Fall break is coming to an end.  And while it’s been shorter than usual, it has not been without significance.

Earlier in the week, I got my first professional haircut in at least six months.  I was walking by a SuperCuts.  When I stepped in, I found that they were able to work me in (they now require appointments), which was nice of them.  It was good to have a steady, knowledgeable hand do the work.  I’d done my own trimming for most of the last few months, though once I had the help of a neighbor.  I’d settled for just doing a 5-guard all-around, so a return to the 5-2 blend was nice.

Today was my first time back to a movie theater since March.  I think the last movie I saw in the theater was Onward.  Today I finally purchased a ticket for Tenet, a movie that I had been hoping to see for a long time, that had quite a bit of buzz back in the day.  It was odd not to be able to eat food while watching, but that was okay.  Tenet is the kind of movie that you just have to sit back and let happen.  The plot will carry you when the specifics elude you (and some of the specifics did just that).  John David Washington does a great job carrying the film.  It’s a Christopher Nolan picture, which means it’s all kinds of twisty . . . in at least one way that I didn’t see coming.  Which is nice, since so  many movies are based on preexisting properties that ultimately tend toward predictability.  I won’t say much except that I need to see it one more time.  That and it is ultimately nothing like Inception, which is kind of what many viewers are probably expecting.  I did buy some popcorn on the way out.  It’s an odd thing, but I felt it an appropriate way to acknowledge being back in a theater in general.  The crowd was small and in a large theater.  We were well-spaced.  It was nice not having to listen to unwelcome commentary from the side, which is often the case in matinees.

The last thing this week was a final visit to Gecko Books and Comics.  Ted told me a couple of weeks ago that he was closing up the shop that I had frequented almost weekly for much of my time in Honolulu.  It came out of no where, though nothing really comes out of no where these days.  He’ll actually be around for a few more weeks as he tries to sell of his inventory.  This was his last week for new comics.  This means I’ll probably buy online for a while.  There are a couple of other stores on the island, but I’m not really ready to venture out like that.  Ted ran the best store that I’ve been able to frequent since my time in Tennessee.

So a couple of firsts and a last.  I forgot to mention a third first: my first time back to Zippy’s for a Sunday morning breakfast.  And while it wasn’t back to normal, it was nice to sit in a comfortable booth with familiar faces around me while I read some, wrote some, and thought some about the time that had passed since I sat there last.

I’m hopeful that things will continue to pick up over the next couple of weeks, that numbers will stay down and that more restrictions will lift.  Schools are opening up more (mine included), and tourism is supposed to start kicking into gear over the next week.  So there’s definitely some uncertainty.  But today was good; this week was good.  I’m grateful for it all.

(image from collider.com)