Irritations

[C. F. Leon]

I'm actually more of a baseball fan in general, but I do follow my local basketball team. For those with short memories, in 2020 the NBA season was cut short for reasons that we don't really need to rehash. To fill the time, the local radio station that runs the games started broadcasting old vintage games, mostly from the "Good Years" (largely pre-2000), including from our lone Championship Year (1977). For us fans, it was great listening to games that No One had heard for 30-40 years or more. But, did they run the games in any sort of reasonable order? Of course not. As far as we could determine, it was entirely random. Except the Playoffs of the Championship Year, which they ran in REVERSE order.

Who makes these decisions?

[c.d.]

Couples at the grocery store who feel the need to discuss every possible item they are considering buying and having to reach a consensus before they can drop a bag of frozen peas into their cart.

c.d.

[Herlock Sholmes]

Couples at the grocery store who feel the need to discuss every possible item they are considering buying and having to reach a consensus before they can drop a bag of frozen peas into their cart.

c.d.

Absolutely. Or family groups in a café who take half an hour to make their order because everyone has half a dozen questions about their meals and then they want to know if they can swap x for y and then they want to know they still get a free something if they don’t have z? I’m standing behind them losing the will to live.

[c.d.]

Not paying close attention to food labels and coming home with "50% Less Salt" Peanuts. Now my favorite snack is on a par with non-alcoholic beer and kissing your sister.

c.d.

P.S. I once read a review of a particular brand of non-alcoholic beer. It said the taste was so non-existent that your first thought is that maybe somehow you managed to miss your mouth.

[Herlock Sholmes]

Not paying close attention to food labels and coming home with "50% Less Salt" Peanuts. Now my favorite snack is on a par with non-alcoholic beer and kissing your sister.

c.d.

P.S. I once read a review of a particular brand of non-alcoholic beer. It said the taste was so non-existent that your first thought is that maybe somehow you managed to miss your mouth.

[C. F. Leon]

hi diddles!
i teach in md and luckily none of tje parents have gone the stupid ridiculous route with their kids names at my school, but they have gotten rather creative. I actually love some of the names:

Nirvana
Gerber (parents were new immigrants from mexico and named him after the baby food!)
Zeppelin (Zep for short)
Lorrell
Unique
Tauryn
Shango (really love that one)
Kaliya
Quinn
Manyana(Manny for short)
Zhaniya
Mazie
Reeve
Genesis
Jaden (like three kids named that! )
Aria
Adelaide(for a girl, Addy for short)

Lots more but you get the picture lol. Very diverse area so i think that contributes to the creative names. alot of the beautiful hispanic names too.. Gabriella, Natalia, Maria, Bonita, Mateo, Tuca (love that one!)But most here are pretty traditional too.. lots of jacks, zacks, alex, olivia, chloe, hanah etc.

One of the Government Agencies that I have to deal with has 5 black chicks (all 20-somethings) that I know of working in the office. THREE of them are named "Keisha". When I asked one how do they tell the difference, she gave me me a look like I had just confessed that I voted for Trump (I didn't, but you know the LOOK) and said "I'M KEISHA, she's (pointing) KEISHA and she's KEISHA". I just nodded like I understood what she was talking about.

At another agency that I deal with, there's a 30-something named "Penumbra" (goes by "Penny", I suppose). A couple ahead of me in line, see the name tag and say "That's a very unusual name". "Penny" beams and says "Isn't it? It's a Native American name that means 'Leading Light of the World". Based on previous experiences, I decide to keep my mouth shut and let Penny live in Ignorance. They do their business, I do MY business. When I leave, the couple are outside having a good laugh at Penny's fantasy.