The $1.50 is now $2.00 & Other Things that are Going Wrong

     Hello.

  I bring sorrowful tidings, my dear readers. My semi-local $1.50 theater is now a $2.00 theater. This is a sad, sad day for me, in more ways than one.

 The theater only had to charge $1.50, because the movies they played weren't still in the main theater, but weren't on DVD yet.

 

   You see, me and the $1.50 go way back. About three years, to be precise. It all started that glorious month; my mom got off her book-keeping job for the summer, and we had lots of time and any way to spend it.
   We spent it thrifting, mostly--going cheap places, doing cheap things. I believe it was then that the theater was discovered; when my mom was looking for things to do around town.  Anyway, we found it, and fell in love.
   Since that fateful day, the theater has been lovingly called the Dollar-Fifty. There were no crowds, and a small popcorn cost a $1 on Tuesdays. We went every Tuesday until school started, then every other Friday, then every other other Friday, then not at all. That is, until summer started.

Unlike the choice of paper versus plastic, the paper tickets are here to stay.

  
    The cycle continued until this year. We started going every Friday, no exceptions. Things slowly took a turn for the worse: tickets went from card-stock to paper, the lines grew longer...
 One Friday not so long ago, things were going as normal. That is, until the moment we bought our tickets. That moment was when the cashier uttered the words, "That'll be eight dollars." ...Wait, what? A ticket for me, my mom, my dad and my brother should be $6, right? Right?!
    We still go every Friday, but since that moment, I've been different, haunted. Something as trivial as a .50 price hike shouldn't phase me so much, I know. It's just that it changed-- something I've been used to for so long, has changed. It's worse. It's lacking its luster. It's not the same. It's haunting me.
    This directly increases the effect of all my other changes. Like I realize I never see my mom anymore; she's always at class, or doing homework (she's studying for her Master's, then her Doctorate). I really, really love my mom. I really, really miss her.
   Then to top it all off, I've got the whole, stereotypical teenager thing going on. That theater price thing gave a deep blow to my "simple joys" in life...It really brought to life my constant, pessimistic attitude towards, well, just about everything. I'm totally cynical, all the time. I'm totally, utterly unhappy. And I don't know why.
    In the end, this all has to do with the fact that I'm changing. I'm realizing I'm not that giddy-on-the-inside little girl I was so long ago, and my giddy, little-girl world is up in flames. Maybe this revelation should've happened a lot sooner. All I know is, my kingdom's under siege, and I don't know what to do about it.

   xoxo,
         Zoe