Category: travel

amsterdisney

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I went in the mid-nineties and the Red Light District was pretty wild. During the day, it was wild, but at night, damn. The girl I went with (fellow exchange student, not girlfriend or prostitute) and I were fascinated.

Now, there’s parents running around with kids. I went to Sexmuseum and came out ill last time because you know, the shit that was in there went want beyond anything I would ever even consider (think beastiality and worse). Now, I watched a mother pose with a bearded drag queen outside, then take what had to have been her eight and ten year old in.

What happened?

We have Disney prostitutes, instead of Disney princesses. (Of course, it’s a hundred percent certain you’ll find an Ariel and a Jasmine in one of those windows. Don’t ask me how much; I’m all for sex workers not being stigmatized, but paying for sex is not my jam.)

Anyway, saw a Van Gogh and the Night Watch.

I guess culture comes in all forms.

Target: 1100 words
Written: 111 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: Melusine, Sarah Monette
Comics: Hit-Girl 1-4
Music: In On The Kill Taker, Fugazi (my first concert was these guys and I was blown the fuck away)

amstertram

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Goddamn. Is it a requirement of being either a tram driver or tram conductor that you must be in the angriest one percent of all the people in Amsterdam?

I watched a lady try and get on with her friend, at the tail end of a group of about eight, which the tram could more than accommodate, get her hand slammed in the door, separating her from her wallet (luckily, the credit card she needed to swipe onto the tram fell inside) and her friend. The door was open maybe twenty seconds, like definitely not so long as to say it was too long.

And the lady wasn’t behind, she came in right with the other people waiting. Her friend didn’t make it, and hopefully, got her wallet for her.

Clearly, it wasn’t her first tram ride, however, as she casually turned to the conductor and asked, how many stops is it to the Rijksmuseum?

Target: 1100 words
Written: 2121 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: Melusine, Sarah Monette
Comics: Kick-Ass 5-8
Music: In My Head, Black Flag

kinderdijk

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What a peaceful place.

This is my kind of place. Quiet. Peaceful.

Ducks.

Target: 1100 words
Written: 939 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: Melusine, Sarah Monette
Comics: Kick-Ass 1-4
Music: In Miracle Land, The Vines

pub crawl

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Man, I haven’t had a night out like that, joking around with the boys and girls, everybody laughing, telling bawdy jokes, laughing, having a great time, in forever.

I don’t know that the heavy drinking was all that great for me, given various health concerns I’ve got now, but man, I miss the fun.

I miss laughing.

Felt nice. No pretense, just fun, and a good time had by all.

Thank you, Rocco, for making it a brilliant night.

Target: 1100 words
Written: 220 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: Melusine, Sarah Monette
Comics: Cyber Force v5 10-11, Cyber Force: Shootout 1
Music: In Love Dying, Red Hot Chili Peppers

strasbourg?

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I’ve kind of lost track of where we are. It’s Speyer one day, Strasbourg the next, and maybe Wurms and Rudesheim?

Sorry. I don’t know how to do specialized characters on this keyboard.

Germany so far has been wonderful, but man, they sure love to complain about the French burning all their shit down.

Weirdly, our tour guide looked an awful lot like a German girl named Linda that I used to know that was on exchange in the same town as I was in Seinajoki. Beautiful girl (Linda), though our guide was slimmer.

Both were from Bonn.

Coincidence?

Target: 1100 words
Written: 850 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: The Road Through The Wall, Shirley Jackson
Comics: Cyber Force v5 2-5
Music: In Bloom, Nirvana

good guides

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Great guide today, telling about the history of the Nazis and Jews, showing us the stumbling blocks, and using that to really bring home the danger of a dictator, bigotry and fascism.

Something the Americans with us desperately needed to hear, and you could tell it made them uncomfortable.

That’s what good education does – it tells you more about your world in real life; taking the lessons of the past to teach us how to be better in the present, and for the future.

So, kudos, tour guide. Well fucking done.

Target: 1100 words
Written: 1384 words, novella: Bad Neighbours

Read: The Road Through The Wall, Shirley Jackson
Comics: Cyber Force 10-11, Cyber Force: Artifacts 0, Cyber Force v5 1
Music: In Between Evolution, The Tragically Hip (feels like where we are now, on the cusp of an evolutionary leap, or complete destruction.)

bone holes

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It’s not a sex reference, although that would be a funny way to refer to them (yes, I said them – there are at least four).

On the other hand, it was a hole in the bottom of the church where they start tucking in the bones of the deceased when they run out of room to bury them in the yard.

That’s a little fucked, right?

Anyway, the Black Forest was cool, but how do people eat black forest cake without getting pulled over a DUI? The amount of schnapps that girl soaked the cake in had to have been criminal.

On the plus side, if you get pulled over, you can honestly say, “I haven’t drank a drop.”

Target: 1100 words
Written: 558 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: The Road Through The Wall, Shirley Jackson
Comics: Cyber Force v4 6-9
Music: In A Warzone, Transplants (I will forever adore anything involving Tim Armstrong)

travel day

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Long, long day. Full flight to Amsterdam, then a short hop to Basel, Switzerland.

You know, as one does.

So, not much time to write today. What time I have will be dedicated to the novel.

Also, Basel, kinda cool. Never been to Switzerland. It’s pretty sweet. Zurich, maybe, someday.

Target: 1100 words
Written: 1352 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: The Road Through The Wall, Shirley Jackson
Comics: Cyber Force v4 2-5
Music: In A Car, Meat Puppets (yeah, this was terrible)

oversea’d

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Well, we’re off to tour the Rhine, I think. I’m pretty sure it’s the Rhine.

Let’s fucking go.

Target: 1100 words
Written: 97 words, novel: Bad Beighbours

Read: Adam Bede, George Eliot
Comics: Velocity v3 2-4, Cyber Force v4 1
Music: In 3-D, Weird Al Yankovic (anyone else see that movie? Fucking brilliant - I adore both Weird Al and Daniel Radcliffe)

getting out

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Of town, tomorrow.

Today, that means the litany of last minute things we need to do for the friend sitting our house and dogs, for ourselves, for the things we need to be ready or to come with us, for our animals, who we will miss terribly and want to have a few precious moments with each (and when you have four cats and two dogs, that can be time-consuming) before we leave, in case the worst happens.

The worst never quite seems to happen, except in America.

Where exist authoritarians, the worst is always yet to come.

Target: 1100 words
Written: 2399 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: Adam Bede, George Eliot
Comics: Cyber Force/Hunter Killer 3-5, Velocity v3 1
Music: Imagine (The Ultimate Collection), John Lennon (imagine I had a better life, a better outlook, more skill, the whole package)