“My Review of Sara’s Review of Comic Con
by Tim Fealy on Tuesday, August 21, 2012 at 7:31am

Meet Tim Fealy on the left with a very another attendee wearing an authentic Batgril costume on the right!

You can check out my friend Sara’s blog here:

https://sarathlete.wordpress.com/2012/08/17/did-the-cool-girl-have-fun-at-comic-con/

Even before she posted her review, I was preparing my own review of her review just in case she decided to trash my beloved event. It turns out she liked it. I think Comic Con won her over this year.

Sara went last year with her boyfriend Pete and had a miserable experience. You can read about that in her blog. She shared with me her misery over a vegan lunch one Saturday and I was surprised she could have so little fun at Comic Con. My advice to her was that she should try it again but really try to appreciate the talent and creativity of those who come to Comic Con.

I told her she was the “cool girl” being plunged into a world of nerds. She keeps saying I am teasing her but I am not. It’s true. If you watch “The Big Bang Theory”, she would be the Penny in a room full of Sheldons and Leonards. She would be the normal, well-adjusted girl at Comic Con. If Sara hasn’t seen that show, oohhhh is she in for a treat! So, rebuttal #1 is she actually IS the “cool girl”.

Rebuttal #2 is that I didn’t ditch her at Comic Con. Early on, Pete wanted to attend a panel discussion with James Marsters while I still wanted to be available to meet Stan Lee. We just had different agendas. Our agendas would bring us back together again in the afternoon when we both Pate and I wanted to check out the light sabre workshop! But, I don’t think you can say you were ditched when you are hanging out with your husband for the day to celebrate his birthday.

Now, this next one is not a rebuttal but just an observation. Bruce Campbell “roasts” his audience during his panel discussions. I get it. And that’s ok to do with adults. But, he was saying some pretty mean things to young kids. I thought that crossed the line. Not all panel discussions are like that. Pete and I also saw a panel discussion with the guys from “Star Wars”. That movie had such an impact on our lives. And right there in front of us are TWO guys who were intimately involved with the making of it. That’s cool.

Ok, this would be rebuttal #3. As Sara says, “Stan Lee, an artist for …was signing autographs”.

See! This is why I adore Sara and why she IS the cool girl. Even after going to Comic Con, she is still not quite sure who Stan Lee is. Stan Lee created my favorite superhero, Spider-Man. He thought it up. And not just Spider-Man. He created the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, the Amazing X-Men, & Thor. But, getting back to Spider-Man, the character I most adored while growing up was created by this VERY guy who I was now standing in line to see. Stan Lee was personally responsible for a LOT of really good childhood memories! Thank You! The value isn’t so much in the signature but in having that moment when the 9 or 10 year old boy that still resides somewhere inside you gets to MEET the guy who made those childhood memories possible!

Ok, this is my final rebuttal. I DID promise Sara a vegan meetup! I told her the coolest vegan EVER regularly attends Comic Con. That’s TRUE!!! At least it was until this year. However, the fault squarely rests with the promoters of “Flashback Weekend”. They lured Linda Blair, one of my very favorite celebrities, away to attend their event on the same weekend.

Now, Linda and I have not always had the best relationship. Like most of us, she terrified me as a child! I told her this the first time I met her – as I am sure everyone does – and she suggested that we “hug it out”. I thought that was pretty clever of her. Also, that first time my friend Kristina and I met her, we waited an extra 30 minutes in line while Linda left to do a panel discussion. When she returned to the line, she apologized to us and then started filling us in on what she had talked about since we hadn’t been able to see her. She talked to us like we were the only two people in line. And we weren’t. It was still a huge line, but she wouldn’t be rushed. She wanted to give everyone personal attention and a really good experience.

The next time I met her was a few years ago as part of my “garden brick” project. I have friends, celebrities, sometimes just anyone… write the words they live their life by on a brick and sign it for me. This way, I not only have their autograph, but I have their life philosophy as well. The idea is to be able to walk through the garden and be surrounded by the way people (for the most part, those who are close to me) have decided to live their lives.

