Friday the 13th

Having been born on a 13, I associate the day with celebration and happy surprises, rather than bad luck. I looked forward to this one because it marked the release of a long awaited movie, and Elizabeth and I had hatched a plan to make the day an event. We decided to buy tickets early, head to a favorite restaurant for dinner, purchase many sugary treats and settle into the comfortable old theater to enjoy the film.

While our plan went off without a hitch, the entire evening was touched lightly by the bizarre. Our dinner was delicious as usual, but our company in the dining room was distracting. We sat near a man and a woman whose conversation was impossible not to overhear and whose relationship was difficult to determine. Friends...roommates...friends...roommates? The two seemed to know very little about each other and tossed out casual phrases like, "Just trying to look out for ya, man." Or, "You know what I mean, buddy?" Near the end of our meal, the mystery was solved as they chatted about leaving their children with his mother for the evening. Married. Even more baffling than the conversation was the way the woman rested her plate on her rather large bosom while she scooped up mouthfulls of food. I guess the best way to avoid having food end up on "the shelf" is to eat off the shelf.

We walked into the theater about 20 minutes before showtime, armed with our Sqworms (I'm addicted to the Trolli version of nuclear Sqworms) and Reese's sticks, and briefly debated finding seats before purchasing the required popcorn and coke. It's all about food, of course. Assuming that greater Seattle would be lined up for this much anticipated film, we were prepared to head in and quickly scope out the best available seats before they were taken. Instead, we walked into a completely empty theater and giggled for about five minutes. We could choose any seat we wanted.

Not only were we the first people in but we were also the last out. Happily, the theater filled right before showtime, the movie was as good as expected, and we were still glued to our seats as the clean-up crew trudged in after the final credits. It was so good, in fact, that we decided we must see it again immediately. For the first time in my life, I saw a movie in the theater twice in a row. Something I never expected to do. Fun, fun, fun!

Perhaps as punishment for hiding out in the bathroom until we could enter the theater again, we had Interactive Theater woman sitting next to us during round two. For every touchy comment made onscreen, she'd let out an audible "Ouch!" For every good joke or funny moment, she wanted to make sure that everyone heard her enthusiastic, "That's awesome!" And, she had a different loud and seemingly unnatural laugh for humorous scenes. I'm sure we quickly became the problem row. With every sound from Interactive Theater Lady, either Elizabeth or I would let out a noisy sigh or quietly confer on how we could climb over the woman and her date, without making a spectacle of ourselves, to find other seats. I even tried giving Ellen's international signal for that's annoying (sharp head turn and stare), but the woman was truly oblivious to our irritation.

Of course, the obvious question is why. Why do people do this? Are they conscious of it, and, if so, are they aware of the effect it has on other moviegoers? And, why weren't we brave enough to for either one of us to ask the woman to please stop? Instead, we stayed rooted to our seats in mostly silent annoyance.

Around midnight, Elizabeth dropped me off at my car in the parking garage at work. As we approached my floor, we heard faint sounds of music and Elizabeth rolled down her window to confirm that we weren't hearing things. Sure enough, on my level we encountered a man riding a bicycle, slowly making laps around and around, while he used both hands to play his flute, gorgeous notes echoing as they bounced off the concrete walls. Crazy moments like that make me fully appreciate being alive. It was the perfect end to our wonderful and surreal evening.

By the way, I highly recommend the Garden State soundtrack. It's full of great music! If you can, don't read anything about the movie before you see it. It will be even better that way.