A Doctor's Day Out

I opened my eyes and for a moment I panicked — I thought I had slept through my usual 6:00AM alarm. I looked over my shoulder and was relieved that it was only 6:04AM. I was even more relieved that it was a “sleep-in-Saturday,” one of the two Saturdays each month I don’t have morning office hours. I tossed and turned for a few minutes and then decided to use my “magical sleeping potion:" I rub a bit of lotion with lavender on my face, take some deep breaths, and without fail am able to resume my trip through slumberland. There’s my vote of support for aromatherapy.

I woke up again at 8:20AM, went downstairs, fixed coffee, checked eBay and e-mail, made a chicken-and-mushroom omelet, and watched my DVR’d pilot episode of the new show, Life, on Discovery. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a must. The videography is phenomenal.

I called my friend Elke and we decided to see a matinee of Clash of the Titans. I checked the reviews of the movie at RottenTomatoes.com and found that it only had a 31% approval rating (of course, the film had only been out for a day). One reviewer warned against paying extra for the 3-D version since it was actually filmed in 2-D. I took his advice.

We did some shopping beforehand (well, Elke did), although we did get some candy to smuggle into the theater, along with my bottled water, despite the posted warning signs that we would not be allowed in with food and drinks from outside. The major department store we were shopping in had maps near each escalator that are supposed to show you where you are and help you navigate through the store. We were on the second floor, with women’s clothing sections all around us. The map was rotated by 90 degrees and the “You Are Here” star that was supposed to be on the map was missing. We were lost, but eventually found our way out after I visited customer service to offer the store some helpful cartography suggestions.

Upon entering the theater, we played it cool, giving no sign that we were smuggling contraband, and made it safely to our seats. The movie was pretty good; great action, even in 2-D. We went our separate ways after the movie, each with our own list of things to do, but having had a fun afternoon.

Yes, life is good.

Especially on sleep-in-Saturdays.