MagicDreamer0630

Being at the right place, the right time!


So. On top of my getting an AWESOME job working Tech for a FANTASTIC crew at the Great American Playhouse in Oro Valley, my sister won tickets to Disneyland!!!
Technically, the tickets were won thru a radio contest, because apparently Olly Murs is doing an acoustic concert in Disneyland this Sunday (Sept. 22nd). I'm not an avid fan by any means, and honestly I'd not heard of him until she won this thing, but his music is actually pretty awesome. I didn't realize it was him until after, but I've heard a few of his songs on Pandora before, and we got his new CD 'Right Place Right Time' which is great if a little lacking in quantity--since when do CD's only have ten tracks?

But yeah, she signed up on a whim, because who doesn't want to try for a free trip to Disneyland, and they contacted her last Thursday about it. She's also taking her friend and boyfriend, which should be interesting, but I'm not about to let that stop me from having an awesome three-day vacation at Disney.


Now, I just need to cram for and pass this test on Wednesday, survive work on Thursday/Friday, and not die of excitement before we get on the plane Saturday....

No pressure, or anything

No, really. It's ridiculous. Last Sunday, the closest thing to a 'life' I had was my one class this semseter. Now?
I've got a job. I've got school. Next week I'm going to get my permit to learn how to drive.

I'VE GOT A JOB.


Long story, because I feel like telling the whole thing. If you don't feel like reading, well, nothing's keeping you.

So. Back in high school (and I can't even BEGIN to tell you how weird it is to type that) I was part of the Stage Management class, and later, the club. I did lights for dance performances, helped make props, helped set up the band shell and choir risers and so on. No big deal, right?
Well, I get a call from my dad, saying that the Stage Management teacher called him, about an opportunity for me to work lights at a new theater in Oro Valley. Keep in mind this was before classes started for me, probably mid-July-ish. Quite a bit of phone tag happened, and eventually I went for a very informal interview at Starbucks half-way between here and there. The director told me, basically, that he would keep me in mind but I wouldn't be needed right away.
And then Thursday happened. I got a call from him again, saying that what they had hoped to work was just short of a disaster and I'd be needed after all.
The past two days, I've been shadowing the pair in the booth during shows, and I can honestly say this is going to be the perfect environment for me. The cast are all fantastic and not afraid to have fun on the job, the crew are SO polite and friendly, and the show itself is, in one word: Brilliant. It's funny, it's interactive, and best of all it's family-friendly humor.
In short, the perfect stepping-stone between here and Disney for me.

Of course, this means I'm going to have very little time to mess around on the computer anymore, between studying and learning to drive and working. Oddly enough, I'm not as bothered by that as I probably should be, considering that has been my life over summer break...

Anybody in Arizona, come see a show at the Great American Playhouse! { www.gaplayhouse.com }
Shows are Thursday at 7PM, Friday at 6PM, Saturday at 6PM and 8:30PM, and Sunday at 12:30PM and 3PM. For more information see the website.




On a different note, some of you might have heard that Disney is shutting down their MMO Toontown Online? Well, they released an email saying they'd give everyone unlimited acess until it closes Sept. 19th. I re-downloaded it and spent all of two weeks enjoying full access before I got kicked off. I did some snooping around online and found out that, apparently, anyone who 'created an account' after the email went out was kicked off, because too many people were trolling/hacking. That's obnoxious bollocks; I've had my Disney account for YEARS. Just because I uninstalled Toontown because it was making my computer slow I got kicked out early. Stupid trolls ruining it for everyone else...

EDUT!!!!!!
Apparently this was a false alarm caused by a serious misunderstanding!
mygames19.tumblr.com/post/5935…
No worries about SOPA. We're just misinformed!










...SOPA is back. Still not sure how accurate this is, since I'd really rather not go digging into politics half an hour after waking up, but I was directed to this journal here while checking my messages: hados94.deviantart.com/journal…



Looking through the comments of said journal, I just really feel the need to point out one thing.

JUST BECAUSE OBAMA IS THE POTUS DOES NOT MEAN THAT EVERY STUPID DECISION TO COME OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE IS AUTOMATICALLY HIS FRIGGIN FAULT.
IF IT WERE, WE WOULDN'T HAVE A REPUBLIC/DEMOCRACY/WHATEVERTHEHELLYOUWANTTOCALLOURGOVERNMENT. WE WOULD HAVE EITHER A DICTATORSHIP, A TYRANNY, OR A MONARCH. OUR GOVERNMENT'S POWER IS SPREAD OUT TO AVOID THIS EXACT STUPIDITY FROM BECOMING LAW ON THE SPOT.

I may have only just passed my government class, but it's kind of obvious that Obama gets more heat for what he hasn't done than praise for what he has....




I'm also gonna post a comment I made on that journal, because it pretty much sums up my whole opinion on the thing:

I'm not fond of diving into politics, but just because the president is the face of the government doesn't automatically mean this bill is his fault, remember. There's more to our government than just Obama, and more often than not a substantial amount of the House of Representatives will do whatever it takes to be on the opposite side of an issue from him. They don't cooperate and have tried several times to pass things like this to make him look bad. There are more people at fault than just Obama--if it were just him, we would have a tyranny or a monarchy....

