Can you believe it? This summer I almost had to add another thing to my Murtaugh List! I know. Crazy, right?

Oh, fine. I’ll tell you what a Murtaugh List is. The concept comes from a How I Met Your Mother episode. The List gets its name from veteran detective Roger Murtaugh, Danny Glover’s character from the “Lethal Weapon” movies. Fans of those movies know Detective Murtaugh’s oft-repeated, signature line: “I’m getting too old for this shit.” So a Murtaugh List, then, is composed of shit you are getting too old for. Everyone with me? Ok, good. Let’s keep moving.

What’s on my Murtaugh List? (Yes, I actually do have a Murtaugh List. No, I don’t try to replicate everything I see on TV. Just most things.) Here, I’ll give you a small sampling.

• Eating frozen microwaveable White Castle hamburgers. (Why? I no longer have the digestive powers of a teen.)
• Drinking alcohol mixed with Red Bull. (Why? I no longer have the recovery powers of a college kid.)
• Skipping dinner because I don’t know how to make anything except frozen microwaveable White Castle hamburgers. (Why? No 20-something should have that embarrassing a level of culinary competence.)

Where is all this going? Well, you’re about to find out. So, three weeks ago I was begging people to accompany me to the midnight premiere of “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.” During this begging process, however, I encountered a pretty serious problem. Nobody wanted to come.

Then something happened. After my eleventh failed attempt to find a friend to bask in the awesomeness that the “Scott Pilgrim” midnight premiere surely was going to be, my stomach went cold as Hoth. “Shit,” I thought to myself. “Are we getting too old for this shit?”

And thus, a sad event ensued: I was forced to consider adding midnight premieres to my Murtuagh List. This was nothing short of a tragedy. Midnight premiers are special. There’s a palpable energy in the room that differentiates it from all other movie-going experiences; those in the audience are the very first members of the general public to see the movie. The audience is also composed of the most dedicated fans, and you’re pretty much guaranteed to see somebody dressed like a character from the movie being shown. High-fiving these people is a must. This isn’t like any old trip to the movie theater—this is an all-out celebration.

Yet, this celebration usually begins on a Friday morning at 12:01 a.m. (The standard time for a midnight premiere of a movie that comes out on a Friday.) For those who work nine-to-five jobs, or have any comparable commitment, this presents a real problem. And that’s why I had trouble getting even one of my friends to see “Scott Pilgrim” with me—they were all working.

I was fortunate, however, to be in-between the end of my internship and the start of my 2L year. (So, I was pretty much doing nothing.) A rare break from what is otherwise, as you all know, an untamed jungle of responsibilities. Would I have tried to see the “Scott Pilgrim” premiere were I still interning or back at school? It crushes my fan boy soul to say so, but I wasn’t so sure that I would have.

All this was running through my head that fateful night. When all hope seemed lost, however, a close friend caved. For a free slushie, a free popcorn, oh, and a free ticket, he would accompany me after all. “Yeah, I’ll be dead at work the next day,” he said, “but whatever.” I was elated. And for a while longer, midnight premieres would stay off my Murtaugh List—not yet ready to join the ranks of the frozen microwaveable White Castle hamburger.

What’s on your Murtaugh List? Email Dave at pop_culture_column@cardozojurist.com.