Why U of H can suck it.

I’m a senior at UH School of Theatre.  Yeah, yeah, I’m getting a worthless degree:  whatever.

Anyway, I show up for my first day of class, Tuesday,  August 21st.  I see on a bulletin board in the student lounge that there is a MANDATORY audition (2 contrasting monologues no more than 2 minutes total) for all students sophomore through senior.  Okay, no big deal…wait a sec.  It’s to be held on Wednesday, August 22nd at 6:00.  WTF??!!  If that isn’t bad enough, we’re getting scored and could be put on “academic probation” (which I later found out they CAN’T do) if we get a 2 or less, and if we’re 3 or less, we have to “have a conference with a member of faculty”.  Okay…a 2 out of WHAT?!  Based on WHAT?!

So, let’s review.  University of Houston School of Theatre considers a bulletin board in the student lounge an acceptable form of MASS COMMUNICATION, despite the fact that they have every single student’s e-mail address.  They are giving us less than 40 hours notice on an audition, though they dispute that fact, saying the notice was on the board in July.  Why would I drive all the way across town in July if I don’t have school until AUGUST 21ST?!  And could they be any more vague on the scoring and what it means?

I e-mailed a faculty member, and he basically said he liked the whole process of this thing, except for not giving us time to adequately prepare, as they just discussed this a few days ago and it was still a “tentative process”.  So, are you only going to put me on “tentative probation”, you asshats?  And what happened to “the notice was on the board in July”?  How is that possible if you JUST DISCUSSED THIS A FEW DAYS AGO?

Fast forward to Wednesday.  I do the audition, get through it, whatever.  Thursday, there’s nothing on the board.  Friday, there’s still nothing on the board.  Being the shit-stirrer that I am, I posted this on their precious board:  “Auditions were two days ago, and there’s still nothing up here telling us what our scores are or how to get them.  What’s going on?  Did you not have enough time to adequately prepare?”

They finally pulled their thumbs out of their collective asses this Tuesday, and I got my score, a 2.94 average.  One of the comments was, “not dressed appropriately for a formal audition.”  Well, dumbass, this ISN’T a formal audition, this is an audition against my will.  In “the real world”, I wouldn’t have been stupid enough to go to an audition taking place THE FIRST WEEK OF CLASS.  Furthermore, I had about 20 hours to prepare 2 friggin’ monologues for you.  I have a white cat and black dress clothes.  When exactly was I supposed to take a trip to the dry cleaners?  And if you knew anything about REAL AUDITIONS, you intellectual morons, you would know that it’s best to show up at an audition “prepared to move”, meaning wearing something in which you’d feel comfortable walking on your hands.

If their intention was to see if we were “honing our skills” as they claim, I could’ve shown them my TWO PAGE resume of shows I’ve done IN THE PAST YEAR.

I’m sorry I don’t audition for shows at your college; I like getting paid, even if it is just a gas stipend.  Why on earth would I use MY talents to YOUR advantage?  Go suck a tree, U of H.  You’re so full of yourselves, it’s sickening.  If you’re really that bored, take up knitting; quit alienating your students.  And quit encouraging all the dick-suckers around here, who are so brainwashed by your bullshit that they’re afraid to be honest with you.

And another thing:  I have 3.7 GPA.  If my grades ARE NOT an indication of my learning, that’s NOT MY PROBLEM.  Fix your system if you’re so God-damned concerned about what I know.

I am so glad this is almost over…one more year…one more year…one more year…

The Kathy Griffin Concert

Okay, so a few days late and a dollar or fifty short, but I’m here to tell you all about KG.

She rocked.  HARD.  It was the best damn concert I’ve ever been to in my life, and I hope and pray she comes back to Houston on her next tour.  I assume so, as the place was completely sold out!  Instead of people scalping tickets outside, there were a bunch asking if WE had any for sale!

The show itself was about an hour and 45 minutes, but it only felt like a half an hour when she said, “Good night!”.  Griffin is fun to listen to, because you feel like she’s just chatting on the phone with you about her day.  Love it!

If Team Griffin shows up in your town, you must go!

I’m going to see Kathy Griffin tomorrow!!!

No, I’m not gay.  I’m not male either.  But I still think Kathy Griffin is the funniest woman on the planet!  She’s doing a concert at the Verizon Wireless concert venue tomorrow, and I’m going to be in the FRONT SECTION!!!!  Woohoo!  After the show I’m going to sneak back to where the tour busses stay and see if I can get an autograph or something.  I’ll report back tomorrow and let you know if I scored.

The only thing I’m sad about is that The Simpsons Movie will premiere at midnight tomorrow night, and I might be too tired to go see it.  I guess we’ll see!

Verizon workers are GODS.

I just HAVE to tell you about my incredible experience with Verizon.

