darkflavor

it is hard to grasp what wide-open spaces means. that is a phrase used to describe the west. back in new york there is open county where cows, barns and crop fields checker the landscape. one can look over a few miles of rolling hills and not see any signs of the big city life. though on ever road there is a barn, a house or a cow — it is, in relative terms, open county.
sounds great.
now come out west.
nevada is a large state. driving from the top state border to the bottom, aka las vegas, would be like driving from buffalo, ny to south carolina. there is one important difference: perhaps four or five isolated pockets of life would be seen during the entire trip. otherwise, the only sign of civilization is the road traveled heading straight into the horizon.
not a barn, cow or forest in sight. the emptiness is extreme.
humidity reduces visiblity. where looking out over lake erie the horizon hazes out into blue, in the desert the line of sight extends much further. this is perhaps the largest contributer to the sense of wide-open space here in the west. since the line of sight extends tens of miles further than where it is humid one can see for a fact that there indeed is nothing.. and that nothing extends for quite some way. when looking out into the distance for fifty miles or so and not seen any signs of habitation truly amplifies the perception of loneliness here in the bare desert.
it is that emptiness that i love. but the desert is not empty. for it is filled with color! the color of the blue sky as it fades into black… the color of the mountains change in the distance.. the color of hills and rocks which abound!
back on topic. i have to laugh. the distance i can see from the top of the hill behind my house is further than the distance from springville, ny to buffalo, ny. however, from the top of that hill i cannot see out of our home we call the las vegas valley.
boy, do perceptions change out west. and it’s all because of water. i mean the lack thereof
when i make money i spend it. what do i spend it on? travel. i go places. what do i do? i take pictures. guess what? because i am not a professional photographer i have to pay 7k in taxes this year. see, if i were a pro photo man then i could have deducted the costs of my trips. that would have significantly reduced my tax liability. so, by the end of this week i will be a professional photographer because i plan on a mini road trip. i wouldn’t want to have to pay for that trip out of pocket.
we hired a landscaper. cost is 2k-3k. joy.
amount in my savings account? zero. wonderful.
guess who is not going to new york over the summer? namely it is someone who was not smart whom also is not rolling in cash at the moment. i am making about one-fourth the amount i was during the winter and it hurts.

let’s see how much money i can make my june i will get back up there.

now it’s time for chocolate milk, a health bar and wikipedia