Here is a sneaky excerpt from the site:
"Gingervitis is a serious disease affecting millions of people. Every day 1337 children are born with gingervitis in the United States alone."
There is a large population of artists in Loveland, which has drawn three foundries, an art museum, and the annual sculpture show in August.
An interesting fact about Loveland is that the city is best known nationwide as the home of the Valentine Re-Mailing Program. Every year hundreds of thousands of Valentines are packaged inside larger envelopes and sent to Loveland, where volunteers hand-stamp them with a Valentine's verse and send them on to the intended recipients." This description is quoted from Virtual Cities
I dreamed last night, that I was visiting a large plantation style house, like so many in Loveland, near Thompson Valley High School where a football game was being played between my school LHS and their alltime rivals TVHS. All of my friends and I were having such a great time and it really felt like high school, although many of the people there were actually my friends from college who I have grown very close to in recent years. TVHS is right near the Big Thompson River (which has a terrible history of one giant flood) and after the game we all started walking back to the cars parked down by the bike trail. I fell behind because I was trying to clean up some dishes and see a few of the cute girls still hanging out at the party and wave goodbye to the parents there who had helped facilitate it all. When all was said and done I began sprinting to catch up with my friends, I couldn't do it for very long, just as in real life I have never been the best at long distance but I have tons of fun with fast short bursts and jumping off of rocks and doing grabs like some sort of freestyle runner. So I pressed on and felt the tall grass slapping on my jeans and eventually hopped from boulder to boulder on the lining of the river. The river was higher than usual and parking was also at an all time high with the football game going, so many of the cars had parked on the banks (which doesn't make sense at all). So as I got closer to my friends I had to hop from rock to rock and then to the tops of cars that were nearly submerged in water now! At one point the cars and wood in the river were floating and I inevitably fell in. Soaking wet I scrambled back onto a car and finished crossing with a smile on my face. All the while I had seen the backs of a couple of my friends off in the distance. They were heading into the forested area near the car park and I kept calling out. Now that I was nearly with them I scrambled up the sandy crisp beach, out of the cold fresh water. I looked up as I stumbled and saw all of my friends facing me and waving "heads up" as they swung their golf clubs! My friends were playing golf and randomly shooting balls into the river and across the field. It was such a beautiful sight with the sun setting on the Rocky Mountains and the tall, sparsely placed, trees that lined the river with the boalders and the sand and leaves falling down. I needed a picture of this to remember my friends, specifically Nick Struck who stood right out in front with his club. I started to run past them to get my camera in the car when I finally woke up from the dream.
This dream sort of reminds me that I may not get back to those childhood moments. I may never see my friend Nick Struck again and I probably won't be doing many more ditch explorations, let alone falling in! I haven't golfed in years and the last time I tried to get a friend to walk with me on the frozen waters of my favorite ditch in Loveland, he said no... he had outgrown it and didn't want to act foolishly. It was such a sad moment. I love those ditches; I have found crawdads, snakes, raccoons, and many other creatures there. I have had friends drive me way out into the country, when I was younger, to the top of the ditch and then let us out with our inner tubes, made from real car tubes, to float down. We would go through spider filled tunnels and see the farms and yards of people we had never, and would never, meet. We could see tall grass and grasshoppers and all sorts of wonderful nature along the way. One time I hopped into the ditch riding my Huffy bicycle and rode down half submerged. I aslo joined a group of friends in damming the ditch one year! We collected all of the engine bricks, rocks, and scrap wood we could find in the ditch when it was dried up and then built a dam and a bridge that we could cross when the water started flowing again! We built tree forts, some of them nearly 50 feet high! On the shores of that ditch and I met all sorts of crazy characters there... Some guy from LHS who I had never met (this is when I was younger) shocked me with some sort of cattle prod thing he had made in science class. In the winters I would sled into the ditch and on the slops that peeled away from the tall banks, keeping the water in. I learned the basics of snowboarding here and also learned how to ditch school to play in the snow, following my own path in life, standing up for what I wanted to do, my parents let me do as I wished but always reminded me that I would be paying for their retirement some day and that I would have to support myself, so get a good education they would say. A few times I ice skated all up and down the ditch, it was like rollerblading but more in nature and I went so far, always on my own, just exploring all that Loveland had to offer. While other kids complained of boredom I was knee deep in water during the summers collecting golf balls to sell back to golfers and make money with. I was out on Loveland lake with a hand-me-down boogie board trying to learn how to skim board. Some of the coolest and most memorable times were the rope swings and the explorations we did out onto the frozen Lake Loveland, hearing loud popping and echoing sounds, like some sort of giant slinkey, as the ice expanded and shifted under our weight.
