Here we go again… The WBC to protest at fallen Hokies’ funerals

So it has come to my attention that the WBC is planning to protest the funerals of the victims of the VA Tech Massacre. I am absolutely appalled and disgusted by this and would like to send out a link to all my readers so that anyone who wishes can sign this petition to stop the WBC: Stop Phelps and the WBC From Protesting at the Funerals of Fallen Hokies. Fred Phelps and the psychos at Westboro Baptist Church are planning to protest at EVERY FUNERAL and MEMORIAL SERVICE that they learn of regarding the students murdered on April 16th! I would also like to note that no one should go to their websites because for every hit they make money.

The Westboro Baptist “Church” is an organization that teaches a message of hate. They do not believe that Christ died for everyone in the world, only the elite chosen. They are saying that because higher education teaches rebelliousness against God that these students deserved to die. So I guess that means that I’m a sinner who will be burned in hell because I am a college student. I’m a bonafide Southern Baptist myself, not that denomination matters, and actually I think that God approves of intelligence and study as it helps us understand His will and do good in this world. The WBC are hypocrites who claim higher education is evil and yet the cult, and it is a cult not a Baptist church, is full of lawyers who will sue you the minute you speak out against them. I am insulted by their claim to be Baptists and his claim to be an old school Baptist. I’ve been looking into articles about him and it appears that I will be going to hell because I’m Irish, a college student, some of my friends are gay and I don’t condemn them, I’m in love with an Irish Catholic, and a variety of other reasons. Sad really, but all my faith in God and prayer don’t count according to the WBC people.

I’ve also been looking into the places they’ve been and they have yet to come to TN that I know of, but I would love to seem them attempt to screw with a funeral where I am from because I guarantee that we rednecks won’t put up with it. I dare say they would be met with some serious opposition and would wish they’d never shown up. I wish I could get to VA to stand with the others who are going to build a human wall against the WBC at the funerals because the Patriot Guard Riders can only attend the funerals of ROTC students since they are a group who works military funerals and only if they are invited. I’m all for an organization of college students and other graduate students to do the same thing as the PGR, we can’t let them harass innocent people and mourning families to spread their message of hate.

Stark realizations…

I suppose it can be expected that Lucky, the cynic and sarcastic one, has a response to the VA Tech massacre that happened on April 16th. And I definitely do. When I heard on the radio that a gunman had opened fire on the campus I immediately went into worry mode, what with Spoony living in VA and having friends there. I was afraid he might have lost someone there and so I called him. It turns out, unless he isn’t telling me because he doesn’t want me to worry, he didn’t know anyone at VA Tech. I was grateful for that at least.  I got an email the president of the university sent to every student here on campus telling us about the security plans that our college has and sending out his sympathy. Yesterday we were all Hokies, regardless of our colors and our campuses. Yesterday I was both a Blue Raider and a Hokie, and I disregarded my rivalries and prayed hard. I prayed for those lost and those who are left. Then I got to thinking and watching the news and some things dawned on me.

This guy who snapped and went crazy and killed 32 people and then himself was showing some serious red flags. They were waving right in front of everyone and went unnoticed. He was depressed and on medication for it; he set fire to his dorm room, and he was writing some really disturbing stuff for his creative writing class. I mean come on people, the guy was showing warning signs that he might do something like this. I’m not saying every emo loner is going to go crazy and start killing people, but you have to take a close look at things like that. Something was definitely off about this guy. I know, I know, hindsight is 2020.

Another thing that came to mind is that with all these people screaming for the campus police chief and the college president to resign that they aren’t realizing all the facts. These people are caught up in their “righteous anger” and ”righteous indignation” that they aren’t thinking about everything else. When cops get to a murder scene they usually have no real information until they start investigating, and that was pretty much the case here. They went to that dorm and found two dead bodies, that doesn’t tell them who killed these students or why, or even if the shooter is still on campus. Let’s face it, there wasn’t a whole hell of a lot to go on at that point. You can’t read the mind of a person you don’t know. Everyone is shouting about how they should have evacuated the school or locked it down. OK let’s explore that.

1. You evacuate the campus. For all you know this guy is up in the clock tower with a high powered rifle and he’ll just start picking people off as they run by. It has happened before.
2. You lock the school down. Now you run the risk of locking a bunch of kids up with this guy. More lives lost while you do a room by room search for the killer, who is holed up with a bunch of easy targets.

