the GOP wants to have right now during their “re-branding”?

    Or is this just a Florida Republican thing?

    Plus, I get hat Rubio wants to be outgrown and keep his profile outgoing, but how does it make him seem serious to join with 2 non serious pols from Florida. Def not the way to win the youth vote.

  95. 95.

    c u n d gulag

    April 9, 2013 at 10:42 am

    @Amir Khalid:
    LOL!

    Yeah, I didn’t know that myself, until I read a book about the planetary effects of of that eruption, back in the late 90’s, and saw the map.

    Then I wondered why so little of “North by Northwest” actually took place in either much of the North, or the Northwest?

  96. 96.

    Rich2506

    April 9, 2013 at 10:43 am

    As far as fingernail/toenail clippings go, I notice that they both seem to need clipping at about the same time, so I take off to a park, take off my shoes and clip my toenails, then I do my fingernails. Leave all the clippings on the ground or in the grass, put my shoes back on and take off.

  97. 97.

    Roger Moore

    April 9, 2013 at 10:43 am

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I have lived in four states and I think Massachusetts drivers tend to be the rudest.

    Boston is the only city I can remember seeing somebody around traffic by jumping the curb and driving down the sidewalk for a while. I had always thought those bumper stickers that say “If you don’t like the way I drive, stay off the sidewalk” were a joke, but people actually need them there.

  98. 98.

    Shadow's Mom

    April 9, 2013 at 10:43 am

    He turns every occasion in which he must get lab work for medical monitoring (heart and moderate kidney disease), particularly if it is fasting blood work, into 2 weeks of procrastination and argument. For dog’s sake, just suck it up and go get the blood draw. It’s 30 minutes out of your life!

  99. 99.

    Paul in KY

    April 9, 2013 at 10:43 am

    @Cassidy: Agree! Just because you are not in a hurry doesn’t mean we aren’t in a hurry.

  100. 100.

    Redshirt

    April 9, 2013 at 10:44 am

    @schrodinger’s cat: I have become the Anti-Masshole, Destroyer of Massholes

    Follow me, and I’ll guide you through the carnage safely!

  101. 101.

    Randy P

    April 9, 2013 at 10:44 am

    @Cassidy: in our house we call that the “New York yield” after a couple of years driving the Major Deegan Expressway north of NYC

  102. 102.

    J.

    April 9, 2013 at 10:44 am

    What is the deal with not throwing out nail clippings? Ew.

    As for putting fruit stickers on random objects, like the cat’s forehead, thanks for the great idea, Betty!

    And speaking of things that drive spouses crazy, did you people know that over 40% of U.S. adults go ape shit about how to load the dishwasher? (As someone who cannot believe that my darling husband still has no clue how to load the dishwasher, I thought the stat would be higher.)

  103. 103.

    Gin & Tonic

    April 9, 2013 at 10:44 am

    @raven: Not really the same. Traffic on the highways doesn’t move as rapidly. Major driving factors are the complete lack of interest in signage or use of turn signals, and the odd way of giving directions. You should know where you’re going, buddy, why should we pay our tax money to put up signs? And if you don’t know where you’re going, you shouldn’t be here. Oh, you want to go there? Well you drive down [obsolete name of road] to where the Almac’s used to be [a grocery store that went bankrupt and was torn down 15 years ago] and make a left. Less of a factor now that everyone has a GPS.

  104. 104.

    Redshirt

    April 9, 2013 at 10:45 am

    @Roger Moore: Boston driving rule: Going in reverse down a one way street is A-OK!

  105. 105.

    Violet

    April 9, 2013 at 10:45 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: You are absolutely right. When my hip/back injury was at its worst, I could not open doors that were the slightest bit heavy. I’d stand in front of them like an idiot waiting for someone to come open the door. I looked perfectly healthy at the time and the worst offending doors were at my gym, where I was going to do rehab stuff for my hip. Talk about a disconnect–I was too weak to open the doors to the gym where, if someone else would open them, I would go work out.

    But I understand the complaint about the people taking the elevator for one floor too. I am regularly in an office building around lunch time. If I’m there when people are returning from their lunch, I’ll frequently see a group of twenty-somethings clutching their giant drinks as they board the elevator to go one floor up. The way they’ve walked down the hallway to the elevator from the parking garage (where they use the stairs) does not give the impression they are in any way unable to climb one flight of stairs. They just don’t want to.

  106. 106.

    Chris

    April 9, 2013 at 10:46 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    The rebuke is accepted. But I seriously doubt if most of the young twentysomethings on this college campus that I see doing it have had hip replacements. I’m sure some of them have a not-readily-apparent disability… but I seriously doubt if that’s the case in most cases.

  107. 107.

    burnspbesq

    April 9, 2013 at 10:46 am

    Things that drive me crazy: somewhere on the intertoobz today, someone will say, in complete sincerity, that the solution to this is MOAR GUNZ!

    http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/04/08/4-year-old-grabs-loaded-gun-at-family-bbq-and-accidentally-kills-wife-of-tennessee-sheriffs-deputy/

    Another thing that drives me crazy: why do I have to rely on the futhamuckin’ National Post to tell me that sequester-mandated furloughs at the federal public defender’s office may result in delays in criminal trials, including the trial of in Laden’s son-in-law?

    http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/04/09/budget-cuts-could-delay-terrorism-trial-for-osama-bin-laden-son-in-law-chief-al-qaeda-propagandist/

  108. 108.

    catclub

    April 9, 2013 at 10:47 am

    ” unless it’s her habit of closing doors and cabinets as she passes by, even if I’m right behind her with both hands full which is the reason I left it open in the first place. ”

    Locking the doors when we are both home and I am going in and outside doing things. I always have my keys in my pocket.

  109. 109.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 9, 2013 at 10:47 am

    @schrodinger’s cat: Here I am in a green Brooks Bros v-neck. Here I am in a blue Brooks Bros v-neck. Here I am in a green J.Crew crew neck. Yeah, I’d get lots of traffic.

    ETA: I’d just end up with a less pretension, more casual version of the Ivy Style blog.

  110. 110.

    Gex

    April 9, 2013 at 10:47 am

    Well, hate to be the party pooper here, but I don’t want to list any of those little things here. Yes, they are irritating in the day to day scheme of things. But overall they are so unimportant. I regret letting those little things bother me so much.

    So far, April has been the hardest month since Kate died.

    Nice bummer post, Gex!

  111. 111.

    Gin & Tonic

    April 9, 2013 at 10:47 am

    @Roger Moore: Clearly you have never been anywhere in the former Soviet Union.

  112. 112.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    April 9, 2013 at 10:49 am

    I’m trying to keep a Positive Attitude this week. But Delta and the Birmingham AL airport are doing their best to defeat me.

    Well, it’s nicer weather here than in Detroit.

    Positive Attitude!!1!

