negativity and positivity

I just read a blog post of Beck's a few hours ago that I really loved; hence, this post. I'm not sure if Beck set out exactly to list things she doesn't like, but since I love doing just that, that is the task for today. However, life is just going so well right now that I am going to have to tack some positive stuff on the end.

Dislikes

I don't like finding out that I'm a hypocrite. I tend to be a little judgmental of spelling mistakes. I've been trying to stop because it feels kind of elitist/bourgeois/fascist of me to do this, but the problem persists. Anyway, yesterday I discovered that I have been spelling (and probably saying) the word "procrastinate" wrong for my entire life! I always thought it was "procastinate", or at least spelt it that way without thinking. I feel humbled and worm-like.

I don't like going to the mall, or town, and running up against swarms of teenage girls wearing t-shirts saying things like "My boyfriend's hotter than yours" or "Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me?" or (oh-so-politically sophisticated) "killing whales is stupid", carrying huge bags from horrid little teenybopper shops like Supré, cackling, and walking about ten abreast.

I don't like spiders. Nothing surprising there, I suppose. I found a huge white-tail spider in the kitchen this morning; these are slightly poisonous. Not fatal, but reasonably painful. I caught it in a cup, drove ten minutes away, and let it go. I don't like killing them because they're big enough to make me feel guilty about it.

I don't like academic books or articles that insist on using Big And Obscure Words. I read an article today and spent about three minutes (until I gave up) trying to understand this sentence: "The salience of the rubric is inescapable, identifying as it does the project's tendentious literalism." Oh, of course. Utterly inescapable.

Likes

I like the star charts me and K. made for the honours room. Almost everyone who uses the room has opted in. Every can of V (energy drink) drunk gets one green star. (I'm winning so far!) Every book bought or borrowed from the library gets a different coloured dot, depending on how many pages there are. Every time someone goes upstairs to wash the teaspoons or fill the kettle, they get a blue star. Communal purchases such as milk or sugar or coffee get a red star. Anytime someone procrastinates they receive a silver star. Special awards earn a gold star. (Example of how this works: J. suggested K. and I deserved the first gold stars and not him, because we had done most of the work, and so we awarded him a special award for being noble.) If anyone spends ten solid hours or more at uni, they get a smiley face (or, if they feel like it, an unhappy face).

I like nice wine! Exclamation mark - because this is a real accomplishment for me. I've realised I like white wine, not red. And it has to be nice stuff, not cheap and nasty. I still don't drink much at all because I only need to have about one glass before I start feeling the effects, but it's a real relief to discover I could like it!

I like babies. Mmmm. And by the way... I'm a godmother. :)

I like buying CDs. Despite not having much money at the moment, sigh. When will I learn to economise?