Kindness of Strangers

We decided to take a weekend off from trip planning.  Until we finalize our itinerary and purchase our plane ticket (which we’re not quite ready to do) we’re at a bit of a standstill, so now seemed like the perfect time to take a breather.  I knew exactly how I wanted to spend my Saturday:  seeing Be Kind Rewind, the new Jack Black film, costarring Mos Def.  It is a film I had been been looking forward to for months, and Ebert called it a “whimsical…amusing film,” which was exactly what I needed.

Let me begin by saying that I really wanted to love this film.  But what I thought would be mindless fluff quickly devolved into mindnumbing boredom.  The characters were quite possibly the stupidest grouping of humans that I have ever seen assembled on the silver screen.  The plot was ridiculous, and not in a good way: there is the suspension of disbelief, and then there is just plain disbelief.  I have only walked out of one movie in my life, and I really wanted to make this one my second.  But it was my day off, and I was supposed to be having Fun.  Not only that, but the film’s WTER stared me straight in the eyes.  In researching visas on Friday afternoon, I discovered the $13 spent on tickets would nearly cover the cost of my Egyptian vistor visa (good for 30 days).  How could a two-hour movie — especially a really bad one — ever equate to 720 hours in Egypt?  The guilt was palpable.  (I also learned, in the course of my research, that overstaying your visa in Indonesia could result in five years of imprisonment.  And, while you are eligible for a stay upward of 90 days in Peru, the operative word is upward:  the Peruvian official will make that determination when you make your way through immigration in Lima, based on unstated criteria, so good luck!)

I soldiered through the movie.  After returning home and taking two aspirin, I determined that my lovely day off was ruined.  So why not do our taxes?

More WTER moral conundrums abound.  Today I called the totally awesome New Mexico Travel Health Clinic (who, incidentially, has the best billboard EVER) to figure out what vaccinations we would need to receive prior to departure.  It turns out we need to start with the yellow fever vaccine, because some South American visas require proof of this particular vaccination.  It also turns out that this vaccine costs $99 per person (certificate included!).  My dilemma is this:  can trip-related costs carry a WTER?  Technically, a vaccination is a WTER.  But it’s just not very much fun, and I can’t help but feel that only fun trip-related costs should receive a WTER .  Then again, visas aren’t a lot of fun, either; although, visas lead to more fun things than vaccinations.  Japanese encephilitis, anyone?