Spawn of Willis

rumer
Originally uploaded by becklerg.

So, on with the weekend wrap up...

On saturday, I took my first (probably first of many) trips to Stockton to go to thrift stores and eat. Ella was good enough to provide me with a guide of where to do both. If anyone's interested, I can email it to you. The thrift stores were mobbed on a saturday, which was the only unpleasant thing. And I mean MOBBED, like half hour lines to check out. We started out at Superior Thrift, which, sadly, didn't really live up to it's name but I got a couple of neat little things, like a tiny speckled pot that will be good for a tiny cactus. I am really bad at picking out clothes at thrift stores and usually rely on other people to find stuff for me. Charles totally scored at this store and got lots of clothes. We then headed to Manny's, which I'm guessing is a Stockton institution with two locations and quite a crowd. This place is great. They have a sign posted that says they use free range beef and chicken, and it's a nice cross between a burger stand and something slightly Marin-county-ish. I got a fried chicken sandwich and a side of Portuguese beans. The bun was phenomenal, which leads me to think their hamburgers might just be the best. I only get a hamburger craving about one a month, but next time I get one, I will probably try to plan a trip here. Grace got fried chicken and thought it was great. Everyone was happy. After eating we started walking towards downtown because it looked intriguing and we ended up at Hubba Hubba antiques, which I recalled Ella mentioning from the email. This place is pretty pricey but they have tons of Bauer pottery and McCoy pottery, etc. I contemplated dropping twenty or so, but decided on a bright yellow saucer for five and vowed to come back when I have more discretionary cash. We continued walking down (I think) Pacific towards some giant houses we saw. I was amazed to find houses that equal or surpass the houses in the fab 40's. Some of them are really English Cottage-y, but giant, and with these crazy, rippling, wooden shingle roofs that call to mind the shire. We walked for quite a while, and then headed back to the car and went to a thrift store called the Outlet on our way back towards 99. This place was the one that was insane inside, but they had some good records and I got a few items of clothing. All in all, a fun day.

The fun continued later that night at the Fox and Goose, where Carquinez Straits and the Cassidys were playing. I must confess that I was pretty drunk, due to my pre-show trip to Brew It Up and a pre-party at my house that involved watching the Laura Nyro footage from the Monterey Pop festival. So I kinda started babbling to everyone and didn't really pay attention to the bands. I feel like I said some stupid things, but I'm trying not to think about it. There was an insane hail storm during the show, and I cut out during the Cassidy's set to battle with the Bergman movie until I fell asleep.

I saw the movie Hostage on sunday out of my love for Willis, and he didn't let me down, but the movie did. I kept trying to mentally teleport myself out of the theater to alleviate my boredom. The producers obviously shot their budget on getting Willis, so they could not afford any other stars, unless you count Willis' weird looking daughter as a star. She looks like one of those pictures you can get at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk where you can see what kind of baby you and your friend will make by photographically melding your faces. She has the giant Willis jaw with the tiny Demi Moore features scrunched into the middle of her face.

Then, last night, I went to the Waterboy again (I know, it's extravagant, but I am trying to cheer myself up and I ate before we went so that I would only want to order 1 thing). I could not recapture the magical experience that I had the week before last because I ordered leg of lamb but it should have been called "Lamb and Salt Explosion!". Like an idiot I hesitated to send it back. The lamb was great, but wherever it came in contact with the salt sauce it was burning me with extreme saltiness. I actually got a sore throat later. D.P. and Grace got the salt, er I mean, crab risotto and they exclaimed about the amount of crab in the dish but lamented the salty flavor. I finally told the server about it when she was clearing away our dishes and she said I should have told her right away and they could have fixed it. Then she offered to buy me dessert but I felt embarassed and declined. I should have just ordered the sweetbreads.