I Blame God

I was reading about the Sago mine survivor who left the hospital today. They’ve renamed the street he lives on as Miracle Road. Now his story is truly remarkable. It’s amazing he made it out and I do hope he can recover physically and psychologically and lead a healthy and happy life. But I would like to look at some of the quotes:

“I would like to thank everybody for their thoughts and prayers.” – Randy McCloy

“Today is another part of the Miracle.” – Anna McCloy

“West Virginia does believe in Miracles.” – Governor Manchin

And now I’m going to pick a fight with my theological friends. How come God gets to be praised as the performer of miracles, the saver of Randy McCloy, and the benevolent all powerful? God is thanked many more times than say, the rescue workers or the doctors who actually saved his life.

But more importantly, if God is the bringer of miracles then why doesn’t God get blamed for the tragedy of the other 12 miners. Why didn’t God save them all? What we’re saying here is that God, who is busy overseeing the universe, stretched out his hand to save this one miner, yet let the other 12 suffer and die. Where was God’s plan in letting an accident happen, killing 12 men and leaving one with brain damage?

All I’m saying is that God gets great PR. It’s a miracle when God saves one miner in West Virginia, but no one blames God for the 2,000+ soldiers killed in Iraq or the millions killed in the Darfur genocide.

If God is omnipresent then he should get a lot more blame than he does. The religious should hold God accountable because, even though he saved one miner in West Virginia, he’s not doing too much to help the rest of the majorly fucked up world he made.

Assho

Yesterday I saw this great cartoon in my friend’s office. It’s a painter and a business man and the painter is saying “can you give me some money to help me finish my painting?” But the painting is of the business man with “ASSHO ” written underneath.
I know, cartoons are never as good when described, but you get the point. Actually I tried to find the cartoon online. It’s hard to search for the text of cartoon though and googling “cartoon + assho” led to a lot of links I can’t click on at work (although I did forward some to myself for perusing later).

I’ve been trying to find a copy of a Doonesbury cartoon where it’s Bush Sr. talking to Bush Jr. about Iraq. The one where Bush Sr. calls him “another child left behind.” If I can find it I’ll post it. Or 10 points to anyone else who finds it for me.
And Doonesbury is approved in my word auto-spell check. Good for him. Googling is not.

Great morning

So I switched my work schedule from 9 – 5 to 10 – 6. Same hours I used to work in Baltimore. The timing couldn’t be better. It will come right as it gets warmer and not too long before day light savings. Also I’m not doing any show right away where I would need to get off by 5 to get to a theater. It should be a nice way to finish this last month and a half before I (hopefully) leave.

The problem is I can’t convince myself to go to sleep before midnight. I’ve tried, but until 12:30 rolls around, I’m just not tired and have to force myself to bed. It was the worst when I was student teaching and I had to get up before 6AM everyday, but it was such work to get to bed before midnight. We’ve all read those reports about how you need 8 hours of sleep at night or it starts to affect your productivity. Well it’s true with me. I’ve been getting about 6 hours a night for the past two months and sometimes it shows. For instance, I read emails 3 or 4 times before I send them out and yet still I will look back and find typos. It’s frustrating and I blame the continual lack of a full night’s rest.

Anyway, today was my first 10:00 day and it was great. I wasn’t rushed, the trains weren’t busy, and I feel refreshed. This should be a change for the better.

I drink alone

Last night I was doing some set work for the next show I’m working on. Now, you can’t build a set without beer, so I picked a few six packs up for four of us working. So two of us are in one room painting and staining the entire night, but around 11:00 he has to leave. And I’m painting and drinking and drinking and painting and around midnight I realize, I’m drunk. I’m sitting in a room by myself, painting chairs, and damn near drunk!
Everything got down and by 1:30, when I left, I was starting to sober up. And 1:30 is actually an early night as far as late night builds go. Although usually I’m not as buzzed when I’m working (not that it matters, usually I have more thought provoking jobs than painting).

Mississippi Bans Sex Toys

How is this possible?!

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From msnbc.com

There is a landmark legal battle of constitutional proportions being fought down in Mississippi. It involves fundamental rights protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments, not to mention the rights of certain small business owners to satisfy their customers. This week, another court refused to recognize Mississippians’ right to find companionship for 29.99 and so a law outlawing the sale of sex toys will stand.

