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| Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 | | 7:04 pm |
Wherein we draw
For no good reason at all, as of late, I've been musing on learning how to draw. I just write code for work, and I surf. As far as artistic things go, sometimes I make really really bad videos and really bad music. I have friends that help me make the music better though, so post-processing and really good quality in helps a great deal on the way out :) I'm all alone in the office, and I had a bad day, so here's my first drawing I've ever done since my freshman year in High School.   | | Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 | | 6:51 am |
I heard about this in the parking lot at Sloat. If we're looking for reasons, then I wish Eric wasn't in good shape, or I wish there were some kind of excuse for this that could be just a simple explanation away. Eric was a bigger guy, in great shape, then all of a sudden, just gone. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=214129151563 | | Thursday, December 17th, 2009 | | 10:49 pm |
Just Desserts....
Today was one of the best surfing days I've had in a good while. At every turn I found myself to be lucky and rife with good fortune because every decision I made starting from last night, was the right one. Let's begin there: After a hard day's work yesterday closing some issues, I look at my vacation balance and decide "yeah I can burn one here, why not?". Then, I decide to look at the swell model. The swell model says 2-3 times overhead at OB, which means, there's going to be an F-TON worth of energy. A few days before however, my good friend Colin says, hey let's go to mystotown some time, it's only about 65 miles away :). I had never been to mystotown, and my stomping ground has mainly been Sloat or Noriega. It's heavy as F there, and when I say heavy I mean it. Last week on tap were some big, barreling, mean and fast double overhead waves, and if you played with the bull, sometimes indeed, you got the horns. Anyway, today would have been that kind of day at OB, if you got out. From all accounts, takers and not, it was indeed a shitfest. Lucky decision number one made in the evening yesterday, was to burn a vacation day and head to mysto town indeed. So, I sent an email to all saying it was a holy day, left my cell for any emergencies, and went home. Then at home, out of habit, I set my alarm for obscene thirty, and went to bed. Lucky decision number two was to poop before bed. Thought I'd put that in here since we're counting, and it was numerically apropos. The alarm starts ringing and out of instinct, knowing subconsciously that I had a vaykayday, I let the alarm ring. Twice. So 15min of snoozing was the reward I got for the autopilot system knowing that I wasn't in hurry mode. So I got out of bed, got dressed, and suited up for the motorcycle. Lucky decision number three. I didn't have to pay the toll since I was motorpooling. I got to my office where I keep the boards and then I had the arduous task of choosing a board. Having looked at the swell model locally and not for mystotown, I was all "hmmmmmmm 6'6 could be OK, but the 7.0mini may be better, esp if it's out of control" I kept going back and forth and back and forth since I can only carry one on the motorcycle, so then I finally rationalized it this way: "OK, well if it's not out of control at mystotown you'll just be a smidge overboarded, but if it IS out of control there, you'll be glad you did". So that's why it was Lucky decision number three. Limiting my options made me choose the right one for today's "job" :) So...I roll up to Colin's house and I'm all damn dude, I gotta #2 again. This wasn't meant to be a shit posting, but I'll be honest, yesterday the company had a party and I ate a lot. I'm an opportunistic feeder since I get a lot of exercise, so today was the repercussions day. Anyway....We load up and head out and get gas on the way to mystotown. I get a cup of coffee at Starbucks and we begin the longish drive. We got to the mystospot and it was a bit flooded as we saw at Sloat. Only Sloat was flooded and angry as hell. This was just a bit flooded and relatively clean. On the path down to the mystospot we saw some locals with boards just hanging out and drinking beer. Ah to have that luxury on a Thursday morning. I guess that's what happens in mystotown for some people. You just enjoy yourself, reflect on the day on the beautiful, majestic California Coast. It was absolutely breath taking. Anyway, Lucky decision number four was to go again to the bathroom, I guess I was like a puppy getting too excited at this point because I could not believe my eyes. Mystotown's mystospot was absolutely different than the frothing anger I saw about an hour earlier. I saw big clean lines gently folding and emitting spray to the back from gentle offshores, from one side of the rocks, towards the inside, and it was then, that I knew Lucky decision number five was to be here. The tide at this point was too big, but it was falling, and it was actually surf-able at this point. We saw what looked like two college age kids head down, while we took our time. So we waited a bit, talked about stuff and really took in the