Bug List

1. Construction in downtown Orlando makes it really hard to know where to go, and it feels like a labyrinth trying to get around, even with a GPS.
1. This bug exists because many streets in downtown Orlando are one way, and there are also a lot of lakes in the area. You can start down a road because of a detour for, take a million twists and turns without any way to turn around, and be spit out somewhere completely foreign. Plus, GPS navigation in this area can be unreliable regarding construction because the maps aren’t updated often enough.
2. The line at Space mountain was so long that I had to skip it and go on other rides because I didn’t have enough time to just wait in line for Space Mountain. I was disappointed because it happened last time I was at Disney too and I still haven’t gotten to ride Space Mountain to this day.
1. This probably happens not only because the ride is the most popular, but also because the ride takes a while and doesn’t fit a lot of people in one trip. There is more demand to get on the ride than the ride’s completion rate and carrying capacity can handle.
3. There are no pads or tampons available for free in the Reitz bathrooms (or probably any bathrooms on campus), so there is no way to easily get feminine hygiene products if you don’t have your wallet on you (which I sometimes forget at home).
1. One problem here is that I forgot my wallet, and this problem would be solved if I had remembered it. Another core problem though is that if I couldn’t afford pads/tampons and was genuinely struggling financially, I would still not have access to pads or tampons and would just bleed through my pants.
4. Getting stuck in the rain without an umbrella and no ponchos available, and also having no cover and no way to protect your phone from the water even though you’re also in an unfamiliar place and need the GPS to find your way home.
1. Part of the core of this problem is not knowing when to bring an umbrella, or forgetting it even if you do know it will rain. Another part is that my phone wasn’t waterproof and I needed it to navigate. I was also walking instead of driving, and if I had a car then none of the problems in this bug would have happened.
5. Getting hit in your rear bumper by a tourist wearing Mickey ears.
1. This happened because I was at a stoplight and when the light turned green, I released the brake but accelerated slower than the car behind me. He may have been distracted by a phone or talking to the woman in the passenger seat, but the core of the problem was that he didn’t accurately judge how fast I was accelerating and miscalculated, then hit my bumper.
6. Potholes on 62nd Blvd
1. Maybe our tax money isn’t being used for potholes, but if it isn’t then I don’t know what. Maybe it just isn’t high on the priority list, or maybe there just isn’t enough money from taxes to pay to take the time and labor to fill the potholes. Maybe there also isn’t a major demand or outcry for this issue, so representative don’t prioritize this in order to be reelected.
7. When the bag of chips I just bought from the vending machine gets stuck before falling.
1. I’m not exactly sure why this happens, but it must be an engineering issue that keeps the bag from falling.
8. When I take out the trash at night, it’s really dark and I get scared walking all the way to the dumpster in my apartment complex.
1. Part of the issue is that there isn’t sufficient lighting for safety and comfort, and the other part of the problem is that there aren’t enough dumpsters to shorten everyone’s walking distance.
9. Stop signs that are hidden behind a bush or a tree that make it hard to see the stop sign until the last second, when you have to slam on the brakes and risk getting into an accident.
1. This happens because someone either decides to place a stop sign behind a tree or bush, or because the tree or bush grew there after the stop sign was already placed. Maybe there just isn’t any government service that makes sure street signs are visible, or if there is they don’t know about the signs being blocked in less prominent roads.
10. When a bus passes you, even though you’re at the bus stop.
1. Maybe this happens because the bus driver didn’t see you in that particular moment, or maybe it was a moment of forgetfulness of the bus driver. I’m not really sure why this happens but it makes me frustrated beyond belief when it does.
11. Trying to open a jar, but then still not being able to open it even when you use a towel, and having to resort to hitting the lid with a hammer to knock it loose and open it.
1. This happens because airtight jars can sometimes be so well sealed that the lid is strongly suctioned shut. That is mainly an issue regarding engineering, and making the seals too tight for the average (unfit) consumer to open with ease.
