Vegas: Nights at the Gem shop

This past summer, I spent many hours of many nights working in a gem and crystal shop, which while not somewhere I initially would have expected myself to have wound up had you asked me five or ten years ago, was an awesome experience (for the most part). Like most workplaces, there were the occasional unpleasant issues, like a vengeful and generally awful coworker, thieves, or the various drunk and disorderly visitors that would stumble in. For the most part, though, this is all to be expected when you're in as strange and unusual an environment as the Las Vegas strip, where people are encouraged to misbehave in extravagant ways. People go there to relax and unwind, get away from their families and the pressures back home, and when they stepped into our shop I hoped to offer them a little bit of a zen oasis that they could take home with them. It was a shop, after all, and sales was the name of the game. Most of the items were so stunning that they sold themselves easily, so I found it a lot of fun. I learned a lot about crystals and gems that I might not have otherwise found myself entertaining, and it was an enriching experience. I've always been a bit of a "crunchy" type, and while my mum was certainly deep into the New Age movement in the 90's, I'd never really dabbled in crystals until recently, more the kind of hippie who'd grow out her armpit hair and happily eat tofu while discussing her kombucha SCOBY and tie-dye. Like I said, though, it was an enriching experience! 

Did you know that the beautiful purple shaded amethyst is believed to relieve anxiety, protect you when you travel, and bestow beauty upon its wearer? While I'm not sure the effects have been scientifically verified, I see no harm in wearing an amethyst ring as I go about my day, just in case.  Who knows, I might get a bit of placebo effect, which is beneficial in and of itself if you genuinely believe the stone is helping your anxiety! Each stone, each color, is believed to help in different ways and tie in to different chakras. Chakras, too, were something I'd not dabbled much into prior to my work in the shop, and was grateful to be exposed to and educated on a bit. There's a ton more I could stand to learn, but now that I'm not working in the shop trying to actively sell things tied to these areas, I find myself studying them less. We did make a special trek to a recent gem and crystal show at a nearby college, though, because my curiosity and appreciation for these things remain! 

Naturally, being in Vegas, once you step foot beyond the doors of the gem shop there's no guarantee of zen. But you might encounter a random blow-up doll!

Vegas: DMV OOTD

What do you do when you're bored at the DMV with ample time to kill? Well, if you're Antho and me, you step outside intending to vape and coincidentally take some photos due to the snazzy lighting. We found a cozy spot in the shade and relaxed long enough to take a couple snaps before a security guard told us off for vaping near the buildings. Whoops! Now we know. Of course, we aren't exactly hanging around the Vegas DMV scene these days, but better we know. Knowledge is power and all. As for our trip to the DMV, it went well enough and we managed our intended mission with relatively minimal trouble. I tend to dress in a lot of neutrals and monotone, anyway, but I was specifically dressed all in black just in case I had to go straight from the DMV to my work, which had an all-black uniform. I guess it's chic, right? Slimming? Something? I don't mind it, really. You might think that as someone who makes tie-dye I'd be a walking rainbow dropping glitter and sparkles with each step, but like I said above, I'm really into neutrals. A neutral outfit lets whatever color of the week my hair is shine, after all, and it's easy to match when all your clothes are within a certain palette to begin with. While I'm not as defiantly minimalist in my closet as I would like to be, it's getting better in time. I'm more focused on using what I have now before I buy anything new, and so far so good. I've still got Heat-tech tees and tanks from Uniqlo from many moons ago, and while they still retain heat they're starting to go a little threadbare. When this winter is over, or the shirts give up the ghost, I'll gladly retire them to either rat-cage liners or another use and feel good about that.  

Anyway, if you don't smoke, don't pick up vaping. If you smoke, maybe try vaping. Don't vape in places where they don't want people vaping, like next to the DMV doors or something. Be conscious and courteous of where your clouds are going. Don't be that guy. 

Peace!

💖

XOXO,

NAU

Vegas: Local style

Sin City, an oasis of endless opportunities for debauchery in the midst of a harsh, inhospitable desert landscape devoid of hydration or comforts. For all the fun and enjoyment one can have while vacationing in the glittering casinos, there is more to the city than the gaudy glimmering front portrayed for the world stage. When your luck runs out and there's nowhere else to turn, many people find themselves adrift, wandering the scalding hot, sandy streets and alleys for any meager measure of respite they can eke out for themselves. Las Vegas is a city built for the winners, after all, with luxurious marble and gold-studded suites larger than most middle-class homes, and expansive buffet tables groaning under opulent spreads with caviar and import delights. The idea of a social safety net, while mandated to some degree by the federal government, is not something that latched on especially well in this city. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Las Vegas ranks as one of the highest populations of people without homes despite being one of the country's smaller cities and things aren't looking to get much better as the population grows. There are homeless shelters, a 24/7 open courtyard with port-a-potties, and food banks, but they're often full up or devoid of supplies before the end of the day, and the local government isn't overly concerned with spending money on helping the unfortunate when there are literal fortunes to be made by catering to the rich passing through on vacation. 