  113. 113.

    catclub

    April 9, 2013 at 10:49 am

    @J.: Well, its because 99.9% of adults don not know how to load the dishwasher my may.

  114. 114.

    Violet

    April 9, 2013 at 10:49 am

    @Ultraviolet Thunder:

    The plane door is jammed. You fail, Delta Airlines.

    Years ago on a Continental Airlines flight we pulled away from the gate, stopped and then got taken back to the gate–because they could see light around the edge of the door. I think we were all just as glad we went back to the gate.

  115. 115.

    Zsa Zsa

    April 9, 2013 at 10:49 am

    I was recently living in a new home with this big fat whitey, who just wouldn’t stay out of my room.

    And he had the worst mustard breath. Pfft!

    I’ve moved on though so, all good!

  116. 116.

    Cassidy

    April 9, 2013 at 10:50 am

    @Gex: Nah, not a bummer. Sorry this has been a hard month.

    You know, I have plenty of things I could list that my SO does that aggravates me, but I don’t dwell on them. There are some things I just had to learn to accept. That’s part of living with people. I know that this is also true for my wife.

  117. 117.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 9, 2013 at 10:51 am

    @Violet: @Chris: Yeah, laziness is the primary reason for it, I am sure.

  118. 118.

    SatanicPanic

    April 9, 2013 at 10:51 am

    making sure we save all leftovers… so that they can get moldy in the fridge for weeks.

  119. 119.

    SatanicPanic

    April 9, 2013 at 10:52 am

    @Zsa Zsa: heh

  120. 120.

    Original Lee

    April 9, 2013 at 10:52 am

    Family aggro:
    Original Spouse – leaves the refrigerator door open even though the poor appliance is beeping pathetically and Spouse is all done moving stuff in and/or out and is standing three feet away doing something else.
    Original Daughter – cannot be bothered to throw used Kleenex away but instead leaves it wherever she was when she used it.
    Original Son – leaves shoes, backpack, saxophone, and coats at the foot of the stairs for us to trip over.
    Original Dog – has developed the habit of barking every time somebody enters or leaves the room.

    Other people aggro:
    Drivers – not merging, tailgating, and texting while driving
    Shoppers – standing in the middle of aisle intersections talking to somebody they met in another department
    Pedestrians – not checking to make sure vehicles are a sufficient distance away before stepping off the curb. They might have the right of way, but momentum is not just for sports!

    Wow. I feel a lot better now.

  121. 121.

    eemom

    April 9, 2013 at 10:53 am

    My husband and kids have secret telephone conferences each afternoon to prepare the house for my arrival home from work, assigning responsibility for whose shoes I will trip over when I walk in the door…..whose bowl of eight hour old oatmeal will be congealed in the kitchen sink with a peanut butter drenched knife stuck in it….who will leave the loaf of bread open….. whose empty bag of Chipotle takeout will be crumpled on the kitchen counter….who will leave on the lights in every room in the house….

    They do, I tell you. They DO.

  122. 122.

    Randy P

    April 9, 2013 at 10:53 am

    @Zsa Zsa: are you talking about Four Legs Whitey or Two Legs Whitey?

  123. 123.

    Violet

    April 9, 2013 at 10:54 am

    @Bruuuuce:

    Boston drivers are nucking futs. I’ve never been in another city in the world where it’s apparently standard practice to make left turns across four lanes of traffic without using a turn signal. (I live in NYC, and the drivers here ARE aggressive, but not nearly like that.)

    Most developing countries I’ve visited seem to have loose relationships with traffic signals and driving rules.

  124. 124.

    Paul in KY

    April 9, 2013 at 10:54 am

    @Cassidy: Freaking fish take work too & if you decide to ‘cull the herd’ by eating one, everyone looks at you funny….

  125. 125.

    NotMax

    April 9, 2013 at 10:54 am

    @Gin & Tonic

    Many years ago, I came into the room just in time to hear the tail end of my mother giving someone directions to someplace over the phone.

    “…then make a left 4 blocks before the stop sign.”

    Rolled my eyes, silently shook my head and kept on walking.

  126. 126.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 9, 2013 at 10:56 am

    @schrodinger’s cat: I have driven in Bucharest. Boston isn’t that bad.

  127. 127.

    Paul in KY

    April 9, 2013 at 10:59 am

    @different-church-lady: He is Snoop Lion now…so he is one bad-ass cat.

  128. 128.

    Paul in KY

    April 9, 2013 at 11:00 am

    @Chris: I don’t like them either.

  129. 129.

    Original Lee

    April 9, 2013 at 11:00 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: I think it would be more interesting if the photos were of the sweaters alone. You could drape them in interesting ways on found objects if you wanted to be high concept, or hang them on the back of the same chair with the same background and lighting for every single photo if you wanted to be more meta. You could even branch out into having photos of multiple sweaters in the same frame.

  130. 130.

    Roger Moore

    April 9, 2013 at 11:00 am

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Clearly you have never been anywhere in the former Soviet Union.

    Yes, that’s true; I’ve never been to any of the countries where people’s driving habits are truly appalling. And I’ll admit that I’ve seen people who need “If you don’t like the way I park, stay off the sidewalk” bumper stickers in places other than Boston.

  131. 131.

    Bruuuuce

    April 9, 2013 at 11:01 am

    @Violet: I’ve always attributed it to laying out streets on ex-cow paths. But the cows are long gone, and the drivers ought to have begun to learn civilized habits by now.

  132. 132.

    Paul in KY

    April 9, 2013 at 11:01 am

    @Fleem: They should have their driver’s licenses revoked.

  133. 133.

    maurinsky

    April 9, 2013 at 11:01 am

    @Chris:

    My orthopedist doesn’t want me climbing stairs. Bum hip, too much strain on my back. He told me to sell my house and move to a ranch, too. I’m also not supposed to drive a clutch (I did switch to automatic, because the clutch was killing my bum hip).

    I’m just saying, sometimes you can’t tell by looking if someone is disabled.

  134. 134.

    Chris

    April 9, 2013 at 11:01 am

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I have lived in four states and I think Massachusetts drivers tend to be the rudest.

    I dunno, I think Miami could give them a run for their money. This is the only town I’ve been yet where drivers will honk at me (and receive for their trouble a solemnly raised Hawaiian Good Luck Sign) for biking on the road like you’re supposed to. Yes, I know I can use the sidewalk, but if there’s a pedestrian on it then I will get on the road until I’ve passed him and screw you if that messes up your day.

  135. 135.

    schrodinger's cat

    April 9, 2013 at 11:02 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: I could see that blog becoming successful. There are three types of blogs I frequent.

    For ideas: Something that would work for me in IRL
    For eye candy. To be wowed by the creativity of the blogger, even if I couldn’t pull it off myself.
    For the snark. Did she get dressed in the dark?

  136. 136.

