3-Day Weekend

I did stair climbing again after work on Monday, then went over to Jimmy's for steak. I got a call from Jimmy Tuesday morning saying a friend of ours, Dave, had had a heart attack. I went over to the hospital with him Wednesday evening. Dave was still in the ICU, mostly because they hadn't found a room for him, and was up and moving around, in good spirits, and pretty well ready to get out of the hospital. They let him out Thursday evening and he went back to work on Friday.
On Saturday I went and saw Timecrimes, a Spanish move about time travel, which I really enjoyed. I went and had dinner with Dave, Jimmy and Rene, then went back and drank beer on Jimmy's deck for a while. Sunday I met up with Jimmy and Dave and another friend about noon at the Texican. We had lunch, then went for a ride out to a memorial for a guy we all knew who was killed in a motorcycle accident. There was a pretty good turnout, including quite a few outlaws, but not enough that I was particularly intimidated. I was riding wearing a handkerchief over my face, so the cedar wasn't bothering me too badly while riding, but my nose was running the entire time we were stopped. There were a few old riding friends I don't see that often any more, so I chatted with them and showed them my tattoo. We stopped in Wimberley on the way back to Austin and had some beer and snacks and watched the playoff game. When I got home the cedar fever really kicked in, making my eyes red and irritated and making me sneeze and my nose run. About 7 I went downtown, with lots of tissues, to see a double bill of animation by Ralph Bakshi. I really wasn't familiar with his work, but I like weird animation, so I thought what the heck, and went for it. Bakshi was there, spoke a little before the showing of Wizards about how it got made and other stuff about the film. I enjoyed the film, which had a bit of a mix of animation styles and some stock WWII footage. After the film, there was a bit of a Q&A with Bakshi, but most of the questions were from the host of the event. It didn't take long for Bakshi to come across as a cantankerous old man who was already up past his bed time. After the questions, the host teased an introduction to the next film, suggesting that Bakshi would put some "context" to a controversial film. This suggestion got Bakshi a bit upset, possibly implying that the controversy was still quite fresh in his mind. Once the host mentioned the word "racism," Bakshi got very upset and stormed out of the theater. The whole exchange was kind of weird to watch from the audience: at first, you're not sure if he's really upset, and it's a little bit humorous; then it becomes clear that he is pretty upset and it's very uncomfortable to witness. After a little break, the manager came out and announced what everyone already had guessed, that Bakshi had left, saying he was tired. The host and another animator who was in the audience (Brad Neely) gave the film a little introduction, and then started Street Fighter (aka Coonskin). The film is a mix of live action and animation about the underworld of Harlem, and it was quite clear how it could stir up controversy coming from a white filmmaker. I enjoyed what I saw of it, I slept through a good chunk of the movie, and didn't think it racist. It would be horribly un-PC by today's standards, but for 1975 it could almost be seen as progressive, in a certain sense.
I had a really bad night's sleep Sunday night. It seems the anti-allergy medication I've been taking has lost its effectiveness and instead of relieving congestion, it completely plugged my nose up. Fortunately Monday was a holiday and I slept until 9, so it didn't work out too badly. I had a lot of thoughts of doing something productive, but just puttered around all morning then went for a bicycle ride at noon. I had first thought about having lunch somewhere on Barton Springs, and the wind was strong enough that I was getting worn out and thinking about just turning around or going somewhere closer, but I decided instead to go to Home Slice. After lunch I took a spin on the hike-and-bike trail, then stopped in to Uncle Billy's. The place was pretty empty, probably because not everybody in town had the day off. I sat at the bar, read the paper and drank a couple beers. From there I rode straight home. I went to the grocery store and got a couple things, but forgot to get more tissues since I've gone through almost all the ones I had. I watched some shows on the DVR and Wanted, which wasn't really good, but not terrible. I had another terrible night's sleep, and was awake from about 5-6 am. I finally got back to sleep, and I wasn't pleased when my alarm went off at 7. I slept with the radio on until about 8, then dragged myself out of bed and went to work.