Another Four-Letter Word

A friend of mine thinks I use the word "hate" too freely. She says it's "a very strong word" and thus should be saved for special occasions, when you really, really hate something. I hate that. I hate when someone tells me how to use words, and what words to use.

Actually, I do hate a lot of things. And maybe for me "hate" is not a strong word. Maybe for me it's just a medium word, and "despise" is the word I use when I feel really strongly about something. It isn't but it could be, after all, she doesn't know what's in my head.

Here are all the things I can say that I honestly hate:
Children getting cancer
Bill and Hillary Clinton
Morons calling George W. Bush "a moron"
Calamari
Chardonnay
Whoopie Goldberg
Rachel Maddow
Having high blood pressure
Feeling dizzy
Oysters
Vomiting
War
Being constipated
Driving in snow
Dropping my cell phone in the toilet
My eyesight since my cataract surgery
Flying
Waiting for service in a restaurant
Headaches 
Okra
Taffy
Feeling fat
Bill Maher
Very hot days
People who tell me how to think
Tsunamis
When the power goes out in a storm
ISIS
Spiders
Mosquito bites
Dunkin' Donuts coffee