"Shut up, and don't touch my popcorn."

[apocalypsos]

denorios brought up something that, really, I'm amazed I never brought up during one of those seven-facts-about-yourself memes.

I hardly ever meet anybody who doesn't think that going to the movies alone makes them pathetic or sad or friendless or something. Which sucks for me, because I hate going to the movies with other people. I hate sharing my popcorn, I hate feeling like I have to talk to someone, I hate when other people want to show up any later than a half-hour before the trailers start, I hate having to persuade whomever I'm with to turn off their cell phone or being "with" someone with an embarrassing laugh or a previously unknown tendency to shout at the screen.

There is one person I can stand to go to the movies with, and that's my brother. I have that little bastard trained. He shuts up, he turns off his phone, he gets there early, and he doesn't bug the hell out of me.

You have to understand -- I've been burned. I spent my childhood going to the movies with my parents. My father, who rarely goes to a movie he doesn't fall asleep during, and my mother, who once made fun of me for flinching during Saving Private Ryan because the speakers were right over my head and the gunshots kept going off right over my ears.

I like going to the movies by myself, damn it. Other people want to talk during trailers I want to see or just want to say, "That was awesome!" about a movie I want to get into in great detail. Other people don't see what's rude about leaving their cell phone on or think I'm silly when movies make me cry.

And I really don't give a damn if an entire roomful of moviegoers think I'm a friendless nerd for going alone because I am never going to see these people again. What do I care what they think? And why do they care if I go alone? They're too busy having to talk to the people they were too dumb NOT to bring. ;)

(I'm really not this bitter about the whole thing, honest. *grins*)

Comments

[phillyexpat.livejournal.com]

I go to movies (and museums, and even plays) by myself all the time. Granted, I usually end up chitchatting with people sitting near me before and after the movie, but that's because I'm ridiculously extroverted and can't contain myself.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Yeah, same with me. The best was when I went to see Finding Nemo -- I went the first day, first showing and there was this woman there with the most adorable two-year-old little girl I think I've ever seen in my life. She said nothing while we were talking until she looked up at her mom and kind of whimpered, and her mom reached into her bag and handed the kid a Dory doll and a Marlin doll.

She then proceeded to clutch both of them for the entire movie while she stared at the screen with absolute wonder for two straight hours. It was SO COOL. :)