USC - Washington Open Thread

Fresh off the boat, into a sub-division in the Almaden Valley of southwest San Jose for about 1 year, then into the mountains of Los Gatos- off Top of the Hill Rd/Kennedy Rd - boondocks, even for Los Gatos- we bought 10 acres with @ 220* degree view of the Bay Area. Only Mt. Sizer and Mt. Umhunum blocked our view of the Pacific Ocean. Basically we sat atop Lexington Reservoir.

Going into San Jose (the big city) was a treat. We would shop at a Gemco in Campbell, CA or go to the Sears store off Meridian/San Carlos in older part of San Jose just outside of downtown. It was cool. They had a four-block glass enclosed candy shop and they handed out free popcorn at that Sears. When my mom would truck us out there and my dad tagged along (rarely), I knew my dad would take my older brother and I to a place called Mel Cotton's Sporting Goods. It was trick. My family hunted boar, turkey, and pheasant on BLM land in and around the Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, fished and dredged for gold in the Delta (Sacramento/San Joaquin Rivers), and hunted deer/elk mule in all of NorCal. Total country-like sh_t. Hey, whatever my dad wanted us to do so long as we got to ride ATC's and our XR-75 and YZ-80 mini-motos. It was a blast growing up in NorCal. Way better than advertised prior to moving over to the States from Chile. Better than Disneyland. Better than the Brady Bunch. Are you kidding me? Kids playing "kick-the-cans" and hide and go seek (like 20 of us in the neighborhood) 'til 9 o'clock at night. Slight-hiatus for supper notwithstanding. Wouldn't have traded it in for another lifetime.

Consider myself "American" through and through. Not South American. Not Latino (my mom is a total mix of European and Asian background. Grandfather (Dad's dad) is from Piacenza, Italy) Visit Chile once over two years since early '90's when Pinochet got left off the presidential ballots. Was there in '89 with dad and brother to witness the election that stripped Pinochet from power. Unfortunately, it was exactly at the same time as the Giants/A's World Series AND the Loma Prieta earthquake. The epicenter was only 3.5 miles from our home!

We were poor building an 11-room house on all our property. Hand me downs were just totally normal. Whenever I did get new clothes just for myself, it was due to my Godmother and Godfather- they were generous in that regard. Otherwise, got hand me downs from brother (8 years older) and from any one of my 5 sisters (all older, I'm the youngest).

Came down to SoCal just to attend USC. Still here, kinda embedded with very strong financial attachments to NorCal though. Love it down here. Prolly sell in NorCal in order to settle somewhere her in SoCal. Still mulling everything. I'm giving myself 2 years to come up with a 5 year plan.