This is not to say that there aren't people with good hearts living in the city of Las Vegas! There are truly some incredibly generous, loving souls that do their best to help their community and fellow human, like the Critical Care Comics group, among many many others. It's just that, when it comes to the focus of government spending, you're unlikely to find it going back into the local communities. Vegas thrives by appealing to and attracting visitors from elsewhere, bringing their tourist money to over-indulge and get away from it all, and the locals are more a necessary cog in the machine, replaceable pawns. Yeah, you need a local population to operate as staff for the many different restaurants and casinos, but they don't need to be especially well educated or well-off.  Given as much, it doesn't take much for the rug to come out from under many of the city's working population, and with the cost of living going up while pay remains stagnant, where do they go from there? It doesn't take a genius with odds to see that things are a bit bleak. 

I don't have the answers, I'm afraid. What I do know is that without sufficient awareness, things won't improve. Knowledge is power, isn't it? If you want to help, you can make a donation to the Las Vegas Rescue Mission, or look into other options. 

Vegas: Buzzed bands and blurry nights

If there's one aspect to Vegas to be applauded, it would certainly be the robust options for entertainment and debauchery that spawn up throughout the city like dandelions on a well-watered field. Any day of the week, any time of year, you can spend a short time ambling along Las Vegas Boulevard, weaving your way through any number of casinos, and find some form of entertainment that tickles your fancy, whatever your fancy may be. Perhaps you enjoy a nice piano medley over a cocktail, or grungy guitars dueling it out over a draft beer, there's something for everyone. As a long time local to the city, I generally made a point of it to try to avoid the Strip proper because the sheer variety of options leads to a densely packed crowd of tourists churning through the city on the regular. Some weeks you might find the crowd to be composed primarily of glitter and neon bedazzled dancers and ravers flooding the city for the Electric Daisy Carnival, other times it'll be hoards of billiard players and their teams in the matching uniforms, carting their cues through the casino. The endlessly changing nature of the crowds means that the entertainment options, too, will evolve to try to keep pace and entice each new crowd into spending their cash.

Constant sensory overload is the name of the game, so if you find yourself overwhelmed by the happenings outside on the street you will find no sanctuary in stepping indoors. The casino floors are often the loudest, flashiest, and most chaotic of areas throughout the entire Strip, despite how crazed the streets may seem at times. This may be explained away by the cheap slots and ample free booze that are available inside, along with the air condition's respite from the absurd heat baking the streets beyond. Cool off, or heat up if you're digging the cocktail waitresses' uniforms. There's always the strip clubs just off the strip on industrial if you're getting a little too hot and bothered and want a place to really delve in without the shame of a prominent hard-on in Bally's. You do you, boo boo. 

Vegas: Sushi Wa dinner

When it comes to food, there's absolutely no question in my mind that the supreme contender for my utmost favorite thing to put into my face-hole has to be sushi. I love most forms of seafood to begin with, whether it's black-bean coated stone crab at the All-You-Can-Eat Chinese buffet nearby during their seafood special night, or slippery slabs of cold salmon sashimi bedecked with golden orbs of salmon roe upon a bed of steaming hot white rice. I will gladly consume most things you can dredge out of the ocean, though sea cucumber and daebul aren't things I'd eagerly seek out again. Sushi, though, is the kind of food I can eat any day, anywhere. I mean, there's definitely a huge distinction in quality between your typical grocery store ready-made packages of sushi and a legit sushi restaurant, but when you're in a bind there are the occasional lucky finds.  Luckily for us, we weren't resigned to eating sushi pre-packaged in thin plastic containers from the deli section! Sushi Wa is a good bit more out of the way than we would normally dine at, but when Antho and I happened to be in the area, hungry and in need of fuel, Sushi Wa was there so we decided to give it a go. We weren't disappointed! 

