Punctuality, Cleanliness, and Straight Shots

Ugh! You may have noticed that I didn’t write a blog earlier this week as I have made customary over the past few months. I had a pretty busy and sleepless weekend due in small part to my own negligence for my health and in a larger part to what a friend termed “female persuasion.” Regardless of what any of that means, I am finally back to a semi-normal schedule though I have developed somewhat of a head cold. Nothing serious, but it is just a bit annoying. Seriously folks, have you ever had that congestion that only blocks one nostril at a time? It is like a little war happening right on your face. One side wins out and can breathe clearly while the other is stuck clogged with the aftermath. Then there is a coup and the nostril that had been the victor is now the defeated. This goes on back and forth all day until peace negotiations happen through the softness of facial tissue or the rest of the body commits to a police action with the use of pharmaceuticals. We are at peace now because the drugs have kicked in, but those are due to run out in about an hour, and I’m still in class for three more hours. The war will continue.

Aside from that, I had a pretty darn good weekend. It was full of fun with friends and libations, which led to the exhausted feeling (and perhaps illness) that I felt on Tuesday. I got to polish off 22 beers with my friend on Wednesday, had pizza with my professor on Thursday, celebrated a friend’s birthday on Friday (and mourned the defeat of my ‘Stangs), reconnected with an old friend on Saturday, saw my best friend on Sunday, and went to the state fair on Monday. Interlaced with those events were other occasions that took up a great deal of my time and drinking ability. But, I made it through and I am here, back on an even keel now. I am looking forward to a trip out of town this weekend which will introduce me to the wonderful world of Missouri and reacquaint me with the glory of Division II college football. It should be amazing, and I’ll definitely blog about it next week, but until then you will have to make do with my random thoughts.

As I was rushing to class tonight, running late (well, late for me, but on time for others), I started to think about how punctuality has become a pet peeve of mine over the years. If you work jobs in the traditional sense where your boss is usually standing right inside the door when you get there, then you come to appreciate the importance of being on time. It is not the flexible cubicle dwelling lifestyle where you are expected to be there the majority of the day, but being a few minutes late is no big deal. It is more like if you aren’t hear on time I will mark it in my book and when you have three marks in my book you are terminated. So I always try to be early. When I can’t be early, I get a little miffed. Today was nothing of my doing necessarily. My dad called me an hour before class and asked if I could run by their house to feed the dogs. This is not a normal situation because usually either my mom or dad is home in the morning or evening to feed them. But, tonight my dad was working late (driving the school bus for some volleyball games) and my mom is out of town. So, I had to drive all the way across Dallas County in rush hour traffic to feed the dogs and then halfway back to get to campus. Needless to say, I was pissed…but my parents raised a good kid, so I did what was asked. Plus, I love our dogs too much to have them suffer through going on ten hours without food or a bathroom break.

Since I was thinking about pet peeves I tried to come up with any others that I have. If you read my last blog then you could probably guess that one of them is hygiene. I can’t stand people who don’t try to take care of their personal hygiene. We live in America, where the luxury of being able to bathe every day is almost a given. There’s no reason why you should be going out into public without at least washing your hands and face. I know I have days where I skip a shower just because I’m being lazy, but I usually am not leaving the house or having guests, so the only person who has to deal with my level of cleanliness or dirtiness is me. I’m just saying, we live in a society where bathing is considered a courtesy to those around you. Now I study international business and I know there are countries and regions where bathing every day would be seen as opulence. These places I understand completely and do not hold my pet peeve nonsense to. In fact it reminds me that I have the privilege of being able to bathe and makes me want to go take a shower right now just because I can.

Another pet peeve I thought of is fruity shots. I can’t stand the idea of shots being anything other than straight alcohol of one type. A shot of whiskey, a shot of tequila, a shot of vodka…these are easy to order, sometimes hard to drink, and get you hammered faster than if you mix fruit juice with them. I was out at a bar Sunday night with a lady friend and the people next to us were ordering shot after shot of some sort of green liquid. I can’t remember the name of what they ordered, but there two girls and TWO GUYS were downing these shots like crazy (never mind the fact that it was a Sunday night and they were throwing back shots). I just don’t see the appeal. Doesn’t mean I won’t drink a fruity shot though. My buddy Jon worked at a bar on lower Greenville in Dallas for about a year and I became a regular there. There was a bartender there who made mystery shots (I won’t say her name, but if she is reading this she knows who she is). The place was usually not that busy so she could screw around behind the bar a lot and experiment with making various combinations. She never came up with something that wasn’t palatable, but they were always spiked with some sort of fruit juice just in case the liquors she chose didn’t mesh so well. I miss those mystery shots, but if she ever asked me to order a shot I always said, “Give me a shot of bourbon.”