Say it isn't so, a REAL update!
Edward and I rode our bikes to Southtown last night for the First Friday Art Walk. The first Friday of the month there are art openings, music, craft stands, and other stuff. We first stopped at the Acapulco Drive-in for some liquid refreshment. There were several motorcycles there from the Westsiders. Some of the bikes were nice but I wasn't too impressed.
We headed further down S. Alamo to the art walk. Off to one side there was a block party/small festival taking place. The street was packed with slow moving cars and pedestrians watching musicians play in the bed of parked pick-up trucks, or on front porches. I almost hit a few people who just stepped right into the road. We went to Beethoven Hall Biergarten for some oompa music but they were just packing up as we got there. We stayed for a drink and a pretzel, I wish I would've gotten the brat and kraut instead though. Some band started to play just before we headed out. They were alright, not great. Kinda country/Americana music which I enjoy live but we decided to head to better things. As we were cruising back through the art walk we stopped to watch a jam band on someone's lawn. I enjoyed watching them. There were some girls dancing like wild African dance. It was quite entertaining. An old friend of Ed's came zooming up on his bike. We chatted with him for a bit and then headed to Bar America. This is a cool little bar run by a little old man and his wife and sister. Beers are cheap ($1 LoneStar big cans, $2 imports), pool is only .25¢ on big 8ft, not little quarter tables and the jukebox plays 40's swing, 60-70's country and tejano. It's always packed there on First Friday with all the trendy kids. That's one of the reason's Ed and I had stopped coming down to Southtown for first Friday the past year or so. It got too crowded and trendy. It's still crowded and trendy now but the area the art walk covers is 5 times as big so it's not as bad, especially on a bicycle. Back to Bar America, it's referred to as Bar A to locals. The bad thing about it, for me anyway, is that they don't serve liquor. That had been my luck all night and I had to resort to drinking Bacardi Silver or Smirnoff. I was not feeling too good this morning after consuming several malt beverages. Ed says I need to start drinking beer. I have been known to take a sip or two when it's ice cold and out of desperation. As we rode up to the bar, we saw Charlie and Scott (I went to high school with them) through the window. Scott and his chickie were totally digging my bike. I love my bike. I constantly have people checking it out or making comments about it. They think it's the coolest bike they've ever seen, especially because of the ruby red and white paint job and the white wall tires. So many people want to know where Ed got it from (it was my one year anniversary present from him). Several people have asked if it was a re-built/re-furbished antique.
Anyhow we hung with them for a bit chatted about old times and old friends. *They were all skaters and Ed being a BMXer knew several of them. It's so odd that we didn't meet sooner.* Charlie started talking about Eddie McDuffy, whom I had a big crush on in school, had died of a heart attack a little over a year ago. What happened was Charlie, Eddie and another friend were all hanging out at someone's house. Eddie came out of the bathroom and said, "take me to the hospital I think I'm having a heart attack." Charlie thought he was joking at first and said it was prolly something he ate, but Eddie was acting so seriously that the other friend took him. At first the hospital was trying to say it was a drug overdose because he was so young that it couldn't have been a heart attack. He had stopped doing hard drugs long before that (and would even bug Charlie about his habits), so they misdiagnosed him. What happened was a blood clot reached his heart and stopped the flow of blood and oxygen to his brain. By the time the hospital figured out what was going on his brain had been deprived of oxygen for too long. I think he may have had a stroke also. That's pretty freaky. He was only 31.
Although it was still pretty early I was tired from a long day at work so we headed home. This morning and almost every morning since about a week after I got off my meds I wake up with tingly, numb fingers. Even throughout the day it's beginning to happen, especially my right hand, and it's becoming worse and more often. This morning it was excruciatingly painful. My hand was numb but at the same time a horrible pain ran from my middle finger all the way up my arm. and my knuckles have been hurting and my fingers are swollen. I don't know what it is but it scares me a bit especially after this morning when it was so painful. I think I'm getting arthritis in my hands because it's becoming increasingly difficult for me to open jars and performing other twisting/griping motions with my hands. I see Dr. Kempf my Rheumatologist on Tuesday. Hopefully he can tell me what going on. Maybe I just have really bad circulation when I'm sleeping.