California Coast. Sloat and Noriega are pretty I guess, but this...this was different. This really was more raw and special. It was completely clear to me why mystospot had cars parked in front of it now, it truly was a beautiful place. So, after talking a bit and just relaxing, we decide to suit up. We suit up, and we head down, and when we get down to the beach we see the two college age kids heading back up. We ask them "why are you LEAVING?????????" "It's too big" I never ever like to dickswing, it's pointless. When I first started surfing I could *specifically* remember going out to Sloat and shitting my pants, wondering how the *HELL* am I ever going to get in, having made it out so stupidly. However, Colin and I kinda joked about it on the way down because we were in utter disbelief that anyone could leave anything so nice and firing so relatively cleanly all behind. They had shortboards, the both of them, so come on, they HAD to have known what they were doing. Anyway, no dick swinging, we just found it odd that someone would pass on 6 to 10ft crumbling and non hollow waves, that's all :) So we take a look and decide the best line of attack is in the middle. I said I was attacking 'El Centro', dove in and Colin followed suit. We made it out practically with dry hair. El Centro was the best way, and there was minimal to no current. Now it was game time. We made it to the outside and stuff was firing. Colin starts on something pretty steep, makes it, and just absolutely disappears. All I saw was his head going down rapidly, and then his hand he used for balance, that was in the air, and that was the last I saw of him. It had to be at least a 10ft wave that had pushed him all the way inside, and from the look of it, the wave built in sections from the middle inside to the inside because I saw some major spray from some carves he was doing :) Then I guess it was my turn. I got lulled inside a bit too much and then a big one came in and I tried for it, but it folded right on top of me, and that was that. I tumbled around after a flailing abort, got back on my board, and repeated the exact same damn thing. Colin I saw had been nailing more waves while I flailed trying to find the right position and taking some pretty big set waves to the head. One actually was pretty explosive and gave me an uh-oh moment. It broke right in front of me and I could see about 5ft of wash just freight training in front of me. I tried to duck dive it, but I knew it was futile, it was just a reflex reaction that enabled me more or less to simply hold onto the board better. I never ditch the board, it's bad practice. The board may or may not get exploded away from me, but if I can help it, that board stays with me no matter what. Some guys will ditch and try their leash luck. I prefer to hold on and try my luck by holding on. Anyway, the sets were really coming in stronger now and after that big dumptruck of water on me, I managed to claw my way back out. Colin was in position and then I saw "it". Colin had gone for a wave that was curling over pretty hard and probably could have made it, but then it was getting too sketchy for him so he kicked out but the board went over the falls but he didn't. He scrapped towards the back side of the wave and then that was that, Colin's board had a different idea about where it wanted to be. Colin promptly said "I lost my board, my leash snapped" haha. Then I said "really? LOL" I shouldn't have laughed but it wasn't *that* bad out there and we both knew it. Sure it was big, but not humungo big where I couldn't eventually render service should that be a necessity. It turns out it wasn't. I went over to Colin and we started going to the inside. Then I started laughing because he was the one without the board at this point, yet somehow I felt like *I* was more in danger because of the waves breaking. This was in fact the case and I found myself laughing trying to get back outside a bit on waves that I thought I had no business being on belly on. So we finally made it back to the inside and I could spot Colin's board with a few seagulls around it. Colin didn't know where it was so I just made my way to the inside, ran up, and got it, while he walked over. It was still early at this point, as we had only been in for an hour. So we slap the boards back in his truck and head to mystotown to buy a new leash. We get to the surf shop, buy a leash, eat a slice of Trader Joe's pesto pizza that he brought along, and we head back to mystospot. And...finally...that's when things started going my way :) We hung out on the middle outside for a bit, but then I see this one dude wayyyy outside at some peak. He's hooded, on a 6'4 probably, and absolutely killing it. He passed us by giving us the requisite spray and that's when I got pissed and went to his spot. It looked like his drop was pretty gnarly but I didn't care at this point. I was kind of pissed and I was ready to absolutely charge. Two flails, a couple freight trains of pushback, at this point, I didn't care what happened because as far as I was concerned the worst already DID happen. So I went out there, and then a big ole wave came and started to curl over me, and I simply paddled into it, felt the board take, and then