I am officially getting on my soapbox and speaking my mind about a few things that have been bugging me.
[For those of you wondering, yes, that is a genuine soapbox. The spouse bought if for me on eBay. Best anniversary present ever. And yes, those are fuzzy slippers -- my fuzzy slippers, which I wear around the house. Though I do not sit around the house watching TV in (or out) of them, nor do I eat bonbons.]
In no particular order, here goes.
* WTF Congress?! We claim to be the greatest nation in the world, and yet millions of our citizens live below the poverty level -- and your latest budget will only plunge more families and children into poverty. Frig the deficit. Let's get more Americans back to work, at jobs that pay a decent wage. I don't know about all of you, but I would rather see my tax dollars spent on hiring more teachers, more policeman, more firefighters, and fixing our crumbling bridges, tunnels, and highways than fighting made up wars and the salaries of Congressman and Senators who can barely pass the salt let alone a piece of legislation. (And do not get me started on
gerrymandering.)
* I hate designated hitters (DHs). How can you have a sport, baseball, with two separate sets of rules, especially when we now have interleague play?! Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, "but we're protecting the pitcher." If you are so effing concerned about your effing players, they should all be forced to wear those ridiculous, uber padded batting helmets that
make them look like the Great Gazoo. No coddling pitchers. Get rid of the DH.
* And while we are on the topic of baseball, I hate bunting. I get why players bunt, but I still think it's stupid.
* And speaking of sports, player salaries are way out of control. I get that there are some very talented athletes out there, but does Alex Rodriguez really deserve to be paid $28 million this season?
Were any of these guys worth the millions they were paid last year? And tell me Amar'e Stoudemare is worth $20 million?! (And I'm a Knicks fan.) And no way does Joe Flacco deserve to be
the highest paid player in the NFL. (
Here are some fun stats about football player salaries.) And what truly disgusts me is when these spoiled millionaires throw public hissy fits about not being paid what they are worth, like there is a big difference between $22 million and $20 million a year or even $12 million and $10 million (especially when your team has already spent millions on you). Disgusting.
* Stop effing renaming things! Just leave buildings, bridges, and stadiums alone. Unless the Kennedy family paid the City of New York a billion dollars to do so, there was NO REASON for the City of New York to rename the Triborough Bridge the RFK Bridge. None. And I get that Pan Am went under, and that MetLife left the Pan Am signage up for years after Pan Am had moved and MetLife owned the building, but I will forever think of the tower above Grand Central Terminal as the Pan Am Building, not the MetLife Building. (And get this, MetLife doesn't even own the building anymore! Hasn't since 2005!)
* And why is it so hard to find something with a plot, but without gratuitous (or excessive) violence, that doesn't insult my intelligence, on TV? (Save it
Downton Abbey lovers. I get it.) Am counting the days until
Newsroom returns on HBO. (Or I would if I knew exactly when in June HBO will begin airing Season 2.)
* Another thing that bugs me, victims. I'm not talking Newtown here. I'm talking people who act like victims, who take no responsibility for their own lives or their actions, who constantly blame others for what's wrong with them or their lives.
* Also up there, people who constantly brag about their kids. OMFG. NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR KID(S) ALL THE TIME, except maybe their grandparents. That is not to say you shouldn't be proud and tell the world when your child does something really remarkable, like wins some major award or accomplishes something that is a big deal. But some days I think they should just rename Facebook Lake Wobegone. (A large part of the reason I no longer talk on the phone with friends, or get together with certain people who have children, is that all they want to talk about is their kids. Spending five minutes catching up on kid stuff, great. More than that? Torture. What happened to you people?)
Okay, I'm getting off my soapbox now. (But feel free to get up on your own soapbox and leave a comment about what bugs you. Though please, no personal attacks.)
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