Day 56 - Chicago

Just to change things up, tonight's recap is going to start with the end of the day because I'm PISSED about it.

Before Sunrise is one of my favorite movies. I don't remember the first time I saw it, but I'm pretty sure that I didn't really get it at the time. It came out in 1995, and there's no way that at that age, I would have really connected with it. If you're unfamiliar with the movie, it's about 2 people, a guy and a girl, both around age 22 or 23. He is from the US and is bumming around Europe and she is from France. They meet on a train and decide to kill some time overnight walking around Prague, I think. It's a very talky movie, not a ton of plot, but it's about this one night that they spend together and this connection that they have. Well, I guess the reason that I love it now is that I understand it. I had a night like that once - in actuality, it was 2 nights, but same idea. I met this guy from New Zealand on a tour that I did of Russia, Finland, & Sweden back in 2008. We were on the tour together, but didn't really connect until the end of the trip. Had this amazing connection and leaving him broke my heart. Well, when I came home from that trip, I felt the need to wallow, so I borrowed my friend's copy of Before Sunrise. She told me that a sequel had come out as well, called Before Sunset and she owned that one as well. How had I missed this??? So I watched both and just absolutely fell in love with both of them. Early this year, I must have had a premonition or something, because I randomly asked if I could borrow them again to rewatch. So good. And then I found out that a 3rd was coming out this summer, Before Midnight. I was psyched! Except that I'd be on this trip, so it might be difficult to figure out when to watch it. My schedule is pretty busy, and there's not a ton of flexibility. Plus, the movie had a rolling release schedule, released in New York, Los Angeles, and Austin back like 4 weeks ago, then out to various cities. It being more of an art house movie, I don't expect it to stay in theaters all that long once it is released. So I was pretty sure that based on the Chicago release date, I'd get to see it while I was here. I penciled it into my calendar for tonight, knowing that I'd have to confirm the exact theater and schedule within a week of the actual date. So I did. I kept checking. I even checked yesterday night. I confirmed that there was a showing at a theater about a mile away from the apartment in which I'm staying at 7:35 tonight. Perfect. Put it in my calendar, figure out dinner plans around it. So excited. Such anticipation.

I got to the theater tonight at 7:00, in plenty of time. And as I walked up to the box office, no 7:35 was shown on the list of shows. WHAT? So I stand in line and get up to an associate and say, "there was a 7:35 showing of Before Midnight listed on your website as of last night for tonight."
"On our website?"
"Yes."
"You're sure it was for tonight?"
"Yes. I just checked last night. And I checked for today."
"Well, you can go talk to guest services. It was probably cancelled in order to add another showing of Despicable Me."
"Seriously? That's no help to me at all."
There was an 11:50 AM showing still listed of Before Midnight, but I had already missed that obviously, and I'll be out of here by then tomorrow. I was, and remain now, pissed about it. Do you know how many showings of Despicable Me there were? Like 8. And just the one of this amazing amazing introspective beautiful movie. There's a line in the musical [title of show] that says, "I'd rather be 9 people's favorite thing than 100 people's ninth favorite thing." I think it's important to show the movies, and the plays, and the artwork, and the music, and whatever, that is beautiful and that there are a few people are really passionate about, and not pass them over in order to only show the things that a large part of the population likes a decent amount. Maybe I have grand ambitions for the world, and I realize that a movie theater is a business and they know they'll make more money with another showing of Despicable Me, but I find it offensive, honestly. I'm not sure if I'll get another chance to see the movie in a theater. I've managed to avoid all information about the movie other than it's the 3rd one and it's fantastic. I really don't want to know anything about it going in. I don't know how long I'll be able to avoid all that.

Now, the rest of the day. I did another volksmarch this morning. I hadn't done one since Seattle, but no worries. It was an 11K walk this time, through the Museum Campus, up along the lakefront, and then down the magnificent mile. The walk went pretty well, except that it rained for a bit during it, and I think I've made my feelings on that pretty clear. By the end, my legs felt like jelly though. You know that feeling when your legs are just totally shot, but you keep walking anyway? One foot in front of the other. Just keep going. How is it that I can do that with walking, but can't do it with running? Well, I guess that's a pretty obvious question - with running, it's not so much about my legs, it's about my heartrate and not being able to breathe. Stupid running.

After the volksmarch, I stopped for lunch and then stopped in a starbucks to charge my phone. I'm starting to get pissed at my phone too - it has no sense of even distribution of power usage. It says that it's at 21% and then jumps down to 4% and then says it's completely empty. So infuriating, especially when I need it for navigation. I don't carry my iPad with me on days that I'm doing a ton of walking because of the weight. Oh, speaking of the weight of my purse, I think it's screwing up something in my shoulder. It's seriously uncomfortable. I'm going to give it a couple of days of rest and see if anything improves. If not, I may need to find a masseuse to move it around and work some muscles out.

After lunch, I had a ticket for the Chicago Architecture Foundation Boat tour. It had already been a grey and overcast day, but weather.com assured me that the rain was done for the day. They're now on my shit list too. The first hour was fine, but by 4:30, with a half an hour left, the rain really started coming down, so I (along with the rest of the people on the tour) went downstairs, where it is obviously pretty difficult to see the great big tall buildings on all sides. Grrrr. The tour was still really interesting though. Wish I knew more about architecture, but I learned some on this tour, so that's a start at least.

After the tour, I walked, in the rain, over to Lou Malnati's. I heard that was the place to go for deep-dish pizza. It was about 10 blocks. In the rain. But I have decided that walking in the rain (with an umbrella of course - I always have one with me) is slightly more tolerable when I'm wearing my running tights rather than jeans. Jeans get wet easier and then stay wet longer. That's part of my hatred. Anyway, I made it to the restaurant without melting and ordered my pizza. It was great! I don't agree with this whole New York vs Chicago style pizza debate. I think they're both really good - totally different though, so I don't think they even deserve to be compared. After dinner, I walked another 10 blocks over to the movie theater where the above story occurred. Still pissed about it.

Leaving Chicago in the morning. I've adjusted my plans for the next couple days a few times, but I think I've finally got it set.