Knowing About Where You Are

https://youtube.com/shorts/du5F3_79FIY?si=0urjd1mt5iirffpN

I think this short sums up the point of this article: it’s fun being someone who knows about other places elsewhere, sure, travel is great for magic and mystery, but, it’s also fun being someone who is obsessed with the nooks and cranies of their home roost….the people who LOVE to buy merch with the city flag on it and know weird shit like “such and such movie was filmed in this bar”.  I think it also makes one a better traveler, it fine tunes the place-awareness development skills, which enhances being wherever you are.  It can also be a survival necessity in the event of personal or systemic economic nosedive; this can be reassuring, it can help one feel grounded/less adrift and “doomed.”

In order to enjoy living wherever you live (so, to promote general life enjoyment for yourself, at a minimum), you’ve got to survey what it provides, both uniquely and in terms of the universally-necessary (Maslowian needs type stuff).

Going in order of the most immediately and automatically needed:

• Public pool or similar, for soaking in the hot tub; cheap spa day option (/any kind of hot tubbing option, eg a spa or natural spring etc).

• Green spaces to walk to/in…corridors from the residence to parks or cafes; start opening up the local trail map in your memory, look for treasures/take pictures (plants/fungi, nifty weather, weird rendezvous-es at the edge of parks….that kind of thing.

• Where is the library; printing, dvds, comics, magazines, even cool books [ETA my girlfriend didn’t think I was being tongue-in-cheek here; got her], plus local event guides and other resource info; start noting the local public bulletin boards, these are always useful for weird intel and events.

• Start investigating favored resource options [free stuff options (eg public water, bathrooms, laundrymats for the garbage bin clothes, rubbish tips, large patches of edible weeds away from sources of contamination, beaches for beachcombing and sky/wavewatching), where to get the good groceries (eg nonchain asian grocery, chain Asian grocery, fruit market, Jamaican imports, etc), preferred types of restaurants, funky stores (eg bin stores, dollar stores, thrift stores, toy stores, vintage and collectibles, record stores]

• Some kind of game that involves getting out of the house (eg geocaching community stuff, pokemon go) will further provide options of interest to the area…one might even get into a local art scene and collect proofs of participation and so on (eg band merch, which is like hunting rare memes but offline).

(This should take years)

Elusive finds:
• Good high-up sunrise/sunset vantage points
• Indoor garden
• Laserium/good light installation
• Place to play pinball/arcade games generally
• Truly Dope Graffiti gallery
• Fucked up abandoned buildings/factories/tunnels

Running through this checklist when I moved to Langley BC immediately netted great trail options and no nearby pool (although there is a small private lake one finds by looking for summer swimming possibilities inland, and it would appear to have exactly one easy access point that isn’t through someones yard.  So there’s that).  The closest pool is basically halfway to Abbotsford, which is tragic).

By surveying whats available locally in Langley as an example, one first finds that there are an unusual number of thrifts, some of which have good deals (eg the $1 rack at the children’s charity store), and a number of liquor stores (all of which have different vibes, prices, and product ranges; ranking them in personal perference order is now easy).  Having a beer in your pocket is useful in all kinds of moods and situations; a walk out to get one is sometimes rejuvenating. Ranking the local bars in order of atmosphere quality is now easy, after surveying them for the sake of it.  Time lapses of lots going weedy and then becoming buildings can be made from pictures from regular walks, maybe I’ll get around to that some year.  I have a personal satellite map of the fruiting trees that are publicly accessible, which, the idea of having preserves appeals so scouting free fruit is a fun first step.

 

Further Options, depending on how remote you are:

Museums, art galleries, and places of worship: Good to poke into for vibes, especially if free

Living exhibits ie zoos and aquariums, bug/spider learning centres: often depressing, some are actually fun, but it takes a lot

Botanical gardens and similar are often a chill good time, especially if they do seasonal events.

Stoner sesh spots are useful to scout whether you want to blaze there or not, sometimes they’re just fun to explore, they’ve got that otherworldly vibe often, like finding an elven glade.

Weird malls

Vhs/dvd stores, weird arty rental places

Used book stores

Brunch places, diners, sushi, local pizza, world [which I’m saying instead of international because it sounds really 90s in a way I kinda super love] options, weird places that seem like they should be in mob movies, places that HAVE been in movies, old-school Chinese places, pho, Korean BBQ, AYCE/buffet, vegetarian….

Where to get banh mi (this gets its own line; citation).

Skate parks are a good place to make friends if you want to, especially late night when the kids aren’t out, altho, this is also a good way to end up in a weird af situation… soooooo…….personally I go when it’s empty to scope the graffiti and look for stuff like weird items people left.

Vacant lots, traintracks, empty warehouses, open dumpsters etc: there be treasures here.

Finally: find chatty people (shop staff, neighbors) who are full of local gossip and get it all.  Especially the people who check all the apps like nextdoor.  Have you wondered what’s going on with that one place? They know.  That’s sometimes invaluable context.  Helps when you’re trying to avoid certain situations…knowing at least a little bit about local drama is a good way to not get pulled into it unawares.

 

Some say knowledge is a curse and some say it’s power and so on and so forth, so I suppose, enter into knowledge at your own risk.

 

[One more thing is, it turns out that a good way to get a job somewhere is hanging out there a lot and everyone there/the boss (in particular) knowing you and liking you; this comes up in the movies High Fidelity (Rob’s staff did this), Empire Records (a little), City of God (wrt the photojournalism)…they also do this to pledge project mayhem in Fight Club 👍 you need to be able to hang around for the time it takes to get everyone habituated to you and get the lay of the land so you can make an informed approach; do your own recon if you don’t have an in, and you have the time at all. Be subtle, don’t ask their deeper secrets the first day you’re around.  Play it cool and you could get that ideal spot at that place that would be so great to work at.]

 

So finally, peace, blessings, and play safe!