A bit of an update...

[missroserose]

...which will probably turn out to be a bit of an understatement, as I have more than a few things to write (type? post?) about today.

Some of you may have noticed that, despite my professed (and still-held) aspirations of becoming an actor/singer of some note, I haven't done much to further that goal lately. While I suppose I could say something along the lines of "I've been too busy" or "classes are over and I wanted to have the summer off", and even have it be partially true, it's really just an excuse (and a rather pathetic one at that). So I'll go into the main reason why.

The production I was in as part of my acting class this spring was sort of a wake-up call. I knew that being part of a production was a lot of time and energy, but I don't think I quite understood exactly how much time - specifically, the driving-home-at-midnight-for-two-weeks-before-production bit. Not to mention the being-bitchy-for-three-weeks-because-I'm-balancing-this-on-top-of-work-and-school part. So I guess I wanted to have some time to think things over again and decide if I really wanted to do this again.

Well, the truth is...I do. I think I may well be insane because of it, but then, I've heard the theory that all actors/performers are inherently insane, because otherwise we wouldn't subject ourselves to such crazy schedules and huge chances for ridicule. I'd say that sounds about right.

Unfortunately, I wasn't really sure how to go about it again - when I showed up for the spring auditions it was rather anticlimactic, and since then I haven't really done a whole lot of networking in the Perseverance theatre community. But my mother (being the font of wisdom that she always is) suggested that I not worry about it - since this is my life goal and aspiration, the opportunity would present itself. All I had to do was keep an eye out.

Well, on Monday afternoon I was off running some errands, and I see a girl hitchhiking by the side of the road. It's my day off and I don't have much to do (and this being Juneau, the chances of a hitchhiker stabbing you to death are relatively low), so I pick her up. We get to talking, and it just so happens that she's headed over to Perseverance Theatre to get a receipt or something like that. So I take her over there, and go in, and there's David (my acting teacher from last semester who directed our production). I tell him that I'm interested in auditioning for Hair this season, and he says that they're doing auditions for King Island Christmas, which he's directing, and why don't I audition for that and he'll keep me in mind for Hair?

So now I have an audition at the end of the month, and I've borrowed the KIC soundtrack from Kristi (really nice lady at the library I used to work at; ironically enough she lent it to me before and I never got around to listening to it). I'm going to try and learn a song called "The Gift of Trouble" to sing. I wasn't intending to auditon for King Island as well, but I have a feeling David might've asked me because he'd like me to be in it (he's obviously seen me perform before and heard me sing, though not in a performance setting). Even though it's not as fun as Hair would likely be, I certainly wouldn't mind being in it - it's a rather Disneyesque musical (a bit oversimplified and optimistic) but still enjoyable. After all, it's a Christmas story; if it wasn't optimistic, it wouldn't work, now would it? =)

Now if I can just manage a decent audition...

Meantime, I managed to create all sorts of controversy on a certain LJ community by suggesting that (*gasp!*) perhaps it's not necessarily cool to make fun of Scientology as a religion. Yes, Tom Cruise has said/done some odd things in its name, but that doesn't mean that all its followers/practitioners are either brainwashed or horrible people, just the same way that the existence of Jack Chick and his Chick Tracts doesn't necessarily mean that all Christians are incredibly straight-laced fundamental. (Quite frankly, I find Scio to be less offensive than a lot of religions, especally the ones that send missionaries to my door.) Unfortunately, Scio seems to be the topic du jour to mock, and when large numbers of people are agreed on something, one or two voices tend to get drowned out in the herd mentality, no matter how logical or reasonable they might be. People have never been known for rationality in large groups, I guess. There were a couple of quotes that I particularly liked, though, if only because the "logic" behind them was so blatantly flawed:

"They're a brainwashing cult, not a religion, and they exert considerable strength to censor the media and influence governments." (If so, then, as someone else pointed out, why are several governments refusing to give them church status and [in one case] calling for their disbandment?)

"Basically, you pay Scientology all the money you have and then some, then learn aliens came to earth some odd years ago, blew up -other- aliens and ghost aliens cause all our problems." (My mother, who is a licensed attorney with 16 years of practice under her belt and generally a very logical person, has been into Scientology for some time now. If she'd heard anything about aliens (let alone ghost aliens), I very much doubt she would take it as seriously as she does. Yes, it's a rather expensive religion, but there's no coercion involved - if you want to pay, you can, and if not, no one's going to kick you out.)

{As to why Scientology is mockable} "Because Lisa Marie Presley thinks she can testify in front of Congress that there is no such things as ADHD or any form of mental illness?" (While I don't necessarily agree with their position on our system of psychiatry, even I can see that it's inherently flawed. However, Lisa Marie Presley is entitled to her opinion, and if Congress is going to believe her over any number of accredited sources, that's not Scio's problem.)

