Confessions of an Over-confessor

Dudes. The UU Lent word for this first day of a new month is confession. There’s one thing I do enough of already in this blog is confess to my past mistakes, errors, and goof-ups. I don’t share everything, but I hope people can learn from my mistakes and it will be helpful. Confession is good for the blog. Or something like that.

Today I’m going to go the more light-hearted route and do a variation of a meme I’ve been seeing going around on Facebook, where people confess to things they just don’t like, but everybody else seems to love. I think we could all use a break right now, right?

Gourmet coffee. I have tried to be a coffee snob, many, many times. I have owned some darned fancy coffee. But, I really like Folgers. The Black Silk kind is just great. But, any medium roast is fine with me. And I like milk or half and half in it. I fail as an elite in this respect.

Podcasts. This is another thing I’ve tried to get into and just can’t make myself do. Lee listens to them all day long. He wants to learn about specific things, and only those things. I like NPR, where random interesting topics pop up and I learn new things from them. Real confession: I don’t like to have earbuds or headphones on during my leisure time, since I wear them all day at work these days. My poor ears. That may have something to do with the podcast issue. (I like the content!)

Hoodies. Everybody is supposed to have a favorite hoodie. Well, I’m wearing mine now, and while I like its softness and kangaroo pockets, I can’t ever arrange that hood to be flattering, and when I sit in a chair, it scrunches up and is uncomfortable. And all that fabric around my neck annoys me. So, even though they make me look like one fine criminal, when combined with my new mandatory face mask, I will leave hoodies to others, for the most part.

SUVs. I get a lot of flack here in Texas for not driving an SUV. Don’t I want to sit high above traffic? Don’t I want to be able to cart 6 or 7 friends around with me? Don’t I want to be “safe” in an accident? Don’t you want to go up to get into a vehicle rather than down? And don’t I think SUVs look cool? Nope. I’ve always driven smaller cars and have a hell of a time parking monstrosities, even with all the new parking aids. I also want to GO when I press the gas pedal, which is why I like my supercharged sedan. If I need to get away to avoid an accident, I can GO. I’d rather avoid an accident than be “safe” in one. I also get claustrophobic in narrow lanes, especially next to giant 18-wheelers. I’m sure one day my knees will go out like everyone else I know, and I’ll want something higher up. Until then, good knees mean I get to keep my car all to myself (not that I go anywhere anymore).

Tattoos. They are very popular. Most people I know have them. Many have lots of them. I just don’t want anything permanent on me. I don’t even use permanent hair color. I would need something very significant to happen to want to commemorate it on my body, I guess. On the other hand, I enjoy looking at other people’s tattoos, especially artistic and creative ones. Some tattoos make me wonder what people were thinking, or not thinking. If I ever did get them, I’d have a garden growing all over me, winding around, with lots and lots of flowers. And a St. Brighid’s cross somewhere in there.

All-white Kitchens. If you ever read our real estate redevelopment blog, which is on hiatus, you’d know I’ve never been a fan of all-white kitchens, though I’ve put some in houses that we sell, because everyone else loves them. First, I’ve never been a big fan of white. I haven’t a clue why, but it always seems sterile, cold, and boring. And I like color around me when I cook, so I tend to prefer wood cabinets or some happy paint, with color on backsplashes. It’s just me. Many people would not like my taste in kitchens, but they don’t have to live in my houses!

Cruises (with one exception). Nowadays a lot of people aren’t as fond of cruises as they once were! I feel so awful for people trapped on them. But, no, what I don’t like is being crammed into a large floating city with a bunch of people who want to gamble, drink, and eat to excess. And those tiny swimming pools. Germs. And it can be so claustrophobic in the decks. It’s just not for this hermit. I will say that Lee and I loved our Viking River cruise with lots of space, few people, and lots of stops to get out and walk around interesting places. I think I’m just not able to relax when in large crowds.

Disney Theme Parks (and theme parks in general). The dislike of being in large crowds of people has a lot to do with not liking these very much. The other reason I’m not a huge fan is that when I go on vacation, I want to see nature. There’s nothing natural about one of these theme parks. Every single thing was put where it is by someone for a specific reason. And I guess I just have never worshipped princesses or cartoon mice. I did better at places like that when I was younger and enjoyed riding on rides. I feel like my limited travel time should be spent seeing the beauty of my planet, not immersing myself into a fantasy world designed to suck my money. (I am happy for those of you who like this stuff; my absence makes it less crowded for you.)

Audio books. I confess that I dislike audio books for the same reasons as podcasts, but I add on more reasons. I don’t like having to wear headphones or ear buds, and if I don’t, I bother other people. I need to concentrate really hard to follow them, so I don’t like doing it when I’m driving. I believe the actual deal is that I am not a big audio learner. I need to read or write. Plus, I read a lot faster than I listen. I DO like hearing an author read their own work, though, which is a good thing about audio books.

GIFs. OMG. Animated GIFs drive me insane. All those jumpy things everywhere really distract me when I am trying to work or read Slack channels. They take up a lot of useless space in Facebook posts, too. I think they rarely contribute much, and as an old hey-boomer person I don’t even get most of the popular culture references. Get off my lawn, GIFs.

I almost got serious and started to list things that actually matter, like teasing, name-calling, and passive-aggressive Facebook memes. But I’ve already confessed my issues with those.

I hope you enjoyed my little whines about things that don’t matter much in the grand scheme of things. I’ve been reading a lot of people’s confessions about things other people love but they don’t. What are yours? Sharing is caring!