promptly stood up :) It was steep, but dammit wouldn't you know it, that wave was *holding up*. Yes it broke, but a big fat wave that is breaking is still a big fat wave. It's not a big hollow wave that will eat you like cookie monster. These were the waves of the day, kind of like what happens at Dreamland in Bali. I distinctly remembered that, and then just started charging that outside peak as much as I could. I scored and scored, and we bobbed around there for hours. Furry otters and kelp were everywhere, and I remarked how I had never actually seen anything like what was so clearly expounded in the book 'Caught Inside'. Today was just desserts. No brussel sprouts, no corn, no potatoes, no meat or chicken or fish. Just desserts. | | Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 | | 12:03 am |
Wherein we lose another battle in the war of nicethings(tm)
Side window shattered. I could care less except now, it's cold and possibly colder :). A window is like security theater. If you want in, you just break it and get in, and then take what you want. It's a thin sheen of veneer on top of a laughable, flimsy base. There was nothing of value in the car except maybe the nice craptastic interior that could have been 'not outside', and a nice playtime respite for a hobo. It stunk like shit in there, so I'm guessing it was a hobo anyway! :) The radio was still in there because it wasn't a pullout that I forgot! It came with the 92 Miata! I should just rip it out now to abate further discovery attempts. Anyway, I don't plan on fixing the window. So that's that. Maybe I'll tape it with some plastic to abate the wind from getting in, but that's that! My POS car got POS'ier haha! So as an obvious reminder, cherish what your things can do for you, not the things themselves. It makes no sense to cherish and covet nice things sometimes. Everything is transitory and subject to entropy anyway. The car still drives and gets me from A to B. I have taken care of its major parts that afford me that luxury. Maybe one day I won't have that luxury any more. When that day comes I'll probably laugh too. | | Sunday, December 13th, 2009 | | 5:30 pm |
| | 1:46 pm |
| | Thursday, December 10th, 2009 | | 1:10 pm |
My surfing sucks (and I don't care, but have a plan I think?)
Here are some thoughts about surfing. Today was a pretty nice day. It started out relatively clean and a not so hard paddle to the outside. The period wasn't too short, so while there were some bombs going off, getting to the outside wasn't impossible. I can get out, usually. I'm stupid and stubborn enough to not let OB get the best of me. It's happened of course, but I'd say I've got a pretty good batting average. My problems start when I actually get out there. When you're staring down a 10-11-12 foot wave that's curling over, do you go? Do you charge, and go for it, or do you pass and try to scrap over the ledge and wait for another one? Today I didn't charge. Wave after wave that was one guy's stoke was my bok bok chicken cluck. There's a mental block I have, and it's fear. Fear is good, it helps us maintain our lives (not die). The trick in big (such a relative term here after watching the Eddie yesterday) wave surfing is to not be scared and use one's rote skills. All you have to do is stand up haha. Easy in electronic form to write, easy to blabber to your friends in the lot, not so easy when you're on your 7' minigun wondering if this is the monster you should be paddling into. I'm lacking in my ability to handle steepness. I need to work on this. I tend to pick nice soft shoulders that (relatively) gently push me into the pocket. Now it's time to learn how to step it up. I don't know how that's going to happen, but I know one thing: I have to lose the fear. I think it may be time to just let things happen and wipe out on big ones if necessary. Today would have been the perfect day to eat it hard too. There weren't too many waves behind the set waves, so if I had to resort to scratching back to the surface after a massive wipe out, it could have been manageable and a two wave hold down would have been not very likely. I have the current luxury of sitting behind a keyboard typing this in a warm cubicle. We'll see when the opportunity presents itself again, how I do. Chicken signing off for now...... BOK BOK | | Saturday, November 21st, 2009 | | 11:19 am |
ATT DSL ONLY PLZ, DITCH LOCAL PHONE KTHX NO MORE Q'S
I just had to tell ATT that I don't want local phone service. They asked me three times how I was getting local phone service. Time 1: I don't want to disclose that, none of your business thank you. Time 2: Carrier pigeon, followed by what's carrier pigeon Time 3: Carrier pigeon, it's when you put messages on pigeons feetseees and set them free. | | Saturday, November 7th, 2009 | | 3:18 pm |
Wavequest and serendipity
