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floatingleafLooks like it's time for another segment of the "how I fail at life" series.:/ Our office closed early today, as it usually does before major holidays - so I decided to do something fun with the evening for once and go to the movies. There is this new film by Neil Jordan, called Byzantium, which just started playing last weekend. You know, Neil Jordan directed Interview with the Vampire. And The Crying Game. And Breakfast on Pluto. So he is very much a cult figure for me. Also, this new one happens to be about vampires (Jordan's personal take on the theme), and several people at the "vc_media" community on DreamWidth have either seen it already or are planning to - so I will actually have someone to discuss it with. Which might be the main reason I want to see it ASAP - otherwise I'd probably wait patiently for the DVD. But if there are discussions at the comm in the near future, I want to be able to participate without having to worry about getting "spoiled".;) So I actually dragged myself to a different part of the city in order to see it.
I couldn't find the theater. I thought I knew where it was, since I had looked it up on the map, and it seemed very conveniently located at a major intersection. I also seemed to recall having visited it before. So it really never crossed my mind that I might have trouble finding it. I had no doubt I was walking in the right direction after getting off the train (I had carefully checked the street names on the map) - and yet, the theater clearly wasn't there. Since it's a big six-way intersection, I thought maybe I didn't get it right somehow - so I turned back and walked into the next street... then the next one... then the next. Still, no theater. I traversed the vicinity in this way for about 30 minutes. By then, it became clear to me that I wasn't going to make it on time to see the movie - but I still wanted to find the damned theater, just so I didn't have to go through this again next time. So finally I asked a girl sitting at a bus stop - and she said, "It's right here - just turn left". So I did - and came right upon the big shopping center I had passed several times already. What the hell, I fumed to myself - it's a shopping center, not a theater. And then it hit me: the theater is INSIDE the shopping center. On the top floor of it. I went inside, and immediately realized that yes, I had been there before - but I must have confused this theater with another one, which is a free-standing building, adorned by a huge neon sign, easily visible from a distance. So I was on the lookout for this familiar sight, while at the same time willfully ignoring the smaller sign squeezed in between all the other neon logos on the walls of the shopping center. Such a simple, stupid mistake. And the most ridiculous thing is, if I'd asked someone for directions sooner (there were plenty of people milling about), I wouldn't have missed my showtime. But I felt like an idiot asking for help finding something that was supposed to be RIGHT THERE. Also, I couldn't decide who to ask, since there were so many people and they all seemed in a hurry, or engrossed in their conversations, or not very friendly-looking, or... you get the picture. Any number of excuses works for me when it comes to accosting strangers on the street (I hate doing that, just like I hate being accosted by strangers, especially if they ask for directions - since I totally suck at that, and most of the time have no clue what they are even talking about, and then feel like an idiot, and... you know. Just... major fail on all fronts, as per usual, thank you very much). So, summa summarum, I wasted about 3 hours on a trip to see a movie, which I didn't actually see, though I walked right past the entrance to the building housing the theater at least 3 times.:/ There was another showing later, at 10 p.m. - but I didn't fancy taking the train in the middle of the night, so I just popped into a random store to use the loo, and then went back home. So much for an exciting evening. Well, at least I got some exercise with all this frantic walking around, LOL.
Of course, this isn't the end of the world. I can go see the movie tomorrow. But tomorrow I was planning on finally cleaning my apartment - and once I get started doing that, I most likely won't be able to finish early enough to make it. And on Friday I'm working. And on Saturday I have to get groceries and make food... and on Sunday I was thinking of doing laundry. So if I don't clean tomorrow, I may not clean this week at all - and I really, REALLY should. But maybe I'll manage to get my ass in gear early enough on Saturday morning to finish my chores by 6 p.m., and THEN I can go see the movie?... If I still feel up to going anywhere after a day of running errands, that is.
Crap. Why is it so damned hard to find time for ANYTHING outside of the daily grind, even during a week that includes a major holiday?... Going to the movies shouldn't be such a huge, logistically overwhelming enterprise, after all. It didn't use to be that way in the past. I'm not exactly sure how or when that changed... but somehow it did.:(
In light of all the above, I am not sure if I'll manage to post this weekend. I was all ready to pour my heart out here last Sunday - but then the weather was actually nice for a change, so I went for a walk instead. Nice weather - dry and sunny and breezy and neither too hot nor too cold - is such a rarity in Chicago that it feels almost like a blasphemy to stay home all day while it's out there... lol. But I almost experience a sort of withdrawal if I don't post anything here for over a week. There is SO MUCH I want to talk about... *sigh*
Well... I'm dead tired now, and my legs are begging to be stretched out in a horizontal position. So bedtime it is - provided the fireworks let me sleep (they have been going batshit crazy all over the neighborhood for the past few hours). Otherwise, I'll just be lying down, reading a book. By the way, I am currently reading the second novel by Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns, which is largely about the recent wars in Afghanistan - so hearing all those frightfully loud explosions outside doesn't make me think about celebration. Not at all.
