Santa Cruz, Ca.

[slang]

I visited Santa Cruz last week and just wanted to report back some thoughts.

1. It's absolutely beautiful out there. Not particularly important to me, nor worth paying the high taxes and such, but most certainly a gorgeous area.

2. The public at large was very polite to me. It was my goal to go out of the way to be nice and this was returned in kind to my amazement. I know some of you here are not normal Christian white bread. That's fine with me although many "strange looking" ( read hippy types) have tended to make me nervous in real life. I guess long hair on a guy will always make me look twice but these types in Cali were just as nice as my Christian white bread hosts.

The people in Cali are trying to make their society the best they can, and although I dont agree with how they are going about it, I can at least understand their point of view.

3. The women out there are outrageously attractive. Not all of them, sure and they may very well be the most vacant sort of humans but wow, they look great.

4. The gun laws are not strictly enforced, or maybe I should say....they depend on who you are and where you live. Enough said on that subject.

5. Conservatives are alive and well in Cali. They arent the majority but they are there and they are much the same as the conservatives here. That's re-assuring to me personally.

6. If you have title to more than 3 square yards of earth in SC, you are a millionaire on paper. The property values are ridiculous in Ma, but holy smoke, they are out of this world in Cali. Our host owns a very new and comfortable home in a development. It's nothing to mock or ridicule but not worth *that* sort of money any where else that I can think of.

The parents of the host own a home with a deck on the roof and a ocean view, although not on the beach. It was so nice I didnt even want to go through it. I could work several lifetimes and not afford this home. For that matter, I could win the lotto and not have enough.

UT's got a rockin' pad in the burbs and it's awesome. This place in Cali just plain made me uncomfortable though.

There is also a senior member of the family that is high up in the management of an "un-named" defense contractor. The possibility of going out there for work seems remote at this time but not impossible and I was encouraged to look for UG work there.

That may be a option for me in the not too distant future.

Imagine that! My perception of Cali has been changed for the good.

[atropos]

Thanks for the compliment, I guess. I think I'll go stare vacantly into my empty mirror for awhile. Maybe I'll go sit in outer space. A Foundation for the future interlopers like me anyway. Good luck on the lotto, hon.

[garnet]

Santa Cruz is beyond cool! Did ya go check out the campus at UCSC? Beautiful, and any college with a Banana Slug as it's mascot is OK in my book

You're right about the prices, though. Unless you're a millionaire, forget about owning a house in that part of California. But the ocean's great, and it's always fun watching the surfers, too. Great place to visit if you can't afford to live there.

[slang]

Originally Posted by atropos

I think I'll go stare vacantly into my empty mirror for awhile. Maybe I'll go sit in outer space.

Hello Atropos,


It looks like you are new so....welcome to the Cellar.

I'm confused by your comment. It was not my intent to insult you or anyone else. As I said, these wildly attractive gals may be totally vacant but I dont know. I only talked to two and one was my sis-in-law.

On the other hand the masses of "Cali girls" might be the best thing since night baseball.

The women here that look like that are normally strippers, what can I say. Specifically, bare bellies, huge splazoinkas and flashy clothes no matter what the ocassion.

I hope you stick around to feel the place out before you decide you dont like me or the group here. We have a wide variety of writing styles, backgrounds, locations, and interests represented here at the Cellar. You will probably find something or someone you like here with a little time.


slang

[slang]

Originally Posted by garnet

Santa Cruz is beyond cool! Did ya go check out the campus at UCSC?

Hey Garnet,

No, I didn't check out the campus. The majority of our time was spent watching kids movies and kids (ages 2-12), drinking heavily (to get through the kids movies and the kids antics) and visiting. It's been a long time since I've seen most everyone from that family.

As for the city, I don't care for cities but this one was nice. No one hit me up for cash or was rude. I like that. My first trip to Cali was Barstow which, as you may know, is entirely different.

There was an indoor range that we shot pistols in somewhere within the city, which I thought was good.

It seemed interesting to me that most everything there was new or in good condition. The infrastructure wasnt an afterthought or the result of building over cow paths, like much of Boston.

That's my hill-bill-ean opinion, nice but still a city.

[lumberjim]

too many vampires in Santa Cruz.

[Undertoad]

Quickie note, don't want to steal the thread. I got this place because of Sharon, who is now ironically gone. With her incredibly anal-retentive monetary policy she set us up in this house - and then left. I think it's pretty nice, but I wouldn't pick it out. She picked it out including almost everything in it. It's now one of my 401k plans as well as a place for me to live and keep my stuff. I got lucky in one sense, but it wasn't worth those 11 years in my prime.

[wolf]

Glad you had a good time, slang, and managed to limit your (non-inebriated) contact with the populace so that you didn't have to enter Liberal Killing Mode. Especially during an election cycle.

[Elspode]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

<snip!> I got lucky in one sense, but it wasn't worth those 11 years in my prime.

This coming from a guy with a hot new girlfriend, a gig as a bass player backing a venerable PA musical face, and his very own electronic kingdom.

From the outside perspective, it seems like you've come out of those 11 years as pretty hot stuff, my friend!

[Undertoad]

Appreciate it d00d.

[slang]

Originally Posted by wolf

Especially during an election cycle.

You know me so well. I was sharpening knives until they called Fl.

[slang]

Some pics from the trip. I dont remember where this was, the beach somewhere.