Harry Potter

I'd like to introduce myself. Hi, my name is Rebekah, and I am obsessed with Harry Potter. The books, the movies, everything. Never thought I'd even LIKE it, since it's "fantasy," but somebody way-back-when convinced me to read the first book, and I never looked back. Back when I was teaching, my students knew of my obsession. There was always a huge HP poster hanging on the wall by the reading corner, and I dressed up as him (or Hermione) every year for Halloween. Of course, the movies only made my obsession worse, because they really are quite good, even for movies based on books. The casting was PERFECT, and I just got nothing but pure enjoyment out of them. A couple of years before I had Lauren, I went to San Francisco with my husband (he was there on business). One day, I walked at least 30 minutes to this awesome Sony mall place, just so I could see Harry Potter 5. I had already seen it, by the way. Just wanted to see it again, and in 3D that time (not like the 3D we have now, only a part of it was 3D). Anyway, it was awesome the second time, and I truly enjoyed seeing it, even though I was by myself.

So, to make a long story short, I carefully planned a way I could see the movie with my brother J and hubby last night, even though a) Lauren won't be put to bed by anyone else, and b) requires at least one return visit from me to fall asleep, and c) there were only really crappy movie times available, and d) my brother and hubby refuse to see it in 3D. So all of this made for a really tight schedule. I basically worked my you-know-what off to get the whole thing scheduled, since I already had activities for Lauren during the day, and I had to make sure she had an early nap, so she could have an early bedtime, and had to make sure "Uncoo Jason" (my brother), and my parents all came down early enough to have dinner with us and then babysit.

We were doing really well with all of this and then disaster struck in the form of a HUGE, random summer thunderstorm, RIGHT AT BEDTIME. I was like, you've got to be kidding me. So here I am, trying to put an already fretful Lauren to bed during these loud bangs and booms. Well, it literally scared the poop out of her, because for the first time in like 8 months, she went #2 right after I put her down. So I had to go in there, change her while trying not to get her too awake, and try to put her down again. She went down quietly, but could not fall asleep. I kept waiting as long as I could to make sure she didn't get up again and scream for me, but we just had to leave to make the 8:10 movie at the "big" theater 20 minutes away (because the times at our local theater sucked and then it would be WAY too late and I would be a zombie the next day. Plus grandma and grandpa don't want to be at my house ALL night. They live 40 minutes away).

So we leave and JUST make it in time, only to see a HUGE line at the theater. J goes in to get the tix from a machine while we park. Well, the machine won't let him buy the tix, I guess because the movie is starting literally NOW. We ask the ticket-taker if we can just use the machine to buy the later showing, but just go to the earlier one, and she says no and just starts rambling about a power outtage. Whatever. So we get in line, KNOWING we won't make it in time. It takes 10 minutes in the hot, humid lobby (it was over 90 degrees that day, plus the thunderstorm), only to get to the front and find out that yes, they had a power outtage and there was NO AC in the theaters. Plus, there were only 9 seats left in the show we wanted to see. Which you KNOW would be horrible. So we leave. We decide to try to go to our local theater and see what the times are. So we are on the way and hubby finds out on his phone (gotta love smartphones) that the only good times are 9:30 (in 3D, pushing it for zombie-ness) and 10:00 regular (way too late). Hubs insists that he hates 3D and doesn't want to see it. So we drop him off at home and J and I go by ourselves. I bet grandma and grandpa were surprised to be relieved of their babysitting duties so soon!

Let's recap all the ways the universe tried to sabotage me:
1) Thunderstorm.
2) Poop.
3) Ticket Machine Issue.
4) Power Outtage.
5) Movie times sucking
6) 3D movies making everything more complicated.

So, clearly, the universe hates me, but at least I got to see Harry Potter.