My Life as an Awoken

We passed by the parks and entered into the newer parts of the city.

There, buildings stood like giants, glittering with shiny armor. They were massive structures made of steel, concrete, and glass. They were true products of the modern era.

I said, "Wow, this really is impressive. Every time I see things like this, it makes me think about how much money there actually is in the world. Each of these buildings is owned by someone and each building cost at least a few hundred million all the way up to a few billion.

These buildings cost at least a billion per building and there are hundreds.

It reminds me of the first time I realized how big the world is, and how much wealth some people have.

I was on a trip to visit my friend and I was doing a road trip to visit him. The trip took me through the vast fields of the Midwest. It was early morning and I was driving down a two lane road behind a shipping truck.

On either side of us were vast flat fields of wheat, they were so expansive that you couldn’t see the end in any direction. I drove for at least an hour before I saw anything else. But that wasn’t the end of it.

In the fields were countless wind turbines. They were everywhere and they went so far back that they disappeared into the early morning mist.

That was what made me realize that someone owned all of this. The fields, the wind turbines, and I’m sure much much more.

It made me feel incredibly insignificant. That in the vastness and wealth of the world, I am nothing.

And that same feeling is what I feel about this.

I may have a few billion dollars, but I still couldn’t buy even a fraction of all of this. I am still just a bug in the grand scheme of things."

"While I would like to understand the sentiment, I can’t. I come from that kind of unbelievable wealth. The kind of wealth that can bend laws and buy life. It’s a sucky part of life, but as long as humans are led by humans. Someone has to be at the top, and the top dictates the rules.

But, those are pointless thoughts to have. There is no point in worrying over something you can’t control. You should focus on what you can do and act on it.

Like right now. We don’t have to be depressed, we can go out and enjoy what the modern population and era have produced.

So, what do you feel like? Food, movies, games, art?"

"Art? Like an exhibition or a gallery?"

"Yeah. There are plenty here. Do you want to check them out?"

"Yeah, sure. I’m not really hungry, I don’t really like arcades, and the movies will be in a language I don’t know. So, art is the best option."

"Art it is then."

With the destination decided we took a few turns and waded through traffic to reach our destination.

An art gallery.

It was located at the bottom of a set of long stairs that led to a retaining wall of mossy scenic stone. The artistic vibe of the area was vast and deep.

Entering the gallery, we were greeted by a wall of displays. I noticed right away that all of the art here was pictures. It’s not really my thing, but I can still appreciate a good picture.

Most of the photos were architectural of varying types, like black and white, neon signs with high contrast, and models with city backdrops. Some were really good, but in my opinion most were regular pictures with a filter.

This just really isn’t my thing. Some pictures are super cool, but I really struggle to see the greatness.

We walked around for a few minutes and left kind of unsatisfied. So, we moved onto another gallery.

The next gallery was a few floors tall and really put into perspective how good the first gallery actually was.

When we walked into the door the receptionist looked us up and down and actually scowled at us. She didn’t say anything, which was both a good and a bad thing.

Good because she wasn’t going to talk down to us, but bad because she wasn’t going to introduce anything to us.

It’s not like we were dressed poorly, we were just in casual clothes.

Xue Qing was in a flowy sundress that was white with yellow flowers while I was in nice pants and a white button up. I don’t understand why she would scowl at us?

At the last gallery the host was kind and welcoming. I took it for granted and didn’t even think about it. Now, I feel like I should go back and buy all of their pictures as thanks.

Anyway, we started walking around the gallery.

Instantly I felt way better. Why? Because almost all of their art was crap. We spent most of the time snickering and making fun of the art.

Normally I wouldn’t make fun of something someone put soul into making, but this was crap disguised as art.

I have admittedly never been a fan of abstract art and think it is a crappy excuse of art used only for money laundering. But, I have heard some people like it.

However, I think even they would struggle to say this was any good with a straight face. The sculptures were crap too. Honestly it was painful how bad everything was.

The thing that made it really painful was that a few pieces were actually pretty good. They were in a completely different style to everything else in the gallery. It actually made me question if it was a marketing strategy.

Make everything so bad that the few real pieces standout and get buyers faster.

It was basically a gallery that said look at how artsy we are, art can be anything. While all of their art looks like crap. It is just a bunch of pompous fools tooting their own horn. They don’t care about actual talent or skill.

We left under the scornful eye of the receptionist.

Once we were outside I asked aloud, "I wonder what the deal was with that receptionist? She was glaring at us like crazy. Was there a dress code or something?"

Xue Qing actually laughed out loud and said, "Haha, no. She wasn’t glaring at you. She was glaring at me."

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