Stockton-Con

Yes, I was there... and it was amazingly FUN! After two days I'm still reeling from the excitement, not only because fellow geeks were all under one roof sharing our love of pop-culture, but what a great response this event received!

Local media is still buzzing about the success of Stockton-Con and it may not mean much to outsiders but Stockton really needed some positive press. It kind of made me forget the crime that is happening in my city, even just for a moment.

I only heard about Stockton-Con the Friday before the event and the feeling of deciding to attend the event was comparable to deciding to see a movie as a last resort for entertainment. I decided to park about two blocks away to avoid paying for parking (I think it was free, but I didn't want to risk it because I wanted to save my dollars), and we trekked our way to the A.G. Spanos building. As we were walking west towards the building around 1:30 p.m. I noticed many people walking away from the building. I thought, "Great, there probably isn't much to see...". We round the corner and there is a line of about 50 people waiting for tickets. Outside the doors, people dressed up as Batman, Poison Ivy, Indiana Jones, Captain Jack Sparrow, Spiderman, and so on... I look down at mine and my sons clothes and I immediately regret not dressing us up more because my 3 year-old son has a killer mask collection. We go in and the place is packed with people. My son spots the Ghostbusters from across the stadium and we go there first. I have never seen my son so excited about his favorite movie!

I went over to a couple of my friends booths in Artist's Alley and bought some comics and prints. Great talent, by the way, who's work I will post about later. Many artists doing sketches and promoting themselves. Support your local artists!

I don't think the event coordinators, vendors, artists, volunteers knew it was going to have such a great turnout and the fact that it surpassed their and our expectations brings hope yet to Stockton. Expectation - 500 attendees, turnout- THOUSANDS.

Anyway, there is so much more to say about the experiences I had in those few hours that I was there but I would rather encourage all you fellow superhero, art, and collector fans to attend next year (no official announcement yet on the future of Stockton-Con, but how can they not?). Also, it should be mentioned that Stockton-Con donated it's proceeds to the St. Mary's Dining Hall and the United Way of SJC. It was an overall great experience with a positive vibe pre- through post-.

Bowling

What I love to do with my family and friends is, if the Blog title doesn't already say it, bowling! My little one already loves the sport as well!

We have two main bowling alleys, West Lane Bowl & Pacific Avenue Bowl.

Don't worry. I'm not going to glorify these places. Let me start with West Lane Bowl because this is my favorite one. It's bigger and it's less crowded. Also, the bumpers are not manual. If you Yelp this place it will tell you that it's in a bad neighborhood but what place in Stockton isn't? The bar is spacious, cheap drinks, and the bartenders are fun to talk to.

Anyway, the only problem with this place is the diner attendants. I have been here enough times to officially say that they don't lack in rudeness. I suggest eating some place else before coming here unless they don't already know you THEN will they dote on you. No one can tell my family, friends, and I any different.

Last week, we took the family to Pacific Bowl.

 
I used to go here a lot when I was a teenager to hang out with friends and to meet other kids from the other high schools. No high school rivalry here! That was always fun. While some people bowled, some of us would walk over to Baskin Robbins or Kmart (before it was bulldozed to put in a REI, SF Boudins, and several other new shopping stores. Yeah, the shopping center was aging but it did hold a lot of memories. Small town memories.

Many people wouldn't even know there used to be a small movie theater there, a Mandarin house that served the best almond chicken in town, or a barber shop that had one of those candy cane poles outside. Speaking of movie theaters, there actually used to be more than two movie theaters in Stockton. The Festival theater used to sit where Chuck-E-Cheeses is now. My boyfriend and I watched out first movie there. Dude Where's My Car? Good times...

Do I Still See the Light?

I used to. Now, I don't know anymore...

You see, I live in Weston Ranch and for a while I was glad that moved to this part of town because it was so closed off. No strip malls (except for Food 4 Less), Walmarts, Targets nearby to congest our streets. Overall, it's pretty quiet in my part of the neighborhood.

I started this blog hoping I could shed some kind of light on Stockton. Something to show that Stockton really isn't that bad. I still know that in my heart and I don't believe you could really appreciate it unless you grew up and actually lived here. That means, taking it for what it is. I'm a firm believer in the saying that home is what you make of it. Moving to a place with expectations is already a ticket to disappointment. I never found the time to actually sit down and write about my city because I was a student at the time and I basically never found the opportunity to do so but today something has been weighing heavy on my mind as I lounged all day in a Davis park, picnicking with my nearest and dearest. I would love to be able to do this all the time. To be among people, outside, and to feel safe.

Growing up here gave me streets smarts. Smarts that I took with me to Disneyland last year when I would not leave my beat up, cheap stroller amongst all the other strollers that were clearly worth 50x more than mine, while I went in line for a ride, fearing that it will be stolen. Forget that. I was too paranoid.

A couple of days ago, a young man who was around my age was shot point blank in the face, in broad daylight while he was sitting next to his girlfriend. It happened in Weston Ranch Park.

I have a son. I want to make this a better place for him but I don't know where to start. I used to be motivated to make a change but without that sense of community... I don't know what Stockton is going to do. A 21 year old City Council candidate is competing for District 6, my district, in the 2012 elections and I know being that young you have a passion for things that older folks lose with age. I just hope he isn't naive but then again he is from Stockton.

Being from Stockton, what does that entail? That's another story... the point of all this is, I don't want to raise my son in this environment but family is here. I want to believe Stockton will get better, I just don't know if I want to stick around and hope.

Stockton

Residences in Stockton, CA can't help but notice that, Stockton, is getting lower and lower on the list of cities that people would like to live in. They feel that tinge of shame when their city, for the ones that have seen, Stockton, in it's glory days, at the top of the list for most Miserable City in the U.S.

Let's see if the world who judges from the outside, are right...