Foiled by Overconfidence

On Saturday, April 28, 2007, I was in the city after having watched a movie at the SF International Film Festival. After a brief stop by the Safeway on Market, I got in my car with an hour to spare before the next festival movie I planned to see.

The next movie was playing at the Kabuki in Japantown. I knew it was north-west of me. I knew I knew how to get there by heading east on Market, up Van Ness, and then down Geary. It's a simple ten minute route but a bit roundabout.

Instead, I decided to head west on Market, presuming I'd be able to turn North soon and get to the theater fairly directly.

I was wrong. It's very hard to turn north in that vicinity of Market. I found myself driving further west on Market as Market started winding through the hills -- hills that contain many dead end streets. I took some turns in the general direction of where I wanted to go but soon found myself lost. After forty minutes attempting to find roads that go in the direction I desired, I emerged in the vicinity of the theater.

After parking, I got in the line for tickets.

The person in front of me was the last person they let into the theater before running out of tickets.

Thus, I missed the movie I wanted to see (Jindabyne) because I thought I could easily save myself a few minutes of driving by trying a new route. Even if I drove west, I still could've made it had I swallowed my pride, U-turned, and took my default route as soon as I realized heading north from that part of Market was hard.

Happily, from poking around some online reviews, I no longer feel as bad as I originally did for missing the movie. Critics' reactions are mixed.

Addendum: A week after this incident, I almost had the opposite adventure while heading to another movie in the city. Because the movie I was going to see wasn't sold out the previous day, I left work late and drove to the city slowly, in no particular hurry. But it turned out the movie was sold out. I got in the rush line and was one of the last people admitted into the theater. And this movie was good. I guess things do balance out somehow.