Re-ordering the HSH

I was at Cox Bay again tonight. I didn't bother checking the surf... but I saw the right cars in the parking lot, so I suited up and went... besides which, I really didn't feel like driving all the way out to Long Beach to get harrassed by sea lions.

It was shoulder high and glassy... or at least it felt shoulder high and glassy. Basically, at this point, if I don't get the crap beaten out of me and manage to catch a few good rides, I'm having a super awesome time. I had a super awesome time... caught some excellent lefts (why don't I catch rights?)... and then effortlessly paddled back out to do it over and over again.

The surf has been good to me.

And now... July is over. I can't really believe it... but it really is... pretty soon, August 5th will roll around... and it will have been one full year since I officially stopped being an intelligence analyst. I guess if I were so inclined, I can now offer my services as a consultant.

In September, I'll become a grad student... and in November, I'll turn 30. Jesus. Time's wingèd chariot is about to run me right over. I have one more month of coasting before I start living like there just might be a chance I'll turn 60 one day. One more month of following the HSH... though I'm moving surf from fourth on the list to first.... because the first two are just for survival, and what is there to survive for if you're just getting by? I didn't think I'd feel this way... but the phrase "live to surf" has been making a whole lot of sense lately.

D and the Bluepath

I went to get a coffee from Breaker's this morning. I've stopped making and drinking coffee at work, because the water from the pipes in that old school house contains visible chunkies unless we let the water run for minutes... and with the water conservation efforts, there is no way I'm letting any water run. As I walked up to the till, the dude behind the counter began the following exchange:

dude- hey! I know you!
me- oh?
dude- you're the girl that rides the big blue board!
me- oh! yeah... I do.
dude- I see you out there all the time!
me- hm... cool. what do you ride?
dude- I'm the guy with the white board. In a wetsuit...
me- oh! the guy in a wetsuit!
dude- yeah, that guy! with the white board... just like all the other guys.
me- ah... is your board pointy?
dude- yeah!
me- oh... well then I know exactly who you are...

So it's me and the Bluepath... I get recognised in regular clothes and with glasses. Huh!

And wouldn't you know it, the first guy I paddle by out there this evening is this very dude in a wetsuit with a pointy white board... this time I recognised him as the guy from Breakers. We are all making progress here.

Tonight was lovely. Glassy and clean... and I caught two of what felt like the longest rides in maybe forever-- lefts that took me from in front of the lodge to all the way into the corner... green and peeling and beautiful. I actually felt like I had enough control to ensure that I got long rides... hard to explain as I don't have the vocabulary for it... but I can say that it felt super awesome... and dispelled any fears that I had had my surfing abilities beaten out of me during the last few days.

As I was out in the surf tonight, one profound and troubling realization came to mind-- that sometimes, those to whom one matters a whole lot may matter not at all to oneself. This is profoundly unfortunate and saddens me. More unfortunately, its truth is such that I could not sustain that moment of caring... so perhaps the best course of action to take (may it assuage one's guilt for failing to care) is to be aware of the existence of the universal balance-- one matters not at all to those who matter a whole lot to oneself.

Let it go. We are all subject to suffering. We may try to do as little harm as possible... but sometimes, others will find our sharpest quill and impale themselves upon it, much as we do with those of certain others. Forget it... just go and catch a wave... and you'll be sittin' on top of the world.

Frosted

Wow. I didn't realize it when I took that picture... but the Bluepath looks totally frosted in that shot. I assure you, it's the angle-- while I'm often guilty of over-waxing, we're looking at only one application of wax on top of a basecoat. The wax was flaking off in a big way yesterday, probably due to the insufferable heat in my car for the past two days... so since I wasn't in desperate need of a nap after work today, I stripped it and rewaxed it. It's an interesting experience... the deck has many, many pressure dings in it. I wondered which ones were from my feet and knees and which were from my skull. While stripping the board, I also accidentally scraped off part of the sticker. Since this sort of thing is likely to happen again, I considered not putting a sticker on the deck, and maybe have it on the rails or elsewhere... but I decided that I wanted it exactly where it was before... and I still had 5 more stickers for replacement before I have to re-order, so I stuck another one in the exact same place.

It was already around 8:30 when everyone was checked-in and I was ready to go. So despite reports saying that Cox Bay was crowded and messy, I decided to go there anyway. I didn't have time to mess around with surf checks... and I didn't even really have time to get to Long Beach even if I did commit myself (besides which, with the current sea lion situation, I'm not comfortable surfing alone there anymore... and the likelihood of being alone at that time of night was considerable). When I got to the parking lot, I realized that I was still wearing my glasses. Oops. I wasn't about to lose more light by going home to put on contacts, so I went out blind.

