With war in the Ukraine, polarization on the home front and a seemingly never-ending pandemic to deal with, there is no shortage of things to be upset with as 2022 approaches its fourth and final quarter.
But instead of obsessing over those weighty topics, I tend to fixate on irksome matters of lesser importance — things that I have a better, though still unlikely, chance to do something about.
So, with your permission, allow me to vent on some of my candidates for this year’s Things That Tick Me Off List:
Ticks.
One of the few drawbacks to spending time wandering the hills and hollows of West Virginia is the creepy sensation of feeling a tick crawling along my scalp or up a leg en route to chug a post-hike Bloody Mary. This year’s tick season has been exceptionally abundant.
Streaming pollution.
Despite having access to more than 200 streaming channels, I have been able to identify only five comedy series worth watching so far this year.
Update overkill.
Although I have mastered less than 50% of the functions my cellphone can provide, I am being bombarded by requests to update its operating system to avail myself of even more options I will never use. “No†is not an option for responding to the requests, so I have been leading the phone on by relying on the “Try Later†option.
Tag telepathy.
Sure, aging eyes could be a factor, but clothing manufacturers seem to be making washing and drying recommendations harder to read by using even tinier dark print on their tiny, dark tags, barely visible in a basement laundry room.
Robo-routing.
Robo calls and telephone scam pitches, once the domain of home phones, have become a daily occurrence on my office and cellphones. Although it’s nice to be remembered by someone with a heavily accented voice named “Steve†checking in from a busy call center to see if I really ordered $900 worth of stuff from Amazon, I would prefer skipping the call and taking my chances.
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