Fun With The Bus System 2: Electric Boogaloo (AKA How My Faith In Rarity's Element Was Reaffirmed) · 8:56pm Oct 26th, 2014
Last night, I went for a bus ride. I even brought a camera to take photos.
This blog post is not about that bus ride.
For you see, that bus ride reminded me of another one I took, about a month and a half ago now. (damn, does the time fly!) I'd said in an earlier post that I'd recount that bus ride, but then stuff happened and it slipped my mind.
Well, after my first trip down to the mall area to see Rainbow Rocks, which failed due to unhelpful websites giving the wrong information, I returned home to grab lunch and attempt to study until 5:30-ish. I didn't have to be at the theater until 7:00, but I wanted to give myself plenty of time to arrive, as the bus can be a bit slow sometimes. However, I arrived at the bus stop to be picked up rather earlier than I needed to be there, (I got there at about 5:35, give or take a few minutes, and the next bus didn't show up until 6:00) and that was when I made my first mistake.
You see, the bus stop is just across the street from a strip mall with a local grocery store chain, and I was feeling a bit hungry. As I had time to kill, I wandered over to purchase a pack of Andes Mints to smuggle into the theater. (Thankfully, my jacket has absurdly massive pockets so that was of no difficulty.) I returned to the bus stop with ample time remaining, and so chugging down Mint Parfait and blasting a playlist comprised of an unlikely combination of the Rainbow Rocks Soundtrack and Garbage's "Version 2.0" album, I took the trip downtown without a hitch. I get off at the mall stop and walk over to the correct theater, and arrive with a good forty minutes to spare.
And then I find out my credit card has insufficient funds.
The movie was ten dollars to get in, and I only had seven plus change left on my card. And here's the real kicker: Those Andes mints I'd bought? They were about four and a half dollars. If I hadn't bought them, then I would've been able to get into the movie just fine.
But wait, you say! We have definite proof you saw it, so what happened?
Well, there I was, sitting in the lobby, quietly hating myself and my reckless spending habits, and debating whether to call someone to ask for a three-dollar loan to pay back at a later date. (unfortunately, the only nearby person who I had the contact information of was one of my parental units, was in the middle of work, and on top of that was quietly really pissed off that I was devoting so much effort to seeing a movie whilst seemingly ignoring my homework - that's a blog post for a later date, though.) I also considered chucking the remaining Andes mints in a trash can for their role in all of this, but that would have just been an even bigger waste, so I'm glad I didn't.
Anyway, I finally decide to just catch the bus back and maybe watch a camrip later or something, when one of the employees comes by and tells me not to leave just yet. Torn between intrigue and not wanting to get my hopes up too high, I return to my spot and he goes into the management area behind the popcorn counter. It's a good five minutes before he finally returns, giving me a tiny stub of paper; a coupon that reduces the cost of any movie down to one dollar. I don't recall the specifics, but apparently there had been a raffle giveaway event a few days earlier, and they'd had a few left over.
I didn't kiss his feet, but this is still a fairly accurate depiction of my reaction.
The movie itself was pretty great, of course, and after it ended, I spent about a half-hour gushingchatting in the hallway with some of my fellow audience members about it (apparently I can do a halfway decent R63 Sonata Dusk vocal impression) and sharing some Wild Mass Guessing about the end credits scene. I was honestly pleasantly surprised that so many bronies live in my area, and at least the three I talked to seemed to be among the more sane contengient. I have yet to contact any of them again, but I have their contact info, so I guess there's meetup possibility if I'm ever so inclined.
The bus ride back was very fun (and was the birthplace of A Chance) and I arrived at home at about ten-thirty or so, posted my Initial Impressions piece, and fell asleep.
Thank you, random movie theater employee. Thank you very much. 
Oh, one other thing - this more recent bus trip that reminded me to make this blog post? It also provided some more inspiration. I know where I'm going with Temptation Waits Chapter Two! Now to just write it...
Is it weird if my mental image of this is a scrawny teenage kid with an absolutely massive trench coat?
Woot!
2556731
It's not entirely inaccurate, either.
Indeed!