    Redshirt

    April 9, 2013 at 11:02 am

    I have it from a knowledgeable source that the drivers of New Dehli are the worst drivers in the world.

    But I suspect everyone thinks their drivers are the worst. Who ever says “Gosh, these drivers in Chicago are just the friendliest, best drivers ever!”? No one, ever.

    Scientific questions: Is driving worse now than it was 20 or 30 years ago? If yes, how big a role does the cell phone play in this degradation?

    Also, anyone who leaves fingernails around should be sent to a FEMA Camp/Obamacare Death Panel immediately.

  137. 137.

    Violet

    April 9, 2013 at 11:03 am

    @Gex: April is the cruellest month. Sorry you’re having a hard time this month. Grief has its own way and its own time. And you’re right–bitching about all the little things is not worth it in the larger scheme of things. Sending hugs.

  138. 138.

    PurpleGirl

    April 9, 2013 at 11:03 am

    @Davo: Easy solution — buy another set of tweezers. Hide them someplace only you know about.

  139. 139.

    Montysano

    April 9, 2013 at 11:04 am

    My wife rearranges things. Constantly. Not just furniture, but everything, esp. in the kitchen.

    I could go to my mom’s house, put on a blindfold, and proceed to go in the front door, go to the kitchen, make myself a snack and mix a drink, because everything is where it’s been for the last 30 years, because why f**king move it!?!?!

    Whew…thanks, Betty. Great post.

  140. 140.

    schrodinger's cat

    April 9, 2013 at 11:04 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: OK the worst I have driven in the US. Bombay is far worse. There are cows on the road and sometimes even an elephant, no seriously

  141. 141.

    hitchhiker

    April 9, 2013 at 11:04 am

    He likes to leave his things in piles. Piles of papers, piles of clothes, piles of random stuff that he finds it too much hassle to sort. We did many rounds about this in our early years, mostly in the form of

    me: I can’t stand looking at this. And those are my bills, too. I can’t find anything!
    him:

    The end. He knows it’s kind of weird, but he seems to need to be surrounded by his things, and I decided to look at it as my overly developed need for order than his whatever judgmental thing I used to call it. This took maybe 15 years, but I’m a very slow learner.

  142. 142.

    MomSense

    April 9, 2013 at 11:05 am

    Leaving the kitchen sponge all dirty and wet in the sink so that the new sponge I put into circulation in the morning is infested with some bizarre musty smell that attaches to your glasses, hands,everything by the time I get home at night.

    Sweet 8lb 3oz baby Jeebus, is it such a big deal to rinse the thing out, squeeze out the water and leave it clean and ready for the next use?!

  143. 143.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 9, 2013 at 11:07 am

    @Original Lee: But then you wouldn’t see me. And what would be the point of that?

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I could see that blog becoming successful.

    What a terrifying idea. I like to look good, per my own sense of style, but would never put that level of effort into trying to document it.

  144. 144.

    Roger Moore

    April 9, 2013 at 11:07 am

    @SatanicPanic:

    making sure we save all leftovers… so that they can get moldy in the fridge for weeks.

    I think George Carlin got that one right. The best thing about leftovers is that they make you feel good twice. First, when you put them in the fridge, you feel smart because you’re saving food. Then, when you throw them away a month later you feel smart because you’re saving your life.

  145. 145.

    Paul in KY

    April 9, 2013 at 11:07 am

    @Chris: I have driven in Miami & it is bad. Interesting confluence of tourists who don’t know where they are going, old people who have forgotten where they are going, and machismo latinos who think you are dissing their manhood by passing them.

    Good times…

  146. 146.

    burnspbesq

    April 9, 2013 at 11:08 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    No shit. I have no problem driving in Boston. Paris? Not even going to try.

  147. 147.

    Riley's Enabler

    April 9, 2013 at 11:09 am

    Check mark next to so many of these: nail clippings left on the coffee table, half empty glasses everywhere, dirty socks (and underwear, wtf?) left to languish on the floor…

    But now he’s the ex, and I am taking great pleasure in training all of these behaviors out of the spawn. Creating a less revolting human for the next generation. WIN.

    (Hugs to Gex, just because)

  148. 148.

    beth

    April 9, 2013 at 11:09 am

    I know Publix offers to carry your groceries out to your car but if you’re a twenty something wearing tennis/yoga clothes and you only have a quart of milk, please let the bagger stay and bag my 8 bags of groceries instead of walking your lazy ass out to your car.

  149. 149.

    Paul in KY

    April 9, 2013 at 11:09 am

    @Redshirt: Have seen some Amazing Race footage of India city driving & I think it would go best if you closed your eyes (when a passenger).

  150. 150.

    Violet

    April 9, 2013 at 11:11 am

    @Bruuuuce: In a lot of the countries the cows are not long gone. Maybe in the capitol city, but smaller cities or towns…not so much.

  151. 151.

    Paul in KY

    April 9, 2013 at 11:11 am

    @MomSense: That means he would have to touch it again & get all icky. Best to let you do it ;-)

  152. 152.

    burnspbesq

    April 9, 2013 at 11:11 am

    The only people more dangerously insane than Parisian drivers are Seattle pedestrians and cyclists. Sense of entitlement much, you pricks?

  153. 153.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 9, 2013 at 11:12 am

    @burnspbesq: I have driven in Paris as well. Bucharest is worse. But schrodinger’s cat wins with India.

  154. 154.

    dswagz

    April 9, 2013 at 11:13 am

    The same amnesiastic-doltistic peeps who cheered and clapped and gushed tears of pride when Captain Codpiece ordered the aircraft carrier to sit 10 miles outside of San Diego (at the cost of tends of millions of dollars to the taxpayers) while he fly-boyed his way into their hearts and announced “Mission Accomplished” 8 years before the war in Iraq ended are Totally Pissed off at Obama for using the bully pulpit to highlight the families of 26 children who were mutilated and murdered by a deranged psycho with an assault weapon and mutliple 30-round clips because the Kenyan wants a vote on background checks for gun purchasers.
    -I think I know what you mean by feeling all ‘Stabby’.

  155. 155.

    Bruuuuce

    April 9, 2013 at 11:14 am

    @Violet: I was thinking of Boston, in particular (where many of the main roads really were laid out over cow paths. But *I* wasn’t going to call it a developing nation, whose cows aren’t long gone :-) )

  156. 156.

    Original Lee

    April 9, 2013 at 11:14 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Well, I think I would find pictures of empty sweaters more interesting than pictures of sweaters filled with you. But since I belong to the Balloon Juice group on Ravelry, I have a natural bias in that direction.

  157. 157.

    Chris

    April 9, 2013 at 11:15 am

    @Paul in KY:

    I LOL’d – that’s exactly what it is.

