A B C

"A" is for alone. I've been spending a lot of time alone lately, as my husband has been working 16 hours a day for two and a half months. Don't get me wrong, I spend time with my friends, too. But, I've been having a whole lot of alone time. My days mostly consist of auditioning, grocery shopping, working out (I started again last week), walking Bogie, laundry, cooking, and fitting in some social stuff. But recently I've been doing something I never do: going to the movies alone.

Going alone to a movie is a whole different experience. I feel free. There's no, "Where do you want to sit?" There's no worrying about how my companion will react if the movie makes me cry. There's no worrying about whether or not the person with me is enjoying or hating the movie as much as I am. There's no sharing of popcorn. As a matter of fact, I brought my own popcorn to the most recent movie I saw. I was mostly doing it to save myself a lot of fat and calories, but I also saved ten bucks. And I wasn't worried about anyone making fun of me for bringing my own. All in all, it's a pretty great experience.

"B" is for "Brokeback Mountain". This is the movie I saw by myself last week. I had two appointments over the hill, one in the morning, and one at night, so I spent my time in between at The Grove and decided to see "Brokeback". Now, keep in mind Russ and I never go to movies. The last movie we saw in a theater was "Wedding Crashers", and the one before that was probably "Flashdance" or something.

The reason we never go to movies is because we always have a bad experience. For example, when we saw "Shrek" in Las Vegas, there was a couple BREAKING UP at the end of our aisle. I'm not kidding. They were breaking up!! There are also always people taking calls, or talking, or chewing loudly, or yelling at the screen. So, we tend to wait for stuff to come out on DVD or show on HBO.

So here I was at the Grove, watching a movie. And, at the most climactic moment in the movie, right before Jake says, "I wish I knew how to quit you"... The movie STOPPED and an ALARM went off!!! This is my luck in movie theaters! Then a calm, female voice said, "There is an emergency in this building. Please make your way to the nearest exit". She said it over and over again.

One thing about going to a public place alone is, when an alarm like that goes off, you're scared. Even as I laughed to myself about my dumb luck, my heart was beating one hundred miles a minute and I was sort of terrified. It's hard not to immediately think, "It's the terrorists!" But the fire trucks and paramedics came within minutes and ruled it a false alarm. I am not kidding when I say the movie restarted a breath before that now-famous line. All in all, I didn't agree with all the hype surrounding "Brokeback". I thought it was good, but not incredible. I was kind of hoping to cry since I was alone and all, but to no avail. However, I enjoyed my movie-going experience, false alarm and all.

"C" is for "Capote". Holy shit, you have to see this movie. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is so absolutely magnificent, I can't begin to tell you. I truly enjoyed every moment, every frame. Plus, I had my own popcorn, a whole row to myself, and my feet up on the seats in front of me. This is how movie-going should be! I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed my company that day. Please see this flick.

I plan on seeing many more movies by myself, even when Russ isn't working 16-hour days. Maybe I'll start a matinee club. Only, everyone in the club will have to sit in separate rows. Otherwise, it wouldn't be seeing a movie alone, now would it?