Hideaway (feat. ZENDO Nano Skin EX)

What I'm Wearing: ​Jacket: H&M, Polo: Hugo Boss, Shorts: Forever 21, Shoes: Apt 9, Phone Case: ZENDO Nano Skin Ex -  http://www.zendoproducts.com/nanoskin-ex

"Hideaway" (feat. ZENDO Nano Skin Ex) 

Dear readers, 
Hideaway, doesn't that sound nice sometimes? Sometimes we get so occupied and inthralled with our lives that we start to loose a bit of who we are. Sometimes something unexpected and terrible happens and we have to step away to gather ourselves and pick up the broken pieces. As someone who is active on social media, mainly instagram, I just want to shut it off on most days. I get tired of it, my eyes play a part in that, but it's not that simple to pick up the phone and just post a picture anymore. It's like I have to have a plan in order to do so. Lately as things become a little too much, I put the phone away and just let it ring and buzz without me being concerned about it. It's funny how things work out, because i'm writing about shutting the world off and I get approached to collaborate with Zendo to showcase one of their awesome Nano Skin Ex phone cases. Our phones play an important part in our lives. I love camouflage because through camo I feel like you can hide in plain sight. I've been looking for the perfect phone case and this one here gives me a sense of a hideaway while I'm still in public through it's camo design. Things have been interesting lately and honestly I would run to my safety net, my hideaway, but it's not that simple to do that when you have to keep moving forward. Sometimes you have to have a bit of your hideaway with you while you walk in the light. Sometimes an item like your phone, that you want to just shut off, has to be your hideaway. 

I thought to myself if I was going to my hideaway, where would that be? My answer, the beach. I am a city boy through and through. Since I was 3 years old and saw that Capitol Records tower illuminate over LA I knew I would always be a city boy. I may have grown up to be a city boy, but I will always be a beach boy.  You can put the boy in the city but you can't take the beach out of the boy. In Guam things are rugged. It's not like the states. It can be a harder life because there is not as many opportunities and options like we have here on the mainland. For example, we can walk into a grocery store and get the items we need, but back when my parents were young they had to raise the food, hunt the food, grow the food, you name it. My dad always raised his kids to have a bit of edge in them. Both my parents raised us to speak our mind and speak up. Don't be a wimp cause if you stay quiet it will never get better. If camo was an actual color that would be my dad's favorite. Majority of the things my dad has is camo. So I got hooked onto it growing up. It's like hiding in plain sight. You can just be at peace with yourself when you wear camo, but you can also have your guard up to protect you from the world around you. I chose to match the phone case with this look. The case is durable and sturdy just like any camo item should be. Camo for me is also a symbol of strength, and this phone case embodies that so well. I wanted to blend in so I chose to wear a windbreaker bomber jacket from H&M and paired it with a polo from Hugo Boss. I thought the 2 contrasted together perfectly and to add a bit more camo, I am wearing camo shorts from Forever 21. It's interesting how camo has blown up in the last few years. Now everyone wants to have a bit of a hideaway. I don't blame them. Life gets rough and things happen. Sometimes we need that sense of peace through an item like a phone case. Just a little bit of peace of mind can go a long way during a difficult time. Just a little symbol of strength can be the thing we need to guide us out of our hideaway.

Life works in interesting ways and sometimes things happen. I was approached to collab with Zendo last month and knew that I would find a way relate their phone case to my story. What I didn't know is how much it would actually relate to me. I write these pages of my life in real time. Sometimes I throw it back and talk about memories that got me to the point in this story. I try to balance the dark and light of each and every page. As I said earlier my dad loves camo. 1 week ago my dad went to work and went inside to open up his office and came back out to find his truck was stolen. My dad has had this truck since 2002. It's been a very long time. But he took care of it, it is still in great shape. My dad has everything in there. From his valuable tools, to valuable fishing gear, to personal items such as our home remote and keys, to items he cherished such as photos of our family growing up and clothing of our dog that passed away years ago. Those are things that can't be replaced. The truck was camo green. So many memories were made in that truck growing up. It was and still is apart of our family. I learned to drive in that truck. Yes, before Glaucoma I did drive. I was 15 when I learned to drive and my very first day my dad took me in his truck on the freeway within the first 5 mins. We took family trips in that truck, my dad used that truck to help me move to LA, it is his fishing companion, it's my nephews "papa monster truck", and it is also his transportation to work. I don't know who did this to my dad, but whoever did it, please if you have a soul you'll leave it somewhere visible and you won't let it hideaway like you have done. My dad is a grown man, but I know it's like loosing apart of him. I know what that is like all too well. My parents haven't had the best of luck with their cars this year, and we haven't had the best last few years. But I will not let this bring my soul down even more than it already has. I look at it with a positive outlook and hope that one day things will get better for all of us. My family as a whole has been through so much. All we want is our own hideaway one day. I know it's possible still. I will never give up hope, and I still have faith that my dad's truck is out there somewhere waiting to come home to him. Things happen for a reason, we can never question god's plan. All we can do is accept it and try to move forward. All these "Feels" we feel in life broaden our soul and make us stronger for the dark moments like this when we need them.

Hideaway, it's nice to have a moment to hideaway, but sometimes you have to step away from it to keep on living. And through it all we keep the symbol of strength to guide us to another day. 
​Love, Dom 

​Photographer: Joanna Wheeler  

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PAGE 16
​Stories From My Life - Chapter 2