Monday, June 29, 2015

Almost embarassing beach story... because everyone has one

I was trying to bodysurf this wave in to shore when I got "Maytagged" (like the washing machine) about half way through I realized the lower half of my bathing suit was making a break for it!!!

I immediately abandoned all pretenses of swimming and caught it down around my knees, with the wave in control I was immediately bouncing along on my head, with my knees and feet flailing around out of the water, while I pulled my suit back into place... 

Sputtering sea water I surfaced cautiously, double checking my suit placement before walking out of the water... acting as though nothing had happened...  judging by the people and their dogs carrying on as though I hadn't just exposed myself to the world... nothing had happened.

Huh. I guess it is true, nobody really cares what you're doing...

I literally brought half of the beach home with me in my bathing suit *sigh*

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Thoughts on getting older


It was weird, as I waded through the legal jargon spelling out the representative agreement, and the documents giving my brother power of attorney should something happen to one or both of our parents... I realized it didn't feel personal.  It was like the documents I was signing were for someone else, I mean *my* parent's are "Mom" and "Dad"... who are these people?

When I got to the section dictating the resolution of conflicts I knew that "these people" were one and the same with my parents.  I could see the dissolution of the legal mumbo jumbo into a striking clarity with the statement:
 " ...and any conflicts shall be resolved by coin toss"
Waitaminute... whaaaaat?!?

There they are, those are definitely my parents you're talking about. *smirk* I can just imagine the consternation of the person drafting this document... the mental grinding of gears as they stumble through it while reading it this time, and every time after *satisfied grin*. It doesn't fit the standard, and I like to think of it as a very Canadian, passive aggressive way of throwing a wrench in the works *sticks out tongue*

As Dad said chuckling when we talked about it later... I know you guys are smart kids, and I trust you to make decisions in our best interest. If there's a conflict it's probably because you're both right, and there's no point in agonizing over it.

It echoed this sentiment, something he used to say all the time ...
"Do something! Even if it's wrong..."
It hearkens back to the oldest form of decision making, let whatever gods may be decide the outcome of my fate.

Patience isn't always a virtue

Someone said something along these lines the other day, and before asking if they meant "infinitely" I thought about it... and realized that it described certain situations perfectly:
"There are some people in our lives that we are intimately patient with."
 

Monkey see, monkey do

A friend of mine recently re-laced his ball glove with paracord, which didn't seem like a bad idea... and when I got to thinking, I realized that it meant I could pick from any number of the brilliant colours that paracord now comes in *grins*

Of course having thought that, it didn't take long for the pocket of my glove to blow out... so after limping through an afternoon of catch using a shoelace, I picked up some pretty green paracord and embarked on my own re-lacing journey...

You know that moment, when you reach a natural breaking point in something you're working on? That moment where you should stop and call it done, but you're feeling overly confident with your recent progress so you keep going. Like the longer you keep at it the faster you're going to get... that is until you hit that plateau...

Yeap, definitely should have stopped at re-lacing the pocket and the sides...

I've learned a few things though, be ye so foolish; 

You should undo the lacing around the bottom of the palm first rather than last... as it would have opened up waaaay more options for fishing the other lacing pieces through.  I've learned that although handy, forceps, needle-nose pliers, zip ties and masking tape in any of the combinations you can think of... are not the appropriate tools for the job.  Also the tensile strength of a paperclip is not up to the task of fishing doubled over paracord through a leather hole with pliers...

Paracord does not like to be tied the way nice rope likes to be tied, nor does it melt and shrink up neatly the way anything with the appropriate amount of nylon in it does... but a couple tubes of electrical shrink wrap and a hot glue gun later, I fixed it's little red green wagon. Ha!

So here you go, it may not last long... but I think it looks pretty!


Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Riding bikes, always better with a friend!


Fast forward a few weeks from our nocturnal laps, and we went from the relative safety of an empty complex loop... to the bustling narrow albeit paved, bike path that overlooks Huntington Beach!



I would like to say that you did an amazing job successfully navigating through wandering pedestrians, other bikers who weren't paying attention, untrained dogs on leashes, more pedestrians, and a hill larger than anything we have at home...

There might have been some white knuckle moments, and perhaps even one or two moments of panic but you did it dude! You didn't run into anything, or even frighten anyone... you didn't crash, or add any battle scars to your bike or your body. As far as I'm concerned that's a pretty good scale to measure against, and classify it as a successful ride.

You're tired and out of breath but we rode a whole lot further than anything we've ever done before, so that's exactly as it should be.  Tomorrow, and possibly even the next few days you may be sore in places you didn't even know had muscles, but the secret is that's what means you're still alive.

It will get easier, and it will come to be more enjoyable. I promise.  When it doesn't take every ounce of concentration to ride, you'll be able to appreciate the places that we're riding and the beautiful views there are to see.

What I'm trying to say, is In the end it will be worth it.