Two Words...

I'm beginning to despise are "stared" and "wondered." So help me, my next piece will be about eyeless, brainless, something or others just so I won't have to type those words out onto the screen ever again!

Are there adequate synonyms? Merriam Webster Online refers me to gape. That's a bad sign right off the bat, but I'm curious so let's see:

gawk = No.
gaze = Maybe.
goggle = F*k no.
peer = Wtf?
rubberneck = Depends.
stare = Wait...

The related words are even worse

glare = A glare is not a stare.
gloat = I didn't know gloating involved eye contact.
glower = He glowered at the key... no.
eye = maybe, but it would get tedious after the fifteenth time.
observe = Observe is strictly reserved for characters with monocles and Austrian accents.
watch = Not a stare. Watching suggests an active form of observing to me.
leer = Mom always said it was rude to do that.
ogle = See above.

I'm not even going to bother with wondered since I value my sanity.

Addis stared at the page and rubbed his eyes until they felt raw. He rubbed them a little more to be sure, and his suspicions were confirmed: They were raw.

He was tired, tired of all the headaches and hangups, rejections and redoes. He was getting nowhere, and he wondered if there would ever be an end to the madness.

As with most things, the end would only be the prelude to another beginning and so our story begins... with an ending.