My birthday! I had had high hopes for the day since it was going to end with seeing Lucero but it did not turn out that way. When I first told my sister I would be visiting her the week of my birthday, she told me that she would take the entire week off. Then there was one day she would have to work. Then another. But she would definitely keep my birthday free. And on Monday I found out she would be working until 12pm or maybe 1pm on my birthday but we could still find something to do before the show.

At 12:30pm I was ready. At 1pm I texted her to ask if she knew when she would be home. By 2pm I was upset at the lack of response and feeling sorry for myself. Originally, I was going to take a Lyft to one of the places we were going to go to but it was too expensive. So I found a restaurant nearby that seemed okay to have a drink and lunch. Tacos & Tequilas is just that. I ordered three street tacos, which were on special for $6 and asked the bartender what mezcal they had. What I was looking for was a recommendation. What she did was point to the two long shelves of tequilas. At this point I could see that the entire place reeked of an American’s idea of a Mexican place. I chose a mezcal that was listed as a special. It was not very good. Neither was the free salsa and chips.

We will not speak of the carne asada street tacos with cold cheese piled on top.

My sister finally contacted me. Her roommate had some drama going on and my sister was worried. Denise met me at the restaurant and had a quesadilla and some black beans. I suggested she go home since it was only 10 minutes away to check on the animals but she insisted we go downtown to what I wanted to do.

We went to Heritage Square. I knew the Rosson House Museum was not open but I thought it would be nice to walk around an old section of Phoenix since so little of that exists.

At first I thought this was a church across the street but it is actually part of Arizona State University.

We headed to the Crescent Ballroom to hang out before the doors opened for Lucero. I had a couple of glasses of wine while Denise wondered if she should now go home (which was a half-hour away) to take care of some stuff. Now she was getting angry about the roommate drama and she apologized for me for messing up my birthday, which I appreciated but I was still wallowing in the suckiness.

I went in when the doors opened while Denise decided whether to go in right away. Turns out she did not go home but came in and sat in the bleachers and watched most of the show.

To see how my birthday improved dramatically follow me here.

By Carene Lydia Lopez