I've Been Shopping!

And I scored!!! For the low, low price of $55, we got:
- 2 men's t-shirts (for Soul Brother #1)
- one pair of high end flip-flops
- a surf beanie (since I can't wear a hood because of all of this hair on an already large head)
- the coolest, thickest hoodie I've ever seen—the original price was over $100
- Invasion from Planet C

A friend who used to own a surf shop decided it was time to liquidate some of the leftover inventory. Said friend's loss was everyone else's gain. We only stopped by to support the cause. I figured we'd make an appearance, buy one or two things and then split. When we hit the door, Soul Brother #1 went one way and I went the other. I don't even go to surf shops anymore. It's not like I need much and I don't drink the corporate surf Kool-Aid so I don't care to own surf-branded clothing. (What would it matter if I did since most people step back in amazement and disbelief when they're told that I surf.) But a good deal is a good deal. What's ironic is that I'd been wondering recently where to go for a copy of Invasion from Planet C. I suppose I would eventually have ended up in a surf shop for something and I could have looked for it there. As I shopped today—if that's what you call it when goods are spread out in someone's living room—I almost screamed with joy when I saw the DVD. Gotta watch it before Jazz the Glass comes out!

Alright, I paddled out again. I know. Stop shaking your heads at me! Believe it or not, I hadn't planned on surfing today. In fact, I was going to take a little bike ride. For the first time since I began surfing, my spouse practically begged me to surf. No, he wasn't trying to get me out of the house in order to be with his paramour. He's got new camera equipment he wanted to try out. At the beach. On us surfers. So . . . for the third time this week, I paddled out. The home break was true to form. It remains a wave that underwhelms. Nevertheless, it is the home break. It was nice to be in the water with the crew again. I don't know if I laugh more at the goings-on in the parking lot—as S, who was careful to remind me that he's a stoner, told us not to help him find his car key, figuring, I assume, that since we were all sober our non-altered states would prevent us from thinking like a pothead who plays fast and loose with a car key—or the hilarious banter in the line-up. (Yeah, I know that sentence was a long one. Try reading Faulkner or Saramago. Then you'll think twice about complaining about the length of my sentences.)

The highlight of today's session was a grom from heaven. This was the nicest, happiest little kid I've ever seen on a surfboard. He'd been dropped off at the beach. Mom was apparently going to pick him up a few hours later. This kid was something else. All he did was smile, smile and surf. While the rest of us frowned at the less than stellar summer conditions in our wetsuits, he frolicked in his trunks. He was all of 11 years old on a board that had at least a decade on him. I enjoyed watching him. Happy kids make me happy. In fact, he made all of us happy.

My knee is sore as I type this. I can't say I'm in pain, per se. Discomfort is more like it. I will not surf tomorrow! I plan to take a quick bike ride in the morning. That's it.