Stupid Hurts

First off I got a comment from cyclist Corey Keizer over at 15rides.blogspot.com
He is doing a lot to raise awareness for cyclist rights. It means something to me since any night while doing volunteer work I found out I can ask the crowd, “Who here has been hit by a car?” And alway get an affirmative answer from someone, sometimes several someones.

That being said. With my birthday coming up I either want a jersey from his site in a medium. Or a right hand 105 9 speed shifter so I can fix my road bike. Kills me having a broken bicycle I can’t fix, and it isn’t the sort of part people just leave lying around.

Early Thursday someone asked me, “are you going to Elizabeth’s party Friday?”
“Who?”
“Elizabeth?”
“Who?”
“Besti….The mad Russian!”

Turns out I was, so were half of the other bicyclist I know and people who do volunteer work in east Atlanta went as well. One of the more interesting things of the night was the fact they had liberated a huge billboard from somewhere and turned it into a massive slip and slide using water and baby oil.
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I played it fairly calmly since I was still recovering from several seizures earlier in the the night, but still managed to have an all around good time. I also had to barter for a ride home in very broken German.

I think it officially became a party when I heard Jeremy utter the phrase, “Where are my pants?”
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The next day while doing volunteer work at Sopo, I had just taken a moment to eat lunch when a guy ran his motorcycle into the side of the building while attempting to exit the parking lot. I ran over to make sure he is ok, then checked to make sure he didn’t have a concussion, and what happened? I had a seizure. Pretty much like clock work. I checked the guy out before walking to the bathroom room and passing out. 6 seizures in 3 days while on my medicine, a new personal record, but it has left me a bit tired and in pain. But on a side note, I am getting a new Medic-Alert bracelet for my birthday

So I am riding my bike home after doing some more volunteer work at the bicycle co-op and I decide to ride a more relaxed pace that normal. Mostly because I felt like crap anyway. While ascending from the bottom of the hill I saw a person slam their bicycle into the triangular median and take a head first dive onto the pavement. No bracing with his hands or anything, just a head first dive onto the pavement. I then sprint up to him thinking this could be bad. Once I get my own bike situated I helped him up and proceed to check him for a concussion in the most unobtrusive way possible.

Since no good deed goes ever unpunished, and I had been trying not to laugh the entire time, since the guy had basically face planted right in front of me. While I was wrapping up our conversation, I had a petite seizure. I can’t talk while having these and I only have limited motor function. At this point my new best friend decided he wanted a hug and thank me for stopping to help him. At that point I really just wanted to stand there for a second wait for my head to clear, and then go home.

I have been doing a bit of volunteer work since I have gotten into Atlanta. Most of it has been at the Sopo bicycle co-op I will be there tonight actually, building and working on bikes for people. Yesterday was “Food not Bombs” were I spent several hours helping cook, and then pass out food to homeless people in little Five Points. That was a surprising amount of fun, and I got to sit and talk with some really interesting people.
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I didn’t have my camera with me, so it was cell phone pictures for the day.

We met a group of kids who were currently train hopping from one end of the country to the other. The girl had a broken foot from a mis-judged landing and they all had. Their goal for the evening was to get drunk at which point an interesting question got raised.
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“You don’t drink?”
Me:”no”
“Drugs?”
“Nope.”
Turns out the rest of the rest of the people I was working with were all vegetarian straight edgers. They started off by asking me. Well do you eat meat. I answered, “of course.” Then they asked the amusing question.
“Well do you have sex”
“Dude, did you notice I am sitting here reading the local adult services and strip club directory.”