Minnow to Mackerel, Time for Some Change...

Soccer has been one of my favorite sports to blow off steam and forget about 'life' since I can remember. It's unfortunate that the States don't really appreciate the sport as much as the rest of the world. My newest stepbrother, Sean, had a high school soccer game tonight that I watched from the freezing cement bleachers at Catholic High School. I was stoked, it's invigorating to watch that many kids play my favorite sport at a level I was once at. The only thing that bothered me the entire time was the coaching. He centered on bullying and yelling and didn't really coach at all. Sean and his team were doing a sluggish yet well organized job of playing the game. By the end of it I couldn't help but open my opinionated mouth. After their goal, which was the only goal of the game, everyone's attitude went from aw shucks to 'hey we won'. It was disappointing to watch so many kids care so little. Nobody wins halfway through a game, and a goal is nothing to people who want to win. The big teams are coming up for them soon, as the season just started; I'm going to start assistant coaching and whooping their asses. I really hope I can make a difference, and perhaps beat Gulf Breeze and Catholic. It would mean a lot to my brother, and I'm fairly sure I'd die of happiness if I helped and watched Escambia High School become a dominant soccer team for once. And I get to play with a soccer ball. Allllll the timmmmeeeee.

Wave Trepidation

According to popular belief, you shouldn't make rash decisions when you're upset. It has proved to be true, yet again. I was incredibly upset on Sunday, due largely to my inebriation the previous night. It had been a bit since the last time I drank too much, but I definitely crossed the line on Friday night. I lost more than people's respect, and I wish I could apologize a thousand times over. I said some things, did some things, and threw a shoe. It was ugly. So on Sunday, I checked Craigslist, found nothing; then bought myself a semi-new surfboard at Innerlight. The Kane Garden eight footer I purchased is a neon yellow and red acid-washed-top board of fibreglass. It's sick. It's sickkkkkkkk. Heh, I couldn't leave without it, like when you see the puppy that does the best eyes: it totally reeled me in. It has four glassed-on fins that I hope never break, and a nice big'n right in the center. On a clean day, I should be the fastest rider sliding through oil and jellyfish. Ugh, and jellyfish? Or cnidarians should I say? I've been studying the strangest animals in Zoology for this exam tomorrow. I have to know everything about acoelomates, cnidarians, lesser lochotrophozoans, and poriferans. Basically that means sponges, jellyfish and flatworm/tapeworms. They're lame animals that hardly have real organs, something their creator or evolution decided was only semi-important. I mean, epitheliomuscular tissue? Is it skin? Is it muscle? IT'S both. It's combined because someone got lazy. I can't wait to get into chordata. I also hope that the next essay question permits me to make another nerdy movie reference, that way I can get extra credit again. Last test: Blade reference. There are some things that require a touch of geek, and I've got a vast store of that particular talent.

Robot Dance

This semester has been eye-opening. I have a light load of classes at a junior college, and have been working 40 hours a week at the ol' Starbucks. I've been offered another job at Badass Coffee Co., but really don't feel like leaving my coworkers. That, and I don't intend on having that business name on my resume. I've felt like an automated coffee bot lately too, like in Austin Powers but less hot chicks and more Dr. Evil's. Writing has gone missing in my past couple months of life, but I'm beginning to feel like picking up the pen again would do me vast amounts of good. Well, typing's close enough to scratching down thoughts on paper. I normally reserve pen-writing for silly amateur poetry and crappy sketches, yet of late I'm trying to incorporate it into my outlines for book ideas too. Speaking of books, I've been enjoying Kurt Vonnegut lately, as I delved into his short stories and Galapagos. Galapagos was trash, but maybe 80 percent of his short stories are genius. The other 20 is decent. Slaughterhouse Five has been sitting in my books-to-read pile for a couple weeks, and I feel that it's about time to give it some attention. Another reason I love my coworkers: they recommend amazing books all the time. Rebekah is a creative writing/literature major that has her master's and Matthew Mayhem knows his way around books better than most professors of the subject. Apart from work and school, I feel like I continually fall into the same drab pattern of bourgeois homelife. The joie de vive has just been sucked out of me. At work I feel like a coffeebot, and at home I feel like the Jetsons' robomaid. I have been getting decent grades and money, but perhaps at the cost of my creativity. I do believe the feeling has something to do with a lack of exercise and good new music. Music makes the day for me sometimes; although Usher, Ludacris and Linkin Park released some decent stuff, I just haven't been feeling the love from radio or torrents lately. I got so bored with autotuned junk that I jumped back into the flow of some old favorites. You'd think that ol' roboRob would love autotune due to the monotonous existence that is my life, but I don't. I miss the days of good Weezer, Make Yourself/ Morning View Incubus, Red Hot Chili Peppers Californication type stuff, and (yes, better believe) Smash Mouth. DeLuna Fest is coming up, thank goodness for cheap tickets. Stone Temple Pilots and Bush will probably rock my face off. I know my nana's reading this so I'll stop with the music references, but in closing: I am tired of the last couple years' worth of radio hip-hop. It's a bit ironic that I'm continually checking the time as I write this, because in ten minutes I'm taking back off to work again. Eight hour shift today, yesterday, the day before, and the day before. I have Sunday off, but I've already scheduled myself full of stuff to do. Church, picnic, dinner with the parents, returning the jet-ski (that never worked) and studying every chance between things; it should be a nice day, but free time? Not so free.

Freedom Of The Seas

Grar, so I decided to finally post this, along with a follow up blog. The sole reason I didn't was length, and it being more like a history of what I did on the cruise rather than an actual story-set. But it's getting posted. Then I'm updating.


