I have come to a conclusion. Furniture is hazardous. Quite a long time ago, I wrote this post about having walked into/tripped over the open bottom drawer of a filing cabinet in the storage room at work and cutting my ankle open. The resulting cut featured in rather a lot of Project 365 photos, and has left me with a rather interesting looking scar (which I’m still trying to think of a good story for, since "I tripped over the filing cabinet" isn’t very impressive!)

This morning seemed to be Holly vs. Furniture: Round II.

In the school hall where I work, there’s a stage at one end. This stage has 5 large storage bays underneath it, accessed by cupboards which are able to be locked. Unfortunately the doors on these cupboards have not been very well designed, and are therefore unable to stand up to being repeatedly banged, kicked and hit by balls. On one door, the damage has gotten to the extent that the door has come off the hinges entirely, and it seems that while waiting for the caretaker to come to fix, somebody had the bright idea to simply prop it up again, by leaning it against the other door, which causes it to LOOK as though it’s attached, shut and locked, even though it’s just resting there.

Unfortunately, I was not aware of this when I went to put something in the cupboard this morning. I pulled the other (attached) one open, and as it opened, the broken one fell over. Onto my foot. Although these doors aren’t terribly large, they are extremely heavy, so I ended up hopping around in pain on one foot, while trying not to swear in front of the kids! In the end I started laughing, because although it HURT, what else could I do!?

Furniture: 2 – Holly: 0

In other news, tonight I went and saw the play I auditioned for a couple of months ago. It was probably the funniest one I have ever seen! Strangely, I didn’t spend the whole time watching the woman who got cast in the part I wanted, and wondering why she was chosen instead of me…only part of the time! Perhaps unsurprisingly though, I didn’t reach any conclusions. Nothing obvious stood out that made me think "So THAT was why she got it! How could she not have!?" Although she was GOOD, I can honestly say I don’t think I am any worse!? Who knows? The director, I suppose. *shrug*

Speaking of auditions, I suspect I might have one next weekend, but I don’t know when the performance dates are yet, so I’m not 100% sure whether I’ll be able to do it. I’d like to though, it looks like it should be good. *crosses fingers*

I wasn’t sure what to blog about today, so I resorted to going through my "Things To Blog About" bookmarks folder, and I discovered this article I saved about a week ago. I bet this poor man won’t be going back to church in a hurry!

Man Falls After Receiving Spirit, Sues

Claims church liable for injuries sustained during healing service

JUNE 5–Last June, Matthew Lincoln was attending an evening service at his nondenominational Tennessee church when he approached the altar where a visiting minister was offering individual prayers for parishioners.

Assigned "catchers" were present on the altar in case congregants fainted, fell, or otherwise lost control. When the minister, Robert Lavala, slightly touched his forehead, the Knoxville-area man "received the spirit and fell backwards." Except nobody was there to catch him, Lincoln charges in a $2.5 million lawsuit filed yesterday against Lakewind Church and its pastors.

Lincoln, 58, claims that he fell backwards, striking his head against the "carpet-covered cement floor," according to the Circuit Court complaint, which was first reported by Courthouse News Service. Since he already suffered from a "degenerative disc disease of his neck and back," Lincoln, a former church board member, contends the fall exacerbated the pre-existing condition and has caused him "severe and permanent" injuries.

As a result of the fall, Lincoln, a recording engineer, claims that he is no longer able to care for his disabled daughter. Lincoln alleges that Lakewind and its pastors were "negligent in not supervising the catchers to be sure that they stood behind the person being prayed for…should they have a dizzying, fainting, or falling in the spirit as had occurred on many occasions before."

Lincoln’s lawyer, J.D. Lee, told TSG that the church’s insurer, Zurich of North America, rejected an insurance claim, asserting that Lincoln should have realized that no catchers were situated behind him.

Source

This whole sorry incident is just so weird on so many levels that I’m not sure where to start!

I’m not going to go into debate about whether or not "faith healers" even exist to begin with (most of you will probably be able to guess my opinion), but I have been thinking about whether or not Mr. Lincoln ought to have received compensation.

On one hand, yes, if he was led to believe that there was going to be somebody behind him to prevent him suffering an injury, and if he really was "receiving the spirit" (as he no doubt believed he was), it’s not as if he was in control of whether or not he fell over to begin with, and therefore he could not have stopped himself, even if he had realised there was nobody behind him. Also, should Robert Lavala, the person performing the healing, standing facing Mr. Lincoln, not have noticed there was nobody else assisting?

On the other hand, no, if Mr Lincoln had any sense to begin with he would have made sure before he even began the procedure (which presumably occurred by his own choosing and with his consent, meaning that he was aware of what was going to happen to him and that he may fall over backwards), that he was not at risk of harm.

So I suppose it comes down to whose responsibility it is to ensure the people who choose to participate in "faith healing" do not come out of the experience worse off than they were when they entered into it.

I can’t decide, but I see definitely see why he was angry!

If you’d been the judge in this case, who would you have ruled in favour of? If you hold beliefs about the credibility of "faith healers", would these impact your decision?

Tonight I was on the bus coming home when a group of young, Japanese women got on. They were slightly confused about where they were supposed to get off. They told the driver where they wanted to go and sat on the bus for about ten minutes. When we got the stop nearest their destination the following conversation ensued:

Driver: Girls, the orange building, over there, get off now.
First Woman: Oh ok, thanks.
Driver: *grinning* Oki doki, ching chong *blah blah blah*
Other Women: Sorry? o.O
Driver: You’re Japanese, right? *he proceeds to spout off more gibberish while the women continue to look confused*
Teenager sitting in front of women: *attempting to help* This is your stop.
*women get off, still looking confused, driver chuckles to himself and drives off*

I was sitting behind the driver, and across the aisle from the school-boy and was absolutely astounded by the driver’s response! WTF!? Just because they’re Japanese (most likely students, judging by their ages), doesn’t mean they can’t figure out when they’re being made fun of! No wonder they looked confused!

I don’t know whether they were insulted by him, or whether they just though he was a nutcase, but still, it seemed like their English was good enough for them to understand that they were supposed to get off at this stop – he could have sent them on their way without poking fun at them! I hate people like that.

If you live in a country where the official language isn’t your first one, or if you’ve ever been a tourist in one, have you ever encountered anybody like this driver? How did you handle it?