Just another denizen of the City of Sin crossing the street – Royal Hopper

Faith is for Lovers Priests and Poets

by Royal Hopper

Faith is a wonderful thing for lovers, priests and poets but it has little place in the every day functions of normal life and almost none in my City the City of Sin…The Jedi are wrong about this Knowing is almost always better than feeling and adapting is almost always better than hoping in this bizarre city and I suspect in most of the world…
Always ask questions and always seek the answers that true not the ones others want to tell you or the ones you want to hear

I once heard of tour group leader who frustrated by his groups tardiness to their points of departure and arrival always told them all his bus was going to leave at a much earlier time than it was scheduled to depart. One tour member objected pointing out that he and his wife had reservations for a show that was due to let out 30 minutes before departure time and he didn’t want to miss the show. After much debate the tour leader finally admitted the tour would indeed leave at the scheduled time and the guest could go to the show….Question Everything …but with logic …. . Try to know why and when and where things work not just how…..

So many times I seen people ditched in this City because they trusted to much or had faith in the wrong person…If you cant trust a person with your life..don’t trust them with your money your time or breakfast cereal.
If you cant turn your back them ..don’t…

I can still remember the man who came to the security podium at the old Riviera complaining about the girl (in other words the Ho) ho had rolled him. “I thought she was a nice girl,” he said shuffling his feet and looking at the floor. “I thought she was attracted to me,” he tried to say. “Dude was older than me.” I managed not to giggle and say you have known better…..

These machines are called bandits in old Vegas slang – Royal Hopper

Its easy to be taken in by the obvious in this city ….You see a woman showing to much skin with a drink in her hand and studded leather jacket and you think Ho..but be careful there are soccer Moms who dress like Hos and Hos who dress like soccer Moms ..the smart ones anyway ……The point is appearances can be deceiving don’t trust them.

That is life in the City of Sin and elsewhere

Love You Sinners

Cityscapes -Royal Hopper

A scooter a lady a political sign and a red sweater in the summer _ Royal Hopper

Some things have meaning far beyond the bottom line of the price tag they bear….

by Royal Hopper
I remember a woman who was upset because a wine bottle opener was missing from her room.
“It wasnt expensive but it was a reminder of a special day on a special trip,” she said pointing out that all her jewelry was still there in the safe. No one seemed to understand or care about the value of the missing keepsake and what it meant to her she related.
There are always things we take care of because we have to because they are a practical benefit to our lives…….houses, cars , clothes , shoes etc etc etc..

Suburban Las Vegas a personal injury attorney, a pool supply store and adult book store and a storage locker –Royal Hopper

But it is also a fact of human existence that there are things that mean something to us for strictly emotional reasons ..a beloved pet that reminds us of something in ourselves or gives us something to love when the world seems hateful and doomed, perhaps concert from the best show we ever saw with a beloved significant other or a memento of a better time when we were younger or happier …or just safe.
Many times over the years as a reporter or casino security I have written about things a person has lost. Almost never did they cry or rage about the $100 they kept in a sack or the Armani suit missing from the closet ……They wept or raged about a reminder or picture of a lost loved one or of a better day in their lives or that special day they don’t want to forget. The things near to a persons heart  are what they value.

I remember writing story about a charity started in memory of a mother who had died far to young ..She was organizing a charity to help end the disease that had eneded her mother’s life. I remember the tears that flowed as she told of the times her mother would wait for her to walk out to the family car after school and turn the wind shield wipers on because she was to sick to get out of the car and wave at her .

I remember she clutched something in her hand and would not let go of it some keepsake of her mom _ a memory she could not let go of.
I remember the closing I used went something like ..She pauses struggling to hold back the tears brought on by of a decade of hugs she missed out on, a decade of morning phone calls she used to roll her eyes at ..ten years of trips to the mall and ten years of struggling to find a good mothers day present and finally failing as the tears burst forth like a torrent as she clutched the photo like a talisman of memory.
Once I remember a guest at a hotel I worked at raging at many items missing from her room and then smiling through grateful tears after two pictures of a loved one were returned.
I remember a set of keys that a macho male guest admitted were used to unlock doors that didn’t exist anymore and the awkward guy hug he tried to give me for returning them to him. They meant somethign to him. 

My wife has an old piece of pottery her mother made years ago before she died from breast cancer some ten years or so before. Tears still come to her eyes if she holds them long enough as the memories threaten to burst forth.
The next time you roll your eyes at someone who complains about a keep sake they have lost .think back and remember something that meant something to you…something that did not pay the bills or polish the car but none the less meant something to you ..to the emotional childish part of you that you suppress to live in this insane carnival of a world.
They are things that remind us there is more to life than things ….or status and mortgages and payments ..that once these things are paid the real living begins …that like it or not we are far more defined by those moments and things than any symbol of status or wealth….
That’s life in the City of Sin and everywhere else too

It is an often ignored fact of existence that no matter how relatively well or poorly we are doing …Most humans stay where they are once they get comfortable with it …

The art of doubting and being comfortable

By Royal Hopper 

As you approach a traffic light in your worn out but well preserved old dodge on your daily commute to pay the mortgage you slow down and by reflex look to the right.
A man in a white wife beater T shirt legs bent inward stumbles forward in the loose dry dirt toward the peak of the culvert buy the roadway of the huge plain dirt drainage ditch that sits astride a Vegas back road used to get to work, avoid traffic on the strip or on the way to the airport and buy pizza and beer.

Two guys sitting on the sidewalk Tuesday maybe looking for work ? —Royal Hopper

It is a strip of sterile dead dirt dotted with the remains of homeless bed rolls, meals drug paraphernalia and sometimes a tent. LVMPD (Metro for short) does a good job running them off but the unfortunate always come back.
This one is shaking off something as he climbs to the top of the tiny dead mound to the side of the road. He looks like a well dressed zombie extra in an appocalypse movie like he has slept for years and is just waking up.
After several moments of zombie like stumbling the man in his dirty jeans and pristine white t shirt reaches and top of the dead dirt culvert and like somebody on the set of a bad appocalypse B Movie has given a que the wind starts blowing …
Right before the light changes for a second you lock eyes ..he looks at you a shrugs and for a moment ..just a moment you are communicating. There you two are a stoned homeless guy in a white T shirt with bent knees stumbling to the top of a dusty dirt drainage ditch culvert and a older dude on his way to work to make sure he has a nice place to hang his hat and a bed to sleep in at night .
One finds freedom and release in indulgence and not having things that tie you down ..the other finds freedom in security and being clear minded and practical and having a permanent place to hang his hat .. both of you seem to have doubts about your choices. Sometimes one wants to run with the wind and get lost in the world and the other sometimes wishes for comfort and security but a roof and neither want to be where the other is …to achieve it …
Just for a moment there is epiphany enlightenment what ever you want to call it for a moment the world seems a little clearer….then the light changes and everything goes back to the way it was as it always does .. One spaces off and goes back into his quiet reverie as the other turns his eyes back to the road as the light changes and drives on to pay his mortgage paying eight hour appointment …
It is a fact of life that many people tend to dtsy exactly where they are because they dont know how to do anything else ….
That is life in the Cuty of Sin and everywnere else ….
Love You Sinners
take Care

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