Well, the boarding has finished, and Sean and I made rounds around the ship already. There's a huge rock wall, bigger than UWF, and an ice skating rink to boot. We immediately hit up the galley, and there was a basketball court that caught our attention. A basketball court wouldn't have been very impressive in itself, but in this particular one were a bunch of soccer players with indoor goals and a ball. We indulged and made friends, all before the ship left. We went to the emergency drill and heard the captain and crew drone on in three languages about jumping overboard and being drunk. Don't do it. Also, know where your raft is in case we go down. Sean and I ran straight up to the Flow Rider and did the boogie board, as everyone was still filing into elevators as we ran up the stairs and were first for the fun. I signed my climbing waiver too, despite not being in the right clothes at the time. The parents keep changing eating times, but we're sticking to the second one they gave us: six at night. Sean and I watched the movie Splice in our room, then went off for dinner. It was casual night, and boy did people push the limits of dining room trashiness. I had a double order of pan-seared seabass, and Ali had difficulty ordering anything at all. We watched a silly parade afterwards, it was more geared for little kids. The parents gave us some rules about alcohol, then we went out did our own thing. Ali and I went to the Crypt, a nightclub on the ship full of creepy guys and bitchy girls. There were exceptions, but for the most part it was a crappy nightclub with a cool set up. I'm hoping it turns out differently some other nights. I met some guys that I had played soccer with: Matt, Alex, and Greg; and met one girl named Lou. It was actually a really long, sophisticated name she had, but shortened it to Lou because I still can't remember the long version. I'm sure she gets that all the time, that and she thinks my name-ignorance is charming for some reason. Ali and I left and passed out in our rooms.

I woke up at almost noon today, unfortunately missing some stand-surfing and a three-on-three basketball tourney. It's probably better that way though, as I'd like to have loads of energy for freeplay soccer and the adult dodgeball tournament. We're on the sea all day today, and I want to get to bed early when it comes time; that way I can do/see/play everything when we port in Haiti. Lunch was wonderful, and I had forgotten that there were more than two bars for the buffet. I ended up eating just a sample of about twenty different things: beef stroganoff, Indian food, fries, scalloped potatoes, ribs, tilapia, salad, pie and some mousse for dessert. I took a quick nap and headed to the courts. There were a couple people shooting around on the basketball court, so I got a game going. I played basketball until enough people showed up for soccer, then we played futsal for a solid three hours. The game got a bit out of control, and we eventually had just four on four teams, with my team reigning for the majority of the day. The Indian guys were pretty good, and so were the Aussies. The gorgeous girl from the club with the mom that danced with me showed up, and her and these two alpha male gorillas played basketball in the middle of our soccer game. I ended up challenging the gorillas to a quick two on two, so they'd get out of the way; and ended up winning. It was glorious. First to five, five to three. They really shouldn't have even made the last basket, but at this point I'd been constantly playing sports for about three hours. It's also notable that I picked this tiny kid as my partner, that was playing with me earlier. He was amazing, but they didn't think to guard him until he made two baskets. They showed their true spirits and acted like deustchbags, which totally tickled me because the hot girl and her mom just left, leaving them to be the jerks they were. They invited me to get some ice cream, but I'm not searching for any female companionship for a long time. It's a shame, due to the fact that this girl was somewhere between a nine and a ten. The only qualm I have with her, is that she definitely was in kindred spirit with the gorillas, and could easily blend in to a classier version of Jersey Shore. Open play soccer never happened, and adult dodgeball got rained out. I'm just glad my love for sports keeps me versatile in play. I guess I should thank my father for pushing basketball on me. I threw on this turquoise pair of board shorts and sprawled out on the sunny deck, letting the sun have it's way with me. There aren't many times I let myself just relax, but this was definitely one of them. The sun was high, but clouds were abundant in the Caribbean sky. It was beautiful, and with the polarized sunglasses it was like the clouds did a ballet. I caught up on some new music I had downloaded for the purpose of just relaxing, and let my mind take my imagination to strange places. It's kind of weird thinking about how much I miss certain people, and how selfish I once was. I've been getting online and biting the expense bullet, but it's been worth it almost every time I log in for five minutes or less. We watched Katt Williams Pimp Chronicles last night, and it was probably the best thing I could do for my worrying and self-doubt. That is one funny individual.

We woke up in Haiti this morning, and got dressed to the chill mix on my laptop as we awaited the breakfast we ordered last night. We ordered it for the 8:30-9 time block and it arrived at 9:10. Then there were about half the things we ordered on the tray, so we just went to the breakfast buffet too. After gorging ourselves on asian donuts, omelets and bacon masterpieces, we met the family downstairs for unloading into Haiti. Labadee was the port we pulled in on, and I hadn't realized it was going to be one of those Disney-esque wonderlands with no poverty and little to be unhappy about. It's not that I like unhappy things, it just turns to be a culture-less paradise that lets us learn very little. I took one walk around the island and headed back to dock, where we were to meet our RIB boat crew. I thought it would be bigger, but it was two 250 engines on a small rubber raft that hauled butt like no other. Just our family and a couple with two tour guides motored around the island, pointing out luxury houses, fruit tree groves, reefs, shipwrecks, and the Citadel in the distance. As we made it to a gorgeous barren island, we waved at the oncoming fishermen who had sails made of patchwork cloth. The tour guide sort of tooted his own horn as he gave us the rundown on snorkeling. (Having been a SCUBA diver since sixth grade I knew the process, but listened for the hell of it.) I'm used to crystal clear waters and pretty reefs, but hard reef, not soft. The entire floor bottom was covered in fan coral and soft sponges that I'd never seen before. I don't often get to dive the Atlantic, and it was a phenomenal change from the brain, staghorn, and fire coral of the Pacific. Our Haitian guide had a good eye for cuttlefish, and continuously pointed things out I wouldn't have seen without him. An octopus, some old cannon shafts, and fish traps were all regular customers, and we got a nice backstory on Columbus' first voyage when he stayed in Labadee and the Tortugas to shelter his crew from a nasty hurricane. The Santa Maria apparently was destroyed in the same bay we snorkeled, and the locals perpetually find ancient ship masts and treasure. I felt bad for the man of the couple, as he freaked out when he got in the water, and couldn't swim. My mom tried helping, but he opted to stay on the boat. I can't imagine not being able to swim and taking a cruise, that would scare me silly. After a huge session at the buffet, chomping on everything from sushi to fudge, Sean and I took a nap. Mark and mom stopped by to let us know they were going to the 70's dance, which really didn't interest me to much. We opted to hit the gym. It was the first time I'd been in there, and the view is probably spectacular, but we went after dark, and couldn't see anything. We worked the elliptical for cardio then did shoulders and arms. A quick shower and the movie, Everything's Fine was our entertainment for the night. That movie is incredibly sad, and made me want to be with my Nana and Papa as soon as I get back. Robert DeNiro's four kids all lied to him and had different issues, one of which actually died. Oh, spoiler alert. Sorry. It did, however, make me thankful for my extensive family; it also made me feel really good about quitting smoking.

