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: Summer nights and nostalgia part 4

Believe it or not, it's not impossible to maintain some form of zen-like calm while in the city of Sin. I'm not saying that it's easy- this is a city that gladly swallows entire savings accounts and spits the sad, spent losers out onto the streets with hardly a cursory glance (though it's getting better with a newly opened secured 24/7 site open to the homeless population of the city). There's a strong religious presence both on and off the strip, whether it's the guys with megaphones shouting at people to repent on a corner of the Las Vegas Boulevard proper or the multiplicity of religious buildings, temples and centers dotting the city, so if you find your zen in godliness you've got plenty of places to turn to for your gospel. If you're more into stones, and hippie-dippie granola type stuff, there's plenty of that to be found throughout the city too! Whether it's the psychic eye bookstore or any of the countless stone and gem shops, yoga or a vegan lunch you're pretty well covered in the metaphysical shopping department. 

Given that Antho and I were both born and raised here in Las Vegas, we've had little interest in exploring much of the city geared towards tourists... it's just kind of what you do, when you're a local, after all. This adversion towards the most consumption geared center of the city might help in our efforts to stay zen... We tend to spend much of our free time at the Springs Preserve (if you haven't noticed by now, with the prodigious amounts of posts I have about it) or driving out to Valley of Fire or Mount Charleston...  but when we do make it out to the strip, as we have been doing more lately due to my working in the area, there's more of an excuse to explore the area and play tourist. Due to my having to work, I was unable to tag along on most of the adventure so the photos in this post were all provided by Antho... when I was free for the night we were able to catch up and sally forth together, though! 

Road Tripping: Historic Downtown Shopping District St. George, Utah

Satisfied with our walk of the Historic Downtown area we hopped in Vanticore and prepared to move out, but we hadn't gotten more than a block before Antho shouted in excitement "A velociraptor!"

I don't know about you guys, but the sight of a wild, life-sized dinosaur is exciting enough to make us stop and find a place to park... the parking became a bit of an endeavor, though, as we learned the hard way that Vanticore is slightly taller than we'd approximated. After having the van for almost a full year, we finally found a parking structure too short to safely enter! We bumped her noggin in full view of a family, too, who watched with shocked surprise and covered mouths when we had to back away with a "scccccrrrrrrruuuuuuunnnnnn". Yikes. We made it out of the parking structure safely enough, and found a spot outside in no time. No real damage was done to the vehicle, aside from a minor scuffing of paint, and the cement building was certainly fine. We saw scuffs on her ceiling much taller than our own vehicle's clearance, so we weren't the first or the most brazen in our attempts to park there. 

 Once parked we were able to explore the area, and quickly saw that it was a continuation of the Historic Downtown. Ample art fills the streets, giving local artisans a chance to demonstrate their talents while classing up the place. There were some little cafes and many other shops, but we only really stopped into the one with the velociraptor. We spent a good amount of time admiring their shop, as they sold a lot of gems and minerals that I've been familiarizing myself with of late. My day job has me surrounded by gorgeous amethyst geodes and different stones, so I'm finding myself more excited and curious about them now that I have a bit more knowledge of them. Whether the stones are actually beneficial for your health or spirituality I'll leave up to you to decide on your own. Personally, I imagine it's a bit of a placebo effect- if you believe it works, it likely will. I see no harm in that, so long as you aren't trying to cure stage-4 cancer or something with a pretty amulet. Some things need a more aggressive approach, right?  

Whether they're miracles of healing or simply pretty rock formations, there's no denying that they're quite stunning. The prevailing theory for how these gorgeous things are formed is that they're created from pockets in lava or igneous rock, that collect mineral rich liquids that evaporate and leave the crystalline formations behind. Artificial instances of crystal creation can be done at home using sugar and water, but it takes time. Most of the good things in life do, though. 

More photos below! Enjoy~