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10-19-03 // 3.38 pm take a chance with me NP: Roxy Music - "Avalon" It's been a busy day. Which is the complete opposite of how I envisioned this Sunday, but hey, I don't get to make the rules. Anyway, I got up with Erin as she had to go to work this morning. She took my car to work and I took hers to get an oil change. There was a massive wait so I dropped the car off and walked across the street to a McDonald's and had a cup of coffee and read a (day old) newspaper. Finished at the oil change place and drove off in search of hot dog buns and 10 bucks' worth of quarters. The supermarket where I would usually accomplish both of those tasks is a no go area for me at the moment, as the workers are striking, and I'm not crossing picket lines. So I ended up driving all over south county down on Gravois, where I finally ended up ducking inside a bakery thrift shop type place, and then later getting my quarters at a car wash. Come home and throw many loads of laundry in, settle down on the couch and prepare to relax with some books and records after my busy morning running errands. I get three minutes into the first song of the first CD and the phone rings, it's Erin. She tells me that the back right tire on my car is flat. Very flat. So I call AAA to see if they can patch the flat, or at the very least take the old tire off and put the doughnut on. So AAA basically informs me that since I wasn't the one driving the car, they couldn't do a thing. Apparently the policy follows me around personally. If I was driving a rental car or someone else's car, I could use my emergency assistance on those vehicles. But not on my own vehicle in this case. Infuriating! So I drove out to Erin's work and inspected the car. Sure enough the tire was pretty flat. Not totally flat, though, so I left the regular tire on and went out in search of a place to air the tire up, and hopefully a place that could patch the flat or whatever. I finally found an open garage and they jack the car up, take the tire off, and inform me that there's a huge gaping hole on the inner side of the tire. No way in hell it could be patched. I ask if they can just put a new one on for me, but they tell me that they don't carry the size/model of tire I need. So they put the temp. tire on and send me on my way. After checking like two or three other places, I finally locate a Firestone that can take care of everything this afternoon. So I crawled down Manchester on my pathetic little doughnut to the Firestone on Chippewa. An hour or so later, I was on my way, new tire on the car. Whew. I drove home, took the laundry that had been languishing in the washer/dryer downstairs out, threw a new load in, and finally was able to take a shower. And here I sit. On the plus side, while I was waiting for the new tire to be put on, I wandered down the street and had a bite in this little cafe run by a Hungarian immigrant couple. I meant to just kill some time with a paper and cup of coffee, but the wife talked me into having a small plate of goulash (their specialty, apparently). I'm glad I did, because it was amazingly good. It also came with this small loaf of bread that was possibly the best bread I've ever had in my entire life. Washed it all down with a better-than-average cup of coffee, and I was doing much better. I love discovering little out of the way places like that, especially in my own neighborhood, and especially when the proprietors are so aware of and good at hospitality. Otherwise, it's been a busy yet fun weekend. Ryan H came up on Friday, and Erin and I took him to O'Connell's for a drink and some dinner. It was a roaring good time, the conversation was much needed, the pub was packed, a massive fish & chip supper was the special of the day, and their house-brewed ale was particularly fresh. Headed back to my neighborhood and continued the night at the bowling alley bar down the street. It's a bare-bones kind of place, but it's also within walking distance, which is important. So we had more beers and drinks, played loads of songs on the jukebox, and talked, talked, talked about old times and new. Erin left around 11.30 to have a promised drink with a friend, so Ryan and I headed back to the apartment to catch Radiohead on Letterman, and then lost track of time playing Goldeneye on the N64. Brilliant. Saturday Erin went to some thing her coworker's wife was throwing, so Ryan came back by and we went Halloween costume accessory hunting, and then up on Olive in U. City for a proper Chinese meal. There are loads of great restaurants on that strip, but my favorite is the kind of place you know is good because (a) the menu is written in characters, (b) there are sides of ribs and whole barbecued ducks on hooks in the front window, (c) they serve hot pot, and (d) loads of actual Chinese people are eating there. So yeah, we dug in and it was great. Fantastic weather too, this whole weekend has been stuffed with picture perfect October afternoons. In the evening I went to my grandparents' for a birthday dinner for my mom, and then hung out at home the rest of the evening. I would really like to head back out this afternoon and take some photos (it's been weeks since I've done so properly), but I just feel worn out. I'm going to need a weekend to recover from this weekend, which sounds really sad, I know. OK, time to crack a book and ooze out across the couch. Later gators.
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