Stop shaking your leg...NOW!

Flash's tail is resting on the keyboard as I type this. Lately, he's been sitting near me whenever I am at the computer. He's been affectionate ever since we got back from vacation. Lola's the direct opposite...she's been distant and kind of bitchy. We think she is going through her "teenage" cat years...Flash went through a similar, unaffectionate phase after he was a kitten.

I've taken a few grad school classes now and some people seem to never change, in regard to habits. In no ranking order, these are the 4 MOST annoying types of classmates to have in a room with you.

1] The Obsessive Highlighter ("highlighter" being used as a noun referring to "one who highlights")
The obsessive highlighters aren't super-abundant in grad school but I know they're out there. These are the people that may be reading in the assigned text before class or following along on a certain page with the professor--- they have the inclination to highlight practically the whole page... so instead of mostly white pages with some "important" pieces of the text highlighted, you instead have a whole page of pink, yellow, green, or orange. And the highlighter (marker this time) makes that irritating squeaky noise, line by line.

2] The Shaker
This is the person who, OF COURSE, is sitting next to YOU and keeps shaking their leg for the whole duration of class. I just want to throw a heavy steel plate on their leg and make them stop.

3] The Quoter
So pretentious...some ignorant ass who really knows or understands nothing, but feels inclined to quote tons of other "thinkers" and "intellectuals." Quotes are fine, substantiating ideas is fine....THE Quoter goes above and beyond...

4] The Insecure Participant
I find it so annoying when someone persistently prefaces a statement, opinion, or viewpoint with something like "I know this is a stupid question, but..." or "I'm probably wrong, but..." I don't know what's up with those people. If you truly think you're most likely wrong or that what you're about to say can be categorized as "stupid," why participate in the first place? Wait for a better moment in the discussion and participate in a non-stupid, correct way. Females tend to fill the insecure participant category more than males. What happened to girl power? Thank god The Spice Girls are reuniting for a tour...