Essential Silliness

Peter: I still have no idea what to write.

Mr. Barry: Write about anything! Write about your family. Write about the talking whale.

Peter: What whale?

Mr. Barry: The one that's trapped in your imagination and desperate to get out.

(Excerpts from Finding Neverland)

Writing

When I get frustrated, I write. sometimes here, sometimes in a journal. Not for glory or to shake a fist. In fact, it's the opposite of an attempt to find approval, self-worth, or any other redemptive quality. The pacifying essence of writing is its introspective nature - the ability for man to look into his soul and throw his thoughts against the walls of his heart in complete silence where no one is watching. All of this is - or should be - done to humble himself; a literary soliloquy to root oneself in truth in the midst of the chaos of society.

Things that girls do that are hilarious

1) The kick stand. I heard this from somewhere (Dane Cook?) but its the truth: girls always do this. They pop their hip and turn their opposing foot to its side while placing hands firmly at each hip bone. add the head tilt and you got the whole package.

I rest my case.

2) The scoff. follow these simple instructions: first, tilt you head down so your chin rests on your chest. then open your mouth in an 'o' shape. then squint. then scoff. and boom - there you have it: "the scoff." sometimes they scoff while smiling. but thats only if another girl slaps them on the butt. or if they do something scaaaandelous!

3) Practiced poses and smiles. This is perhaps the most hilarious of all female hilariousness. You girls think you are so sly with your cute and fine-tuned smiles but I KNOW! you cannot fool all of us! We know you sit in front of the mirror and practice different faces saying to yourself, "oh, this one is cute" and memorizing your muscle structure! We know you spend 5 hours rehearsing your smile for your profile picture! Like Bob Marley says, "you can fool some people some of the time, but you cannot fool ALL the people ALL the time!" sometimes on facebook, if you look at "view pictures of so-and-so," you can catch the posers. just find a pictures in series of a girl taking pictures with her gal pals at a club or something. if you switch back and forth really fast, you might be able to see something like this:

granted these are exaggerations and there are some girls who dont give into these hilarious temptations, thare are many many girls who do - and will never cease to supply me with a good, quiet chuckle.

I salute you, hilarious girls.

Surfing: chapter one in my quest to become a "bro"

I've have this fat list of things I want to do before I graduate (another post for another time) and whipping it into shape has been a long time coming. Surfing has always been pretty up there. After talking about it with some friends about committing, I finally took the plunge and bought my first board on friday - the best decision i've made all summer!

Ater hours of research on forums and youtube that went well into the early hours friday morning (i slept about 2 hours before work) I finally found the board I wanted! i searched craigslist and there it was: a 6'4'' Piranha modern quad fish by Rusty surf company - check it out here. All day at work, I couldn't think of anything else but getting out there on the waves on this rocket ship.

There she is! (the board. haha.)

I was so happy when I bought it. There's something cool about buying a surfboard because it realizes some of the crazy things that you had always wanted to do but never followed through with because of some seemingly reasonable excuse. and doing some of those crazy things, even if other people thing is stupid, is a joyous and liberating feeling because for once, you listen to your heart. I remember having this huge smile as I tucked this sweet baby into my car while driving off to the sweet sounds of incubus.

Sick piranha detail

surf wax courtesy of Mr. Zogs, el perverto.

Right after I bought it, I drove over to La Jolla shores with some friends to give it its maiden voyage. It was a perfect day: beautiful sunset, super warm water, and good friends to enjoy it with. after paddling out, I caught my first wave in what could have been the most alive I had felt in a while; I couldn't stop myself from yelling at the top of my lungs amidst the breaking waves and seafoam. It's a strange feeling being ashore because everything is so still and foreign to what its like constantly adjusting your balance to the waves. the thrill and rush of cruising on top of a wave really made me realize how much i've been missing out on and how an entire surf culture could come from one simple yet enthralling pleasure: riding waves.

soggy and dizzy from the waves, I thanked God for creating waves and for blessing me with the affordability to have a surfboard. I felt like a kid when our father in heaven bought me this sweet board. its like going to a candy store. hahah no but really, thank you Jesus.

The next day, Vinh's uncles invited us to paddle out with them on sunday morning @ Torrey pines beach. They said it was a good place for beginners. psh. they were so wrong. check this out:

We got totally owned. Got this sucka as I was paddling out; my board got away from me as a huge wave came in and when i surfaced, the board surfaced under me and one of the fiberglass fins freakin uppercutted me in the chin. It hurt like a mother and started bleeding a lot. if you dont already know, I've have a huge fear of sharks. They can smell a drop of blood from a mile away, so as a service to myself and the other surfers, I beached my beat up arse on shore and threw in the towel. Just to be clear: I am a total noob. Never been surfing, never took a lesson, just played around on a friend's longboard one time and thought it was a good idea. which it was and still is. You just gotta deal with the risks.

Waves can be really powerful even if it's "just water" and there is a clear a limit to what you can attempt and what will hand you and your butt over to the waves for a good beating. it's a challenge to just get off the shores because the waves freakin pound you into a pulp. When the waves break and crash, they drag you down and you can't breathe until it decides to let go of you and spit you back up. Sometimes, waves come in spurts, so you get pulled under over and over again.

Getting caught in spin cylces is pretty freaky because you never know when you come up and most of the time, you dont have enough time to take a deep breath before you go under. note to fellow land lubbers: surfing is a challenge. If you've ever thought "ooh~ surfing looks really fun and easy! hee hee hee!" NO. this is no tea party. you really gotta commit and stick it out when you get cold and when the salt water fills your stomach. but it is sooooo worth it. my bad if this is freaking you out. At the end of the day, its a great feeling being out there with just you and the ocean.

What would I be without surf talk? allow me to introduce you to some funny surf lingo:

kook - noun: an idiot. that's it.

lip - noun: the curved edges of a wave that develops at the end of a swell and eventually crashes down.

barrel - noun: the cylindrical space inbetween a falling wave and the upwelling that you surf through

pitted - adj: used to describe when surfers get pressured closer and closer into the walls of a wave because of the decreasing space in its barrel (see barrel)

whapah! - see video below. there are no words to describe...

then watch this:

til next time...hang loose! :-)