No One Mourns The Wicked

I went to see the musical "Wicked" last night with my friends Jen, Briana, Ryan and Amy.

We took the Metro train from Pasadena to The Pantages in Hollywood. A big thanks to Jen for getting us to and from the theatre in one piece. It was quite an adventure. From the young man we met on the train on his way to hear the band Korn to the urine streaked man who was having a full on conversation with his white Bic pen. Not to mention the two scary looking Gothic women with dreads, piercings, black fish net stockings, black platform shoes, spiked bracelets and scowls on their faces. It was a trip we won't soon forget.

But, back to the show.

Wicked is a spectacular musical based on characters from "The Wizard of Oz". It's a story of love, honor, racism, being an outsider, good vs evil.

It is mostly a story of friendship. And I wanted to thank my four friends for a wonderful time together last night.

And a special Happy Birthday to Briana who turns 29 years old today. (Ahhhh. 29. That was so long ago for me!) As Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West said, "Everyone deserves the chance to fly." I wish you a happy, happy birthday, Brianabee. You deserve the chance to be happy and fly. :)

Mis-Matched Shoes

I have noticed a disturbing trend happening in my life over the last few months. I appear to be having a decline in my cognitive abilities.

A few examples:

I locked myself out of my office last month. Twice. In one day. Thankfully, co-workers were nearby and unlocked it for me.

Later in the week, I locked myself out of my apartment. Thankfully, my friend Lisa has a key and brought right over for me.

A couple of weeks ago, I set my eyeglasses down somewhere in the apartment and couldn't find them. I am pretty much Helen Keller without them. Thankfully, I knew where I had my prescription sunglasses. I turned on every light in the place because it's hard to see inside wearing sunglasses. After about 15 minutes, I found my glasses. On top of my head (no, I am not kidding).

Then, I accidentally left my backdoor unlocked and wide open. All night. In Los Angeles. Thankfully, The Night Stalker is safely locked up in San Quentin and OJ is somewhere golfing Florida. So, I lived to see another day.

Last week, the mismatched shoes. I went to work wearing one brown shoe and one black shoe. It is not like it was the same style shoe in different colors. They were completely different shoes. With different heels. One a little higher than the other. Thankfully, nobody at work noticed. When I pointed it out to a few of my friends at lunch, they laughed hysterically. Now, when I walk up to the rehab unit where I work, all eyes go to my feet to see if I'm wearing a matching pair of shoes.

How could I be so forgetful? So absentminded? What does this all mean?

Then, it hit me. I have finally become what I thought I would never be.

I have become my mother.

Iraq

I was all set to write a post about my losses at the racetrack today. How "One Sock Wonder" lost by a nose in the third race of my Pick Three.

It was a long shot. I know.

Then I came home and watched my recording of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos".
And I got my priorities straight again.

One of the features on the the program is called "In Memoriam". They flash the names of the soldiers and marines who lost their lives this week in Iraq and Afghanistan. There were 21 names.

One of them belonged to PFC Alberto Garcia Jr. He died in Baghdad last Tuesday from wounds suffered from small-arms fire and an explosive. Even though I did not know him, he was from my hometown, Bakersfield, CA. He was only 23 years old. Not much older than one of my nephews. Just a baby really.

As the Iraq War enters it's fifth year, over 3200 military men and women have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. The wounded total about 24,000. More than 60,000 Iraqi civilians are dead.

And all of this for $532 billion.

How many more young people have to sacrifice their lives for George W's War? Do we really think we can win this if we just keep pouring more money into it?

I don't think so.

Not by a long shot.

Global Warming

I will admit it upfront. I like Al Gore. I voted for him in 2000.
I wish he would run in 2008. I'm pretty sure I'd vote for him again.

But, this post is not about how he was robbed of the presidency. It's about his call for humanity to do something about global warming. It was a topic at work today, and I just have to rant about it.

Apparently, there is a divide among evangelicals regarding the issue of global warming.

The National Evangelical Association vice president for governmental affairs, Rich Cizik, is trying to bring together Christian leaders to address the growing danger of climate change. To that end, The Evangelical Climate Initiative was signed by 86 evangelical leaders in an effort to get Christians to think about being good stewards of God's creation. They believe global warming is happening, it's serious and humans are causing it. And that it's time for Christians to help do something about it. You can find out more at: http://christiansandclimate.org/

Sounds right to me.

On the other hand, the Christian Far Right would have us believe that global warming is a myth. Jerry Falwell, the leader of the Moral Majority Coalition, delivered a sermon this past Sunday on the environment. He believes the jury is still out on whether humans cause global warming. He says that any attempt by the government to decrease greenhouse emissions will somehow bankrupt the American economy. He goes on to say that God will maintain the earth until Jesus returns.
(I guess Jesus can be counted on to keep the heavens and earth in order, but it's up to us to make sure there isn't a drop in the U.S stock exchange.)

Even more astounding to me is that he stated it's "Satan's attempt to re-direct the Church's primary focus from evangelism to environmentalism".
To top it all off, he goes on to say that environmentalists are acting like "first class nuts."

If you ask me, what better way to win people to Christ than to show our love and thankfulness for all that he has given to us. Whether it is love for the beauty of the earth (his creation) or love for one another (his creation).

I read this weekend Falwell has asked Newt Gingrich to deliver the the commencement address this year at Falwell's Liberty University. The same Newt Gingrich who has now admitted to an extramarital affair at the same time he was pursuing President Clinton's impeachment during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. The same Newt Gingrich who has been married three times and divorced twice because of affairs.

Now if I have this right, Falwell doesn't want us to spend time recycling, buying energy efficient lighting, choosing energy efficient appliances, insulating our homes, conserving hot water, buying fuel efficient cars etc.

The leader of the "Moral Majority" would rather have us spend our time listening to the rhetoric of a disgraced, hypocritical congressman espousing a "family values" agenda.

Now that's what I call nuts.