I dunno. I honestly don't know why I bothered; I haven't yet simply because I happen to agree with one of Brian's favorite sayings - "Arguing on the Internet is like running in the Special Olympics - even if you win, you're still retarded." There's very little chance you're going to be able to convince anyone of anything when they have any number of people willing to flock to their defense (or offense), especially when you're not there in person. Charisma on the internet is limited to how one types, spells and uses punctuation, and that's generally just not enough to make people even think twice. In person I might be able to convince a few people that belittling Scientologists is equally uncool with belittling, say, Jews or Christians, especially if they were alone, but online it's just not going to work.

But hey. At least I can say that I did, in fact, speak up. And there seemed to be at least one other person who was decently informed and intelligent. Seems to be becoming a rarer and rarer combination these days.

And people ask me why I'm as reclusive as I am...

Comments

[errant-variable.livejournal.com]

To be involved in more than one theatre production requires a certain degree of lunacy - look at who you are dating, and who you've been with.

and for Brian, regarding arguing on the internet, where does that stack trying to convince a denizen of the Interweb that your knowledge is accurate?

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Utterly pointless, futile and doomed to failure?

Actually, it'd probably depend on the situation.

What do you mean about who I'm dating, exactly?

[errant-variable.livejournal.com]

re: dating: Brian - techhead and does odd things to his endurance level in the name of The Show. This seems to be a common theme in all who have participated in more than one production.

Not that I'm not guilty of the same thing. And I know at least one and probably two of your exes/flings are also under the heading of "will work long hours for theatre".

[jamesd.livejournal.com]

You will need better arguments to argue successfully, if you choose to make a habit of it. :) Some highlights:

they exert considerable strength to censor the media and influence governments." (If so, then, as someone else pointed out, why are several governments refusing to give them church status

The argument here was that Scientology couldn't influence governments because it hadn't completely influenced some. It's entirely possible to influence some but not others, just as it is possible for there to be both good and bad governments and Scientologists.

My mother, who is a licensed attorney with 16 years of practice under her belt and generally a very logical person, has been into Scientology for some time now. If she'd heard anything about aliens (let alone ghost aliens), I very much doubt she would take it as seriously as she does

You're writing about religion here. Religion is not required to be logical and those with faith will do things which can seem strange to those without the same faith. A key aspect of many religions - certainly of Christianity - is suspension of disbelief and acceptance as a matter of faith rather than logic. Otherwise very capable people have done some really odd things because of faith, even when their actions seemed obviously foolish to others. This isn't a criticism of your mother, rather an observation that trying to use logic on faith is somewhat futile. Faith simply is.

Note that one penalty for refusing to tithe in some religions is condemnation to eternal damnation in hell. Quite a threat for those who don't want to donate money. I suppose it could merit investigation... :)

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Actually, the interesting thing about Scio is that it's not anywhere near as faith-based as some other religions are. Yes, they have some pretty strange ideas, but you're not required to subscribe to those ideas if you don't want to, and I get the feeling that they're more metaphorical anyway. It's more about closely examining things like your outlook on life/your relationships with people/whatever, and realizing why you do the things you do so that you can change your actions/reactions if needed. At least, that's what I've been getting from my mother. It's one of the reasons she really likes it - she's been able to combine the logical lawyer side of herself with the part that wants to have faith in something.

[taktukbrightsea.livejournal.com]

I go to metaquotes for the funny. If all else fails, wait a week and people won't be contributing to the threads anymore.

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

I used to go there for laughs, but lately it seems to have degenerated into mostly similar quotes on "safe" subjects (celebrities, Scio, movies, etc.). It just hasn't been that funny to me lately.

I dunno if the community's changed, or I have, or both...

[taktukbrightsea.livejournal.com]

I'd say both, sadly. Man, I've not much to look forward to, if this funding stuff doesn't come through. I'd rather avoid student loans if at all possible, after all.

Ah well. Life will go on, no matter which members of our species for which we might wish otherwise.

[dngrsone.livejournal.com]

I've been told the same thing, to the point where the person telling claimed Scientology wasn't a religion at all, more like a modifier to one's regularly chosen religion.

Their website does claim religious status, and if they are telling their constituants that theys aren't a religion, then they'd be guilty of fraud on a global scale. But I digress.

I agree with James on the point about faith and logic rarely meeting eye-to-eye, even in logic-oriented religions like Scientology.

Though the alien thing is a new one to me, haven't heard that one yet...

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

I've heard the "modifier to current religion" bit, but I'd have to agree - if they're claiming religion status, they should stick with that.

And I also agree about faith and logic. Brian and I actually had a couple of dinner guests last night who consider themselves to be Christian, and we were discussing how a lot of the most prominent Christians today have the same kind of blind fundamentalist faith that the Muslims do.

I never tire of noticing how so many billions of people have been killed in the name of someone who was entirely about living in harmony...

[taktukbrightsea.livejournal.com]

Well, people need a certain amount of irony per day, or they become anemic, and that's bad.

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

"You don't even know what 'irony' is, do you, Baldrick?"
"'Course I do. It's just like bronzy and goldy, 'cept made of iron."