Just a tourist in my own town for the day

I saw a guy riding a motorized skateboard on Tuesday. He held a controller that was hard-wired to a small motor. He looked a little out of place buzzing across the intersection of Royal Lane and Central Expressway. I wondered if this is something we might get used to or maybe I've just been reading too much sci-fi lately?

I didn't get a picture of the guy I saw, but the board
looked like this.

What else did I do on Tuesday? Well, it's my last week off from school and I wanted to still do SOMETHING. I started out at The Pearl Cup on Henderson for coffee and a ham and swiss quiche, which were both delicious. As I sat reading my Isaac Asimov novel, The Naked Sun, I enjoyed the hip sort of vibe this place puts out. A few people were on their laptops, two girls were playing cards and talking, and some guys were on the patio deep in a discussion I thought too heavy for 10a.m. 

After I emptied my cup, I started back to my car to go off to Half Price Books but got side-tracked by a new favorite store: We Are 1976. The circus posters caught my eye, because I love the circus. This store is a place where mostly local art and arts and crafts are sold. It's neat and groovy. Later in the day, after the bookstore, I went to a sports store, even though I don't "do" sports. I wanted to see if there was something I could get into. There wasn't. But I did meet a guy named Chris and maybe I'll see him again one day. I also saw the movie Now You See Me and it was pretty cool, especially since I love magic shows. I don't even try to guess how it's done, I just enjoy the show.

I tooled around at White Rock Lake again. I had not been there since last year when I moved here. Being at the lake makes me miss the East coast. The smell of brackish water is as close to the ocean smell as I can get way out here in Central Texas. I watch guys fishing and it reminds me of time with my mom and Uncle Joe. I love the damp breeze in my hair, against my face.

a nice view on the trail

structures in someones yard along the shoreline

a little birdie catches fish

The last thing I did on Tuesday was head out to Barcadia, my new favorite place because there is free skeeball on Tuesdays.

the hotdog man at Barcadia

 Not much was going on and I didn't meet anyone new, so I headed home early around 10 p.m. Probably a good thing, because at 1:30 in the morning I had horrifying pain in my back and side. I thought I was dying and I got scared because I live alone. Then I realized I had felt this pain before, five years ago. Kidney stones. "I'm not dying," I thought. As the doctor told me before, there's not much I can do but let it pass, so I took a handful of Ibuprofen and a Tylenol and tried to breathe through the pain as best I could lying on my bathroom floor. I felt a little sick, but didn't throw up and when I finally was able to get back to my bed, I put on my heating pad. Wednesday I was supposed to play disc golf again with my friend Jerrad, but still felt sick and felt like I had a bladder infection, so I ended up laying on my couch instead, drinking water and cranberry juice. Thursday I lay around, too. I just felt tired and I didn't get invited to any barbecues anyway. Friday morning, about 6 a.m. a milder version of the Wednesday morning pain hit me again. I was supposed to go to work at 11, but I decided I should go see a doctor instead. I went to the Urgent Care place near my school and got a prescription for antibiotics.

I ended up going to work anyway, an hour late, and was uncomfortable most of the time because I had the urge to pee a lot, but I got through it. I've only taken a few of my pills so far, but I'm feeling better already and it only cost me $200 since I don't have insurance.

So, in my quest to find something exciting to do on my summer break, this is my summation:

took the train downtown to explore and did cartwheels in front of City Hall, hosted a craft day/lunch at my tiny apartment, housesat for my friends while they went to Hawaii - cleaned up a bunch of cat puke and wild turd fest the cats had while I was away, worked, watched movies, lost my "lover" friend to a younger girl, watched movies, argued with my upstairs neighbors, drove to Shiner, Tx and drank a bunch of free beer, learned how to play disc golf, played skeeball and passed a kidney stone.

Yes. I am a wild one.