A post from SoBo

Tonight, I'm writing from SoBo, my favourite restaurant in Tofino, and quite possibly (most probably) the best. Karen is in town today, so I had spent the whole day looking forward to this evening's surf session. Work was entirely acceptable, not free of the unfortunately usual nonsense. The plan for the day was to meet up with Karen and her friend after work, and we would go for a surf, with her friend the surf virgin learning on my shortboard (wouldn't you know it, the dude is so gifted that he rode a wave standing up already on his first session (I hate people like that, but, this guy seems pretty cool)). ULTE2 would also be there (someone recently referred to the present state as "the luxury of his absence"... I hadn't thought of it that way, but I guess I had been rather enjoying it for the last bit). I met up with ULTE1 before meeting with K and her friend. The more people I meet, the more I like ULTE1.

K showed up at my place at around 5:30, and we loaded up the cars and went to Cox. ULTE2 would meet us there. When we got to the parking lot, it was clear that we didn't need to walk down to take a look-- all the right cars were there. We got down to the beach (stinky from dead squid) and I went right in while K gave her friend a lesson. I caught the first wave I went for-- a left that went on forever-- and then the next one, and then the one after that, and on and on and on. Every wave peeled left and seemed to go on forever. I was walking the Bluepath. I surfed alone until Ralph paddled up to me, and, coincidentally, that's when good waves were replaced by conversation. Eventually, K and ULTE2 (I guess there's no "E" anymore) came up and said they were heading in. I stayed out and didn't catch better rides. When I finally got to the parking lot, Ralph jokingly called me a wave hog (I think he was joking...).

I went home, showered, and, as I showered, had further thoughts about dinner. I could just eat whatever I found... or order some greasy take out crap that I wouldn't enjoy... but I decided to fully commit to the HSH tonight (had a pretty good start today), and wanted to score fully on #1. I called SoBo and asked whether it was too late for dinner-- it was, but they told me I could come down anyway... so I wrote most of this post while sipping a Phillip's dark lager while waiting for my halibut with the signature orange carrot cream sauce, and am finishing this post while I sip my lemon ginger tea and wait for my blueberry crumble. All there is left to do to conclude this perfect day during which I suffered (and suffer still) a toothache that radiates to the very back of my neck (is it possible to overdose on maximum strength Orajel, 20% benzocaine?), is to sleep beautifully well.
My blueberry crumble is here (and it's so, so, so very good). Bonne nuit. (and by the way, be good to yourself, because the only other person on earth who can be that good to you is your mother... and let's not tax them quite so much... having children is punishment enough)

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Wisdom and Misanthropy

Every time one of my wisdom teeth succeeds at making any progress, I experience a pain whose source I cannot immediately identify. There is a period of several days before I realise that I have a toothache... during this period, I'm generally misanthropic... or, I should say, more misanthropic than usual.

I've been aware of this toothache for a few days now... and finally today I went and bought some maximum strength Orajel. I think there may be a battle of will going on between me and my wisdom teeth.

Either that, or I'm really valuing the wisdom and insights I'm gaining in my moments of intense misanthropy.

The surf picked up a bit today. I went to Cox Bay in the afternoon... and ran into ULTE2 on the trail. I have no idea what he was doing, but I noticed immediately one of his masks... or... one of the faces that he puts on to meet the faces that he meets. If I were at my old job, I would have coded that card N.G. and sent it on its way.

Two minutes later, I was in the surf and had forgotten all about it. I caught one good ride and paddled back out, and when I turned around, realized that there were five million people behind me. I kept paddling out of the corner, but kept getting sucked back in with all the people. The surf wasn't that great there. I got a few closeouts, and felt like I was taking off into a shopping mall. After a few more, I caught one in and then walked over to the left. Once there, I felt as if I had the whole beach to myself... and got one awesome long ride after another. Of course, I was only catching lefts, so I kept having to work my way back to the lefts... which, given the really strong drift into the corner, was a bit of work. Overall, I'd say that it was an excellent session.

I saw a bumper sticker that said "Life is better when you surf"... I'm tempted to cross out the word "better"... and tag on "the rest is just killing time"...