And  I’ve come to the realization that people have become sheep. I preface this part of the entry with the point that I am not speaking ill of the dead, but of society in general. The Fight or Flight Instinct has been modified so much that for the most part it is now “Flight or Freeze” and freeze is the action of choice. People do not fight back anymore, counting too much on the police and others to protect them. what happens when you are on your own. You’ve got a guy with a gun shooting people. Scary? Damn straight. But you’ve also got strength in numbers and the adrenalin is going to start pumping. It is were me I wouldn’t go down without a fight. He’s probably going to shoot me anyway so I’m going to at least distract him long enough for some others to have a chance to escape and maybe I’ll take him down with me. My father has always taught me to fight back, to not let anyone get me without a fight, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to just stand there and let some nutcase shoot me and a bunch of my classmates when I’ve got two arms and two legs that will let me fight.

I knew it was coming… I saw it all along. Listen and you can hear the shouting of anti-guns, anti-second amendment, and anti-NRA protests. This gunman obtained his weapons legally, he had no criminal record, he passed the background check. It is not the gun that caused him to kill, it was his mental state at the time. Do not blame this shooting on the guns, gun rights, etc because you are way off base. Guns don’t kill people, people kill people, period. Yes it is a tragedy that a man got hold of guns and shot people, but it is not because he had access to guns. I have access to guns that I use for hunting, much like my father and his father before him. That does not mean  that I will go on a shooting spree and kill 32 of my classmates and professors. The guns didn’t magically pull their own triggers, reload, and shoot people, the madman behind them did it. A gun is just an inanimate object, it is the person who uses it for ill. I leave you with this final thought: ”Guns kill people like spoons made Rosie O’Donnel fat.”

Theatre Terms

So this entry is brought about by old programs, red roses, make up, and a variety of other items I found the other day. It is also inspired by the sign above my door that reads “Tokyo” and points in a direction that I am not sure is correct.

Alas I regrettably left my home on stage behind for other things, though it shall always be one of my first loves and given a good opportunity I will return. But for now I look back on those days with a smile and direct you to this poem and these theater terms. Perhaps there are some thespians out there who will understand.

• Eternity- The time that passes between a dropped cue and the next line.
• Prop- A hand-carried object small enough to be lost by an actor 30 seconds before it is needed on stage.
• Director- The individual who suffers from the delusion that he or she is responsible for every moment of brilliance cited by the critic in the local review.
• Blocking- The art of moving actors on the stage in such a manner as not to collide with the walls, the furniture, the orchestra pit or each other. Similar to playing chess, except that the pawns want to argue with you.
• Blocking Rehearsal- A rehearsal taking place early in the production schedule where actors frantically write down movements which will be nowhere in evidence by opening night.
• Quality Theater- Any show with which you were directly involved.
• Turkey- Every show with which you were not directly involved.
• Dress Rehearsal- Rehearsal that becomes a whole new ball game as actors attempt to maneuver among the 49 objects that the set designer added at 7:30 that evening.
• Tech Week- The last week of rehearsal when everything that was supposed to be done weeks before finally comes together at the last minute; reaches its grand climax on dress rehearsal night when costumes rip, a dimmer pack catches fire and the director has a nervous breakdown. Also known as “hell” week.
• Set- An obstacle course which, throughout the rehearsal period, defies the laws of physics by growing smaller week by week while continuing to occupy the same amount of space.
• Monologue- That bright, shining moment when all eyes are focused on a single actor who is desperately aware that if he forgets a line, no one can save him.
• Dark Night- The night before opening when no rehearsal is scheduled so the actors and crew can go home and get some well deserved rest, and instead spend the night staring sleeplessly at the ceiling because they’re sure they needed one more rehearsal.
• Bit Part- An opportunity for the actor with the smallest role to count everybody else’s lines and mention repeatedly that he or she has the smallest part in the show.
• Dark Spot- An area of the stage which the lighting designer has inexplicably forgotten to light, and which has a magnetic attraction for the first-time actor. A dark spot is never evident before opening night.
• Hands- Appendages at the end of the arms used for manipulating one’s environment, except on a stage, where they grow six times their normal size and either dangle uselessly, fidget nervously, or try to hide in your pockets.
• Stage Manager- Individual responsible for overseeing the crew, supervising the set changes, baby-sitting the actors and putting the director in a hammerlock to keep him from killing the actor who just decided to turn his walk-on part into a major role by doing magic tricks while he serves the tea.
• Lighting Director- Individual who, from the only vantage point offering a full view of the stage, gives the stage manager a heart attack by announcing a play-by-play of everything that’s going wrong.
• Makeup Kit- (1) Among experienced community theater actors, a battered tackle box loaded with at least 10 shades of greasepaint in various stages of desiccation, tubes of lipstick and blush, assorted pencils, bobby pins, braids of crepe hair, liquid latex, old programs, jewelry, break-a-leg greeting cards from past shows, brushes and a handful of half-melted cough drops (2) For first-time male actors, a helpless look and anything they can borrow.
• The Forebrain- The part of an actors brain which contains lines, blocking and characterization; activated by hot lights.
• The Hindbrain- The part of an actors brain that keeps up a running subtext in the background, while the forebrain is trying to act. The hindbrain supplies a constant stream of unwanted information. Such as who is sitting in the second row tonight, a notation to seriously maim the crew member who thought it would be funny to put real Tabasco sauce in the fake Bloody Marys, or the fact that you need to do laundry on Sunday.
• Stage Crew- Group of individuals who spend their evenings coping with 50-minute stretches of total boredom interspersed with 30-second bursts of mindless panic.
• Message Play- Any play which its director describes as “worthwhile,” “a challenge to actors and audience alike,” or “designed to make the audience think.” Critics will be impressed both by the daring material and the roomy accommodations, since they’re likely to have the house all to themselves.
• Bedroom Farce- Any play which requires various states of undress on stage and whose set sports a lot of doors. The lukewarm reviews, all of which feature the phrase “typical community theater fare” in the opening paragraph, are followed paradoxically by a frantic attempt to schedule more performances to accommodate the overflow crowds.
• Costume Designer- A person or persons who conceive, and sometimes help construct, the clothing that the actors wear. Colors and details of the costumes not guaranteed after lighting. Some lighting designers call them “the evil people who give hats to actors.”
• Assistant Director- Individual willing to undertake special projects that nobody else would take on a bet, such as working one-on one with the brain-dead actor whom the rest of the cast has threatened to take out a contract on.
• Set Piece- Any large piece of furniture which actors will resolutely use as a safety shield between themselves and the audience, in an apparent attempt to both anchor themselves to the floor, thereby avoiding floating off into space, and to keep the audience from seeing that they actually have legs.
• Strike- The time immediately following the last performance while all cast and crew members are required to stay and help (or watch the Techies) dismantle the set.
• Actors- People who stand between the audience and the set designer’s art, blocking the view. That’s also the origin of the word “blocking,” by the way.
• Stage Right, Stage Left- Two simple directions actors pretend not to understand in order to drive directors crazy.

