Whine Tasting

While I'm still at it, this is a column I wrote that appeared in this week's Issue of The Advocate (MSUM's campus newspaper)


I think we can all relate to the fact that over the course of a semester, vocally being annoyed becomes increasingly easy.

There’s the Facebook-induced whining. “I just spent nine hours on Facebook and I have a test to study for!” Or whining because Facebook has turned you into a creeper, or the famous, whining because someone doesn’t have Facebook.

Or of course, the obligatory academic whining, like about the class with course objectives clearly stating, “will make student want to injure self and others.” Or the ever-present “My professor must get sick pleasure from this.”

Another favorite is campus-related whining. Personally, picking up litter causes angry muttering to bubble up from the depths of my being. Or the “There’s nobody in the Wellness Center!” As opposed to, “The Wellness Center is packed!”

It’s not hard to complain about insensitive people in the library and computer lab. “Do those guys really need to be breathing so loud/playing that game that involves laser noises and assault rifles on FULL VOLUME!? “ My favorite though is the dude having the apparently hilarious online conversation.

I was in the lab really late one night, hating my life and writing 17 papers simultaneously. The girl next to me was playing Internet pinochle. For some unexplainable reason, it made me so angry that I was worried for her life.

This leads me to other complaining I’m personally guilty of, or rather, just general things I tend to complain about: Paula Abdul, wallowing in my own clutter, restaurant forks whose tines don’t line up, when people pronounce my last name wrong on purpose (it’s love-ah-chee-uh), expiration dates, when you’re passing a car on the interstate and the driver looks over at you. Etc. etc.

Although the frequency of whining is pretty intense right now, no worries, it will soon morph into a whole other animal – being bored over the summer.