At the beginning of May, I traveled to Las Vegas for a work conference. I gambled for the first time in over twenty years. At one point I was up nearly $600 playing video poker, but by the end of the trip, I was only up $80. I had gone there with $600 in cash that I was willing to lose just to have some fun, and I had fun and left with money in my pocket, so I certainly came out ahead.
Following that trip, I took the next two weeks off from work. During that time, I went to Bucharest, Romania, for seven days and six nights. There, I went to an art museum, theatre, an artisan marketplace, a working café, and several restaurants. My reason for going was to get a feel for the city since Orly is spending so much time there in My Darling Tragedy. In this effort, I took a nighttime tuk tuk tour of the city and spent hours walking around the City Center and Old Town, taking notes, photos, and filming my surroundings as I walked. I think I’ll be able to write Orly’s experiences in Bucharest a little better now and have her go out more frequently as thus far, she’s been mostly a homebody, which is in character, but I and her coven, and maybe even her readers, would like to see her venture out a little more.
I’m not a good traveler. I’m especially not a good solo traveler. When I’m in unfamiliar surroundings, I’m often filled with anxiety. This was the case in Bucharest, but I think I did a little better there than I had in Amsterdam and Vancouver as I didn’t take a single Klonopin during the trip. I’m hoping the more I travel the more accustomed I’ll become to feeling all alone and out of place.
My most enjoyable moments were at the café. It was called an Anticafé. You could drink all the coffee you wanted, but you paid by the hour to work there. I went there two days in a row and worked for hours. I wrote Entry 111: “Bangs” while sitting at a window seat. I was welcomed back the second day, and that made me feel good. I also experienced this same welcome when I returned to a vegan restaurant for a second time.
One of my goals is to move abroad so I may retire early and finally write full time. Because of my anxiety, concerns about isolation and culture shock, I often wonder if I really can move abroad and be okay mentally and emotionally. But this trip taught me that finding somewhere you like and becoming a regular there is a good way to begin when starting over in a new city. I’ll have to remember that.
Anyhow, I hope in upcoming entries of My Darling Tragedy I can improve the story or at least enhance its backdrop now that I’ve finally visited the home city of the Cobǎlcescu bloodline.