Pet Peeves

"A thousand nights or more
I travelled east and north
Please answer the door"
--Polaris, Jimmy Eat World

Yes, that's a song off "Futures" as well. Get it.
I've been coming to grips with several of my pet peeves recently, the most notable of which I'll get to in a second, but the most current of which was rediscovered this morning. I remain in disbelief as to the number of bad drivers in the greater Los Angeles area (or GLAA), not because of their lack of skill, but because of their lack of a brain. It's one thing if somebody takes turns too fast, or doesn't know how to properly slow down before a stop sign to avoid giving their passengers whiplash. Those sorts of skills rarely give me cause for concern, unless I happen to be riding with that person--I try to avoid riding with these kinds of people, so again, it's rarely an issue.
Here's where I have a problem: There's a sign at the National Blvd. offramp from the 405 North telling us that we can't turn right on a red light after 6 a.m. (until sometime in the evening, doesn't really matter). Turning right on said red light before 6, however, is freely allowed, even encouraged. I never get to that light after 6 on my way to the gym, so I never have to worry about waiting a long time for the green. However, when I approach and there's a car in front of me (or three, as was the case today), I start to worry about the reading ability and comprehension level of the driver at the front. When they sit for 15-20 seconds and no cars are passing in the perpendicular lanes, I begin to grow restless. When 30 seconds becomes a minute or two, steam is beginning to emerge from my ears. When I have to wait for this stupid light to turn green, at 5:50, a full ten minutes before any sort of turn is disallowed, I can't handle it. Why can't people read? There are variations on traffic laws in this great state of California, and they made it easy to figure out what to do. It's spelled out, in plain English, on a sign directly in front of the place where this confusing (?) situation might arise. If these drivers can't read English (which was one of my first attempts at an explanation), then they shouldn't be able to read the part that says "No Right Turn on Red" either. The numbers are the easy part.
There's a worse variation of this offense that involves people who don't know that it's legal to turn right on a red light at all. That's even worse, when there are no restrictions and Henry Red Sedan just won't budge. Aargh.
So my biggest pet peeve is along the same lines of ineptitude. At the very top of all that I can't stand is people's inability to do things right (like these awful, awful drivers). I know I should be more patient, acknowledging my own inability to do things right all too often, but it still drives me up a wall when people are inept. Grammar is the biggest thing, which is the reason for the "literally" board that graces the entry way of our home. The first entry was a correct usage, Larry David referencing the "blind date" he was securing for his friend (the guy actually was blind, quite humorous). The rest of the list details the all-too-often misuse of the word, as in Doctor Berman "literally" turning back the hands of time with his plastic surgery techniques. Saw an X-Box game review that I definitely need to get: Call of Duty - Finest Hour. The review tells us, "Realistic sights and sounds literally explode off the screen at you!" Wow, the video game industry has really made some advances; can't wait to see this.
I also can't stand it when people try to sound intelligent and use words incorrectly, having heard them somewhere and then assuming their meaning, proceeding to throw them in sentences they have no business inhabiting. I'm not saying I have an amazing vocabulary (well, yes, I suppose I do), but at least I use words I know in places where they belong.
The word irregardless should never be used. It's not real. "I could care less" does not signify what people intend it to. The correct usage is "I could not care less," or, if you're into abbreviations, "I couldn't care less." That's okay, too. Even small words, things like "I should of." No, it's "I should have." My favorite terrible word placement was a quote in a friend's yearbook one time that read, "I'll never take your friendship for granite." Yes, that's granite. As in the rock. I'm not sure what a grayish igneous rock has to do with friendship, but maybe that's just me.
Sorry to vent; I'm probably coming across as a language snob, but I just want people to do it right. School is there for a reason. Let's hope we all learned something.
A tremendously light day today, which makes up for the 7:30 a.m.-10:30 p.m. debacle that was yesterday. We're also exchanging secret santa gifts in the workplace, an exchange I forgot about until 11 p.m. last night when I got home. Still made it happen, so no worries. Everybody loves Honey Wheat Thins.
Again, possible weekend developments to report, update coming Monday...