Like the rest of this summer, there were far more storms than usual. The sight of a rain wall coming through downtown Dallas was a common occurrence and I got stuck outside in the rain all the time.
My weekdays are long now. I wake up around 4:30 a.m. to write morning recaps for the paper. (These will eventually become newsletters.) A long-ish dog walk happens, and then I’m in the office until halfway through the evening.
After being at the new job for a month now, a routine is finally beginning to take shape. I initially tried to bus downtown for the first week, but I gave up and started driving.
I live three miles from my office, so the 45-minute public transit commute felt ridiculous. I also decided that subjecting myself to the chaos of downtown’s West End Station was not worth it. Why was I standing in 100 degree heat among drug dealers, panhandlers, and drunk people while waiting for a bus that would be 20 minutes late?
Now that my public transportation experiment ended, my commutes are way shorter, cheaper, and more comfortable. (Hey, at least I tried.)
My neighbors tried to make plans when we met at the dog park.
Jack: “You’re not celebrating?!”
Jill: “You have to do something for your 30th!”
Me: “I am not a big holiday person, and a big party feels gauche in light of the Dallas shootings.”
Jack: “I get that, but you should do something.”
Me: “Like what? Pool time? Bars and drag shows? Brunch? That’s every weekend.”
Jill: “Yeah, living in Oak Lawn is kind of a permanent vacation.”
We did get out of the house this weekend, spent some serious time at the pool, and even had a few long walks downtown.
New and old buildings at the edge of downtown Dallas (near the farmers’ market.)
A mannequin with a fabulous hat at Flower Reign in Oak Lawn, Dallas.
Best Week Ever posts are a summary of the past week
You’ll need plenty of water (and a shower) if you are outside for more than a few minutes. This translates shorter dog walks and a lot of laundry.
When we try to become more ambitious with the dog walks, we quickly regret it. Even our walks from Oak Lawn to downtown Dallas get dicey after 11 a.m.
Notifications lit up my cellphone like a Christmas tree this morning – a gunman killed at least 50 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, and everyone was either sharing the news story or asking whether we lost anyone.
After confirming that our friends in Orlando were alive, we monitored the climbing death toll on our phones while walking the dogs through downtown Dallas. There were more than a dozen bicycle cops on the Katy Trail, and a few nervous security guards at Klyde Warren Park.
Later we brunched in the gayborhood while discussing escape plans for each gay club – would we climb on the roof from S4’s second floor balcony? Is there a back exit door at Havana’s? Would gay guys run to their cars and get guns? (This is Texas, after all.)
The morbid emergency planning was broken by a swarm of people who flooded the Oak Lawn bars. There were cocktails, uncomfortable laughs, and armed security guards. We were uneasy, but still out and supporting each other.
Increased police presence in Oak Lawn after the Pulse nightclub shootings.
The memorial in front of the Centrum building.
Back in law school, this blog had a week-in-review series of posts called “Best Week Ever.”
These posts were weekly summaries for readers that did not keep with the blog on a daily basis.
Best Week Ever posts were also great place to stick small updates that did not necessarily merit a standalone post. At the risk of losing all interesting updates to Facebook, I have brought back the weekly summaries. This is the first one.
So what happened last week?
Ingrid in a flower-filled forest clearing.
We visited the Great Trinity Forest as part of an advertising campaign for Stanley. This “urban park” boasts 6,000 acres of neglected flood lands located near downtown Dallas.