We had to have our usual favorites, of course, like the fatty goodness of salmon or the unctuous briny essence of the sea that is uni, but there were some fun new dishes available for the curious consumer to sample, too, like this dish below with tuna and sweet, sticky rice crisped on the outside drizzled with a spicy sauce and a piquant pickled jalapeno to wake up your tastebuds. Everything we tried was tasty and fresh, full of flavor and contrasting textures, like in the fried ice cream! Yes, fried ice cream. I know that's not a novelty to some of you, but it's always an amusing conflict of temperature states and textures to me when I find it on a menu. Overall it was an excellent meal and the only reason we didn't frequent the restaurant when living in Vegas was the fact it was so far removed from us. There's no shortage of delicious places to eat in the city, but if you happen to find yourself out in Henderson this is an excellent option to fill your belly with some quality sushi goodness!  

Vegas: Summertime Fireworks

 What could possibly be a more American way to celebrate our independence and the creation of our nation-state than to get irresponsibly intoxicated and set off explosives in the street? Often there's a ceremonial barbeque involved as well, where slabs of pork, beef or tubular meat-forms are seared and slathered for consumption, though this particular Fourth's festivities were devoid of such sustenance and socializing around carcasses. It was a rather impromptu thing, at least from my perspective, as I kind of crashed the housemate's party while Antho was at work. While there's no shortage of places from whence you can purchase boom-booms in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and configurations, we hadn't gone out and done so due to limited funds. These things, they happen. I wasn't particularly upset about this lack of combustive arsenal, partly due to the fact I'm not exactly 100% comfortable with the combination of booze and explosives in residential areas. I mean, Japan does fireworks, and they do them big and beautiful, so it's not exactly like celebrating with fire flowers is an entirely new phenomenon...  but those shows were generally situated around rivers or water, even in the case of Tokyo Disney's firework shows...

Anyway, when I was able to get over my trepidation at having things exploding several feet away from my vehicle (full of combustible gasoline and such), I was able to capture some pretty fun photos of the fire-flowers in blossom. I know, they're technically called fireworks in English, but I find the Japanese term of "hanabi", or fire-flowers, far more poetic and in-tune with the ephemeral beauty of the bursts. As brilliant and stunning as they are, they only light up the sky for these brief blasts of intense beauty. I'm not familiar with the chemistry involved behind achieving the different colors, or the different shapes, though I know the shape of the tubes themselves can provide some degree of variation in the bursts. That's one of the cool things about life, though, I suppose... you don't have to completely understand the mechanics behind something to appreciate it's beauty. Sometime's it's best to just stop and take it in for what it is before it's gone.

Vegas: Early summer garden

One of the things I was most excited about when we moved into our micro-apartment near downtown Las Vegas was the garden growing out back! While the intense heat doesn't exactly make the area an ideal climate for growing, especially when combined with the often sandy or exceptionally rocky soil, it is possible to grow things.  There's rarely a shortage of sunlight due to the sparse cloud cover and even rarer rainfall, so you'll need to supplement with lots of water and make use of a raised bed (such as this one), a climate controlled green house, or some other method of sheltering the plants from some of the intense sunlight. Believe it or not, plants can sunburn, too! As "too much of a good thing" is true-ism for humans, it's also true for many plants. That first summer upon moving in, the raised beds were doing quite well. There were squash, who's happy blossom is shown above, along with eggplants, green beans and peppers! We planted some green onions and pumpkins, but the pumpkins got dug up by our roommates to prevent them from taking over the garden...after that, we stopped trying to do anything with the garden and left it be. They had their system, and we figured it's best we stay out of their way!

Overall, the garden was pretty productive throughout the summer and a portion of the fall, though it grew a bit wild and the fruits were growing more sparse or over-ripe. There was enough bounty that we were all able to enjoy some of it, though I barely touched it since it was their garden. It was fascinating watching as it flourished and then began to recoil for the cooler months, productivity and vitality waning. There was a patch of wildflowers who's lifecycles similarly evolved as the months passed.  It's important to have these natural cues around us, to be exposed to a world beyond screens. Not only is it good for your health to eat your fruits and vegetables, but you get health benefits simply by being around them, too! So go on, get out there and check out your nearest public garden if you don't have your own! You might be surprised at what can grow in your area.

Reno: Surreal suburbia

Come along and join me for a bite of my favorite muffin, won't you?

