short and not sweet

roses are red, violets are blue
Pippo Inzaghi, Oh how I hate you

get away from me

the notion of personal space definitely has different interpretations according to whom you ask. Personality plays a part, and culture is a big component of how one's view on this matter. Still traditionally people have tried to not get in the way of others, so that this crazy thing we call living in organized society could be just a tad bit easier. But all that has been changing in recent years, with the advent of the "bigger is better, and you best get out of my way" attitude. And nowhere has that pleasant trend shown up more than in large cities. The first time I saw an SUV stampede through the small streets of the 6e might have made me smile, but by the 5th or 6th time it didn't seem that funny anymore.
Or take two recent annoyances of mine. I wouldn't call them pet peeves, it's not like I'm forming a committee or anything, but I've definitely had evil thoughts at the sight of these. First is the gigantic stroller you see parents - generally young- carry their latest addition to the tax bracket in. These things probably could give SUVs a run for their money when it comes to maneuverability, and are generally as pretty to look at. I'm guessing for a lot of those new parents the decision is to put safety first, but really when you baby-carrier is the size of a small tank, wouldn't that make it that much easier to get into accidents. When I was a kid people used the classic McLaren models, which were foldable and very convenient (apparently McLaren doesn't make that model anymore). Sure they couldn't have been that comfy, but if you're a kid and someone's pushing you around, there's not a whole lot you should be complaining about. I'm not too much into old-school values like ass-whooping and all that backwards stuff, but in this case it seems like we've taken the need to protect our young ones a bit too far. And with it the premium on available space in public transportation.
Then there are the humongous umbrellas that always seem to be used by just one person who doesn't look at where their instrument of eye-popping is being thrust around. Those things might be half of the size of Manhattan, but you will rarely see more than one person under one of those things. For this reason I propose we institure a rule for umbrellas like those we have on clogged highways for cars: umbrella-pooling. If your umbrella is one of the large models and the street is crowded, you're not allowed to use it on your own. This way we'd reduce some of the pavement-crowding, while also promoting increased social interactions between heretofore selfish owners and their rain-challenged fellow denizens. Of course for those like myself using the Jack Bauer-approved solo umbrellas no rules would be necessary.

louder

seriously, what is up with teens listening to their music on their cellphone's "speakers". I see this more and more: a bunch of youngins (thank God unfortunately this seems to be limited to the under-15, apparently that's when their sense of reality kicks in. Which begs the question: is 15 the new 7?) walking around while "blasting" some top-40 tune on their latest Nokia. Not only is this annoying when it happens in a closed-off space like the bus, it's actually PRETTY FLIPPIN RIDICULOUS. Cell phones speakers are kind of loud, but without any definition at all. The result is that it sounds like the music is coming from some underwater radio station. Yet the kids seem to love it, acting as though they were circa-80s LL Cool J rocking the humongous boombox. Except, really really small, with no bass at all and much more expensive.
On the flip-side, they're not listening to music through their headphones, which means they might actually retain their hearing longer than I will. So who's really dumb now?