Tuesday All Over the World

I hate days like this.

I woke up early. I got here on time. I made my meeting. It’s not like I don’t have things to do, it’s just that nothing right now has all that big a fire under it. Not that it would entirely matter anyways -- my motivation level isn't really anywhere today. I don't feel any immediate need to act like the employee of the year, yet it's not like I'm fighting the desire to be back in bed asleep, either.

I guess I shouldn't complain -- I'm working steady, but it's hard not to be aware of the fact that whatever doesn't get done today will still be waiting for me when I show up tomorrow. At the same time it's not like this evening is offering me any grand designs either. There aren't any shows I'll feel cheated if I miss, it's too early to be jazzed about the Superbowl, I don't really care about Oscar nominations, and GWB is still a dumbass. I'm sure something will come up to grab my interest before the night's out, but right now it's the calm before the calm, and it's hard not to yawn in it's face.

The only real thing I might have had going on for tonight were these passes I'd scored to go see an advance screening of "Smokin' Aces." I'm sort of a closet Ray Liotta fan, so I made a point of renting "Narc" when it came out, and I was really taken by how good the movie was as a whole. So ever since then I've kinda kept my eyes open for anything new that had Joe Carnahan's name on it. To be honest, "Smokin' Aces" looks a little silly, but it's not like I'm needing it to be Citizen Kane or anything. If it was good I'd be happy and if it sucked, well -- whatever, it's not like I was gonna lose any money on the deal.

Then something came up to where I needed to
watch the munchkin tonight -- and there you go.

I'm still up in the air as to whether I'll shell out the money to see it later this week or not -- because to be honest, there was a certain serendipity lost once the whole "free ticket" thing kinda fizzled out. I mean, in a sense it was like this perfect deal -- a night where really nothing else was going on, a movie that probably would be good for a few laughs, and a price tag that pretty much protected me from feeling gypped if the whole thing turned out to be retarded.

But you turn that around to a Wednesday night, a full price ticket, and a theater full of people on dates, and it starts to sound like something I probably don't want to do. Don't get me wrong, it still looks like a fun flick -- and I'll probably still go see it or rent it at some point, but there was this whole sense of uniqueness to the evening doing that basically won't be there after tonight, and somehow that makes it easier to start making excuses, you know?

Maybe that makes me some sort of snob, I don't know -- but in my head going to a free movie by yourself is a hell of a lot different than paying for disappointment alone. I mean, if you take a date to a movie and it ends up being a turkey, there are lots of other things that could be done in that darkened room for a few hours. At the very least, you'll get one of those "remember when we went to see [insert movie title here] and it sucked so bad we started to fall asleep in the theater?" stories that couples tend to have and laugh about later.

Even if it's not a date or a couple thing, and you're just at the theater with your partner in crime, there's something about enduring that sort of bad choice that tends to be just as entertaining as if the movie had been good. Whether it's heckling the actors, throwing popcorn at each other, or even just getting up and walking out -- it's something you did together, and it's hard to put a price on something like that.

Pay to see a shitty movie alone and you've only got yourself to blame.

Plus, it's impossible to commiserate with anyone about it, because whenever you tell anyone you saw a bad movie they always come back with the exact same response:

"Oh yeah I saw a commercial for that -- it looked stupid."

Which is like the last thing you want to hear, because it leaves you nowhere to go -- unless of course you have a date or something to blame it on. I mean, it's easy to get out of the rain with answers like "Well, so-and-so loves Matthew McConaughey, so she was real excited to see it.. And I dragged her to that horrible Jessica Alba film last time, so I figured I owed her one, you know?"

But flip that coin over and there's really no way to escape it. Not that you won't try every angle you can think of and say things like, "It wasn't a Matthew McConaughey movie, it was a football movie that Matthew McConaughey happened to be in." or, "It was the same director who did Kingpin -- I thought it would be funny."

A situation like that you're probably better off lying.

Not that I won't have fun tonight, I love hanging out with my kid. But there's homework to be done and school to show up for tomorrow morning -- meaning the evening has to take a certain track, you know? Maybe that's what's making this day seem so blah is that the evening is pretty much locked in. If there were some sort of crisis at work or opportunity for me to kind of grab the silver ring it might be different, but really -- it's just another Tuesday.

Tuesday all over the world.

[Listening to: Dropping Daylight, "Tell Me"]