| Going
From Bored to Busy |
| The days when I was a teenager are getting farther and farther
away. |
| I can tell because now that I've said goodbye to my 34th
birthday, which was on Monday, itseems I have no spare time.
If I'm not working on the house, I'm working for the newspaper,
or I'm playing a round of golf with some friends. |
| Katie and I are off to a wedding one weekend, volunteering
for something the next weekend, and then we head out to get
a nice dinner together on Thursday night to reconnect with
each other after a long week of work. |
| But I remember the days well when I was bored out of my
mind, too young to drink or to care much about it, too old
to stay home and hang out with Mom and Dad, and too poor to
do the things we all dreamed of, like skiing the Rockies or
spending a few days in Bermuda. |
| Being bored in Bermuda always seemed so much better than
being bored in Northern Virginia. |
| There was a miniature golf course in Falls Church somewhere
with holes in the artificial grass that my friends and I had
practically worn through ourselves, because we played there
almost every weekend. |
| It was a big deal when someone came up with the great idea
to drive into Ballston and play the Putt-Putt course there,
like that was so amazingly different. |
| But here's the big indicator that shows how much your life
changes over time: |
| I looked through the movie guide that's published each week
in The Observer and saw all these great movies I've wanted
to see, but I haven't seen one of them. |
| I've got the money for tickets, popcorn and sodas. I've
got a permanent date thanks to this nifty, legally binding
arrangement called marriage. And I'm old enough now that I
don't have to show my ID to get into an R-rated flick. |
| I love the movies, but I can't seem to find the time to
see one unless I drive around on my lunch hour and follow
one of those minivans with the DVD player broadcasting œThe
Lion King” to a load of little kids. |
| But there was a time when my friends and I went to the movies
every weekend. We couldn't think of anything else to do. We
went to the movies at least once a weekend just because we
were bored. |
| Sometimes we went to the movies on Friday and Saturday nights.
Sometimes you would go see a movie with your friends Friday
night, and then have a date for dinner and (what else) a movie
on Saturday. |
| I actually remember standing outside of the Multiplex Cinemas
in Fairfax, which had 9 billion screens with movies starting
every 15 seconds, trying to figure out what to do because
I had seen every movie showing. |
| The theater offers 64 different movies at a time, and I
had seen them all, even the really boring ones that only parents
go to, the ones that are packed for the 5:30 showing but deserted
for the 9 p.m. because all the old geezers are home in bed. |
| Now, when Katie and I do get a chance to see a movie, once
a year or so, we can almost guess the time of the showing
by the audience. Early shows have lots of parents, responsible-looking
types, etc. |
| The early night shows, at 7:30 or so, are filled with the
younger teens. The parents are mostly gone, turning the theater
over to the younger crowd, but there's still just enough of
a parental presence that you don't stick out like a sore thumb. |
| But when you go to a 10 p.m. show, which I will probably
never do again because neither I or Katie could stay awake
until the end of the movie, the older teenagers and early
20-somethings have taken over, and your presence in the theater
just seems odd. |
| I am an old geezer now, or at least I'm well on the way,
and while most of the movies I'll see will be on cable, DVD
or video cassette in the always-open, never crowded theater
of my living room, I'd be pretty happy to catch a movie anytime. |
| I might even stay up past my bedtime. |
