It's always a good day when the A's win especially the way they did tonight. This post is dedicated to the place I've grown up in. Hopefully it won't be too boring for all those reading this but maybe you'll find something interesting about it.
My mom and dad moved me out of the Redwoods Heights district of Oakland when I was 8 months old and took me deeper inland into a place that is known by many as "The Bubble."More on that later but Danville for those of you who don't know is between Pleasanton/Dublin and Walnut Creek, and is flanked by: Pleasant Hill and San Ramon out in the East Bay.
It was where Randy Wynn, Mark Madsen, Nate Schierholtz, Chris Wondolowski, Zack Ertz, and Mark Appel grew up, to name a few athletes. It is where the rapper E-40, the lead singer of Motley Crüe Vince Neil, Captain Sullenberger, Larry Allen, and Gary Payton currently reside. That's just some of the background on Danville.
When an outsider talks about Danville, it's usually about how affluent we are or how stuck up we are which is apparently why my neighborhood known as "Blackhawk" inspired the song "Salvation," by the punk band Rancid. Danville and its residents have always seemed to have an unfortunate label attached to them, some for good reason, and others not so much.
The picture that you see on top of the page is Blackhawk Plaza which was a hangout spot for me and my friends for years. It's nothing special, a Starbucks, a nice burger place that is really good, overpriced stores that seemed to come and go, and a movie theater.
Now onto the people, let me paint the picture of a typical "Danville girl," a girl with platinum blonde hair, Coco Chanel sunglasses, yoga pants, and uggs. Describing her body, usually she make look pretty appealing, she'll be really skinny and perky boobs because every guy needs to see what she's working with. This is what I grew up around, and let me tell you about their personality. You can already probably guess but they were usually the real fake, stuck up type with that incredibly annoying fake laugh and fake giggle voice. Some of them were cool even with all that stuff others were complete bitches who weren't worth anyone's time of day.
As for the guys, they're cool until they start grown up where they turn into douchebags that think they know everything even though they've never been anywhere in their lives. Most of them have the same haircut and wear the same douchebag clothes, and if you ask what those are, it's whatever the "douche" clothing that's in style is.
Now let me tell you why I'm grateful for these people, sure I didn't like most of them. What these people taught me is that looks are only so important. They taught me the importance of character and the number one thing that they taught me was to keep your standards high for not only the girls I date but the people I bring into my life. I'll be honest, not many have fulfilled these expectations and all eventually disappoint me at some point but I wouldn't change anything about this approach. Many girls who I told about these standards never really figured out what these standards are and honestly they'd be pretty surprised if they knew.
This is the reason why I don't have many relationships and I have a small circle of close friends. It's how "The Bubble" shaped me.
Describing Danville as a bubble is definitely a good way of doing so. The residents are consumed with their own self-absorbed ways and have no concept of what's going on 10 miles away from them. I don't know why this is but that really is how many residents here are. In this sense, Danville is another stereotypical suburbia.
Now that I have graduated from high school, I can honestly say I enjoy coming back to Danville because I have no obligations to the people here anymore. Sure I still have friends here but for the most part, I'm no longer a part of this town.
I enjoy the slow pace that seems to relax the mind vs the city quick pace that seems to drain you by the end of the week. I enjoy long hikes up Mt Diablo which has numerous trails and is a must for any hiker in the area. The pretty lawns are always a sight on a clear spring day and the seeing the stars is a wonderful blessing. These are great parts of Danville and I wouldn't trade this real beauty for anything.
People have asked me about whether I'd live in Danville during my adult life and I always answered one way, "Definitely, when I'm settled down with a family." Maybe deep down, Danville will never leave me. Something about it will always keep me attached to it. Nowadays, driving around the ville, I start reminiscing about things from my past and I can give you a story for every street I pass.
If you're thinking about visiting Danville, please do. There's definitely some great things about this place but don't date any girls from here unless you let me give her a once over (I'm serious). Hope you all enjoyed this post and learned something about where I'm from.
No comments:
Post a Comment