Note: I have added 2 more weekly sub-categories of “2014 News”, and those are “Science” and “Everything Else”. I felt I had to call it “Everything Else”, or I would have gone super-organized and made a LOT of other sub-categories like “Marijuana”, “Pennsylvania News”, “War”, “Terrorism”, “Freedom of Speech” and on and on and on.

And then Wednesday would come and I would either have too much to write (because I would have felt the need to write something in ALL sub-categories), or would have written so much that no one (myself included) would want to read it.

But, considering that this blog is supposed to not just be about me, but also about life in 2014 and beyond, I want to include stuff I think is important about the world-at-large. Thankfully for you, this will not include things like celebrity gossip or other vacuous subjects, unless:

Something has annoyed me and I can make fun of it, or…
Something has pissed me off and I can rant about it.

Because sometimes “vacuous” is also really irritating.

So, at the mention of “irritating”, here we go!

You recall BettyLou from last week’s entry called “Just Bring Cups”, that example of pettiness I have encountered way too many times in my life? Well, BettyLou has a daughter, whose name is probably something with the “ee” sound at the end (Tiffany, Bethany, Brittany, Destiny, Chasity – somehow I think people are spelling this wrong, Brandy, you get the idea).

Let me be clear. I know people who have (some of) these names, and I do not dislike them – ok, I might dislike some of them, but not because of their names. And, by the way, BettyLou is just a name I made up, as I can’t recall what the actual name was of the “Halloween Carnival Nemesis”. It’s just that, for some reason, these “ee” sounding names were very popular with parents of those born in the late 70s, early 80s.

Anyway…BettyLou’s little sweetheart has moved on from “just being a room mother” to “super-fantastic-is-my-hair-perfect-in-this-picture-BLOGGER”.

“Annoying” has gone viral.

Nothing spectacular in reporting that some people on the internet are annoying, as we all know that’s common. The thing that blows me away is how easily this particular type of annoying translates from your typical middle-class venues to the internet.

The “About Me” portions of the blogs are always the same:

“I am the proud wife of a very successful, handsome man who puts up with my nightly blogging (after everyone is bathed and tucked into bed, of course!) and loves me even when I spend a little too much at the grocery store (oops!). I also have 3 beautiful, talented children who, in addition to excelling at piano, ballet, and football, spend their winter vacations collecting canned food for the less fortunate (during our yearly Christmas treks to Aspen, after their junior championship ski competition).

I am also an avid coupon-clipper, president of the local chapter of “Craft-y Women” (our little craft group that makes AWESOME centerpieces for city council luncheons!), and organizer of the “Trunk or Treat” night every October 31 (All Hallow’s Eve is a Christian holiday, and we need to take it back!). The reason I am writing this blog, though, is because I love to cook! So many people have suggested that I write a recipe blog so, here it is!”

If the above (fictitious) example doesn’t make you ill, or make you shudder, or make you smirk, then why are you continuing to read this? You know where it’s going.

“Why are you picking on these people? Is it because of the ‘Halloween Carnival Incident’?”

Well, kind of. Although I did mention at the end of that article that, quite often, this holier-than-thou, snotty attitude that is all too common amongst certain types of people causes massive problems for them at some point. Sometimes they are so busy sticking it to “the Joneses” that their own life goes to hell in a handcart, and they end up seeing a therapist – like me.

And the minute they walk into my office, they become human. A human who is hurting gets help from me no matter what the reason is. So I don’t, as a rule, hate people like this.

Sometimes their kids learn by observing the detrimental effect this attitude has on others, and really make an effort to be “not-perfect” people like the rest of us slobs.

But more often than not they don’t have their world come crashing down on them, or have an epiphany – they just keep repeating the same patterns. Because not everyone falls off their high horses. It’s just a fact of life.