Today Sean and I had our things ready to go very early on in the morning. We ended up hitting breakfast buffet and waiting thirty minutes for the rest of the family to get coordinated. Once we had everyone off the ship, we did the regular aimless walk-around for a bit then headed over to the excursion buses. It's not a third world country without people trying to get you to buy cheap crap for stupid prices. The difference in Jamaica was that everyone thought I was looking for marijuana, or maybe just that I'm the right age to be stupid. I had to say no to about seven different scam artists before we boarded our bus. From the bus, we got a brief tour of a couple rivers and the local beachsides, then unloaded at the stables. We were about to embark on a waterside horse ride, and ended up playing with the local Jamaican dogs for about a half hour. Once we finally had all the riders present, he gave us the low down on how to ride and steer and such. Strangely, out of around fifty people, he picked me first. I wasn't very happy about that, but he later told me that he thought I wouldn't mess up, which cooled me down a little bit. He also told me that Tigre, my ride, was kind of a pain in the ass. Lucky for me, I didn't see that, and Tigre and I held up the front of the line pretty well. Near the beginning of the trek I didn't know what I was doing whatsoever, but as we rode on I figured it out quickly. We took a break when we got to the beach, and they took the saddles off all the horses. When I was ready to mount ol' Tigre again, they said he was being difficult, and gave me an even larger horse named Greg. Not the most regal name, and I'm pretty sure I liked Tigre better than this polo horse, even if Greg was bigger. Ali had been scared the entire time, and once we did the bareback water riding, she just jumped off. I'm sure it was a funny sight, but I was too busy pretending I was in Oregon Trail to pay attention to anything but my stallion. Every chance I had dry land and some room we'd come to a canter, and I'd get yelled at. It was well worthwhile. We did the same trek back to the stables and filed into the little pen. By this time, about three hours had passed; it was time to re-board the ship. I couldn't complain, I had a lot of fun. It's a shame I didn't get to see much of Jamaica, but I think it was for the better. The family had storytime over a buffet dinner, then us boys dressed for the climbing wall. They had a couple of routes, one of which I couldn't do. The staff were cheering me on though, and apparently the only one that had done it previously was this staff member dubbed "M&M". (Mountain Man) I only made it about halfway up, but given that there were on average one crappy hold per two squares I think it was amendable. Afterwards, I heard somebody over the loudspeaker talking about volleyball, so I just wandered over to the court and played with a bunch of guys my age for a couple hours. I thought it would have made me tired, but then somebody mentioned freeplay soccer. I couldn't believe my luck. It took us around twenty minutes to make four futsal teams, each made of six people. I'd like to say my team dominated, but this time there was one super team that just held it down for the most part. Two hours into it people started leaving, and kids (under 14) started showing up. I realized I was surrounded by kids, so I ended up separating them better. Me and this one father ended up coaching around seven little dudes. I think I might try and get into this when I get back to Pensacola, as it was entirely more satisfying than actually playing. I did bust open my big toe tonight, but it was so much fun overall I wouldn't have had it any other way.
Early morning wake up calls are just terrible. Last night Sean snored like four lumberjacks chainsawing trees down, and I have had way too much time to think of a certain ex-girlfriend to be in any sleepy condition. We're docking in Grand Cayman right now, and I intend on getting my inner-shopper on. My feet are a bit sore from yesterday, but you better believe I can walk through that. We took a small ferry over, then broke loose and scattered in five directions. I bumbled from shop to shop until I found an elephant made of shells for a friend back home, and bought a straw hat for me. I got some local coffee at Cayman Coffee Company, and enjoyed the amazing espresso machine that juiced the beans. We eventually found each other under the excursion tent, and proceeded into another of those dreaded buses. This time there was no tour, mostly due to the Cayman's being so incredibly Americanized. We got to the dolphin tanks, and lined up for another one of the big animal briefings we got in Jamaica's stables. After a stale wait, we hopped in the dolphin tank and got to do a bunch of neat little tricks with the majestic animals. My favorite was actually just talking to the guy about how he got the job working with them. After a brief dolphin experience, the family set out to the turtle farm. Once upon a time, the locals ate lots of turtle meat then found out it was an immoral thing to do. The farm raises them to release them, but still sells a small portion to locals just so they don't go out hunting the endangered reptiles. We got to hold babies, and watch adult turtles fight each other for food. Ali and my mom went off to the ship afterwards, but Sean, Kayla, Mark and I went to the B.W.I. Margaritaville. Two Banana Winds were delicious, and Mark ended up paying way more than I had expected for the collective drinks and munchies. We ran out of time at this point on island, and retreated back to the line to get to the boat to get to the ship. Dinner was lobster, but I ended up having that and an Indian dish. After dinner Mark, Sean and I smoked our Romeo y Julietas that he bought for the wedding. It was kind of funny to watch both of them, as neither had smoked a cigar before. I don't think Sean's ever smoked anything ever. It was also a bit awkward, as it was the first time I had smoked anything in over three weeks. None of us finished the beastly cigars, and each walked out of the Pharoah lounge with a gigantic nicotine buzz. Sean and I fell asleep watching Surrogates.

Mark called us this morning, and reminded us that today was the zipline/rock climb/snorkel. We woke up and did the usual breakfast buffet, this time I got smart and combined strawberry banana yogurt with bran cereal. We docked in Cozumel and took the taxi to the excursion like usual, this time ending up at what looked like an adult playground. The climbing towers numbered about four or five, and ziplines and monkey bridges connected them. The whole morning excursion was a practice in patience for me, as I had climbed much bigger with less than half the introduction. These prompts were beginning to annoy me around the start of the snorkel, for we had to wear these crappy life vests and use cheap snorkels. I know how spoiled I sound, but it's just something I'm not used to. We were cut loose from the tour after the lunch of fajitas and cerveza, then found a Senor Frog's and more cerveza. I'm intoxicated now writing this, but know that sometimes when you go to Cozumel that's just what happens. The family just shopped for the entirety of the time spent in Mexico, and Sean and I got smart and found a Mega's. Mega's is a Mexican version of Walmart, but everything's cheaper and worse quality, because it's Mexico. Somehow we ran into the parents on the walk back, then got a taxi and rode to the cruise ship.