Anyways, I wanted a brick from Linda. Now, most celebrities just sign the brick and move on. No, to her this would be a work of art for the garden. She filled it with decorations and really got into it. And when her handler said she had to wrap things up, she ssshh’d him and kept going until she was finished.

She is among the most kind-hearted and warmest people I have ever met and this kindness spills over into her love of animals and is the reason for her being a vegan. Had she been there, Sara would have LOVED her. And it would not have only been a vegan meetup, but the best vegan meet EVER because Linda would have been a part of it.

I’m glad you came back to Comic Con Sara. I had the best time and I’m glad you were a part of it!”

Tim Fealy

P.S. Thank you Tim for letting me post your review to my blog!

Sara Sawochka

My answer: Yes. I go to church and don’t believe in a god. I enjoy the pastor’s sermon and always acquire a non-religious message from the religious message presented to me.

I’ve posted before about my religious non-beliefs before. Recently I had a conversation with someone close to me regarding my non-religious beliefs. I’ll call her Gina for privacy purposes.

After telling Gina my beliefs she said that she would pray for me. Gina said I should tell my pastor my beliefs. I responded that he already knew about them. Gina felt that the pastor was tolerated my beliefs so I would keep coming to church but he was praying for me as well.

Gina and the pastor were praying for the same thing but what were they praying for?

When I asked Gina specifically what she and my pastor were praying for me I never got a response. She said I’d have to ask my pastor. I feel like Gina couldn’t tell me what they were praying for me because she wanted to avoid a conflict with me.

I’ve heard people tell each other all of the time, “I will pray for your” or “I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers when the person being prayed for is sick or dying, or has just lost their job, etc. How is my situation different? Why can’t Gina tell me what her prayer is?

Why would Gina deflect me to my pastor? How do I know he would be anymore honest with me than she was? If she wouldn’t tell me as someone close to me then what obligation did my pastor have to tell me that information?

In my frustration I did what I always do: I went to Pete. Pete said that Gina probably meant that she and the pastor were praying for me to find a god (specifically their God) and the eternal light so I wouldn’t go to hell at my time of death.

While I respect the kindness of praying for me and I cannot reject the prayers, I do not feel that prayer for something someone doesn’t want or seek is warranted. Would you want someone praying for you to make the U.S. Olympic Beach Volleyball team if you wanted to be a basketball champion instead

I did some more research on prayer and looked up a definition of prayer. I took this excerpt from wikipida.org regarding prayer:

Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with a deity or object of worship through deliberate communication. Prayer can be a form of religious practice, may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private.

There are different forms of prayer such as petitionary prayer, prayers of supplication, thanksgiving, and worship/praise. Prayer may be directed towards a deity, spirit, deceased person, or lofty idea, for the purpose of worshipping, requesting guidance, requesting assistance, confessing sins or to express one’s thoughts and emotions. Thus, people pray for many reasons such as personal benefit or for the sake of others.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer

I find it interesting that the definition never says which god is the right god to believe in. Which poses two interesting questions to me: What is god or what is a god? In other words, a god has many definitions and one of those definitions could be does a god even exist.

Wikipedia.org defines deity which is used in the prayer description above as “a being, natural, supernatural or preternatural, with superhuman powers or qualities, and who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred.”If Gina is praying to a deity then her deity maybe different than my deity. The beautiful idea is that we can all pray or meditate to something/someone or look inside ourselves to find out what’s really going on.

If someone wants to pray for us then I can’t stop them, however I do not believe it is right to pray for something that someone else may not want. Would you want me to pray for you to get cancer? Perhaps I find Gina praying for me to find her god similar to getting cancer: it’s just something I really don’t want right now.

I do not believe that we have to pray to the same god to find inner peace and happiness. If it makes you feel better to pray for me though please just keep doing it and don’t tell me about it. Whether you pray to a deity or don’t pray at all it’s okay. No one is judging you except you. Don’t put pressure on yourself. If you believe a god is judging you then that’s what you believe. Just be careful with pushing your beliefs off on someone else. And if you have plans on doing that, then at least tell the person why. Gina, I wish you would tell me why you were praying for me because I would really love to know.

Sara Sawochka