Up at 5:50. Brushed teeth, did some nastayyyy bidness, put on moto clothes and headed out. I went to Sloat, and there were some guys huddling. I rolled up, got of the bike, locked the helmet and joined the huddle. Well wouldn't you know, the usual suspects. John, Mark, Mark, and Dude. We 'held court' for a few minutes pondering the situation. The energy from afar was clearly there, but the swell looked way too mixed up. There was long period and short period swell in there along with size, producing at times huge double overhead folding monsters, mixed in with bars and bars of whitestuff. It didn't look good. As we talked about the swell and the minutia of it, we did what all surfers do while watching...project yourself on some of the waves you're seeing. Projection is good. Vision is everything. If you can't envision yourself doing something, you'll NEVER EVER do it. So a keen eye for what the future holds is what is key in making your own reality. After court, the verdict was a no-go. Too messy. Not that we couldn't make it outside, but what to do once we got there. We could in fact project ourselves out there, but once there, it was obvious that we had some folding monsters and some not-so-nice shoulders to work with. Given that, we adjusted course to North Ocean Beach -- The Chalet. I hopped on the motorcycle and followed in tow, and when we got there, we were confronted with less size and less organization. Again 4 bars of white. This did NOT look good. We held court again and the verdict was off to Fort Point, at least to take a look. Well, at this point (I think it was like 7:40 or something), I opted to go back South and at least look at Linda Mar. So, I bid them goodbye and safe travels, and went on my way back South. On the way...however, I decided to go back and look at Sloat. It was a good thing I did. That is where I met Duncan. Duncan and I usually meet up at dawn since he's a Sloat regular too. Duncan had been looking and he too decided it was too nuts, so he mentioned that Half Moon Bay would be a good bet. I told him I was on the way to Linda Mar, and we both agreed to just stop there. We took a look, and both decided it was an utter shitfest as well, so off to Half Moon Bay we went. When we got there...... We saw that the waves were holding up OH so nicely. I felt given the circumstances we had hit utterly pure gold. I changed into my suit as fast as I could.... I hit the water running.... and I scored some decent, held up waves. The wavequest may have been a long journey, but it was well worth it. | | Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 | | 11:25 pm |
| | Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 | | 6:12 pm |
| | Monday, November 2nd, 2009 | | 12:18 pm |
Reaffirmation
Today was a reaffirming day, in terms of surfing. I've been out a few times after my "BIG THURSDAY" lol, but it wasn't near as big, nor "successful" as I had wanted it to be. After BIG THURSDAY, I went to Bolinas, and on the scale of surfing that I kinda like to do, that doesn't count haha. And then subsequent to that, I went out to OB again but it was just downright nasty and closed out and quick...not my kind of wave. So...all this time since then, I had been waiting for a "good" day. What's a "good" day? Head high, head high plus, maybe 2x, and *clean*. To me, that's all I want. That's a good day. That's the kind of wave where when you attempt to make it, you're FULLY committed and you're looking down at something formidable. Something that makes your gut say while you're at the top:"shit, this is not natural be careful". I like that feeling now. I cherish it. And I cherish getting through that feeling. When you overcome your fear of waves that are getting kind of tall and steep, the reward is sometimes a HUGE drop down the face of a monster, probably kind of like being in a half pipe on a skateboard. It's the most awesome feeling in the world, standing on your two feet like a man, having popped up on one of those kinds of waves. It's success, where your will and skill prevails above the awesome power of a wall of water that wants nothing more than to crush you. Anyway, enough poetry, this was supposed to be about reaffirmations. Some days are awesome, and then there's a dry spell, either self imposed or the weather isn't working. Before today, there had been a bit of both: I had flailed on a semi good day, seen some teeny days that weren't challenging, and then been in crappy surf. Today was the breakout day. After that break, I feel good about being able to prove to myself, that yes, I can surf. | | Thursday, October 29th, 2009 | | 2:30 pm |
| | Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 | | 7:43 am |
| | Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 | | 7:26 pm |
Big Bombs
Today was a humbling day at Ocean Beach. Today, the conditions were absolutely nuts. Let's first start out with a pic of what's going on:  See that dude on the right who's ripped? Well he wouldn't stand a chance for what's going on out there right now at Ocean Beach. Now I'll tell you the whole story. So, I stayed up late last night, working of course and I couldn't get up for dawn patrol. Usually I'll try to get up at 5:30 or so to make it to OB by 7. When you stay up till 3 in the morning working on code for a client who's got issues, this isn't going to happen. So I took a dawn patrol pass. I then got up and got to work at home, and got to thinking..."OK, you missed dawn patrol, how about an afternoon go at it? Should be fun right? OK, work like a dickens and then get your shit together and get out there to SF by 4:00. You'll even make the carpool lane on the moto! YAY". So