Yeninko of the Umlaut

Monday, February 28, 2005

I wanna be a Seal

I went surfing for the first time in yesterday. I’ve honestly tried to express my feeling about the entire experience several times already and just found myself at a loss of words, rewriting. I’m going o give up trying to be eloquent and just write it out. First, some background. I am afraid of water and it doesn’t help that I’m a poor swimmer. I haven’t let this stop me from jumping in, but I’ve always thought about how far I was from shore, about how tired my arms were, where the current was pulling me, etc. So yesterday I decided against by better instincts that I should join Jason (who can surf) Ginevra, Dr Jill (all of who can’t surf) and just rent the gear and hit the water.

But before we get there, can I just say that there is nothing hotter than a wet suit both figuratively and literally. Is there anything sexier than a woman in a wetsuit not only for what it shows, but also for what it implies whether falsely or not about her of her coolness? Is there anything hotter than a surfer chick? Also, I looked damn sexy.

There we were at Linda del Mar (the spot where Harold of the duo Harold and Maude drove his car off the cliff). The sky was grey with a storm approaching, the sea grey and choppy, and the sea filled with an invasion force of neoprene clad ninjas on boards. All looking back, waiting to the order to rise and ride to the beach. We grabbed our boards and paddled out to join them. And the first shock of that beautiful day was the warmth. The warm, warm, frigid water. I have found myself shivering so uncontrollably in the waters off Catalina in the middle of summer in southern California with tropical fish swimming about that I couldn’t speak much less swim. I’m ultimately from LA, and I handle the cold poorly. On a chilly day you’ll probably be right as often as not if you guessed I was wearing long underwear and here I was in water colder the a witches tit just south of SF with a storm form Alaska approaching and perfectly comfortable, toasty in fact.

We paddled out and were dragged in, fell off our boards, were pulled down the coastline by the current, tasted the water and basically did everything that a true surfer never does. And through the whole while there was Jason with his patient hand always beckoning us closer. If asked what I learned that day about surfing I would have to say that it was to follow Jason as if he was a siren and you a lonely sailor.

The rain started not too soon after we got out and I hope against hope that whatever happens to me in life that this memory will forever remain as vivid as it is for me now. The grey sea, white caps whipping to and fro, spray rising here and there, grey rain clouds dimpling the swells all about with raindrops. the smell and taste of sea water, being exhausted but warm and content half in the sea on a board and all about me, friends smiling, playful and happy.

Thursday, February 24, 2005

What's your name, Baby.

No really.

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Hello, And What's Your Name?

I love lists. Not so much the to-do sort but the lists of things we know, for example I and some friends, most notably Stanza, would often sit around trying to name every country in the world. You’d be surprised by several interesting observations. First, how many nations you do know, then when you realize the current count is over 180 you’ll be startled by the fact you don’t even know the names of half the nations of the world. Then, if you are anything like myself, you will be amazed by the fact that you really, really need to know what the other 96 you missed were. Presidents are another good list to try (I could have sworn Anderson was a president), but I digress.

Recently I was reading some bit about Famous People™ and I started wondering who I knew more of, Famous People™ or Real People™ (Real being defined as someone you have met [and met being open to interpretation in this Ethernet world] and can recall at least their first name). Imagine creating a list of all the people you have met and all the famous people who’s first and last names you know (exceptions for Cher, Madonna and the like). I am given to the suspicion that I 'know' more Famous People™ than Real People™, which I think is very odd. I’m not sure what it has to say about anything but it seems that maybe I need to go out and ask more people’s names, like the coffee shop guy and the news paper guy and basically every other human I meet.

Friday, February 11, 2005

The debt monkey on a pike!

I am out of debt* for the first time since...I dunno a few months in 2002? In any case I have been paying pretty much every extra penny I could into my Credit Card for the last year or so and I'm finally above water.

I basically was putting 25-40% of my take home pay each month on them. The thing that is going to be refreshing next month when I get my first bill free paycheck is just having dough that i can spend on myself for what ever. It's like I just got a 25% pay raise since I haven't been really getting that money for months now. An Ipod is the future. I promised that once I paid off my Credit Cards I'd treat myself to an Ipod and a guitar. So that should be sometime next month.

For the record I'm far from debt free, after all I have student loans and I owe someone about $200, but even so, it is quite a relief to have the debt monkey on a pike in my yard. A sight to admire.

Thursday, February 03, 2005

Like, Oh. My. God!

"People were screaming and running," Prattville cheerleader Cherish Cartee said. "Girls lost their cell phones. Keys got lost. It's something I will never forget."

A tragdey of epic proportions.

In other news, the Darfur genocide continue unabated.