15 THINGS I DON'T LIKE

One of the benefits of blogging is that you can get totally bizarre things off your chest....things you might not have reason or occasion to ever tell otherwise. It occurred to me that several times in the past -- and once on this blog early on -- I listed 25 things I liked. Now I am not a crabby, mean, moody, glum or downbeat person. I do, however, have a few things I don't like very much. Today I am going to tell you what they are and add just a comment or two about them.

1. RIPE BANANAS. The smell of ripe bananas makes me gag. I can make a banana cream pie, choose my bananas carefully and enjoy every piece. However, I don't dare order a piece of banana pie at a restaurant. I believe the fate of ripe bananas is split between banana bread and commercially baked banana cream pies. Not only do the bananas smell bad but they taste that way too.

2. INDETERMINANT MEAT. I do not like what I see in the dark meat of fowl. There are veins and other ugly things. And the smell is fairly pungent. My cousin Nancy once described an unpleasant bit of meat she saw in North Carolina as "indeterminant meat." Her description was right on; later I saw the same meat she had described and it truly was indeterminant. Just because I know a chicken thigh is a chicken thigh and therefore not indeterminant, as far as I am concerned it falls in the same category and I do not like it at all. The breast is fine.

3. COUNTRY WESTERN MUSIC. Making a differentiation between bluegrass music and hillbilly music, I can pretty much categorically say I do not like the latter. The poor grammar used in the lyrics and celebrated by the listeners just turns me off. On a telephone call, if I am put on hold and have country western music in my ear to "entertain me" while I wait, I'll hang up.

4. BEING AROUND MOODY PEOPLE. Life is too short to walk on eggs while around them.

5. GORE AND VIOLENCE. I don't want to see it, hear about it, or read about it. No way, no how. My kids are kind enough to tell me what movies I need to stay away from. There is enough sadness in the world without deliberately inflicting it upon myself.

6. GOING TO A LAUNDROMAT. I do it because I have to, but I don't have to like it. I think communal washing machines are disgusting.

7. CHIHUAHUAS. If you have a chihuahua, don't take this personally. I may like the individual dog (like my daughter's Sugar) but as a breed they are temperamental, they are barkers, and they will bite you at the drop of a hat when you are least expecting it. There are other breeds I don't like but since I don't see them very often they don't much impact me. But thumbs down on chihuahuas.

8. RIGHT WING TALK SHOW HOSTS. No further explanation necessary. Even looking at a picture of them offends me.

9. BLACK WALNUT ICE CREAM. When my son Sean (now 54 years old) was in diapers he had some food allergy issues that caused very stinky diarrhea. The first time I ever had black walnut ice cream, I immediately remembered how my son's old poopy diapers smelled. After all these years I still won't willingly eat a bowl of black walnut ice cream. Figure that one out!

10. MOST ANY KIND OF SHOPPING. I don't like to food shop and I don't like to window shop and I don't like to shop period. There are two places I do like to shop, and that is in a stationary store and a book store. Beyond that, shopping is my idea of a horrible ordeal!

11. THE COLOR FUSCHIA. I see it as a really ugly color. Why would a person pick fuschia when they could pick emerald green?

12. EMPTY SWIMMING POOLS. This is a phobia. I know where it came from, and when we had to have our pool drained and repaired at our house in Orange I made myself go walk around in the empty pool, hoping to desensitize myself. It helped a bit, but I still would just as soon not look at one if I don't have to.

13. SHELLING SHRIMP. When Jer and I were actively engaged in our work years, we entertained a lot at home, and I often bought nice fresh shrimp that needed to have the shell removed before I cooked it for dinner or appetizers. (The store always took the head off before they put the shrimp out for sale, thank goodness). Every time I had to shell them, I found myself scrunching up my face while I was dealing with the legs. It was just a very unpleasant part of the job, and I didn't like it at all, although I did it because I wanted to use them. I do not do it any more. Dealing with calves liver also falls within this category.

14. JUNE BUGS. These horrible little hard-shelled night-time bugs are too stupid to avoid flying into my hair. They get tangled up and can't find their way out, so they make a terrible buzzing noise, which causes me to have to use my fingers to pick them out. Men don't usually have this problem, only women. How I hate them.

15. READING A LIBRARY BOOK AFTER A SMOKER HAS READ IT. It stinks to high heaven!

So there you have it. And now you know!