work's going OK during the day, and it's time to go! I get to the office, pack up my board and head to OB. At this point my first look is telling me "oh shit". First of all, it's a torrent push of white water. I stared and then counted no less than 5 bars of white water pushing and pushing to the shore. Then, on the outside, what appear to be huge angry monsters buckling over and roaring spray over their lips. I see another guy (Mark) suiting up and I say hello, are you going out? He said yes. Well after looking at it for a bit, I told him, "man, I dunno...you see that out there? It seems like it's gunna be a bitch of of a paddle". He said "yeah, I know...one guy said he spent 30min getting to the outside". I thought to myself...welp "OK, 30min isn't that bad, I'm used to it". So then I agreed I was going out and I'd go out there with him. So, we start to go out, and there's this HUUUUUGE rip to the South. We started out at the bathrooms, and essentially, I'm no longer in front of parking spaces any more, but instead freeway (if you know Sloat :) ). There seemed to be a channel working where I got sucked out to, but the funny thing about this channel was that it was pitching HEAVILY side to side, so much I thought to myself, hey I can surf sideways YAY. So this outer bar essentially was the safe haven right before the first bar, where the outside was. If you made it though this bar, you could get to the outside, to where the waves no longer break, but only start to break there. So....I plan my attack. When surfing big waves, planning is very important. Miscalculations can be avoided. You just have to watch and stay where you are and be patient to see and predict what's coming. I can see the outside and a break and then I think to myself, OK, I've almost made it. Let's go! So I begin to paddle, and there in the distance, was a wave forming. I paddled and paddled and tried to make headway to get to the outside, and as I was doing this, that little wave forming now started to have more shape, and it started to get darker. When waves get darker it means they're forming pretty well, and actually starting to begin to curl over. I'm paddling as hard as I can but then at some point I realize, I'm in no man's land now. I'm at the juncture where I exactly did not want to be. I was between that last outer bar and the outside. This is what we call the break zone. I see the wave now, and it's 20ft in front of me, and it's about 13 to 14 feet tall and I know my battleship is sunk. I had a huge sadness in my heart for what was about to happen, and the sadness was accompanied by fear due to the unclean conditions out there. The next thing I know, is I hear the familiar thunder clap of a big, raw, lip folding and dumping water and I watched the wave still forming as I sat in it's most intense power zone. I just sat there holding my board. There was essentially nothing that I could do to avoid what was to come. This wasn't some head high shit that I could kind of get pummeled by and somewhat avoid with some depth. This was the real deal. This was a big,angry, fucking bitch with a mission. A mission to punish all those in her path regardless of their skill and experience. This wave owned me. My very existence was at its whims. I held my board but that did absolutely nothing. The next thing I know, I was pushed under about 7feet of water and all I could feel was my leg, being pulled very hard by my board. Underwater, I thought "oh shit, don't break PLEASE, I'll go in. I PROMISE, just don't fucking break the leash. PLEASE." So after my 20second hold down I'm scrambling to get to the top. My board is still faithfully attached and I'm further inside. My next thought is "OK, will there be another." Of course the answer to that is yes, there was. Another monster thunder clapped, and I got off my board and just held it by the end of the leash. The boiling wash came and really stirred shit up pretty bad and as I came up, I was further inside. At this point I was far in enough to avoid the outside monsters. So I got on my board and just rode the wash in, on my belly. As I got to shore, I realized I kept my deal. I came in and I still had my leash and my board. I wasn't some big kahuna riding 14ft waves, but I had what I wanted. I tried and almost made it to the outside. I failed. I fail a lot. Failing is fun tho in surfing. I'm in great shape and I can paddle a lot. I'm one stubborn motherfucker, so a good strong, long, paddle never bothered me. Some guys won't go out if there's more than 3 bars of shit to deal with. I say F that. Get out there, and TRY. Some guys like to surf waves, and only in the best conditions. I like to get out and have fun and if I catch waves great. If not, great. I don't really do this surfing stuff to catch waves all the time. That's the dessert. The real meal is the paddle, the environment, and the time one spends reflecting on things while sitting in the sea. | | Sunday, October 4th, 2009 | | 10:50 pm |
| | Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 | | 7:48 pm |
Don't call a cop a dick, lest you want him to really become one