All jokes aside, there's a surreal sort of nature to Reno that we discovered during our stay. There's the familiarity, of a city being somewhat akin-to-but-not-quite like our hometown, yet there's the weird throwbacks to the 80's and 90's that linger, giving an age to the city not unlike the crow's feet cracking through the thickly caked on makeup of your diner waitress clinging to decades past. We weren't finished with the city, not yet, as we still had a couple of errands to run while we were still surrounded by some vestige of civilization. On top of the usual things, like getting some snacks, vehicular fluids and checks, there was the shuffling of finances and additional fluids to purchase. Rather than try to keep driving through the dense forest of traffic cones that seemed to crop up once we left the downtown touristy area, we opted to walk to our next destinations. This allowed us the opportunity to appraise an area outside of the main drag, which is always a good idea for getting the true feel of a city beyond its neon-spackled traps.  I suppose I can see why many of my peers opted to go north and settle in Reno, but it's still a little too-close to Vegas for me to feel like I've truly escaped the vortex-like nature of the city...but for those who find this affinity appealing for nostalgic purposes, it's quite the nice touch, I suppose. 

Reno, like many cities favored by millennials, is growing. There are more little artsy-fartsy coffee shops popping up, along with multi-megaplex apartments that offer everything you could ever want or need in a residence, from gyms to pet parks. It's still a little city trying very much to feel like a bigger one, so for people who want that, it's got it in bounds. Reno isn't a bad place, not at all, and there's a lot of things to be said for consistent sunshine and cheap food and booze. Once we'd stretched our legs and tended to our various errands, however, we returned to our vehicles to strive outward and onward. While Reno certainly made for a nice pitstop, we weren't planning to settle here any time soon. 

Reno: Further explorations downtown

To be honest, Reno really does have a lot going for it. Most of the same entertainments and vices anyone could want from Vegas, like fancy dining, gambling, card games, cheap questionable meal deals, booze and slots, along with the natural beauty and outdoors entertainment of the natural splendors surrounding in both the high desert and northern california. Lake Tahoe is pretty close, I guess. Given that you're quite a ways farther north than Vegas, there are more options for skiing and snow play available, though that's not to say that Vegas is entirely lacking in those things. 

In Reno, there are vices you can fulfill and tantalize that aren't as readily accessible in it's bigger brother down South.  

These days, Reno is the closest approximation to my hometown I have available unless I wish to jump on a plane to Vegas (which would end up costing me less in the end). It's still quite a trek, however, to step foot on Nevadan soil. Maybe this should sadden me, but it doesn't, not yet. Maybe in time some aspect of the irradiated desert and it's desiccated expanses will call to me, but for now, this is more than enough pleasant nostalgia.  Suffice to say, Reno has most of the things Vegas has to offer, without the excessive crowds and much more enjoyable weather. There's still the spun-out homeless lingering in alleys, a profusion of booze flowing throughout the city and illicit substances in the veins of it's downtrodden. You can also get a $5 steak! And a hooker! You can even rock-climb the hotel you're staying in! And there's plenty of snazzy street art and beer gardens and other hip, happening things to pass the time and add to the sense of surrealness. 

Reno: Strolling the Truckee River

If you happen to find yourself in the glamorous little city of Reno, Nevada, and only have a limited window within which to try to take it all in, may I recommend taking a stroll along the Truckee River. It's famous! It's wet! Water runs through it! There's even some pretty psychedelic space whale art floating around, for your photographic enjoyment and posing potential. The Truckee river itself is the heart of Reno, the literal life-spring from whence the city sprung up and around, and now it's a scenic city center with ample entertainment and dining options to choose from. During our visit there were hardly any people out and about, though the weather was a bit grey and dreary so maybe it picks up more in more appealing conditions. We quite enjoyed our explorations, and it was pretty peaceful with the absence of any large crowds. Most of the restaurants and bars lining the waterfront were still just beginning to open for the day, shuffling chairs and signs about at a leisurely pace. I can't blame them! Reno is, for better or worse, still something of a small town and smaller towns generally just move a little bit more languidly than their bigger brethren.  

There was a time when Reno was renowned as the world divorce capital, perhaps given its close-ish proximity to the city where many people haphazardly committed to marriage, plus the long drive-time from Las Vegas proper gave people the time to sober up and caused them to reconsider their vows? Whatever the reasons behind the end of the marriage, the Truckee River has long been a popular destination for the recent divorcees to visit, flinging their cursed rings into the river as a symbolic ritual of closure. While Antho and I have had a commitment ceremony (with Batman, in Vegas) we don't have any plans to get divorced, so there was no ring tossing from us. Did you know that millennials are getting divorced at much lower rates than our parents? Of all the things millennials have been blamed for killing/ruining/destroying, that's probably one of the best, right? I'm certainly not going to be sitting around pining over the loss of Applebees, but I digress. 

