The Life of This Blonde

An “Ashley” Response

I guess I’m what Blake Ewing’s “Open Letter to Tulsa Area Hipsters” refers to as an “Ashley.” My family lives in Midtown Tulsa, I wear Sperry’s & Uggs, Ralph Lauren & Lacoste polos, North Face & Patagonia jackets and I carry a Gucci purse. I also happen to live, work, shop and eat downtown and I try to keep it local as often as I can.

As someone who spends a lot of their paycheck patronizing all of Blake’s establishments, The Max in particular, but doesn’t fit the “hipster” stereotype that he apparently wants at his bar, this half page paid advertisement alienates and upsets me (while we’re on the topic — a half page ad in This Land runs approximately $1200 — did you really pay that much money just to insult your customers?). I’m positive that it alienates more than just me. No matter how much justification he puts into the descriptions of “hipsters” they’re not going to like it. I’m more than happy to spend my money somewhere else if you don’t want my “Ashley” money. I think it’s a pretty poor business move to call out your customers and stereotype the people who help pay your bills.

The only reason I would continue to frequent The Max is because I enjoy the people who work there. By running this letter he’s not only affecting his own pockets but the pockets of those that work at his bar. There’s a lot of people who may stop frequenting the establishment based on the letter — which I guess was the point in the first place — but he’s hurting his staff’s income and as a business owner that’s probably not the brightest idea.

It almost seems as though he’s attempting to write “The Outsiders Part II” with the class divisions between the greasers and the socs. Get over it. For the most part, we all tend to like each other and get along. Yes, you’ll always have your occasional douchebag who comes in and starts shit for no reason but he isn’t necessarily always going to be a “Chad” or wearing an “extra-medium Affliction shirt.” If I were placed in a group with the people I hang out with at The Max it’d be like a game of “one of these is not like the other” — and I’m totally okay with that… and you know what? I think they are too.

Dystonia Update…

Yesterday I got a phone call from my doctor at the Mayo Clinic. He told me he had good news for me. My spinal tap results came back and showed no signs of dopa-responsive Dystonia. He reassured me that this was a good thing. Then he informed me that I have what is referred to as “Stress Induced Dystonia.” It’s not actually necessarily brought about solely by stress.. they just refer to it as that for lack of a better description. In fact, all Dystonia is brought about by stress to an extent.

According to my doctor this kind of Dystonia is caused by abnormal Dystonic patterns in the brain (isn’t all Dystonia?) and tends to spread and become more violent and severe over time. It’s non-responsive to medication… which explains why my medication wasn’t making a difference. It also can cause Dystonic storms to occur wherever they damn well please… whereas the dopa-responsive only occurs in the lower extremities (legs, feet, etc.) which explains why it’s spread to my arms, hands, neck and jaw.

Two years ago a doctor at the Mayo developed a five day class/program that’s more or less a “motor retraining class.” It basically teaches you how to retrain your body from your Dystonia attacks/how to deal with the attacks. So basically, it’s a bandaid. There is nothing that can be done to truly “cure” or make me better.

We were scared that it was degenerative. My doctor never said it was degenerative in his phone conversation… but isn’t that basically what he meant? I mean, it will spread and become more violent and severe. Isn’t that the same thing?

That said, I’m scared. Really scared. In time I could lose the ability to walk… to function on my own. At least that’s what the research is saying. And with how agressively my Dystonia has come on the last 6 months, it makes it even scarier.

moved!

moved into my new place this week. still a work in progress but i’ll share photos of the two rooms that i’ve accomplished/completed thus far.

That’s the kitchen looking in from the dining room.

Second view of the kitchen (don’t mind the mess outside the door).

Living room. I haven’t put up pictures on the wall yet.

I’ll post more as I finish rooms :)

Welp.

Just found out that my genetic testing I did last month at Mayo Clinic came back and showed no signs of Dopa-Responsive Dystonia. I guess these kind of tests are only about 70% accurate or something of the like. So….. when I go back in August for my podiatry appointment I will also be having a spinal tap. This does not sound like something I want to have done. Actually, I’m positive it’s something I don’t want to have done but it will show whether or not I definitely have DRD… otherwise, it’s back the drawing board and likely that I have another kind of Dystonia.

I am not excited for all this. Not one bit.