Posted on by Miss Brook$

some things are universal

Drafted when I lived in Singapore, so sometime in 2009/10.

Children act like children, though the children in Singapore are generally better-behaved than children elsewhere (and Asian babies are so cute!).

Saw an ad for a local children’s daycare. All these cute little Singaporean kids and the one token white girl.

Gyms still pressure-sell and everyone gets suckered in, then regrets it—as evidenced by some discussion forums I’ve looked at.

Cabbies add unexplained charges to the meter, pretend to not understand you or just act lost.

Women, no matter naturally tiny they are, still want to lose weight. As evidenced by all the weight-loss products and advertisements here. Or maybe all this stuff really works and that’s why they’re all so skinny. Or maybe not.

Women with straight hair want curls, women with curly hair wish for straight. Take this one to the bank.

Asians flock to stores to buy branded goods, the more expensive the better. Westerners flock to markets looking for knock-offs, haggling for the best bargain.

Nobody likes illegal immigrants working in their country. And yes, the browner-skinned people are always the “immigrants.”

Technology is imperfect around the world.

Hotel maids move my stuff around too much for my liking no matter where I am.

Regardless of where I am in the world, when I travel alone, I invariably end up in the next room to a fighting couple. She always starts crying. Then he either leaves or starts hitting her. Eventually, it stops. In case you’re thinking this leads to hot make up sex, it doesn’t. Sex never follows these hotel-room abuses. Fortunately. I’m not sure I’d want to hear the sex that follows abuse.

non-universal opinions

I’m still not used to the metric system. It’s utterly meaningless. What is 100g of something? An ounce? A pint? A teaspoon? It’s just a number divisible by 10. Okay, so I’m very Imperial. I’ve been told Australia successfully switched to metric in recent history and I don’t believe anyone died. I still like Imperial. It means something. It was created to measure real-life scenarios. It’s not sterile.

The only metric measurement I know is the weight of my checked bag. I can guess it to within a kilo, though I still can’t guess its weight in pounds. My goal was 10-12kg, but it regularly clocked in at 12-15kg. No getting around it no matter how I tried to skim the weight down. Even now in the US, I’ll check my bag’s weight and ask them to change the scale to kilos for me. But I can’t weigh anything else in kilos, if it’s not my bag, then I have no idea how much it is in kilos (and really, not a very clear idea in pounds either).

I still love US greenbacks. They feel like money. They smell like money. They sound like money. I think we have the sexiest currency in the world, but maybe it’s just what I’m used to.

Australia and Singapore and other countries have plastic money. It’s slick but not papery. No smell. Singapore’s currency is graduated by size, each denomination is radically different in color, it has a clear plastic window on the bills (which is cool) and a Braille system so the blind can easily handle it. It’s as progressive as currency can get. But it’s not sexy.

Posted on by Miss Brook$

my advancing decrepitude

As some of you noticed (thank you!), I just turned 35. If you haven’t noticed, well, now you know. I didn’t think much of it, actually. Was just surprised the date rolled around so fast, October 2009 was really only like 2 months ago, right??? (My mom, always good for a thought, cheerfully reminded me that I’m halfway to 70. I’ll have to put that in my ad text.)

What I didn’t expect was the little “ouch” of putting that extra year into my ads. Unlike many and unlike what I used to do, I don’t lie about my age right now. I certainly could — I could easily get away with 8-10yrs younger. But why? I don’t fake orgasms, I am how old I am. I really don’t have a lot of choice in the matter (I’m either this old or I’m dead).

I experienced ageism back when I was a young and tender 33. At the advanced age of 35 I think people are just throwing their hands into the air and giving up (I found an escort today who won’t exchange links with anyone over 33). In Asia where everyone looks very young and the most common escorts are young, it can be difficult to be honest about age (very difficult to be okay being an XXL in local clothing sizes, which translates into a US size 6-8, depending.)

There have been potential clients who have passed me up because I’ve gone around the sun too many times. Then there are younger guys who seem to expect me to literally be a cougar: pin them to the bed, open my claws and have my way with them (this is my style about as often as the planets align). I present myself honestly on my website and ads, yet guys are still often surprised by me one way or another. I look just like my photos, except that I’m not as tanned right now (the French Riviera was good for that, if nothing else).

I’m not a MILF — I have no children. I’m not a cougar — I feel I’m just barely out of girlhood, really. I’m just 35. That’s all. It’s how old I happen to be.

Read more

Posted on by Miss Brook$

new book possibilities

People keep asking me if I’m going to write a book about my travels. Honestly, I’d rather not. If you want to know why, here are some possible working titles I’ve come up with in case I did decide to write a book about it, whenever I’m done, whenever that is.

A Case of Bad Timing: Sex Working the World During a Global Financial Crisis, Burgeoning Flu Epidemic and Various Natural Disasters

Alternatively, I might title that one Plan Better Than I Did: How Not to Be a Successful Escort During a Global Financial Crisis, Burgeoning Flu Epidemic and Various Natural Disasters

I could also pen Hotel Rooms Around the World: They’re All Basically the Same, With Rare Exception.

Or I might write the ultimate travel-guide: How to Miss Places, Events and Things of Importance: All the Places and Things I Did Not See or Do Before I Died

This doesn’t mean I’m having an awful time — quite far from it. I just think my day-to-day experiences are meaningful only to me and completely lack broader appeal.

Posted on by Miss Brook$

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).

Posted on by Miss Brook$

with sincere appreciation and gratitude

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:

  • gave me the Nokia phone I’m using and enjoying! (Though I’ll discuss unrelated SIM card issues in a later post.)
  • gave me a very thorough London guidebook, pocket-compass and REI card (which went to getting some very handy travel supplies)
  • two different individuals who gave me Macy’s cards (which went to buying a very comfortable pair of walking/semi-dressy shoes, slippers, some needed makeup and some nice slacks)
  • gave me the Bucky travel set (unfortunately I haven’t made peace with the pillow but still trying)
  • gave a travel-fund donation

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.)