New leash...

I'm happy to report that I have managed to log in to those courses and actually get some work done today. I am a little horrified at how seriously everyone takes themselves on the forums... but I guess I had suspected all along that this would be the case... which is why I procrastinated so long on logging in (okay, this, and because it is in my nature).

After a day of getting work done and being productive, I went for a surf with DCMS, whom I'm seeing quite often because his car is still being repaired out of town. When he grabbed his shortboard, he said "So when are you going to start shortboarding?" My god! That is the most offensive question I've heard in a long time... "Never. Does never work for you?"...

So we got to Long Beach... and once in the water, we went our separate ways. I have an 11' board that can easily kill people... so when it's big and therefore likely that I wont' be able to hang on to my board, I forgo the sweet spot and go where I have plenty of room. The surf was big... and there were plenty of closeouts. There were quite a few times when I couldn't hang on to my board... which bounced in the foam while attached to my ankle by a 10' leash... one time, I could see it dance around on the end of the leash... and, when the wave finally let go of my board, it didn't bounce back to me... because the leash had no more elasticity to it.

I caught two excellent rides... both were rights, which I'm not as good at as lefts... but I managed to make some bottom turns and generally be in control of my ride... it was super cool. It started getting dark, and I wasn't going to be able to make it back out past the break that one last time and catch another wave before it went pitch black (oh, and by the way, Orion is back in the sky)... so I went in. DCMS was waiting at my car...

Me- How was your surf?
Him- It was more of a paddle.
Me- But did you get any good rides?
Him- No rides.
Me- No rides??
Him- No rides.
Me- Longboard 1, Shortboard 0!!
Him- You got a ride?
Me- No... actually, Longboard 2, Shortboard 0!!

Mwahahahaha!

A better surfer than I caught nothing on a shortboard... while I had two awesome rides... ha! The only thing that I need to really figure out is how to hang on to this board... DCMS figures I won't be able to do it no matter how hard I try... I don't agree. there's got to be a way. I just need to ask the right person for that one missing detail and then figure it out for myself. In the meanwhile, i think I should look into buying a new leash... this one is a foot longer than it used to be.

Broken Breakfast Note

Three separate breakfast seatings today... and just close enough to the end of the season that I am coming up short on enthusiasm... especially since the last seating is for a couple of grinders-- grouse grinders!

I am, for the first time in a long time, well rested. The early-setting sun forced me out of the surf before 8:30... Bill and his wife were on the beach with their dog... they stood by the rock and waited for me to walk by to ask me how the surf was... it was so dark I couldn't even see who they were until I got within 15 feet of them. The surf was okay. It was supposedly really big. I saw ULTE1 in the afternoon... he told me that he was out twice at North, and the waves were board-breakingly punchy... I expressed my reservations, and he told me I will be perfectly happy at Esowista, that I'm not going to die, that I'm not going to kill anyone else, and that I should go out. I don't think ULTE1 has ever told me I should surf before. So I went... it was really big at Long Beach... but Esowista was manageable... in fact, I got out super easily. There were good peeling waves every now and then... but most were closeouts. I didn't get killed, but got pretty close. It would have been a worthwhile session had I gone out earlier... there was a lot of waiting involved... and it got dark too quickly. It was also the coldest it has been all year. The water was very clear... and very very cold. It was definitely a glove day.

Today, I really must log in and start those MPA courses... and soon, too. Karen is coming out this weekend... and I am considering doing the Wild Side Trail from Ahousaht to Cow Bay tomorrow... it's 10kms... which I can't even conceptualize anymore after all the time I've spent in Tofino. I remember that panorama ridge was a 32km round trip day hike... but what's 20 km? How long is Mount Seymour? or Strachan? or Matier? I can't remember... can't can't can't... not even Elfin, which I'd done so many times... and what if I miss the boat? From what I've heard, I really don't want to get stuck in Ahousaht. This isn't a situation in which I know enough to be fully in control... and I'm not sure I really want to get into a situation like that... my resistance to count on anyone else is pathological.

