Chinese New Year 2015

Stockton's Chinese New Year, w/o the Lions

I arrived a bit late compared to other years (11:30), but what should normally be lions there's a music performance instead. And outside on the parade route the streets looked clean, there was no grandstand, and there was the normal flow of traffic like the parade didn't exist, so what's up?

OK, so they actually had the lion dance at the beginning, but was late for it because of the lack of parade participants (there were nine of them instead of 30 as usual), and everything was pushed back appropriately. I also heard the parade route was shortened for this reason as well.

Not to worry, I have another opportunity to see a Lion Dance somewhere else.

Freebies: There's not many booths that gave out free stuff. The most notable one that did was Jackson Rancheria, which left within an hour (at 12pm) and gave out $20 free play coupons like they were going out of style. If you obtained the program booklet at the entrance there's a $30 coupon on the very back page. (They only last for one month, and you can only use one of them.)

Haggin Museum Art Show

More specifically, the 84th Annual McKee Student Art Contest, which spans two floors, and K-12. This (and other special exhibits here) are really the only ones worth going to once the entire museum is explored (when it's free the first Saturday of every month).

I've participated in an art show once, but that was in Lodi, and was mainly limited to drawings, photographs, etc. Here 3D models and sculptures are also included.

Cunningham: Fall 2014

What appears in its place when this is cleaned up? A large outdoor area.

Around four years have passed since I first saw the construction of the new SCMA building. Now I see the original Cunningham starting to be torn down. With SCMA having its own designation for rooms, I'm not sure what remains of Cunningham after this. Only significant things I remember about this place was the Clever Planetarium (which will be rebuilt, I think), and the Computer Lab (before it was moved to Danner).

Chinese Culture Camp, Round 4

The fourth year of Chinese Culture Camp. Same as usual, with the addition of female lion dancers and a new buiding available for classes. Unlike other years, I was only present in the morning, so I didn't make the end of camp slideshow.

I feel like the camp needs to be longer (both time-wise and length-wise), as 40 mins seems a bit short, and no Lion Dance classes past Beginner level are taught... there are repeat students. And they should also raise the grade level up a bit (right now it's K-6), because there's more counselors (Grade 7+) than campers, they could offer more advanced courses, and those lions are... quite heavy.

No article about this year's camp on The Record, though it was mentioned a month prior.

End of Asparagus Festival

Turning away from it, for the last time.

According to a news article, the Asparagus Festival will no longer be occurring.

Except on two occassions (this year included), I have personally attended the asparagus festival each year since 2004. Admission prices were raised 60% during those years, and I have seen most of the booths / things had to offer there (including running the Spear-It run and volunteering in the deep fried asparagus booth). Only thing I didn't do, however, was the zipline, which was introduced this year.

Bubble Lady @ Troke Library

While working as a tutor for MathSmart, I knew from the intercoms that there was going to be a show at 6:30pm, but I didn't expect it to be so loud and so busy when I came out to look after my shift had ended.

It was quite a crowd there.

Stockton Free Boat Cruises

What is better than a free cruise? Nothing else. However, its range is quite limited since the tour only lasts for two hours (it turns around before reaching the Sailing Club marina), but you can't beat free right? (Compared to around $100 normally)

The opportunity for free tours was first available sometime in June, but I didn't see it until reading the newspaper article about it. By that time all of the free cruises that were available (up to end of July) were sold out, that's how popular it is. But not to worry - they're doing more cruises for September starting in a couple of weeks.

Get a reservation via this link.

Protip: They make available 3 cruises per Saturday, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, for 50 passengers for September starting on August 5 at 8am. If you were unable to get a reservation or can't wait that long, you can always wait in the standby line. Arrive around 45-60 minutes early for an almost guaranteed first priority on standby (if someone fails to attend, and it is almost bound to happen, you can go). If that doesn't work, you can call them up to (most likely) get higher up the priority line for the next cruise.

Chinese Culture Camp: More of Everything

There's a lot more of everything this year in Chinese Cultural Camp, more students (nearly twice as much), more lions, the camp is longer (by one day), and... more cameras. (I don't have a SLR this time around, though.) Looks like those advertisements are getting somewhere (I think my video from last year helped partially with it).

I didn't have any moving tripods to create some pan effects so I had to improvise a bit and use a cart, and handle the shakes post-processing since the wheels on the carts are designed for moving foldable chairs around and they aren't the smoothest.

News article on this.

Summer at the Stockton Cinemas

During this month I have been to the theaters to watch a movie more often than any other. And apparently the lines are longer than ever. So long that Monsters University sold out and there were two separate lines near the entrance of the theater for those waiting for the next showing (people were lining up around an hour before the movie started). Must've been the summer movies and the specials.

