Irritate me.

It has been awhile since I had an all-out grieving of my life's annoying aspects, hasn't it? While I didn't wake up on the wrong side of the bed (in fact, I woke up to P.I.C. bringing me coffee and later making my breakfast, the exact RIGHT side of the bed), I still have an incident that bugs me from two mornings ago.


It is no secret to those of you faithful readers: I tend to be rather irritable. Whether it is the person who elbows me to get on the bus ahead of me, or the phantom that clips its nails every Thursday afternoon in my office, I GET ANNOYED. It is the truth. Love it or hate it, it is how I roll.

The other morning, I am waiting with the masses in the El station for my blue chariot to come along and whisk me to my place of work. I walk to the front of where the train will stop because then it is close to the stairway to my building. I used to snag a seat on one of the wooden benches, but recently heard from a reliable source that bed bugs MIGHT reside in those benches, I now choose to stand. I was standing in my usual spot, doing my usual scan for mice and rats down in the tracks (WHAT? Doesn't everyone do that when they ride the El???) when I saw a guy that had been sitting on the bench near where I was standing get up and walk to the edge of the platform. He had made an impression on me as I had walked by a moment before with his too-tight shirt and his sweet tribal arm band tattoo. I figured that he was joining me in my rodent search.

HOW WRONG I WAS. I listened to him suck in through his nose and mouth at the same time and pull all of the mucus to the back of his throat and then whip that mucus out of the front of his mouth onto those unsuspecting train tracks. I WITNESSED HIM HOCK A LOOGIE.

Allow me to let that sink into your system. Sick, right?

So, here's the irritation: I cannot stand when people spit in my presence. I don't care if you are getting over a cold and just have to get that out of your system. I don't care that you just smoked a cigarette and now must complete the ritual. Spitting is nasty. PERIOD. If you are one that MUST spit, please, please, please do not do it in public. It makes you look like a disgusting animal.

And that, my friends, is my irritation of the day (and me imploring you to change your ways if you are a spitter.)