I’ve been a customer for a few years now, and while I’ve never had any major complaints with the company, what follows still shocked me.

For the past few months, my phone has been wonky.  The battery charges fine, but if I try to call and talk to anyone, within 5 minutes it threatens to shut down because “THE BATTERY IS GOING TO DIE!!!!11!!!1one11one”.   However, the minute I disconnect my call (or it hangs up on its own) the battery reads 2-3 out of 4 bars.   Only actual calls (not text messages, games, pictures, music, etc.) are affected by this battery wonkiness.

So, I took it in to my nearest Verizon store.  I explained the above problem to a sales rep, and she looked up my account.

Sales Rep: “Did you buy this phone in August 2006?”

(currently it is July 2007)

Me: “I’m honestly not sure, but that sounds about right.”

Sales Rep:  “Well, the phone has a warranty on it for a year, but we don’t cover the battery, and you’re problem sounds like it’s battery related.”

I am not surprised by this at all–it’s pretty routine with cell phone companies not to cover the battery, and I’ve had this “old” phone for a year anyway (I bought this phone for around $80 last year–NOT cheap).

Me:  “Okay.  What do you suggest would be the best course of action for me then?  Should I get a new battery for THIS phone or just get a new phone?”

Sales Rep:  “Well…I just hate for you to buy a $40 battery if it’s actually the phone that is the problem, so I’ll see if we have another one of these phone models in stock and we’ll try that first before you waste any money on a battery not compatible with the new phones.”

AWESOME!  Granted, my warranty covers the phone anyway, but she really could’ve tried to screw me there, as I had no idea about the warranty.

She comes back with a brand new phone identical to my current one and without even asking me transfers all of my numbers, etc. onto this new phone.  At this point, a technician comes up and overhears her explaining that if there IS still a problem, it’s probably the battery and I should come back.

Tech:  “Let me go ahead and test the phone while you’re here.”

At this point, I get a bit worried, thinking the previous bonus of a new phone will be reneged if he finds that it is indeed a battery problem, but at least I’ll find out what the problem is before I have to haul my butt back into the store again.  He calls the 611 number on my phone to test it (I don’t get charged for minutes on that number), and sure enough, the battery “ZOMG!!!!11!!!1one one” dies during the call.

Tech:  “Yeah, it’s the battery.  Let me check if we have that battery in stock. (Pause)  No, we don’t, but let me do a search for any stores in the region to see if they have it. (Pause)  Nope, only our warehouses carry it.  I’m going to go ahead and order it, but you’ll have to come back to the store when it gets here.  That okay?”

Me (completely flabbergasted that I get to keep the “new” phone):  That’s no problem at all!

Tech:  “Okay…here’s your receipt, just sign here and call or come back on Tuesday (two business days away) to make sure the battery has arrived here.”

Me:  “Thank you!  Do I pay for the battery now or when it arrives?”

Tech:  “Oh, I didn’t charge you for it.  You’ve been a good customer for a few years and I’m not going to charge you for a battery that you can’t use on any of the newer phones.”

Basically, I’m getting a brand new phone (new identical phone + new identical battery) for zero dollars and zero cents.  I fully expected to pay SOMETHING for the problem I was having–after all, phones DO wear out after awhile.

This is why Verizon ROCKS.

Republicans, go suck the proverbial apple tree please.

Before I even begin, let me give you a quote by your beloved (moron) president:

“I don’t think Congress ought to be running the war,” Bush said at a press briefing. “I think they ought to be funding our troops.”

Excuse me? I guess it’s been awhile since that monkey man has been to primary school. Well, not that he had to pay attention with his daddy behind him all the way. He was too busy smoking dope and eating ear wax (mostly other peoples’) to understand a FUNDAMENTAL RULE OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.

Excuse me while I quote the US Constitution (Article I, Section 8):

“The Congress shall have Power to declare War.”

Huh. But they shouldn’t “ought to be running the war,” right, Bushmaster Dumbthousand?

Now, you and I both know that Congress has never actually declared war, from the Civil War up until Vietnam or Desert Storm, but how fucking stupid can you be? You’re the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES and you say something that off-color. Something written in the CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. This guy seriously needs to go suck a tree.

I heard this quote a few days ago, and was willing to let it go, but then Rush (I wish someone would hang you from a God Damned) Limbaugh decided to chime in his fat-ass, ill-advised, drug induced opinion on things.

Let me just explain to you that I am NOT formally Democrat OR Republican. I enjoy hearing both sides of every issue, and my opinion is pretty close to 50/50 when it comes to a political parties’ stance. But Limberger is ONLY Republican for the sake of BEING Republican. He’ll change his mind 4000 times over the same issue if that’s what’s going on in his party (and if whoever supplies him that opinion has free opiates). Why in God’s name is this ass-hat allowed to air his opinion on radio? I swear, I’m seconds away from banning the news radio channel I listen to, which is a shame, because most people my age don’t listen/watch the news at all. I hope all of you God-fearin’ folk are sent to your “purgatory” for giving this no-talent ass clown a grain of salt he doesn’t deserve.

