Blogocentric Formulations

The California State Fair & Very Bad Things

PROMPT: What is one of your favorite tourist attractions from your hometown? In other words, what site do you absolutely insist your friends see when they visit?


"Tourist attractions" and my hometown aren't exactly synonymous. There isn't a whole lot to do where I'm from. Sacramento is a pretty decent-sized city, but it's not really known for much. There are a lot of bars and other nightlife, but there aren't a ton of family-friendly attractions worth checking. If you're a fan of state government, I guess the capitol is pretty cool, but I think the main attraction that I would recommend is the California State Fair, which is hosted at the fairgrounds in Sacramento every summer. There's also a water park on the grounds for a little extra fun, but I've always enjoyed the state fair - or at least some of it.

Since California is a largely rural state (outside the coast cities anyway), there's a lot of agriculture to be seen. And I've never been one to see a prized pig or an award-winning steer. But what the State Fair does have are three very cool features. The first is an exhibition of art and technology which is always impressive especially since a few of the exhibits are from school-age kids who have come up with some pretty amazing stuff. The second is the counties exhibit... kind of like a parade where each entity gets to design a float, each county is allocated a section of a large presentation hall that they can decorate however they want as a small walk-through exhibit featuring key aspects of their county. It's pretty impressive to see the displays that some counties come up with, and they always offer some kind of food or beverage that highlights their county, whether it's wine from the central valley, or avocados from a local farm. The top three winning counties are awarded a prize, and you can walk around and see the judges' comments on each of them. And lastly and most tastily, the fair offers a variety of deep fried foods, including one signature item every year. Featured items of the past have been Deep-Fried Twinkies, Deep-Fried Pop Tarts, Deep-Fried Mac & Cheese, Deep-Fried Cheeseburgers, and Deep-Fried Cinnamon-Rolls. They may have to wheel you off the fairgrounds on a gurney, but their featured items are always so good!

I think I became a little desensitized to the fair growing up... since we lived about 30 minutes from the fairgrounds, it was kind of a given that we would go every year, and after twenty years of attendance, some of the exhibits and attractions got a little old. But there are people who come from all over the state (and California is a big state!) to attend, and it really is kind of cool to check out if you're in the area during the couple weeks it runs every year. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's worth making a special trip up from Southern California to see... but if you're in NorCal over the summer, it's not a bad way to spend the day, especially if you've never been before.

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PROMPT: Did you ever watch a movie you weren't supposed to (like sneaking into a theater playing an R-rated movie when you're too young to buy a ticket yourself)? If so which one and how did you feel about it afterward? If not, were you ever tempted to?

VERY BAD THINGS
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0124198/

This was the first R-rated movie I sneaked into a theater to see. Since I wasn't yet seventeen and able to buy myself a ticket, I bought a ticket for another movie at a theater where I knew security was lax, and slipped into the theater playing this one instead. Full disclosure: the movie came out a few weeks before I turned seventeen, so I technically could have waited and bought a ticket legitimately... but what's the fun in that???

This movie looked like a comedy and I liked almost all of the cast and had seen them in more family-friendly fare, so I couldn't figure out why this particular movie was rated R... and then they accidentally killed a prostitute in a rather graphic way not twenty minutes into the movie. .

I was never really one for sneaking into theaters to see movies that were above the rating level my parents would approve of. I was much more the type of person to sneak into theaters so I could see multiple movies in one day for the price of a single ticket. Even then, though, that was only on rare occasions; I'm a pretty boring person who plays by the rules most of the time. If you tell me I'm too young to see a movie, I believe you. If you tell me not to go into the creepy cemetery at night, I won't go into the creepy cemetery at night.