Vegas: The family wheels

upon a time, when I was still just a wee young little version of the human I am today, I lived in my grandpa's house with a few other family members. It was the hub of the relatives, and every holiday season the extended branches would return to the root and have a massive feast together. It was a large family, so there were many different personalities that could lead to arguments over dinner, but for the most part, it was a jovial and merry time... but after my great old grandpa passed on after an extended battle with illness, the siblings devolved into in-fighting and drifted apart with the years. The family house was sold, grandpa's car driven off to another state, and life went on. Given that I spent many of my formative years living in his house, I was quite close to my grandfather and losing him hurt pretty badly. Sure, I was adopted into the family, and always kind of felt a bit like an outsider (I was the only one in the family with both brown hair and brown eyes, so I was the brunette sheep of the clan) but grandpa? He never let that be the case for long. When my parents would fight, he'd let me take shelter in his room and offer me a cream soda from his private stash, and ensure I got a gift at Christmas. He helped me purchase the car I still have to this day. When it came to my education, he was my biggest champion and encouraged me to get good grades and push to learn more. Life isn't perfect, and neither was he, but he left a strong impression on me as a kid and I credit him for inspiring me to achieve some of the more difficult things I've managed in my life. 

Somewhere down the road, quite literally, my grandpa's car found it's way back to me. Unfortunately, after being driven off by my Uncle (who had, at the time, decried me too irresponsible for the vehicle), things had taken a dire turn for the worse. We were given the car for free, which was exceptionally nice of my aunt to do after sinking her own money into trying to get the car operational again, but we quickly found that she was still inoperable. We made it less than a full block before plumes of steam were wafting out from under the hood, and the transmission completely failed to react. I've no clue what exactly happened to the poor old girl, but she had hardly any miles on her. The Volvo I had prior to my grandpa's passing, however, is nearing 200,000 miles on her original transmission and only recently had her first issues, so I'm pleased to know my uncle's appraisal of my vehicular responsibility was incorrect and the judgment misplaced. 

So these photos serve as a bit of a time capsule. My grandfather drove me to eat chicken fried steak for breakfast in this car when I was just an adolescent, and while it hurt to see it go, we couldn't afford to fix the extent of issues she'd developed. We sold her to a mechanic, so hopefully she's been rebuilt and is on the road again, but I'll always have these photos to preserve the memory. 

Thanks for everything, grandpa. 💖

💙

XOXO,

NAU

Washington: Slime Mold and Mushroom friends

When it comes to the strange and varied things that flourish and thrive in the moist climate of the Pacific Northwest, slime molds and mushrooms reside in that weird peripheral zone bordering between plant and animal life, crawling and climbing out of the dark, dank corners and often seeming to pop up overnight. When shown in sped-up time-lapse videos, you can see slime molds pulsating and reaching out in their relentless quest to consume any tasty microorganisms crawling on the grasses, plants, and other surfaces populating the terrain. While it's easy to assume that slime molds might be fungi, they are in fact amoeba, so they are separate from those cap-sporting cohorts you might spot nearby while out in the garden. 

Antho is fascinated by slime molds, perhaps in large part due to their incredible rarity throughout the better portion of our lives. Deserts aren't exactly ideal places for such moist entities, after all, so your chances of encountering one in Vegas are exceedingly minute. Same goes for most forms of mushrooms, so we've been pretty astounded by the diversity of forms we've been spying. We've spent a lot of time outdoors simply looking at the ground since we got to the Pacific Northwest, as everything is so verdant and lush there's literally life everywhere we look. A few weeks back we accidentally stepped on a banana slug that was making its way across our step and we were heartbroken! Well, to be honest, I was devastated, since I was likely the culprit behind the slug's untimely demise. We'd noticed the leopard print adorned creature the night prior, and remarked on how stunning it was...then I had to run out to the van to grab something, having forgotten all about our discovery by that point, and when the light of morning revealed what had happened it was long too late... We gave him (or her) a little burial under a bush in the yard. Cheesy, right? I genuinely felt bad about it, and Antho was kind enough to help me dig a little hole to lay them to rest in, along with handling the slimy remains for me. It's the circle of life... Ashes to ashes, slime to slime. 

