Movie Madness

Now I finally get why my husband is ready to get out of this city. I think I am, too. Every excursion turns into a battle against forces determined to prevent you from accomplishing what you are most determined to accomplish. This weekend we had a simple mission: to go see a movie. We'd been holding on to free movie passes to an AMC theatre since last Christmas, I hadn't seen "The Dark Knight" yet, AND I was excited to go out for a nice evening with my husband, the first "date" we'd had in a while. Sounds pretty normal, right? Well.... not in Chicago. When we arrived at the nearest AMC theatre for the 6:30 showing we were told that they are no longer and AMC theatre (though the internet hasn't been informed of the change)... so they wouldn't take my passes. So Mike says "if you want to see the movie, just buy tickets!" And I say "no- I'm not paying $22.00 to see a movie when I have free passes." Yet I was so determined to see this movie that I insisted we DRIVE, yes, drive downtown- (against my husband's better judgment that parking would be hell) I assured him that there is a parking lot across the street from downtown's AMC theatre and they validate your ticket when you buy your movie tickets. So we started the commute hoping we'd make it for the 7:05 showing. Of course the commute was hell itself, with flocks of people driving downtown on a Saturday night, and to make it worse State street (basically the BIGGEST STREET IN CHICAGO) just dead-ended with no warning into a construction site so we sat at the same red light waiting to detour around the zone for about 15 minutes (only three blocks away from the movie theatre but with no way to get there- HOW MADDENING!!!!) So we finally get around the stinking construction after much swearing and pissing off other drivers, and we FINALLY get to the theater. Though we were 15 minutes late for the movie (yes, the commute took us nearly an hour- to go three miles) I was sure that we wouldn't miss anything but the previews. As we pull into the parking lot I notice a NEW sign that says "$13 for 4 hours with movie theatre validation." 13 F!@*NG DOLLARS TO PARK FOR A MOVIE?!!!!!!!! But after the long saga and the fact that we were already downtown, we trudged onward to the theatre, I muttering curses under my breath and Michael telling me "I told you so" sort of things. SO we finally had made it and were ready to just relax for a few hours when we looked at the movie board and saw "SOLD OUT." Wonderful.