Category: Personal

Today I witnessed a pretty big road accident moments after it happened. One car crashed into the rear side of another in an intersection. I got there right when the drivers came out of their cars, the offending car’s driver stunned, the offended car’s driver shouting in anger and later on crying for help as he noticed his backseat passenger was apparently out-of-conscience.

I was “first in line” to watch this horror. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t go around the accident – to drive away meant I had to drive right through the place where everything was happening. But I couldn’t do anything to help them either – other drivers were already assisting and calling emergency services. Helplessness is one of the feelings I hate most, right up there with anger and being cheated. I usually try to avoid news and current events, partly because I have nothing to do about them anyway.

After about a minute or two it became obvious that I had to continue driving so I did. I drove very slowly between the cars and went on my way. Later on in that same drive on the way home I nearly reared into another car myself as the driver in front of me illegally tried to continue straight ahead from a left-only lane and had to stop immediately when he nearly crashed himself into someone who was legally turning left.

I drove to the closest coffee shop I could find and stopped to relax (and write this post.) I don’t think I was ever happier to get out of my death trap car.

I decided to stay at the hotel until I left for the festival. The reason was the failed scam attempt from yesterday – it made me feel unsafe in the streets of Istanbul. I got to the festival early (9 hours before The Prodigy got on stage) to see bands I would have probably never seen otherwise: Howling Bells were pretty good but not my kind of music. Jane’s Addiction were good and Dave Navarro (their guitarist) is really amazing. Nine Inch Nails – well, I think that when it was time for them to go on stage (before The Prodigy) I was already exhausted from the long wait so I couldn’t enjoy the music which was obviously very good.

The big surprise for me was Juliette Lewis. The music and lyrics are very good but the highlight of the show is her performance: she has so much energy on stage – I don’t know how she manages to sing and move like that at the same time. She pretty much makes love with the crowd (in action and words) up to the point where she takes her shirt off and is left with a bikini top.

After the long 9 hours wait The Prodigy finally came on stage. I completely forgot about my fatigue and the backaches I experienced earlier from standing so long. I had a front stage ticket so for the first time I was in the front 2-3 rows in a Prodigy show. Since the number of people in the front stage area was limited, there was enough room to go crazy.

So how was my fifth Prodigy show this year? Right now my voice is husky and I have a little limp in my right leg so you can tell I enjoyed myself a lot. I have to find another Prodigy show to go to. I have my sights set on Madrid in December.

I can barely keep my eyes open here at Ataturk airport in Istanbul. And I still have to work today. Hopefully I’ll be able to get some shuteye.

As always, when I get to a new place, I started walking around aimlessly. I’m very close to the tourist attraction that is Taksim Square and Istiklal street so that’s where I chose to go. I walked for a few hours and enjoyed it a lot. I can’t explain what exactly I enjoy when I walk around foreign places. It’s not like I’m interested in buying anything or going to a specific attraction. I just enjoy the walking.

I feel really comfortable in Istanbul but I can’t explain this either. I wonder if it’s because of the “travelling experience” I got from the trip at the beginning of the year or if it’s something specific about this place. People here are nice, helpful and inviting and that’s all it takes to make me feel comfortable.

I went to rest for a few hours and then went out again. This time the streets were swarming with so many people walking around, sitting in the various restaurants and pubs in extreme density. Then the lights went out – a complete blackout of the entire area. Everyone went “oooohhhhh” and there was a lot of laughing, whistling and clapping. It was funny. Consequently, power generators kicked in. Apparently blackouts are expected and most businesses are ready for them. But then the street was still darker and noisier with the sound of generators.

After walking around some more I decided to go back to the hotel. Sitting alone in such commotion on a Diet Coke doesn’t appeal to me. On the way back this very friendly man tried to con me into sitting with him in a pub. Unlike that time I was scammed in Bangkok, I departed from him as soon as I realized he was after something. At least I’ve learned my lesson. Looking it up on the Internet it appears as though I managed to dodge the Turkish Single Male Scam.

Here are a few pictures from yesterday and today. Nothing exciting, but still…

I’m in Istanbul. I arrived at the hotel pretty late, so I don’t have much to report. I got here partly by Metro, which was a good thing because I got to ride it with locals and that’s always interesting. Then I got a taxi instead of a bus for the rest of the way because I was too tired to start asking around which bus I should take (also, at night things seemed a little shady.)

The three young guys manning the hotel at nights were expecting me and immediately took care of my bags and thirst. My room was upgraded, too, which leads me to think that I’m currently the sole guest currently staying in the hotel. Which I don’t mind even one bit, but we’ll see in the morning during breakfast.

Tomorrow I’m going to walk around a bit. Hopefully the kind staff here will be able to point me to some interesting places.

Yesterday Girl 2 and I broke up. We had a very good time together up until the last moment of this relatively short relationship. But while everything was great, I grew increasingly uncomfortable with the fact that I wasn’t falling for her. I thought it was just a matter of time but as time passed I started feeling like I was being dishonest. As always in this relationship I talked to Girl 2 about it and she decided she prefers to end it now instead of being hurt even more later.

I’m wondering if it’s immature of me to expect to fall in love. Crushes last only so much. After that you get to see the person you’re with for what he/she really is and not like that image you built yourself in the head. So that’s a big advantage of slowly-evolving relationships.

I learned already that many breakups are not as final as they initially seem. So I consider this the end of Girl 2 Episode 1 (G2E1?) Maybe in the future things will work out for us. Maybe when I grow up.