I have included some pictures here and may update this someday when I visit Loveland and find my favorite spots. This time it won't be a dream and I will have my camera! I miss all of my friends growing up and I hope to continue exploring the world and getting immursed, I think that is why I like surfing so much, just getting in and charging in some new and changing environment with friends who are willing to get dirty. I would like to dedicate this post to all of my RA friends over the years who seemed almost like family, we had to share such challenging situations and alway be there for eachother, people like Nick Struck who would adventure with me and always kept such a positive attitude, people like Rande Skeen and Charlie Nichols. Also, my favorite friends from Loveland Colorado including Shean Perry and the boys from the apartment complex who's names I can't even remember fully, just Chris and his Metroid game. Scott, the boy who was the youngest and always got picked on, his life's dream from such a young age was to open a plumbing company called Scotty-Potty's Plumbing! Craig Depershmidth, Parker and Bryant Richards, Josh Dudley, and so many more. I will miss those days but always remember the fun times we had and what our age and innocence allowed us to do with our never-ending spare time.
]]>Now I love Jamba Juice just as much as the next guy so this was quite a treat. What's even cooler is that the brochure thing actually employed a co-branding strategy. They had printed the BART logo on their fliers as well as their JJ propaganda! So now people like me have an even greater identification between car pooling, riding the BART, basically saving the environment in general, and drinking that fresh, clean, all natural Jamba Juice. Isn't marketing great? Now the real question... Why the heck do they still use styrofoam cups if they want an environmental image?
Jamba Juice, this needs to be fixed! I'm sure there is a sugar cane or corn based styrofoam alternative that is biodegradable that could be used here that would only increase your costs ~$.05 per drink. You can start by visiting World Centric and checking out their Styrofoam Alternatives
I used Garage Band on Fleet to add some bongos and a violin but Acoustic Journey is all original! I also cleaned up these tracks and enhanced the sound using a PC only application called Adobe Audition.
Aibo can stream your email (reading it out loud to you), keep you up to date with calendar activities (once again... barking out commands like "pick the kids up from school damn it!!!"), and it can even be set for motion sensing + camera mode to protect the house and alert you at work via email if your house is being burglerized! If you're lucky, the thief might even take your $2000 robot companion (which will aleart you of it's exact position via GPS!) well, I made this last part up... but wouldn't it be neat? The robot dog is actually self sufficient and can find its way back to the charger and "take a nap" when the batteries run low. Yum Yum, so artificial... yet so intellingent :P
Yeah, I know all you "real life" doggy lovers out there are probably thinking "how stupid" and "I can't pet that thing" and "it can't lick my..." well, we'll just stop there, but studies show that robot pets actually have similar healing effects on their owners as real pets do! But... with Aibo going extinct I'm not sure how long those healing effects will last! I guess until the batteries run out?
Just the other day some guy asked me for money and then spit on me WHEN I GAVE HIM SOME... I don't make a habbit of handing out change but the guy looked sort of upbeat and asked in a friendly way so I gave him some loose change. Wow, then the other day coming home from work some guys across the street chucked a lime at me. It's just a weird place to be and I stand out like a sore, young, rich thumb.
