Batman!

Friday afternoon at 3:15 I got an email via Facebook from the Alamo that there were two last-minute tickets available for their Batman adventure to Bracken cave. I wanted to go to the event when I first heard about it, but when checking online it went from not on sale to sold out. Apparently it sold out in about 15 minutes. I thought about it for 15 minutes, since I was still at work and would have to run out to make it in time for the 4:30 departure. I figured that they would be gone by the time I decided I wanted to go, but called and found out at least one was still available. I purchased the ticket (for $110!), finished up a few things and headed over to the theater on Lamar. I was sitting by myself on the bus for a while until a couple ran up at the last minute and the woman sat down next to me. We chatted some on the way down to the cave and also laughed at the campy original Batman episode they played. As soon as we stopped I rushed off the bus to the bathroom, which was a single port-o-potty, because of the beers I drank and I decided to wait until we got there after we turned off of the interstate. There were a couple of people there from Bat Conservancy, which actually owns the cave and surrounding land, to tell us about the cave and the bats, as well as a crew from the Alamo to cook and serve dinner. The food was top-notch, but for whatever reason seemed to have something of a raw/rare theme. Appetizers were steak tartare and ceviche, and the main course was rare tuna steak. I ate every bite, but it was kind of weird to eat raw food more or less in the middle of nowhere, and it didn't seem to have any connection to bats or the movie. As I was finishing the main course, about 7:30, the bat flight started. Apparently due to various factors, the flights have started earlier than normal, and it's something of a rare treat to be able to see them leave in full sunlight, usually it's closer to dusk. Everyone got up from the tables to see the bats closer up. It was really incredible to see, but what I found much more amazing was just the sound, particularly the sound of all the wings flapping. For reasons even the bat guy didn't know, the first flight didn't last very long and quite a few came back, which was really neat to see, and apparently very unusual. They did a sort of dive bomb into the cave. Closer to dusk, a second flight started and continued until we left at dark. On the way back a different woman sat next to me and we chatted most of the way about movies, music, and whatever. We got back to the theater and had a whole section blocked off for us for the 11:30 show. I thought the movie was really good, but I missed some of it having to go to the bathroom and I think I briefly fell asleep since it was past my bed time. Plus the mojitos didn't help.
Saturday morning I lazed about for a while, then left on my bicycle around 10:30. I got to Home Slice at 11:15 and as I was about to walk in the back door, I was told they didn't open for another 15 minutes, explaining the staff meeting on the patio. As I waited out front reading the paper about a dozen more people showed up. The pizza was excellent as always and I ate three slices. From there I rode to Uncle Billy's and drank beer in the AC reading the paper for two hours. I decided to go to the Blanton museum from there to see the Michener collection of Japanese prints as well as an exhibition on printmaking in general. I left there about 4 and headed to Chuy's for dinner. I of course stuffed myself and had something of a hard time getting my fat ass (which was pretty saddle sore at that point) back home. I got home about 7 and watched qualifying for the drag race, which was a measly one hour show, then watched Hostel part 2, which was predictably silly torture porn.
I did almost nothing of any value on Sunday, except to get a few things at the grocery store after having lunch, until after dinner I went rollerblading for the first time since I broke my ankle. It went better than I thought it might, I was able to make the full 5K in a decent time. My ankle was really uncomfortable, but I powered through and did a second full lap after a 5-minute break, which also went pretty well. After the second lap my ankle was pretty sore, and it still is, particularly around the top of the implant on the fibula.