Hi all,
While WordPress is nice, I’ve started a blog on my homepage now at http://www.columbia.edu/~rtk2116/ . You can check me out there..
Happy Friday!
Rachael
Petroglyph National Monument
Basalt rock, from a volcanic explosion.. The texture is as spongey as you’d think; it’s quite strange.. beautiful. Worth? Not worth. But hey, somehow whoop whoop.
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Meow Wolf
So, Meow Wolf is a creation of local, modern artists, thanks to funding mostly from George RR Martin (Game of Thrones author) in Santa Fe. The place was an old bowling alley, and you’re greeted by Robot Man!
Now, it’s not just a place for the locals to display their art; it itself is the artwork, or, rather, it houses “The House of Eternal Return,” and that‘s the artwork.
I just want to preface with saying, I think this is the coolest way to tell a story; it’s a combination of auditory, visual, and physical means to deliver a plot. You have to listen hard to the audio recordings you’ll find (and they’re not in every room, so you need to seek them out); there are no transcripts. While I understand that part of it is learning how to listen, and listen well, I do wish since it gets so packed in there that there were transcripts…but that’s okay, it’s really part of the fun. It makes every sound important.
So, the exhibit tells the story, or has the clues to the story, of one Lucius Selig..
Somewhat reminiscent of “Pastor Richard Salvation” from Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, this man Lucius Selig promoted this idea that people could be “saved,” partly by his methods of positive-thinking but mostly by “launching off” on one of his “ships” to these utopian places where people could live and thrive forever…or so it seems. He gets lost in this “power” of his, driven to paranoia and insanity.
There are a few elements and subplots in this story. There’s an Earth, and people are living on it (hence the house..); however, there’s an outside force, an all-powerful force, conducting the affairs of the human inhabitants. One hears the story from and in some parts sees it as the over-arching force does. This entity is no god, or if s/he is, s/he is susceptible to love.
There’s also an organization overseeing Selig and the operations on earth, whether in connection with the entity or not, called “The Charter.” In fact, Selig has business cards with the website www.powerofpositivemechanics.com, you can check it out yourself– and it redirects to thecharter.org if you click on the image that comes up. If you read through the manuscripts on the coffee table in the beginning of the house, you’ll find the Charter, ah, was always in control of how far Selig could go, though he didn’t know that. Selig was paranoid and fearful of the Charter; he orchestrated a whole program with non-paid internships and eventually thought everyone was a spy of the Charter (including his own sister)…
His sister and her family are key to this, as are his and her parents… It seems Selig was continuing from the research of his parents..
Anyway, I’m not going to talk more about the plot.. Here’s some of the artwork and the house! Well first, gotta say, you walk INTO the refridgerator, SO COOL!
Okay now artwork/house. When you enter through the fridge, you go down a walk corridor and come out to this area, which I’m pretty sure is where the ‘beaches’ are located. You can see inside that green-lined door, there’s a lit button; it displays the name of a location, and that’s the door in…
Anyway, you continue along these weird areas.. but some are so beautiful:
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One of the rooms. So strange, my goodness.
The following two images are just beautiful paintings along one of the hallways.
You can see the following “bubble” of a room in the gates you see in the previous photo. JP for realz.
In one part, you walk through a hallway….but you’re actually in the fish tank.
Along some of the hallways, there are little rectangular cubes you can look into. The next two photos are what’s inside them.. (There are more, but these were the most interesting.) What do they have to say about society?..
Stepping into the exhibit, you’re greeted by the following:
And indeed, there they were, replete with information.
Tbh the Olympus was having a lot of trouble ’cause it was so dark! Its images are just so fantastic though..
Anyway, hope you enjoyed! What a place..
Olympic Trials Day 2 is today!! Women’s 10k is soon! HUDDDDDLLLLEEE<33
Happy Saturday!