Okay, the real purpose of this post... I went exploring over lunch the other day and toured the City Hall. It was really cool, I learned all about San Francisco and even some about California (did you know the state is named after a female Indian warrior named "Kalifa" who used to live here?) If you ever get the chance, take the tour! So on my way of exploring I found these cool buildings, one of which was some sort of school many years back. Now it's all boarded up but I think there's probably something going on inside. The outside is what really matters in this case however, it's all covered with Jack's logo! Check the pictures below > >
“There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality.”
- Pablo Picasso“Art is a lie that makes us realize truth.”
- Pablo Picasso“You can't run a business without taking risks.”
- Picasso*"Life does not consist mainly, or even largely, consist of facts and happenings. It consists mainly of the storm of thoughts that is forever blowing, through one's head. "
- Mark Twain"Those who abandone their own dreams, will discourage yours"
- Unknown"One man says: I see the light of god shining in you, the other says: all you see is my reflection, you're facing the wrong way"
- my grandpa"I just want to live until I die"
- my grandpa
I've come up with a few quotes of my own, let me know what you think... Maybe one day "pocket" will be known as an ancient and wise philosopher.
“You only have the power to change what you are willing to lose”
- me“The walls we erect to keep others out also keep us in”
- me"Eventually we all lose our lives, we try not to lose the meaning in life"
- me"Veterans Day: I am thankful for the gifts I have been given, by those I never knew, and some who live around me still, that helped me as I grew"
- me"I'm in a struggle with life, and life is winning"
- me"I'm realizing that a part of my paycheck actually goes towards a long term lease on my soul!"
- me"Faith is not a way of dealing with death, it is a way of dealing with life."
- me
...I want to learn from history and I'm trying not to settle for "good enough" in life. I like people in general, it brings me great joy to encourage success and compliment attempts at life... That's why I started aM with Blake and Dillon. My favorite part of life is when I am working on something I enjoy, which probably includes helping a friend. On an athletic note, I love running and jumping and being active like a cheetah (which is my fav animal) I'm an ENFP Myers Briggs - http://www.personalitypage.com/ENFP.html
Portrait of an ENFP - Extraverted iNtuitive Feeling Perceiving]]>
(Extraverted Intuition with Introverted Feeling)
The InspirerAs an ENFP, your primary mode of living is focused externally, where you take things in primarily via your intuition. Your secondary mode is internal, where you deal with things according to how you feel about them, or how they fit in with your personal value system.
ENFPs are warm, enthusiastic people, typically very bright and full of potential. They live in the world of possibilities, and can become very passionate and excited about things. Their enthusiasm lends them the ability to inspire and motivate others, more so than we see in other types. They can talk their way in or out of anything. They love life, seeing it as a special gift, and strive to make the most out of it.
ENFPs have an unusually broad range of skills and talents. They are good at most things which interest them. Project-oriented, they may go through several different careers during their lifetime. To onlookers, the ENFP may seem directionless and without purpose, but ENFPs are actually quite consistent, in that they have a strong sense of values which they live with throughout their lives. Everything that they do must be in line with their values. An ENFP needs to feel that they are living their lives as their true Self, walking in step with what they believe is right. They see meaning in everything, and are on a continuous quest to adapt their lives and values to achieve inner peace. They're constantly aware and somewhat fearful of losing touch with themselves. Since emotional excitement is usually an important part of the ENFP's life, and because they are focused on keeping "centered", the ENFP is usually an intense individual, with highly evolved values.
An ENFP needs to focus on following through with their projects. This can be a problem area for some of these individuals. Unlike other Extraverted types, ENFPs need time alone to center themselves, and make sure they are moving in a direction which is in sync with their values. ENFPs who remain centered will usually be quite successful at their endeavors. Others may fall into the habit of dropping a project when they become excited about a new possibility, and thus they never achieve the great accomplishments which they are capable of achieving.
