April Showers: When it Rains it Pours

"Ever wonder if illiterate people get the full effect of alphabet soup?" ~John Mendosa In the great tradition of Trey the Procrastinate, let me catch everyone up on life. Room Draw I was really stressed about it at the time. SL&L didn't give me the single on the Adel hall. I had to go to room draw just like everyone else. However, even with my crappy room draw number I got the single I wanted. So now I'm excited to be close to Allan, Neil, Josiah, Doug, etc. next year. Easter Break Uneventful on the entertainment side. I got to see a few people. Got to drink for the first time with some older friends. But mostly I just stayed home and pretended to get a head start on homework but mainly I slept. What did happen, though, was that my Aunt Belinda got sick. She's been in a wheelchair almost as long as I can remember since she had a massive stroke 18 years ago. It was a simple case of pneumonia; she always had to go to the hospital for it. So on the night things got pretty bad I wasn't at the hospital because I felt like staying home and watching the UK game. That night, after repeated correspondence with my parents, I stayed up all night cleaning the house and doing everyone's laundry because I knew that Mom and Dad would be exhausted when they finally came home. She pulled through that night, but her situation was a rollercoaster for all of us. About a week after I got back to school, my Dad called to tell me that she passed away. In preparation for the funeral I told my cast that Hans would be taking over for a few days and I went to all my professors and told them my situation and that I would be missing classes. In Modern Civ. which is a class everyone has to take that isn't that important in the grand scheme of things, I had a paper that was due on one of the days that I would be gone. Of course, I asked him for an extention, just a day or two. He denied my request, going into some metaphor about fighter pilots being twenty seconds late and dying. Seeing my blank stare and realizing that I wasn't buying his shit, he explained on a more human level. He told me that his father-in-law had passed away just two weeks ago and that he didn't go to the funeral because he had papers to grade. He ended this beautiful speech with the time-tested comforting phrase: "Life's tough." What was my response to this? Let's go through my options: 1) "Life's tough." "Dr. Tilford, just because you're a heartless bastard and your wife's family thinks you're a giant walking penis doesn't mean that you can assume that any other human being would put things on hold for a day or two for the death of a loved one." 2) "Life's tough." "You were in the army, right?" "Yes" "Do you remember your combat training?" and then I jumped accoss his desk and grabbed his throat. 3) "Life's tough." "Isn't it?" and I slammed the door. I made the trip home and didn't tell anyone there about my paper situation. I got to see my family together for the first time since Christmas (we hadn't done anything for Easter because we were at the hospital so often). Everyone was happier to see me than they were sad to see my Aunt go. My cousin Eric grabbed me in the biggest bear hug and told me how proud they all are of me and of how much he appreciated me coming home to his mother's funeral. I was able to comfort my cousin, Kelly, who lives alone in North Carolina. Her husband is in Iraq and she just found out she's pregnant, and then she lost her mother. I was reminded of how much I appreciate the love and closeness of my family. So I wrote my crappy paper and I turned it in the next class. He gave me a C after docking me a letter grade. It was worth it. Let me explain one thing: outside of this singular event, Dr. Tilford is one of the best profs at GCC. He's a political and tactical genius, he's organized, he finishes lecutres on time, he's hilarious and generally the man. That being said, he still deserves one great big "Fuck you." Children's Theatre Went on without a hitch. The very first performance, I was sitting next to Mrs. Craig in an audience full of little children. My spirits soared as they responded to Joyce, screaming "Once upon a time!" and when the first light/sound cue of the music box being opened, I cried. Not out loud, but my face was wet. I was truly glad that I'd dedicated the show to my aunt. Thank you, Hans, for letting me claim something so beautiful. And thank you, cast, for committing and making it the best Children's Theatre show in decades. Condo Weekend III In celebration of Children's Theatre's success, and generally an excuse to go out and have a great time with friends. Lindsay came up for the weekend, and we had a great time. Pants stayed on and christmas trees remained unviolated. One Acts Open tonight! Lines are memorized, costumes are in, Dr. Brown is appeased. I'm pretty excited. My parents are coming to see them on Friday. It'll be the first time they've seen One Acts. I don't have the heart to tell them that I have the band concert through the end of the show, and that I won't be out until a while after the One Acts are over. I know they're going to want to come to the band concert, but I can't bring myself to tell them how bad it is. Oh well, they can leave if they want... This Summer I'll be doing the same internship. You can all laugh now, but at least this time I'm getting paid decently. It's pretty decent money and not that difficult a job, but I'm terrified that I'm hammering the last nail in my coffin. Next Semester Nothing starts before 11:00, and I have nothing on Tuesday/Thursday. I'll be taking Creative Writing, Rhetorical Communication, Opera Workshop, Theatre Practicum, Sculpture, and two independent studies: a one man show and a film. Then I'll take Theatre and Theology in January and I'm done. A nice way to go out, if you ask me. Life Continues to happen. Less than a week of classes left, I still have 4 papers to write and a chapel to attend. But pretty soon, it'll be over and once again I'll face the fact that many of my friends, again, are leaving Grove City. What's becoming more daunting is the fact that I'll be graduating in eight months. I still have no idea what I want to do with life, but I'm playing with the idea of... Manhattan.