Great Minds Think Alike (but you already know that)

My solo outing to the Stanford Theater, a last-minute whim, proved to be a substantially eye-opening and gratifying experience. Jen had plans with her cousin. I was going to stay home, but there was a double feature up at the Stanford, and with the temperatures reaching 90 degrees or more, an air-conditioned theater watching an old movie would be a worthwhile break. There were two movies playing: one, a Humphrey Bogart movie I had never seen and considered the primary point of going. It's always a great experience to see a film for the first time in that venue. The other one was "The Philadelphia Story", a personal favorite with a history going back decades. I've seen it at least a dozen times and no more than two. When going solo, I enjoy exploring the theater from random seats. I've sat in the front center, the furthest back, and various seats in between. Today, I bounced around before the screening began a couple of times within the first few minutes until I settled on the furthest back right to be able to take in the full scope of the movie, as well as the architecture and venue. The chandeliers, the 1920s-era Art Deco details, eloquently complement the films being shown there. What I did not expect was to become so quickly immersed in and aware of the level of acting and writing that went into this film. The dozen or two times I've seen it before, I never realized it started as a successful Broadway play. Movies like Arsenic and Old Lace are immediately apparent to have originated in a staged environment and remain pretty faithful to that. However, having seen an earlier trailer that referenced its Broadway origin. It really rang so clearly for the first time that I was watching a theatrical play on film. That's not to say that numerous other film adaptations of plays don't exist and aren't just as worthy. It's simply that I didn't notice this, and as an aspiring writer, I found it far more entertaining to follow, especially with that small bit of insight. It just made the writing stand out all the more. I noticed that it was as fast-paced at times as Bringing Up Baby and His Girl Friday were. Likely plays as well, now that I think of it. The depth and emotional range of the writing went from subtly muttered and easily missed punchlines to the emotional undertone at the receipt of the model of the boat. It was outstanding and a fantastic way to see it again with fresh eyes and insight. I'm so glad I went. I paused at the end and realized that although I had come for the next film, I didn't want to dilute the experience; I wanted to enjoy the enriched appreciation for a movie I always enjoyed, just never fully appreciated.

On my way home, I thought about checking in with my mom. I haven't been over there for a couple of days. I only intended to make a phone call, but when I called her cell phone, it was disconnected! I called multiple times again. Disconnected, disconnected, disconnected. I started to wonder what had happened. I was able to get off the freeway in time to swing by and check on her. She was fine. The house was hot. The air conditioning was set improperly, so I addressed that and then checked her telephone. It indicated no service. I still don't know exactly what happened, but I suspect that the efforts I had been making to set her up with AT&T Fiber, which didn't happen, led to her cell phone account being closed because the two had been paired. I'm going to get it resolved on Monday morning. I'm grateful and fortunate to have at least caught it myself before she did. I set things up so she can FaceTime me instead of calling in case a need arises. She looked at me and said, "Isn't life exciting?" in response to the ongoing chaos of the fallout of my efforts to simplify things for her. I stopped for a moment to think about my answer and, with full awareness of how chaos is what the experience of being alive entails, said, "Yes, it is."