Most ENFPs have great people skills. They are genuinely warm and interested in people, and place great importance on their inter-personal relationships. ENFPs almost always have a strong need to be liked. Sometimes, especially at a younger age, an ENFP will tend to be "gushy" and insincere, and generally "overdo" in an effort to win acceptance. However, once an ENFP has learned to balance their need to be true to themselves with their need for acceptance, they excel at bringing out the best in others, and are typically well-liked. They have an exceptional ability to intuitively understand a person after a very short period of time, and use their intuition and flexibility to relate to others on their own level.
Because ENFPs live in the world of exciting possibilities, the details of everyday life are seen as trivial drudgery. They place no importance on detailed, maintenance-type tasks, and will frequently remain oblivous to these types of concerns. When they do have to perform these tasks, they do not enjoy themselves. This is a challenging area of life for most ENFPs, and can be frustrating for ENFP's family members.
An ENFP who has "gone wrong" may be quite manipulative - and very good it. The gift of gab which they are blessed with makes it naturally easy for them to get what they want. Most ENFPs will not abuse their abilities, because that would not jive with their value systems.
ENFPs sometimes make serious errors in judgment. They have an amazing ability to intuitively perceive the truth about a person or situation, but when they apply judgment to their perception, they may jump to the wrong conclusions.
ENFPs who have not learned to follow through may have a difficult time remaining happy in marital relationships. Always seeing the possibilities of what could be, they may become bored with what actually is. The strong sense of values will keep many ENFPs dedicated to their relationships. However, ENFPs like a little excitement in their lives, and are best matched with individuals who are comfortable with change and new experiences.
Having an ENFP parent can be a fun-filled experience, but may be stressful at times for children with strong Sensing or Judging tendancies. Such children may see the ENFP parent as inconsistent and difficult to understand, as the children are pulled along in the whirlwind life of the ENFP. Sometimes the ENFP will want to be their child's best friend, and at other times they will play the parental authoritarian. But ENFPs are always consistent in their value systems, which they will impress on their children above all else, along with a basic joy of living.
ENFPs are basically happy people. They may become unhappy when they are confined to strict schedules or mundane tasks. Consequently, ENFPs work best in situations where they have a lot of flexibility, and where they can work with people and ideas. Many go into business for themselves. They have the ability to be quite productive with little supervision, as long as they are excited about what they're doing.
Because they are so alert and sensitive, constantly scanning their environments, ENFPs often suffer from muscle tension. They have a strong need to be independent, and resist being controlled or labelled. They need to maintain control over themselves, but they do not believe in controlling others. Their dislike of dependence and suppression extends to others as well as to themselves.
ENFPs are charming, ingenuous, risk-taking, sensitive, people-oriented individuals with capabilities ranging across a broad spectrum. They have many gifts which they will use to fulfill themselves and those near them, if they are able to remain centered and master the ability of following through.
Jungian functional preference ordering for ENFP:
Dominant: Extraverted Intuition
Auxiliary: Introverted Feeling
Tertiary: Extraverted Thinking
Inferior: Introverted Sensing
I really enjoyed the architecture of the school and the art gardens surrounding the museum. Students whizzing to and from class, many of them setting up canvases to do practice sketches or paintings of the bronze sculptures outside.
So, to take my mind off of these challenges I've tried to refocus my energy on other career paths, new companies, and reptiles. Yesterday I drove over to Berkeley to pick up an old pair of Northwave snowboard boots at a shop called Destination 1440 (they were sopposed to be fixing the laces with Northwave - factory defect). So I get this call that after two months that nothing has been done and my boots are basically just rotting away on some dirty shelf. So I get the boots and decide to explore the area a bit since it's been a while since I lived in Berkeley and it's the middle of the day on a weekday, all the shops are open.
I spot this jungle-like storefront and decide to enter the shop. "Berkeley's Secret Garden" is the name of this joint (pun definitely intended). They sell all sorts of grow lamps mounted to fans that spin with cooling devices... Lots of neat fauna there but really... This is California? Who would need to grow plants inside? And why would they want to cool the bulbs delivering the nutrients? Anyone familliar with police work and infra-red technology should be able to answer that...