    @burnspbesq:

    Oh, man. I lived in Paris as a kid. Never driven there (or anywhere in Europe) but I remember the cars around the Arc de Triomphe and WOW, I would SO not want to drive through that.

    Also New York City.

  158. 158.

    Violet

    April 9, 2013 at 11:17 am

    @Paul in KY:

    I have driven in Miami & it is bad. Interesting confluence of tourists who don’t know where they are going, old people who have forgotten where they are going

    I remember driving in Ft. Lauderdale behind some old boat of a car driven by someone who we couldn’t seen because they were too hunched over the steering wheel. At some point the driver decided to make a left turn–from the furthest right lane. Crossed four lanes of traffic, turning the car almost horizontal to the traffic, to get to that left turn lane. My friend who grew up in Ft. Lauderdale just rolled her eyes and told us that’s they way they roll there.

  159. 159.

    Cassidy

    April 9, 2013 at 11:17 am

    Just want to add, re: driving, I learned to drive in Bosnia in an up-armored humvee.

  160. 160.

    eemom

    April 9, 2013 at 11:17 am

    Do you think it’s better to leave things alone or address them forthrightly?

    I do the Krakatoa East of Java — awesome ref btw, @c u n d gulag: — every time.

    Doesn’t accomplish anything, but great for my inner Zen.

  161. 161.

    handsmile

    April 9, 2013 at 11:18 am

    Yup, mrs. handsmile has her share of aggravating habits (a devotion to the HGTV channel; our apartment bathroom a jungle of hand-washables each weekend; et al) but whenever indignation threatens to boil over, I consider that this extraordinary woman agreed to marry me thirteen years ago. And has agreed to endure my aggravating habits (inattention to nail parings the least of it). This usually works.

    Rarely does a day pass when I am not amazed by my matrimonial good fortune.

    Re US driving, for sheer vehicular terror nothing in my wide experience surpasses the Washington Capitol Beltway. Weekends on Massachusetts Rt. 495 ain’t no joyride neither.

  162. 162.

    schrodinger's cat

    April 9, 2013 at 11:19 am

    @burnspbesq: My view of driving in Boston may be colored by the fact, I was trying to find an address in the heart of the city, it was getting dark and someone almost tried to kill me because I was going too slowly for them. I was in an unfamiliar rental car, also too.

  163. 163.

    Violet

    April 9, 2013 at 11:20 am

    @Bruuuuce: Ha! Not going to touch that one.

  164. 164.

    burnspbesq

    April 9, 2013 at 11:20 am

    @Chris:

    The place that scares me even more than the Arc is out by the Stade de France, where the cabdrivers taking people to CDG try to make up all the time they lost on the Peripherique by instantly accelerating to 150 kph.

  165. 165.

    ruemara

    April 9, 2013 at 11:20 am

    What did I hate? I hated and still do hate Tai Chi, which became the focus of his life because of untreated depression and IT STILL IS. I hate whining, and practiced incompetence, which meant I could never come home to a freaking meal, simple pasta with sauce, something. Even takeout required I call and tell him to get something and what to get. I kinda hate riding with him because he has a bad habit of, I dunno, not seeing oncoming traffic, near sideswipes in practically empty streets. I hate being told the obvious. If it’s raining, don’t fucking tell me that it’s raining. If there’s a talking wombat on the tv, I can tell for myself, thanks. Really hate being told the obvious.

    And I hate that my really pretty decent boss and bossboss aren’t doing a thing to expand my job even a bit. Considering how I could use the money. I resent that some. But I understand the comfort of the well paid and positioned who don’t want to conceive that things are not that good for everyone. And HR in every company that thinks each job should be a laundry list of multiple position’s skills that can be condensed into 1 person. Hate them all with the fire of a thousand suns.

  166. 166.

    Cassidy

    April 9, 2013 at 11:21 am

    @handsmile:

    but whenever indignation threatens to boil over, I consider that this extraordinary woman agreed to marry me thirteen years ago. And has agreed to endure my aggravating habits (inattention to nail parings the least of it). This usually works.

    Yup. Same amount of time to and 4 kids.

  167. 167.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    April 9, 2013 at 11:21 am

    For all you cyclists out there look at this clever idea

    https://twitter.com/justinwolfers/status/321635663789305857/photo/1

  168. 168.

    noodles

    April 9, 2013 at 11:22 am

    Honey, I feel your pain, but it could be worse. Can you say ‘skidmarks’?

  169. 169.

    schrodinger's cat

    April 9, 2013 at 11:22 am

    Oh and the cows in India are fearless and kinda mean. They think nothing of holding sit-ins in the middle of busy intersections.

  170. 170.

    Tone in DC

    April 9, 2013 at 11:24 am

    @Randy P:

    They do that in DC and Virginia, too.
    Just sayin.

  171. 171.

    Suffern ACE

    April 9, 2013 at 11:24 am

    He talks to0 much while I’m driving in the city and doesn’t help me look for signs and address numbers on buildings so I can focus on the road. He also squeals when a car comes near which makes me lose focus and concerned that I’m going to hit something that I’ve already seen and accounted for.

    And while where at it. Buildings in cities should have their address numbers clearly marked on them. Buildings that don’t should be condemned, demolished, and replaced by buildings that do, with no compensation to the previous owners. (That’s my construction jobs stimulous initiative).

  172. 172.

    Amir Khalid

    April 9, 2013 at 11:27 am

    @schrodinger’s cat:
    I’m old enough to remember when Malaysian cows did that too.

  173. 173.

    Forum Transmitted Disease

    April 9, 2013 at 11:28 am

    What will save my marriage and insure we stay together: we have separate bathrooms. It’s the best.

  174. 174.

    Violet

    April 9, 2013 at 11:28 am

    @Suffern ACE: Don’t go to the UK, where there are no street numbers anywhere. Once you’re off the beaten track, it’s all back to village names for buildings and locations. At least their maps are excellent.

  175. 175.

    Yutsano

    April 9, 2013 at 11:33 am

    @burnspbesq: I swear every single night getting off work I’m going to kill someone going up the hill on Cherry St. Someone either steps off at the crosswalks or right out in the middle of the road. It’s a freaking obstacle course.

  176. 176.

    Nicole

    April 9, 2013 at 11:35 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    Someday, hostile aliens whose only known vulnerability is being splashed with water will invade the earth, and you’ll be damned glad for all those half-full water glasses all over the house! /”Signs” snark…

    Yeah, but it’s still not going to make me believe in God.

  177. 177.

    Comrade Dread

    April 9, 2013 at 11:35 am

    On escalators, stand to the right if you don’t intend to keep walking forward.

    Yes, it’s a petty annoyance, but some of us have trains to catch and you’re making us late.

  178. 178.

    Amir Khalid

    April 9, 2013 at 11:35 am

    Oh, we mustn’t forget that this thread does have a theme song.

  179. 179.

