progression

Haven’t written anything inna while -uninspired perhaps, or Lazy. Who knows and no one really cares. You see the thing is that we, me, I –are all ego. “Wonder how they feela bout me? Do they like me? Did I do well?” All of this shallow pandering amounts to little more than posturing.

Or maybe I just need to go surf some.

I used to skateboard. From age thirteen till about age thirty when I broke my elbow, I loved skateboarding. Then I got sketched. The other day someone asked me why I cared about getting better at surfing or how good I was. “Isn’t it just about having fun?” Well shitle-y-doo it sure is about fun. But not unlike skateboarding, there’s always a drive for progression. I wanted to do the slappy grinds on that slick yellow curve longer and harder. I would kick and push as hard as I could, going at it with a hard angle of attack, only to correct and slam the Indy’s up on that yellow no parking zone curb. Frontside or backside never mattered.

Yesterday I talked with two old friends and surf mates from my short stint in Kona. I have not seen either of them for seven years. And yet I can remember clear as day some of the sessions, some of the moments. There is a deeper sense of existing when you take chances. There is a sense of dread when not taking chances for too long starts to feel like conformist complacency.

Curtle went on that big day that I sat and watched atop the lava cliffs as the big bombs rolled out of the deepest water and hit the razor reef like a coal fired engine. The lip? Almost non existent as it bent as soon as it reached its zenith and created a man sized barrel. Curtle climbed down the cliff with our friend Matt, both under gunned and one under experienced. I watched. He went. Got pitched, tumbled, dragged and nearly drowned. His shin on the right leg looked like it’d been mauled by a bated pit bull. The reef sharp as any edge you’ve ever felt in your life. My heart pounded just watching. I knew my limits then. I set them now based on arbitrary “goals” of life.

Taking chances is why surfing and skateboarding were meaningful to my personal development. Certainly that aspect of those activities can continue to enrich my life if only I leggo my ego and focus more on progression. Now back to the task at hand the email train.

this post was inpired in part by my old Hawaii conections and mostly by:

frontrockreview.blogspot.com