Here's a lesson we all need to learn, and it's pretty straightforward: 1) Show respect 2) Shut the hell up 3) SHUT THE HELL UP You don't have to say anything at all. In fact, the more you say, the worse things can get. So, when confronted with authority, be respectful, and answer and ask only things salient to you being released. So kid, just shut up. Free speech calling him an ahole doesn't apply here. Just be quiet. Ask why you're being detained, and if you're free to go. Other than that, SHUT UP. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/crime/detail?entry_id=48696&tsp=1 | | Sunday, September 27th, 2009 | | 7:05 pm |
Ocean Beach
Ocean Beach (Sloat) by the zoo was phenomenal today. Head high plus and super clean conditions made the day spectacular. I caught a few good waves towards the beginning of my session, and towards the end I just couldn't work the high walls :) A few waves I had to bail because it was getting a little crowded and I didn't want to hit people so I'm all ABORT ABORT SHIT ABORT....I'm not that in control when I first start out and if it's steep. The only thing I'm concentrated on is making the drop in general, let alone other people. That's one thing that I have to work on for sure. Once I have more control even on the drop, maybe I can do better and snake around people like I see some surfers do. I think the major thing to do as someone almost going to get hit, is actually TRUST the other surfer and do absolutely nothing. It's essentially his job to either bail the situation, or go around you. Also as a potential collision hazard, in general you're supposed to go TOWARDS the whitewater, where things have already broken, but even then your surfer may still want to cut back, catch some wash for speed to get back in the pocket so I dunno. Staying still seems like the most prudent thing when confronted with that situation. Anyway, to reiterate, it was a great day with some great conditions. I'm looking forward to more days like this. | | Saturday, September 26th, 2009 | | 1:03 pm |
Happy Anniversary, I'm turning 1 again.
I think it's been a almost year since I began surfing. http://cryptomail.livejournal.com/1242.html My good long time friend, co-worker, boss, and confidant Rob invited me to go surfing at Bolinas. I think it was a late August day in 2008. It was warm that day, and the waves (as per usual there) were pretty small, yet present. I got to Bolinas by following my printout from Google Maps which I had printed in the office the night before. I don’t have a printer at home because I’m really cheap, and I demand high quality, so that’s why I print at the office. So the morning comes, and I have my printout in hand, and I begin my trek to the North Bay. I cross the Richmond Bridge into Marin County and then begin the drive up Highway 1 over the rolling hills towards Bolinas. During the car ride, I had thought about Rob’s new found love for surfing. At work, he’d talk about how he’s been catching waves, and how fun it was, and how great it was to be outside, getting exercise, and generally living life to its fullest. He also remarked about how Bolinas was amenable to beginners and had a good atmosphere for not only new surfers but for families that wanted a nice chill beach place to be. He also talked about the 2Mile shop owners at the time (Nick) and how he’d built a rapport with him because he’d be there a lot, and rent boards and wetsuits etc.. So as I’m getting closer to the lagoon that I’m supposed to be wrapping around, I thought to myself how great of a day it was, and how glad I was to be outside and doing something different than mountain biking, and hoped to meet Rob so he could tell me what to do. I pulled into the 2Mile shop parking lot, and since it was still relatively early, not a lot of people were there. I asked to rent a wetsuit, and I was fitted with an LS, which I think stands for Large Short. It was a used wetsuit, being a rental, but it was still in relatively good condition save for the one fin gash at the chest. That gash was inconsequential as it just made the rubber lift up like a quarter of an inch on the slice and didn’t leak noticeably. So getting into this thing was a pain in the chicken butt as you’d expect. I started out in the dressing room there, managed to get my legs into it, but then after not being able to put it on right, I kind of had to be taught how to get into it by the shop kid (when you’re 30+ and some 18yr old is helping you, he’s a shop kid J ), and I was finally in it. So, having been fit properly I grabbed my wallet gave him my credit card and then went on my way towards the beach. Rob had a board ready and waiting for me. So, I walked from the 2Mile shop towards the beach. It was still relatively early so there was a light fog about, as is quite natural in the Bay Area. I got to the stick-man which was our agreed upon meeting spot, and there was Rob. I took his foam tri-fin 9ft. Soft Top surfboard, put on the leash, and then got into the water. Rob was on his 9ft. Bic epoxy board. He had remarked that he no longer wanted to employ the soft-top, so he had gotten the epoxy board. I got onto the board and paddled out clumsily; very clumsily. This was my second time on a surfboard. The first time was when I was 17 and that’s quite a different story that I’ll recount. That’s a story of doing all the wrong things in the wrong