The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

THE GOOD

What a great birthday I had!!! Thanks for all of the birthday wishes, e-mails, and e-cards. It was, as my child likes to say, a wonderful day. I surfed at Sunset for three and a half hours! I felt great too. I knew I'd be meeting two people—mother and daughter—whose company I really enjoy. They knew it was my birthday and we had decided to meet up for a surf. Well, many of the other people from our break were there too. So I almost felt like we were surfing at our home break. (I think Sunset is becoming our home break since our spot has been terrible for the last few weeks.) All of the folks I knew got out of the water after about two hours. I kept telling myself I was going to get out, but the waves were pretty damn good. And it was glassy. I spent most of the session at Dos Baños. After two hours in that general vicinity, I decided I'd caught enough waves to be happy for a week. So then I decided to start making my way toward the stairs. Then more good (not great, but good) waves rolled through and I would not get out. Call me an addict! I could not get the monkey off my back. I wanted more! So I stayed in for another hour and a half, having a ball with people I didn't even know. By the time I got out and pulled myself onto the cement platform at the bottom of the stairs, I was so tired that I couldn't lift the Tyler up onto the platform. Guess who came to my rescue? The guy I ran over the other day. He saw me standing there up there looking somewhat helpless. He picked the board up high enough so that I could easily grab it and take it up the stairs. He and I had talked earlier in the water. Nice guy.

I had a few waves of note. Once again, I came within inches of a true cheater five. I was up there near the nose, astonished at how close I was to the end, and yet too tentative to take it all the way. I suppose it will come. At some point, I'll stop thinking about it and just do it. I did a little walking yesterday too. I haven't done any in awhile. Yesterday I do remember one wave that required me to walk up and back in order to make the sections. It's funny. Sometimes walking the board feels effortless. However, most of the time it feels awkward. I know that too will improve with time in the water.

My husband gave me money toward the Con funboard. That was his present to me. Now, I have a quiver of four!

THE BAD

If I have a good, long surf session, I feel like I'm punch drunk for the next few hours after I get out of the water. It's a good thing I get those surfer's highs. Here's why: upon returning home from the session, there was a voicemail from my division telling me my summer class had been cancelled. That's not good news. That meant that my June 15th paycheck WOULD BE MY LAST PAYCHECK UNTIL SEPTEMBER. Thank you, Humanities Division, for informing me of this on June fucking 14th! Initially, I hadn't wanted to teach summer school because I'd make less doing so than I would drawing unemployment. Then the school informed me that part-timers who taught summer classes would be paid as if they were full-timers. That meant I was going to get at least $4000 a month. I know some of you make good money at your jobs. I've never truly had a job that paid well (even with all of my education) so this kind of money was doing wonders for my motivation. Well, now it's June 15th. That check has already been spoken for. I have no job prospects. I have no money. And I still have bills. Believe it or not, I was in too good a mood to let that news get me down on my birthday. The one thing I try never to let get me down is money. I'll either get unemployment (and I've been told part-timers can get it when they don't have an assignment) or I'll have to find a summer job (if there are any left now that it's summer).

THE UGLY

Why did I think I was in any condition to surf today? After surfing Sunday, biking 42 miles on Monday, and surfing for three and a half hours yesterday, I was running on empty today. Somehow, we ended up at Malibu. But I was not feelin' it at all! I did catch waves. I did get some interesting rides. I saw some beautiful surfing. I think, though, I would have been happier taking a nap in the sand. I was tired. The session is kind of a blur to me. I came away with the impression that this place must be a nightmare on a sunny day. It wasn't that crowded today, yet it still felt like we were all in each other's way. Suffice it to say the place makes me nervous. Even if I'd been charging, I would have felt a bit overwhelmed by the party wave thing. I'll have to go back on a day when I've got energy.