The cruise was amazing, but I do miss my land-lubber legs, and Chik-Fil-A. Maybe a run around my old haunts'll put me back in the sway.

Moving People and Attitudes

Every once in awhile, there is a day that just completely throws your logic and views on life for a loop. Today was that day for me. Yesterday I thought I'd be working until 3pm at Starbucks, then packing for a weekend wedding with my mom and my new stepdad, Mark. Things slipped out of my control quicklike. I saw off a great friend, Cathawk, at O'zones, then found out I needed to get the Starbucks shift covered due to our leaving at seven in the morning. I packed rapidly without forgetting anything (thus far) and slept in the car the three hours to Tallanasty. We arrive at my sister's apartment to find three truckloads of clothes, appliances and junk that we have to move to her new house a couple of blocks away. Yay. She shows up, (because she wasn't there when we got there, she had a metabolism 2 test) and we get to work. After the extensive moving process, a reward of Jimmy John's is more than welcome. A Gargantuan JJ sandwich was inhaled in a record like... 5 minutes, and we hit the road again. Ali and I watched a crappy cam-version of Dinner For Schmucks, and then I fell asleep until we pulled up to a gas station just north of Gainesville. Now I haven't said much in this blog about my ex-girlfriend, but she just got back from Barcelona, and lives in Gainesville. I'm still pretty friendly with her, so you can imagine my frustration at not being able to say a quick hello. Then again, I couldn't tell you if that would be a good thing for me or not, considering I still like the girl. We passed by Gainesville in traffic, adding just a bit to the frustration, watching each exit pass by verrryyyy slowwlllyyy. When we got to the hotel in Port Canaveral, I was kind of wondering the sexuality of the entire hotel. I know this sounds strange, but it was pink, had only guys at the bar outside, and both check-in guys had gay lisps. The wedding is tomorrow, and I'm actually pretty excited. I love my new step-dad, and I've been pretty lucky in the step-fam department. I now can say I have three little sisters, three little brothers, and I'm the eldest of seven. I'm very much looking forward to the wedding, and even more so to the cruise afterwards. I'm wayy too spoiled, and feel somewhat guilty to get to have so much fun all the time. I'll be walking my mom down the aisle tomorrow, and floating to the Caymans, Jamaica, Cozumel, and Haiti after that. I was originally intent on reading the rest of my Tolkien short stories, some Biblical passages, and Italian poetry on the cruise. I now realize that Ali's going to be my workout buddy when we're not doing rock-climbing and crazy cruise dinners, so we'll see how much reading and writing I get done at all. The excitement's overwhelming! Maybe a workout sesh at the hotel wouldn't hurt...

Karma Konstruction

Balancing out the karma is a pretty difficult thing to do. I feel like mine's just right today, but this morning was another story. I should probably start with the previous night. Yesterday afternoon, after another of the dreaded 8 hour shifts that have been plaguing my life lately, I bought a 24-pack of Keystone and was looking for trouble. It was easy to find, as an old friend- Thinh Nguyen, invited me to a Marine Corps barbeque. The barbeque wouldn't have had any seriously negative effects if it didn't include rum and beer pong. I met a bunch of hardy devil dogs that take competition in ANYTHING to the next level. Be it throwing ping pong balls at solo cups, shirtless wrestling, or even picking out music to listen to, they really like to take the reins. After a couple hours of debauchery and some skirt steaks, I decided to turn tail and run to the beach. I originally intended to hit up the Vanilla Ice concert at Cap'n Fun's... but never quite made it. Flounders was the place to be, and the band on stage played a lot of great music. The booze helped the music out a lot, but they did play an Incubus song that rocked my world. Pardon me. (The song.) I met up with two gorgeous women that I've known for an extremely long time, Cait and Erow, and boozed some more. Keep in mind that Sunday, (The day after) I had another 8 hour shift, and it started at seven in the morn. More like mourn with how I felt; we eventually got kicked out due to the fact that I snuck my kid step-brother in throught the back. I had a great time all night, and have no regrets even now, despite still feeling a bit hungover. The shift went by very slowly, but I worked with my favorite cast of Starbucks baristas. I think the turning point of the day was on my lunch break, when I went to Publix to get a Cuban sandwich. I saw some people that normally come into my work, and eyed this quart of Caramel Macchiato ice cream. Of course feeling as crappy as I was, I wanted anything to help out. I bought the sandwich and the quart. I brought it back to work and shared with the crew, fixing my karma a bit. We all spiced up the decadence with shots of espresso and some extra caramel sauce. I got off work, and keeping in mind that my little step sister's birthday was today, drove directly to Guitar Center. The people in that place must have thought I was crazy. I walked in, grabbed a an electric Squier starter set with an amp included, and waltzed around dizzying myself with pretty shiny things. Eventually finding a really nice gun metal bass guitar, I had to have that too. It was on sale, actually a super cheap Yamaha. The bass amp was on sale too, so I had them load the two guitars and the amps into the truck. I drove over to the birthday party that was going on, and walked in with only the bass and bass amp. Started tinkering with it, and got Haley (the birthday girl) really jealous. (As she plays guitar at the age of 13 now... which is why I bought the Squier set.) Once she couldn't get anymore frustrated that I "hadn't" bought her anything from the guitar shop on her birthday I had Matt walk in with hers. She flipped out in the best way possible. We tuned the little pearly white electric and let her rip some CCR and Pirates of the Caribbean. We had a nice time eating Matt's wonderful chicken that I'd been waiting for over a year to taste, and then had ice cream. Again. hah. Karma fixed. I'm currently watching Matt play the new Mario Galaxy 2, and helping Haley link her blog while deleting her phone number from facebook. (Blows my mind that the parents let that one slip!) Their grandparents are over too, which is nice. I hadn't seen them in awhile. It's almost bedtime for me... 9 pm is still late for my next 7AM shift... another one of those 8 hour bastards. I miss a lot of my friends right now, still. I know I posted pictures in my last post, but the ones that I never got to see (due to being in Barcelona/Boulder/Hawaii) would be really nice to see eventually. I can't wait for their return, but my mom's wedding will keep me busy as of this coming Friday. She's taking me on a Caribbean tour. It's only been a couple weeks here in Pensacola, but due to some recent lifechanges I'm pretty stressed out and burnt out all the time here. Taking on work, quitting bad habits, being a good friend, buying unnecessary goodies, being a good big brother, and trying to help the parents out in the yard while still having me-time is a difficult schedule to balance. I even missed out on the writing group today, and have to still see a girl about some dogs. . . Crap. Heh,... I gotta go take care of that stuff now actually.

