Prometheus: Or the Worst Decision of my Life

I'm a sucker for movies. Furthermore, I'm a sucker for anything that has to do with "Lost" — in this case, "Prometheus" ("Lost" co-creator Damon Lindelof co-wrote the script). When I found out it came out a week earlier in the U.K. than the U.S., I knew I had to go. If only so I could rub it into my friends in Ocean Springs who wanted to see it.

I started out the day by going to breakfast with Ben at Christ Church (as usual, Josh said he would come but did not. Because he's a fickle sketch). We then went to the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archeology for class.

Dr. Snyder, in order to illustrate the history that influenced J.R.R. Tolkien, took us around the museum.

Of course, my favorite part of the museum had nothing to do with medieval history (sorry, Dr. Snyder) —it was a Stradivarius violin called the Messiah that has seldom been played. It got it's name from one owner bragging about it but never showing it and a violinist exclaiming, "Then your violin is like the Messiah: one always expects him but he never appears."

The Messiah

As we explored the museum, I decided that I could not embark upon my journey to see "Prometheus" alone. (I have this thing where I don't go to movie theaters alone. Furthermore, getting lost on the streets of Oxford made me feel self-conscious of my ability to navigate my way home on a Friday night.) I managed to convince Bailey, Spencer, and Cameron that it was a good idea with little trouble. And, in truth, I think they mostly needed to be convinced to let me come with them. But, for some reason, Josh kept waffling.

Actually, that isn't surprising. For some reason, I was limited to trying to convince him about it once an hour. After a bit, I had a stake in this more than getting him to stop writing his paper for a day — I wasn't getting my way. And I can't remember the last time when I didn't get my way (over something stupid), so I had to keep the streak going. 

Furthermore, I kept being told "It was time for me to get a watch" when I asked what time it was, and harassing him about going to the movies seemed like a good way to be just as annoying as that answer. 

I should note that a person who will go unnamed spent an extraordinary amount of time trying to take a picture of the Alfred Jewel.

Perhaps one of the defining moments of the trip happened at this point: Almost the entire class crowed into an elevator to follow Snyder to the pre-Raphaelites, but we were missing a few people. Spencer, coming upon us ....

Spencer: What are you guys doing?

Us: Spencer, get in the elevator.

Spencer: Why?

Us: Spencer, we're going upstairs. Get in the elevator.

Spencer: Why?

This went on for a bit, before we left him.

After we finished exploring, we joined Dr. Snyder for tea (or, in my case, hot chocolate) on the roof-top cafe. Which, apparently, is the only rooftop cafe in Oxford.

Left to right: Me, Casey, Melissa, and Maddy

Josh and Bailey look happy to be alive.

At this point (whether he remembers it or not), I gave up attempting to convince Josh to go with us and told him to forget about it.

After we left the Ashmolean, several of us went to lunch at this garden cafe. The less said about the food, the better.

Bailey went to go get our tickets early, and we got our assigned seats. (Which, was good, because the movie theater was extremely full. We had to fight some tourists for our seats.) At this point, I discovered that Josh was coming to the movie, after all. So I got my way again. 

When we arrived at the movie theater, I was excited. Halfway through the movie, I was fascinated. A bit later, I was slightly horrified. And then, I went catatonic for the rest of the movie. I wanted to leave, I wanted to cry, I wanted to hide my eyes like I was five, but I was frozen to my seat.

After the movie, I insisted I needed ice cream, so we went to G & Ds. I asked Spencer why he wouldn't get in the elevator with us, and he explained that he knew where we were going but didn't want to get hot and be crowed.

"I can deal with lost, or being late. But not being uncomfortable. You just can't live if you're not comfortable." -Spencer Hall

At this point, the travel period was fast approaching, so I suggested we return to the flat to make plans. We really didn't get anywhere. And some genius decided that watching "South Park" was the best way to help cure me of the nightmares.

Yeah, that didn't help.