They say if you live long enough, you will see everything. Well I suppose that is true. Yesterday I experienced something for the first time.

Although a few days before May Forth, we decided to go see the 40th anniversary re-release of Return of the Jedi. This was kind of a big deal for me as it was the first time I ventured back into a theater since the pandemic. As expected it was not very crowded at all. I have heard that theaters are having a hard time filling seats. Little wonder as we spent almost 50 bucks on several pops and popcorn 😲. Yikes I was mentally prepared to be savaged but still!

So we settled into our seats. They are the really cozy ones that tilt back and raise your feet up. At least we only paid 5 bucks a ticket. About 90 minutes into the film we are really enjoying it when the screen goes black and blue lights on the side of the screen start flashing along with an emergency siren. The main lights come up and a digital voice says there has been an emergency and everyone must exit the theater, over and over.... With all the shootings as of late, this really got the adrenaline going. Of course everyone started to pile out the exits and massed outdoors in the cold and rain... Many people got in their cars and got out of there fast. Of course no one knew what the problem was. This is a complex with 25 screens, yet no official theater person was to be seen. We decided to make the long schlep back to the main entrance. The theater personel were all looking to determine the cause of the alarm. Soon they decided it was a glitch and allowed us to take our seats and continue the film lol. It was crazy! At the end of the show they were giving out free passes to any future film, which to my cheap ass worked out pretty well all and all lol.

It seems like we are going to have to change how we do public events. I think we as a society will have to decide to invest in metal detectors at our schools and large public events. I know in the case of theaters, this wont be easy as they are already facing financial problems. I have to admit it makes me think twice about attending many public functions in the future...