Wednesday, September 30, 2020

Molasky Family Park

 While Molasky Family Park is small (about the size of a square city block) it has great potential, but it is probably the dirtiest park I have photographed since I have been in Las Vegas. It is located not far off of Flamingo Avenue, 2.4 miles from The Strip. It is home base to many of the homeless people that populate the area. Out of respect for the privacy of these people I did not photograph their camping spots which has become a community.

Thursday, September 10, 2020

Taking Back My Life


 *****
OK, I want to get a little realistic here. I am taking a hard close look at what I am doing with my life. I do not like it. I do not like where I am. I do not like what I am doing. I do not like what is holding me back from being where I want to be or doing what I want to do. And, I am pondering how to change things.

First, I am glad that I came back because of why I came back. I am here because I knew my sister's health was failing and she was going to need help. But, I have done just about all I can do for her, and it has cost me dearly in time. I had lived in the Las Vegas Valley for 2.5 years before I came back to Oklahoma. I spent 2+ years doing my photography and .5 year catching up on my computer work. I did not, evidently, realize that I still had more than year of computer work to do when I left there. And, what time I have been able to concentrate on my own life has been spent editing, organizing, and posting photos that I have taken. And, I still have a few months of work to do to be completely caught up. Also, I still have several months of work to do to actually complete what I have started there. And, there is still the updating work.

My plan was to return to Oklahoma to do what needed to be done and hit the road as a full-time van-lifer. But, now, I am thinking I was just lying to myself. I do not want to be a full-time van-lifer. I do, however, want to do it part-time while pursuing my bucket list. Otherwise, I want to be able to come home to do my computer work in a creature-comfortable setting and watch some tv from my recliner. Also, Las Vegas is a city with a ton of places to eat. And, frankly, I miss my Vegas friends.

So, I am sitting here contemplating how I am going to re-take control of my life. And, everything is telling me to go back to Nevada, complete the work I have started, and move forward from there. No more moving backward. So, how do I do this? Well, I am legally stuck here until my apartment lease has expired. That will be January 15, 2020. And, that should give me time to save up the money to move me and my belongings back to where we should be if nothing gets in my way. But, that bit about stuff getting in my way is entirely possible. There is, of course, plenty of the same kind of work for me to do right here in Oklahoma. And, I will keep shooting if and when I can afford to do it. But, there are also projects I need to work on that includes what I have done with my Vegas work.

When I get to Vegas I am not yet sure whether I will have a place to live. But, that is why I will also be preparing for a short term, semi-permanent van-life, because I do not know how long it will take to find a place where I will want to live until my permanent home becomes available in Boulder City, a beautiful small town just over the hill and out of sight of the Las Vegas Valley. I am on a waiting list which may take up to 1.5 years from now. It is also the place where I would already be living if I had not come back to Oklahoma to live.

Yep. My mind is 99.8% sure at this point that if I live long enough I will return to Nevada. And, there is one more positive benefit of being there. I have always been able to get better medical treatment through the Las Vegas VA than through the Oklahoma VA system.

*****