A man putting on his cool in the City of Sin _ Photo by Royal Hopper
The Sin City Commuter’s Haze
By Royal Hopper
It is a normal Tuesday in the City of Sin and you see the normal things as you drive down the normal byways of this very weird city and your way to work. You see or rather I saw a well dressed couple walking a dog. As I or rather you near the city you begin to see the ironically beautiful arcane patchwork of huge professionally done signs that dot the area around the Strip ( Las Vegas Boulevard) with retouched photos of beautiful models, advertising –ass kicking shows.. . . bands, businesses and events. You or rather I saw a B list celebrity whose name I cant remember trying to be seen and failing or an A lister * relatively speaking) trying not to be seen and failing.
The arcane patchwork of signs that dot the City of Sin is almost as ubiquitous as the neon it is justly famous for _ Photo by Royal Hopper
It all blends into a pleasant blur after awhile ..“the daily commute haze” we all develop in this city. You see all the pleasant and colorful things as you drive or walk. You see the neon jungle and the bright colors the mountains in the distance the two dimensional abstract painting I _ you _ we are meant to see.
At the end of the day when your mind is processing what you actually saw _ you remember the whole story. You remember the starving dogs that likely escaped from an absent owner. The white haired man in the uniform in a wheelchair his head down as he waited for the light to change.
As process you realize was either a real veteran being ignored while trying to celebrate his day or a phony trying to get donations from unwary tourists.
There are two sides to every story _ Photo by Royal Hopper
Then you remember the beautiful artsy signs are billboards advertising places you will never go and that some of them have people sleeping underneath them. You remember that you saw two of them.
You remember the couple screaming at each other and the cluster of police cars and the faces of the normally unshakable Las Vegas Metro police looking a bit pale and drawn.
If you live in the city long enough your mind becomes pleasantly inured to the ragged edges behind the bright neon face it puts forward.
I think it is a defense mechanism. This is a great city one that will be re
Las Vegas is a place old acts go to be reborn _ Photo by Royal Hopper
membered in history. But it is not always a good one.
It’s a harsh way of saying that sometimes you need to be detached _ to roll on down the road and take in the sunshine and ignore the potholes, the whores, the drunks passed out on the sidewalk and homeless guys dressed like big bird . . . . And let them stay in their dark little corners ..
If you are going to have a good day in the City of Sin. Sometimes you need to be blissfully ignorant. You need to paint your mind in pretty colors in the banal poetry of neon and sand and let the chips fall where they may.
That life in the City of Sin
Take Care Sinners
rs ..
My Dogs because I love my dogs _ Photo by Royal Hopper
Royal's Sin City Journal 