Waffles are very good. You'd like them. *

[bending_sickle]

I went to Amsterdam yesterday afternoon - messaging Alberto just incase, but no reply - in the hopes of stocking up on touristy things to send to friends and catch a movie. I wasn't quite successful on either plan. I'm still three small gifts short and was sorely tempted to buy a dark blue wind-mill decorated tie for dad (but didn't, 'cause I is te dumb). I walked about the pedestrian shopping streets and wandered about a bookstore's English-language section.

I bought, secondhand, Forget You Had a Daughter: Doing Time in the 'Bangkok Hilton' by Sandra Gregory, with Michael Tierney:

Sandra Gregory was living a life in Bangkok that many only dream of - until illness, unemployment and political unrest turned it into a nightmare. Desperate to get home, she agreed to smuggle an addict's personal supply of heroin. She didn't even make it onto the plane.

In this remarkably candid memoir, Sandra Gregory tells of the events leading up to her arrest [in 1993], the horrific conditions in Lard Yao prison, her trial in a language she didn't understand and how it feels to be sentenced to death. Her journey to the UK resumed some four and a half years later when she was transferred to the British prison system, where she had to adapt to a new yet equally harsh regime. Following relentless campaigning by her parents, who refused to gorget they had a daughter, she was pardoned by the King og Thailand and released in 2000.

This really isn't my usual fare of reading material. I rarely read (auto)biographies and real-world woes. My buying this book is a bit masochistic on my part as well becausea just flipping through it I was near tears and depressed, and I just know reading this book is going to break my heart. I couldn't stop near-crying as I read a few chapters on the train back home yesterday (which went the wrong way round, stopping at Harleem, completely throwing me into a panic over whether I was on the wrong train or not). But I couldn't leave the book at the store. I just couldn't.

Then I bought a waffle, made my way to a cinema, saw that they were only playing documentaries about soldier children and forced prostitution and all manner of joyful stuff and turned tail. I then meandered around Amsterdam, totally failed to get lost (whoot!) and accedientally stumbled onto the Red Light District.

Now, I'd been in the Red Light District before. My youth hostel was smack in it, and I'd wandered the 'hood at night. But what they don't tell you is that the actual Red Light part of the district, with the neon and the windows and the prostitutes, is actually only a few streets. Completely missable. So there I was, walking in what I hoped was the vague direction of the trains station, when I saw red neon lights spilling from an alley and a middle-aged man checking out a window. I'd already made it a couple metres past the alley when my brain registered what I'd seen. Well, when a group of British tourist went into the alley, I just had to follow. I didn't pause to oogle, and there really wasn't much to see, as only two windows were open, but I can report that I saw one woman standing in lingerei, doused in red lights, and another woman lying on a bed (in lingerei and tights) while another woman walked out of the room in what I think was a nurse uniform. Interesting.

So in the end I walked 4 hours straight, the latter third in the rain, without pause, entertainment or even a damn cup of coffee. I suck at self-entertainment.


Quote of the Day:

Like sex, money gets into everything. And once it's there, jealousy, crime and violence won't be far off.
- William Keegan in The Observer, regarding the increase in theft of virtual-objects (e.g. Habbo Hotel and World of Warcraft)

Links of the Day:

Define Dangerous by vampedvixen
Characters: Sylar, Claire.
Spoilers: Up to Season 2.
Summary: While escaping the Company, Sylar meets up with someone from his past. Together, they must piece together some semblance of normality after years of captivity. Future AU.

Thanksgiving by aunt_zelda
Rating: R for Sylar's dirty thoughts, Sylar's dirty langauge, and Sylar bieng dirty in general.
Genre: Holida crack/angst
Pairings: Paldue, budding Claire/Monica, past Claude/Bennet, vague Sandra/Heide, Mylar (the main focus, I'm afraid).
Spoilers: Episode 17 of Season 1, up to Episode 9 of Season 2.
Summary: Three years after the Explorsion, those who are alive gather at Noah's house for THanksgiving, even Sylar, who is now an anti-hero of sorts. Slash ensues.

The Way I Was Made (Mohinder/Peter/Sylar) by trans_literate
Summary: Re-tracing treads left / by absent fathers, they walk / blind, steps propelled by / plans generations brewing.
A/N: Written for haikuathon, prompt: once had hope

Slash the Geneticist (Mohinder/Everyone) by trans_literate
Summary: Slash the geneticist, slash the world.
Full pairing list: Noah, Maya, Peter, Adam, Kensei, Niki/Jessica, Matt, Haitian, Nathan, future!Nathan, Ando, Candice, Eden, Sylar|Gabriel, Alejandro.


* Hiro Nakamura, Heroes 1x14

Comments

[blizzardcake.livejournal.com]

cool! I've always wondered what the "red light" part of the district is actually like :P
I have a very vague memory of Amsterdam from when I went as a child (about 7 years old): I remember our hotel being very very thin and the food excellent, taking a boat tour on the canals, and I remember my mom buying this wool dress for me that I ended up wearing all the time (it was the itchiest thing evar).

And omg that book by Sandra Gregory really sounds like an emotional rollercoaster to read!!

[(Anonymous)]

... i would have ogled.

xxx
kit-kat