Fri Sep 30 - Movies, movies, movies. My boss, for one, so totally rocks. There are other co-workers who are fans of certain movies and who have gone to see premiers during work hours. So I asked if it would be okay to see Serenity during/as my "lunch hour" (yes, a 2-hour movie instead of a 1-hour lunch) and she thought it was perfectly fine. She also checked in with me *before* I left for the movie, to ask "So, are you excited?!" and after the movie to see, "Well? Was it fabulous?" My boss is wonderful. Have I mentioned lately how much I love my job?

The movie itself was *amazing* and wonderful and I gasped and jumped and cheered and clapped and whimpered in all the appropriate places. And I'm *really* glad I went to see it during the day, because my evening showing was cut short a little bit.

You see, a bunch of friends (hi Dayle!) were planning to see Mirrormask on Sunday, but I can't go with them. But then another bunch of friends (hi Saul!) were planning to go tonight for the 10 pm show. My only dilemma or stress was getting from Long Beach to Santa Monica, normally about a 31 minute drive, in the 25 minutes between Serenity letting out and Mirrormask starting. Plus, I've never tried to deal with street parking on Santa Monica Blvd (for which I recommend you pad your schedule with another 30 minutes if at all possible, minimum). But Mer and Jared were good sports about me skipping out of the end of Serenity to jump in my car and race up to Mirrormask.

(Oh, and the 2nd showing of Serenity was good too, although the commercials before the movie were run in duplicates which was REALLY annoying. Bad trailers and commercials are bad enough, but you should NEVER have to watch each one twice before the next one cues up! Argh!)

The traffic was kind to me, and after circling and panicking about parking for only about 5-7 minutes, I find a microscopically small spot and squeezed my tiny car in with only a three-point parallel parking maneuver. And I'd pre-purchased my ticket, plus the guys had told me where they were sitting and had saved me a seat, so I only missed the opening 2 or 3 minutes of the movie, and I found them without any trouble.

Mirrormask was also fabulous, and then the 7 of us "went for coffee" at a nearby 24-hour deli and had Ben's girlfriend Erika join us for coffee and food. So I got to spend more time with Shosh, Lauren, Saul, Erika, Ben, and met two new friends of theirs. We got there a little after midnight, and were headed out finally at 1:30 am. (eeep) But I did get home okay at 2am and crashed immediately.

Sat Oct 1 - Slept in and slept in and slept in. It was wonderful. Last night over coffee, my cough just kept getting worse every time I laughed hard (which was often) so half of all my sleeping in was just to rest up from all the hacking. I double-checked the movie time for another matinee of Serenity, and my email had said 12:30. So I ran down to the salon to pay Michelle for my haircut earlier this week (she only takes cash and checks, now I know) and then drove up to the movieplex to join Ben, Erika, Saul, and Saul's dad Noah for Serenity for the 3rd time in 2 days.

And sadly, I had *not* bought my ticket in advance or I would have found out that "12:30" was an AM (post-midnight) show and the matinee had started at 11:10!! When I pulled out my cell to text them that I was parking and on my way in, I found two slightly frantic voicemails from Saul asking me where was I...back at 11am. Fortunately, again, they left me directions for where they were sitting and I bought a ticket for *any* next showing of Serenity and went and found the theatre where it was already playing. But I still adored watching the movie, even if I came in halfway through the flick, and especially since I hadn't seen the ending for a second time yet. And this time I finally got to sit through the credits at the end, and then hang out with everyone for a tiny bit after the movie.

But once again, my jet-set lifestyle kicked in and I had to head up the coast to meet friends for several more commitments. I went over to JS's house first, and took measurements to make him some SCA pants. I got to finally meet his roomies, and just hung out in the garage for a while chatting with everyone and giving all the pets skritchies as they wandered in and out. The pets, that is, skritchies for the pets, not for the roomies. *grin*

Then off to Dayle's for Ken's Birthday bash. I actually managed to arrive "on time" which was nice, because I got to be there for all the different shifts of guests arriving and leaving at different times throughout the night. Their house looked lovely from all the little tiny details when they did the Historic Home Tour, and of course we all just enjoyed celebrating Ken's 40th with him. My sister had done a 60-days-of-gifts for my Mom's 60th, and Dayle took the idea to do 40-Days-and-Nights-of-Ken. So he's been getting cards, calls, gifts, surprises, and visits from friends for 40 days, all ending up with a party today.

Sun Oct 2 - And after the party, it turned out that I was the only guest crashing at D&K's house. So I tried to get up early enough for church, but after my shower I fell back to sleep for over an hour, and was too late to actually get to services on time. So I picked up my mail, filled my gas tank, and went to a local bakery/restaurant to have a leisurely breakfast, coffee, and open-all-my-mail kind of morning.

Now D&K have gone down to the same theatre in Santa Monica to see Mirrormask with friends, and I'm using the wireless at their house rather than pay Starbucks or anyone else for internet. I'm supposed to be spending the afternoon paying bills and balancing my checkbook, but I've actually just been cleaning up my email inboxes, getting my journal caught up, and listening to music. Oh, and doing laundry so that I can fold up my guest sheets for D&K before they get back. And enjoying leftover party food for lunch snacks.

Choir tonight is from 6-8, but I need to be there early to help collate some new music. And my cough has finally settled this afternoon, so I should be okay to both sing and conduct this rehearsal. I think they might be cancelling next week's rehearsal since I'll be at GWW and the other director is out of town. And then Monday and Tuesday will be my big "get ready for camping for a week" evenings and then I'm gone.

Hmm. Maybe I do have another hour or so here to get my bills paid, so time to go be productive.

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Recently Listening to: Poe Haunting