I had a leisurely Sunday, enjoying the ending to the last weekend before school starts back up on Wednesday, with my first class, ENG 515, being Thursday.
Mid-afternoon, I headed over to Helios, where I devised my Saturday blog entry, and checked in with Robert on AIM.
It was a little chilly in there, so much in fact, that a girl sitting at the table next to mine had on a hooded jacket with the hood up over her head.
I sat by the window on the black leather-looking chair that matches the couch. Two guys sat to the right of me on the matching couch, and off and on spoke in Spanish. They were evidently in some kind of business together, for which one seemed to be the “business guy” and the other the “techie.”
The business guy took about three phone calls on his cell phone during the time I was there. His side of the conversation was very terse, and somewhat cryptic, so much so that at times I wondered if their business wasn’t something somewhat shady.
To the right of me sat a handsome man, with a beard, and wavy hair that needed combing. He spent the entire time on the ESC web page. He didn’t look “ethnic” to me, and perhaps he wasn’t, though his t-shirt had the word “Brazil” emblazoned across the chest.
It was relatively quiet in the place, which is unusual really. Usually, in my opinion, the music is way too loud in there. As if to compensate for the serenity, this group of three women walked in with one of them talking so loud that the whole place turned to look at her, as she obliviously carried on. I thought, I wonder if she has a hearing problem.
I went to the Farmer’s Market, first stopping in the N.C. Seafood Restaurant and ordering two Cold Boiled Shrimp plates to go. The shrimp came with hush puppies, slaw, and french fries.
Next, I stopped under one of the covered areas and grabbed a bunch of 
, just as the vendor was closing up her spot.
I made a surprise visit to Robert at work, though he saw me riding the little tram that runs in a loop from the parking lot to the hospital entrances. We had dinner, while he darted back and forth, attending to potential customers, and seeing if the computer was back up. I got to enjoy my dinner at least, and I enjoyed the visit.
I drove to the Carolina Theater for my 7:00 movie. It was in Fletcher Auditorium, and was pretty crowded for a late afternoon Sunday screening, a good sign for the festival.
I took a seat in the row in front of Roy (from dancing), Russell (from the GLBT book club), and a guy whom I recognized as having met, but can’t place. Eventually, Jay sat in the row behind them, and at one point threw a popcorn kernel up at me.
Steve, Brian (Green), and Zay (I don’t know if that’s how he spells his name), came in and asked me to join them, but by that time Kevin (av8rdude) had called asking me to save two seats for Glenn and him.
I believe that the playwright of Shiny was sitting three seats to the left of me, with people in the intervening seats. I heard someone around me say how bad that movie was last night, and shortly after that he left, never to return. I’m not positive it was him, but I believe it was.
Synopsis: “The summer I was eight years old, five hours disappeared from my life. Five hours, lost, gone without a trace…”
These are the words of Brian Lackey (Brady Corbet), a troubled 18 year-old, growing up in the stiflingly small town of Hutchinson, Kansas. Plagued by nightmares, Brian believes that he may have been the victim of an alien abduction.
Local Neil McCormick (Joseph Gordon Levitt) however, is the ultimate beautiful outsider. With a loving but promiscuous mother (Elisabeth Shue), Neil is wise beyond his years and curious about his developing sexuality, having found what he perceived to be love from his Little League baseball coach (played by Hal Hartley veteran Bill Sage) at a very early age. Now, ten years later, Neil is a teenage hustler, nonchalant about the dangerous path his life is taking.
Neil’s pursuit of love leads him to New York City, while Brian’s voyage of self discovery leads him to Neil – who helps him to unlock the dark secrets of their past. Based on the acclaimed novel by Scott Heim, MYSTERIOUS SKIN explores the hearts and minds of two very different boys who come to find the key to their future happiness lies in the exorcism of their collective demons.
This movie was was very good, yet very disturbing at times. I found myself very, very tensed up during certain scenes in the movie — scenes that made me think, “I would rather be watching this film alone than in a theater full of people, many of whom I know.”
I’ll just leave it at the fact that this movie brought up a lot of thoughts and memories of a series of childhood incidences that, even to this day, I have so much ambivalence about. ESFJs do not like ambivalence.
After the movie, Steve walked up in the row behind me, and gave me a big hug from the back. Most appreciated. Impeccable timing. Thank you, my friend.
Kevin and I bade goodnight to Glenn, and rode together to Helios, where we met Joe. Joe and I had coffee. Kevin had a PB&J, which required no grilling at all. You had to be there.
There was a good crowd at Flex. The “Red xTterra Guy,” who is Joe’s “neighbor,” was there, as was Brian (brianrdu), his friend Jean, Rick E. Robert F., and after a while, Bear.
Rick and I actually two-stepped to a couple of country songs being done by the karaoke singers. It was a festive night. A good ending to the summer out of school.