Anyway, the aforementioned piece of cheese had his panties in a bunch because a Democratic member of Congress was suggesting that we end the war and start actually looking for members of Al Qaeda (you remember, the guys who screwed with us in the first place?). He thought it would be a good idea to do this as opposed to bombing millions of tiny children in a country where the conflict will never cease.

Limberger argues this: “What, are we just supposed to ask Al Qaeda members to wear T-shirts saying they’re Al Qaeda, so we can tell the difference between them and the Shiites?”

Nice going, ass-hat.

Hey, Acid Rush, at the time of you and your lover Bush’s precious attack we were allowed to wage war on anything that moved. I’m sure that confused you, but perhaps you should learn about the cultures you want to bomb before actually doing so?

Oh, but I forgot. There is no botox in Baghdad. How could YOU possibly identify with THEM?

Enjoy the Vicodin I sent you, shit-for-brains.

The paysites war…

As you may or may not know, I am an avid Simmer.  I’ve played The Sims and The Sims 2 since the beginning of time.  It’s got to be the biggest, most fun waste of time that there is; I highly recommend it.  It’s basically a game where you build houses for little pixelated people, get them jobs, tell them when to eat, sleep, shit, and shower, make them study skills for job promotions, make friends, throw parties, etc.  You’re basically playing God whilst sitting in the comfort of your own home.

Anyway, a war is being forged by the Sims 2 community.  TS2 is a game that allows for the creation of custom content.  Custom walls, floors, stairs, windows, clothes, Sim genetics, makeup, hair, furniture, decorations, plants–I think you get the idea.

Well, according to EA Games’ EULA, “You may include materials created with the Tools & Materials on your personal noncommercial website for the noncommercial benefit of the fan community for EA’s products.”

Why is this a big deal?  Because TS2 has a game specific file format called a .package.  The minute you turn something into a .package file, you are using EA’s Tools & Materials.  There are sites out there creating custom content for TS2 and CHARGING FOR IT.  How is paying for something noncommercial?  Who knows what that money is going for.  Bandwidth, a new computer, child support–some creators have even validated the claim that they live off of the money they get for paid downloads.  

EA is a pussy of a company, and doesn’t want to piss anyone off, so while they have REPEATEDLY affirmed that paysites are illegal, they’re not doing much to stop it.  So what do we do about it?

We go to http://paysites.mustbedestroyed.org.  This site has a community of 3,000 users who register on paysites, download content, and upload it to the PMBD server to share with the community FOR FREE.

Is this illegal?

Every piece of content on PMBD has been paid for.  Granted, it’s only been paid for once and thousands of people can now download it for free, but it’s been legally obtained.

Are we stealing artwork and taking credit for it?

Nope.  Every single piece of “booty”, as it’s so affectionately called, is listed by site/creator, so credit is given where credit is due.

How is this different than burning a CD and giving it to your friends?

Wow.  Where do I begin?  How about we use a VALID analogy, m’kay?  What if a musician (EA) created a CD (Tools & Materials) and gave it away for free, and then people who obtained it SOLD the copies (Custom Content) even though the original musician (EA) said they may not use the CD (Tools & Materials) for any commercial gain?  Making more sense now?  Besides, the minute paysites sell content, they’ve violated the EULA they agreed to abide by, so their argument holds no water.

So far, we’ve managed to shut down or convert 6 reputable Sims 2 paysites, and as more Simmers find out about PMBD, the number is growing.

So, there ya go.  My two cents on that whole issue.

Non-synonymous…is that a word?

So, you know how myspace has bulletins? Well, I got one today from a friend in Ohio. It had some beautiful pictures of our troops deployed in Iraq, and what I like to call “guilt comments” below them all. One of them said this:

“You put on your anti war/don’t support the troops shirt, and go meet up with your friends.
He still fights for your right to wear that shirt.”

Why do Bush supporters try to lump anti-war and anti-troops together? I mean, why give everyone a perfect example of how narrow-minded you are when there’s already so much pressure about Bush’s competency? And who the hell wears an anti-troops shirt? That makes absolutely zero sense.

I am very much anti-war. THAT DOES NOT MEAN I DON’T SUPPORT THE TROOPS. In fact, it means quite the opposite. I don’t want our men and women over there fighting a war few people want, a war that ISN’T ours to fight, and a war that is IMPOSSIBLE to finish.

How is that anti-TROOPS?

Dammit! I hate stupid people and their propaganda!

Hello world!

Hi everybody, and welcome to my blog! I’d upload a picture of myself, but I have a new computer and a penchant for laziness…more to follow as life gets more interesting!!