Missing and Dissing: #1

Naturally, we all start to miss things while we're away. In an earlier post, I mentioned the mountains and the juniper trees. I'll definitely miss those. Sandia and the Sangre de Cristos become sort of constant friends when you live out here. Even more than them, I'm going to miss Saint Francis Cathedral. I'm not religious but it's a beautiful building. I like to walk past it whenever I'm in Santa Fe. Standing in front of a structure that represents something as immense as the Catholic church makes you realize where you are on the globe: an object taking up maybe two square feet of space on a planet whose surface area is about 510,072,000 square kilometers. I'm tiny. I like that. It means there's more room to roam. With the internet and global communication connecting a desktop to the furthest reaches of the world, everything starts to seem a little cramped and standing in front of St. Francis is my way of broadening the perspective.

(Although, the global population may not share this perspective: yikes!)

Now, the fun part. What won't I miss? Come on, there's a hundred reasons to travel. Not the least among them being the desire to "get away from it all." So, what is "it all?" There's probably an infinite number of things. I'll start with just one:

ADVERTISING

Ads are everywhere. I'm looking around my house right now and the only place I don't see advertising is on my own body and the cats. There are little symbols on everything we buy that are designed to be memorable so that when we see them in stores we know exactly what brand is represented by them. Repetition makes humans trust more (science!). Marketing has become a cacophony that is impossible to ignore. Especially on the internet. Three-and-a-half months in the bush with no connectivity is going to be awesome!

Exhibit A:



It's a little blurry but it says "Ozzy has a secret fantasy. Click here for a chance to win his fantasy." Uh...Ozzy Osborne has a secret fantasy and someone thinks I am even curious as to what it is? No thank you. I mean, despite his fall from rock grace, I love old school Ozzy and I'm stoked for the return of Black Sabath (dubious but stoked). However, the prospect of winning Ozzy Osborne's fantasy is only a little less terrifying than the prospect of winning tickets to a John Wayne Gacy gallery opening hosted by the "artist."

Oh, well. Advertising isn't going anywhere. If only they could be a little more entertaining, like this Captain Morgan spot my friend Garner showed me: Captain Morgan's 'To Life, Love & Loot.'