RSR Weekend Update

I went to see the latest Harry Potter movie yesterday afternoon. Yay! I liked it. Yay! I decided there are a lot of rude and/or stupid people in the world. Boo! (None of YOU fit in that category, of course. Yay!) The theater was crowded (no surprise there!) but not totally packed. There were some empty seats. But sometimes it felt more crowded than it really was because they didn't seem to understand the concept of sitting still, shutting the hell up, and watching the movie!! Come ON, people! This isn't your living room! Yes, that's right, you've stumbled into another episode of Deb's Pet Peeves. (Start the theme music, please.) Here is what I would like to say to some people who attended the 12:30 PM showing of the HP movie yesterday in Maysville, Kentucky: 1. Leave the really young kids at home! Seriously. The deeper we get into the HP story, the less these things are "kids' movies". There was some scary stuff happening on that screen! And if your child is young enough that you have to carry her out crying, that's probably too young to be there. Get a sitter next time! 2. You have to know if you come to see a movie that means you need to plan to sit there for 2-3 hours. Please, please get your food, drinks, and bathroom breaks out of the way before you sit down, and save your conversations with your companion for when you leave. The jack-in-the-box stuff between the rest of us and the screen, not to mention the not-so-quiet whispered conversations - very distracting. And not in a good way. 3. If you're sick, stay home. I can't state that strongly enough. If you're sick, STAY the hell HOME!!! This one is specifically directed at the man with the hacking cough and the rattling plastic whatever who sat directly behind me and coughed his nasty germs at the back of my head for the better part of three hours. If I die from bubopneumonic anthraxavian flu in the next couple of weeks, y'all know who to blame! (Well, ok, you don't know exactly who to blame, because I have no idea who that guy was, but you'll have some idea what happened. Shame on you, Mr. Germy. You're old enough to know better.) Speaking of knowing better, I should know better than to see a popular movie right after it's released. I know I prefer to see a movie in a nearly-empty theater, hopefully with other people who are as in love with movies as I am, and equally as willing to sit there quietly and let themselves be sucked into the story. A really good movie is magical to me. But sometimes I'm so anxious to see something that I give in to the urge to rush right down and think "oh, it'll be ok...the crowds won't bother me too much". Ahem. Wrong, Deb. Maybe I'll go again toward the end of the movie's run and see if I can get the sort of big screen experience I really love. Oh, and speaking of self-delusion (well, I sort of was), did y'all know that Thanksgiving is in 3 days? And that a month after that is Christmas?? How did THAT happen? I obviously wasn't paying attention because I'm so SO not ready. Some years I love all that stuff - the shopping, cooking, decorating, the sending of cards, and giving of gifts. Other years, not so much. I'm afraid this is a not-so-much year. I'm not sure why. It just is. If I had a plague of money I'd like to just go hang on a tropical island for the next month or so and pretend it's July and come back after it's all over. But that's not gonna happen, so I'll deal. But really...that stuff starts THIS week? Damn.