Wednesday movies are a dollar at the cheap theater here. Consequently, we went to see Tangled for a dollar a person last night. Everyone except Dad had seen it before. It was packed (the theater's tiny) with little girls and little boys (ages 2-12, for the most part). They were really loud. As I said, there were a lot of them, but they were restless. And the toddlers were upset. It was humorous, but not necessarily enjoyable. They settled down after previews, though. So, we were all sitting there watching the movie and right when we reached the climax, the film reel thingy melted. The screen went blank, and we saw the brown film melt (like bubble and disintegrate). The kids erupted. All the little girls and boys were outraged, upset, hyper, talkative, and overall LOUD. A worker came in and explained it would be fixed and running again in about 10 minutes. 15 minutes later, it started about 30 secs before it had stopped the first time, and we cranked out about 2 minutes (getting further into the climax, but not quite resolving it yet), and then lost video, but retained audio...for another 15 seconds. This time they didn't turn on the lights (they had the first time it stopped) and so we were left in pitch darkness with the restless kids and their frazzled parents. Keep in mind that at this point it was about quarter after 9, so most of these kids needed to be in bed. They tried to start it again, but that time no video came on at all, just the audio again. THEN, they turned on a couple of lights and a policeman came in to keep the people calm and told us the manager was on his way and we needed to stay in our seats. I don't know what people were thinking, but about half of them left at that point. Lots of people had left when the movie stopped the first time, and more left after the second time. So, the theater was only about a third of the way full with little kids who needed to be in bed and they were all talking at once, and not staying calm at all, and they were all discussing how the movie was going to end. It kind of felt like how I imagine it would feel to be in detention with a bunch of juvenile delinquents waiting for the principal to show up. The manager came in with replacement tickets, and most of the people who were left got up and were scrambling to be first in line for the refunds because they wanted to go home. Re-enter policeman. He made them all sit back down where they were and then he went from row to row with the manager and gave out the tickets. And some of those kids still don't know how it ended. You can totally guess, and most people had a sibling or parent who had already seen it, so their curiosity was satisfied, but I think there are still some confused little kids who don't know how it ends or why they couldn't see it. But now, we have replacement tickets and we can watch a (different) movie for free. It was an adventure, and I think, overall a success.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

"Christ beside me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me." ~St. Patrick

Pi Day is one of the most neglected holidays. Which is really sad, considering it is one of the few that directly relates to food. Other holidays have food that is regularly associated with it, but Pi Day is just that: a day for Pie. All Pi(e), including, but not limited to, Apple, Blueberry, Cherry, Chocolate, 22/7, and 3.14. It's a play on two words - homonyms - but they are both equally important in the celebration of the day. You can't truly appreciate the day without a slice of pie and/or a math equation. So, whichever one appeals to you - the math or the food (or both) - use it to celebrate today!!!!