One....year.
One....year....I have been adding to this blog.
This.....journal....of sorts.
What started out as a means of expression for me....a way to "verbalize" my thoughts....has become.....well......I'm not sure what it's become.
Drivel?
I gave myself two rules when I started this...project.
1. No self-editing. (I'm notorious for writing out responses/thoughts/musings then wiping it all away with a tap of the [delete] key.)
2. No re-reading. (Once I 'publish'....it's done.)
I did quite well, in the beginning. Then I discovered....people were actually reading....me. Seeing....me.
Scared the crap out of...me.
I mean....how could I possibly let someone see me? As the artist has stated....on more than one occasion.... "for more than fifteen years I couldn't get more than two words out of you about how you feel....yet here....on this blog....you can spill a thousand words for people you don't even know."
Well......yeah. I mean.....nobody's really reading this. Right? Right?
Eh....
Get your glasses. Pull up a stool. Pour yourself a drink.
Steady yourself for another year of....
Ups. Downs. Ins. Outs. Beginnings. Endings. Reading. Not reading.
.....prattling on.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Monday, June 25, 2007
road tripping
I was on vacation this past week.
A whole week.
An event that rarely happens.
I accrue a shitload of overtime during tax season. Plus....I'm alloted 3 weeks of paid vacation time. Do I ever take it? No. Well...a day here & there....but generally never a week at a time.
So.....coerced by a cute boy....I agreed to take some time off.
No schedule. No time table. No destination.
Surfing.
Car napping.
Catching up with friends.
I haven't been this relaxed in years.
Also....
Took several opportunities to field test Sonja's new fin...
....me likey.
photo courtesy of gaz
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
sea turtle II
School's out...
get your sea turtle ready...
you'll need it to get you to the peak...
I got mine.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
ten
Will the real genius please stand up?
Ten years this beauty still woos me.
I picked her up in the summer of 1997. I had just finished Hood to Coast...and the v-man's dad was all excited for me to go check out Josh's shop. After a day & a half of little to no sleep and close to 18 miles of running...the last thing I wanted to do was walk anywhere....except to the beer garden. But...he kept insisting there was a board I would want to see.
I had been riding a 7'6" Pearson Arrow exclusively for a couple of years but really wanted to take my surfing in a new direction. Yes... to say that I am fascinated with Old Skool...Soul Surfer....Single Fin-ness...would be an understatement. But I digress...
He was right.
A Jim "the genius" Phillips noserider. Josh had just gotten her in. And....she was meant for me.
Despite my aches & blisters....we headed to the cove. I waxed her up & rode her for almost an hour in the waist high peelers. I was in love.
She's starting to feel the effects of age though.
The stress fractures & dent on her deck......
...closely resemble the split she left on the top of my noggin.
There's a bruise on her rail as well....no doubt the result of colliding with the bridge of my nose.
Ten years this beauty still woos me.
I picked her up in the summer of 1997. I had just finished Hood to Coast...and the v-man's dad was all excited for me to go check out Josh's shop. After a day & a half of little to no sleep and close to 18 miles of running...the last thing I wanted to do was walk anywhere....except to the beer garden. But...he kept insisting there was a board I would want to see.
I had been riding a 7'6" Pearson Arrow exclusively for a couple of years but really wanted to take my surfing in a new direction. Yes... to say that I am fascinated with Old Skool...Soul Surfer....Single Fin-ness...would be an understatement. But I digress...
He was right.
A Jim "the genius" Phillips noserider. Josh had just gotten her in. And....she was meant for me.
Despite my aches & blisters....we headed to the cove. I waxed her up & rode her for almost an hour in the waist high peelers. I was in love.
She's starting to feel the effects of age though.
The stress fractures & dent on her deck......
...closely resemble the split she left on the top of my noggin.
There's a bruise on her rail as well....no doubt the result of colliding with the bridge of my nose.
Despite all the bites over the years....she treats me well.
Probably won't get another 10 years out of her. You can certainly bet...I'll try.
Thursday, June 07, 2007
tree hugger
Yes...it's true.
I...am a tree hugger.
Blame my spoiled youth...if you must.
There were eight giant oak trees in my parents' front yard. Hours of my childhood were spent tending to those trees. Raking leaves into piles for playing.....collecting bags of acorns for slingshot ammo....and climbing those old giants. My dad took some unused rope from the barn loft hay pulley system and fashioned a rope swing on one of the largest trees for us. Its branches extended over the front of the house. My brothers, sister and I would climb onto the roof of the house and jump. Soaring high over the yard until our momentum would crest...the rope would slack... and down we would fly. Laughing and screaming that we could touch the moon.
Long gone are those days. The giant oaks succumbing to disease....my dad took the last of them down in the fall of 2005.
What got me thinking about these amazing trees? Penfold's lament on missing proper trees in Portugal.
I consider myself very lucky to have grown up in Oregon. We have big beautiful trees...despite the logging.
Big...beautiful...trees.
Go ahead....hug one.
I...am a tree hugger.
Blame my spoiled youth...if you must.
There were eight giant oak trees in my parents' front yard. Hours of my childhood were spent tending to those trees. Raking leaves into piles for playing.....collecting bags of acorns for slingshot ammo....and climbing those old giants. My dad took some unused rope from the barn loft hay pulley system and fashioned a rope swing on one of the largest trees for us. Its branches extended over the front of the house. My brothers, sister and I would climb onto the roof of the house and jump. Soaring high over the yard until our momentum would crest...the rope would slack... and down we would fly. Laughing and screaming that we could touch the moon.
Long gone are those days. The giant oaks succumbing to disease....my dad took the last of them down in the fall of 2005.
What got me thinking about these amazing trees? Penfold's lament on missing proper trees in Portugal.
I consider myself very lucky to have grown up in Oregon. We have big beautiful trees...despite the logging.
Big...beautiful...trees.
Go ahead....hug one.
These soldiers lost their battle this past November to torrential downpours and 85mph winds.
photos courtesy of gaz
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
peak training?
50 meter pool
------------------
500 s
100 k
400 p
3 x [200 @ 3:30 finger drag mod/ 100 @ 2:00 neg steady/ 100 @ 2:15 finger drag mod/ 100 @ 2:15 neg strong]
100 ez
20 x 50 pull
~5 @ 1:00
~5 @ :55
~5 @ :50
~5 @ :45
200 ez
total = 3800 meters
-----------------------
I don't know how long Timbuktu will stick around. Hopefully....a long spell. Either way....it's a good excuse for me to up my meterage.
Gotta get these guns in shape...
------------------
500 s
100 k
400 p
3 x [200 @ 3:30 finger drag mod/ 100 @ 2:00 neg steady/ 100 @ 2:15 finger drag mod/ 100 @ 2:15 neg strong]
100 ez
20 x 50 pull
~5 @ 1:00
~5 @ :55
~5 @ :50
~5 @ :45
200 ez
total = 3800 meters
-----------------------
I don't know how long Timbuktu will stick around. Hopefully....a long spell. Either way....it's a good excuse for me to up my meterage.
Gotta get these guns in shape...
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