Those aren't wings on that vespa

Click on that photo... it's a guy holding his surfboard...
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Becoming self-sufficient in Tofino

These are the left overs from last night... channa masala, baigan bharta, and palak paneer. All made from scratch right here, even the paneer. I'm on my way to having my own vegetarian buffet... I'm a daal and raita away from thalihood.
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Even if it kills me... since we're all dying anyway...

Yeah... so... on Monday, I didn't go out for a surf in order to avoid getting a cold, which I suspected myself of fighting on Sunday. Well... no surf, but got the cold anyway.... and then it just got worse and worse and I actually stayed home from work and slept for two days. I've not surfed for FIVE days now, and it's making me quite miserable. So I'm going out today... even though I'm not completely recovered... mostly there, but not quite.

I've been dying since the day I was born... so why let "because it might kill you" be a reason to not do something? It's not as if I have some greater purpose to fulfill, further obligation to honour, unfinished business whose inconclusion equals detriment. Having achieved a certain level of success early on, I don't even have expectations to disappoint. I feel quite free to do as I please. It's like finishing your work early in class... one can wander off with impunity. See you later.

Can't figure out the difference between better or worse

I've not been checking my mail. There's never anything interesting... and I have to go all the way downtown to the post office for it (downtown is downtown... it's faaar). I finally got my mail today, and among all the bills that have already been paid (I insist on getting paper copies mailed to me, but then I always check the balance for everything online or by phone and pay for it... which makes it so that I don't have to open the envelops when they arrive... which is how I managed to have two sets of a credit card sent to me that I did not activate, with the result that I now have an expired mastercard. I suspect this is what happened with the Amex as well... but really... who needs anything aside from visa?)

Anyway... I got the first bit of news for this MPA thing. I've already signed up for my courses... public sector governance, public sector economics, and writing in the public sector. As it turns out, this non-credit writing course is not going to be painful... it's some sort of a writing exercise that I have to submit, and then they give me feedback on what I need to work on... and then it's considered "completed"... this is good news... except that it has to be done in August... and here I was thinking that I have the rest of the month to wholly dedicate to the HSH...

And there's even bigger news in that envelop... as it turns out, they suggest that I complete a refresher course on algebra. Woh. I haven't had a math class since grade 12, and I had stopped paying attention six years before even that. Algebra? For what? Economics?

And economics... it's been ten years since I've taken an economics class... and I don't remember it being very much fun back then, either. (though later on, the UBC arts advisor let me use that macroeconomics course as my math requirement... but then he also let me use my computing science course as my science requirement... I guess they didn't much care, do they?)

Blargh. I had wanted to be thinking only about surfing this month.

Cox Bay was okay tonight... a few good rides... but most of it had me feeling like I was taking off into a shopping mall.

September is scratching at the door...

The last two years have been a time for stepping back and taking a look at where I'm going... more precisely, it has been a time for slamming on the brakes and looking at a map for other places to go-- mainly places that do not involve Ottawa. (Before we go any further, please note that I have nothing against Ottawa... it's undoubtedly a great place to live if you enjoy freezing your ass off... between having awesome Canada Day celebrations and letting one turn right on a red light, it's practically paradisiacal...)

I haven't figured it all out yet... but I can't stay completely still, can I? So here I go, back on the road to respectability and upward mobility: university-- and this time, not for advanced studies in slavic philology, either. (and if anyone has figured out how to make the pursuit of advanced studies in slavic philology not elicit the what-are-you-planning-on-doing-with-*that* response, I'm all ears.)

Should I be excited about grad school? I think it would be a lot easier to get excited if it weren't so practical a subject (which subjects me to a writing course in the first semester... and I bet it ain't no David Foster Wallace writer's workshop, either). Many people are excited for me-- they see the earning potential in this degree, and think that I ought to get excited about that too. But really, what's so exciting about that? I'd be making similar money even sooner if I had gone the Ottawa way... and it wouldn't even have taken a master's degree. The only problem with that would have been decades of suicidal thoughts followed by an agonizing death from some incurable disease with which I would be diagnosed just as I begin to count the months left before the retirement that I would never get. I've seen it happen too many times. No, thank you.

I'll take surfing everyday instead. So bring it on, UVic... bring it on.