Well I hope all everyone has a wonderful weekend and for the Americans:
Happy Independence
Day!
We headed further down S. Alamo to the art walk. Off to one side there was a block party/small festival taking place. The street was packed with slow moving cars and pedestrians watching musicians play in the bed of parked pick-up trucks, or on front porches. I almost hit a few people who just stepped right into the road. We went to Beethoven Hall Biergarten for some oompa music but they were just packing up as we got there. We stayed for a drink and a pretzel, I wish I would've gotten the brat and kraut instead though. Some band started to play just before we headed out. They were alright, not great. Kinda country/Americana music which I enjoy live but we decided to head to better things. As we were cruising back through the art walk we stopped to watch a jam band on someone's lawn. I enjoyed watching them. There were some girls dancing like wild African dance. It was quite entertaining. An old friend of Ed's came zooming up on his bike. We chatted with him for a bit and then headed to Bar America. This is a cool little bar run by a little old man and his wife and sister. Beers are cheap ($1 LoneStar big cans, $2 imports), pool is only .25¢ on big 8ft, not little quarter tables and the jukebox plays 40's swing, 60-70's country and tejano. It's always packed there on First Friday with all the trendy kids. That's one of the reason's Ed and I had stopped coming down to Southtown for first Friday the past year or so. It got too crowded and trendy. It's still crowded and trendy now but the area the art walk covers is 5 times as big so it's not as bad, especially on a bicycle. Back to Bar America, it's referred to as Bar A to locals. The bad thing about it, for me anyway, is that they don't serve liquor. That had been my luck all night and I had to resort to drinking Bacardi Silver or Smirnoff. I was not feeling too good this morning after consuming several malt beverages. Ed says I need to start drinking beer. I have been known to take a sip or two when it's ice cold and out of desperation. As we rode up to the bar, we saw Charlie and Scott (I went to high school with them) through the window. Scott and his chickie were totally digging my bike. I love my bike. I constantly have people checking it out or making comments about it. They think it's the coolest bike they've ever seen, especially because of the ruby red and white paint job and the white wall tires. So many people want to know where Ed got it from (it was my one year anniversary present from him). Several people have asked if it was a re-built/re-furbished antique.
Anyhow we hung with them for a bit chatted about old times and old friends. *They were all skaters and Ed being a BMXer knew several of them. It's so odd that we didn't meet sooner.* Charlie started talking about Eddie McDuffy, whom I had a big crush on in school, had died of a heart attack a little over a year ago. What happened was Charlie, Eddie and another friend were all hanging out at someone's house. Eddie came out of the bathroom and said, "take me to the hospital I think I'm having a heart attack." Charlie thought he was joking at first and said it was prolly something he ate, but Eddie was acting so seriously that the other friend took him. At first the hospital was trying to say it was a drug overdose because he was so young that it couldn't have been a heart attack. He had stopped doing hard drugs long before that (and would even bug Charlie about his habits), so they misdiagnosed him. What happened was a blood clot reached his heart and stopped the flow of blood and oxygen to his brain. By the time the hospital figured out what was going on his brain had been deprived of oxygen for too long. I think he may have had a stroke also. That's pretty freaky. He was only 31.
Although it was still pretty early I was tired from a long day at work so we headed home. This morning and almost every morning since about a week after I got off my meds I wake up with tingly, numb fingers. Even throughout the day it's beginning to happen, especially my right hand, and it's becoming worse and more often. This morning it was excruciatingly painful. My hand was numb but at the same time a horrible pain ran from my middle finger all the way up my arm. and my knuckles have been hurting and my fingers are swollen. I don't know what it is but it scares me a bit especially after this morning when it was so painful. I think I'm getting arthritis in my hands because it's becoming increasingly difficult for me to open jars and performing other twisting/griping motions with my hands. I see Dr. Kempf my Rheumatologist on Tuesday. Hopefully he can tell me what going on. Maybe I just have really bad circulation when I'm sleeping.
Well I hope all everyone has a wonderful weekend and for the Americans:
Happy Independence
Day!