My friends and I had a dinner party and watched scary movies last Friday. I'm never a fan of horror or scary or gory movies. However, I decided to torture myself after a long abstinence from this particular movie genre. Since four movies were up for selection on Friday, we decided on casting votes since it's a democratic nation after all. The movie I voted came close to second, narrowly edged out by Quarantine. I prepared myself for the inevitable. Despite our singles, without family and commitments, combined and ample earnings in the room, we watched, unfortunately I've to confess, an illegal Blue-ray version of the B-rated movie. B-rated based solely on my opinion and my observation of friends' responses during the screening of the movie. After 10 mins or so into the movie, it was rudely stalled and could not proceed despite several attempts to revive it. I was elated at that point, only to have my elation dashed when someone offered to pick up the movie from a nearby movie rental store. Two guys jumped up from their seats, donned their jackets and walked to the store. Walked because everyone except moi had consumed rather large amounts of alcoholic beverages. Very unsafe to drive. Jumped up from their seats because they liked what they saw in the main female character of the movie. The boys returned in, what I thought, matter of minutes. During their absence, the rest of us played "Truth or Dare" from a friend's IPhone app. Which crashed. Which prompted another friend to whip out her IPhone. The game resumed with much of our bemusement.Which eventually crashed because she claimed it was out of battery juice. Which then prompted another friend to whip out his Iphone. I remembered asking for "Dare" once and "Truth" after that when my turn came around. The funniest part of the game was one guy, who shall remain nameless, was dared to call Walmart and ask if he could use its fitting room to try on his clothing article that he has received as a gift. Genius. He made the phone call while the rest of us held our breaths and guffaws. Oddly enough, the salesperson at the other end of the line politely entertained my friend's questions. Finally she had to put him on hold while she called the store manager, apparently seeking for permission. My friend ended the call and we applauded for his efforts. Some of us didn't want to prolong the salesperson's uncomfortable situation. We resumed watching the movie. The boys were partly jeering at the movie's plot and partly admiring the female cast. Quarantine is about a TV reporter who followed a group of fire fighters who responded on a rather unusual call from an apartment complex. The entire movie's perspective was shot from a cameraman's angle. While the boys in the group were doing what boys do best, the girls and I were partially covering our eyes and occasionally emitting petrified noises when we saw the inevitable gory and horror scenes. While not spoiling the details of the movie for you my dear readers (dear is a sincere endearment if you have read this far and much), I have to say my prediction on the movie was right on the money. Ka-ching. Too bad we didn't bet. After the movie ended, the tired majority including yours truly left the subdued party while the remaining trio watched Knowing. I only caught a few mins of the introduction. All in all, Friday Nov the 13th of year 2009 evening turned out to be a fun and warm evening for the many of us. It's one of those very rare days when all of us, the fun ones, convened with good food and drinks, terrible movies and loads of laughter and stories. Pockets of moments like these helped to make my life in boring Rochester slightly more exciting. Ahhh what would I do without them. I leave you with this (Joanne's axiom) saying "Friends are family you choose!" Yes, you should be eternally grateful to be a part of my circle of friends. And yes, I'm entitled to be conceited on several occasions. | 