    Betty Cracker

    April 9, 2013 at 11:36 am

    @ruemara: I hear ya on the take-out complaint. I don’t know why I have to be the one to call in orders, even if I just had a root canal and am not in complete control of my own tongue. The man is perfectly capable of talking on the phone but can’t order a pepperoni pizza? Please. On the other hand, I haven’t mowed a lawn since the Clinton Administration…

  180. 180.

    Violet

    April 9, 2013 at 11:37 am

    @Amir Khalid: I really love that movie. And the song is so catchy. Silly, but catchy.

  181. 181.

    tjmn

    April 9, 2013 at 11:37 am

    @jibeaux:

    If you are female, tell him that there’s liquid estrogen in your drink.

  182. 182.

    Cassidy

    April 9, 2013 at 11:39 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    The man is perfectly capable of talking on the phone but can’t order a pepperoni pizza?

    I’ll tell you exactly why. At some point in time, the “man” used to say “honey, what would you like to eat?”. And then, said “woman” says “I don’t know. What do you want? You just pick something.”. So then, the “man” says “Okay, I’m in the mood for this.”. Which is quickly followed by a “No, not that.”, and so on and so forth until we have exhausted all our options and while you still don’t care or know what you want, you know for a fact that every single one of our suggestions is not it. So fuck it, make the phone call and tell us what we’re eating.

  183. 183.

    Ramalama

    April 9, 2013 at 11:42 am

    It is helpful to open the vents a little, every once in a while. The trick is to be able to close the vents back up after a fashion, which I have not yet mastered, sigh.

    I wrote about this very phenomenon here for more time-kill central.

  184. 184.

    PurpleGirl

    April 9, 2013 at 11:43 am

    @AdamK: I think you win the thread. LOL.

  185. 185.

    burnspbesq

    April 9, 2013 at 11:44 am

    @Yutsano:

    My favorite is cyclists on Denny Way trying to do the normal cyclists’ back-and-forth thing to get up the hill–in rush hour traffic.

  186. 186.

    Cervantes

    April 9, 2013 at 11:46 am

    @MomSense: My solution: his and hers kitchen-sink scrubbies. It could be your solution, too.

  187. 187.

    Cervantes

    April 9, 2013 at 11:47 am

    @hitchhiker: Are you my wife? No, you can’t be — she’s still optimistic enough to complain.

  188. 188.

    SatanicPanic

    April 9, 2013 at 11:48 am

    @Redshirt: I think San Diego drivers are mostly polite. The biggest headache is all the AZ drivers during the summer.

  189. 189.

    raven

    April 9, 2013 at 11:52 am

    @Chris: Try driving through the Paris of the Orient with a truck load of ammo!

  190. 190.

    R-Jud

    April 9, 2013 at 11:55 am

    @Violet:

    Don’t go to the UK, where there are no street numbers anywhere. Once you’re off the beaten track, it’s all back to village names for buildings and locations. At least their maps are excellent.

    I’m going to Cornwall on Saturday to spend a week in a cottage we’ve been renting for the last few years. Its address the first time we rented it was simply “Hill Cottage, Boscastle”, and it wasn’t findable on Google Maps. Getting to it was an exercise in complete frustration.

    Spousal frustration: he lost his iThingy charger a while back and won’t replace it. Instead, he takes mine from its appointed place on my nightstand and moves it around the house.

    When going upstairs to bed at night I have trained myself to check all the outlets in the living room and kitchen so I don’t have to go back downstairs and hunt for it later.

  191. 191.

    tjmn

    April 9, 2013 at 11:56 am

    @SatanicPanic:

    You must watch out for the BC plates though. Had a guy back into me into me in a left-turn lane. I get all the info from driver in traffic accident now. I even get the first-born sons info.

  192. 192.

    Just One More Canuck

    April 9, 2013 at 11:57 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: I worked for a while in Mexico City where lanes, signs and signalling are suggestions at best. While I was there I saw a guy get too close to some road workers. Another crew just up the road saw it happen, got in front of the guys car, pulled him out and beat the crap out of him

  193. 193.

    Suffern ACE

    April 9, 2013 at 11:58 am

    @Cassidy:

    I’ll tell you exactly why. At some point in time, the “man” used to say “honey, what would you like to eat?”. And then, said “woman” says “I don’t know. What do you want? You just pick something.”. So then, the “man” says “Okay, I’m in the mood for this.”. Which is quickly followed by a “No, not that.”, and so on and so forth until we have exhausted all our options and while you still don’t care or know what you want, you know for a fact that every single one of our suggestions is not it. So fuck it, make the phone call and tell us what we’re eating.

    You have just described what happens every time I actually stop driving. I mean if he can’t help me look for addresses and parking spaces while I’m driving, couldn’t he at least spend the time I am driving thinking about what he would like to eat?

  194. 194.

    ericblair

    April 9, 2013 at 11:58 am

    @Cassidy:

    Which is quickly followed by a “No, not that.”, and so on and so forth until we have exhausted all our options and while you still don’t care or know what you want, you know for a fact that every single one of our suggestions is not it.

    This sort of “pick any rock, no not that rock” exercise goes on with me and the Light Of My Life. It’s very hard to get a straight answer on this, but my best guess is that it’s mainly due to LOTM’s approach to preferences. Either a preference is the same as hers, and therefore Obviously Right, or different, and therefore Obviously Wrong. So, LOML is quite confused and annoyed when somebody is proposing something that is Obviously Wrong: why would you do that? Why not just order the Obviously Right choice first, and avoid this unnecessary aggrevation?

  195. 195.

    raven

    April 9, 2013 at 11:58 am

    @R-Jud: I remember reading how incredibly difficult the London cab driver exam is.

  196. 196.

    JCR

    April 9, 2013 at 11:59 am

    My sister recently moved in with me. I’ve been living alone for more than a decade. It was a challenge not to freak out over every little thing she does “wrong” (i.e. not as I would do it). We’ve worked out a system where we nicely inform each other of pet peeves that drive us batshit (her worst sin is chattering too much and hovering in my personal space), and quietly adapt to/work around the minor quirks (such as stacking the dish drainer ALL WRONG!).

    The cat, however, I am regularly on the verge of strangling. She is the biggest pain in the butt, constantly getting into things, throwing up on my bed, knocking things over with a big crash in the middle of the night, rolling in the dirt and then taking a nap on my pillow, etc. She’s really lucky she’s so cute. The thing that really gets me though is her habit of catching mice and voles outside and bringing them in the house and releasing them. The dog sometimes manages to catch them and take them back out, but usually my sister and I have a merry chase trying to catch the little buggers, while the cat looks on with approval for our growing hunting skills that she’s helping us acquire. Grrrrr….

  197. 197.

    LanceThruster

    April 9, 2013 at 12:00 pm

    The drivers of my vanpool won’t switch the climate control to recirculate when we’re following a truck or bus and the compartment fills with diesel fumes. I’m filing a formal complaint.