Wallflower

Well, this is likely going to be the most boring post of my blog thus far. I've been stateside for about 3 weeks now, and have had the most dull experience of my summer. Everyone around me is moving and getting things ready for vacations or big moves, but I will reside here in the house. Doing work, working out, yardwork, housework, soon homework; work, work, work, all I do is boring ol' work. I work a double shift tomorrow, and had an eight hour shift today. It's not to no benefit, as I did just purchase a shining new HP laptop. The thing is glorious, and it works when I want it to. (All I ever wanted my damn Dell to do) Fingerprint recognition is pretty cool too. All this money is going to start getting saved though, as I've quit some of my costlier habits cold-turkey. It's relieving really, to know I have the kind of financial reassurance in the bank that would allow me to up and move to a new city if that's what I wanted. I will, however, be cutting hours for a couple weeks. I just need to learn to balance things a bit better. Sometimes I forget that there is a medium between a 45 hour workweek and bumming around substitute teaching kids for two shifts a week. The only real anxiety reducers that are running in my system are Coltrane, ibuprofen, and the occasional visit from CatHawk's baby German Shepherd. The funny part about dogsitting is that I'd totally take care of puppies all day for free. It's kinda nice company in an otherwise empty house. I'd always considered myself a loner-type, but the last two weeks have proved otherwise. I don't get to see the friends I know and love very often anymore, and it's a treat when there's more than two of us in the same room; however, the people I know and endure seem to call every time they're on this side of Pensacola. I see people all the time, but I see real friends once a month-ish. That needs to change now that I'm back.
I will find you people:

Nose To the Grind, (No Toes Involved)

Well, Pensacola is definitely still Pensacola. There are some minor, subtle differences, but for the most part, I still don't love this town. The last week has been spent running on fumes and trying to avoid sleep. The reason for my bed's lack of buddytime is due to yardwork, Starbucks, and time spent trying to hang out with old and new friends. It's hard when old friends come into town, because I expect to hang out 24/7 and so do they; it's just impossible to accomplish when everyone lives on the exact opposite side of town. I work and live near UWF, and Gulf Breeze is the go-to place for all of my high school buddies. I'd love to be able to spend the entire Blue Angel weekend drinking and 'beaching it' with select friends, but I have work and chores/responsibilities that beckon with each beer that befalls my tummy. For the non-Pensacola natives (lucky jerks) that don't know what Blue Angel weekend is: it's an entire weekend dedicated to some of the best pilots in the Navy that put on air shows for the drunken spectators at Pensacola Beach. I got an inside look at the pilots the other night, as I was invited to a buffet/banquet that existed to show gratitude to the pilot aces. It was an invite-only party at the Hilton that had fancy food and expensive (but nasty) beer. I arrived late due to a last-minute airport pickup, and got there in time to watch these peacock-people prance around with a bunch of local lifeguards. I can understand why they strut like alpha males, because it's a group of accomplished, handsome (for the most part), pilots. They really are alpha males, but for the love of all that's good, I can't appreciate people when they're cockier than most WWF fighters. It's when they list accomplishments and walk on a stage and smile great big for a crowd that I can follow along and clap. When they get off stage and have been drinking and hitting on girls my age, not WOMEN... ugh it's just disgusting. They probably get to do that all year, in every city across the USA. How could somebody parade around with a mentality of deustchbaggery that exceeds the norm FOR PILOTS?
After the banquet, the lifeguards AKA my friends, got recognized for putting up with retarded amounts of people that flock to the beach to drown this weekend. That was pretty cool. I have tremendous amounts of respect for some of my lifeguard friends. I followed my good ole' high school boys to Flounder's after the banquet to drink, but had such a long day I couldn't cope with being shoulder to shoulder with drunken beach trash. It was a twelve hour day at Starbucks, as the new guy is in the hospital, and two people are out of town. Making my pockets lined with green is always nice.
Forty+ hours serving jerks their nasty drinks isn't my idea of fun, but I've decided I'm going to find a new job so I don't have to complain anymore. Along the lines of veterinary clinics and wildlife sanctuaries is what I'm thinking. I'd rather be helping animals that can't talk than serving people who talk too much. At the moment I'm composing a list of chores I need to get done today...None of which include either booze or fun. Mostly just sweat and toil. Yay. Maybe just one golf course loop on the new board....heh.

The Boys Are Back In Town

Finally, a computer and some time to write another piece of this blog. We're home in Pensacola, finally fixing up the months of letting the house sit. But let me backtrack for a minute. I left off when we were approaching the 'redwoods'. I know now that the redwoods are actually composed of several different types of tree that all tower over normal trees. I know it may sound strange, but I didn't expect there to be so many big trees. I understood there would be huge sequoias, but there were miles and miles of them! We drove through the mountains, and got to see tons of beautiful white-capped range and evergreen giants. I kept asking if we were in the redwoods yet, but they kept enlarging with each coming hill. The Avenue of the Giants was the pinnacle of gigantic treedom. With diameters upwards of eight feet, the trees made me feel like a dwarf squirrel. We took a large quantity of pictures and then slept at Miranda Garden Inn. (Very cool, right in the middle of the forest!) The next morning dad took us on a rollercoaster ride, playing with the AWD of the Chevy Traverse he rented. A long while was spent driving from there to San Fransisco, and the scenery between was just breathtaking. Cali-splendor at it's finest. When we passed Crescent City I got to stop in a very old surf shop. Think Innerlight (Pensacola locals) but ancient. I bought a deck for my longboard that had some sweet griptape, and an amazing bend in the ride. I got to ride on the long winding highways of California, and if you know me, you know that's all I could want. We only really had half a day in San Fran, so I spent it all off Haight-Ashebury streets. The locals were wild, and the pizza was righteous. I had pesto and roasted tomatoes on mine, but the highlight for me was using the restroom in that place. The graffiti sort of twirled in a trippy fashion from the kitchen (which I had to walk through, cool right?)all the way to the toilet at the end of the hall. It was everything a budding hippy could ask for, and then some. I got a genuine tie-dye shirt by one of the guys who did a Grateful Dead album-art backdrop, which was the highlight of San Fran. The Marriott we stayed at there was the best bed I'd slept in since home (almost 2 months ago) and I still don't have my bed here at home. The deal about my house is that I fix it up as I live in it, and my dad pays for the rent. Well, he actually bought the house, so there IS no rent, but the labour is enough to drive a man insane. Just today we fixed doorstops, fridges, carpeting, the washer, and scoped out the driveway. Also, I mowed. And started raking. And tomorrow I have eight hours of work. It's all good though, because as I said, no rent, and we got to gobble up at Beef O Brady's. Gotta love rednecks and good food.

