We met K.T. and Kevin and MattWhoWorksWithKevin last night for dinner and a movie. We stopped at their apartment and watched about ten minutes worth of Dune, which is Kevin's all-time favorite movie. I'd seen bits and pieces of it before, and wondered in the fact of Kevin's enthusiasm whether I'd just been in a bad mood the first time around. Nope. I like the book all right, but I think the movie is awful. The special effects are grotesque, in particular - the blue-on-blue eyes representative of Dune's spice addicts are supposed to be a bit eerie and unreal, but in the movie you can tell they colored them in after filming, because they glow, and borders shift. It's completely unbelievable. Also, the whispered voiceovers make my spine curve. There's no reason to have thoughts whispered. As long as we can see that their lips aren't moving, then a slight echo is all that's necessary to separate thoughts from dialog. Sheesh. I was vastly relieved when we left to go get our Chinese food.
Matt and I parked in front of the movie theater on the assumption that we'd end up there, and despite the fact that the Chinese take-out place is at the far end of the shopping center from the theater, it seems ridiculous to drive from one end of a shopping center to another unless you've got large or heavy packages to carry. We decided to go ahead and buy our tickets. K.T. and Kevin and MattWhoWorksWithKevin were going to see End of Days, which Matt and I decided we didn't trust enough to want to pay full price for it. So we'd decided on Bicentennial Man, which we'd wanted to see when we saw the previews for it, and which the theater's internet site had said was starting at the same time as End of Days.
We went up and got in line, then looked at the board. The internet had lied to us. Bicentennial Man started over half an hour earlier, and we almost certainly weren't going to be able to finish dinner in time to see it. We decided to go have dinner, and decide what to do when we got back, based on the time then.
We had a nice dinner (I think this Chinese take-out place has the best Chinese take-out in the area, actually) and enjoyed chatting and joking with K.T. and Kevin and MattWhoWorksWithKevin. Then we headed back to the theater.
I confess. I'm really anal and particular and just a wimp about movies. I have to psych myself up for going to the movies. I have to know what it is I'll be seeing and be mentally prepared for it. So changing movies in midstream isn't something I'm very good at. After looking at the list of movies and identifying three or so other movies that I'm interested in seeing eventually, I wasn't really in the mood to see any of them right then.
So we bid K.T. and Kevin and MattWhoWorksWithKevin farewell, and went to visit my parents instead.
(Sympathy notes to Matt can be sent here.)
We found my mom in full swing of her usual holiday cheer. She brought out a platter of cookies for us to munch on (mind you, these were cookies that my brother and I had made) and every five minutes or so tried to find an excuse to open a present.
"I think, in celebration of you not having to go back to D.C. any more this year, Matt, I should open a present!"
"Well, if the cookies are all gone, there's only one thing to do: Open a present!"
Like that. She does this every year - as soon as wrapped packages appear under the tree, she starts looking for excuses to open one. It's a family game, to block her. Matt suggested that we wrap something she already owns and let her open that, but that's not in the spirit of the game. (Mom said, "Matt! That's mean! In consolation, I think I should get to open a present!")
Yesterday, I had nothing to do. In contrast, today's going to be a bear. Matt's staying home - his various trips to D.C. got him enough extra hours to take the day off. But we've got a heck of a To-Do list in front of us.
Matt needs to call the DMV because he never got the registration stickers for his car. He also needs to call the mechanic and make an appointment to take his car in and have the weird noise it's making looked at. (If he gets an appointment for today, of course, we need to take his car to the shop.) We need to do the laundry, and clean up the guest bedroom so that when we get the bed, we have some place to put it.
And of course we slept in this morning. That was nice. I like to snuggle with my husband on cold mornings.
But now: to work!
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