Thiomersal.

(Sorry; it's what I do for a living. We've edited a LOT of stuff about the flu vaccine, which *does* have thiomersal in it.)

Is that the same stuff they're always quick to say is not in contact solution anymore?

And now for something completely different, I give you a ridiculously small kitty with a ridiculously large dog: [link]

I think the lack of faith in science that a lot of people have bodes ill for our society. I mean, there's a lot of complex shit out there, and the scientific method is really the only way we have to understand it....

Not that there's never been bad science. But the antidote to bad science is good science, not conspiracy theory o' the day....

TINY KITTY!

I can't believe cuteoverload is blocked. Evil!

Also, I had no idea the Jewish population was so small! A co-worker said something about it only being 1% and I thought, "Fah, right," but it turns out that in this state it is 1% and 2.2% overall. I swear at least a quarter of the people I know are Jewish! How odd.

uuuuuuuhhhhhhgggggg!

You know, I'm old enough that I remember before a lot of these vaccines came out - I was vaccinated for smallpox when I was a baby and got regular polio boosters (ow!) until the Salk vaccine came out. Got mumps, measles (which I was seriously ill with), chicken pox the old-fashioned way. I remember when there'd be talk of closing down the town pool in the summer if there was a rumor of polio. I remember hearing stories of babies being born with problems because their mothers had caught rubella when they were pregnant. So ... people are saying that the chance of autism is worth running the risk of any of these? I really don't understand it.

Owen's on the spectrum. I don't regret getting any of his vaccinations because, helloooooo, WHOOPING COUGH can kill kids. His autism isn't going to kill him.

I get upset with the non-vac crowd because I think they're trying to avoid tiny risks at the expense of the entire herd. But I guess everyone needs to make their own decisions.

If people want to get their panties in a twist over mercury, they should be more worried about mercury in the environment. I want my canned tuna, dammit!

skippity skippity skip

So, our Tech rehearsal was yesterday. It was supposed to be a dress/tech, allegedly (and certainly some people were doing it in full costume) but we were told at the last minute that, no, we wouldn't need our costumes. (Largely, one cannot help supposing, because he still hadn't obtained the pivotal salmon suit that the lead actress is supposed to wear. Or the pink slutty dress that he's decided to pass off as a salmon suit. Rather than taking advantage of the 2000baht budget and the huge number of tailors in this town and, you know, getting something made to measure.) Also, we didn't have most of the props.

I felt flat and lacklustre and generally pretty crap about the performance, as did the others. The ending didn't work.

We had another rehearsal tonight, and then tomorrow it's the dress tech, and then it's the actual performance. And tonight we were all pretty gloomy and prickly about it. I have been trying very hard not to be a dickhead, and not to make it clear that I think the director couldn't direct his way out of a paper bag. But clearly I have not succeeded very well, and he was clearly pissed off this evening - I think with me. I did lots of irritating things, like agreeing that I had felt crappy and lacklustre the night before, and trying to suggest a way of salvaging the ending (which was: stick to the script, and drop the bit we added, which evidently doesn't work) with which he did not agree, and being evidently rather bleak.

I came home feeling all knots-in-the-stomach about the fact that he was clearly pissed off, and feeling bad about this, whilst also wishing that he would ask himself what he could be doing to help boost his actors' confidences OTHER than slagging off the other plays (which I just don't think is either classy or constructive, and I said as much, which must have sounded like a dig. But I'd much rather focus on OUR play, and what is working, and what isn't, and how we can make it successful, than say that the other ones are crap and we're better than them. Personally).

So prior to opening Facebook I had just been trying to be all zen about it, and telling myself that being arsey or frustrated or cross about his lack of direction (and evident obliviousness to the importance of things like understanding the text and the characters, or thinking about how the play actually works - oh, I am a bitch) does nobody any good. And that the sensible thing to do is to let it go, to chalk it up to experience, to keep being polite and cheerful and get on with it.

Anyway, he has just changed his Facebook tagline thingy to this:

[Director Bloke] "is gonna break someone's LEG prior to the performance even starting."

...and I'm sitting here, still feeling bleak about the fact that our play sucks, and thinking: "Fuck this for a game of soldiers."

I am very tempted to post this on his wall:

Sorry you have to deal with such a bunch of annoying bastards. Thanks for your support and understanding, though, mate. That sick feeling in the pit of my stomach and the lack of confidence is all gone. Cheers.

...because, you know, I have vented about him here and to 2 friends who don't know him and aren't involved with the play. Because one needs to vent. But your Facebook profile? Really, not backchannel.

On the other hand, I really don't want to start a thing, you know? I would rather be grown up and try to be all Jedi about this - release the bad energy into the Force, or whatever.

Gah.

Thoughts?