Careful With That Axe, Eugene

This summer's been incredible so far, and keeps getting better. The entirety of my stay in Okinawa was as much as I could ask for, then I got to explore two cities that breach my top 5 city listings. I'd put them in order starting with best as following: Barcelona, New Orleans, Portland, Sydney, then Rio. Seattle was great, but Portland was full of rock babes, hippies, degenerates and collegiates. (My kind of place!) Not that Seattle didn't have it's share of these fun-loving party people, it's just that Portland shows it's colors with fervor. Walking down the street in Portland to meet up with a couple friends provided the opportunity for some eco-loving GreenPeace dudes to blast me with information about global warming. I got to talk about alternative energies, watch a double decked bike fly down the road with a top-hatted teen atop it, and the tattoos and gauges alone were enough to gawk at. In the pub our bartender had 2 inch gauges, and the waitresses were all good-looking and trendy. After drinking some of the best beer I'd had in months, (Rope Walker ale methinks...) We departed.
The drive down was beautiful, but jet lag got the best of Matt and I.

We showed up at this gorgeous lake home in the woods later that day, it had to be one of the coolest houses I've ever seen. After a quick meet-and-greet, dad, Christy and I went hiking. We saw some hawks and deer along the trail, and were supposed to keep an eye out for bears. The trees here are huge, and I'm not even in the redwoods yet. I've gone ATV-ing, and myriad other cool outdoor activities in the last 2 days. Among them, light up bocce ball and Great Dane-frisbee tug-of-war were probably my favorite. There's six dogs here total, with three huge Great Danes, (Nalu, Carter, Harvey) a cute labradoodle, (Josie), the tiny bulldog (Harley) and the patriarch mutt that has cancer, (Bill). Carter's the biggest, and competes with Josie for most loving. Bill reminds me a lot of my dog, Oso. Smart, obedient, just all around an amazing mutt. If you know me, you know how much having dogs here means to me. Anyone that would say cats are better, or dogs aren't worth having, really hasn't hung out with a dog before. The whole family out here is amazing too, as they basically are the family I never had. There's a biologist working on genetics, Tyler makes mandolins, Addie Lou was a body builder, some of them made kayaks, some make cabinetry, a bunch actually used the barter system for a long time. It's just different; refreshing, too. Everyone's from the West Coast, Cali brahs and Patagonia/Columbia/North Face-wearing hippies. With kid-names like Piper and Varona, you know they hug trees. (Which I love.) Kenny is a 30-year old guitarist that blows most string-twangers out of the water, and Matt lives off of the money he makes from BAGPIPE. Comfortably. Ever heard of the Kildares? That's him. Addie Lou's friend does the logistics for the big beer festival in California every year, and has impeccable taste. We've been drinking everything from Pacifica and Hop Czar to Corona and local brews. Everyone's got some eccentric niche, it's awesome. Today we took a couple of the off-road ready trucks on some paths. The owner of the cabin has a beefed up Suburban from the eighties, a couple of ATVs, dirtbikes, and a '90 Jeep Cherokee. My daily driver and moshmobile in high school was an '88, and it was amazing off the asphault. His was better. I had a sweet setup, but his had all the amenities plus the things I'd always wanted on mine. Needless to say, the backdrop provided for some of the most fun offroading I've ever seen. Tonight we got more beer, and most likely will attempt to play mountain top beer pong. That is, of course, only after face-painting and more fire-side stories.
Lovin' life in the backcountry.

Stoked In Seattle

My last day in Okinawa was (as usual) magnificent. I packed, finished messing with the Ipod playlists, and bought many last-minute gifts. The day was spent lazing around the seawall and eating sushi, and the night was Oki-typical. We searched for izakayas and eventually found one, drank strange brews and laughed at the craziness that was this summer. The usuals showed up at our house as Ryan was finishing tattoos before people left the island, and we started drinking. We continued drinking as we had an intoxicated romp to the nearest Familymart, grabbed true Oki-goodies and guffawed the whole way back. Somehow I cut my toe open on a piece of sheet metal in a parking garage trying to climb up a cement pole.. yeahh.. no comment. Everyone left and Matt and I sat up talking about how much we'll miss the damn place.

