Big Screen Withdrawal

You know those annoying pop-up surveys that sometimes come up when you're browsing online? Not the spam ones that you automatically close, but the briefer, official ones that are designed as market research for the company whose website you're surfing. I recently completed a fairly detailed one on the entertainment industry.*

(*SIDEBAR: Most people probably click past these, too, but I'm a geek for this sort of thing. Back in school, I was the kind of dork who looked forward to standardized testing days, because it meant I got to fill in all those little bubbles on the paper. Ahem.)

This survey started by asking how often I go to the movie theater, and it gave options ranging from once or twice a year to two or three per week. I automatically clicked the most frequent option....then realized I haven't been to a movie in over a month. In fact, there have been several months over the past year when I haven't been to even one movie.

The realization actually shocked me, because I used to go to movies ALL THE TIME. At least one per weekend, if not two or three, if several new releases seemed interesting enough. I've just been so busy with work and travel lately, and the friends I tend to see movies with have been, too. I've missed seeing some things I was looking forward to, and I suspect much more has gone by without my notice.

I can't decide whether to celebrate this shift, for all the reasons that it means I'm out in the world having adventures, or to mourn the fact that a pastime I truly loved seems to have fallen by the wayside.

Have you discovered any changed habits lately, for better or worse?