Odyssey to the IMAX

First off, I want to say that I am tired.

My sleep has been thrown off all weekend and forgive me if what I say... doesn't make sense.

The Dark Knight has been out for a bit now and some of us at school decided that even though we had already seen the movie on the big screen, we wanted to watch it on an even bigger screen. The plan was to head to Portage on Friday night and watch the 9:20 pm showing. We'd get out about midnight there and head back and it'd only be 2 am. Not bad, especially since it's the weekend.

This is what really happened.

There were 2 cars of people going. Car 1: the Americans Car 2: the Germans (plus 1 Venezuelan). Those of us in Car 1 went to Panera for dinner, then to Ritter's for dessert. We took our time and at about 8:30 pm we decided to head to Portage since Car 2 was just going to meet us there. As we are driving across town to get to the toll road, we get a phone call from Car 2. "Our car broke down and we are just outside exit 77. Can you come get us?" Uh oh. We went back to Jon and Natalie's, they picked up a car, and the plan was that the people in Car 2 would get split between Car 1 and Jon's car (Car 3). We didn't really know what to expect at this point, just looking for a bunch of Germans stranded with their car on the side of the road. So we keep driving and start looking for them.

By this time, we had received more information. They had gotten a flat tire and put the donut on. The donut was flat too. So, they were driving at 20 mph with their emergency lights on towards the nearest plaza. We were still looking for them. About 15 minutes later, we finally found them and we pulled over. They wanted to continue to the plaza, since they couldn't leave their car in the shoulder. 2 people joined Car 1, Car 2 kept driving and now Car 3 was following them. Car 1 was going to get to the theater and save seats for those in Car 2 and 3. Car 2 was going to the plaza and then they would join Car 3 and rush to the theater.

Car 1 - we made it to the theater despite bad Google Maps directions. (It said turn right and we needed to turn left.) We get our tickets at the box office, walk into the show and see that practically every seat was taken with the exception of sporadic single empty seats and the front row. The front row? To watch an IMAX movie? No way. Besides, the movie had already started. The ticket tearer had made a comment about a nearly empty midnight showing and so we made our way to the front. At this point, we'd talked to Car 2 and 3 and decided the midnight show would be the best bet. So, we talked to the girl at the front and we convinced her to let us exchange our tickets, and the tickets for Car 3, which hadn't even been picked up yet. So we waited for Car 3.

Car 2 (with Car 3 following) was driving 20 mph on a flat donut to the nearest toll plaza which was only 3-4 miles away. Signal DPS stage left. They got pulled over. The cop laughed when they told him that they had a flat tire, AND their donut was flat too. He was nice enough to follow Car 3 and escort them to the plaza. They get there, Car 2 piles into Car 3 and they take off - at this point, it's 30 min. til the start of the show and they are at mile marker 60 something. Car 3 finally makes it to the movie theater, they send someone to pick up tickets and exchange them (we were going to surprise them) as they are parking the car. This is 20, almost 30 minutes after the movie starts. We fill them in on our doings and we decide to head over to the Buffalo Wild Wings in the parking lot - a 10 minute walk away.

We spent about an hour in the restaurant, most of us hungry again, drinking, and having fun. It's 11 pm central, midnight according to our time. We walk back to the theater and wait for our theater to empty out. This is when we start to get tired. Some people start playing air hockey, some just sit. When we finally get in to the theater, I can already feel my eyelids start to close. It's 1 AM, and I'm exhausted. We did get to watch the movie finally. I fell asleep a few times, but the IMAX was awesome! Heath Ledger is amazing as the Joker. The movie finally got out at 3 AM and we head back home. Fortunately, I didn't have to drive or else there would have been trouble! I sort of slept part of the way, but it was 5 AM by the time we got back and I got into bed. I just wanted to sleep and I realized I had to be at a Jeff & Tiffany's at 8 am since they were packing up and moving on that day (to Maryland). I set my alarm for 7:45 am and went to bed.

The next morning, I went to Tiffany & Jeff's place, tried to help load up the U-Haul, and said my good byes. They will be missed, but they are off to bigger and better things. Good luck!

Now, I just need to catch up on my sleep.