Sneezus Interruptus!!
I HATE that feeling.
Seriously. When you are working up to a big ACHOO, and something causes it to not happen, it really feels… incomplete or something. Finally sneezing just seems to resolve things.
ah Ah AH AH - “gesundheit”
dammit.
I call sneezing la petite petite mort.
LOLOLOLOL
That reminds me of something that annoys me, but probably shouldn’t: when someone says to me “God Bless You” or (more rarely) gesundheit after I sneeze. Even complete strangers do it.
I have a friend who says “bless you” whenever a nearby person makes ANY involuntary vocal sound. Cough, burp, clear your throat, and he says “bless you”. I know it’s stupid that it annoys me, but I keep wanting to yell, “NO! You only say that after a sneeze!”.
Somewhat tangential, but I will mention it here: it is possible to achieve a mental state where minor things bother you much less. At least, I have experienced this condition. Unfortunately, it turned out to be temporary (a few months) and going through the process again would be expensive and time consuming, and I’m just not sure that it’s worth it.
The process is called neuro feedback, and consists of a computerized feedback designed to elicit certain kinds of brainwaves. I did this for an hour a week for 10 weeks, and as noted above, the effects lasted several months. Now that I’m writing this, I think I’ll check around and see if I can find a place that does this that is either cheaper or closer to where I live, or even both. Because I think I was a lot happier, and nicer to be around, during that time.
On the news yesterday, they had video of a City Council meeting. They showed the Craptastic Mayor sitting there, open-mouth gum chewing. 
I’m rubbed the wrong way by the very existence of lowest-common-denominator, trashy TV like Dr. Phil or My Giant Tumor or Judge Judy or what have you. And I don’t mean by the shows themselves, I mean by the fact that they exist at all and that people like them. Mrs. Homie will sometimes, when she’s exceptionally bored, watch one of those and the very existence of those (metaphorical) airwaves in my home just makes my skin crawl.
Somewhat-related: vapid rom-coms and summer popcorn blockbusters. Like, the other night there was a commercial for some movie in the Planet of the Apes franchise and I was literally offended that somebody, somewhere, thought that I might be interested in that ferkakte movie.
I’m a baseball fan. I am bothered by “The Wave.”
100% agree. Sit down and watch the ballgame! Quit having fun I don’t approve of!
The problem is, it’s usually “The Wave Fans” types who think that way. “You must have fun the way I want you to!” Enforced Happiness. Where I have season tickets, there’s one group that always tries to start The Wave, and they get annoyed when the section next to us always lets it die. Give up, guys, no one else wants to do The Wave. It’s been like this for years. Take the hint.
It was the same with a guy playing live music at my local pub a few weeks back. It was a quiet night, with just a few regulars there, and he kept trying to get us to sing along with him. But he just wasn’t that good, and didn’t actually get us engaged in his music. We just wanted him to play quietly in the corner and let us have our conversations, but he kept trying to force “fun” on us. Ugh.
When art sculptures, exhibits, statues etc are called “installations”. The term annoys me, it’s pretentious and it insists upon itself. Makes me want to squish the complimentary brie and capers into the artist’s beret.
Oh I can stand that! It shouldn’t be work to enjoy something, at least compulsory.
Then there’s the pushy forced joviality of getting every to clap their hands along with the music. STOP IT! I remember well a seemingly inebriated Ozzy Osbourne constantly urging the audience to “Clep ya hends, clep ya hends!” every other minute. Ugh.
Another entry of a minor thing that I consider insidious due to ostensible niceness nonetheless rubbing me like coarse sandpaper:
Instead of just asking me “what do you think of…?”. It’s "Blah blah blah blah…, followed by “Your thoughts?”, either written, or spoken. It seems to be be the go-to way so many ask of one’s opinion today, or maybe it’s a Bader Meinhoff thing, but it rubs me raw.
Yeah. There are some acts, and songs, for which everyone just wants to clap to, or sing along with. That can be great fun in the right context, and I’ve enjoyed it myself on many occasions. But it has to grow organically, it can’t be forced.
What annoys me more than that is when I pronounce it properly , and someone says " It’s “brooSHETTa” or “ma nu kah tee” when I pronounce “manicotti” properly. I still remember a specific instance from over 40 years ago.
We recently saw Don McLean in concert. My gf bought the tickets accidentally (She mistook Don McLean for someone else). Turns out he did a great show. He did Vincent early in the set, then a bunch of other songs. He was very personable and our seats were great.
It looked like he wasn’t going to do American Pie and I was a bit bummed out. He thanked us all for coming and got a standing ovation. Of course he came back out for an encore, which was a 20 minute version of American Pie. He never asked us to sing along with the chorus, but we all did.
Yeah, that’s a classic. I’m also thinking about Barrette’s Privateers. Get me in a pub with a beer in my hand, and I’ll be pounding the bar, “God damn them all, I was told…”