Adults Behaving Badly

So, I try really hard to not be too judgmental. Everyone is fighting different battles, living with different struggles and coping with different things. Here comes the but…

We went to the San Diego Symphony’s new outdoor venue, the Rady Shell at Jacobs Park. This is a gorgeous new outdoor concert venue at Embarcadero Park. It’s situated behind the Convention Center right on the water. There are stunning views of the Coronado Bridge and downtown San Diego.

The San Diego Symphony presented Star Wars, Return of the Jedi. The movie played on three large screens while the amazing symphony musicians played the musical score live. It was fantastic!  If you’ve never attended an event like this, you should. Live music just makes it so much more immersive.

While we thoroughly enjoyed the presentation, we did struggle a bit with the folks sitting in front of us. Remember it’s the San Diego Symphony. It’s not cheap. It was also Star Wars, a family-friendly movie. The audience was definitely multi-generational. We paid a decent amount for the tickets so when the couple in front us spent a good portion of the movie making out, it was not only distracting, but also very much inappropriate for the venue.

I am not a total prude. A quick kiss or peck on the cheek is totally fine. Showing affection is cool.  But as the evening wore on and more margaritas were consumed (yes, they sell alcohol in the venue) the female of the couple become more and more amorous. As she scooched closer and closer to her male companion, she was practically on his lap. The Little One and I alternated our positions in our seats in feeble attempts to see around this couple who were ever-morphing into one person right in front of our eyes. The female at one point was literally licking the man’s face, in the same way that a dog might attack a melting ice cream cone. It was not pretty. Trust me, nobody wanted to see that.

There were a few moments where she tore herself away from her companion. I wish that I could say she cooled her jets a little and behaved in a more appropriate manner. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Instead in those moments, she was recording the movie and symphony on her iPhone. I’m not talking a 10-15 second clip with her camera held discreetly in front of her. No, I am talking minutes recorded at a time with her camera held high above her head as she zoomed in and out adjusting the settings to get just the right lighting. At one point, she literally stood up as she recorded large chunks of the presentation.

Like I said, I really try not to judge too much, but please people if you are going to a family-friendly venue try to control yourself. Minimize the alcohol. Keep your tongue in your mouth. Put your phone down and enjoy the moment. It truly was a spectacular presentation.

Oh! And when you leave a venue, any venue, pick up your trash! We were shocked at the amount of cans, bottles, wrappers, snacks and other trash the people left behind on the ground at their seats. C’mon y’all it’s not that hard. We need to model the behavior we want from our kids. Be a positive example!