So, how was it, you ask?

Well. We had QUITE the adventure going to see HP&TOoTP. S (at the left in the picture) came over around 6 or so, and got to play with Malka Palka Pooka Palka for a nice spell before the Cheeky went to bed. Then we had a lovely glass of wine, I popped some popcorn (all WW safe, of course!), and we left the house with OODLES and OODLES and OODLES of time to spare. (as last time, we made the UNfortuante mistake of showing up ONLY 1 hour before hand, and sat 4th row, on the right side of the theatre - UGH - we vowed NEVER to sit that close again, we're WAY too old...)

Or so we thought. We picked up our tickets, bought some coffee (it WAS a midnight movie, after all), and proceeded to go upstairs to the "level between the lobby and the theatre" and ended hanging out with these loverly folks pictured above. Turns out, they are all theatre folk as well. We were all worried that we'd be overrun with screaming 12 year olds, but it was a cool bunch of college aged folks and up. Not many kids at all.

But I digress. Meeting the above mentioned folks was lovely, and it turns out they are in their own improv troupe - go check them out! So there we are, some friendly, patient, and VERY EARLY adults, waiting INSIDE the air-conditioned movie theatre, when the "management shuffle" began. No fewer than 3 or 4 employees, at 3 or 4 different times, came over to tell the large group of us conflicting information: "You can't wait here, it's illegal," "OK, you all have been here a while, I'll have to ask the rest of you to go wait outside, but you guys can remain." "I'm so sorry, but you can't wait here, please go outside." And back and forth for well over 45 minutes to an hour. By now, it's after 10pm, the line outside is AROUND THE BLOCK, and there's about 12-15 of us left inside, from the long wait. Then Andy, the "uber manager" comes over, and asks us again to leave. most do, except a small group of about 6 of us. (see picture above). Everyone else was being an ASS to poor Andy, who was just trying to do his job. We were simply being nice, letting him know that we TOTALLY understand the insanity of today, that he's just doing his job, if we were in his shoes, etc. etc. etc. And then we simply shared with him that we were willing to play by the rules, but we were receiving conflicting information from various employees, and as a result, would now have to join the end of the line, when clearly, we'd patiently been there for hours already, and was there anything he could do?

After a while, having told us to go wait downstairs, by the wall, he came back, and escorted the 8 of us upstairs, and to the VERY front of the line. So here's S and I, in our CHOICE seats, waiting to see Harry Potter.

The movie itself wasn't as great as movies 3 and 4, truth be told, but the acting was superb. I wanted a bit more of the fight at the ministry, it was just a wee too short for my liking. There were many many things I simply loved about it, and a few things I missed, but all in all, it was an enjoyable time, and the seats rocked the house.

I'm not going to write TOO much more about the movie, as I have a few friends that wouldn't be too appreciative if I did at the moment. And I must say, in light of how much hype there will be in 9 short days, I'll have to go Media silent until I've read it.

I wouldn't want to read spoilers.