Today is the last day to join, so if you want in on it, be sure to read over the rules and PM Shakespearicles!... · 3:52pm May 12th, 2016
Baloo, my big brother, is going back to Guantanamo Bay today. He drove me crazy half the time, and yet I'm still sad he's going. SmallCaliber seemed confused as to why his uncle was packing his stuff and leaving us behind. I managed to not cry.
I even forgot to take my meds yesterday, so I feel lethargic and achey. Fun.
Yesterday I drove an hour to Bernie Sanders Land--I mean the home of the Lost Boys--I mean Santa Cruz. Went to an indie video game shop and bought an import Japanese ps1 with 22 games. The console works and the games read fine, but the fucking thing doesn't respond to controller inputs. I have to take it back so they can see what's wrong. I was gonna take my gimpy snes and retron 5 so they can troubleshoot those too. Originally I was going to wait till the weekend to go, but now I think I might just go today. I can be back by noon. I dunno... The thought of staying alone in this empty house all day is just too depressing.
*sigh*
Sympathies. I remember the whole family panicking in a slow trainwreck when one of my cousins got posted; he was a bomber pilot and they wouldn't-- for good reasons, of course-- tell anyone where he was ending up. Poor kidling, too.
On a less grim note, how is Santa Cruz these days? I got my bachelor's at UCSC in 2001 and unfortunately really only went back once while working on my master's thesis, but the impression I got was "unfortunately gentrified," like the campus' destruction of Elfland was being spread to the city proper.
3940042
Thanks.
I try to go to SC at least once every few months. I like the stores and events they hold there. But I can only take it in small doses.
Once upon a time I wanted to live in that city. Now... I dunno. Santa Cruz feels kind of like a shadow of its former self. That might sound weird coming from someone who never actually lived there, but I used to go there all the time with my friends in high school.
The city's fight to stay eco-friendly and corporate-free feels so contrived. Not that there's anything wrong with aspiring to do those things, but it really feels like the majority of the populace is doing it just because that's what everyone has come to expect from SC, and not because they actually believe in it. It's like they're reveling in their hippie and alternative culture like some fucking brand without fully comprehending the messages they're espousing. That's mostly from the young folks, though. The older residents still feel like they ardently believe in their causes. It's not just the flavor of the week for them. The youth get on my nerves. Irreverent little shits get drunk and high, then cause trouble for other people. Some of that might just be ignorant college kids coming in from the outside, to be fair. A few weeks ago some UCSC kids caused a bad car accident while under the influence. Three people died. Others were permanently disabled. That shit caused a stir.
The homeless situation has gotten bad over there. Gang activity has gone up too since they're cracking down in Salinas more, forcing the gangs to spread out their operations.
It's strange, because you're right. Despite all the weird issues SC has, it really has been gentrified. Maybe that's part of the reason the youth there feel so much more impudent than before? I don't mind anti-authoritarian attitudes so much as the misguided sense of entitlement these little bastards have. The only justification I can come up with for the rise in property values is that people are realizing Santa Cruz is a beautiful area, and indie biz + environmentalism has become chic.
So...yeah. I can only take Santa Cruz in small doses.
3940122 That's... sad, honestly, but not unexpected. The car accident thing is a tragedy, of course, but the rest just sort of... Blegh. I'm sort of glad I'm too far north to visit these days.