sunrise & sopes

Halifax police love cyclists

I hate cops. yes it's true. just about every single interaction I've ever had with police has been negative -and no, I've never been arrested. as a teenager in Florida my friends and I were constantlyharassed by the police for skateboarding. it's one thing to tell a kid to stop skating at a spot, it's another to put them in the back of the police cruiser without reading them their rights only to drive them around for a scare. there was another incident where my friend Beau and I were picked up blocks away from my house for allegedly trespassing onto the church roof directly across the street from my house. my Dad was pissed. we hadn't been anywhere near that damned roof.

I gotta say that cops in Canada are whole lot nicer than in the US. at least here I don't feel like I'm the prey and the pigs are the hunters. but generally I think, people who choose to be cops (and those who get the jobs) are generally dumb (a necessary quality for the job) and like to bully.

yesterday I was slogging against a way-below-freezing head wind on my way home from work. the street is a one way and that part of town is known for hookers, drug dealers and several unsolved violent crimes and murders over the past couple of years. so I'm going the right way up the one way, blinking tail light on, and parka hood over my helmet to cut the wind. this cop cruiser pulls up next to me. there's three cops in the car -one in the back. driver cop rolls down his window and asks me to stop.

"are you knew around here?" he asks

"nope"

"you know we have a helmet law?"

"yup" I say and pull off the parka hood so he can see that I am dutifully wearing a helmet. before I have a chance to finish pulling off the parka hood he says,

"that helmet is not approved."

I can tell he's feeling a little dumb for his initial approach.

"whadaya mean" I say knowing good and well that my ProTec skate helmet fits the CPSC regulations just fine.

"that helmet is not approved. it' supposed to have a stamp or sticker on it" he says to me again as I start taking the helmet off to prove him wrong.

"I'm just letting you know" he says as he and his two silent partners pull away leaving me there standing in the middle of a one way, just a block away from the site of the most recent unsolved murder of a First Nations girl, steps from the home of a guy who's always slingin some kinda dope, and they drive off having performed their all important civic duty.

so you see, I hate cops. they have strange priorities.

more love for Halifax cycling and cops here

first surf of the year

had my first dip in the ocean in the new year today. the water has gotten a bit colder since the last time I surfed at home -about a month ago. I rode the log for about two hours in mostly waist high glassy rights. today was most definitely a login day. lotsa guys on shortboards but only three of them could make a go of it with such small mushy surf. the photo below is from a place I checked but chose not to surf. looks good too though.



it's a new year and really for me that don't mean much. my calender seems to revolve more around surf seasons. the difference this year is that I start a new job in two weeks. over the past three years I've had a lot of flexibility to surf when there is swell. I have certainly taken advantage of that freedom too, missing nary a swell with just a couple of exceptions. in job interviews I always make it clear that work/life balance is as important to me as pay. usually that approach pays off as the old saying says "you never know until you ask."

really though I am looking forward to a little change even if I am apprehensive about not surfing as much. perhaps one day soon I'll figure out the angle to surf more and work less. in the meantime I'll keep hustlin for more water time.

bok tower gardens

in the heart of central Florida is this place...





even sandbars have views

fun

some people really know how to have fun. B and her sis are those people.

photo booth shenanigans

St Pete Moe

florida in december

sunny and green. the big oaks bearded with gray spanish moss. on my run yesterday a four-foot-long otter crossed the road in front of me on his way to greener pastures and less slime covered lakes. cows. stray cur dogs in the yard. cans of assorted American beers fillin bags and crate. full belly bloated from too much of everything. uncle R. Grannie. pops and mom. Jack the furry dog lickin Moe's foot bottoms with love. brother and I winnin at bolas criollas. me talkin shit to my Dad as he smokes me on the court 12 to 3. beers with brother and sister. dominoes smakin the fold out card table and me gettin yelled at about "wakin the baby!" Matina making us all laugh to tears with pure charisma. fresh OJ from the trees in the yard. family. big oaks. spanish moss. no surf in the middle of the orange groves and forgotten phosphate mines.

sloppy choppy and thats all we got

D$ on bamboo


our man on the beach Burry got some shots of proof that fat floats

hangin with D$

Florida beach breaks are
like day old tortillas

soft and crumbly

casual dismisal

it’s easy to forgo the beauty
of solemn gray morning skies
of rain drops dripping
from tree into puddle
on blacktopped streets
peace of dawn
subdued sunrise upon gray skies
the quiet listening of a
favourite morning song
the looks on the faces
of mother and baby
in deep sleep
sometimes when too much time is
misspent on life’s listless noise
it’s easy to forget the beauty
of life’s livity
consciousness shouldn’t be
casually
dismissed
viewing, feeling, tasting
sensing
daily
intentionally

