Read another story in the life of the Princess of Chaos - Story 3 of 3
STORY #2
Where is that Da*n Ark?
Sometimes I think there is an uncontrollable force, maybe from the dark side, working against me. I do try to make plans, but even then, something seems to go awry.
A quiet Friday night, plans, made well in advance, to spend the evening with a couple of friends. To protect their identity they shall remain nameless at this time, though for ease of telling the story, we shall call them Luke and Leah.
Luke, Leah, and I planned earlier in the week to get together and watch the first two of the Star Wars Trilogy. Leah had not seen them and it didn't make sense to watch the third without the background of the first two. I would make dinner, we would eat while we watched the first two; the third, afterwards -- a midnight showing at the Seawalk Pavilion. I was excited actually. I had never seen a movie at the Pavilion and I was anxious to see Star Wars.
The first mistake we made was that we waited until Friday to rent the first
two. They were, of course, unavailable. Okay, not a big deal. We killed time until the midnight showing, actually enjoying a nice, relaxing evening. The Seawalk Pavilion, for those of you who don't know, is a giant, outdoor movie
screen, on a grassy knoll, right next to the beach. As we prepared to leave, I mentioned the need to stop along the way to pull cash to pay for the movie. Luke informed me that it was free. I jokingly asked, 'why in the hell would people who can afford to live at the beach need to have free movies?" I thought it even more strange that Star Wars -- a new release --would be showing there. Though I only had three, and I shared one with Leah, they were very
SEVERE blonde moments that night. Looking back, seriously, how in the hell did I think they could charge for a big, open, movie screen smack dab in the middle of town? I did have a glass of wine, and I'm not a heavy drinker, so we'll blame it on that.
Along the way, Luke and I talked about the first two Star Wars movies. I felt
bad that Leah wouldn't know what was going on while we were watching the movie at the Pavilion. She is not a big Star Wars fan and that was the point of the evening, to bring her up to speed. About five minutes after that, Leah clues into what I've said about her being 'in the dark' (no pun intended). This was her moment of blondeness -- either that or she wasn't really paying attention
-- which is what she claims. I'll let her have the latter, since I'm going to
use the wine as my excuse. She laughs LOUDLY, which is not like Leah --- "Wait, what movie is it that you think we're going to see?" I answer, "Star Wars,isn't it? I thought that was the whole point of watching the first two during dinner to prepare for the third one."
Enter blonde moment number two. Thoughin my defense, I did question it earlier (though not out loud). The movie playing at the Pavilion was "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Luckily, I can laugh at myself, so we had a good chuckle over that.
Needless to say, I was disappointed. No Star Wars? I stayed up until midnight, to sit at the beach, and be cold, for Raiders of the Lost Ark?!?!?!?!? Oh well, I was with friends, and it is a good movie, so it would still be fun. The three of us make our way over to the Pavilion. We have our pick of where we want to sit. It's pretty empty, so we pick a primo spot on the grassy knoll. I'm thinking........".the beach event planners probably should have
researched a little more, done some surveys or something. This particular
movie doesn't seem to have been good choice."
Leah and I notice a strange pile of 'something,' and because we are both very curious (okay, nosy), we walk over to investigate. It's a pile of ice, half melted. We BOTH comment, "that's weird, why would someone just dump that there?" We then notice that some workers seem to be packing up some extra chairs. I ask Luke if there was an earlier event, but he doesn't know. The
movie start time is in less than 5 minutes, and there are probably less than 20 people within the vicinity. Leah comments, "Well, it IS late." I agree and we reason that those that ARE out this late probably don't even know what this movie is because it was long before their time. All of a sudden, there is a loud noise as some BIG machine starts up -- we'll call it a tractor because I don't know what the hell it was -- probably some kind of hole-digging machine.
Leah turns, glares, and lets out a snort of displeasure. I say, "Now, how in the world are we gonna hear the movie with that thing makin' all that noise?!?!?" I look toward the screen, and there are more workers moving around the stage. They appear to be........cleaning up. I glance above the screen and read the words, 'Moonlight Movies,' not 'Midnight Movies.' It is at that
moment that Leah and I realize that the movie has ALREADY been shown. We burst into laughter, and continue to laugh as we, try to discreetly (in our PRIMO spot in the MIDDLE of the grassy knoll) pick up our belongings and leave. Luke is NOT amused.
I found out the next day that the movie was scheduled to start at 9:00.
Now, the mix up in movie times was actually not a result of an error on my part. It has been said by another friend of mine that I occasionally infect those around me. Perfectly sane, organized people suffer the consequences of knowing me. I commend you, you poor souls who continue to maintain your friendship with me, braving the confusion that is sure to await you as you are sucked into the vortex of the bedlam that surrounds the Princess of Chaos.
Homer's Ill Iliad & Odd Sea Odyssey (420 pages) is an adult satire/parody rewrite of the classic stories of the 10 year Trojan War and of the 10 year adventure of Odysseus trying to return home to his native Ithaca.
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