12. When a banner appears at the top of the screen of an iPhone, and you meant to tap something else but you accidentally tap the banner the second it shows up and open the notification, even though you wanted to do something else entirely.
1. This happens to me every time I want to “x” out of a Snapchat but I get a notification banner right as I’m about to tap the screen. It is one of the most frustrating and tedious things that can happen on this earth. It happens because the banners appear at the top of the screen every time I get a notification, and if I tap the banner the phone opens the app from that notification, regardless of whether or not I actually meant to tap it. I could turn off banner notifications on my phone, but then I would never see when I have notifications or texts from other apps.
13. Not knowing when food has actually gone bad yet.
1. Sometimes the sniff test doesn’t quite cut it, and expiration dates (which are really “sell by” dates) aren’t actually a proven legitimate way of telling if food is still okay to eat or not. Milk smells a little funky no matter when you buy it, so sometimes when it has just barely started to turn you can’t smell it yet, but you can taste it a LOT.
14. Nails that bend instead of going straight into the wall.
1. This happens because the nail is probably too thin and too weak of a metal that instead of being pushed straight into the wall, it just kind of collapses with the force of the hammer.
15. Bad food smelling up the trash.
1. Scented trash bags don’t adequately mask the scent of food waste that has been sitting in the trash. Maybe at the core of this issue is the fact that the food is being thrown away in the first place instead of being eaten, but the product of the trash bag itself is also clearly not working as well as it’s supposed to. Putting perfume on trash is clearly not effective, and the trash bags themselves don’t trap odor the way they were engineered to.
16. When automatic sliding glass shuts right as you walk up to it
1. This is probably a problem with the mechanism’s design and how it sense movement in front of the door, so maybe if it sensed movement of someone walking from farther then it would be able to anticipate better when someone is approaching.
17. Whenever I wear my glasses, the nose notches that hold my glasses in place smear off my makeup and when I take off my glasses I have little red marks on my nose from where the makeup was rubbed off.
1. This happens partially because my makeup isn’t thick or strong enough to stay in place under the glasses, but it also has to do with the glasses notches themselves. If they weren’t there then they wouldn’t ruin my makeup, but at the same time they need to be there to keep my glasses from falling off.
18. My Vans slip-ons always give me blisters on my heels
1. This happens because my socks are lower on my heel than the shoe is, so the sock doesn’t adequately protect my heel from getting blisters. The shoes are also designed to show ankle, so any socks that go higher than where the back of the shoe hits my heel would look weird.
19. It’s annoying to have to move my potted plants in and out of the house whenever there’s a cold night here, especially because it seems like it gets below freezing every other night- meaning I move the plants inside to stay warm, then the next day it’s warm and they can go outside, then the next day it’s too cold and I have to move them inside again at night because it will be below freezing. THe pots are heavy and it’s tiring to have to move them so much.
1. This problem exists because my plants are too small to put blankets on top of (their leaves and flowers would be crushed by the weight of a blanket), but will die if left out in temperatures below freezing. The pots they’re planted in are heavy, making the entire process cumbersome.
20. My roommate’s cat likes to knock things off of the surfaces in our apartment, like cups and random items on my desk.
1. The main problem is that the cat has a natural instinct to knock things over and play with them- but the reason this behavior is enforced is because my roommate doesn’t do anything to train him not to knock things over, and he has no reinforcement for not knocking things over. Also, he is often bored and left alone in our apartment, so he has no consequences when he spends hours at a time home alone and can knock over whatever he wants. Reflection I feel like this assignment was easy and lighthearted at first, but towards the end I began to kind of vent about random bugs that have been eating at me for a long time. I went to kind of a dark place where I kept thinking of all the terrible things that have happened to me that were really unlucky. However, it is a positive that now I can look at all these things that have happened that could be opportunities to fix these problems instead of just accepting them and pouting about it.