Things That Annoy Me

Things That Annoy Me

I gave this assignment to an 8th grade student who is working on paragraph development. We each responded to the prompt, “Things That Annoy Me”.  When we were done, we evaluated both my student’s piece and my own. I asked my student to tell me what was good about each. My student looked me square in the eye and said, “Yours has ‘voice’”. Then my student set out to revise his own, and when he read the new version to me, it had lots and lots of voice.

Being annoyed is part of the human condition. For me, being annoyed seems to come easily lately; my life is quite stressful, and I find with an increase in stress, comes a decrease in tolerance for pet peeves. I really hate– I mean hate with a kind of furor that should be reserved only for a Mike Tyson boxing match– when my family members leave their clothes, shoes, and toys (including my husband) all around the house. It makes me feel unappreciated and ignored, as I have requested– pleasantly, even– to them all to "Please pick up your stuff!" Another pet peeve of mine is when my cats leave remnants of their escapades in the kitty box on my couch. Yes, they like to shake their rumps on my couch after a good poop so that the tiny litter specs collect within the crease of the couch, which is a futon, which actually is another pet peeve of mine: Furniture that tries to pass off as something it is not. A futon wants to be both couch and bed, when, in reality, it makes for a poor, uncomfortable couch that’s hard to vacuum kitty litter off of and a really hard bed. So, these are my most pressing pet peeves: family leaving stuff around the house, kitties leaving litter on my futon/couch, and furniture that tries to pass off as something other than its own kind. Now, I'm going to go watch TV on my futon and pet my cats.  But, first I have to go pick up everyone's stuff...

So, I challenge my blog readers to respond to the prompt: Things That Annoy Me. And, be “voicey” about it! Post it in a comment to this blog.