2016 #3: Below the Radar

It’s official. I’ve fallen off the map. No Instagram, no Facebook, no social media. If you’ve had a birthday in the last eight months, chances are I missed it (from lack of Facebooking), and being the lame friend that I am, I apologize. If you’re not part of my small childhood circle of friends, if you don’t surf where I surf, if you’re not a coworker, or if you haven’t collaborated to kill some AYCE sushi with me, chances are I haven’t seen or talked to you.

                I’ve lost the drive to write about my sessions, and it’s taken me years to realize this, but nobody gives a shit about what my sessions at El Porto were like on so-and-so day with Kook the Noob McGillicutty dropping in on me and me getting pissed off, blah, blah, blah, we’ve all heard it before.

                Despite all this, I haven’t lost my passion for surfing. Even now after securing work as a Ramper at LAX and an Associate Editor, I’ve still been in love with surfing more than ever. I got my first custom-shaped board from Don Kadowaki a few months ago and have been surfing the shit out of it. I scored uncrowded surf at Oceanside and surfed uncrowded Trestles when that whale washed up at Lowers. I recently camped at San Onofre just this past weekend when a pumping swell rolled through, both times I had my battle buddy Klaude by my side.

                I lost my drive to write and instead gave myself up for the moment. I felt like taking time out to snap that picture, post it, hashtag it, or blog about it later was taking away from myself, and it’s been relieving to put it all down and just be one with the experience that I was undertaking, whether I was pulling out my board to rush it or standing on the beach staring at onshore slop. It’s helped me with establishing a better balance between work, my life, and my wife.

                Only recently have I gotten back on my apps and opened up this blog to provide content with a different approach. Life isn’t just surfing. It’s also everything else in between. And it doesn’t have to be all the time. Just a blurb will do.