All That Glitters

Last night my dear friend Alex and I explored much like we would normally. We found a place. We walked around and for reasons unknown to us, but perhaps to someone else, our way was not obstructed by gate, lock or door. We found ourselves in the center of a forgotten mystery. And in the hours that passed we slowly pieced together what we had found. Maps of Arizona, shelves of chemicals, kilns of varying sizes, rocks, books, a bed, generators, antique furniture. Words to describe our treasure are as follows, given to me to post by that friend Alex. He sent this to me in the early hours of the next morning for all of you to read:

"When you wander the streets in Las Vegas, there are certain things you just don't expect to find, but you often do. You don't expect the condom lying at your feet near a busy intersection. You don't expect buildings from your childhood in the middle of the city to be randomly demolished. You don't expect the sweet lady who gives you 15 dollars when you really need the money for food. And you just don't expect the phrase "all that glitters is gold" to somehow become slightly more relevant to your own life.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is: wander the streets of the Las Vegas valley a bit more. Every once in a while something interesting happens. Like stumbling upon an abandoned gold smelting operation.

I sure as hell wasn't expecting what seemed like a cement mixing facility, and then a pottery facility, and then a furniture restoration operation, and then… Fuck it, I didn't expect any of it. Gold, directions on do-it-yourself gold extraction, enough chemicals to kill every horse in a medieval army… I'm sure if you tried hard enough, you could re-invent Greek fire in this place.

What made me happiest was the simpler aspects of things: an unremarkable man's photo album (I mean no offense) and a random mining and smelting operation that was once going on right in the middle of our wonderful city (*cough*)… And not super-industrial, either!

The mood was set by several surprising things being unlocked, and the occasion was almost ritualistically sealed sometime around moonrise.

And I strangely find myself wondering after all this: I wonder if there is gold on the moon….

Oh, and remember kids: all that glitters is gold! Or something that could make it, anyways!"

And with those words, photographs.