The next morning, we all gathered into the van and launched toward the airport. Ryan sent us off, and I basically passed back out again. This time on an airplane. Woke up in Osaka's airport, which is by the way built on recycled trash! Very cool. We had a long layover in which we got bomb-ass massages. The little Japanese girl that massaged me kept asking if it was hard enough, but I think she could've put her body weight into it to no avail. It was extremely pleasurable nonetheless, no innuendo neccessary. The next plane ride was the long one, the unmistakably crappy one. It was nice that this one went to Seattle instead of Atlanta. We left our stuff at the hotel and shot off into the city, which is gorgeous. Every twenty feet was a different odor: fresh Pacific seafood, incense, smoke from a restaurant, gnarly hippies, dogs, sharp cheeses, fresh-cut flowers, saltwater, gutterstank, French fries and fresh fruits/veggies... It was the best-smelling city I've ever been in. The locals were a strange breed too; as the majority have either piercings and black on, tie-dye and dreads, or marathon shirts and running shoes. I think I'd fit in with any of those crowds! I could totally picture myself wearing running clothes but learning some guitar riffs from a sensei hippy under a tree. (And thinking about what I want pierced, heh) We shopped around and visited a microbrewery, with some decent beer. It was better than any beer in Okinawa, I'll give them that. We ate at a fancy-shmancy French restaurant overlooking the water. It's been a hot minute since I've eaten escargot, and my salmon was fantastic! I'm fairly sure I'll live in Seattle for some part of my life in the future.
We got back to the hotel to reset our batteries, then woke up the next morning and took off again.
Today we actually met up with some of Holly's family at their home in hilly suburbia. We checked a waterfall out in the morning, then ate at a tasty Mexican place on the other side of the city. The waterfall was huge, I don't think I've ever been above a waterfall and felt the mist hit me. Meeting new stepfamily was great, and everyone seemed very interesting. Apparently I've only met the Republican side, and the people I'll meet in the redwoods are the 'liberal' side. It's a bit more difficult to understand than that, as several of them bartered for a long time instead of using money. One guy makes mandolins, another makes kayaks, and still another makes cabinets. It'll be strange to me, but I'm very excited.

KanPAI!!!

I woke up to the sound of the East China Sea pushing up against sea jacks again. It's the most soothing sound in the world to me. It was almost immediately destroyed by the sharp, high-pitched sound of Razz, the dog we're babysitting. I would say dogsitting, but Razz is like a child. A loud, shrieking child. The mama-san's back from her week-long departure of tending to other people's unfinished chores. She boggles my mind. It's this tiny Uchinanchu woman that takes care of laundry, mopping, sweeping, dusting, dishes, cleaning generally everything from the shoe-clad Japanese entranceway to the fountain-esque toilets in every bathroom. Her job would kill me, and I have tremendous respect for the Okinawans. I say Okinawans because they're entire history is centered around taking care of other invading countries. It's a kind of metaphor I suppose. She does all the dirty work around the house, and we all go out and enjoy the land we took from them. We force our language, our ideals, religion, and culture on them and they just take it. With a smile. The kicker, and it's sad to point out, is that if we didn't, Japan or China or some other big country would move in and do our "job". A link for unbelievers...:
http://www.okinawan-shorinryu.com/okinawa/history.html
The last couple days have shown me just how diverse this island is. Last night I went to a Persian-owned hookah bar, saw legitamite Arabian metal hookahs, and ate at a Nepalese restaurant where the owner cooked everything for us in what looked to me like traditional recipes and cookware. The kicker is that I went to a firmly Japanese ka-ra-o-ke bar afterwards. I used the hyphens to show that it fits into Hiragana (Japanese simple form alphabet) and to emphasize the Japanese culture that persisted there. This island has so much soul. How the locals are nice at all I cannot explain, as they get the short end of the stick in every draw. I love the Rock, AKA Okinawa. I've got myself excited and now must go skate the island.
Peace-U, ne?

Oppressive Winds

It's been really windy lately. It's been the kind of wind that just pushes you back no matter what direction you face, and makes for sloooow board rides. The date's closing in on when I leave this rocky paradise, and I am not too excited. In fact, I'm just plain stressed. There are so many places and things I didn't get to see this summer that I've gotta start cramming them all in this last week or so. Gyoukosendo Cave, Shuri Castle, one day of north island board riding, and shopping for the state-side friends all need to get done still. It probably doesn't help that I've been feverishly sorting my music library. One thing many of you know about me is that I'm obsessive compulsive to the max, and another you might not know is that I have around 20k songs in my library. Most people don't understand the need to have everything under the sun, but when you're on a long plane ride or half-hour break at work it just makes sense. My continual excuse for not updating the beastly 160GB Ipod in the last year is that it's just a pain in the patoots, but due to a large amount of time spent above twenty thousand feet it's a necessity in my book. The crazy wind hasn't been able to keep me from pushing my longboard around Oki. I had planned to just go out for an hour long skate around the seawall yesterday, but it turned into a horse of a different color with the updated Ipod. I switched between my heavy rock playlist and the "Robbie, Go Surf" playlist I had prepared, and the music took me far.
I started up the big hill to Kadena's Gate 1, and before I could even get any hills in I saw a group of Japanese guys playing soccer at Baba Park! I could hardly hop off the board fast enough! I asked to jump in and they roughly briefed me on goal posts, teams, and boundaries. (There were no boundaries, that is.) Within probably twenty minutes I had scored four goals on the little soccer field and gotten kicked off due to the other team's frustration. Never in my life have I seen such angry little Japanese dudes. They proclaimed, "Ookisugiru!" Which Kaito told me meant I was too big to play with them. Kaito was the only "English" speaking guy out there. He also apologized for the other team then bowed and said in broken English, "Stanky you for the goals." It made me feel great. Just to ease my mind I asked him what grade they were in, and he said something to the effect of Ryukyu College. (I didn't want to feel good about whooping up on some high schoolers, but thank goodness they were around my age! Hah. Crybabies.)
I got the board back to the pavement and headed to Gate One. Near the top of that hill there was a sweet little skateboard shop, but they didn't understand the word,"Bearings." Damn language barrier. The wind practically shot me down Highway 58, and I was jamming, so I just continued past Mihama into American Village. Nobody can argue with Audioslave and Bad Company. I did get into trouble with a police officer for the first time in Okinawa yesterday. American Village is a crowded place, usually. It wasn't today so I just skated through, and this mallcop-esque JP popped out and asked me for my ID. I gave it to him and asked why he needed it. Apparently it's not cool to be shirtless outside? I walked just out of sight and hopped back on. The journey continued to change scenery, Foster, Shipwreck Park, slummy ghetto apartment buildings, Uniqlo, Familymart, Lawson, Familymart, Lawson, Lawson. It got to the point where I was simply counting the number of FamilyMarts I passed to judge the distance I went. When I finally decided I'd need to turn around, I had just gotten to this huge entranceway.

