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Spent a couple hours looking at transportation and hotel options. I haaaate this part. Trains looked complicated and going through the strike zone, Orbitz was expensive, but easyjet had good prices... at 9am or 7pm. And Tuesday was half the price of tomorrow. So I'll move to a hotel for one day in Amsterdam, 25 minutes closer to everything, and fly to Madrid Tuesday morning. Got a heavily discounted 4-star hotel for 3 days there... should have gone for 4, 3 nights really means only 2 full days. Well, I can juggle later.
Future plans are still a toss between "flee to Boston!" and "winter in South America". mlc23 had suggested language study as something for purpose; even if I didn't get into a class, I could probably put an ad out for someone to tutor me. Once I learned enough to be worthwhile... I realized the smart thing, or a smart thing, would be to hang on in Chile where I have friends, big city love notwithstanding. That could be fun, and I've have help finding an apartment. OTOH it'd delay actually putting down roots somewhere, and part of the appeal of Boston is 3 million SF and anime conventions to start going to, starting in January. Then again New Year's is a good time to leave Chile anyway... and a poor time to fly into Boston, of course.
Sunny today, so I figured I'd take advantage of my location and bike in the countryside some more. Unfortunately my butt is still sore and the bike seat rock hard, so that didn't last long. Tried walking to Katwoude, but know what walking along a flat farmy freeway you've seen for a week is? Boring, at least for me. My body kept voting for "warm sunny nap" so I eventually turned back.
One thing I don't remember Jane Jacobs mentioning in favor of short city blocks is all the interest they afford. You're not just walking in a straight line, or at least forced to, there's all these visual and ambulatory options you keep passing. Hmm, kind of like the advice for garden design, to have blocked sightlines so that there's surprises as you move around. Vs. very long blocks, which just feel oppressive to me. Or freeways. Trapped! On a line!
Skype is awesome; I called anime-German-Anna and talked for an hour for 1 euro and half my battery. Bad battery! Called got dropped once early on. It's occurred to me I might have more energy if I'd been talking to my friends more; text and e-mail are nice (though quiet recently), but hearing voices is cool.
Had second pepperburger, then tried some grilled cheese sandwiches with margarine (it was what was in the fridge) and the last of my brie. Came out... ok.
Anna asked if I've been eating healthily. Answer: somewhat? Diet low on vegetables or salads. Well, green vegetables. Decent in fruit -- bananas, oranges or OJ, apples -- and easy veggies like carrots or cherry tomatoes. Muesli and whole milk for breakfast for the past week, which I wonder if is a good idea given how little I've been drinking milk. Otherwise, lots of steaks, lasagna, bread, cheese.
Future plans are still a toss between "flee to Boston!" and "winter in South America". mlc23 had suggested language study as something for purpose; even if I didn't get into a class, I could probably put an ad out for someone to tutor me. Once I learned enough to be worthwhile... I realized the smart thing, or a smart thing, would be to hang on in Chile where I have friends, big city love notwithstanding. That could be fun, and I've have help finding an apartment. OTOH it'd delay actually putting down roots somewhere, and part of the appeal of Boston is 3 million SF and anime conventions to start going to, starting in January. Then again New Year's is a good time to leave Chile anyway... and a poor time to fly into Boston, of course.
Sunny today, so I figured I'd take advantage of my location and bike in the countryside some more. Unfortunately my butt is still sore and the bike seat rock hard, so that didn't last long. Tried walking to Katwoude, but know what walking along a flat farmy freeway you've seen for a week is? Boring, at least for me. My body kept voting for "warm sunny nap" so I eventually turned back.
One thing I don't remember Jane Jacobs mentioning in favor of short city blocks is all the interest they afford. You're not just walking in a straight line, or at least forced to, there's all these visual and ambulatory options you keep passing. Hmm, kind of like the advice for garden design, to have blocked sightlines so that there's surprises as you move around. Vs. very long blocks, which just feel oppressive to me. Or freeways. Trapped! On a line!
Skype is awesome; I called anime-German-Anna and talked for an hour for 1 euro and half my battery. Bad battery! Called got dropped once early on. It's occurred to me I might have more energy if I'd been talking to my friends more; text and e-mail are nice (though quiet recently), but hearing voices is cool.
Had second pepperburger, then tried some grilled cheese sandwiches with margarine (it was what was in the fridge) and the last of my brie. Came out... ok.
Anna asked if I've been eating healthily. Answer: somewhat? Diet low on vegetables or salads. Well, green vegetables. Decent in fruit -- bananas, oranges or OJ, apples -- and easy veggies like carrots or cherry tomatoes. Muesli and whole milk for breakfast for the past week, which I wonder if is a good idea given how little I've been drinking milk. Otherwise, lots of steaks, lasagna, bread, cheese.