note to readers: this blog is going use up my saucy word allotment for most of 2002. Not for the faint hearted

assholes

the title says it all. For the last few days (outside of quality time with friends) I seem to be surrounded by them. Which came to a nasty head on Thursday night when I took in a play at RIT. Clearly I missed the note on my ticket that I was sitting in “Section Asshole. Row 3.” The guy next to me spent the entire play doing his homework. I understand that students are assigned in classes to see these productions. However that’s no excuse. Especially when you need to continually flip through pages. Then his cell phone went off. Admittedly I’m a theatre/movie person. I really enjoy both. I’ve been involved with the production of both. I respect both. And I respect the people around me. I’m not super bright, but even I can grasp the idea of “shut off your damn phone before entering a theatre!”

(Side note: Personally I’m always paranoid about my cell phone going off during this type of event. I actually had it happen to me once. I had just gotten my phone and was at a movie and this cell phone goes off, and I think “Great, some asshole forgot to shut off their phone. Way to ruin it for everyone jerk!” After the movie, I pull the phone out of my pocket to use it and notice that it was on and that it told me I had missed a call. Ever since then I’ve removed the battery before entering a theatre.)

So, you would think that after one phone went off, everyone else with a phone would think “hey maybe my phone is still on… I’d better check and turn it off if it is….” Oh no, not in section Asshole. It happened one row in front of me ten minutes later.

Then, even through we are at the back of the theatre, the guy behind me decides it’s time to take some pictures with a small point-and-shoot camera (can you say “not going to come out well?”). And so Asshole Adams behind me starts snapping flash pictures. Once, when acting, I had the distinct pleasure to be distracted by random flashes of light from the audience. It’s not a fun experience for you or the other actors on stage when your mind goes temporarily blank because the mother of some kid in the chorus really needed to share that moment. The playon Thursday was a difficult enough piece without the added distraction. I finally had to turn around and, as quietly as I could, ask him to stop. The worst part is that he didn’t really get what he had done wrong.

Thankfully I managed to get a different seat for act two. And wouldn’t you know it, ten minutes into the act, another cell phone goes off in the section I had been sitting in. God, sometimes I hate people.

Other than that things are pretty good.