My wife and I love Santa Cruz. Not only does downtown actually have the kind of shops we like to buy stuff from (independent, eclectic, non-judgmental salespeople all that good shit) but its just a great place to hang out. The people are pretty awesome and it just feels really lax and chill. Its the only place where I feel comfortable asking the saleswomen about crossplay and not feel weird or like I'm being looked down upon. My wife loves the clothing they sell even though most of it isn't in her size.I have a funny feeling she's going to buy her wedding dress there. Last but not least we actually discovered the one thing that downtown holds that means the most to us.
COMIC BOOKS!
Twelve years and three S.O.'s of shopping in downtown Santa Cruz and somehow I never knew about Atlantis Fantasyworld Comics. This grave injustice was corrected today when by chance my wife and I walked down the side street away from the public parking lot I had found a spot to park in. Its a pretty awesome shop actually, lots of new mainstream and indy titles and one room is even partially decorated to look like the inside of a Starfleet starship. How fucking cool is that? Not too far away was also a video game shop that I heard about at Fanime I think called Level Up Games. New games, old games, vintage games for pretty much any system that has been made in the last thirty years. I still have a Sega Dreamcast and they have plenty of games for that system including a few that I have been wanting ever since I first bought it back in... well... many years ago.
Something else always happens whenever we go to Santa Cruz, I feel somehow... more open to everything. My thoughts, my emotions all just free themselves and I always find myself searching my "soul" (I'm an atheist but honestly I can't think of a better term for my inner self inaccurate as it is) for what is bothering me at the time. Being able to free my thoughts has been very helpful to get my head screwed back on straight and sort things out in my mind. I've still got a long way to go and quite a few more trips to make to Santa Cruz or anywhere else that helps me open my mind. My brains have been too scrambled for too long and I need to get them back in order.
Santa Cruz you are my new best friend.