Things That Annoy Me Today

1. I had to get out of bed. Granted, this is something that annoys me every single day and has for many many years. When possible (i.e. on weekdays when we don't have the kids) I delay the getting out of bed by enticing Guy to have sex with me. And yes, not getting out of bed is my first motive for this, though it does change into having sex for sex's sake quickly enough. But eventually--and usually quite soon after, since I insist that Guy not wake me until the last possible moment, and so things are perforce kind of rushed--I do still have to get out of bed.

2. I went to a school play for Girl and that's 40 minutes of my life I will never get back. In my defense, I actually want to go to these things, at least more than I don't want to go, and I do actually enjoy them and she's supercute and it's exciting and fun to watch her doing her thing and going to school and getting older and generally being her. However, that only lasts for about ten minutes, which really is as long as kindergarten school plays should last. At Girl's school they last thirty. And the other kindergarten class went first. In true Teletubby fashion, they did the same thing over and over ("Down came the toys, and around and around they danced, and careful Spiderman Toy Boy, try not to kill Scooby Doo Toy Boy!") and then it was time for Girl's class to do the same thing. Again. That would make like fifty times I heard the phrase "down came the toys." At this point, Guy and I had reached saturation point, not to mention the point where we were really late for work, and so we had to leave before Girl's class was done with even one repetition. Which kind of sucked for her.

3. My conversation with the clever folks at PW.

Cordelia: I'm calling because we didn't get this week's issue?

Customer Service Lady: What's the name on the account, and the zipcode?

Cordelia: Park Literary Group, 10010.

CSL: What's the last name?

Cordelia: Uh, Park? Or Group, potentially.

CSL: Park Literary Group?

Cordelia: Yes.

CSL: So what can I do for you?

Cordelia: We didn't get this week's issue.

CSL: We show you as being expired.

Cordelia: We should have another year left.

CSL: Oh, Park Literary Group? You expire in September 2008.

Cordelia: Okay. Great. So can we get this week's issue, then?

CSL: You would like a replacement issue? (Incredulous).

Cordelia: Yes.

CSL: Oh. Well, okay. I'll have one sent out.


What annoys me about this exchange isn't so much the runaround and repetition, as that's sort of expected with customer service lines and I'm mentally prepared for it and have the solitaire game going on my computer to get me through it. I'm annoyed by the "oh, would you like to actually receive the magazine for which you have a subscription? How strange!"