Overall, we quite enjoyed our visit to the Truckee River. Stretching our legs felt great, especially after sleeping in the vehicles the night prior. If we had more time we might have grabbed something to eat, but we had a long drive ahead yet and I was eager to get back to it, so once we were satisfied with our laps around the neighborhood we popped back into our vehicles and prepared for the next stretch of our adventure. 

On a surprising note, we found a bag of weed while we were walking around, relatively fresh from the dispensary! Huh. Thanks, universe!

Reno: Downtown Reno on a grey day

Reno! It's, uh, kind of like going to Las Vegas except the weather's (arguably) better and it's a lot smaller? We didn't spend an obscene amount of time in Reno, unfortunately, so we can't attest to much of the city's greatness beyond it's uncanny similarities to our hometown, down to some of the same casinos (hey, Harrah's and Circus Circus, I'm looking at you),  though the proximity to Northern California and Southern Oregon are also perks and likely attract their own set of regular visitors. Some of the food specials advertised were markedly cheaper than I recall seeing the same basic meal-deals advertised for in Vegas proper ($5.99 prime rib, baby), and that's including Fremont street and the downtown area which are generally viewed as being the more budget-friendly option as far as Vegas goes. Reno, for me, is largely uncharted territory, so I've really only just dusted the surface of what the city and it's essence is. I know that it is, or at least was, a popular college choice for my peers who wanted to get away from home without going so far as to need to a flight or risking having to pay out-of-state tuition or confront that alien and alarming concept of closing-time at a bar. It's north enough of Vegas that it was noticeably cooler outside of our vehicles during the daytime, and we definitely had to add some additional layers to our comfy driving ensembles to confront the weather during our stroll.  

After paying for parking, we just started to kind of wander around the downtown area, though we did have an eventual aim in mind. Antho is a bit familiar with Reno, as he'd lived not-too-far-away in the town of Elko, once upon a time and would visit sporadically. It's not exactly next door to Reno, but it's a shorter drive than it is coming from Vegas, that's for sure! And let's be real here, most of Nevada is wide open desert and there's a lot of driving to be done to get from most cities in the state to the next, or even the nearest big cities. Whether that's a pro or a con is up to you and your preferences on the matter. The area was pretty quiet without much activity during our visit, but it was an overcast weekday so that's probably not something that should elicit alarm. It was nice being able to amble around and take in the sights without feeling imminently hurried. I'd set an alarm on my phone to warn us prior to our parking's expiry, so away we went to explore downtown Reno!  

Vegas: Cloudy Strip Sunset

Living in the desert, one becomes accustomed to seeing vast, open swatches of sky peeling out in all directions because most of the things that grow out there are stubby and low to the ground, including the residential houses, typically sprawling single story things, though more multi-story buildings are popping up more and more as the population grows. Generally speaking, though, once you move away from the teeming heart of the city, things tend to get low and long, creating an unobstructed stretch to the horizon. Even on the Las Vegas Strip proper the city has relatively few skyscrapers, and there's still ample room between the towering monolithic structures to keep that view of the sky wide open. There's a lot of open spaces, a lot of long, empty drives through deserted two-lane roads to escape that insane oasis and the horizon can seem an endless, unreachable stretch. It was only after living in Japan for two years and becoming used to the labyrinthine crisscrossing of electrical wires, the shadows of multi-level apartment buildings and business crowding in from all sides, and the comforting blanket of heavy urbanity that I started to realize how an agoraphobe might feel when trying to step beyond the confines of their nest. The first time I drove upon returning to the United States, a stretch from one small satellite city beyond the borders of Las Vegas metropolitan area to the big city proper, the sheer expansiveness of it all hit me. 

 There remains many open, empty spaces still in this country, patches where humanity has barely impinged, which is both gratitude and horror-inspiring.  When you seek to escape from the oppressive needs and rituals of the city, with their taxes and menial jobs and road rage, these empty, untouched spaces symbolize that freedom you're craving, but if you need help or assistance they can be painfully desolate and empty. Strange, isn't it? The sheer power of perception. The city of Las Vegas is kind of like that, too. It's something different for everyone who visits, and just like finding shapes in the clouds, it's entirely up to your own interpretation what you make of it. The expansiveness of it does allow for some nice views of the sunset, I suppose. All that emptiness has to be good for something, after all.