Drive-In Date Night (413 Days to Go)

So yesterday at work I got the idea that we should make the best of all this rain that we've been getting in Pittsburgh.  Despite the fact that I had not had time to track down the original Scream movies and have a marathon at home, I suggested that we go out to the Dependable Drive-In and see Scream 4 and what would turn into being a big mistake since it was followed by Insidious.  It's a long story but basically after seeing Paranormal Activity with Jeff, he decided to screw with me by pretending to be possessed in the same manner.

We even had an old
school cooler to use

Anyway, back to date night.  I packed up a picnic dinner into an old hand-me-down cooler, popped some popcorn, and filled the back of Jeff's truck with comforters, blankets and pillows.  My goal was to make the night feel like we were back in the 70s or 80s watching one of the classic horror films up there on the big screen.  We spent the night lying in the back of his truck, snacking our way through two thrillers and "enjoying" the extra ambiance of the pouring down rain.  It was the perfect cheap date night.  The only real cost was the admission to the drive-in which is only $6.50/person.  Cheaper than a regular movie admission, and almost as cheap as the Tuesday night prices--but we got to see two movies for that price.

It's tough when you're trying to keep a relationship lively but you're hindered by a tight budget.  But a little creativity and the ability to more or less swear off expensive restaurants can make it possible.   I've even been toying with the idea of geocaching.  But that would require time we don't exactly have right now.  However it sounds really interesting.

Date Night (436 Days to Go)

The trip to the doctor's office went relatively well.  Surgery has now officially been scheduled for tomorrow.  So that's one less thing to worry about.  Instead of getting pins like the first orthopedic surgeon had thought, it's going to be one or two permanent titanium plates.  So, the boy who can't seem to remember to take his keys out of his pocket to go through a metal detector will forever be setting metal detectors off.  But the incredibly good news is that he should be back to almost full function in about two weeks after the surgery.  He'll have to wear a splint for a while, but it won't be locking up the movement of his hand and elbow as his temporary cast has been.  He's incredibly grateful because he'll be able to get back to work as usual all the sooner which is important since his busy season is close at hand.

In the meantime, I anxiously await the blow of the medical bills while constantly searching Monster for any hopeful job leads.  I think I'm to the point of giving up on finding anything that is career related and just finding something that I qualify for in general.  I can't really imagine that any science related job that I take can make my career much worse and it has to be better than falling off the bottom rung to take up waitressing instead.  I'm crossing my fingers that I can at least get a job interview somewhere.  It would be a slight boost to my self esteem rather than be completely ignored by everyone I've applied to so far.

Other than that, we've been trying to get back into our date night routine.  It used to be that we went out every Tuesday night for dinner and a movie.  But we're cutting back a little and trying to go only every other week.  But as of lately, I've been either getting home from work too late or too stressed out and tired to want to go out.  We already are pinching our pennies by going Tuesday night.  At least here in Pittsburgh, that's the night that movie theatres have discounted tickets or some kind of promotion.  The theatre we go to in Robinson has tickets for $5.25 and even if we want to see a movie in 3-d, then it's that rate plus the $3.00 premium.  So no matter what, we're paying less than the average movie ticket price as long as we stick to that night.  Dinner usually goes up and down as far as price and quality based on how tight money is that week.  Sometimes we eat at home or we hit up Steak n' Shake if we're feeling a little tight but other times we'll treat ourselves to the Hibachi place that's right near the theatre.  It doesn't happen very often considering how expensive it can be but still every once in a while is better than nothing.  This past Tuesday, we hit up Red Robin and saw Sucker Punch--which was incredible.  I haven't seen a fantasy film like that since...I dunno--never.  What was really amazing to me was the musical score.  Never in my life did I think that Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit could be turned into a fight theme, but they did it and it was good!  I suddenly have a strong desire to go buy some new costumes for cosplay.  Yes, I'm a total geek and I take dressing up at Halloween to new extremes.  Luckily my fiance totally goes along with it, including the occasional comi-con.  For instance, this past Halloween we were the Joker and Harley Quinn.  This coming year we're talking about Buzz Lightyear and Jesse from Toy Story.

Personally I can't wait for it to start being a little warmer so we can switch our date night to the weekend and go to the drive-in instead.  We typically go to the Dependable Drive-In which I have to laugh because nowadays it's marketed as a family place but way back in the day it used to show the skin flicks.  Personally I find this idea creepy.  Why would you want to watch a porno at a drive-in?  What happened to the privacy of your own living room people?  But as I said, nowadays, it's a family place.  They've got four screens so we can always find some pairing of movies that we want to watch.  So even though this particular drive-in is open year round, I prefer to go in the summer.  Then we can pack a picnic dinner, toss out a blanket behind the car and listen to the surround sound of everyone else's car radios.  Much easier than trying to cuddle over a gear shift, which in both of our vehicles is quite in the way.  Surprisingly, more so in my Mini than in his Dakota.  It almost makes me wish I had my gram's '91 Chevy with the bench seat.