Okay, so I actually like plants, legal ones, and so I ask the clerk if they have any terrariums instead of these big light spinning fan contraptions. He tells me that his other job is working at the East Bay Vivarium (one of the largest reptile stores in the nation). I'm stoked like a schoolgirl at this remark and I blast on over to the Vivarium, yum. Fancy my luck, it just so happens to be feeding time and all the animals are going nuts! I got to see these tiny 3" turtle babies snarfing down lettuce and of course the ever-exciting cricket hunt that some of the lizards were enacting.
It was a good day, I got a lot done and I've been sick so it was nice to sleep in a bit and try to rest up. I'm stoked to do a few aM updates with video and teh site should be coming alive again soon. One of my old CU journalist friends wants to do another story about us and our recent interview with the Campus Press should be online soon.
]]>Yesterday just also happened to feature my grandfather (you see him near the end) who drove out to visit me from Sun City Arizona. We ate spegetti and talked about family and life, it was good.
If you are using a Microsoft operating system and the video doesn't play, you should download the latest version of Apple Quiktime
]]>The scavenger hunt really went in depth with the city and I learned some amazing things as a result. It also gave me a bunch of new ideas for artistic photographs. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera so I'll be back tracking at some point but a few of my friends did take pictures and I'll load them up here on aCore soon.
The curve ball you ask? Well, after the three hour scavenger hunt was finally over we all met back at our building. The networking piece of the event was a free happy hour that was put on at a nice resturaunt a few blocks away. We regrouped at the happy hour and all was good. There was fine wine, fancy cheese (that I can't eat because I'm lactose intollerent) and tiny little grapes with intense flavor. After just a few moments of hanging out and chatting it up, one of the waitresses approached me and said I looked familliar. I agreed with her and we started talking. It didn't take long to figure out that we went to high school together... in Colorado! How crazy to meet someone from that far and long ago, just randomly!
I only got a bit of her story, and it turns out she went strait from high school to London where she traveled all over and then chose San Francisco to take up residence! We didn't get to chat much because our group was really big and she was super busy but what a neat surprise. I gave her my card and I expect to have more details soon :)
]]>Saturday... The big day: My heat was at 1pm so spent the morning and early afternoon stretching and getting ready. The waves weren't looking all that great but it's an all day thing so it's hard to keep that consistency for every heat. I got the chance to make some new friends and chat with a local photographer about taking some pics.
1:15pm the horn sounded and I paddled out with the other 17+ yr old short boarders. Unfortunately the waves hadn't gotten any better, pretty small and mushy, but I was stoked just to be there. Each heat is only 15 minutes and each guy gets up to four waves in that timespan. I started off pretty well and ended up with one solid ride all the way in along with two shorter rides. The horn blew and my heat was up.
1:45pm the scores were added up and I took 5th place in my heat, not enough to advance... but quite a few people said I performed really well for having only been surfing ~2 months. Here is a pic from the event, this is one of my better runs... Note the tiny waves and the fluorescent green sponsors rash guard :)
It was a good time all around and I ended up with a free hot dog from the event... Well, it was actually $25 to enter so the dog wasn't completely free but the comp was a blast and there were tons of prizes and different catagories. One of the most unique heats was called "70's Grab Bag" and it was set up with 10 boards from the 70's and a random drawing for who would be riding what. Most of the other events were for long boarders and it was neat to meet so many surfers from around Linda Mar and Santa Cruz.
Okay, that's only half of my Saturday...
During the competition that afternoon my friend Eric stopped by and watched my heat. After the 15 minutes were up and I had my results and knew I wouldn't be advancing we decided to head on over to Monterra beach where the waves were better. For the next four hours we surfed and had a blast. We also met this guy who worked for Digital Chocolate making video games for cell phones. I guess his boss was one of the founders of Electronic Arts! Thats a big deal for all of you non-gamers out there... We exchanged info and just kept surfing.
Eventually we were completely worn out and it was time to get out and grab some dinner. Eric is getting his PHD at Stanford and some of his friends back on campus were planning a late night musical free for all at the tiki statues. I play the guitar so I decided to jump on board and head over with Eric.
