It is one of those nights driving for Lyft where you wonder if it is really worth the spare cash because the passengers aren’t tipping and you seem to be driving for hours for little return.
At “oh damn it is close to midnight and I’m tired” one of them asks me a bunch of questions.
They are fascinated by my having left LA and want to know if I have a better answer than I received a promotion.
I indulge him and tell him a crazy story that begins with asking if he knows George Strait’s song about Exes and Texas.
“Yeah, do you have exes in Texas?”
“Depends on how you look at things. I have once upon a times, somewhere down the road and what the hell was I thinking.”
He roars with laughter and says we all have the ‘what the hell was I thinking girl(s).’
I tell him on behalf of the women in my life I am sure he and I are part of some story about the crazy man someone once dated.
“Yeah, that is for certain, but mostly because they are all crazy before we get there. We just don’t see it at first.”
What Do We See?
His comment about what we see or do not isn’t the most profound insight but it is truth.
We rarely see people for who they really are until time has passed and it is only then that we really get a chance to figure out how much we care or dislike someone.
Because if you spend enough time together you will find some habits that annoy the hell out of you and you’ll learn if those are enough to make you pack your bags or stay.
Or so the theory has been expressed to me but I have been around long enough to see people find lots of reasons to stay when they don’t really want to.
I have seen and heard all sorts of excuses ranging from the kids, fear or loneliness or plain inertia as being enough to keep people rooted to a person/place.
You Bought The Wrong Tickets
Wilner the younger and I went to the see the new Star Wars movie tonight.
It was a last minute decision that involved a certain amount of mishegoss created by our not having purchased tickets in advance.
Almost every theater was sold out at times we were willing to go and just as I was about to give up and say let’s pick a different day I found decent seats and snapped them up.
Since it was close to show time we raced out of the house and figured worst case scenario we might miss a trailer or two.
As it turned out we didn’t miss a thing because I somehow managed to buy tickets for a Saturday showing.
In my haste I didn’t notice this but I did recognize that the theater seemed relatively empty compared to my expectations.
Moments later I discovered it was because there isn’t a 6:30 show during the week and was told I could get a refund or possibly be reticketed for a later show.
We got lucky and found two seats for the 7:50 show and now hours later I am thinking about the movie.
I didn’t walk out feeling amazed or disgusted and I am not sure exactly what I felt.
I liked quite a bit of it, but I think my expectations weren’t quite met which is part of why I feel like something was off.
But I have to add that I went to see it having been through a ridiculously tough week so I might have been harsher in my judgement than at other times.
Maybe after a while it will sink in a bit further and I’ll decide I really liked it, or maybe not.
If this is the biggest challenge I have to face I will gladly take it.
Got to run now, midnight is here and I am off to dream of being a Jedi knight.
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