 

日本 [Japan]: 春の日 Spring Day

Believe it or not, one of the most enjoyable ways for me to spend a day off from working at Tokyo Disney Sea was simply to wander around, or ride my bike through, the surrounding town of Urayasu. I was quite lucky to be given the opportunity to live, entirely on my own, in an apartment provided by the company in the residential area of Urayasu. Most Disney cast members were housed in the Disney Village, where they were insulated against the native Japanese and instead surrounded by their fellow imports. While I'm sure there's a lot to be said for that experience as well, I was very happy with my immersion. Urayasu is a smaller suburban town outside of Tokyo proper, and it's a popular choice for young families looking to settle down. Given this nature, there were many schools and family-friendly features to the area that made it all the more quaint and lovely to explore. Even in my first week I couldn't help but notice how frequently you'll see small Japanese children out and about on their own, whether they're commuting to school or simply playing outdoors. All those rumors about safety? For the most part, they're absolutely true. I never felt threatened while exploring Japan, and even when I was unlucky enough to be assaulted it was by another foreigner, not a Japanese person, so that's something. The respect the Japanese have for one another, whether it's exemplified through the use of headphones and quiet chatter on trains, or the cleanliness of shared spaces, is something to admire wherever you wind up. 

This family-forward, community-first approach means that even the youngest school children are encouraged to feel like active participants in their community. Friendly signs hang from school fences greeting the morning, and familiar cartoon characters are eagerly painted onto neighborhood flowerboxes for the enjoyment of all. The bright, primary colors provide a sharp contrast to the pastel pinks of the blooming cherry blossoms in spring, adding to the childish feel of enjoyment. It's hard not to feel carefree riding your bike through the scattered shadows of an incomprehensible burst of flowers cascading down and perfuming the world around. 

Japan: Urayasu life and gardens

Unfortunate, though familiar as it may sound to many of us, when I lived in Japan I found the majority of my time was utterly consumed with work.  Due to the fact that my living in the country was utterly predicated upon keeping my employment with the Arribas Brothers as an artist/performer in Tokyo Disney Sea, it should be understandable why this would be such a prominent priority, but it inevitably leads to a routine that could grow a bit monotonous if I didn't consciously strive to break free of it from time to time.  Most days involved a brief attempt to get coffee or some form of sustenance into my gullet before darting off for the bus, changing into my uniform at the employee lockers and then spending the rest of the visible sunlight hours in my subterranean drawing-den, cranking out caricatures until we were finally granted permission to shutter up for the day and go home. Arriving home late, sore and dreading the countdown until it was time to hit reset and start the routine over again, I would cook up or scavenge some food, decimate some beverages and go to sleep. Lather, rinse, repeat. 

Day in day out spent primarily indoors. Naturally, my days off were a blessing! Aren't they always? Since I was given the opportunity to live and work overseas, I'd try to take advantage of that fact and explore the neighborhood or city of Tokyo proper whenever I had the energy or motivation. I have to admit, some days it was much more difficult than others to drag myself out of the house and into the city, but it was always worth the endeavor in the end. On this particular outing, I stopped to compliment my neighbor for her beautiful garden, pictured above- this led to us becoming friends and going on some adventures together later on! You never know what kind of things can come together like that unless you get out there and try, you know? She invited me out to have lunch with her after our discussion about her garden, fennel, and my obviously being from out of town. She showed me a lovely little restaurant not far from our home that I never would have thought to try if not for her suggestion, so again, get out there and do the things! Talk to the people! Be brave!

As always,

💘

XOXO,

NAU

Vegas: People and pets on the Promenade (part 2)

