The Midnight Plan I Made at 9pm

There are decisions you make carefully and decisions you make because you're already in your coat. Last night was the second kind. I'd seen the Twilight re-run listed at the dollar theater, midnight showing, one night only, first weekend of January, and I told myself I was just looking at it. I was absolutely not going to drive across town alone at midnight on a Friday in January. And then at 9:15 I was already in the car.

I haven't done a solo midnight movie in a long time. There's something about being in a theater at that hour with a bunch of strangers who all made the same chaotic little decision you did, everyone's a little giddy and a little sleep-deprived and nobody's performing anything for anyone. The credits rolled and I just sat there for a minute while people shuffled out, which I do every time, and a woman in the row behind me laughed and said 'still not ready to leave?' and I said 'never.'

I lingered at the concessions area on the way out, almost-empty popcorn bucket, looking at the parking lot through the glass doors, being very dramatic about it internally. It was cold and quiet outside and the drive home felt like the in-between part of something.

Anyway. First outing of 2009: deeply impractical, completely worth it. I've been thinking a lot about what I want this year to actually look like, I have a post sitting in a draft that's supposed to answer that question but keeps turning into something else entirely (not for the blog, probably, but also maybe eventually for the blog, who knows). More on that soon. Or not soon. We'll see.