Pet Peeves

The list:

• slow drivers who pull out in front of me even though there's no one behind me
• people who borrow stuff and don't take care of it
• people who don't take responsibility for their actions
• whiners who aren't funny about it
• people who are completely un-self-aware
• people who miss appointments without calling to reschedule
• spilling stuff on myself--the joke in the family is "It wouldn't be a day . . ." if that didn't happen

Hmm, even though I suggested Pet Peeves, I'm not really in the mood to go off on anyone or anything. (Imagine that!) I guess I'll try tall tales.

Tall Tales:

• ghost stories about Mama Cox's house--I need to talk to some relatives about that because they're mostly gone from my memory
• the murder-suicide at Haunted Bridge in Grady County
• Spook Bridge in Lowndes County--I don't actually know what was supposed to have happened there, but we partied there in college

Yeah, that's not working for me either. I guess I'll try something else.

Family sayings:

• "wouldn't be a day"--we say this whenever someone spills something; Renee reminded me of this saying today
• "whif and in"--we say this instead of "when and if" because Wes transposed letters in those words one day, and it's just become one of the family sayings--Isn't that called a Spoonerism, or am I thinking of something else?
• "That's what my girlfriend said at the picnic."--Wes picked this up in college. You'd be surprised how often that saying fits.

Other confused sayings:

• "bomb" pronounced as "bum"--This comes from my aunt who talked about a "bum threat" at school, which now seems strangely appropriate.
• "Brookwood Plasma" instead of "Brookwood Plaza"--the original University Center
• "ovulating fan" instead of "oscillating fan"
• "Grand Pricks" instead of "Grand Prix"

Hmm, nothing seems to be gelling for me today. What's up with that? I sip my twenty-ounce French Vanilla cappuccino from a convenience store and hope for inspiration. Stupid inspiration. It fails me. I start thinking of metaphors for failure and realize I don't want to go there.

I scan the room, looking for inspiration. Ansley, Tammy, Lori, Nick, and I type. Dottie, Lana, Rebecca, Renee, and Cindy Kay write. Well, actually, when I look up, Renee is scraping the last of the yogurt from the container. Ansley pauses for a sip of coffee and checks the room, then re-reads her writing thus far.

Rebecca sips from her Starbucks mug and returns to the food table where she has stashed her I-Pod. I just realized that I don't know how I-Pod is capitalized. Since I don't have one, it's not a major issue for me, but I'm just curious.

I forgot to turn off the projector. Matt left the Cars poster on the wall. I wonder why Blogspot lets writers use italics in the posts but not in the comments. Oh well, just another unanswered question. Maybe that's a good prompt: Unanswered Questions. Not today. Not for me. Today no topics appeals, but I keep writing, pushing myself to generate text, to form words, to hope for coherent thought, but to keep writing regardless of temptations to desist.

I wonder if anyone else is on the blog today. I wonder if there will be stuff to read when I post. This computer hurts my arms. The table is too tall. Maybe I'll try raising the chair. Nah, maybe I'll just sit here and complain. Given the complaints generated, I'm surprised Pet Peeves isn't working for me as a topic.

The projector distracts me, but that's probably because I'm looking for distractions. I check the coffee pot. Nope. Some remains, so there's no excuse to quit writing. I should have left the room. That would have provided some distraction. I know I'll use the rest of the coffee so that I can make more. Good plan.