Europe 2002 Trip Reports Part 24 Amsterdam Day 3 Morning

This is the 24^th of a series of posts recalling my trip to Europe, using e-mails sent at the time.  Unlike later trips, I didn’t e-mail people everyday.  Trip reports are largely as I wrote them at the time with two exceptions: I was usually pretty rushed due to Internet fees in Europe, so I’ve cleaned up my e-mails to make them more coherent, which wasn’t a priority at the time.  Also, in some blog posts I’ll add additional thoughts with the hindsight of nine years later or to add further clarification.  I’ll use “NOW” in such cases.

This 24^th report covers the early part of my third day in Amsterdam.

The seven day pass is great.  Ican log on any time.  It helps that easyEverything has hundreds of seats so I never have to wait.

Usual snorning chorus last night.  At least it forces me out of bed sooner to start the day.

Arm still hurts slightly from yesterday, possibly due to physically weakened state.  Find I've been standing still on escalators and using handrails on stairs more than I normally do.  I think when I get back to a more regular diet at home my strength will improve.

[NOW: The pain from the punch at Anne Frank’s House did of course subside eventually.]

I did laundry last night.  Should probably be the last laundry before heading home.  I will probably need to discard most socks upon arriving home.  Too many holes.

[NOW: I can no longer recall if I did any further laundry trips or if I did in fact discard most of the socks from the trip.]

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One other thing that probably hasn't helped my trip is my broken glasses (you might recall that one ear broke off in London).  If the lenses are a bit off I start to get physical symptoms such as headaches.  The hostel let me use some scotch tape which seems to be working better than the masking tape I'd been using (and lost en route to Zurich, which is making labelling new film purchases a bit difficult).

This trip may oddly help me in one point.  One of my fictional characters has an angry streak to him and since I've been relatively relaxed previously I've had trouble writing him.  I think I can start writing his adventures again.

[NOW: I’m pretty sure I know which character I was referring to but won’t go into details because I don’t want anyone to swipe my ideas. I really need to get back to writing those stories.]

Take care and sorry about the mood swings.  On top of everything else I keep forgetting to take my medication (no joke; I really do take medication) and while my health isn't too affected my moods do get exaggerated.

[NOW: I’ve been on again, off again with anti-anxiety medications. I don’t currently need to take any, however, as the side-effects of the medications are greater than the effects of not taking them.]