One of the cheesiest, and possibly also most alarming, things Antho ever told me, was the time he excitedly described to me a homeless couple he had seen- while they were both quite obviously living on the street, destitute and broke, they were clearly and unquestionably infatuated with each other and seemed beyond content despite a situation most of us would never consider a remotely tolerable turn of fate. He saw it as a poetic image, a testament to the undying power of love to overcome any and all challenges despite any situation it might find itself in... I saw it as a bit of a terrifying indicator for just how low he was willing to let his standards of living fall so long as he had me tagging along to bolster him, but I digress. He's a dreamer at heart, a fantastic, whimsical, flashy theatrical type who was raised on a steady and heavy diet of Hollywood films while I tend to be the logistician who grumbles, gets a migraine, and sorts through the realities of the matter like some impression of an adult in an effort to sway the tides of time in my favor. Homelessness, while not something I consider a desirable or even romantic notion, is an inarguable reality of modern society. I've seen, and interacted with, homeless people in Japan as well as the United States, and witnessed their camps while in Korea... Each country approaches things in their own ways, and each homeless person's story is unique, too, so it's not as though a simplistic blanket approach could ever work for everyone. I do have to say that I rather like Japan's approach, which seems a respectful distance and non-interference. When police want to evict a homeless encampment on public land, they're forced to abide by the same procedural processes as in an eviction. Most homeless are left to sleep in peace, and the time I did stop and offer a hot coffee and a sandwich to a homeless man in Tokyo, he was shocked by the gesture and asked incredulously where I had come from. He'd made me laugh on a difficult morning, so I figured it an equitable exchange, but this does make me wonder how far indifference stretches before it turns to a cold shoulder. 

 All photos in this post were taken by Antho! 

Vegas: Psychedelic night drive

Who's your favorite superhero? I know superheroes might be a sore topic for some, given the events that unfolded in the Infinity War... I mean, I know that I can speak from personal experience to say that I'm still reeling and feeling a bit traumatized by what we all witnessed, and repeated viewings on Blu-ray haven't helped matters much... but Antho and I, we've been watching The Flash on the CW since it first started airing (four years ago!)... it's been our show. We've grown and evolved as a couple over the years while we watched our favorite hero and his rag-tag group of scientists and alternate-Earth friends grapple to confront the meta-human menace and time-travel-tangled mess they've found themselves in every week. Even when I was off in Korea for six months we managed to synch up and watch the new episodes together, video-chatting with our reactions in real time! It's been a lot of fun, and while the show is currently on hiatus (boo, hiss) we're eager for when it returns to the airwaves in October. Sheesh, October still sounds so far away, but really we're almost through August already... all the little kidlings have gone back to school, and the big yellow buses have resumed roaming the neighborhoods. Time has been flying by, not unlike our favorite Scarlet Speedster, and summer is rapidly coming to its conclusion. Here in Vegas, summer doesn't fade away without a fight- she digs her claws in deep and spews her fiery, arid breath through much of October. Usually by time of All Hallow's Eve we've got enough of a nip that those skimpy insert-blank-here costumes are mildly uncomfortable... at least, for me. Some girls can walk the streets in booty shorts when it's -15 degrees fahrenheit out, and my respects to them, but us desert rats tend to have thin blood. 

I mention the Flash, though, because when doing long-exposures and driving things tend to take on an aspect not unlike that our favorite fast guy gets, with any light source creating streaks that resemble lightning. We do a fair bit of cruising around in that big van of ours and decided one night to experiment with long exposures. This is the result of that. Also, bonus cicada, because it's summer here and I love the little singing bugs. 

Vegas: A den of penultimate horror, aka the Storage Unit (and bonus sunset drive)

Do you want to play a game?

What scares you? Is it cradling your phone close to your face in the deep of night, huddled under your blankets with only the cool electronic glow to stave off the darkness as you read Nosleep or Creepypasta into the early hours? Or do you prefer visceral visual gore, a screen painted in vibrant and guttural shades of red and pink with all the imagination and texture the creation department could muster through gallons of corn syrup and latex? Or are you more into the slow creeping cerebral of psychological horrors? 

I like a fair bit of each, depending on my mood. Sometimes I want a slithering, spine-tingling spectacle that lingers and latches on, like a greasy film from a cheap lotion- the kind of creeping dread that H P. Lovecraft is so adept at crafting. Other days you just want a big absurd splashfest in the vein of Dead Alive by Peter Jackson (yes, the same guy who made Lord of the Rings) where the cringe-inducing pus-squirts and custard incidents, as revolting as they are, are still snuggly-wrapped in their blanket of Kiwi humor. There are even those days (probably more oft than naught) where a mostly-light-hearted rom-zom-comedy like Shaun of the Dead fits the bill best of all. The greatest thing about all these multifaceted horrors is that most can be left behind by simply shutting a book or pressing a button. Slam. Zap. The spookiness is over and mostly gone. Tentacles recoil into the ink stains forming the words on the page, and gnashing teeth fade to black. 

