The Lost Surfer of Corvallis, Oregon

Wow, so I did it again, I lied and stopped writing in this thing.  And an entire summer has passed.  But as I look back on the summer, what can I really say happened?  Did I travel, did I enrichen my life, did I come to any grand conclusions?  I'm not sure.  I think most of the events over this period of my life have been marked by confusion and ups and downs that disturbingly make me play with the word "bi-polar".  But in the end, I breath and I can move.  I can say that I watched the sunrise over Hawaiian waters one more time.  I've seen other people dear to me crack and crumble.  I have seen others turn into people I can just no longer respect.  And the only thing you can take from that is to be thankful for whatever it is that can make you smile oin this world.

As for this weekend, I'm sitting here in the office, almost unable to get back into the groove of things.  I had the "little bro" over for the weekend and for once was able to relax.     Scott got in Wednesday, but because of work, I wasn't able to do more then to take him to Barney's for lunch and a couple beers.

Thursday was quite a bit more involved.  For once in a great while, I actually took the day off to go have some fun.  We got up late, lazed over to Mao's Kitchen, this little Chinese restaurant on Ocean St. I've been meaning to go to for quite sometime.  Anyway, it wasn't half bad for Chinese food made by Mexicans, not authentic, but good and great portions.  I would definitely hit it up again.  After that we lazed back to my place after walking through Venice where we then had the brilliant idea of watching "Balls of Fury".  How far have you fallen Jason Scott Lee, oh so far.  But on the other hand, can never get enough of Maggie Q.  After that we took out my surfboards and went out in the backyard.  As always, nothing amazing, but definitely fun.  After that I took Scott to meet my karate crew where we were able to beat on each other for a couple hours.  Definitely a good night.  

Friday we left town with the intention of making it down to Rosarito and Ensenada with a return up through Tijuana.  Instead, halfway down our treck, we found out that the Mexican border was shutdown due to a combination teacher strike and cocaine bust.  Anyway, as life would have it, we had some bigger/better adventures.  As we spotted the signing closing off Mexico we yanked off the freeway to find ourselves in San Clemente.  After enjoying an amazing authentic Mexican lunch, one that was much healthier/safer then some of the other food we would have had across the border, we proceeded down the PCH and made it all the way to San Onofre.  Saw some of the most amazing waves I've seen in SoCal.  We spent the day just bodysurfing and relaxing.  Afterwrds we drove eastwards to Temecula where we just kept drinking and drinking Wine.  At the second winery this one woman just kept pouring and pouring glass after glass for us.  We then managed to stumble our way to Pechanga where we ate buffet and did minimal gambling.  I ended up passing out in my car for awhile.  We then drove up to Claremont to rehash and live out our old college memories.  *sigh*

The next day we took it pretty lazy, eating at Cha Cha chicken, reading books, playing videogames, and seeing the movie "War".  In the end we went to Holly's West and got drunk enough to stumble home and meet with Scott's friends.  Unfortunately we also miss out on going clubbing with some Hawaiian Tropics models.  The choices we make. 

Another day, another day older.  Yet this one particular day of the year makes you feel ages older.  For me, its just another day I wanted to avoid, just head into the office and get through the day.   And to top things off,  someone in particular tried to purposefully butt and ruin it.  But all in all the day went great.  The people who did matter took enough time to remember and make me feel special. To top it off, my karate group threw a small get together with a birthday cake and present.  It just made me feel really loved.  To top it off I feel like I got real closure with one of the most messed up situations of my life, which was a great present.  Anyway, another day, another year older.  Let's shoot for a memorable one.

What happened to life being down to the essentials of finding a warm bed to sleep, good food to fill the belly, and a life to share with someone else?   Instead I feel like I'm suffering some kind of quarter life crisis; I need a house, a car, another business, I need to retire, I need to meet someone (who has to meet a long list of qualities), etc and so on.  Why have I piled all these extras and made them into necessities?  Why does life have to be so hard for the simple want of happiness?

I spent the weekend sick in bed sifting through some of my old pictures and realized how simple life use to be, and how happy I was despite all life's supposed shortcomings.  All there was were your friends, a case of beer, and a weekend away from the books.  Nothing else mattered.  No obsessions for the future, the perfect life, the perfect job, the perfect family, the perfect car, the perfect body.   It  was carefree.  And it confounds me how life can't continue to be that simple.  How your friendships can't hold that strong anymore and how happiness relies on single thread events to occur (the bonus, the score, the promotion, the milestones and the one minute catalysts).  Where satisfaction is by simple object desires rather then a constant passion of your daily actions. 

I've been spending the last couple of days in Hawai'i for mother's day as well as my mom's birthday. Although the trip was meant as time to spend with my family, its been more of a respite from the realities of work. The last couple months have been a rollercoaster ride; a sickening experience for a man who has never particularly enjoyed that part of the county fair. Much of my time here has been spent resting and enjoying the smaller things in life from mochi ice cream to just sitting in the ocean and not catching much more then ankle snappers. Despite all the things that life on the mainland has offered me, the things that people keep telling you that you need to enjoy with youth, I truly miss this simple reality.