Blind. Seriously. Either my vision has deteriorated in the past couple of years or it was just really difficult to see tonight. I saw nothing. I paddled at suggestions of waves and caught some good rides, which I rode by feel, because I couldn't see where I was on the wave or what it was about to do. I wouldn't do it again, but it was quite the experience. At one point, as I was paddling for a wave, someone yelled "Go Dorothy!!!"... after not catching the wave, I looked over and apologized for having no idea who she is, because I was almost completely blind... it turned out to be Kate.

There was also some guy in the surf who yelled out my name to get my attention, presumably to say hello, but I looked around and could not identify any particular figure as the origin of the call, and didn't feel like randomly yelling at no one in particular to inform everyone that I cannot see. I must have seemed pretty unsocial tonight.

First time he's ridden naked in my car...

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

Waiting for Orion

Every time I look up at the stars, I think of Orion... either because it is the first thing I see in the sky, or because its absence from the summer sky is so apparent. And, how could I ever forget Orion? The recollection of one amazing kiss is enough to cancel out all that silliness with gypsies and palestinians...

I know that eventually, it would have all gone to shit anyway... but I just wish it had gone to shit a little later. Neither before nor since have I come so close to actually caring. But, not close enough, apparently.

Surf Injury

Cox Bay was nasty yesterday. It looked messy and not very big from shore... but you could see people catching good rides out there. So I went.

I have never been beaten up this badly before... I was getting totally maytagged... came super close to being hit in the head many times, narrowly escaped losing teeth, got whacked by the fin a few times... and sustained a super nasty surf injury. I was tumbled so much and so hard that at one point, I had to actually *swim* up to the surface from however far down I'd been slammed. Once, while under water, my hair somehow got wrapped around the leash which got wrapped around my hair... and when the board shot off away from me, it tore out a chunk of hair. I heard the tearing of each caught hair. I'm pretty sure my scalp was bleeding. I thought that the hair would have disappeared, and I would never know how much hair was ripped out... but as it turns out, there was a chunk of hair that's wrapped around my leash so many times that I couldn't yank it off. It's still there now.

Karen is out this weekend... and she is going to take a picture of the hair. She was a little horrified when she saw it. We surfed long beach tonight... it wasn't the best surf ever... but I caught a few good rides. I am still entirely happy. Early breakfast tomorrow... and I'm slightly wasted right now... signing off,

d.

When, if not now?

Cox Bay was super crowded yesterday. I had to park at the old parking lot (which I'm now starting to like again, after having had to park there for two nights in a row now... so I guess I could say that Cox Bay was super crowded today, too... but I guess seeing as I got there late, it wasn't excruciatingly bad)...

Yes... so I got to Cox Bay really late today, and wasn't in the water till 9PM... I still got quite a few good rides, so it was all good. I am, however, super tired. I could say that work is very low in entertainment value... but a more accurate way of interpreting the situation is that I am now having trouble seeing the humour in what a friend has termed "an inverted insanity sandwich"... actually... it's more of an insanity vise, if you could imagine such a contraption... think medieval torture chambers, if that helps. In any case, I am stuck in it... however, people do adapt, and I suspect that if this trend continues, I will naturally start producing some extremely low pH fluid as a coping mechanism, which will have the effect of wearing away or at least in some way attacking the advancing insanity... but let's get back to more important matters...

SO I was on this wave... which was peeling left and was one of those super long rides... when I was about 3/4 of the way on my riding of this wave, GIWTHAMO (heretofore to be rechristened SAIS(wsp)) paddles for it and comes right... woh. Dude. I'm not done with my ride. I keep going, and he keeps going, I go down and he goes up, and we miss each other by no more than two feet... he paddles away immediately and doesn't even acknowledge me. This didn't seem to be one of those friendly encounters... it had an air of F-you about it. WTF? When I think about it now, I don't know what made me believe that he wouldn't have run right into me... sure he knows what he's doing... but what if he's just being nasty and happened to be on a board he didn't much like anyway? What if he's just that agressive? Blargh... whatever. Shortboarders.

Anyway... I'm super tired and must sleep. (Some Ftard called and woke me up in the middle of my nap to ask me the dumbest question of the week.)... overworked... but when, if not now, as Cs used to say.