1. Summer hasn’t begun until you’ve gone to the Del Mar Fair.

Summer kicks off when you pass through the Del Mar Fairground arch to enter a world of deep fried everything, the hypnotist show, and Crazy Mouse. You can look back and mark the passage of time over the years by seeing who’s in your picture strips from the fair photobooths. And no matter how long it’s been since they changed the name to the San Diego County Fair, it’s still the Del Mar Fair in your heart.

2. You may not have your best friend’s phone number memorized, but you sure as hell can call Corky’s Pest Control from memory.

1-800-901-1102. Try reading those numbers without singing the jingle. It’s impossible.

3. One of your first concerts was at Coors, Cricket Wireless, or Sleep Train Amphitheater.

And the way you refer to the venue is telling. You know how you cut trees open and count the rings to see how old they are? It’s kind of like that.

4. You’ve spent your life being heartbroken by local teams.

Whether it was trading LT, a certain kicker’s playoff choke, or the 1998 World Series sweep, chances are one of our local teams has left you in metaphorical or physical tears. And don’t even get us started on the ongoing debate of whether the Chargers are staying or leaving. But San Diegans are resilient people and each season we open our hearts again to the possibility of winning a few games. Maybe this year will be different, right?

5. You have a special place in your heart for The Chicken.

While the teams can be fickle, The Chicken never disappoints. Our special mascot has been brightening baseball games since 1974 and his antics on the field have made him one of the most popular mascots in the country. If you aren’t winning you might as well be laughing.

6. You expect everything to be 20 minutes away.

We’re still not sure how this is possible, but somehow just about everything is a 20-minute drive away from wherever you’re at.

7. Avocado is part of your breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack food groups.

Avocado belongs in scrambled eggs, spread across toast, wedged into a sandwich, on top of all Mexican foods, smashed up as guacamole, blended in smoothies and consumed in any other creative way you can think of. Really the meal is just a vehicle for that tasty, tasty avocado to find its way into your belly.

8. You think it’s totally normal to have an airport in Downtown.

Our airport has been named one of the most extreme in the world, but we’re totally unfazed by it. When you grow up taking off and landing beside skyscrapers, you don’t realize that the rest of the world safely places their airports outside of the city center. It’s only when you’re sitting on the patio at Ballast Point and a Boeing roars overhead that you briefly consider just how close they fly to the buildings.

9. You take pride in San Diego’s Comic-Con.

Things get real weird during Comic-Con week and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

10. The San Diego Zoo has ruined all other zoos for you.

You really don’t understand the gravity of the saying “world famous zoo” until you travel outside of San Diego. You grow up thinking that all zoos are giant enclosures dedicated to the conservation of animals and that it’s totally normal for them to be beautifully decked out with thousands of exotic plants. Now zoos everywhere else are a little sad and disappointing.

11. Snow days are just in the movies but fire days are real life.

Droughts? Normal. Missing a week of school because a fire storm is demolishing the county? A little scary but we’re used to it. Earthquakes? We aren’t bothered by them, though for some reason everyone still posts a status asking “Did you feel that?” anytime one rolls through. It’s blizzards that are mythical. Really any force of nature besides earthquakes and brush fires freak us out, especially hurricanes and tornados. Those guys are terrifying.

12. Flip-flops are your year-round shoes.

Winter attire in San Diego includes throwing on a hoodie or flannel, but you still rock the flops in January.