A-"Muse"-ing Thoughts

Simplicity - It Still Exists!

It is amazing to me the different things that one gets to experience in a small town.  And not just any small town, but a small town that is MANY miles (like 90) from the nearest city that has more than 5,000 people.  I find myself discovering and experiencing new things almost daily now that we live in Quincy, CA.

One of the things that has really struck me recently about living here was in regards to going to the movies.  It really got me thinking about the way in which a lot of people in America approach going to the movies in the 21st Century.  And rather than trying to be general and off-base (because this is NOT a scientific study of any sort), I will focus more on the way in which I, personally, had approaching going to the movies, and how that has changed since moving to Quincy.

I remember, even when I lived in Boerne, Texas, there was a theater named "The Palladium" that was only about 10 miles away from where we lived.  Boerne, itself, didn't have a movie theater - which made me think at that time that Boerne was a TINY city (boy, have I discovered how wrong I was about that).  Anyway, the Palladium had 20-some screens, was gigantic, and even had two VIP movie screens that were for adults 21 and over, had full-sized leather seats, and full arm rests.  It was a huge and incredible theater.  When Christi and I would talk about going to see a movie, we had a few decisions to make:  1) Should we go to the Palladium, or one of the other multi-screen theaters within another 5-8 miles?  2) What movie of the 20+ choices should we go see?  and 3) What time should we go see the movie we wanted to see (of the 5+ times available each day)?  It was quite the smorgasbord of options to choose from. 

I admit that I used to think that made life "simpler" - to have all those choices and times - so you could go see what movie you wanted and when you wanted.  However, that might be more "convenient", but I have come to discover it is not "simpler."  I have discovered movie-going simplicity since moving to Quincy, CA.

At first when we moved to Quincy, I was thinking, "Hey... this can't be much different than Boerne, even if Quincy is less than 1/2 the size.  Quincy has a movie theater!  Woohoo!"  But boy is it different... and that difference has come in the experience of Movie-Going Simplicity!!!

Quincy has a movie theater... yes... but it is only a ONE-Screen Movie theater.  In addition to that, it only has one showtime per day (7 pm) except for Sundays (it has two 4 pm and 7 pm) and Wednesdays (when it is closed completely).  If you want to see a movie there, you have approximately 3 days to see it.  The movies show from Sunday through Tuesday or from Thursday through Saturday.  And then, when you get inside, you will find a quaint little snack-bar.  There are very few options, but at least the prices are not as steep as the mega-plexes.  The theater itself isn't too large, and is clearly available for both movie showings as well as live theater, as there is quite a large stage stretching out in front of the screen.

So, in short... what is Movie-Going Simplicity?  It is:  1) Do you want to go to THE movie?  And that's it.  If you want to go to the movie, there is only one show time to go to.  And if you don't go to the movie that is showing now, in 3 days max, it will be gone.  Different - yes.  Bad - not at all.

And, just to add to this post of simplicity, I had to take pictures of this single-plex to show what I am talking about.  Enjoy.

There's a First For Everything....

Having lived in a couple of the places I have lived (including Colorado and California), it is not all that uncommon for events to have to be cancelled due to the weather.  And in recent years, this has become a much more common occurrence, not only all throughout the United States, but throughout the world - as there have been a lot of natural disasters and inclement weather that has brought many things to a halt.  

However, I am not even referring to your extreme situations (hurricanes, tornadoes, etc.)  It is not too uncommon in the U.S. to have events cancelled due to the snow, the rain, the ice, and even extreme heat.

But yesterday when I was reading the local paper, I came upon a first for me..... an event that was cancelled for a reason I have never seen formally given....

Here is the clip from the paper:

Yes... that is right.  The film series was cancelled due to GORGEOUS WEATHER!!!  :-)

I will admit, it is true that we are having BEAUTIFUL weather here in Quincy, CA right now.  But I just had to take a picture of that and post it for the official record of something being cancelled, formally, in the local newspaper, due to gorgeous weather!  I love it.

Stay tuned for other news from "Life in a Small Town"

Now this is the Way to Do April Fools

If you think you are creative and good at pulling off an April Fools joke, check out the joke that this guy pulled off.... pretty impressive!!!

http://bit.ly/picture23

(HT: androidmoser)

Swine Flu

I saw this picture today and thought it was SO funny that I had to post it on my blog. (NOTE: No, I am NOT saying that the Swine Flu that is infecting people is funny, I am saying this picture and caption is funny)

Facebook has 150 Million ACTIVE users

WOW!  I will admit, I love using facebook.  I love connecting with friends and people who I have not seen or talked to in many, many years.  In fact, in the last couple of months, I have re-connected with a lot of high school classmates, people from my youth group when I was a teenager, college classmates, and former youth group members... in addition to keeping up with the people in my life on a daily basis today.  I have been a member of myspace and facebook and many other social networking sites.  My favorite, though, has to be facebook.  I like its structure, its security, its ease of use, its applications, and more.  I know facebook has been catching on recently, but I had no idea how much.

Today I came upon this description of the growth of facebook and how it is expanding, and expected to continue growing in 2009.  AMAZING.  Check it out...