Creepers

Welcome to a sunny Sunday in Westwood!

Here you have 4 movie theaters, numerous cheap restauraunts, and one comprehensive bookstore that overprices everything. Given that its a college area you'd think there would be more bookstores.

Oh and I mustn't forget the creepers. Lots and lots of creepers. And some puppies but they're all small enough to be carried in a purse and therefore of no concern to me.

My day, which was really 'my' day because I basically had a date with myself, began with me waking up around 11:00, finishing up The Zero - which had a really depressing sort of ending -and rolling out of bed at 12:40.

I was supposed to get my hair cut today but I spent more time trying to psych myself into it then it was worth so I just decided to bypass the experience. It's not that I'm afraid to lose my locks, believe me I've rocked some awkward dos. I'd rather spend 5 minutes freaking out about what my hair looks like then 30 minutes styling it. The problem is that I don't want to be stuck in a chair, imprisoned by that plastic cover, and forced to either make stilted conversation with the stylist or sit in sullen silence staring at myself.

But moving on to the creepers. After arriving at the theater with an hour to spare and not wanting to leave the block because of my fear of walking into a movie late, I decided to sit in Starbucks, people watch, and read Naive. Super because I'm a nerd and I felt like reading a book for class ahead of time. It's really good by the way. I plan on finishing that tonight.

While I was sitting there, the guy to my left kept staring off into space with his math/science book and computer open in front of him. Normally I wouldn't think that was too creepy, I mean I stare off into space a lot thinking about nothing, but because Starbucks was crowded it was little inevitable that he'd end up staring at someone instead of point in the wall, which led to numerous awkward glances and shifty eyes.

Let's not forget about the woman digging through the recylced newspapers because she couldn't afford the $1.50 to buy her own, waiting 25 minutes, and THEN buying a drink. The baggy striped polo, faded jeans, and awkardly fitted baseball cap didn't help dispell the generally creepy impression.

Surprisingly, I ended up almost late for the movie, Hot Tub Time Machine, which turned out to be a good thing because the moment I walked in I noticed that it was mostly middle-aged to butt ugly old men scattered about the theater sitting by themselves. There were also a couple of teenaged boys and a few scattered couples. I fit right in with that crowd.

Now apparently middle-aged to butt ugly old men don't have the same rules in movie theaters that normal people do. For them it's perfectly ok to get up three or four times during the movie, walk around a little, and then sit someplace else. It's also perfectly ok for them to completly violate the buffer zone while doing this which I thought was not ok when the theater is wide open like that. I guess they really needed to sit directly in front of someone when there were literally hundreds of other seats out there.

It's also perfectly acceptable for them to talk to random strangers during the movie. The douchebag who migrated over to the seat in front of me decided to inform me that the scantily clad woman about to screw two guys at once was his wife. This guy, in a too tight shirt that made his belly really pop, badly shaven, and balding would SO not be married to this woman. I don't care how 'progressive and free thinking' she might be.

Thank god he decided to drift after that although for awhile there I thought I was going to be molested by another creepy old man with a cane who wandered in for the last 20 minutes of the movie, stood in the aisle next to me for awhile, and then decided I wasn't worth the trouble and left.

Thinking I had had my fill of creepers for the day, I decided to walk to Borders, which is actually an unnecessarily long walk from campus. Given that this is a school, I feel there should be more than a mystery book store and the odd bible store for people to buy books. I mean I know we're kind of over reading these days but really, there are 5 (used to be 6) movie theaters closer to campus then Borders.

On the walk I got to deal with a group of about 7 16-year olds who stood in front of Chipotle and stared at people, got asked for money by 4 homeless people, got ogled by 3 more, and had to walk behind groups of slow-moving people who take up the whole sidewalk and glared at me whilst I squeezed my way past them.

To top it off, on the way back I got to witness the glory of a homeless woman on a mission to blind everyone in Westwood by wearing a mini t-shirt that showed her gloriously disproportionate stomach.

Also the guy at Subway gave me the wrong cheese.

Luckily, the books I've read today were good, the movie was adequate, and I'm pretty good company for myself, so I'd still classify this as a good day.