There are different things in the world that some of us either like, hate or are indifferent to. There seems to be no rational reason for some of these likes and dislikes, since some of them don't have anything to do with any of our sensory gear. One thing that I really dislike is a short fork. For some strange reason it has always annoyed me when I got one of those short forks to eat my dinner with. I am talking about the kind of fork that not only has a short handle but also short tines. It just doesn't feel right to me. My wife thinks that I am crazy, but she has adapted to this particular idiosyncrasy of mine and now avoids giving me such implements. I am not a particular person by the way and will eat off of or drink out of almost anything without complaining.

Graphic Source: Clipart.com

The beach is loved by millions of people who go out there in the summer and lay on the sand, basking in the sun and getting that much wanted tan. I have never liked the sand. Oh I like walking on the beach at night or when the weather isn't too hot, but the hot summer beach is not one of my favorite places. I have an unusual dislike for sand. One of the things that I hate most in life is getting sand in my clothes and shoes. I don't know why, but it drives me crazy. I feel that I have to rush home and get into the shower, wash if off of me immediately and throw my clothes into the washing machine. I wondered why I felt this way for a long time and still don't have the answer, but I do have a little more insight into the problem. My elderly mother produced an old photo of me one day. I was about a year old and on a blanket at the beach. I was crying my eyes out. I asked her why I was crying and she calming said to me,"oh you hated the sand." I couldn't believe it, I must have hated sand my whole life.

Graphic Source: BlastCD

Running a very close second to sand is sticky. When I get something sticky on me it drives me crazy. I have to immediately make a beeline for the sink and wash it off. You can imagine how I felt when my children were little and stuck a lollypop on to me or rubbed their hands on me after eating a sticky candy. Man I was in the bathroom faster than anyone can imagine scrubbing that gook off of me and then cleaning up the kids. There is something about being sticky that I find very offensive. It is sort of a state of mind. I feel that I don't even want to move before I get this stuff off. It is just so offensive to my well being that it is almost like a personal attack on me. This has effected me in other ways. I find it very hard to pick up sticky food with my fingers. I am really at a loss when someone has a BBQ and puts out that sticky BBQ chicken that gets all over everything. At such events you will find me sitting in a corner somewhere trying to pick pieces of chicken off the bone using a fork.

Graphic Source: Clipart.com

Bleacher seats, I hate them. Maybe it is the fact that I am getting older, but those bleacher seats, the type without any back support, just kill me. It seems that when you have grandchildren you are always going to some outdoor event or another to see them and many times I find myself sitting on one of these backless seats and I usually end up with a sore back. You would think that in this modern age, where everything is always being improved, people wouldn't be reduced to sitting on a plank of wood. I guess this doesn't bother most people and that is why nothing is being done about it.

I don't like what has happened to places that we all have to call from time to time. There are many of them that even force you to press "1" if you want to talk in English. Give me a break. I had to call a drug plan the other day and got their number from the union. The only problem was that the number they gave me was for a French speaking person. Can you believe that this would happen in this country? Language is not the only problem, sometimes the choices of the numbers you have to push, just don't fit the reason that you are calling. I called the drugstore with a prescription problem, patiently listened as a voice droned on about which numbers to push, none of which fit my problem. I got to the end of the message and then realized there was no where else to go. I had to redial and push a completely non relevant button and hope I would get a human to explain my problem to. I got someone who told me this was the wrong extension and she would connect me to the proper person. She connected me to a busy line and hung up before I could tell her. I hate those new computer directory systems.

I dislike shopping in certain supermarkets. Notice that I said certain ones, not all supermarkets. There is one that I really hate in particular, which will remain nameless. It is always crowded and the checkers are very slow and surly. One day, after waiting what seemed forever online with my wife, I finally reached the checkout. The checkouts have become very easy for the people to operate now days, it is just a matter of sliding an item over a glass plate so the computer can read the barcode on the label. The lady at the checkout must have had some unknown problem, because she did a job on me. I had a couple of large items that she checked and told me to put them in my basket. I asked her for stickers for them to show that I paid, but she said that she didn't have any, but it would be ok. I checked out and thanked her and didn't get 50 feet when the manager stopped me and said that I didn't pay for the large items. I politely said if he checked with the lady running the checkout, pointing to her, she would verify that I paid. He said she was the one that told him I didn't pay. I had to take out my register tape and let him go through it while a crowd looked on. After the items were found to have been paid for I couldn't help put give him a piece of my mind and complained about the checker who set me up. To this day I still can't figure out why she did it? We were very polite to her. Oh well, it takes all kinds.

I can't stand neighbors that put flood lights in their back yards and leave them on all night. I don't get the point of this or the expense. Believe me this is very expensive to do if you live in the Long Island area. It is so nice when you go out in the yard on a nice summer's night and can look up at the stars. Instead of this I often get a blinding glare. Yep, I am not a fan of night time floodlights.

I hate most internet message boards. There are some that are dedicated to things like sports, but even these have problems. It is amazing, you can be on one of these for a month and everything is fine, than all of a sudden you get someone on it that curses you out, says things about you family and treats you like you are an idiot. I suspect that it is a kid that gets on and is feeling his oats figuring that no one knows who he is, so he will have some fun. It always ends up ruining the message board experience. I would like some of the sports message boards if it wasn't for this fact, but because of it, I hate all of them.

Almost the entire world loves fish. I hate it. Was I put together different than most other people? Are my taste buds operating on a different frequency? I guess this could be, but I just don't enjoy fish. Sometimes I go out with friends and land up in a fish place, only to please my wife who loves the stuff and then I have to scramble to find something to eat. Most of the times this is something I can get, but once in a very rare while, there is nothing and I am forced to try and eat the most innocuous fish. I usually land up with fish and chips and eat a small portion of it, unless I get real lucky and it is made like they make it is England and comes with malt vinegar. If this happens than I actually find it edible, maybe not the greatest, but at least I can get it down. I don't even like shrimp or lobster, two things that most people would kill for. No I am not an alien.

Lastly, I hate the fact that American cars are not up to par with many of the foreign cars. Lately I had been hearing that they had gotten a lot better and I guess they have, but I was in one, a van, that a friend of mine purchased a few months ago. I was in the seat behind the driver and the seat back of my seat was angled a little to forward for me so I reached for the latch on the side of the seat and it was stuck, I couldn't put the seat back at a different angle. Worse than that, the latch was so flimsy I was afraid to pull too hard on it. It looked like it was made from the thin plastic that they make toys from that you purchase at the dollar store. That convinced me, I would never buy that brand of vehicle. I have to wonder why, when sales are constantly falling off on American vehicles, that such cheap junk would still be used in an American vehicle? We are talking about spending only a few cents here, it is nothing earth shattering, yet it would have made quite a different impression on someone. I am convinced that if we really tried, we could make the best cars and trucks.