let's go to the movies

One of my great joys in life is to go to the movies by myself. I don't know why I like it so much, and I don't do it very often, but when I do it's the bomb.com. Honestly, I think as a super-extrovert being alone at the movies makes me feel like a rebel. I usually go all out and wear my sorority sweatshirt with the puff paint stain to draw ample attention to myself and my rebelliousness. It's a real treat.

So the other day I was in the mood to go to the movies by myself, like the freedom fighter that I am. Of course by the time I got home and sat down I'd lost all motivation to get up and go out again, so I thought, maybe I will go to the movies this weekend. But then I thought, well that's lame, because 20-somethings are supposed to be in night clubs meeting people and taking pictures to post on Facebook on Friday nights. Right?

As I was considering if it would be lame to go to a movie on a Friday night, I started thinking about how COOL it used to be to go to the movies on a Friday night. I can just see myself sitting in Algebra 2 and passing notes about which movie starring Freddie Prinze Jr. we should go see at Northrock 14 [the cool theater, as opposed to Northrock 6, which was soooo yesterday]. Should we invite the boys?! I mean, we have to invite the boys. Don't tell anyone [pinkie swear!] but I'm totally crushing on Hottie McSweatsalot over there and he totally sat by me in Bio this morning so I'm pretty sure we're in love. I'll call my mom on the office phone at lunch and ask if she'll look up times in the paper. My friend would then spend the remaining 47 minutes of class origami folding notes for the others which undoubtedly included movie details and probably everything I had just said about that boy, too. I'm sure he knew I was in love with him by the time we got to gym class. But I digress.

And seriously, it was like the greatest thing you could possibly be doing on a Friday night. We'd all meet up and buy tickets with our babysitting money. Then we'd file into the theater - and this, this was by far my favorite part. Watch a group of boy/girl adolescents walk into a theater sometime because it's got to be the greatest thing to watch ever. Watch as each one walks at an awkward pace - some too slow, some too fast, some randomly stopping to check for their ticket, some pausing to tie their shoe - trying to stagger their entry to the aisle to ensure that they'll get to sit by their crush. The whole thing was a thrill-a-minute - hearts pounding in suspense of how the seating order will turn out. Watch as they [not in any way nonchalantly] get to the seat they want. Watch as they try to look surprised when they end up there. No one wants to be obvious, that would be social suicide, but how am I supposed to accidentally constantly brush arms with him if he's sitting by that B in the platform flip flops?

The whole thing was just so exciting. We'd go home then and stay up all night talking about how fun the movies were. Seriously - nightclub, facebook pictures, and all - I could not manifest that much excitement now if I tried. And all from a simple night at the movies.

Times were simpler then. Going to the movies was the most glamorous option there was. Brushing arms for ninety minutes was the actual best possible outcome. Now we're all trying to get married and stuff, so the stakes are a little higher. So I hereby rule that going to the movies on the weekends is not lame, rather, it is a throwback to a simpler time. It's a brief moment of no pressure. It's one night of arm brushing in a lifetime of marriage proposals.

I officially have no idea what I'm talking about anymore.

But I fully intend to go to the movies this weekend, if you're wondering.