Sudden realizations of love

OK so apparently Spoony can rewrite history. Well actually he just clarified history and totally screwed up my dates and such. Yesterday was Easter {le duh} and so I went to the home of my cousin James and his wife Tanya’s house for the annual celebration. We had ham and stuff, I stalked everyone with my camera, my mom stalked me with my camera, and then we went out and hunted Easter eggs. While I was out stalking the hunters with my camera, I missed a phone call from Spoony {le boo} and he left a cute message. Anyways about ten last night he calls back and we had the first real conversation in months.

This brings me to the rewriting of history and such. We talked for an hour and a half, and he managed to score 5 points to my 1, rewrite history, and inform me that it was inevitable that we will get married because he had recurring dreams about it. All this while we laughed and talked for the first time in ages and I began to feel better than ever. I have missed him so much lately, and I love him with all my heart. We were talking about all the notes that we had passed {Because I am strange and have them in a box}, and I found one where he was asking me all these questions that I wouldn’t answer. I had been playing this game with a deck of playing cards where you ask te cards yes or no questions and depending on what suit you get that is the answer and I wouldn’t tell him what I was asking. That took us to the subject of memory and Prom and our first kiss. And from there he rewrote history because was one of the questions I asked the cards was this “Was he just a good friend I could get away with kissing?” Apparently the answer was “yes as in my boyfriend.” At last history is set straight. Our anniversary in actually April 23, as in 2005 and the night of my senior prom which means I celebrated on the wrong day a month early and shorted us a year. Strange huh?

This rewriting of history means that all my dates are off, sadly enough my father was right, and the summer, fall, winter of 2005 and the part of the spring of 2006 was absolutely terrible and painful for no reason. My dad had been declaring that Spoony was my boyfriend since Prom and I of course didn’t know that he was and therefore adamantly denied it. But he was in fact right and the Spoon wants me to make sure that I tell him so and that he know it was him who made him right. Obviously all my dates are wrong because we have been together two years not just a little over one. And as for that period of time, if you read back on some old blog entries you can see what I mean. I went through total hell trying to figure out what we were and thinking I would never be with him and wouldn’t you know it… I had him. Sometimes I get so confused.