What's your worst pet peeve?
I really get annoyed when people keep pressing the lift button, although the lift is nowhere near our floor. What do they think? The lift would pick up speed and reach them faster? However, there are times I find it amusing, and I do understand that it makes us feel less helpless about the situation. Imagine you are going to meet your friend and you are already five minutes late. You come flying out of your flat, shoes in hands, and the lift is rumbling along slowly. Helpless, you stand there and wait. You are very excited, and you need to get rid of your excess energy, even if it means taking it out on the tiny little button in front of you. Then there are people who don't mind waiting another minute for the lift, quietly daydreaming, if they have to. Now imagine these two kinds of people waiting for the lift. The first guy is pacing up and down the corridor, breathing heavily, while the second guy is just trying to have a quiet time. Then the first guy starts taking out his anger on the lift button. Goodbye, peaceful morning.
Nanor Wong Si-yee, 17, St Margaret's Co-educational English Secondary School
Flushing toilets without closing the seat cover.
I became paranoid about this after watching a documentary on personal hygiene. It explained how doing that would result in billions of urine and faeces particles splashing all over the bathroom. The film showed how those particles accumulate each time a person flushes the toilet without putting down the seat cover.
At school, I use the toilet for disabled people, for personal reasons. It is on the same floor as my classroom. But it has no seat cover!
I usually open the toilet door with a clean tissue. Once I'm done, I flush the toilet and literally run out of the cubicle to get away from the urine particles. I always thought this was normal, until my best friend told me: "You're paranoid; you know that?" I replied: "I'm just cleaner than most." But I wonder ...
Once, when I was running from the toilet, my jacket got hooked onto something in the cubicle, but I didn't care. I kept running - which resulted in a torn jacket.
Catherine Wang, 12, Chinese International School
My worst pet peeve is that I never seem to stick to my New Year's resolutions, no matter how hard I try. Each December, I come up with a long list of improvements to my lifestyle for the coming year. Exercise more often. Eat less snacks. And stop playing those silly Facebook games. It goes on and on and on. As soon as January arrives, I start the year feeling determined and fresh. Sure enough, I try to play more sports with my family (leading to many arguments), eat carrot sticks instead of Doritos and resist the urge to go online and take care of my virtual restaurants and pets. After a few weeks, the resolve starts to weaken. I find myself on the couch most afternoons, digging into chips at school and logging on to my Facebook account more often. Months later, I abandon all my promises and decide to give them another shot that December. And this year's resolutions? I am definitely going to try to accomplish them - somehow. On to 2012!