Surreal Movie Experience

It all started normally enough. We were supposed to be at Kathy's by 4, so John and I decided to try and catch a very early showing of The Bourne Supremacy. Very early. We were very happy to find that there was a 10am showing in Del mar, less than 15 miles from where we're staying. So we got up good and earl, had a nice breakfast at Mom and Dad's with Jet and my parents, and then we headed out the door.

We might have been warned by the lady with the baby at the ticket counter, but we were thinking, oh, how nice, she can get out with a baby and see a nice movie. We bought our tickets for cash-only, as they wouldn't take credit cards, and said that they charged an extra 1.50 if you used an ATM (which might have tipped us off as well). There was no one to take tickets, but it was a small, old theater, so that seemed to fit.

Then we walked into the entry way for the theater we were supposed to go to and, from the ceiling came the high-pitched wailing of a baby. Or it seemed to be coming from the ceiling. An in-action warning against the evils of bringing a baby to a movie theater, I thought for a moment. Then I saw the lady changing the very same, shrieking baby on a changing table with a nice, padded changing pad in the back corner of the entry way.

Time for the eerie music.

That's when we saw that the theater was half filled with babies. Every adult had at least one tiny being with them. Most had two. There was an usher talking about how they would change the volume as they needed it, and if the temperature was wrong to just tell them. And that he thought that they would all enjoy the next movie very much. I thought that it was a baby instructional class or something.

John stopped the guy, "Is this The Bourne Supremacy?"

"Yeah. Hope you enjoy the movie."

The lights never went down. The two projectors were wildly out of whack with each other with regards to volume. As they traded off previews, one would get whisper quiet, while the other showed at regular volume. There was always a baby crying.

Then, five minutes into the movie, it went dark. Then the sound went off.

I looked at John. He looked at me. "I want to get a refund and find a normal movie."

Yeah.

That's when we noticed the "Leave the Babysitter at home!" clapboard in the lobby. Seems that the first showing of every weekday is a bring your baby to the movies kind of deal. With a mild argument, including the fact that we were from out-of-state, we got our cash back and headed off.

After another brush with an Ultra-star theater (which was the same kind as the surreal experience), we ended up in Miramar, at an Edwards 18, and were treated to a very real, very normal movie experience. Whew.

---

I enjoyed the movie. My take on the Bourne series is that it's the 21 century relevant replacement for Bond. Where international intrigue no longer has any hint of the exotic and style is just a way to stick out like a sore thumb. I admit myself more intrigued by the second movie than I was by the first. Just that extra space for emotion and relation and being human behind inhuman skills.

The car chase scene violated a fundamental law of other car chases, and I hadn't realized how totally ingrained that law was for me until it was shattered. Wow.

---

We got to have In-and-Out for lunch. It was a luxury that I enjoyed deeply. Ultimately fresh food, with really happy counter and back room workers, and a real sense of values that power what they do and what they don't do. I've been reading Good to Great and find that the values and fundamental goals of all that line up with how I want to live my life, and that makes a big difference.

---

We got home by 3, headed out with Dad to Kathy's. John and Jet followed Dad and I, and Jet kept telling John about the fact that they were the trailer to our car. In fact, when a truck got between the two cars, Jet got so mad he started yelling, "Get out of the way! Truck! Get OUT of the way!" Hee.

When it did get out of the way Jet was very satisfied.

The pool was wonderful. Just five feet deep at the most, not too big, but not too small, and Jet got to swim between us a few times before getting the handle on it again. Then he started doing stunts like waving at one or the other of us in the middle of his swim. Then he started sticking a foot in the air, then a foot and a hand, and finally both feet... and stopping to do that and having to do multiple breaths on the way to the person that was supposed to be "catching" him. I was a little worried at first, but he demonstrated, quite well, that he could get where he wanted, get as many breaths as he needed, and he'd yell at me if I caught him when he didn't want to be helped.

It was very nice and cool in the water, and Dad had a great shady spot from which he video taped a lot of it.

It was really nice to just get into the water again. It's been too long since Jet's gotten to swim.

Afterwards, we went to Kathy's condo (Jet pointed at all the other condos, "That's Uncle Kathy's house. That's Uncle Kathy's house. That's Uncle Kathy's house...") and showered. Jet and Dad went home to feed Jet. Kathy met us at the condo and then took us to a little food mall place where we had Indian food. It was great stuff. They had their own tandor oven in the front area, where they cooked the bread when you ordered it. Wow. Yum. And the naan was really nice, good and chewy and crisp and smoky.

My lamb biryani was fabulous. Huge chunks of lamb, lots of vegetables, and the rice was bright yellow with saffron and savory with the broth it was cooked in. Wow. The yogurt sauce was a bright contrast to the rich intensity of the dish. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Not the least of reasons for enjoying it was actually being hungry for the first time in a while. The swim was really good for that.

From there we wandered over to Toys R Us and Target and did "girl shopping" where we looked at a ton of stuff, talked, and didn't buy a darned thing. We did, however, happen on a boba shop (bubble tea) called "Bobalicious" *grin* So, after walking quite a while in the stores, we stopped there, and I had a honeydew "milk tea" (which had no tea in it) with lychee jellies (that were chewy jelly with chunks of lychee fruit in it cut into straws). It was so very good. We finished them at Kathy's where we got to talk and catch up a bit more and then left her to go to the library and take her time going to sleep. Yay!

We got home and found Dad still up, he'd just gotten Jet to finally go to sleep at 10:30, as Jet had gotten up at 10 when he'd gotten him down the first time. But Jet's not been getting up in the middle of the night that much, so I think all the activity is wearing him out enough to sleep pretty well. I'm glad of that.

