NorCal Pirate Festival
I’m the only one in my family not to be in total love with the Bay Area, and I’m not sure why, since they keep having cool things like the NorCal Pirate Festival up there. I’ve been to the Maryland Renaissance Festival a time or 10 in my life, and some others as well, but a pirate festival? Count me in.
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I am still a bit stunned you’re not a Bay Area convert… It seems, of all the cities in the US, the one most matching your speed and sensibilities. Besides, they have pirates! And some of the best – meaning hardest learning conditions – sailing in the world! And fog! And the best Sept/Oct weather in the lower 48th! As an alum of that golden land, you have my whole-hearted recommendation…
Of course, the cost of living does basically SUCK THE LIFE OUT OF YOU if you want to live anywhere near anything.
But man, do I miss it.
J
Comment by John — May 25, 2007 @ 10:27
Well, it’s a number of things:
First, the weather blows. I lived in Belgium for two years growing up; I’m over crappy weather.
Secondly, everyone there is so damn pleased with themselves all the time. New Yorkers are the same way, but their city (while exhausting) is a lot more interesting to me. (Although it’s not nearly as pretty as SanFran.)
Thirdly, one of the virtues of San Francisco my family always espouses is that people are free to be whoever they are. Truthfully, that’s true of California generally, especially as compared to the East Coast. But only in SanFran do people find rolling out of bed, unshowered and roaming the world looking like a homeless person to be a virtue, judging by how many people do it.
Finally, San Franciscans have a big chip on their shoulder about LA. New Yorkers have the same, but it’s mostly the rivalry of peers there. San Franciscans I’ve met all like to talk about how “fake” Angelenos are. If you press them on this — no kidding — what comes up time and again is that Angelenos are “too fake nice.” “They always act like they’re happy to see you and are interested, even if they’re really not.” Back in the South, they called that manners. So, in addition to the faux homeless thing, apparently being rude is also some sort of virtue in the Bay Area. No thanks. If I wanted bad manners, I’d move to New York, which has better Italian food in addition to great Chinese.
(Oh, and earthquakes suck. I prefer my natural disasters to have an advance warning from meteorologists measured in days.)
Comment by Beau — May 25, 2007 @ 10:46
Ummm, dude, what SF have you been visiting? And you don’t get earthquakes in Hesperia?
J
Comment by John — May 25, 2007 @ 11:11
We had our first earthquake in at least a year Wednesday night. It’s not even comparable to the Bay Area.
And it’s the same SanFran I’ve been visiting since the summer after my freshman year of college, ya hippie-lover. And of course you wouldn’t mind the weather there, given where you’re living now.
Comment by Beau — May 25, 2007 @ 12:48
You’re killing me, Beau. If you think SF or Seattle have anything that truly can be called “crappy” weather – beyond the rare exception – you need to seriously nut up… ;>
The weather in both places – at best – is sometimes inconvenient, but it’s nothing compared to places that have monsoon summers and soul-freezing winters. And we’ve both lived in those places…
J
Comment by John — May 26, 2007 @ 10:25
Um, the Italian food in NY is getting weaker all the time. Kind of like Chinese — when it all went mainstream, people stopped trying very hard. Same is happening for Thai food, I used to love it, now I could care less since no one can make tolerable Pad Thai any more. While we’re still on me, we had awesome wood-oven pizza tonight at a little 10 table place in Carroll Gardens, bringing the total number of good pizza places in NYC overall to 11.
Comment by Joel Y — June 2, 2007 @ 22:05
And what, anyway, is your Pirate Name: http://www.piratequiz.com I’m Dread Pirate Kidd, arr.
Comment by Joel Y — June 2, 2007 @ 22:14