Pecans

I made my own non-alcoholic drink.
I'm calling it "Sparkling Pool Water", and I'm going to share it with you.

Sparkling Pool Water
2 parts Mountain Blast Powerade
1 part Minute Maid Lemonade
1 part Sprite
Crunchy Ice

When you're done, it should look as cool and refreshing as the Caribbean. Or like the water on Roller Coaster Tycoon.
It's my new drink this summer, and it's gonna be a thing!
I probably should mentioned that it tastes nothing like actual pool water and should not contain chlorine or urine in it. If it does, something went horribly, horribly wrong.
I expect to continue inventing awesome drinks at restaurants when I'm feeling especially twirly.

Now on a completely separate note, here's a little session of what really grinds my gears:

1. When people skim my e-mails/blog/conversations.
It's. Really. Annoying.

I try to make my communications very easy to read by using small-ish sentences and short paragraphs.
Also, I don't beat around the bush. Ergo, everything I write/say must be important.

Now, it'd be different if I was writing a public service announcement, a newspaper article, or a fire drill because these are skimmable documents.
But when I am explaining to you the details of my life in which you have previously asked so voraciously about, I expect you to actually listen/read what I have to say instead of just skimming and then ask me for a summary in which I will perhaps just copy and paste my previous message.

Take time to READ, people. You miss out on so much when you don't.
Unfortunately, skimming the news has corrupted so many of you that it's only a habit in which you sadly apply to all literature.

2. When teacher's syllabus says that papers that count for 20% of the final grade are due May 3rd so I plan for a wild vacation afterwards May 4-5th only to find out two days ago that she has moved the due date of the papers to finals week, so I have to come back from my wild vacation and think about economic development instead of being done with it like I had planned on all...semester...long.

Ok. You could've skimmed that one. But NO MORE!

3. When I have dreams about being late to stuff.

4. Music
a. When people think it's such a crime that I don't particularly like "classic rock".
Yes, I know that Queen, the Beatles, and Boston among others are "classics" but that doesn't mean that I should automatically like all of their songs or know all of them. I'm on Mike's side that there is nothing wrong with "living in my own generation". I think it's good to appreciate the classics, but it doesn't make me satanic if I don't listen to them/know exactly what you're talking about just because it happened to be popular, oh I don't know, 40 years ago.
b. I hate how I can't "define" the music I listen to. It's not like anyone knows what it is anyway.

If I say, "I like some Belle & Sebastian" people are like, "Oh, you're one of those snobby indie kids. I bet you like John Mayer, Jack Johnson and Iron &Wine."
-quite the opposite assumption, actually.
Or if I say, "I listen to Taylor Swift in my car" people are like, "Oh, so you like country?"
-quite the opposite assumption, actually.
Or if I'm like, "I really like Whitley's stuff" they're like, "WHO? THAT'S SO OBSCURE. KATY PERRY? LADY GAGA? NO? OK."
-quite the opposite assumption, actually.

I'm just going to stop telling people what I like altogether because no one likes what I do, and it's useless to try to find parallels and commonalities. The only people that have even come close to having the same tastes as me are Sammy Rhodes and Patrick Cossart.
I'm convinced that music tastes are like fingerprints, and no one's going to have the same one as me.

c. How I have to watch stupid advertisement videos before I listen to music on YouTube or Grooveshark. You guys used to be so cool...

5. When there are babies in Hobby Lobby.

6. How my neighbor above me thinks that our back patio is his personal ashtray.

And that's about it.

For the Price of a Cup of Tea,
TWS

^That's a pretty cool Belle & Sebastian song, btw.