Read My Lips - the blog

Somethin' strange I learned today

Hey, wanna thank those of ya'll that came by today to find somethin' new and didn't find anythin' newer than yesterday. As I stated in last night's Nightly Navel Gazing Report™, I had a lot on my plate for today, so this is the first time since really early this mornin' that I have even been near a computer.

Actually today went far easier than I had thought. I had called the other county yesterday lettin' them know I had the local settin' this mornin' that could not be put off and that I would head over as soon as I was finished. The local situation was basically a child support situation where we just had to calculate how much child support and arrearages my client would have to pay now that the paternity tests established that he was the father of the child. It took about an hour to get all the papers together after the figures were agreed upon, the judge signed it and off I went. I dropped into the office to get my overcoat because the wind had picked up from the north and the radio had said the temperature would be droppin' durin' the day. Heather said the Court had just called. I told her to call back and tell them I was on my way.

Thirty minutes later, about 10:30 am, I walked into the Court. The DA asked me to check if one of my two clients was willin' to take the deal offered. I had already told the DA my client would take it last Friday over the phone, because it was marked on my file as the goal my client hoped to achieve when I had first met him in jail. I asked him and he assented, so someone got started on his papers. I inquired as to the deal on the other client, asked him about it, he assented, and it seemed someone had already assumed he would take it and had his papers already prepared. Both clients were taken before the judge, mumbo jumbo, bang the gavel, move to the next case. I tell both clients to stay outta trouble and off I go. I was headin' back to the office by 11:30 am.

I hit town by noon, ate lunch with Matt while he picked my brain about one of his criminal cases. I dropped him back off at his office, stopped to check on Heather, then headed off to the dentist. I arrived at the dentist office 15 minutes prior to my scheduled appointment time and read Texas Monthly's article on the Disney Alamo movie that was moved from a Christmas openin' to sometime next April. Then I went in and got the last of four cleanin's. The hygienist was pleased with the way my gums were respondin' to the treatment, so I am guessin' the excruciatin' crap that had been done while I was stuck in the chair with my mouth open was actually worth the effort. I got an appointment for the first two of several crowns after the first of the year, and I was out of there just a little short of 3:30 pm.

On each previous trip to the dentist, I have treated myself to a movie afterward. I kinda gives me somethin' to look forward to in goin' to the dentist. I pulled across the street to the AMC 10, and to tell ya the truth, there really was nothin' I was absolutely dyin' to see. I checked everythin' out and the only thing playin' around that time was Disney's Haunted Mansion. The actual start time was 3:20, but I had been there enough times to know that they had 20 minutes of previews before the movie started. I even took the time to stop and get popcorn and a Coke*. I walked in to the theater, but it was dark. I always sit on the back row, usually near the aisle so that I can stretch my legs in the aisle if necessary. As my eyes adjusted to the dark, I could see I was the only one in the theater. They were playin' some blurb about turnin' off your cell phone, which I had done ... and I thought that I could likely actually turn mine back on as there was no one to be disturbed.

I watched the movie. It was OK, but I wouldn't recommend payin' full price to see it. Maybe I am just too old for mundane Disney fare now. So the movie ended and as I left, I decided to ask the person who sold me the ticket, and then ran over to the concession stand to sell me my concessions, if, by chance, I had not bought a ticket to see the show, would it have run to an empty house. She looked at me like I asked a silly question and assented that they surely would do so, and I suspect have on many occasions. I had never been the sole person in a theater watchin' a movie before and am still flabbergasted that they would actually let a film run to a empty house. I am now wonderin' if the whole projection system is just automatically programmed, where it would be harder to stop the movie from runnin' than to mess up the system setup.

Posted by notGeorge at December 9, 2003 07:31 PM