Haven't Been Writing: Rocky Floor-or, or How I Stopped Worrying If I Might Have Hurt My Arm · 5:00am Oct 25th, 2018
Note: I still have nearly 3000 words into the next chapter, I just haven't been writing this week for family and personal reasons.
Here's why.
Well overall I need to start from the beginning- see I was planning to go the Rocky Horror Picture Show midnight screening so I could finally have the idea of what it felt like going to my favorite musical IRL. Planned on this for like two months. Now that was 99 percent awesome and I loved it, besides that I didn't really know what the experience would be. Cue one hour long buildup to the movie in rather impressive burlesque dances and weird things to do if you've never been to a Rocky Horror IRL screening. You know where this is going. Now let's set the scene- I, my brother in law, and my sister all go there. My brother in law due to him being in his early 50s definitely knows the show and has gone to midnight screenings of the movie before. My sister had both never seen the movie or been to a live showing of it- so that should have been the big hint that shit would go down.
Well we roll on up looking all normal and rather tired- me from still vaguely being used to waking up at 6am and going to bed by 11 due to me just getting done with my temp job the week prior. They are also tired due to taking care of their two kids that they dropped off at my mom's house and also having to go to work like average normal well adjusted people. So we roll up and I know that it's going to be rather a culture shock. See, the Rocky Horror fan subculture takes the movie as the greatest thing since sliced bread and with it being a rather now problematic show since it's from 1975, yet also one of the more accepting movies during that time for LGBT acceptance it's a mixed bag. I mean seriously, we got transexuals, crossdressers, bisexuals, gays. And vague Nazi hints on the disabled doctor and a scene where cannibalism happens.
ly
Well it's no Pink Flamingos, but for all intents and purposes it's kind of a crazy time.
I mean I saw it for the first time when I was 14 and I realized after it that I was definitely on the LGBT spectrum so while it has its problems, I also hold a soft spot for it.
So back to the story, we roll up and all these people are there- probably 100 or 150 in total in a small theather that at max probably holds 250 and at normal times might hold 50 or less people so the place is packed. Now like 99 percent of the people, minus some stragglers and us, were all dressed up in cosplay and stuff so they looked as close as they could be to the movie's characters. So it looks completely insane. I loved it but yeah seeing people dressed up in fishnets and corsets and every crazy thing that the movie has in spades? Rather awkward for the others.
Now I noticed that a lot of people were sporting rainbow buttons or flags or pink triangles (side note: even as a LGBT member, I still don't know how the pink triangle symbol is decently used by others. I mean good on them, but originally the pink or black triangle was originally used for a while in Nazi concentration camps to denote LGBT members so I personally would never wear one since as a history major I have some rather bad ideas of wearing something like that.) So like a ton of people there were LGBT, which I thought was probably the best thing about it. People just being weird and goofy and accepting themselves as themselves, no questions or worries about it.
Now I was part of the whole "virgin" group since I hadn't seen the movie live before so all virgins got shuffled to the front and separated into groups. My sister had to do the macarena while singing the Oscar Meyer weiner song. Awkward and weirdly out of date that is. I mean I can do the macarena okay, but like sing that particular jingle? I haven't heard that jingle in almost twenty years.
Now what I had to do- and partially why I haven't been writing for about four days, yes this relates and isn't me just gushing about the movie- I had to stand in a line and bend over. Which like that's fine. Did weird shit like this for bonding exercises and general goofs in the fraternity I was in during college. Now as they kept saying what we had to do, I had this niggling feeling that bad stuff would happen to me. I was in the front of the line- first mistake. Second mistake, with the slight bending over and all that, we also had to spread out legs apart in a power stance- big no no for me since my balance just destroys itself when I split my legs apart at all- especially that far apart. So I was minding my own completely oblivious what was next. I mean they said I was just going to be smacked on the rear- a paddle line- slightly awkward and rather demeaning to some but okay safe space and everyone is weird.
Cue that actually meaning that as you got smacked, you were supposed to get down and crawl through the hole of legs in front of you. Absolute madmen. So I guess the first person who went down, I really don't remember much of it honestly since it went real fast, was like a rather large person and they just sepentined through people's legs like a champ- until they reach the person behind me and me. So I guess they unbalanced the person behind me, who then regained their balance by slightly unbalancing me. Fine, I would have probably been okay. Then the person comes from below and since I had closed my legs slightly to regain balance, they can't fit through so they hook themselves on my ankle and I go down hard.
