Tolerance, round 3

Things I will always tolerate:

-The mouth-burn of good Mexican food or high quality whiskey: cause it hurts so good.

-Kanye: I'll take one hundred awkward award show moments, a thousand overdone memes, a million inane all caps tweets and generally dumb opinions for a "My Dark Twisted Fantasy" every few years. Don't listen to the media, listen to the music.

-Bees: getting stung sucks, and the panic than takes over when you hear buzzing is awful, but honey is great, and so are fruits and flowers. We need bees way more than they need us (in fact, I don't know if there's an animal out there that needs us. We tend to be bad news for animals. Like, really bad news. We could very well be the ultimate virus). Plus, they're nature's kamikaze pilots, and you gotta admire any animal willing to disembowel itself to protect its home. It's bad ass. Bees are bad ass.

-Hangovers: because sometimes there's no other option.


Things I will never tolerate:

-The new Republican ilk: few things make me feel as fearful as reading about all the things the new GOP does (or doesn't) want to do and the voters who agree with them. It's scary to see lawmakers vehemently oppose higher taxes for the people most capable of affording them while shrugging at the notion that their plan for the US budget will cost people jobs. It's scary to see them introduce bills allowing for the homicide of practicing pro-choice doctors and attack women in a fashion that should be described as anti-choice. It's scary to see them exclaim that God has given us unlimited resources and that we should not worry about how we take from the earth. It's scary to see them persistently deny the hard evidence of climate change, collude with billionaire anachronistic energy companies on this denial, try to dismantle the EPA and block all federal agencies from doing anything to prevent climate collapse (despite the fact that a majority of people do not want this). It's scary to watch them attack young peoples' ability to go to college and get a job then charge them as lazy. It's scary to see them refuse to disqualify the conspiracy notions of birthers and Muslim president believers. It's scary to see them try to force America away from being the country everyone was trying to emulate and are now probably laughed about in parliaments, cabinets, and board rooms (the Chinese especially (I also have funny images of tiny foreign politicians and corporate types crowding in kitchen cabinets)). It's scary to see that "elitism" is grossly misappropriated and used as an insult, and that the people who least represent the "majority of Americans" are lauded as representatives of the "majority of Americans." It's scary that these people were supported and elected in such sweeping fashion. It's scary, really scary.

-Most Nirvana songs, most Red Hot Chili Peppers songs, Radiohead's "Creep": I'm well aware of the impact Nirvana had on music in the 90's. Many of the bands I like now probably wouldn't exist in the way they do if it weren't for Nirvana. But seriously, Nirvana is boring. Maybe it's because I've grown up listening to the bands who have expanded on or are derivative of Nirvana, and thus become more nuanced and complex representations of Nirvana's general sound. I find RHCP not only boring, but slightly irritating. They have one mode, and it's the same one they've been playing since they started. The best thing they've done is getting Flea to be a voice actor. "Creep" -- boring. That song kept me from listening to Radiohead for years.

-Watching nose jobs being performed on TV: corrective surgery is always gross to watch (ever seen a lipo? The doctor sticking that tube pretty violently up some poor woman's stomach/thigh/arm? So visceral), but nose jobs make me queasy. I can't explain why they bother me so much, but I have literally left the room before because I can't tolerate them.

-Sandals with socks: because if you really feel the need to wear socks, you shouldn't be wearing sandals.


Things I didn't use to tolerate, but tolerate now:

-Sarah Palin: just barely tolerable, only because she's always good for a laugh. You are so dumb, you are really dumb, for real.

-Pitchfork music reviews: verbose, self-serving, pretentious, but usually right, or at least close to it.

-New York City winters: not as pretty as Boston's, but not as bitterly, bone-chillingly cold. I think it has something to do with the lack of integrated natural space and trash berms that makes it slightly intolerable. Really, there was some poor city planning going on when they decided to have trash pick up be in front of buildings.

-Los Angeles rush hour: because being stuck in an hour of bumper to bumper traffic is always better than 20 minutes with a briefcase wedged up your ass.