*itch itch itch itch*

I am now taking three? four? different meds for this bizarre itch that is taking over my body. I may go crazy soon. Even after taking Benadryl I wake up around one and have to scratch. Oh that things would get better soon! We're still calling it an unidentified rash. *mumbles "stupid princess skin" under breath*

For the third time in two days I was caught in a deluge, walking to the computer lab. Fortunately this time I was wearing a jacket, although neither it nor my backpack are waterproof. So, my pants are wet, my jacket is wet, my school stuff is distinctly damp, and MY HANDS WILL NOT STOP ITCHING!!!!!!!!!!!! But the storms are really fun to watch while in a building. Yesterday during Youth Symphony we had some nice thunder going on during Romeo & Juliet. I can see the rain falling in the puddles outside and it's mesmerizing to watch the perfect concentric circles expanding into one another and continuing on without changing.

*SPOILER* This next paragraph contains violent, liberal, and potentially controversial ideas. Today, through a series of events that I will not bother with here, I wound up at a rally against a hate crime against a gay student that was committed here last week. This post isn't about supporting homosexuals or their lifestyles, because I think this is a much larger, over-reaching topic. It is about condemning hate crimes and violence against anyone. This kid was trying to get a group of 6-8 'men' to "show some respect" to two female friends who happened to be with him, i.e. knock off the sexually aggressive comments they were making. They called him a faggot and when he said that, yes, he was gay, they followed him to his dorm room and threatened to beat, rape, and/or murder him. One of these guys finally stood up to rest and got them to leave the kid's room. Now, I don't care who you are or what you believe, this sort of violence and abuse is not the answer to anything. If they had raped him, would the fact that he's gay have made it any more acceptable than raping a woman? For that matter, how can we as a society even remotely tolerate the fact that rape is so prevalent? How on earth can we possibly think that someone's being different from us in any way justifies violence? Without glorifying the one guy who stood up to the rest too much (he does hang out with a bunch of jerks after all), I think he set a pretty decent example. That one person stopped a bunch of goons from beating someone up. If we say "hold on, violence and hate crimes are wrong," maybe we can stop one person from being raped. One person is a lot if people if you're that person. I mean, can you imagine how unbelievably horrible it would be to have a group of people threatening you to your face because you are a woman/a Christian/a different race/a geek/a blonde/a brunette/short/tall/Muslim/Jewish/a man wearing a pink shirt/a woman with a short haircut? I had a kid spit in my face in high school because he didn't like me (pretty vague, don't you think?) and that moment ranks in the top of my "Most Awful Experiences" list. If one of the guys with him would have just said "leave her alone, this is way uncool" he would have changed my world. Hate crimes and violence are not the love that Christ showed us. Step up, say something about not picking on the retarded kid or reducing a woman to a pair of breasts and a short skirt or stopping something bigger, and change someone's life. This isn't about tolerance or acceptance, this is about being a decent human being and doing the right thing.