With Thanks to the Owl Empire

This last Thursday, December 4th, 2008, I hosted the monthly bingo game for the Imperial San Joaquin Delta Empire at the Paradise Club here in Stockton, California. We raised $100.00, which is a respectable amount of money, and I would like to thank the Imperial Court of Modesto, California for not only coming out but letting us use their bingo set.

I'm still disappointed though.

When I first began getting involved with the imperial court system a bingo game would fill the entire bar. Bingo games would raise a great deal more that $100, and anything under $400 or $500 would be considered a failure. What happened???

Slowly, gradually, fewer and fewer people came out for the "First Thursday Bingo" games, and the money raised became smaller and smaller, and the majority of people who were at the bar but not playing bingo began mocking the players to show their friends how cool they were.

That happened a lot at this last bingo. Some idiot in the far corner opposite from where I was sitting kept calling out "Bingo!". He didn't even have a bingo card, and kept himself hidden from my view by sitting behind a beam. The first time he called it, I let it slide. The second time, I asked "Do you really have bingo this time or are you just being a dick?" This comment seemed to upset a visiting bingo player from Modesto (To whom I would like to apologize for my language only). The third time the idiot called out "Bingo!" I was fed up with it and said "That wasn't funny the first time you did it and now it's just pathetic." Hey, at least I didn't use profanity this time.

Our bingo games are to raise money for people less fortunate than we (including the idiot in the corner) are. People who are sick or maybe even dying and are lacking in common necessities let alone common comforts.

I guess I'm just getting frustrated, fighting what seems to be a losing battle against apathy. The community we serve no longer seems to care.

And the people who did care and would come out to support their local imperial court chapter, the people who would do the work necessary to raise the money? They don't seem to care much anymore either. They will say "Oh, it's not about the crowns and gowns. It's about the work we do." but with their very next breath they say "Don't you dare take my picture till I'm perfectly posed!" More and more people only want to see and be seen. Fewer and fewer people want to do the work required to get something done, but seem content to lay back and rest on their laurels.

I keep trying, but I don't think I can keep tyring for very much longer.