  198. 198.

    R-Jud

    April 9, 2013 at 12:03 pm

    @raven: “The Knowledge”. Yes, it’s fiendish. Among other things, the examiners give you the starting point and ending point of a journey and you have to describe the shortest route between them.

  199. 199.

    Forum Transmitted Disease

    April 9, 2013 at 12:04 pm

    I’ll tell you exactly why. At some point in time, the “man” used to say “honey, what would you like to eat?”. And then, said “woman” says “I don’t know. What do you want? You just pick something.”. So then, the “man” says “Okay, I’m in the mood for this.”. Which is quickly followed by a “No, not that.”, and so on and so forth until we have exhausted all our options and while you still don’t care or know what you want, you know for a fact that every single one of our suggestions is not it. So fuck it, make the phone call and tell us what we’re eating.

    @Cassidy: Not cool to be spying on me and my wife, dude.

  200. 200.

    ruemara

    April 9, 2013 at 12:04 pm

    @Cassidy: That’s not it, man. I’ve never been one of those people and frankly, that’s men too. These are restaurants we know where he knows exactly what I prefer and the fact that I’ll try anything. This is the same man who would delay taking the garbage out or cleaning anything he wasn’t interested in until I did it and trust me, I waited in some cases, a month. Don’t hang that “women do this” bullshit on all relationships, because it’s goddamn bullshit.

  201. 201.

    schrodinger's cat

    April 9, 2013 at 12:07 pm

    @JCR: Good kitteh, she is teaching you (her kittens) how to hunt.

  202. 202.

    cckids

    April 9, 2013 at 12:08 pm

    @Craig:

    Betty, all you need is a dog. Problem solved!

    I laugh because my Pomeranian will come running if he hears anyone clipping their nails. Its as if we yelled “treat!!” We try to scoop them up first, though, ’cause it just makes him barf. WTF is it anyway?

  203. 203.

    JCR

    April 9, 2013 at 12:09 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: Yes, and my realization of that is the only thing keeping her alive at this point. I swear.

  204. 204.

    Cassidy

    April 9, 2013 at 12:10 pm

    @ruemara: Lol, I know, but it makes for great schtick comedy. There aren’t any absolutes, but I think most of the men here are nodding their heads in agreement.

    I’ve had male friends do the waffling thing and I’ve flat told them they’re not my wife, so I’ll ask a second time what they want and then after that they’re along for the ride.

  205. 205.

    Violet

    April 9, 2013 at 12:11 pm

    @R-Jud: At least the A-Z maps are pretty good and reliable.

    Spousal frustration: he lost his iThingy charger a while back and won’t replace it. Instead, he takes mine from its appointed place on my nightstand and moves it around the house.

    Sounds like a gift idea for the next birthday or gift holiday!

  206. 206.

    MomSense

    April 9, 2013 at 12:12 pm

    @Paul in KY:

    If I decided to just replace them without touching the sponges I would probably end up with a sinkful of icky sponges.

    GRRRRRR. I feel a Krakatoa coming on!

  207. 207.

    BruceFromOhio

    April 9, 2013 at 12:30 pm

    Nice way to pitch a bleeding calf into a river full of piranha.

    People bitching about what bothers them bugs the living shit out of me. Waah waah waah, just fucking get over it already.

  208. 208.

    catclub

    April 9, 2013 at 12:31 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt: what is the red tube on the rear triangle? Fire extinguisher?

  209. 209.

    raven

    April 9, 2013 at 12:38 pm

    @R-Jud: Yea, that’s it!

  210. 210.

    JoyfulA

    April 9, 2013 at 12:39 pm

    @Cassidy: My complaint is those driving 85 mph where there are signs every hundred feet saying “special speed zone/ 55 MPH/ double fines” with no traffic cops anywhere ever. Do I want to break the law and risk a $500 fine and doubled insurance premiums because the speeding loonie about to tap my bumper behind me can’t be bothered to get out of bed on time?

    But I work at home and don’t have to suffer bumper to bumper 85mph rush-hour traffic. I make all appointments between 9:30 and 3.

  211. 211.

    raven

    April 9, 2013 at 12:40 pm

    @catclub: I think it’s a pump.

  212. 212.

    Randy P

    April 9, 2013 at 12:45 pm

    @BruceFromOhio: I can’t decide if your “I’ll tell you what bugs me” contribution was ironic or meant seriously.

  213. 213.

    pharniel

    April 9, 2013 at 12:48 pm

    @Cassidy: 5e playtest contributed to this rant.

  214. 214.

    pharniel

    April 9, 2013 at 12:56 pm

    @Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:

    Don’t get me started on 4

    About how amazing it is and how it recreates the BCMI experience nicely instead of failing at Sim Oerth?

    (Alternatively Dungeon Fortress also works)

    Why yes, yes I am a 4venger, why do you ask?

    (Full disclosure – started with AD&D in boyscouts and moved on to Gold Box Games. People who started later tend to react….badly towards 4E. People who started earlier already Quit The Band with 3.x)

    I am a survivor of both Great Mage Flamewars and 3.x and 4e and now 5. I think it’s why I find 4chan’s trolling attempts to be quaint instead of horrifying.

  215. 215.

    Cassidy

    April 9, 2013 at 12:59 pm

    @pharniel: @pharniel: I started with AD&D, or as the kids call it second edition.

    I don’t like 4. I think it’s too WoWy, I guess. I feel like they took out a lot of elements that made the different classes unique. The “at will” stuff wouldn’t bother me if they hadn’t just taken a list of what people used the most starting in 2nd edition.

    Honestly, I prefer AD&D, but will play 3.5 with no issues. I just don’t like 4.

  216. 216.

    Anonymous Coward

    April 9, 2013 at 1:03 pm

    My housemate seemingly never washes his hands after he takes a shit, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s the heighth of gross. I understand people in living situations having conflicting standards, so I do make sure there is soap and hand towels and things (not sure what he’d do without them). He also puts fresh food into dirty dishes which may have been sitting out overnight or whatever. Another friend of ours caught him doing that, and I said, “Dude, don’t do that; it’s gross,” and our friend said, “Not only that, but you’re going to die.”

    I’m far from the neatest person, and I will admit I make probably 90% of the mess in the kitchen (but I pay for the cleaning lady, too), but argh.

    Also, jesus, wash your damn bedding sometimes. When I can walk by your bedroom and smell your bed, things are very wrong.

    I stick fruit stickers on the outside of the bag I’m using to hold compost, which hangs on the handle to one of my kitchen drawers. When I take the compost out to the bin, the plastic bag goes in the garbage outside. Simple.

  217. 217.

    pharniel

    April 9, 2013 at 1:23 pm

    @Cassidy:

    That’s weird. I find 4 plays much like we played AD&D and 3.x just turned into Aggressively Hegmonizing Ursine Swarms because someone Won the Game when they wrote Druid/Cleric/Wizard on their character sheet.

