Happy places offer a retreat from the world when the stress piles up.  They offer the promise of a better future, or feelings of relevance and belonging.  Some of us use our happy place to dream of a world where we’re important, while those most stressed out escape to a simpler life, even for just a moment.  I’m told Harry Potter uses his happy place to expel demons, and Gaius Baltar from Battlestar Galactica uses his to gain insight from an angelic version of a former robot lover who was secretly evil, as interesting robots are wont to be.

Sometimes happy places are like birthday wishes, private, intimate, and too precious to speak of, lest they lose their magic to embarrassment or banality.  Some happy places are meant to be shared, as if spreading one’s dreams and ambitions will lead them to fruition, much like fortunes found in cookies.  And sometimes happy places evolve and grow, from a sigh to a wish to an idea to a fantasy to way of thinking to a way a life.  They captivate the mind, invite others inside, and retain a permanent piece of everyone they encounter.  Unable to be fled by speed, deterred by distance, repelled by reality, or trapped by cubicle walls, these blossoming happy places become their own mental kingdoms and shape those who visit until they are lifted, inspired and armored by a more perfect world.  They begin to see everything through a lens, finding parts of the happy place–indeed, finding happiness itself–everywhere in life.

That’s where we live, and we call it Awesomeopolis.  Our happy place is a thriving, sprawling metropolis where everything’s wonderful all the time, and we are forever on the lookout for its elements peeking through to this so-called Earth.  Some say we live in a state of denial, but we believe it’s more a city-state of awesome.  It’s a place where ninjas eat bacon, where dinosaurs befriend robots, where air travel is done in fighter jets, sea travel is by way of pirate ship, and no one really uses their personal limousines because the teleporter is just so much faster.  It’s a place with rainforest parks, Michelin starred food carts, and skyscrapers devoted entirely to laser tag.

And so we create this blog, to share the pieces of Awesomeopolis we see every day, to share the vision that keeps us eager for the future regardless of the present, to inspire, to incite laughter and wonder and curiosity.  It’s so easy to forget how much awesomeness there is in the real world.  But we won’t let you here.