Sweet (Geeky) Heavens! LOTR! Swoons!

The hubby and I spent the afternoon together. Romance! Action! Drama! Friendship! Danger! Loves! Violence! Bloody, bloody violence! Sean Bean! Say it so it rhymes! Sean Bean!

We were watching the extended super-special-y Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring. We drew the curtains closed and cuddled on our dramatically oversized couch (which, thanks to Rothman's Furniture professional store layout of "stick it all in one giant room", we managed to purchase and have delivered several years ago with NO idea of how gargantuan it really was). I was in my happy place, sitting super close to the husband (my right side) with Maverick the dog stretching out so her head rested on my shoulder (to my left). Pandora the cat changed position around us frequently but never strayed more than a few feet away on the ottoman.

As I've mentioned before, movies aren't really dates to us. With our earlier Penguin date, we gave ourselves over yesterday to errands and decided to phone it in today. It was all pjs and leftovers.

Yet, watching this particular movie came from a future date. A date we discovered and about 5 minutes later jumped into with both feet. YES, PLEASE.

I was lazily looking on some St. Louis websites this morning while the hubby did techie things I'll never understand on his computer. I happened to see the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra website. We've never been and have talked about going. The theater is supposedly beautiful and happens to be very close to the Fox Theater. So we know where it is and where to park. Score! Plus, the orchestra is supposed to be superb and well known nationally. Win-win.

I started scrolling down the events. Wow. Blah blah Mozart and Beethoven blah blah orchestra. Not that I don't want to see classical music. I would probably enjoy it. The husband actually owns cds of this stuff. That's cool. Orchestra-y. I continue strolling. They throw an ABBA night in there. What? I keep looking. Brahms. Okay. Then, I see they're playing the soundtrack to Hitchcock's Psycho the movie over Halloween weekend (while showing the film alongside on a big screen behind the orchestra). I'm starting to feel warm, fuzzy feelings in my tummy.

I don't remember it until I see it. Then I might have squealed a little.

I remember reading about how the orchestra did the score of the Lord the Rings movies, how it was sold out, and how it blew everybody away. I see they are doing Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring. They are going to perform the entire score on 3 nights while playing the movie on a big screen. Tingles. I gots 'em. Clickity, clickity, clickity. Could there be 2 seats left for us? Any of those nights? I am not busy in April 2011. If I become busy, well, we all have our priorities. MINE WOULD BE LOTR with the frickin' orchestra.

Um... Hi. I literally turn, scoot my chair towards my husband's desk chair, and begin a vain but vigorous pulling attempt on it. It's enough to be very, very annoying. I don't do it often. Just when I really, really want him to see something.

He scoots over, asking, "What? Why can't you just tell me?"

I point and sort of gurgle and clap and point and gesture wildly. He reads it and says, "Cool!"

Victory lap around the office. I do my awesome, awesome dance.

For some reason (I'm guessing tickets went on sale today), there aren't 2 random seats for us. There is one sold out section at each of the shows. But, at all 3, there are a lot of seats available. A LOT.

Clickity, clickity, clickity. Which show has the best seats available? Oh, all 3 basically have the same opening? Well, we'll take Friday night, then, thank you very much.

2 SEATS. 6TH ROW CENTER, BABY.

A few hours later, the hubby asks if I want to watch the movie. I say, sure, and hence, our afternoon together watching Lord of the Rings. Excellent choice, husband, as I had forgotten how incredible the score was. Every time the music swelled, it was like a separate memory for me. The melodies are just so memorable, so lovely, and so right for this movie. Hear them anywhere and it'd come back to you.

I'm in geek nirvana right now. I have a Bachelor's in English (don't ask) and one of my medieval lit professors worked for Tolkien back in the day. Granted, she was completely batty and kind of looked like she belonged in Middle Earth. And she had no warm, fuzzy feelings for the author. That's besides the point. I was one person removed from Tolkien in a different time period on another continent... IT COUNTS. I saw all 3 of the movies in the theater with my grandmother (she loved them - one of many of my great memories of our times together). I have all 3 special editions of the movies. I obviously have the books. And I'm married to a software engineer. I'm a nerd on a professional level.

Is there possibly a better date that we could plan? Come on! Ridiculous. It's going to be awesome! We have how many months to wait and I'm already at a "maybe I should learn Elvish!" level of excitement. This is what life feels like... When you decide to increase your cultural knowledge,expand your horizons, and go all high brow by buying tickets to the symphony orchestra!

In other words, one date to rule them all!!!