    4’s not perfect but it is Exactly What It Says on the Tin.

    Now we all play WoW/MMO/etc. and we find 4 only resembles wow in that Raid Bosses are an excellent source of boss fights for set piece battles.

    But 4 srs, I wrote for LG and ran a home game. I’ll never touch 3.x again – burned out from all the work I had to do for minor things that just blew up because of some malfunctioning sub-system.

    And thanks to the OSR/Old Geezer I’ve seen what OD&D and BCMI actually look/play like and realize how just…odd AD&D is and 3.x is even more so just…kinda out there.

  218. 218.

    Felanius Kootea

    April 9, 2013 at 1:32 pm

    I love this thread. His pet peeve: I carry around a bunch of brush picks in my purse that I use after every meal. Somehow I managed not to use them when we were first dating. He jokes that if I’d pulled them out to use them on our first date, there wouldn’t have been a second one.

    My pet peeve: He likes to crunch ice loudly when he drinks water. And I mean loudly, while grinning at me.

  219. 219.

    Paul in KY

    April 9, 2013 at 1:41 pm

    @Chris: Good story about that traffic circle around the Arc. We lived in France for 2 years (dad stationed at Chateau Roux AFB) & as we were leaving France, my mother took me up to Paris (I was 4) to see some sights before we left.

    My poor mother did not know there was a tunnel under this godawful traffic circle (6 lanes or so) that surrounds the Arc. We stood there for 20 – 25 mins trying to cross that circle, before my mother finally gave up.

    I know those French were laughing their asses off as they careened around the circle in their blue citroens.

  220. 220.

    Cassidy

    April 9, 2013 at 1:41 pm

    @pharniel: I don’t play WoW or MMO’s so maybe I’m only imagining what it’s like. We haven’t given 4 a try. Collectively, my group read the rules and said “no thanks”. If I’m not playing AD&D, then I’ll go with Pathfinder in 3.5. What really works for me in the AD&D and 3.x is I like defined character classes in that I like the old school fantasy feel. I play fighters and rogues almost exclusively. I don’t like magic and never have; it’s just not my thing. On the flip side, I love SR just because of how rounded the characters have to be to survive and be of any use to the team.

  221. 221.

    Paul in KY

    April 9, 2013 at 1:42 pm

    @Violet: Glad you friend was a veteran & knew to expect that!

  222. 222.

    Paul in KY

    April 9, 2013 at 1:48 pm

    @ruemara: You’re kvetching again ;-)

  223. 223.

    Heliopause

    April 9, 2013 at 2:02 pm

    How do the people in your life drive YOU crazy?

    Ah, relationship humor. Okay, I’ll give it a try, except this isn’t exactly humor, it’s the God’s-honest truth.

    Every woman in my life has done this: she’ll all of a sudden, seemingly out of nowhere, talk about something I said or allegedly said, and I have no idea what she’s talking about. As we continue it turns out that she’s carrying on a conversation we had days, weeks, even decades ago. As in, we were in the middle of a conversation, it was interrupted, and then — I swear to god I’m not making this up — days, weeks, or even decades later she picks up right where it left off, and I’m in trouble because I have no idea what she’s talking about. My hand to God.

  224. 224.

    pharniel

    April 9, 2013 at 2:12 pm

    @Cassidy:

    Oh man…fighters. The Rocks of pre-3.x who hit like a train and just keep going and shrug off spells and effects like no bodies business.

    4E was the worst presented form of D&D ever – putting powers first ect. But playing a 4E fighter man….I just don’t even.

    You can Corbin Dallas

  225. 225.

    Forkbeard

    April 9, 2013 at 2:21 pm

    @Amir Khalid: I just started reading that too! What a great book. The section on post-it notes mirrors a discussion I have with the wife on a regular basis.

    @Heliopause: My wife does this too, but the outside range is usually about a week. Which still makes it impossible to understand what she means when she says “I’ve got two, now.” or “Why don’t we go with the black ones?” Drives me nuts, but mostly she’s forgiving about it when I look at her like she’s crazy.

  226. 226.

    Cassidy

    April 9, 2013 at 2:25 pm

    @pharniel: Fighter: not too bright but can lift heavy things.

    Growing up I was always drawn to Conan and Krull and Madmartigan, so when I started playing TT RPG’s those are the characters I wanted to be. Even today, I’ll play fighter archetypes on video game RPG’s. I let the NPC’s do the psionics/ magic stuff.

    Hell, we’re playing Deadlands right now and it’s a departure for me to be playing a brute fighter instead of the wiry, quick fighter.

    How is 5 shaping up? Will it be worth buying?

  227. 227.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    April 9, 2013 at 2:28 pm

    I remember hearing a radio call in show. Guy says that he’s sick of this bullstuff (it was the 70s – he probably didn’t even say “bullstuff” – hell, probably didn’t even say “BS”. I probably should say “aitch-ee-double-toothpick” just to talk about it) about talking about your grievances. His wife served him pot roast every Sunday for 35 years, and her pot roast sucks, but did he ever complain? Never!

    The guest pointed out that if he’d brought this up earlier, he might have had a row, and might have hurt some feelings, but he also might have avoided 35 years of unwanted pot roast.

    (For bonus points, he could have lied and said he wasn’t a pot roast fan at all. Because how could that go wrong? No one in that day and age would get a dinner invite or go out to eat and end up with a pot roast dinner he’d gush over….)

  228. 228.

    pharniel

    April 9, 2013 at 2:57 pm

    @Cassidy:

    Right now 5 looks to be all the ‘did you play a spell caster? why are you in this party again?’ from 3.x mixed with ‘we can’t be bothered to do math, sorry’ of AD&D into something that’s…pretty bad actually.

    It’s got some neat ideas but if it wasn’t from WotC we’d call it a heartbreaker. as in someone’s houserules for AD&D that they were trying to publish.

    Only it doesn’t feature fighters with amazing saves and awesome hitpoints and spellcasters with much in the way of limitation.

    It’s still a bit early but it looks like when Monty left they went back to scratch without much of a plan and design by committee – to make it ‘modular’ and ‘the edition for everyone’

    Except of course that the excellent ideas they’ve had so far (Background, Theme, the new Sorcerer and Warlock, there spheres of adventure: Exploration, Interaction and Combat) have all been excised and most of the time they basically go out of their way to bag on 4E ideas even when said ideas would, y’know, be the sensible thing to do.

