1-20-2008 Today's Things That Must Go

We'll try to keep it kinda short. I am remarkably more chipper than when I got here today, so my list shouldn't be as bitter as it was looking to be earlier today.
1). Having to work on federal holidays--Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and I am at work. This should not be. So while the rest of the Washington DC metro area is off work today, I am in the office. Not that I have a bunch of stuff that I would be doing otherwise, but it's a great thought to be sitting at home and to get paid for it. My roommates are--one on holiday pay, one on vacation pay. The thing is, they are exceedingly stingy with holidays here, and the vacation/leave plan stinks too, so I don't have a lot saved up to take days off that the rest of the world gets off. Apparently, after two years, I get an extra week off per year (with that, it's still about five days less than most of my friends)...so, come October...I can hardly wait.
2). The smell of toast--I don't know why, but I don't like it. I love toast, but when I walk in the kitchen after someone has made toast, it makes me sick. I think it comes from the time that I lived at my grandma's with her and my spinster aunt, whom I affectionately refer to as Aunt Crazy. Those who have met her can attest--truly my dark days of college. She's a bit/ton OCD. She has the same routine every day, including her toast, and the bread she used just smelled awful. So when I walked into the kitchen at work this morning, someone had made toast, and I was none too pleased.
3). Tourists who don't get Metro etiquette--I ride METRO everyday. It's an un-pleasant enough experience as is, but having fools who, because of their ignorance, throw things off even more really gets my goat. For instance, today, after having to wait for 20 minutes at the Courthouse stop, I finally got to Rosslyn and proceeded to the escalator to ascend from the bowls of hell that is the METRO at rush hour. When I arrived there, what was there, but an un-attractive mid-western family with a wife standing next to her husband on one stair. This disrupted the flow, and about ten people, myself included, were backed up behind Tiffany (we'll call her) before someone, her mother I think, motioned for her to move over. Stunned that she would have to do something remotely considerate to those who were actually going to work on this cold holiday, Tiffany obliged. What do I do, but give an irritated look, shake my head and mutter "idiot" under my breath while passing. How else will she learn?
4). Election Season--I am tired of it. If the Democrats want to put up a woman who most of the country hates, thinking that some how, she'll win, let them do it. But they shouldn't be surprised if she comes up short in November. Keep in mind, that I'll vote for her if she's the nominee, but she's going to have a much more difficult time winning I think. As for the Republicans--let another multimillionaire, pro-business type buy his way into the Whitehouse. We've seen how well that has worked during the past seven years. We need change, and I don't know as it's going to happen, and every day I just get more and more sick of hearing about the election, and frustrated that I have no real ability to change the outcome. I just want the primaries over and then we can have some quiet until summer.
5). My school having spring break a week before my friends' schools--sad because they were planning a trip to Florida, and I was wanting to go, but alas, I have the previous week off, and will have classes the week they'll be going. Sad. This must go!!