Batman

We took a different road through the park to get to Gardiner. Instead of driving straight North from Lake, we took a left at some point, and drove on a road that was much less heavily trafficked and was surrounded by trees.

We were heading to Gardiner to pick up some people and then going to Bozeman to watch the Batman premier. I was tired and hungry when Rob knocked on my door to wake me up from my 20-minute nap, after I had missed dinner because I was on a phone call with Mer. I wanted to sleep all night, but Rob had bought me a ticket for Batman, and I wanted to go out and do something.

The drive to Bozeman was interesting. The boys were quiet in the front, and the 2 other girls and I sat in the back talking. I participated in banter in the beginning, but eventually felt awkward about the way I was supposed to act like I cared about the drama and gossip. I just sat quietly for the last 40 minutes, and played with the fishing line that was hanging in front of my face.
We got to Bozeman at around 11 pm. We went to pick up our tickets and then we went to Taco Bell to eat before the show. As soon as we were done eating, we headed back to the theater, and saw that a line had formed, many yards outside of the theater. We figured we’d better get in line.

We walked to the back of this line, as I thought about what a strange scene this was. We were in Bozeman, Montana, and it was midnight. There were people dressed up like Batman and Catwoman, and it was not anything that I had expected to see that night.

There was a man a couple feet in front of us wearing a green pleated skirt and smoking a pipe. The man directly in front of me, heavyset with an ugly orange button up shirt smelled terrible as he stood there eating a burrito from Taco Bell. A car drove by and a guy hollered out the window, “Do you all already have tickets?” The crowd laughed and joked at him. Of course we did. A black chevy, souped up and slick, roared past in the parking lot. The driver swung the car right in front of the crowd, and zoomed off with a ripping sound. Seven tall black men walked to the front of the line, and right into the theater, boasting about their abilty to cut the line. I learned later that they were the MSU basketball team. Of course they don’t wait in lines. Not here, at the movie theater. What a show, this was! How unexpected.

Finally, the line started to move around 11:30. We rushed in with the crowd, and were ushered to theater 10. The five of us walked in, and tried to find seats all together. We found a row of 6 open in the 4th row from the front. We claimed them. But almost as soon as we sat down, Rob, sitting next to me, suggested that we split off, and get better seats. There were bound to be two open seats in the back of the theater that were next to each other. We went up the stairs and to the back. The very top row looked rather open, but there were people saving the seats that appeared empty for their friends. We found two isle seats, but not next to each other; one was a row in front of the other. We took them. I sat in front.

Minutes later, the guy next to me said the whole row would be able to move over one seat, so Rob and I could sit together. OK. They did, and Rob joined me. So then it was time to watch commercials. We had 20 minutes before midnight, the time the movie was set to start, and there was nothing but bad commercials playing. They were advertising for dog jewelry, etc. It was excruciating.

Then, previews. I thought it was funny what we had to go through to be part of this movie experience. We had to get in a big line, and we had to arrive an hour early. It wasn’t like a normal movie, where you could show up halfway through the previews and get a good seat, popcorn in hand. This was wild. We had to do what everyone was doing, to have a chance at being successful finding seats and such. I thought about how many people were there. The theaters were all packed, and as I was walking in, I made a point to look for the exit signs. I understood for the first time why some people get claustrophobic. There were a lot of people.

The movie began without warning. I began trying to remember where the Dark Knight had left off. Ah, yes, Harvey Dent dies. I wished I had watched it before I came, I wish I was fresh on the characters. I won’t say anything else about the movie, so as not to spoil it. But unfortunately, I didn’t find it anywhere close to as good as it’s predecessor.

When it was over, I was so tired. It was 3 am, and I had worked breakfast and lunch that morning, so I’d been up since 5:30. It was verging on 24 hours. We drove to Gardiner, and I was asleep as we dropped the girls and guy off at their hotel room. As we pulled out of the parking lot, I woke up, suprised that it was just the two of us in the car. I had been sleeping like the dead. I apologized for falling asleep; I wanted to make the drive easier on Rob, so I tried my hardest to stay awake.

It was a beautiful drive back. The morning light was beginning to hit the rocks and trees in such a beautiful way. We took the same road back that we had taken there, which was still very new to me. The sky was pink and blue, and there was rain on and off.

We got back to the dorms around 6:30 am. The servers working breakfast were already on their shifts. I got back to my room, and the light was on and Minji was gone. She must be working breakfast.

Bedtime.

I slept until 2:30. Now, it’s time to enjoy my Saturday with Megan and friends.