Specials in the Stockton Area: Although you can get 20 dollars worth of movies and $10 for concessions at Costco for 25 bucks everything (except for large popcorn) is quite expensive so it's not really worth buying. Other than early bird and matinee specials there's a few other specials going on at this time:

• Stockton City Center Stadium 16: Twilight Special - discounts the cost of tickets to $6.00 for any movie that starts between 4-6 pm on the weekdays.
• Stockton Holiday 8 on West Lane: Tickets for any show on Tuesday and Sunday are $5 (more than half off). They also show G and PG movies at 10am on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for $1 each, however there is only one showing a day and it's first come first serve.

Super Chicken Man (Yes, that is the name of the resturant)

Rosemary Chicken with Fries order.

Stopped by this place on opening day, one of my relatives told me about this place.

Yes, there's just chicken, a bit spicy but good stuff. Menu here. Note, they don't serve these dishes to you in nice plates as seen in one image of the ad (When I got my order, it's in a apparently disposable plastic basket), and there's only three/four tables in the restaurant, though you could always do take out.

Their restaurant menu is significantly smaller than their catering menu, I'm guessing they're working with other restaurants to do this though.

Christmas Snow Village at Lincoln Center

Introduced to the Snow Village at the Lincoln Center - one of the more nicer finds in Stockton. It's quite the display and took a while to look at, better than driving around and looking around for Christmas light displays. There's also a scavenger hunt checklist while you're looking around.

Where and When? Look around the Lincoln Center in Stockton - the display occupies an entire store front display and the lights are on between 5:30pm and 10pm., up until January 6, so you still got some time. Full brochure here.

Black Friday Shopping - including Costco

When it comes to hard drives, Costco apparently sells out 30 minutes before the store officially opened.

Black Friday sales start today. No lines like last year at least in Stockton (I heard about the 'no camping' rule until 10pm), but to compensate stores opened really early. By that, meaning some stores started their sales as early at 8PM - in which waiting lines formed inside the store to get that 100 dollar TV (see note at bottom). Black Friday sales just went from starting overnight... to last night.

I've also gotten Diablo 3 in an attempt to cover the costs. (Note: it's tough but possible to sell your in-game items for real cash) I'll have to try that during Winter Break though. Just a a few weeks away...

TV Recommendations: I typically use Vizio and Sony - more expensive, but also better in picture quality. You might find extremely cheap HDTVs during the sale, but they lack slightly in a few areas.

Additional Hard Drives: Costco had them at 3TB for $100, selling out very quickly due to 'overwhelming demand'. They actually opened before the advertised 9am date - and others got to them first. It's good to see that space isn't an issue anymore (note) - with this many drives the only major issue would be running out of drive letters to mount a drive at. I don't need all the space - redundancy is more of my interest. Placing them in a RAID 1 config would be a much better use for them.

Expanding Your Horizons: The Volunteer Side

The EYH Earthquake Structure Test.

I've heard of the Expanding Your Horizons events from my science teacher back during my high school years, and they still have them today. No interest because they were for girls only. However, I had the chance to see what it was like being on the volunteer side.

Basically, girls from across schools in various regions (including Downey High) attend this conference to interact with things geared more towards mathematics and engineering, with professors doing most of the teaching.

Volunteer and CKI Tasks

We, however, were presented with this for the day:

• Serve food
• Move boxes and supplies to various locations
• Take down signs and tables when event is over
• Event Icebreaker - Bang (at a point where I had to react quickly several times in a row and eliminate various people, including Annie Yu (with the reason for her was "Nothing personal, just trust issues.")
• Watch other experiments.
• DCM - Victoria Silva failed a name check - apparently she still doesn't know me after being in various events together for the past year.
• DCM Minigame - find your 'partner' via guessing your character from asking yes/no questions. Found my pair (which was Huijie) but she apparently did not know this.*

But as a side bonus, CKI events always has fellowship afterwards. Which of course happened to be Sushi Buffet and a sushi-eating contest (record at 16). Good stuff - haven't been here for at least two years.

Stockton is Magnificent

The (somewhat) hidden mural painted last year

Stockton is Magnificent: One of the city-wide events in Stockton (the one in California) designed to turn the city's public image around. For the past few years, it's been hit with bad news - the city went bankrupt, the city was listed as one of the most miserable, etc. It was time to change that.

Filled with tons of booths centered around Miracle Mile, an art competition, stores on Miracle Mile trying to promote the festival, music (two stages) and a flash mob (I don't think I saw it this year though).

Mural Location: Look around for Baskin Robbins - It's to the right of it in an alley.

U-Lofts

The University Lofts (aka University Plaza Waterfront Hotel) is part of the Sheraton Hotel, one of the new hotels on the skyline built a few years ago next to the Stockton Arena. It was quite impressive, noting it as one of the most modern hotels I've seen here. Since then, it has changed owners quite a few times before it was split between hotel use, condos, and University Housing. I got the chance to see what it was like to live on one of these 'apartments'.