    Take keywords or the action economy – in 3.x you get standard and move and later (swift). In 4 you get move, minor standard. In 5 you get ‘a turn’ or ‘an action’.
    Plenty of powers exist that use swift/minor actions and 5e has plenty of things which WOULD be minor actions, if 5e cared for your gamist bullshit! so instead of ‘use your minor action to heal an ally when you hit with this power’ it’s ‘once per turn when you hit with this power you can heal an ally unless…’ and then they have to list out all the other powers that are effectively a minor action because….they want to EMPOWER DMs man. Or something. But they have to do this for EVERY minor action equivalent.

    Wizards are still based around the adventure DAY so it’s ok for them to end an encounter or make the rouge obsolete because they only get so many spells except, y’know, 5 minute adventuring day. They’ve got some rules to block that but they, again, hit the fighter more than the spellcaster.

    Oh. right. modular. Well you’d expect a tight core – 15 pages or so and then a little booklet for each of the core 4 classes so you get something like Dominion or the old Talisman/Warhammer adventure game right?
    Nope.
    They’ve baked way too much into the core to do that.

    Essentially even Enworld – home of the Pathfinder Fan Club – is starting to get a little disappointed. RPG.net which contains fans of 4e and Old School Style have managed to be simultaneously disappointing. It’s like quantum failure.

    Which is what happens when you make ‘the edition for everyone!L!L!11!1!’ instead of having a clear vision.

  229. 229.

    pharniel

    April 9, 2013 at 3:00 pm

    Oh right – if you want something that’s….well…not 4e but of tighter design than 3.x which harkens back to olde tyme adventure stories I really have to recommend 13th age.

  230. 230.

    Theodore Wirth

    April 9, 2013 at 3:14 pm

    Leaves a tablespoon of milk in the carton and puts it back in the frig.

    Leaves two nuts or goldfish in the package and puts it back in the pantry.

    Opens new packages of food items before others are half-way finished. Regularly mangles the wrong end of food packaging.

    Stabs at the tape on shipping boxes with kitchen scissors.

    Uses a rubber spatula (melts them) or a bamboo stir fry tool instead of a cooking spatula when making scrambled eggs. Cooks eggs at high heat and half of the egg remains burnt onto the sides of the pan.

    An expensive frying pan goes MIA (see above).

    Flatware regularly goes MIA, particularly the forks.

    Closes the shades and turns on the lights.

    *Sigh*

  231. 231.

    danielx

    April 9, 2013 at 3:27 pm

    How do the people in your life drive YOU crazy? Do you think it’s better to leave things alone or address them forthrightly?

    Discovery of cell phones. All time record of calls to me from the spouse in one day: thirteen, as in 1 3. And this wasn’t a day involving any sort of emergency or crisis or needing directions.

    Can’t this wait until you get home?

  232. 232.

    mainmati

    April 9, 2013 at 3:30 pm

    @Davo: You shave with tweezers? Ouch!

  233. 233.

    Xenos

    April 9, 2013 at 3:31 pm

    My wife is perfect, or close to it. That is to say, she tolerates my existence in her life, which is beyond the call of duty.

    But she does refuse to load the dishwasher…

  234. 234.

    mainmati

    April 9, 2013 at 3:32 pm

    @Todd: Same with mine. Only nowadays I do most of the cooking so it’s less of a problem.

    I’m struck by the broad similarity in many of these quirks/complaints. Hmmm.

  235. 235.

    mainmati

    April 9, 2013 at 3:36 pm

    @Violet: In some multi-tenant buildings, doors between floors are locked for security purposes (at least going up) so, in some cases, they don’t have a choice except take the elevator.

  236. 236.

    mainmati

    April 9, 2013 at 3:40 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: If you’re talking about the Capitol Beltway, it is not a whole lot different from NASCAR but with lousier, more dangerous drivers. I hate it. Fortunately, I can walk and Metro to work and back.

  237. 237.

    Cassidy

    April 9, 2013 at 3:43 pm

    @pharniel: Ugh. Guess I’ll be sticking with Pathfinder.

  238. 238.

    Maude

    April 9, 2013 at 3:53 pm

    @Cassidy:
    Had a woman say to me that all men are slobs and don’t pick up after themselves. I mentioned a man we knew who is very neat and she said yeah, he is. I said you can’t say all men are anything.
    I am so tempted to say all men do…

  239. 239.

    Origuy

    April 9, 2013 at 4:47 pm

    @R-Jud:

    I’m going to Cornwall on Saturday to spend a week in a cottage we’ve been renting for the last few years. Its address the first time we rented it was simply “Hill Cottage, Boscastle”, and it wasn’t findable on Google Maps.

    Bing Maps lets you get at the Ordinance Survey maps. Doesn’t look like your cottage is on there, though.

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Clearly you have never been anywhere in the former Soviet Union.

    I was in Moscow last month. I got a ride to the airport with the lady I was staying with. She has this tiny Kia; we got into this horrendous traffic jam where trucks and cars were going every which way. The two feet of snow was melting so that the roads were flooded in places and people were driving on the sidewalks to get around the jam.
    There’s a reason why everyone has a dashboard video camera there.

  240. 240.

    schrodinger's cat

    April 9, 2013 at 5:40 pm

    @mainmati: Yeah I used to take the metro to work when I lived there, I drove to the station parked my car there and then took the metro.

  241. 241.

    dance around in your bones

    April 9, 2013 at 6:33 pm

    @Gex:

    Well, hate to be the party pooper here, but I don’t want to list any of those little things here. Yes, they are irritating in the day to day scheme of things. But overall they are so unimportant. I regret letting those little things bother me so much.

    So far, April has been the hardest month since Kate died.

    I hear you, Gex. While reading this thread I thought about how I wish my husband was still around to get annoyed at.

    Now, my kid and her family…you never SAW such a drop it any old where, never close the drawers, lose the car keys every damn day ’cause you never put them on the car key rack, etc etc etc….don’t get me started! Plus the boys pee all over my toilet seat, the waste basket, and the wall. Gah.

    P.S. My kid just called because she locked the keys in the car at the park where she took all the boys. Double Gah.

  242. 242.

    Cassidy

    April 9, 2013 at 6:57 pm

    @Maude: I probably laugh. Most men are some variation of annoying to our womenfolk.

  243. 243.

    gluon1

    April 10, 2013 at 9:42 am

    @Belafon (formerly anonevent): In case no one else has answered, he’s the son of Sen. Tim Johnson who’s retiring. Kos is upset with former-Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, who’s also expected to vie for the seat, and convinced that the younger Johnson will be much more liberal than she would be.

  244. 244.

    Big Jim Slade

    April 10, 2013 at 1:15 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Once you learn how to get around (like which lane you need to be in and when), driving in Boston is fun – it’s like a video game! The only sin is hesitation. Nothing ruins the flow of traffic like someone driving halfway into a lane, then stopping afraid to take the rest of it and… PROCEED! Boston drivers are ready for crazy maneuvers, just pick your spot and go for it. They understand that if you miss your turn, you may not be able to get back to it for 15 minutes and 2 miles of getting lost.

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