Falling Behind

Day before yesterday... (my constantly referring to events of days past instead of events of the day is a good indicator that I am running behind)... the assignment was due at midnight. I was 75% done when the power went out at 4:30. Since this is not an unusual occurrence (careless drivers and power poles), I decided to go for a surf...

As there was good surf and no power, everyone and all their dogs were out. Cox was super crowded with locals. No one likes to surf in a crowd... but for me, there is the added discomfort of being surrounded by people whom I cannot recognise but who know me by name. It makes me wonder if I'm suffering from visual agnosia... which, as I've mentioned earlier, is a symptom of Klüver-Bucy Syndrome... frightening!

When I got out of the surf, there was still no power. I made a few calls, and found out that there was no power from Tofino to Campbell River-- apparently an entire substation failed somewhere near Comox-- and that the estimated time of resolution was 10:30PM. It was too close... so I got ready to drive to Nanaimo to finish and send off the assignment...

On my way out of town on the 2.5hr drive in search of electricity, I noticed that one of the hotels has full generator power... so I went there and plugged in... and Iwas going to mess around with downloading a file onto the blackberry via USB cable so that I could send it off... as it turns out they even had a working unsecured wireless connection! I hung out at the lobby and did my work while trying to ignore this 20 year old kid who kept trying to engage me in conversation, and-- this is actually a little amusing-- offered to help me with my writing assignment. After hours of this torture, I went to go get dinner. DCMS had invited me to join him at Way Worse earlier, so I called him-- it was 10:55, the kitchen closes at 11, and I was 7 minutes away... so I got him to order me a tuna burger and went and ate and watched DCMS play pool.

Now that I've had some time to think about it, I realized that small town life has managed to wear me down: two years ago, I responded with an appropriate measure of horror to an invitation from a dude to "watch [him] play floor hockey"... and now, the lameness of watching DCMS play pool didn't even cause the slightest of alarm... but perhaps I was just there for the tuna burger.

As part of his psychological warfare is sleep deprivation, I didn't get to bed till after 4AM. After two hours of sleep, I got up and made breakfast, went to work, and then immediately went for a surf. I was tired, but one is never too tired for glassy chest high peeling waves at Cox. I had a pretty good session... and as I was packing up my board to go home, DCMS walked into the parking lot... he must have gotten in and out after I did. He said hi, I said hi, and then I got the hell out of there... quickly. And that is how attachment disordered I am... for a few days, I thought it might be different... I thought I might be different. But people don't change, do they?

I went for dinner with a friend, and then later fell asleep over ten times while composing an e-mail... it wasn't even a long one... I was just that tired. I didn't even manage to get started on the second e-mail... or make that phone call.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

I'm sorry, I just fell asleep while writing this... I'm going to get some dinner and go for a surf... that's the one place where one does not fall asleep.... and especially not tonight... 2.5m on 14 seconds.

New reason not to procrastinate

Stupid tourists who don't know how to drive and take down power poles.

BLARGH!!!!

I hope to not have to drive to Port Alberni to send off this assignment by midnight. Anyone know how to get a word doc downloaded onto a blackberry? E-mail me if you do.
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

I don't speak English...

E-mail and phone messages are piling up. Piling. I apologize.

I shall get to them soon... but now is a time wherein I either sleep or die.

Reality Check

UVic has a rabbit infestation: true.
Everyone wears hoodies: false.
Tall guys who casually use the word "Foucaultian" are hot: cannot be verified at this time.
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

The Good Stuff...

I've been surfing and climbing to exhaustion. Surfing hard... and climbing hard. It's all good... but what's been missing is the sort of beauty that can only be found at the Met, Covent Garden, or La Scala... thank god there's youtube. Check out Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Renee Fleming singing Lippen Schweigen and La ci darem la mano. These two act amazingly even at a recital. This version of Lippen Schweigen kills me. I can't imagine watching these two act the whole thing out... it'd be so beautiful that I think my mind would explode from sensory overload.