But these horrors are all firmly rooted in fiction, so at the end of the day, no amount of fear or anxiety they induce is based on any real, imminent threats to you. Movies, books, even terrifying-anxiety-inducing-nightmare fests of a game like Dead Space are entertainment, for better or for worse. These are outlets that allow us to confront these things in safety, shouting at the clumsy victim of the moment as they stumble and stagger their way through their scripted slaughter. Reality itself provides no shortage of macabre and mortifying material to contend with, and for me, this often manifests as an overwhelming abundance of stuff. I strive for a minimalist sort of existence and having hopped continents several times now while living out of one or two suitcases found it extremely liberating. Less is more, they say, and whoever they are they've got the right idea. There are few things quite so deeply, unnervingly horrific as the storage unit. A place where your excess stuff goes to be forgotten, locked away in a spare bedroom you pay to forget. It's ridiculous- instead of, say, getting rid of the detritous that ways you down, it accumulates to the point of needing an additional offsite location to put it...so not only are you paying for the house you yourself need space to live in, but a separate home for your stuff. What sense does that make?! It's like the dead coming to life, but it's all your dead stuff that's chasing you down, draining your finances and patience,  hoarding their dust-bunnies and potential spider-nests in wait until the day they can strike you down...

A fucking horror show, I tell you.

Vegas: Living on the street in the city of Sin

This human pictured above, this is Peanut. He's originally from New Mexico, according to a conversation he and Antho had one afternoon. Peanut likes to drink alcohol, like a lot of alcohol, a hobby he's had since he was a wee little baby when his mum would put booze in his bottle to keep him quiet and sleepy. Perhaps this makes it no surprise, then, that Peanut is now a homeless young adult at the ripe old age of 23, and he's right on track for needing a kidney replacement within the next year or risk a more or less certain death. And so it goes, another homeless young American wasting the dwindling days of his short and brutal life here on the streets of Sin City, where he points to tourists and tells them if he thinks they're hot between swigs of malt liquor. I mean, we could wax poetic and try to write an optimistic tale of how his future will invariably be brighter and better than his current lot in life, but for people like Peanut that would be a bold-faced lie. It's highly unlikely that there's any sort of GoFundMe campaign to get Peanut a kidney, because who is worried about a homeless kid like Peanut? At the end of the day, he's just another face blending into the background, another awkward aversion of the eyes for the residents and tourists alike. Homelessness is not an easy thing to fix and there's an incredibly complex web of variables and choices coalescing together to land someone in such an unfortunate position, and how much of that is fated and how much of it is personal manifest destiny is hard to decipher at a quick glimpse. 

It takes a whole lot more than a quick glimpse to work out a solution to the problem of homelessness, and here in the city of sin, it's an especially unfortunate situation to wind up in. Not only is the city itself rather hostile to the homeless, who wind up camped out on the walkways and stoops of downtown, but the environment too is extremely harsh and very dangerous. A lot of our homeless in Las Vegas have taken to hiding underground, making their homes in the drainage tunnels that exist to spare citizens the brunt of the flash flooding, and coincidentally end up drowned when those floods find their way to their intended corridors. It's a lose-lose situation, though some intriguing new ideas have been added to the mix in an effort to help alleviate the issue, or at least divert it to less tourist-prone areas. Whether this is really the right solution is yet to be determined, but again, this isn't an easy issue with a clear solution. Unfortunately for Peanut, it's probably too little, too late.  

Photos in this post provided by Antho Jay...