This Music Sesh was crazy! The tiki garden was intense and some of the wooden statues were made into benches and could actually be played with sticks and stuff. The totem poles are intense and very detailed with interesting animals and spirits and sexual symbols and stuff... Also, the guys and girls who met us there were very interesting and everyone brought a different instrument. It was like a musical potluck... We had drums, bongos, cowbell, guitars, harmonica, trumpet (yes the trumpet was loud and apparently the cops had been called last time this type of thing went down). My favorite song was Turtle Satan, but many of the others were equally creative and intense. My friends recorded some of the later songs as things got crazier and crazier so maybe I can post one here... I especially like the pirate song so keep an eye out for that :)
]]>For all you science nuts out there:
"Birds excrete nitrogenous waste products in the form of uric acid in a white semi solid state. This is because birds drink little water and cannot afford to excrete voluminous amounts of urine. Not carrying a big bladder full of urine also cuts down weight which is essential for the evolutionary success of birds which fly. Humans, however excrete nitrogenous waste as urea* which dissolves in urine. Freshwater fishes which absorb lots of water effortlessly through osmosis excrete nitroge-nous waste in the form of ammonia dissolved in plenty of dilute urine."
Well, at first I was a bit bummed but then I remembered one of my favorite new products from aM done by Shibby & Colus the Anatomy of a Sparrow shirt and it made me feel a bit better. I really need to get a camera phone or start taking my minicam around with me because this picture would have been priceless... I actually considered leaving it on my head until I got home so I could take a pic!
Oh well... Next time.
]]>I began asking myself questions like "is this type of work that my life is about?" and "do I want to end up like my boss?" and "is there anything I could do to make a change for the better?" I finally convinced myself to stick with my current job, keep car pooling and turning off lights, and simply keep an eye out for bigger opportunities when they arise. I can be a bit spastic in times like these because I really do want to make a differenct... even if it is only going to save the same shallow people that are currently creating the problems I so fear. One day man kind will again have to face the harsh tormenting found in history books and science theories, even if humans are eliminated though I'm sure life will remain in the form of some kind of three eyed toad or something. My point is: we aren't saving our planet, we are saving ourselves...
So, on the brighter, happier side of things... I decided to offset the harm I have been doing to our environment with my car and housing through Native Energy and TerraPass. These two programs are designed to help people become aware of how much CO2 they are emitting in their daily lives and then offer them a solution for offsetting that same ammount. For example, I donated $50 to TerraPass to offset the emissions of my mid sized car and they will in turn use that $50 to invest in alternative energy projects like solar panels and wind turbines, hence, offsetting my energy use.
Check these programs out and definitely see An Inconvenient Truth! I'm glad to see change happening and it was a joyous occasion to drive through the inland parts of Northern California on my way from Boulder Colorado to San Francisco California and see all of the wind turbines that had been built. It was almost like being a tiny ant in a field of white grass. Towering propellers in every direction... To learn more about wind energy, check out this article in the Environment News Services archive.
]]>So this past weekend I just got back from the trip and I knew I couldn't take my board out again because the foam would obsorb water and make a repair even tougher, so I just rented a shop "demo" board. The rental was a nice epoxy 6'5" swallow tail fish and the owner of the shop said he wasn't totally sure if it was a demo or one of the guys who worked there, but he gave it to me anyways, and he warned me "you break it, you buy it" which freaked me out a bit at $400. So I took the board anyway and the next day I had a blast on it! The waves were huge and the board performed very well. Unfortunately I crashed it into an oncoming surfer and totally jacked the front of the board... Epoxy boards are sopposed to be stronger than normal boards (they look like plastic on the outside instead of clear) and my friends in the water said if it wasn't epoxy it would have snapped the nose right off! All of this "fragile" crap is new to me because I'm used to snowboards that NEVER break unless you ride strait into a rock and really put the grind on.
