Woke up at Eric's and operated his garbage disposal, a marvelous mod con. Six of us made a post-wedding brunch and ate in under a big umbrella in the sun in Oakland while reading the work of Nancy Friday. Later in the afternoon Dan and I moved out of my brother's living room in the Mission, into Lisa and Adam's, fed their cats, figured out the shower (hot is cold and cold is hot), and after the su...read the rest of this entry and more in adrienne's diary.

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We'd been home for about 48 hours when we showed up at the Hemlock. The jet lag hit me today more than Thursday or Friday--I can't stop waking up at 4 a.m., 5 a.m., and then 6. I dream of BBC cooking shows and when I open my eyes it takes a few minutes to identify where I am, confusing because we bought Volvic water bottles at K&D liquors the other day and this is what we drank on tour too, bottle...read the rest of this entry and more in adrienne's diary.

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Woke early this morning on Special Kids' kitchen floor in the basement. As Lauren had predicted, there was drilling on the street above, and Mai woke Dan to go upstairs to check the status of the 41 VN DK van. Dan pulled himself up from the kitchen floor and, as he'd slept in his outfit from the show last night, skipped up the stairs without any delay. I lay on the floor next to Chris G., his scar...read the rest of this entry and more in adrienne's diary.

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This afternoon I saw the aftermath of the worst car crash I've ever seen in my life on the way to Brighton in the pouring rain, tangles of metal that were barely recognizable as an automobile was flattened against a directional sign on the opposite stretch of the motorway, the emergency crew rushing to the gnarled mess only to discover that there was nothing they could do. During our sound check a...read the rest of this entry and more in adrienne's diary.

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With the extra license plate, that doesn't match our back license plate, now screwed onto the front of the van, for the first time during a border crossing the officials did not request to search the back compartment. We were pulled over, however, and had to wait until all the other vehicles drove off The Pride of Hull before we were interviewed by a nice young man about our reasons for being in t...read the rest of this entry and more in adrienne's diary.

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Left the hospital room at 9:30 and took tram #51 into the city, stepping off at Waterlooplein and walking to Leidseplein where we accessed the world wide web from outside Bed Habits, near Los Amigos, where the wireless signals are strong. When we returned to Maggy's to shower and pack for our return voyage to the UK on The Pride of Hull, Maggy was watching a Charleton Heston film, something with "...read the rest of this entry and more in adrienne's diary.

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Our last full day in Holland was one of leisure before we return to the UK and cross the country once again, north to south in 4 days. Ran into CW and Mai at the Van Gogh Museum twice, had drinks by the water, and then met Maggy for dinner and the comedy show at Boom Chicago. We ended the evening watching the final results from the Eurovision Song Contest, but the judging takes too long so we didn...read the rest of this entry and more in adrienne's diary.

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We took the tram back into Amsterdam and ate lunch at Hansel and Gretel's as the sun came and went, then bought tickets to the comedy show Boom Chicago for tomorrow night which we're going to with Aunt Maggy. Near Coffee Shop The Other Side the computer picked up free wireless, so we checked email and posted some more pictures while drinking Coronas outside Los Amigos. Chris G. was also online som...read the rest of this entry and more in adrienne's diary.

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We have several days off before we head back to England, and have decided to spend it in Amsterdam. For the first time in over two weeks, we have all split apart while Dan and Adrienne go to stay with Adrienne's aunt, Chris and Mai go to stay in a hotel downtown, and I go to say with my friend Vitali. I will not miss the snoring, or the logistics of getting four people through one bathroom in ...read the rest of this entry and more in chrisg's diary.

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Dan and I bought chocolate croissants at the Jewish bakery near Aunt Maggy's for breakfast. We have a room in a building that is two buildings past Maggy's, off the #5 tram line from Amsterdam centrum. All of our band gear is stacked into the room we're in--it's a big room and not unlike a college dorm, with a wardrobe, desk, and its own bathroom, with extra space for our guitars, drums and amps. ...read the rest of this entry and more in adrienne's diary.

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