Kingston Town

and the classic UB40 tune

huh?

it was really really good this morning. overhead sets with long walls. where was everyone? thanks for not showing up. I got to ride some mackers with just three other guys. we watched an amazing sunrise, then I had an icy walk back to the car and snowy bike ride in to work. doesn't really get any better eh.

last week's DIY

61 bottles of traditional red ale


board sock for my 5'8" fish -doubles as a body prophylactic

note B's print in the background. full image some other time with her permission.

winter surf

the greatest aspect of surfing in winter in Nova Scotia is that it's never crowded. in fact, there's hardly ever anyone out come November.





images stolen from MSW from last Sunday's north swell

human conditioning

paddled out into what looked like perfect overhead rights from the vantage of the bluff. I had the 6’3” under arm -shoulda had the 6’8” for paddle power. so much water moving made it hard to paddle for the 8 to 10 foot peaks. got stuffed a bunch. cut two slashes into my brand new winter suit with sharp glass fins. can’t imagine what woulda happened to my rear had I been skinning it. big bomb sets swept through the lineup. homeboy on the Flyer was in perfected position for a macker and rode it with style as we three sat on the shoulder in resigned drift.

paddled out again the next sunrise. walked down the trail, two boards under arm and a backpack with winter gear, skirting mud holes in the darkness. clean lines left over but all power gone now. big seals watched as Blacks and I shared the dregs of the previous day’s bounty.

saturday afternoon I bottled 61 red ales. it’s the second batch of brew for me and will be ready for tasting in the new year. six and a half percent power and of deep red colour. I hope it tastes as good as it looks. I’ll start a new batch as soon this one is ready to drink. maybe a dark lager.

professionally I stand at the threshold of dramatic change. the swing is dramatic –one way will be a working hell with a lousy work environment accompanied by endemic lifelessness and a demise of hope for self in the staff. the other swing, a new opportunity for me to write creatively for a living and perhaps still maintain a work life balance. or should I say a surf/work balance.

what would I give to be able to make my own hours and surf anytime the swell is running. at 34 I feel in better physical form than ever. and it’s strictly because of a surfing life. I am also more creative and surfing inspires me to write.

so any of you extremely wealthy folks out there who may be thinking about what to do with so much dough I have a proposition for you.

set up a trust that would pay me a humble salary so that I may focus on this surfing life and creating written works. in turn I will repay you by taking full advantage of a dream opportunity of a lifetime and transform myself completely into a finely tuned human. I will strive to achieve the highest potential of my physical and intellectual self to show that we have much more to offer than we are led to believe or allowed by our modern pursuit for the acquisition of wealth.

think of yourself as a muse, an investor in the human condition, in the dying art of personal development.

whadaya say?

controlando al diablo

here's a video I made a while back of my cousin Tadeo playing around in the living room at our old apartment in downtown HFX.

truth

street art is unapologetic. David Choe has a message for us all.

from Original Cultures

Ericailcane, DEM, Will Barras - Stay Away From Light (edit 1) from Original Cultures on Vimeo.

more info at originalcultures.org

wednesday afternoons

bailed work yesterday after JB confirmed my suspicions that a certain spot would be working. it was a high tide day yesterday so likely it wouldn't be as good as it coulda been. but the water and air are still warm so whose counting?

took out the fish for its first frontside session. damn I love that board. the waves were small but clean and fast with a mini hollow section on the inside. sat next to the kelp covered rock and picked off the smaller ones that were swinging wide. with the high tide the wave peels really close to shore on top of round topped boulders so that when you kick out you have to go over the back of the wave or risk a broken fin or worse.

Blacks was there pullin into little closeouts with ease. made one or two I think. we traded waves for a while. out on the horizon a deep azure sky skirted the ocean surface and then faded from a dark to light grey. the heavy fog diffused the remaing light casting a surreal glow across the viewscape. the red faced headland and remaining greenery on the shoreline added to the amazing colours.

what I love about surfing is how it motivates me to notice things around me. how it gets me out there and allows me to experience the moods and shifts of days and seasons. Blacks and I have over the past three years shared so many amazing sunrises, so many different skies and winds. we've seen seals -alive and dead. we've paddled out in minus insanely cold temperatures to surf knee high waves and on blustery victory at sea days to surf huge storm surf. always stoked.

this life never disappoints.

blind faith: part 1

science

beware of scientists who use the phrase:
"we used to believe that ____,
but now we now for certain that_____"
next generation's scientist
will likely use
the same phrase again
with new
cockamamie
discoveries.
why don't we
listen
to our own
intuition?
why don't we understand,
that the same breath
we breathe,
is the same wind
blowing
through trees?
beware of
blind faith