That being said, I'm a little skeptical that it'll pass. There was -such- an uprising of artists from it last time they tried this, I doubt it'll have much weight this time around.
I can kind of understand what they're thinking, from a strictly business standpoint--businesses these days seem to focus more on monetary gain than consumer happiness. They don't want someone else making money off of their material. What they fail to realize, however, is that art is art whether you draw a picture of an elephant or write a sonnet of your favorite character. A fan community can bring new fans into the series--it's like free promotion, if you think about it. I know I wouldn't have found out about a handful of shows and movies I've seen if it weren't for interlinking communities like here on Deviantart.





Gah, it's too early to be dodging politics. I can't even spell yet....
Oh, and if anyone's confused as to what 'POTUS' means, it stands for 'President Of The United States'. It's what my family and I call Obama, because 'Potus' is fun to say



...And, while I'm at it, I should probably mention that starting Monday I'll be going back at it with school. I'm only taking one class this semester, because I was an idiot and got myself on Achademic Probation and put all my financial aid on hold, but it's a history class. Considering my worst subjects are history, politics and science, I'm gonna need to get off my rear and actually study for a change. I also might be getting a job, so we'll see...

news.yahoo.com/jury-reaches-ve…

George Zimmerman, the man who shot Trayvon Martin last year, has been found NOT BLOODY GUILTY.

I honestly got about half-way through the article above before I couldn't take it any more. I mean, I know loads of people have been talking about the self-defense aspect and, hell, even the racial aspect of it. But let's take a different look at this, shall we?
The article mentions how the state painted him as "an angry 'wannabe cop' seething with anger", and how the defense claimed he was "within his rights to follow and question Martin". I don't pretend to be an expert on this sort of thing in the slightest, but I DO know what I'VE heard. Early on in this whole issue there was a recording of Zimmerman's call to the police, PRIOR to the 'violent scuffle'. Nearly every news station other than the local news seemed to have played it AT LEAST once, AND I'd heard it in-class that year, too.
In this call, which I believe you can find online still, Zimmerman points out that there's a suspicious figure in his neighborhood--and bear in mind, now, these are all my words. The police VERY CLEARLY tell him NOT TO APPROACH. He does so anyway. He sounded, if not angry, definitely on some form of adrenaline rush from the event. Don't misunderstand--I don't blame him for having that rush. It's a natural thing, when danger rears its head the body goes on high alert. But even if he WASN'T "seething with anger" that adrenaline could dampen his judgement, in a rush to protect himself.
So, even if he was "within his rights to follow and question Martin", the moment he got the police involved implied he needed their direction. He went AGAINST that direction and confronted Martin anyway.
And then there's the fact that he didn't just "follow and question". He was armed--which, I know, they have slightly different laws in Florida than here--and from what I understand he seemed more than ready to use that kind of life-ending force like any trigger-happy gun owner would be. Most cops today, at least the ones that end up in the media, prefer to shoot first, ask questions later, and go through far too many bullets. So, "wannabe cop" is looking pretty spot-on to me right about now.
Martin? Martin had a bag from the convenience store, inside which he had a can of tea and some skittles. OOO, FRIGHTENING!!!!
People argue, "oh, well he had his hood up!" --Yeah, because as several others have pointed out, it was RAINING.

I've always prided myself in my ability to, even marginally, see the other side of the coin; see the other party's point of view. It's a skill my mom taught me when I was little, and it's something that I try and sort out regardless of how trivial the matter is. Here, I'm honestly completely baffled.
Even if he DID look suspicious, walking around after dark with his hood up and a bag of unknown items in hand...Zimmerman was on the neighborhood watch, I don't for a second claim he had no right to find out who the unknown person was. But what baffles me is this. At what point did it seem OKAY to end someone's life?
Oh, sure, regardless of WHO started it there was a scuffle. I don't deny that. But by that point there had already been at LEAST one call to the police, and even if he'd been knocked down to the ground surely Zimmerman could have held a teenager off for a few more moments while the force arrived. Or, okay, say he didn't have the physical strength to keep him away, supposing it was Martin that started it. The sight of a gun, even one that isn't loaded, is usually enough to make anyone back off. If Zimmerman had kept the thing unloaded, even if it was wrestled out from his hands, no one would have gotten hurt.

Just...

At what point does it seem okay, REGARDLESS of the situation, to end someone else's life? Maybe I'm just obnoxiously sentimental, but surely, SURELY, other people realize that they aren't the only ones with lives, right? Surely they realize that killing someone physically kills countless others emotionally?

So, um. Hi.

Just letting everyone know that Its very unlikely I'll be active in the near future.

My laptop has a virus and won't let me install McAffee; I don't know enough about the goings on to call the McAffee people but my dad said he'd take care of it. That was two weeks ago, now, so it probably won't be fixed any time soon. This, of course, means my only option is the family desktop, which is smack-dab in the middle of the living room, which means that my often-nosy family has no excuse to NOT look over my shoulder. :/

Also, my classes this semester are very homework-oriented--40+ pages every other night for my Mythology, plus a minimum 2 hours studying for Japanese every day, plus frequent math and just-as-frequent readings for my Russian class.

So yeah. I've got 400-and-counting messages waiting for me (most of them are devwatch stuff, but still.) It's very unlikely I'll be getting back to anyone right away. ( as it is, I should be reading Book 9 of the Illiad right now, but I feel the need to let everyone know )