I couldn't find the theater. I thought I knew where it was, since I had looked it up on the map, and it seemed very conveniently located at a major intersection. I also seemed to recall having visited it before. So it really never crossed my mind that I might have trouble finding it. I had no doubt I was walking in the right direction after getting off the train (I had carefully checked the street names on the map) - and yet, the theater clearly wasn't there. Since it's a big six-way intersection, I thought maybe I didn't get it right somehow - so I turned back and walked into the next street... then the next one... then the next. Still, no theater. I traversed the vicinity in this way for about 30 minutes. By then, it became clear to me that I wasn't going to make it on time to see the movie - but I still wanted to find the damned theater, just so I didn't have to go through this again next time. So finally I asked a girl sitting at a bus stop - and she said, "It's right here - just turn left". So I did - and came right upon the big shopping center I had passed several times already. What the hell, I fumed to myself - it's a shopping center, not a theater. And then it hit me: the theater is INSIDE the shopping center. On the top floor of it. I went inside, and immediately realized that yes, I had been there before - but I must have confused this theater with another one, which is a free-standing building, adorned by a huge neon sign, easily visible from a distance. So I was on the lookout for this familiar sight, while at the same time willfully ignoring the smaller sign squeezed in between all the other neon logos on the walls of the shopping center. Such a simple, stupid mistake. And the most ridiculous thing is, if I'd asked someone for directions sooner (there were plenty of people milling about), I wouldn't have missed my showtime. But I felt like an idiot asking for help finding something that was supposed to be RIGHT THERE. Also, I couldn't decide who to ask, since there were so many people and they all seemed in a hurry, or engrossed in their conversations, or not very friendly-looking, or... you get the picture. Any number of excuses works for me when it comes to accosting strangers on the street (I hate doing that, just like I hate being accosted by strangers, especially if they ask for directions - since I totally suck at that, and most of the time have no clue what they are even talking about, and then feel like an idiot, and... you know. Just... major fail on all fronts, as per usual, thank you very much). So, summa summarum, I wasted about 3 hours on a trip to see a movie, which I didn't actually see, though I walked right past the entrance to the building housing the theater at least 3 times.:/ There was another showing later, at 10 p.m. - but I didn't fancy taking the train in the middle of the night, so I just popped into a random store to use the loo, and then went back home. So much for an exciting evening. Well, at least I got some exercise with all this frantic walking around, LOL.
Of course, this isn't the end of the world. I can go see the movie tomorrow. But tomorrow I was planning on finally cleaning my apartment - and once I get started doing that, I most likely won't be able to finish early enough to make it. And on Friday I'm working. And on Saturday I have to get groceries and make food... and on Sunday I was thinking of doing laundry. So if I don't clean tomorrow, I may not clean this week at all - and I really, REALLY should. But maybe I'll manage to get my ass in gear early enough on Saturday morning to finish my chores by 6 p.m., and THEN I can go see the movie?... If I still feel up to going anywhere after a day of running errands, that is.
Crap. Why is it so damned hard to find time for ANYTHING outside of the daily grind, even during a week that includes a major holiday?... Going to the movies shouldn't be such a huge, logistically overwhelming enterprise, after all. It didn't use to be that way in the past. I'm not exactly sure how or when that changed... but somehow it did.:(
In light of all the above, I am not sure if I'll manage to post this weekend. I was all ready to pour my heart out here last Sunday - but then the weather was actually nice for a change, so I went for a walk instead. Nice weather - dry and sunny and breezy and neither too hot nor too cold - is such a rarity in Chicago that it feels almost like a blasphemy to stay home all day while it's out there... lol. But I almost experience a sort of withdrawal if I don't post anything here for over a week. There is SO MUCH I want to talk about... *sigh*
Well... I'm dead tired now, and my legs are begging to be stretched out in a horizontal position. So bedtime it is - provided the fireworks let me sleep (they have been going batshit crazy all over the neighborhood for the past few hours). Otherwise, I'll just be lying down, reading a book. By the way, I am currently reading the second novel by Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns, which is largely about the recent wars in Afghanistan - so hearing all those frightfully loud explosions outside doesn't make me think about celebration. Not at all.