I guess I was stoked to have the board in one piece after the accident but it wasn't a very fun experience returning it to the shop... It turns out it wasn't really a demo board, it did belong to one of the shop workers and he was totally bummed that I dinged it. So, I was left with surf board ding repair number two, and I haven't found out how much either repair will cost yet.
While all of this was going on I had been visiting the local shops a pretty frequently, checking out the used board selection. One board really caught my eye, the Channel Islands Al Merrick Flyer... One of my favorite local shops "Kstar" had this board used and it was an epoxy version! which was awesome because as you recall, epoxy is stronger than foam and normal glassing. Since the rental was thrashed and my board was still in for repairs (number seven in a line to be repaired by the shop) I decided to shell out the cash and buy an extra board. The Flyer was perfect, not only due to it's strength, but also because it's a more advanced shape and I wanted to step up my riding a little bit.
When I went in to buy the Channel Islands Flyer I ended up meeting the owner of the store "Keith" and we got to talking about all sorts of cool stuff including ABSTRACTmall. He mentioned that one of his good friends owned the exact same Flyer model that I was looking at used and he might be willing to sell me his for the same price as the shop's (and his friend's board was in way better shape). I was interested in the offer, so Keith sent word and his friend "Tony" drove right down to show me the board. Now... Tony had owned this Flyer for a long time and he really loved the board, he had even named the thing, "Plastic Fantastic" and he was a bit concerned when he heard about my previous two boards. At the end of the day however, when push came to shuv, I flashed the cash and Tony put out... Keith took his cut in the deal and Plastic Fantastic was mine!
How does the story end? Well, today I went out to Rockaway Beach which is a bit rougher than Linda Mar... The waves were really going off and I almost got bashed into the rocks just trying to launch, I actually ended up back on the beach after taking off to swim out and my fins dragged in the sand! Maybe I should have heeded the warning signs, but I was way too stoked to let a few bruises and scratches get in my way. I finally made it out and caught one amazing wave. It was really powerful and I got a lot of tight turns in. Unfortunately, the fun didn't last long. It was a bit eerie out in the water with yellow foam and a pod of dolphins slowly circling me and the other guys. It was also a bit lonely and intimidating because there were only three guys and we really didn't know eachother. Everyone was way spread out and I felt totally isolated. The fog was rolling in a bit and Rockaway, being surrounded by cliffs, was echoing with the sounds of the crashes waves.
As I attempted my second big wave of the day I leaned a bit too far forward trying to get on and I was dropped down onto the face with tremendous force. I had one of those "oh shit" moments where you know something bad is about to happen and you feel like a tiny child being tossed hard with no control. If I had a tail, it would have been tightly squeezed between my legs. I balled up and was whipped around in all directions, I was so tense that both of my calfs cramped and I felt the searing electric sort of pain that only comes from freezing cold water, exhaustion, lack of air, isolation, and cramps. As I was losing control under water, Plastic Fantastic bashed my upper theigh and I felt a sharp gouging tear as one of the fins dug into me. When I finally surfaced and streteched my legs out I pulled on my leash and flipped my board over to find one of the fins missing... the right fin, just like with my first board. Not only was the fin gone, I also had a huge ding all the way through the epoxy and into the foam.
Deja Voo just doesn't do the experience justice. I didn't completely give up (althought maybe I should have) I stretched my legs out and paddled back into the big waves. I caught one more good one and made a few decent, if not squirrely, turns. Since I cut left when I surf the missing right fin wasn't too much of a problem.
I'll be stoked to have my two boards back soon, but it's a bummer I can't surf for the rest of the week... I wanted to get some pictures but since the damage to the second board was a rental I didn't have time to get it back for photos (and I didn't want to dissrespect the owner). It's been a good second month here in Pacifica and I think I might be moving up to Marin County next month. Marin is sopposed to be cool for surfing up at Stinson and Bolinas but the sharks are a bigger problem there (since the beaches border a bay inlet where fish and nutrients flush out) so I might have to bust out my australian made electric leash... More on that later.
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