The glass windows and huge common area make it look spacious and perfect for parties, as well as providing nice views outside (they're located on the top floors, though you're paying more to get a room the higher up you go), but the bedrooms themselves have yet to be improved space-wise.

Its official site is here.

Pros:

• You're near downtown.
• Large common area, fully furnished.
• All appliances and utilities available (electricity, water, tv, washer/dryer, etc.) without having to buy them / pay for services.
• Weekly cleaning service (though they will not clean your sheets if you brought yours)
• Free shuttles to UOP.
• Rooms cost less overall than a UOP dorm room when living there for a school year (this includes the penthouse room, but not if you are the only one in it)

Cons:

• Internet connections appear to be wireless only. (This may or may not be a good thing for some people)
• Feels like too many bathrooms (four total for an apartment that houses five people).
• Bedrooms quite as cramped as dorm rooms and you get less space to put your stuff in (you also lack a dresser), except if you happen to live in that one room with a huge closet.

The Sun Kings

The band The Sun Kings (Beetles Tribute band), at Stone Creek Village in Stockton. It was the last concert in the summer band series, and was free for everyone.

I had some interest in the band (this was the first time I heard of them), but not as much as my uncles, who grew up with them and seeing these tributes will always be the first thing on their priority lists if one is nearby. If they couldn't see them live for some reason... they'll find a way.

The Fourth Return to Delta

Almost two years have past since the near start of construction of the math and sciences building - it's set to open later this summer.

This is the third building to adopt the new color scheme (the other two being the Student Services building and renovated Goleman Library, and maybe the bio sciences building) - whether or not they will renovate the other buildings with the same color set, I don't really know. One thing's for certain - Cunningham might not be around after this building's done.

I've also tried looking for the methane digester that I helped build during ACADEC five years ago - no luck with that. I've compared it with images taken at that time - the greenhouses are present, but there's a PD next to it and the area's now fenced in.

Memorable Stuff in Cunningham: Computer Lab (at the time when floppy drives and zip disks were around), Clever Planetarium Reopening (with Jose Hernandez), MCHS Solar Car Races, some MCHS end of year luncheons (notably Senior Potluck nearby), Spanish classes with Prof. Rich, Langone's courses

Fourth Return: Not exactly. Counting backward, the third was in May, the second being in August 2010, and the first in April 2010. Prior trips were not counted.

4th of July Fireworks: Weber Point

The 4th of July Fireworks: Same spot, new location. Leaving my normal spot of taking fireworks (parking garages) and moving to ground level.

History: It was previously known as the Waterfest, with their own shows at Weber Point and fireworks at the end, however they no longer do this (due to budget cuts and especially when Stockton went into bankruptcy).

As a result, Weber Point remains bare, but the Stockton Ballpark now does the fireworks now, with fireworks being launched at the park where lots of people used to be.

Additional Things Done: Watched The Avengers (it's been a while since I wanted to watch this).

Still yet to Complete: There's still a few other people I need to contact before the summer ends. (For one person, whether to build the #zpg fan art that includes her, or message her first...)

Additionally, play through the demo of Americana Dawn, set to release today. Speaking of that, couldn't find the link... where is it? Hopefully I can find the demo and get a video walkthrough up before someone else beats me to it.

Chinese Cultural Camp: Second Year

The return of Stockton Chinese Cultural Camp - this being the second year they have done this. This image? Dennis, Bryan, and Jana doing the lion dance.

Location: Stockton Confucius Church
Duration: 1 Week (June 25-29) 8:30am-12:30pm
Cost: $75
Brief Summary: Learn about the Chinese Culture and engage in a variety of activities, ranging from using chop sticks / abacuses to learning Chinese yoyo / jump rope as well as calligraphy/brush painting, crafts/clay modeling, and folk/lion dancing.

Although it's intended for grades 1-6, who get 'camper' status (red t-shirt), anyone who wants to volunteer can consider for next year - you'll get a free camp t-shirt for helping out.

Final Performance: Friday, June 29, 2012 at 11:30am - open to the public. This video gives a summary of events there if you missed it.

Anything Else: Offical Site

Bob Hope Theater, Steamboat Bill

Explored place of the week: Bob Hope Theater. Normally I don't have preference for silent movies, but this one was different.

Highlight: Steamboat Bill Jr. (in the handout there it was simply listed as Steamboat Bill). It wasn't just the film, it was the music - the fact that a Robert Morton organ had a lot more sounds than what I've expected, and the fact that the music (not the same as the link above) was interpreted for the entire length of the movie (which was around 70 minutes of continuous playing) more than amazed me.

At first I thought this movie was based off of Steamboat Willie. However it was the other way around.