Posted on by Amanda Brooks

10 signs a very professional hooker is staying at your hotel

#1 She has no life
#2 She never leaves the hotel
#3 Her room is pathologically neat and the bed is always made hotel-style
#4 She drinks gallons of water
#5 She goes through an enormous amount of towels (but they’re all accounted for when she leaves)
#6 She has no personal toiletries out
#7 The “Do Not Disturb” sign is always out
#8 She settles the bill in cash — all large bills or a huge collection of mid-size notes — all in perfect order
#9 She always knows when the Internet goes down
#10 She knows the maids’ schedule and tips them well

Okay, maybe the title should be amended to “10 signs Amanda is staying at your hotel.” Ladies, feel free to add to this list! It’s just a starter list. 🙂

Posted on by Amanda Brooks

seriously (fixin’ to get ready to) travel

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).