place for the wrong reasons with plentiful heaps of stupidity and recklessness: I’ll save that one for later. So I managed to paddle out past the two foot breaking waves, and then watch others catching waves. I had never been in control of a surfboard before, and now I seemed to have a modicum of control, after flailing a bit with my changing position. I had tried moving forward, moving back and in retrospect, I had settled on paddling a bit too far back on the board, but it was safer to do that than digging the nose in all the time. I watched Rob catch waves and then people around me. They seemed to know what they were doing. They paddled into a wave and then as if magic, they stood up. It looked easy enough, and I thought to myself, shit, I can do this?! So I wait for a wave and then a small one comes. My position was a bit too far inside, and it broke on top of me, but the board started to glide and I’m on my stomach. The board felt good though as it was long and steady, and it was my time to rise, like a MAN. I planted my right foot on the rear, grabbed the rails of the board, got my left knee to the foam top and began to stand, and before I knew it, I was standing on my first wave ever. The board was making some smacking-like noises as it planed through the water, fulfilling its purpose. It was a magical sound, as if it was doing exactly what it was supposed to be doing, as if all this, the board, my standing position, were all correct. It turns out Rob saw what I did and was going crazy, and as I came back, he extolled how he couldn’t believe that I caught a wave, (practically) never having surfed before. I couldn’t believe it either and it showed with my shit eating perma-grin. The sound of the board planing and my “command” of it via standing was something I had never experienced before, before that moment, and then, finally, after thirty some odd years of standing, I knew what it was like to be propelled by a wave, while standing. Rob and I sometimes muse that we “lost” so much time not discovering surfing until “later” in life. I think he is right. If we had started in High School, or earlier or maybe a bit later in college, maybe we would have gained more. However, that’s past. You can’t go back in time, and for the time being, I’m so happy I discovered surfing on that day, and kept at it. I’ve progressed a lot since I’ve started, and in some sense, I’ve had to because where I surf. Ocean Beach in San Francisco is one of the craziest places to surf. Inconsistent breaking, rough textures, and huge rip currents are the three courses that Ocean Beach serves up. Of course on some days it’s forgiving but surfing there, you should always be prepared for those things. So little by little, over the course of a calendar year, I have kept at it. I have been stubborn, I have been denied, and I have had successes, and I have learned. I have learned to love surfing, and be out there with my friends, the dolphins and seals, and the elements. It’s been a magical year that’s changed my life dramatically in so many ways. What once started as an ancillary experience now has become an integral part of the structure of my every day life. So long as I can stand and walk, and I have my health, I’ll try to be down there at Ocean Beach, or wherever there are waves. Thanks for taking me out Rob!
| | Monday, September 21st, 2009 | | 3:08 pm |
PhilZ coffee
Shit, it was good. Lemme back up.... Matt txt'd me, and I was driving back from Ocean Beach. He's all "sup". Then five minutes later, he's all "sup". Then 5 minutes later, he's all "sup what's up with coffee at Philz like you said you were going to do". Then I broke the goddam law and txt'd him "Nkay be there in a few, driving". So in preparation for this whole thing, yeah I did a little obligatory reading. I'm a nerd, what can I say. The various articles extol the virtues of PhilZ, like one cup at a time, try-dont-like-remake, best beans etc etc yadda yadda. So, I get to Berry St with my surfboard sticking out of my Miata (yeah yeah cough chick car cough f-you), grab the board and bag, and walk down to the shop. There was some cool music playing and dudes on laptops. Some dudes had collars on, while others (like Matt lol) did not. I set my board down near a chair, next to a comfy couch for two and a single seat, where Matt was sitting. My co coucher was a dude with a laptop doing his own thing. So, then I step up to the bar and literally said "I want something, but I don't know what I want." The girl said what size? I said large. She said OK. This was going very well. Very well indeed. I then went to the register and paid $3.25, and went back to my comfy couch with my board in a board bag, propped up by the near chair. The girl then comes by and gives me my drink, and waits for me to taste it. She asked me if it was OK. WAS IT OK Jesus, not only was it OK it was fucking awesome. It was like this coffee drink, that had this natural foam head, and not from steamed milk or anything, but from the way she made it. It was the smoothest, tastiest, goddam coffee I have had in a good, long time. I'm not going to PhilZ every day because I'm a cheap bastard....but I think I'm going every Monday. |
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