Wednesday, August 5, 2009
You know you're in law school when you consider dropping out of school approximately every hour, but after that first semester you realize you are already in too much debt to be anything but a lawyer.
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The movie last night was "500 Days of Summer". I have no positive or negative recommendation. If you like that sort of thing you'll like it, if not you won't.
There were seven of us, all female. I was surprised to see a few scattered men in the theater. Date night, I guess. Can't imagine a man choosing that movie for himself.
We went to a faux-Thai restaurant next door after the movie. For once, I had an actual thought about the movie that I wanted to express, but I never had a chance. Five of the women knew each other from other meetups, another woman and I were the new folks, and that other woman monopolized the dinner conversation, completely. Utterly. We heard about her move from Florida, her job interviews, the garden she's planting, how she gets lost even with a GPS, her husband and his naval career, everything. Everything. She had that loud excited way of speaking that takes over and brooks no interruption, and I found her very annoying.
One funny thing happened. Several people mentioned that it was a bad neighborhood, that they were glad there was a security guard in the parking lot. We were sitting on the patio, and noticed a heavy police presence, constant cruisers up and down the street. Between ordering and the arrival of the food, I lifted the chain around the patio and stepped out to the corner where there was a trash can, to have a cigarette. I was watching the traffic on the street when a police car pulled up across the street, and sat there for a bit. Then the policeman, without getting out of the car, got on a loudspeaker or something, and said something, it was so loud and distorted that I'm not sure what he said, all I could understand was "rumble rumble rumble come over here rumble rumble".
I looked around and couldn't see anyone he might be talking to. A few older people sitting on their porches enjoying the slanting sunlight. No kids on the sidewalks or in the street. I couldn't see inside the car to see what direction he was looking. And then it hit me.
I put the cigarette out, lifted the patio chain, went back to the table, and sat down with my group. And the cops left.
Learned: When in bad Albany neighborhoods, do not stand on a street corner next to a lamppost watching the traffic go by. You will suffer sexual harassment. From the cops!
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My observation from the movie:Truth and honesty are not the same thing.
Guy falls in love with new coworker (Summer) at first sight. She says she doesn't want a boyfriend, that they should be just friends. She says it many times, every time he starts getting too romantic. But she kisses him, dates him, sleeps with him, plays house with him, feeds his fantasy, until she meets another man and drops him.
It bugged me that it was obvious that we weren't supposed to be angry with her. After all,
she "told him the truth!" The guy has a too-wise younger sister who points out that he shouldn't have fallen in love with Summer, because she told him right from the start that she didn't want a boyfriend, just a friend. So "it's your own fault."
By the way, I think the little sister was wedged in to tell us what to think.
Well, I AM angry with Summer. Yes, she told him the truth, but then she acted differently. She knew he was falling in love, and she played with his feelings. She was not definite enough, she allowed him to hope, and she knew it. And I don't think she cared.
Truth and honesty are
not the same thing. Summer may have been truthful, but she was most definitely not honest.
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