Downwardly Static: February 2015

I went for my first photo walk back in Melbourne since my month away in the US. While I was away, I kinda forgot how much I love this city! Despite its size, it's amazingly friendly and easy going. Not sure if US cities have some weird inherent vibe, or if it's simply due to being out of town and not on one's home turf - but I realised over the past week that I never felt totally comfortable while walking around alone randomly in American cities. Always slightly edgy, in a way which is hard to describe.

So, today I did a very broad walk right around the CBD. Mostly around Chinatown (where I live) initially, and then down to Southbank and back around the north side of the city. Here are some of the best pics:

Happy Chinese New Year I

Lantern And Facades

Happy Chinese New Year II

Painted Wall In Chinatown

Lanterns At Crown

City Silhouette

Dramatic Clouds Over Crown

Rialto Tower Reflections

Looking Down Russell Street

I just got back from spending my January travelling around America. It most definitely qualifies as a "trip of a lifetime" level vacation, on so many levels!

I don't really know where to begin, and if I tried to write about everything that's in my head then this post would become insanely huge, so I'll keep it (relatively) short and simple. More of a quick synopsis and a showing of holiday snaps than anything else.

Asexy Solo Poly Adventures

The initial motivator for this trip was to meet up with two special online friends whom I have an (mostly online version of) asexual solo polyamorous triad with. I had already met one of them last year, and the two of them met each other before as well, but this was the first time we were all coming together in-person.

It all went amazingly well! So much so that I don't really have much to say about it right now. It doesn't really need analysis or (in the spirit of relationship anarchy) even a strong definition, it just is what it is. And spending time together in-person was great. We went road tripping around the Southwest, spent two days sightseeing around the Grand Canyon, and there was much great conversation, quality time, and warm and fuzzy snuggles!

Admittedly, the distance involved is not ideal. It would be great to be able to get together and do something like this more easily and spontaneously and often - say, a few times per year or so. But it's still great to have these kind of connections, even if they're going to be long distance and mostly-online things indefinitely. I've been looking at love through the relationship anarchist lens for a long time now, so it's getting easier than ever to accept each connection for what it is, and to cherish it for what it is.

Overview And All The Rest

Without getting too long-winded and prosaic, let's just say that my vacation was split into two parts: first the meeting above (from 3rd January to the 12th), and then solo travel from the 12th onwards. I flew in and out of Los Angeles, on the 2nd and 29th January respectively...

Being a bit of a train travel nut, I decided to cross the entire country by train, so I took the Sunset Limited from Los Angeles to El Paso on the 2nd, which is where I got off, rented a car, and went on to do the Asexy Solo Poly Adventure stuff for nine days. Then I rejoined the Sunset Limited in El Paso on the 12th and went down to New Orleans, arriving there on the 13th. After a few days in Nawlins, I rolled across to New York on the Crescent on the 17th - which completed my coast-to-coast crossing of the USA. Then I flew over to San Francisco on the 24th for a few days and took the Coast Starlight back down to Los Angeles, where I flew out the next day.

Overall, New York was definitely my favourite city in America, with San Francisco coming in a close second. By contrast, both New Orleans and Los Angeles felt like quite brutal cities - and although they were definitely fun to visit for a bit - I didn't get the slightest bit of curiosity about wanting to live there.

I spent the vast majority of the solo portion of my trip just strolling around and taking it all in. It's typical of my travel style (as well as lifestyle), which is a big part of why I liked New York and San Francisco so much - they are similar to inner city Melbourne in that sense. You can really do that there, friendly and safely. Other than that, I have to say I quite liked the food in America, especially at the casual diner level.

So I'm back now, and easing into "normal" life again. Probably only starting work again later in the week, which is good. I didn't actually blow my budget with this trip or anything, so I'm not too desperate to jump straight into heavy hours right now.

Here's a smattering of holiday snaps. I didn't take my proper camera, so they're basic smartphone snaps, but some turned out pretty good I think.