Tomorrow is my final day there.
For the purposes of this blog, the significance of my office move is that my current, soon-to-be-former office is about six floors above Cinema Kino, the movie theater where I've seen probably 50 to 75 movies over the years I've lived in Australia.
It's not the most convenient theater to either my old house in North Melbourne or my new house in Altona, but it's been the most convenient theater to my office, so that has meant a large number of viewings over time. (Plus, it's one of the MIFF theaters so it's been host to probably a dozen MIFF viewings.)
After tomorrow, it won't be convenient to anywhere.
I'm being just a bit dramatic here. My new office is not actually that far away, only a 15-minute walk from my old office, ten if you catch the traffic lights right. So I'll probably still go to Cinema Kino.
What I won't ever do again is clock off of work and be in my seat downstairs less than five minutes later.
Although I didn't do it as often as I would have liked, I loved those occasions where I wrapped things up as quickly as I could in order to arrive in time for the start of a 4:20 movie. It felt like some kind of life hack, like I was getting away with something. (And I guess I sort of was, as I am technically supposed to be at work until 4:36.)
Now, most people never get an opportunity like that, so if any violins are playing out there for me, they are probably the world's smallest.
But since I did get to taste it, I loved how it tasted.
I'd hoped to taste it just one more time, as a ceremonial ending to my final day in the office, but unfortunately, the movies in question just don't work out for me, or don't have convenient start times if they do. Let's look at my options:
Bad Boys: Ride or Die - I haven't seen it, and don't really plan to -- I kind of feel like I'm still punishing Will Smith, and in any case, I gave up on this series after the second one. I'd probably stretch and take the plunge, but it's showing at 3:50 and 6:20. The first is too early, especially on a day when my coworkers are also in the office, and the second defeats the purpose of a convenient downstairs viewing if I have to wait two hours for it to start.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga - Seen it already, and it has basically the same start times as Bad Boys anyway.
The Watchers - Seen it already, and the start time is even five minutes earlier at 3:45.
The Way, My Way - I don't really know what this is but the screenings are at 1:20 and 6 p.m.
The Fall Guy - Seen it already, start time not convenient anyway.
The Three Musketeers: Milady - I don't really know what's going on with these two French Three Musketeers movies but I don't care about the Three Musketeers and never have. But the 3:30 start time does not even make it a consideration.
Challengers - Saw this ages ago and it only plays at 1 p.m. anyway.
The Taste of Things - More French movies. Not really keen on this one anyway, but its start times are 2:50 or 5:50.
High & Low: John Galliano - The poster for this documentary makes it look interesting, but again, it's at 3:30 and 6:10.
The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan - Yes you can watch both Musketeers movies, but this one only at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Wicked Little Letters - 10:30 a.m. only.
Perfect Days - 1:10 p.m., 8:15 p.m.
Radical - 10:30 a.m.
Thirteen movies and not a single one starting between 4 and 5 p.m. Maybe I am getting out of here just in time.
I even considered coming into the office on Friday, which is usually a work from home day but is probably the final day my building pass will work. It also has the benefit of following Thursday, which is the day new movies are released.
And Inside Out 2, the only new movie opening that day, is indeed playing at 4:20 p.m.
In a way, it would be a perfectly symbolic means of dealing with the emotions -- manufactured a little though they may be -- of moving out of a building you have worked in for six years.
But you know there's a but coming, and it's this: Inside Out 2 makes for the rare movie that all four members of my family might actually watch together, and we'll likely go see it together next weekend.
Yes, you read that right. My 13-year-old son, only two months from turning 14, said he wants to see it. We saw an ad for it come on during the NBA Finals, and I joke-asked him if he wanted to see it. He serious-answered me that he did. You don't have to tell me twice.
So it looks like the downstairs work movie will become a thing of the past without a formal send-off.
But again, it's not like I'll never come to Cinema Kino again. If I hoof it, I can probably even get there from my new office for a 4:45 movie, if they see it fit to program one.
More than anything, though, I think it is just symbolic of a change I am not dealing with well in other ways, which are also pretty minor but nonetheless still relevant for me. For one, it takes longer to get to my new office, with a longer walk from the train station -- longer by five to seven minutes. Secondly, it doesn't have the same convenience to eating establishments. In my current building, the cinema is ringed by about a dozen different options in an upscale food court, about half of which I frequent.
And I'm a guy who doesn't really like change, in any case. I'll miss silly things like the familiar concierge desk and elevators, and the grandiose complex itself, with its twin skyscrapers flanking the food court, the cinema, a hotel, and a number of high-end clothing stores. The new office does not have any of these charming attributes.
But we do get those fancy curved monitors, so I guess that's something.
No comments:
Post a Comment