Directly on my shoulder. Dazed, confused, and now hearing my shoulder most likely pop out and back in my socket, like now I can't lift my arm for days beyond like a extremely painful 45 to 70 degree angle and I couldn't touch my back or lift it above my head or barely sleep for days. I mean sure when I fell down the stairs a few years back (Haha, you thought my weird shit stories weren't also based on my life? Guess again) I couldn't move my arm for a few days. (Though now that I think about it, I now have a pain when I straighten out that particular arm. So I probably messed that up (Side note: I just popped that elbow, yeah that felt not great. Didn't know I could pop an elbow like people pop fingers. Though technically, I now can pop my fingers to get them unstuck if they do. Thanks slowly worsening body, I didn't need to feel twenty four. I needed to feel sixty.)
Cue a rather memorable but not enjoyable Rocky Horror Picture Show Live experience- which sucks cause it must have been the 25th anniversary cut of the film cause there were at least two songs I rarely hear but love and entire scenes due to that that I had maybe seen once. So I was in pain and possibly tore/ sprain my rotator cuff in the fall- how could it get worse?
I'll tell you. I have this weird need to have a perfect experience watching films in theaters. If you are talking and being a dickwad during the movie I'm going to be absolutely livid. I had alleviated most of the worry about the experience prior to coming there- watching and reading up on what I could expect in the movie so I could be 99 percent sure I wouldn't death glare at people loving and enjoying the movie and feeling free about it.
Now let's get into the rules of the show- Rule 1: No throwing of concessions or candy- if you want to participate in the group reactions and actions towards the screen at prescribed times there's a goody bag for 5 bucks that has the props you need to have to be doing that. Cool, no problem there- I only wanted to spend 10 bucks and get the best experience I could. Wash myself in the enjoyment that others had.
Rule Two- Don't be a dick. Rather easy to understand.
Rule Three: Freaks Becare Freaks- Don't touch people without their consent, be good to one another, and don't ruin the experience for others especially the virgins cause it's kind of weird to be at an experience like this one and not be put off by the call and response greek choir nature of the live experience. I mean having cosplayers act out the entire movie as it's going, balloons, and noisemakers, and water guns and all this weird shit going on to celebrate the movie and it's raunchy celebratory nature and love everyone and their love for the movie is a bit intimidating.
So what did 100 people have to deal with.
A 60 year old rabid fan who I think might have been the dude who helped set the thing up. Cause goddamnit, it was a 2 and a half hour movie and the old fat guy- sorry he was- didn't read the love and excitement level of the room and screamed til he was hoarse and to such an extent that I couldn't hear almost any of the words or lyrics to the movie- sure people were talking and being loud- but if they talked and he stayed blissfully silent I could hear the movie fantastically- and there were 99 people compared to his one. I mean he talked over the movie to such an excessive state that I could hear the entire room as the movie went on get less and less excited and happy about it as he laughed at his own jokes and talked over dialogue that wasn't supposed to be. Extending the camraderie into a farce- one guy probably ruined or at least put a harsh blemish on that experience. And I know he had to be a rather obnoxious dude as two of his jokes and sentences were "I've seen every one of these live shows since it premiered in the 70s." And "This is my favorite movie, some people hate this movie so much." You know. To a room full of people who could quote this movie probably verbatim, cosplayed the characters while he didn't, and also were enjoying themselves. It's like he didn't realize that if you were at a midnight screening of Rocky Horror, it's almost impossible to find a person who doesn't love the movie unless they were dragged there.
So cue my sheer embarrassment that my sister's first viewing of Rocky Horror had to be ruined like that. Thank god I had seen the movie so many times I could glare at him as I watched the movie.
So reason 1 why I haven't written much this last week (I wrote yesterday but only briefly) I couldn't move my arm well for days. I mean I can vaguely move my arm now and it doesn't feel like I'm getting nailed in the arm for 24 straight hours.
Thank goodness I have a ridiculous pain tolerance or I'd have been on the floor in agony.
I mean I was still in agony, but like dull ache agony.
Reason two and far less interesting and story based reason why I haven't been writing- My aunt came down to visit and so we've been entertaining for a week. So I really haven't had time to write even if I wasn't in pain.
Fun Fun Fun.
Ironically I guess I have to get a checkup today anyway but yeah after that I plan to get back to regularly scheduled writing.
Far out...
Crazy. just crazy.
4957716
Well I thought it was crazy enough to share. Really great experience except for the whole almost breaking my arm and the loud guy but hey that's seemingly not the norm. Probably helps it's about two am right now and I've been wanting to vent about not writing by writing about why that's the case. Definitely writing today. Finally got to the fun part in the first third of the new chapter and it's been rather difficult. Let's say Twilight learned from Too Many Pinkie Pies. And that I've tried to make puns for both the happy and sad versions of at least Twilight and Pinkie for reasons.