“A person commits the offense of distributing unlawful sexual devices when he knowingly sells, advertises, publishes or exhibits to any person any three-dimensional device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs or offers to do so or possesses such devices with the intent to do so.”

Well, I am glad to see that the local legislators are focusing on the most pressing issues of the day. I’ve long believed that a three-dimensional, possibly battery-operated device is far more menacing than a handgun. In Mississippi, people can buy guns at a gun show with no background check and certain weapons can be carried almost anywhere. Sure, guns and toys can bring joy and a sense of comfort to the user, but apparently the legislators concluded that a genital replica is a far greater threat to society.

This, from a state that levies only an 18-cent tax on cigarettes, 55 cents below the national average and where 62 percent of residents are overweight, making it the fattest state in the country. Yet still the public schools don’t make gym class compulsory. Mississippi’s laws would make you believe sex is the single greatest threat to public safety and well-being. After all, it’s illegal in Mississippi to have sex with someone you’re not married to or to live with someone other than your spouse.

Both can result in a $500 fine and six months in jail. And men are not permitted to be aroused in public. But at least good people are protected from the disfigurement that could result from an accidental electrical overload from a defective toy.
Georgia and Texas have passed similar bans and courts have repeatedly ruled the legislators have the power to do it. I guess the Second Amendment doesn’t say anything about the right to bear a stimulation device.

But the sex activists are not closing up shop in the South Pole just yet. They formed a lobbying group based in Florida called the National Alliance of Adult Trade Organizations or NAATO. Not, of course, to be confused with the other NATO, which is based in Brussels.

I don’t mean to pick on Mississippi. I love the state and the people, but I just don’t get why the legislators are fighting so hard for this law. We’re talking about adults here. It’s not that I really care about ensuring that these toys are ready accessible. Really. It’s just that you have to wonder, is one of these toys really a greater threat to the community than what real live people do to each other every day?

No rest for the wicked

I was just thinking about the fact that the last day I did not go to a theater was February 13th. And the next day I don’t have to be in a theater is April 2nd. That’s over a month and a half I have had to be at some rehearsal or performance straight! And that doesn’t even included going to work everyday.

Well anyway, Joe and Mel are coming up this weekend. I’m a little busy, but I do have Saturday night off to do dinner and drinks with the Peabody crowd. Should be fun. I haven’t seen Joe in way too long. And Joe still owes me $10 (which I owe to Tim). Speaking of, Erin and Kevin also owe me $10. It’s not that I care about getting $10 from them, but the fact that I won it in a pool means I have to collect. You know, for the integrity of the pool.

Spring shall come, Rue shall go

Spring is here. Sort of. It's 39 degrees outside.

We had a warm couple of days; beautiful, perfect early spring weather. And for some reason I think since it was warm that means it will never be as cold as it was. So I never think to bring my hat or scarf with me in the mornings and freeze as I walk to work. Least I brought my gloves. I’m sure spring will come and it will be beautiful. And then summer and it will be too hot (but hopefully I will not be here).

Spring shall come, come again, calling up the moorfowl.
Spring shall bring the sun and rain, bring the bees and flowers.
Red shall the Heather bloom over hill and valley.
Soft flow the stream through the even flowing hours.
- Robert Louis Stevenson

Strike was last night for Rue. It’s finally over. 2 months of having a second job, 2 months of not sleeping and emailing and building and prop hunting and reading for 4 different characters at a time. What a handful. What a show. This picture is from back in February when we completeled the frame for the 20' circle that was our stage. It was a proud moment even though we still had to put the platform on top. It's all gone now. If you don't attend much off-off Broadway, you might not truly appreciate what a feat this was. No budget, no time, great show.

Santa Fe, my old friend, I aint gettin' any younger

I just had my interview with Santa Fe Opera for their summer season for a crew supervisor position. I think it went well, but I’m not overly enthusiastic, if only because they only have two open positions. I think I gave a great interview. I talked about my Peabody experiences with a crew and then my New York experiences working without one and I talked about my education degree and what it has taught me about working with people. I never missed a beat. I’m a little worried I was too professional. That I always new what the right answer was.
We’ll see. If I don’t get it I assume I’ll get just a regular crew position, not one of the staff positions so either way I should be in Santa Fe for the summer. Mid-May to late-August

I haven’t written in a while. Quite a while. It’s been a rough month and every time I went to write it seemed like what I was writing wasn’t as important as what I wanted to write, but couldn't. I hope this will start me up again once or twice a week.