Pet Peeves. On Dogs, Beer, and Cutting in Lines.

Shopping for Christmas, testing Heroes of the Pacific, finishing our PC game, revising and republishing my novel, World at War:Revelation, and shepherding four games through production have thrown me well and truly behind the eight ball. Because of my relative position to that billiard ball, I’m going to repost one of the blog’s most popular posts, my pet peeves. I hope you enjoy it.

Let's face it. We are have our pet peeves, the stuff we just don't like, no matter how immature not liking it makes us. Stuff we don't admit to others, but stuff we just can't ignore. Here are some of mine.

1. Church. I'm actually a semi-devout Catholic, but church, any church, drives me crazy. It's not the thought behind the building, but rather the smiles on the faces. Never a genuine, "Wow, I just found a Benjamin," smile, but those silly little half-smiles that say, "Yes brother, life is hard, but we shall endure." I don't want to endure. I want to kick ass.

2. Clean kids. Come on, man. An eight year old boy shouldn't wear Lacoste sport shirts, cuffed shorts, or stay clean. Boys should be muddy, and girls should too. There will be plenty of time to clean up when you enter adulthood.

3. Line Cutters. I mean, really? The rest of us have to wait, but Mr. or Ms. line cutter can just act like they didn't notice the snake of 300 people waiting to get into the Apple Store. I make it a point to call people out on this whenever possible. Nearly led to a big brouhaha at Floyd Fest 2012.

4. People who don't like dogs. They are dogs. Dogs. How can you not like dogs? They start out as puppies. I don't trust people who don't like dogs or beer.

How can you not love this face?

5. People who don't like beer. Did I already mention this? I think boys who don't get their clothes dirty grow up not liking beer, and not owning dogs. I played in the mud, at the creek, with snakes and stuff. By the way, I like good beer. It doesn't take much effort to learn the difference in good and bad beer. If the beer comes from Missouri or includes "Lite" in the name, it's bad beer.

6. Rainy Days. Okay, this isn't entirely true. When I lived in San Diego, the one day in 37 when it rained was kind of neat, but more than one day in a row? No thanks. Even more annoying are people who say, "But we need the rain." Great, Sure. Fine. We need the rain, but can't it have the decency to rain at night, and give me a sunny day when I'm awake?

7. Velveeta Cheese. The Spam of cheese. If a recipe requires Velveeta, it doesn't require me to eat it.

8. Sports Haters. You don't have to like the game, you don't have to understand the game, but appreciate the work. Understand that you are often watching humans at their best, striving to win. Worse still are those who deem sports, "silly," a term usually delivered as the watch the latest episode of Moonshiners. Just saying.

Those aren't all my peeves, but those are all I have for today. See you tomorrow.