Road Tripping: Sunset drive in Mesquite, NV

After cooling off in the sprinklers at Hafen Fishing pond and mowing down some snacks, it was back into the van and on to the road again. We enjoyed surveying the different homes and little ranches that dotted the neighborhoods we weaved through, but we quickly found ourselves running low on neighborhoods to explore. We even popped in to a little vape shop to get some ejuice, but they closed quite early in the evening- around 6pm, maybe earlier, I believe. In such a little burb it makes sense, though, as the only people working late shifts would likely be a handful of casino employees and vitally important service positions, like hospital staff at Mesa View regional hospital... Mesquite is a small town, after all, as I've said at least once or twice on the blog now. Small towns in Nevada often have a similar sort of feel, at least in so far as the ones I've encountered yet. Improbably little oasis of homes and businesses standing solemnly in the expansive, seemingly endless stretches of desert, connected to the rest of civilization by the rolling roads linking these little ports. While much of my life has been spent in Las Vegas (as well as Tokyo and Seoul), some of my educational years were spent in Boulder City, one of those little towns down the highway a ways. It wasn't so far from the city center, so I still felt connected to the urban hub, but there are towns quite far and remote that make you wonder what in heaven's name inspired humans to sit down and set up roots. Mesquite is relatively close to several other towns, like St. George to the North or Vegas to the South, so it certainly doesn't feel as desolate or disconnected as some of those small towns do, but I can see how it would lead the youngsters to feel claustrophobic with a yearning for adventure and escape. That might just be a natural part of youth, though, that need to stretch your wings and flee the nest. 

Brief life update 04/23/2018

I haven't been as on top of posting the last few weeks as I'd have liked to have been, and for that, I apologize. I'm still fervently trying to stay on top of my goal of doing a blog post every day for the duration of this year, even if that means having to backpedal and make back-dated posts at times to fill in the gaps. This post, right here, right now, is one such post. 

Why have I been struggling a bit this month, when the last few months went more smoothly?

Well, for one, our beloved rats are starting to get quite advanced in age. The ones still with us have passed their second birthdays, and it's not often that rats see their third, let alone a fourth. We've had to contend with various new issues presenting themselves, from the sweet boy pictured here, Zinni (short for Vizzini) having a seizure that impaired his balance, to cancer and respiratory infections. While we've always tried to dote on them and ensure their time in our lives was as wonderful as we could facilitate, it's especially important to us to be there for them in their final days to try to keep them as comfortable as possible. Rats are such splendidly gentle, affectionate little beings and they've made our lives so much more fun with their sass and squeaks. We certainly didn't expect them to be so sassy- we call them our "squeakers" because they're more than happy to vocalize when their siblings, or we, do something they don't agree with. Luckily none have ever gotten into any serious disagreements and injured another, and they've never seriously injured us. I will always recommend rats as pets. 

Then there's been the job situation. Antho and I worked an event called the Bluegrass Bender Jamboree, which exposed us to not only the entertaining twangy Earthiness of bluegrass music but the fun-loving, tie-dye-sporting, often super-friendly fans of the funky genre. While we were there as staff, everyone we interacted with was generally amicable, happy and having a good time so it was a really fun experience. The hours were rather long and involved a lot of standing or running around, so I had to plan ahead to account for being pretty famished after each shift, and while I was able to get blogs out I barely found time to feed myself. Shortly after the bender was over I starting a new retail gig, too. I'm still doing caricatures for private events and parties, along with volunteering with Critical Care Comics, so I've been feeling a bit stretched trying to get to early morning training shifts and events. Once a little more routine is established it should get better. I'm excited about this new position as it's with a different company selling some truly beautiful products in a lovely store. Should be a lot less exasperated faces like that one soon!

Overall, I think things are looking up for this summer. Our tie-dye and art creations has been in a bit of an unwanted hiatus, but we should be getting back into it pretty heavily here soon. While it hurts to see our pets grow older, it's a natural part of life, and unfortunately, rats lives go by at a much-accelerated rate compared to our own. The best we can do is love them while we've got them and give them all the care and loving treatment we can. And all the treats! Naturally. 

Thanks for stopping by.

💝

XOXO,

NAU

Japan: Fujimi Yonchome & City Hall 2011-11-28

After settling in and preparing for work, it was time to tend to all the legalities of my move. 

Working in Japan it was imperative to have a work visa, which was hammered out prior to my arrival but now that I was here there were some final details to hash out. I made my way to city hall and took many photos along the way. Here's a glimpse into my neighborhood and day to day life in Urayasu!

Seoul Trip: Day 4, exploring near Anguk station

Changdeokgung Palace.

A brief walk from Yim's house stood Changdeokgung palace, a vibrant landmark and beacon of hope during my stay; once I saw the palace in it's resplendent decorative colors and tiles looming into view, I knew I was either close to my home base or off on my way to another adventure. 

I had an appointment later in the afternoon, but had enough time to do a little exploring. Anguk station was the closest and I stayed relatively close for the morning in an effort to avoid tardiness. The area was quirky and fun.