The juicy details of my personal life or thoughts. (As juicy as it gets around here anyway.)
Whenever I’m dealing with the authorities, I try to remember what Hannibal Lecter said to Clarice Starling after she was suspended from the FBI: “I have followed with enthusiasm the course of your disgrace and public shaming. My own never bothered me except for the inconvenience of being incarcerated, but you may lack perspective.”
No, haven’t been arrested or anything, just sharing a musing that has often helped me find perspective in many situations.
Because my post on what you pay for with an escort devolved into a discussion on dating an escort (not the original intent of the post) and then into a discussion on men/women/relationships in general, I thought I’d give you a feeling of what it’s like to be a single escort based on my experiences and those of escorts I know. (Since I like men, this is from the traditional perspective of male/female romantic relationships.)
I know I’ve been MIA for the past couple weeks. Got serious about traveling and so had to make some changes in order to be on the road for the next several months. All my stuff is stored in Texas (including my car) and mail and bills are as taken care of as possible. My system isn’t perfect, but it’s better than it was a few months ago. I’m in Dallas taking care of a few more things, like replacing my luggage that the USPS lost when I mailed it in for repairs (next time: FedEx).
There’s a conference in Toledo where I’m co-presenting a paper about labor violations in the Nevada brothel system (yes, it’s focusing on one particular brothel but it’s not named in the paper and won’t be named here – ahem). That’s the week of my 34th birthday! That takes care of the first week of October. After that…probably wandering around the US for a bit. There are people I would like to see in Chicago and DC, if nothing else. Then out again. I’m looking hard at Asia right now. There are a lot of things attracting me and there are a lot of places to go and see on that side of the world. It should occupy my interest for a while.
No plans are set in stone and I don’t have dates until I have tickets in hand. I Twitter when I’m traveling and post stuff in my Personal Updates column to the right.
So there you go: The Plan — such as it is. For once, my silence has not meant anything negative, just busy and pre-occupied (and minimal Internet access).
I’ve noticed most of my recent posts have been negative. I’m really not a negative person, I just have the bad habit of letting the positive things slide and calling out the negative. So I’m going to share something soft and mushy and personal (and probably corny to some of you).
There are many personal beliefs/philosophies I hold and this is just one of them. I’ve been contemplating this one for only a couple of years, but in the spirit of sharing something positive…
This post is long overdue, but then, so are many others.
Many, many people – men and women – have given to me in a way has made this trip better.
I’d like to thank the individuals who:
Many, many thanks to the huge variety of public and private suggestions of things to do, warnings, places to see and all sorts of travel-related info. I hope to return the favor by creating a repository of information on this blog for future travelers through my postings. You’re not just helping me, you’re helping others as well.
Many thanks to my London traveling partner Kimberlee Cline, for putting this trip together and finally blasting me out of my rut. She has a job to return to in a week but I’ll be moving forward out here.
A future thanks to all those I will be meeting through networking and private referrals. This is the sort of thing that will really make my travels better and safer.
It’s not as though I can’t do this on my own – many before me have. It’s simply that people often want to help. And everyone has different experiences, different perspectives. Why not value that and use it if possible? Why reinvent the wheel or make a stupid mistake I could’ve avoided? (Trust me, I’ve already made original stupid mistakes all on my own.) I try to do this with people that I know if they ask for input and I have something to give.
For all the talk of valuing time, I do value the time these people have spent on my concerns. Every time I refer to someone’s advice or use one of my gifts, I thank the person who offered it. This might sound hokey, but I’m a Southern girl and that’s how I was raised. It comes through every now and again. (Though I have the usual backlog of correspondence to catch up on.)