A November to Remember: Part 2

OK, I guess I'm on a roll and I should keep going.  The next big event in November: The Harry Potter movie release!

Nicole and I had been planning on this one for a while, and I did remember to ask for this one off.  The next day, that is, so I could sleep after the midnight showing.  We had gone shopping for Harry Potter clothes earlier in the week, so our outfits were ready.  Our tickets were purchased.  All that remained was line-waiting.

I got off work at four that Thursday, which meant I wouldn't be home until 4:30, and I wouldn't be to the theater until at least 4:45.  I knew that once the high schoolers got out of class the line would grow exponentially, so I gave Nicole very clear instructions.  Call the theater at three to see how long the line was.  Be in the vicinity of the theater for quick action.  Get us a good spot.  She promised she would.

She didn't.  I had to work late and everything, counting on her to get us a good spot, and what does she text me?

Sorry, we stopped to eat because I was hungry.  (I hadn't eaten anything all day, so I was unsympathetic.)
Did you pick up something fast?  (I was a half-hour away from home)
No, it's a sit down restaurant.
Is it at least close to the theater?
No, it's by my house.  (fifteen minutes away from the theater.)

She was also eating with her grandmother, who has no sense of urgency at all and was probably taking her time.  I was so mad.  I had been planning on picking something up for us to eat in line, but now I had to hurry and get there.  I hadn't eaten all day, and now I didn't have time to.  I was furious.

I got in line around 5 or 5:15, fuming.  Nicole eventually showed up, redeeming herself because she brought me food.  I didn't say much as I ate, letting the anger leave as my stomach got full.  It was around 5:45 at this point, and we settled down for a long wait.

But not that long.

Just minutes after I finished my sandwich, this guy from Harkins comes walking down the line.  He's far away and all I hear him say is "7:00... need to fill the theater..." and I see two passes fanned out in his hand.  My brain immediately tells me, I don't know why, but this is the time to act, and I yell "Two!  Us!  Right here!"  I didn't think he heard me, because he was still saying other things to other people, but when he got to us he handed us the tickets and started walking back into the building.  We grabbed whatever stuff we had lying around and ran to follow him.  It all happened so quickly!  All of a sudden we were seeing the movie in 30 minutes rather than 5 hours and 30 minutes.

The seats were close to the screen and way on the side, but we weren't about to complain!  A pair of lawyers had rented the two theaters for their clients, and we were crashing.  Sometime before the movie, Nicole pointed out that our original tickets had not been ripped, so we could get our money back and will have seen the movie for free!

"Or," I suggested eagerly, "We could keep them and see it again at midnight!"

So that's what we did.  We saw it twice.

We had to wait in line for the second showing, of course.  But we ended up getting much better seats and we had the added entertainment of watching a teenage girl hang all over her slightly embarrassed boyfriend.  Haha!

But the story doesn't end there.  I ended up seeing the movie again with Jessica the very next night!  We went to the IMAX at Arizona Mills and decided to make a day of it.  We shopped all through the mall.  I found a pair of brown boots I liked at Payless but decided not to buy them, only to discover later that I had left my Gryffindor hoodie there and had to go back to retrieve it.  We perused the wedding dresses at a clothing shop.  We had dinner at Johnny Rocket's.  And the end of the evening, seeing Harry on the ginormous IMAX screen, was so cool.

Those two days were pure fun and excitement.  An awesome break from how hard I had been working!