Dakota

The Pope has died. Looking at the photos from the "Official Mourning" in Italy did little more than make go, "They have an Official Mourning?" I guess it's better than all that bootlegged mourning from before.

They have him laid out on a presentational bed, with velvet ropes and holy men. I reminded me a lot of Evita.

This was, obviously, the only Pope I'd been alive for. It never really occurred to me that I'd have more than one have the title while I was alive. Figured he was like Dick Clark and made some deal with a higher or lower power and would live forever. Alas.

He was very old, so his death isn't really a shock, but it's just one of those things that you forget about (his age and mortality). In my lifetime, presumably, I will see several more former presidents die, likely the queen from England die, numerous rock and film stars, and other people with incredibly hype surrounding their glossy image. Not too many times is it the spiritual leader to one of the most popular faiths in the nation and world. That's gotta count for extra credit or something.

I'm not really sad, but the images of death everywhere hasn't really been a comfortable movement. Catholicism isn't really my bag, or most of my friends', so either everyone indifferent but sympathetic, or indifferent but cynically amused. I fall somewhere between. It's like when a celebrity that I was not particularly interested in, dies. It's like when Ronald Reagan died. Yeah, I was alive when he was president; but I didn't really care that he was president (I was 6 when he left the presidency.)

And yet still not the most devastated news coverage I've seen. Honor still goes to Princess Diana. And really, I don't envision Elton John rewriting one of his better songs to memorialize the Pope. But still, the Pope stood for a lot of things. A lot of those things are detrimental in bigotry and hate in the name of compassion and love. But it's not his fault. He doesn't make the rules, he merely supports them. If he could've said "No, the queers are all right, and I have no right telling a woman what to do with her reproductive organs," then that's one thing. He's was a man; the dark empire was the one behind him who called the shots. That, and you know the mystic Queen Spider.

In my years of Hat Pick Night participation (and how more dramatic can I get), I have gotten the roles of Frank, Magenta, and Rocky. On our unofficial post-Brookhaven Hat Pick Night (dubbed Technical Difficulties Night) in August, I got Frank and traded to Danielle so she could finally have the experience (and it was the role she had most planned for costume-wise) and I played Transie.

Playing Transie will always be better for me than being Tech. Anytime I've played a Transie, I've regretted it because I've wanted to play something else. Anytime I've done Tech, I've hated it because I've wanted to be on stage. Luckily, for HPN, we don't have Tech as an option anymore because we have new people who don't participate in the event yet.

So, Larry got the Virgins onstage and they picked out of the hats. We as a cast went on stage and waited for our fate. Sarah was called first and got Riff Raff, a role she got on Technical Difficulties Night, and the role I was most prepared for. I had hopes, still for Magenta. But, no, I got Dr. Scott. Which, yes, sucked. Katie got Janet, Sean got Brad, Liz got Columbia, and Christian got Crim. This was clearly not the point of Hat Pick Night.

So, with some switching around (as is now customary), the cast list became:
Walter as Frank, Sean as Janet, Katie as Brad, Sarah as Riff Raff, Spark as Magenta, Larry as Columbia, Liz as Eddie, Dani as Rocky, Christian as Dr. Scott, myself as Crim; and Danielle, Willow, Gamsby, and Genevieve as Transylvanians.

(Lights: Michael; Tech: eLiz, Jordana, AJ, Randi. Absent: Carrie, Janice, Meghan, Angelo)

I feel for Genevieve who got Transie her fourth year in a row (although she played Janet on TDN), and Danielle who attempted to switch to Columbia but the audience wouldn't hear of it. I wasn't going to bother switching with anyone, figuring Dr. Scott would be the least wanted, but Christian didn't want to do Crim for whatever reason and legitimately enjoys playing Dr. Scott. Sarah didn't want to trade and Spark got to Dani before I could, although I figured she wouldn't want to, since she's been wanting to play Magenta. But Crim was good, and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Entirely underexhausting, though. With Brad, I get a good show done. With Frank, I'm pretty tired. With Rocky, I'm ready to go out and dance. With Crim, I was ready to do the show again.

But I got to watch! And be pretty unclothed as Crim, too, as a somewhat homage to O&B Tara. No pasties, though. Of course I wanted to play something else, but I really enjoyed the experience as Crim, too. I just could never do it screen accurately; too much tweed, and it just wasn't that fulfilling. Bonus points were doing "Over at the Frankenstein Place" because two Transie were indisposed and some random interaction onstage. I got some life-affirming hoots when I took my shirt off, too.

Good, good stuff, and a pleasant aside from normalcy. Best performance went to Genevieve as Bear. Scariest in Makeup: Walter. Runner-up: Larry. Best Hair: Sean. Biggest Pop: Larry's entrance on the jukebox. Second Biggest Pop: That moment of silence after "Time Warp" and Larry saying (probably what he thought was quietly): "Yeah, those aren't staying in."

It's been difficult for me writing. I have some ideas, but it's been very good writing them down. I know, I know-- write it down first, edit it later. But I've been having difficulty with even just the getting it down. I fuck up on words, end up writing stupid sentences that aren't what I meant for them to be, and end up bored with my subject.

I've got lots I could write about, but I'm just... stuck. I've been wanting a number of projects done, one of them being The New Age, and more importantly some more real-life-based things. I'm just having a really difficult time with it. A lot of the time, the ideas flood at 3 AM when I need to go to sleep because I have work in the morning. And either I forget them when I wake up, or I'm of course working and then forget them, or when I'm about to write it down, it's just not good enough anymore.

...Ok, I think I have a scene. Back later.