Rachael
La Luz
Hello everyone! I hope your Friday has been great. Today was my first Friday off (on the 9/80 schedule– work 80 hours in 9 days and get every other Friday off). I took the time to run a mid-range long run and go check out the famous La Luz!
As I’d heard La Luz was a good running trail (for the first 5-6mi), originally I was going to go and run it. I’m a baby though; I don’t like to run a new route before I understand it well. So instead ran near my apartment and went to do a small hike along La Luz to scope it out. Def glad I did! I don’t know if I’d run it alone; if the ABQ Roadrunners have a group meeting while I’m here, I might crash it :p.
So, La Luz trail takes you up 7 miles to Sandia Crest. Since I was alone, and I didn’t feel like paying the $25 to take the tram down (nor did I feel like hiking 14 miles today!), I just went up along the trail ~2miles and back down… I say “just went up,” but make no mistake, even two miles along that trail is just beautiful. It was so freeing; there’s nothing like being out in the great outdoors..
The trail is popular, but I only saw people every 10-20min, and if that’s representative of a day, then hey you can really go to La Luz and just enjoy. The trail is nice; I took some pics as I was hiking back down, so I’ll let them do most of the talking :).
Flowers:
I loved all the flowers…so beautiful, so strange.
Desert Lizard!:
Mountain Views:
Out to one side you see arid mountains, and on the other (the way you’re going up to), you see beautiful trees!
Arid Mountains
Also, outside La Luz (literally next to the parking lot), you can see the following mountains.. I wonder what the carvings indicate..a home?
Anyway, on to the trails! The rest will be images..hope you enjoy :). Wish you all were here!
Trail and Misc. Awesome Stuff:
Even some of the cacti can’t stand the heat!
Some of the moss growing on rocks is rust-colored, while some is green (pale, olive-drab green).. I wonder why.. (Dad, do you know why?)
Weird rock formation!:
TGIF! Happy Friday!
Cheers!
Rachael
Albuquerque Running- Paseo del Bosque
So, I’m super excited and happy to say that running here in Albuquerque (ABQ) seems (seems) to be awesome. After Dad and I first arrived, we went to check out some of the places I had read about: the Rio Grande, Sandia foothills, etc.
Without research, of course, I ended up leading him to/through kinda the sketchy parts of town (they exist everywhere), but I have corrected that :).
Today I checked out the Rio Grande, and by that I mean the super popular Paseo del Bosque trail- 16 mi of uninterrupted running, biking, or whatever! It was beautiful! I started at Tingley Beach; it’s an easy ten-minute drive from where I live.
FIRST of all, TEEPEEEEE!!! (It was along the way!)
Now I’ll let the pics do the talking. I’m also super excited to try out this apparently perfect 5k loop around Albuquerque Academy. This loop is even talked about amongst the elite, along with the rest of what ABQ has to offer!
It was beautiful. Do you see all the people? It’s fantastic; people in the West know what’s good in life! You’re always passing someone on a bike..it’s amazing. I was nervous at first, not knowing if it would be a sole runner sort of deal, but no not at all. It’s like NYC (Central Park) insofar as there’s people safety; it’s great!
I didn’t go the whole 16mi of course, just getting used to the place and the feel. I definitely could have though; the surroundings are so beautiful that you just don’t want to stop. Honestly I ran longer than I was planning to! I’ll probably make this my weekly long run on Sat. or Sun. I have a nice 2mi loop around where I live that I’ll use throughout the week. It’s pleasant :).
Hope all is well! More photos as I hike/run/etc! I might also publish a “Trip to Albuquerque” post.. Dad and I saw some cool stuff!!
By the way, there are a lot of rabbits and bugs here! They’re both friendly, though the bugs can be kind of annoying! None have stung or bitten me yet, and I’ve had quite a few hitch a ride on me, so that speaks well of them :). And the bunnies are nice; they don’t get too scared!
Misc photos:
Dead tree!
Best!!
Rachael
mathrunnergirl 