Surreal Movie Experience

It all started normally enough. We were supposed to be at Kathy's by 4, so John and I decided to try and catch a very early showing of The Bourne Supremacy. Very early. We were very happy to find that there was a 10am showing in Del mar, less than 15 miles from where we're staying. So we got up good and earl, had a nice breakfast at Mom and Dad's with Jet and my parents, and then we headed out the door.

We might have been warned by the lady with the baby at the ticket counter, but we were thinking, oh, how nice, she can get out with a baby and see a nice movie. We bought our tickets for cash-only, as they wouldn't take credit cards, and said that they charged an extra 1.50 if you used an ATM (which might have tipped us off as well). There was no one to take tickets, but it was a small, old theater, so that seemed to fit.

Then we walked into the entry way for the theater we were supposed to go to and, from the ceiling came the high-pitched wailing of a baby. Or it seemed to be coming from the ceiling. An in-action warning against the evils of bringing a baby to a movie theater, I thought for a moment. Then I saw the lady changing the very same, shrieking baby on a changing table with a nice, padded changing pad in the back corner of the entry way.

Time for the eerie music.

That's when we saw that the theater was half filled with babies. Every adult had at least one tiny being with them. Most had two. There was an usher talking about how they would change the volume as they needed it, and if the temperature was wrong to just tell them. And that he thought that they would all enjoy the next movie very much. I thought that it was a baby instructional class or something.

John stopped the guy, "Is this The Bourne Supremacy?"

"Yeah. Hope you enjoy the movie."

The lights never went down. The two projectors were wildly out of whack with each other with regards to volume. As they traded off previews, one would get whisper quiet, while the other showed at regular volume. There was always a baby crying.

Then, five minutes into the movie, it went dark. Then the sound went off.

I looked at John. He looked at me. "I want to get a refund and find a normal movie."

Yeah.

That's when we noticed the "Leave the Babysitter at home!" clapboard in the lobby. Seems that the first showing of every weekday is a bring your baby to the movies kind of deal. With a mild argument, including the fact that we were from out-of-state, we got our cash back and headed off.

After another brush with an Ultra-star theater (which was the same kind as the surreal experience), we ended up in Miramar, at an Edwards 18, and were treated to a very real, very normal movie experience. Whew.

---

I enjoyed the movie. My take on the Bourne series is that it's the 21 century relevant replacement for Bond. Where international intrigue no longer has any hint of the exotic and style is just a way to stick out like a sore thumb. I admit myself more intrigued by the second movie than I was by the first. Just that extra space for emotion and relation and being human behind inhuman skills.

The car chase scene violated a fundamental law of other car chases, and I hadn't realized how totally ingrained that law was for me until it was shattered. Wow.

---

We got to have In-and-Out for lunch. It was a luxury that I enjoyed deeply. Ultimately fresh food, with really happy counter and back room workers, and a real sense of values that power what they do and what they don't do. I've been reading Good to Great and find that the values and fundamental goals of all that line up with how I want to live my life, and that makes a big difference.

---

We got home by 3, headed out with Dad to Kathy's. John and Jet followed Dad and I, and Jet kept telling John about the fact that they were the trailer to our car. In fact, when a truck got between the two cars, Jet got so mad he started yelling, "Get out of the way! Truck! Get OUT of the way!" Hee.

When it did get out of the way Jet was very satisfied.

The pool was wonderful. Just five feet deep at the most, not too big, but not too small, and Jet got to swim between us a few times before getting the handle on it again. Then he started doing stunts like waving at one or the other of us in the middle of his swim. Then he started sticking a foot in the air, then a foot and a hand, and finally both feet... and stopping to do that and having to do multiple breaths on the way to the person that was supposed to be "catching" him. I was a little worried at first, but he demonstrated, quite well, that he could get where he wanted, get as many breaths as he needed, and he'd yell at me if I caught him when he didn't want to be helped.

It was very nice and cool in the water, and Dad had a great shady spot from which he video taped a lot of it.

It was really nice to just get into the water again. It's been too long since Jet's gotten to swim.

Afterwards, we went to Kathy's condo (Jet pointed at all the other condos, "That's Uncle Kathy's house. That's Uncle Kathy's house. That's Uncle Kathy's house...") and showered. Jet and Dad went home to feed Jet. Kathy met us at the condo and then took us to a little food mall place where we had Indian food. It was great stuff. They had their own tandor oven in the front area, where they cooked the bread when you ordered it. Wow. Yum. And the naan was really nice, good and chewy and crisp and smoky.

My lamb biryani was fabulous. Huge chunks of lamb, lots of vegetables, and the rice was bright yellow with saffron and savory with the broth it was cooked in. Wow. The yogurt sauce was a bright contrast to the rich intensity of the dish. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Not the least of reasons for enjoying it was actually being hungry for the first time in a while. The swim was really good for that.

From there we wandered over to Toys R Us and Target and did "girl shopping" where we looked at a ton of stuff, talked, and didn't buy a darned thing. We did, however, happen on a boba shop (bubble tea) called "Bobalicious" *grin* So, after walking quite a while in the stores, we stopped there, and I had a honeydew "milk tea" (which had no tea in it) with lychee jellies (that were chewy jelly with chunks of lychee fruit in it cut into straws). It was so very good. We finished them at Kathy's where we got to talk and catch up a bit more and then left her to go to the library and take her time going to sleep. Yay!

We got home and found Dad still up, he'd just gotten Jet to finally go to sleep at 10:30, as Jet had gotten up at 10 when he'd gotten him down the first time. But Jet's not been getting up in the middle of the night that much, so I think all the activity is wearing him out enough to sleep pretty well. I'm glad of that.