Fat and sassy!

I feel kind of annoyed today, like mostly normal with a twinge of "things fucking annoy me when they don't go my way". In that spirit, I'm going to indulge myself and provide a list of things that have been annoying me lately, or just annoy me in general. Before you say anything, I realize most of these things are completely irrational but if you know me then you know I'm nothing if not self-indulgent and irrational at the best of times:

1. Drivers on the Malahat
a.) People who have Olympics license plates always seem to be bad drivers
b.) People at the helms of minivans always seem to be bad drivers
c.) People who wait until the last possible moment to merge into one lane are not bad drivers, they're bad people

2. People who live in our condo complex who smoke and make sure all residents can smell it. If you're a smoker and you do this you should be shot. I don't think it's much to ask to be able to enjoy my residence without breathing your toxic fumes.

3. The sun. Stop burning me so much. It's not my fault I'm fair-skinned.

I guess that's about it. I thought I had a lot more to complain about, but getting those things down freed up a lot of space in my brain for thinking about things I like, such as:

1. Eating outside on summer evenings. I have such a delicious meal planned tonight. Doing another roast chicken like the one I posted about a while ago.

2. GP, because he does the dishes and he is warm.

3. Margaret Atwood. I just started reading Year of the Flood and I can tell it's going to be a good one. I'm so glad she decided to write a sequel to Oryx and Crake.

4. The fact that Canadians aren't censored like some other countries, despite the recent happenings at the G20 in Toronto. I am free to say Stephen Harper is a poop-eating wanker and the government won't bust down my door and "disappear" me. Well, actually, we'll see what happens when I publish this post...

5. That there are SO MANY farms in the Cowichan Valley! What a great opportunity I have, and how advantageous that I've just finished reading The Vegetarian Myth, which totally opened my eyes to how much each person really needs to eat within her/his own locality. I'm so excited to do some exploring of these places on the weekend with GP. I also can't wait to eat the local strawberries I bought for dessert...

6. Friskies. She is so heart-meltingly adorable.

What annoys you? What makes your annoyances worthwhile?

Here is a picture of a dinner I cooked a while ago:
It was kind of a Moroccan-inspired (mostly because it had olives and lemon) dish comprised of a bed of artichoke hearts, bell peppers and olives, sauteed in lemon zest, white wine and herbs on which reclined a grilled chicken breast that had been marinated in garlic, lemon, rosemary and a little bit of red wine vinegar. Yes, it was very tasty.