A Long Journey Begins

So, here it is. What this blog is going to be about. How it started, where it's going and who I am.

Like you care. Who are you anyway, and what makes you think that I want you reading all these details about my personal life and deepest feelings? Oh, yeah, there is that other question. Do you, the reader, actually exist outside my imagination? No one knows this blog is even here yet, and if they did, they wouldn't know how to find it.

Anyway, that's all as may be (as the Brits would say). What it is, is this. I am an adventurous guy who never gets to go on any real adventures, so I'm working on making me some. Not to be confused with getting me some, which is a whole other thing. In any event, if I'm going to have any over 40 adventures, I'm going to have to make them myself. Also, there is the fact that as a person approaching mid life, I am no longer so enamoured of those sorts of adventures wherein the inherent risk to life and limb is a primary attraction. That is to say, I would like all of my various body parts and features to remain in place and relatively unscathed. Death and dismemberment is not a rush.

And, while I'm doing this (relatively non-life-threatening-type) adventure seeking, I think it may just help me along in the process if I write about it. I sort of believe that old saying that "the unexamined life is scarcely worth living." Thus, readers, or lack of readers is hardly the point, is it.

Except for this one thing that we humans have in common. We are driven to communicate, to share, to create for the benefit of others, and to seek the feeling that we have in some way connected with others. Some would say that surfing is an extension of that instinct. To connect with a community of like minded people whose greatest desire is to connect with nature. To compete against themselves and the ocean and share with it the power and glory of the universe. Personally, I think that's largely a load of crap. They really want to get an adrenaline rush and check out bikinis. But somewhere within the overblown and pseudo-philosophical ramblings of the surfing gurus that preach the cosmic gospel of the waves is a grain of truth. There is something bigger than ourselves that we connect with when we are surrounded by something as powerful and all encompassing as the ocean.

In any event, I love the feel of my body's movement in any sort of athletic activity and the physical challenge that surfing represents. Beyond that, there is something deeply satisfying in the rythmic crashing of the waves that is both relaxing and exhilarating at the same time. So, at the age of 42, despite living on (or actually, about 80 miles from) a coast known mostly for mushy, inconsistent waves, despite the suspicious glances of my wife, who suspects that I am more interested in prolonging youth than in challenging myself, despite a penchant for run on sentences and poorly thought out plans, I have decided that I am going to learn to surf.

Right now, I'm in the "doing my homework" phase of the process. I suspect that when a lot of people do all the stuff that makes the experienced surfers call them kooks, it's largely because they didn't bother to do some research before hitting the waves. So I've been doing a lot of web research over the last couple of weeks, and this weekend, my wife and I (Who will be referred to in this blog as "E") went to Galveston Island for a two day trip, consisting of one day of laying on the beach drinking beer and one day of touring around the island and stopping into every surf shop we found. We went to Surf Specialties, UnderGround Surf, Ohana Surf Shop, Beach Break Surf Shop, Las O Las Surf Shop among a couple of others whose names I can't remember.

I talked to some nice guys, all of whom were very encouraging and friendly, checked out a few boards, checked on board rentals, bought some board shorts, priced wetsuits and rashguards, talked about "Black Monday", when Clark Foam shut down and drove up prices on boards everywhere, discussed the relative merits of 8' vs 10' boards for beginners and generally soaked up the atmosphere and tried to start learning my way around a completely new culture with its own language, customs, look, and attitude.

My cousin has a 9'+ longboard and he's going to be giving me a lesson over the Labor Day weekend down on the Bolivar Peninsula, so my workouts between now and then will be focused on stuff that will help my paddling strength and endurance.

If you haven't figured out yet that I am taking this seriously, get it now. I am taking this seriously.

On a different tip, I am also a musician in a local Houston area band, and we just got a new drummer, so lots of rehearsals will be going on as we integrate him into the band at the same time as we revamp our set lists to a much more rock oriented sound than we have played in the past. More about that another time.

If you're a surfer or a musician, let me hear from you. Peace.