Being in an exploratory mood, I conceded to the wanderlust. There were a bunch of flag drills going on in a field and croquet. Croquet was a bit foreign to me so I watched a game while enjoying Pocari Sweat. (Gross right? Wrong. Delicious.) After the old Japanese guys stared at me staring at them, one guy made a gesture as if he wanted me to take his next swing. I was delighted, and obviously partook. I did my best and like to think I was on par with the other croquet players. After my one swing I bowed as elegantly as I could and handed him the club back. Domo arigatou gozaimasu! The locals yet again have made me feel at home. I love that about Okinawan culture. The trip back was a bit arduous, I had forgotten how far I skated, but it was totally worth it.
Right when I decided it was naptime, the family was gearing up for the concert I had forgotten about. Irresponsible? Maybe. Either way, I got lucky and made it back with thirty minutes to shower, shave, and suit up. The main attraction was Dave Ralston Band. Well, that was what we went to see anyway. My main attraction was the all-you-can-eat BBQ food! Wowser. I probably ate several animals. When the food was mostly eaten, Dave Ralston and company marched on-stage. He's a drug and alcohol counselor that doesn't drink; despite this, he is still somewhat raunchy and in my stepmother's opinion, sexy. He hit on every Japanese girl in the place, and invited everyone to an after-party. Pretty cool guy. He also played: (ironically) Cocaine by Clapton, and Crazed Country Rebel by Hank Williams III, and a sweet rendition of No Woman, No Cry. He also, for some reason, had this hilarious, overjoyed woman onstage called Midori. She played the pineapple and the wooden shells and whistle...? It was kinda weird. She had great stage presence though, and energized the whole crowd. Oh and there was a belly dancer? Their original songs were mostly bluesy, but had an incredible range of influences. We returned to the house and I was out cold. I woke up around eight and joined a strange collection of friends to journey to the north end of the island. The plan was to go bathe, swim and whatnot at a mountain waterfall near Okuma. We got to Aja first, and figured we might as well go grab a couple of pictures there as it's the last time we might be here for years. We hopped around the falls and swam with some big German Shepards. A large group of Americans with kids had shown up right after us. We craved a bit more space so we left for an attempt at the original goal. Oku was a bit further down the road, but has a fun waterfall and jumping rock. We brought along dive masks for the rock bottomed clear water. We must've been there for 4 hours before we got hungry. Matt and I had gone to this soba restaurant near Oku last time we were at Okuma, and we knew it was the only option. It was genuinely the best soba I'd had this trip. It was the kind of meal that makes you satisfied enough to laugh at silly things and fall asleep, which is precisely what I did. We also checked out Hedo Point, which scares the crap outta me every time we're up there. It's sheer cliff walls with nothing to hold you back, with a breathtaking view. I passed out in the car again, and this time listening to something mellower than Dave Ralston, Dave Matthews. Big-Eyed Fish rang in my head the whole way home. Tomorrow we have planned a Father's Day around the missed landmarks: Shuri, Gyokousendo, and perhaps Fabb's Curry for dinner. Perfect day, in my opinion.

Drained by Doldrums

Making the most out of this trip has been one of many goals I've set this summer. The lazy islander culture has definitely set in, but with so many activities to dig into nobody should be bored here. The only days I've let the sunlight go to waste are the ones I've spent hungover, or sore and healing. This weekend was supposed to be the best one we've spent here, but things fell apart a bit. It happens to everyone, and with all the fun I've been having lately it's really only fair that a couple days float drearily off into the China Sea. I did get to party with some old friends, and get a window into their lives. They took me to the new Globe & Anchor building. One is making 70K a year and refused to let me buy pitchers of beer until he couldn't walk, and the other is trying to get married to this excessively voluptuous woman. It was hard to not gawk, and I'll leave it at that. I'm not exactly the 'clubbing' sort, but after a few drinks the music just speaks to you. I got asked several times why I had long hair, (as everyone and their mother in the club were military) and found out I have some superhuman drunken billiards skills. I cannot make five balls in a row in that game, but that Friday I definitely finished a game in four or five turns. Coco's was delicious, and completely decimates Waffle House or Whataburger. Curry and rice with whatever you want in it; add to that a piece of Nan bread and some potato curls... Genius.


Another great installment is FamilyMart. Think 7/11 on steroids, flipped Japanese style. That means cheap sushi for breakfast. A vital stop before surfing or on car trips, FamilyMart's are amazing. This Saturday was supposed to be the 'big party' that everyone shows up at, but it was a bit weak in comparison to my hopes. Beer pong persisted on the first level, along with appetizers, pizza, and Super Smash. The second story was for the 'adults', which I am one of now apparently, and gossip while watching the beer pong through the glass patio floor. The makings of a true party? Almost. People showed up slowly and stayed late, it was fun for a nerd (Ie:me) but probably not the majority of people that came. The last thought of the night for me was, "uh oh, I have to get sleep according to the surf report!" I ended up sleeping in late, past my alarm clock. The depressing mood of this post may stem from the fact that I didn't see any surf today, although I heard it was supposed to be excellent. I spent the day skating instead, and scoping out the low-tide snorkel crowd. Low tide meant no surfable waves, but people-watching wasn't a bad alternative. Once I grew tired of that, I hit the gym. Risner to be exact. I am a firm non-believer in crowded gym atmosphere, so I got in, did shoulders and abs, and got out. (The logic there is that I need bigger paddling muscles to keep up with the better guys!) The rain left the track wide open for Robbie Reign, and I got my full 3 miles in. I figured that as long as I exercise hard, I can rest hard tooWe also watched Robin Hood this weekend, which was always my favorite Disney movie. I love the idea of a virtuous thief, even though the movie was more geared towards revenge and corruption. Russell Crowe is super badass, just for the record. The more lazy days like this that I have, the more eager I am to leave island and make way with my plan for the semester in college. It's not exactly an exciting one, but putting my face to the grindstone would help me forget all about the lack of woman in my life at the moment. Not that I want to get into the vast, dangerous realm of love and emotion again, but loneliness does take it's toll. It's a good thing tomorrow is Monday, and I can go into school tomorrow with something to do. Each following day holds soccer, basketball, soccer again, and God-willing, surf on every day! A guy can wish right?

Concrete, Reef and Joga Bonito

Today was simply fantastic. I am so content because somehow I skated, snorkeled, and played soccer in one day.
I get to skate pretty regularly in Okinawa, but Ryan took me on a route from the top of Kadena's Gate One down around Hwy. 58 and through the sidestreets. A smooth, safe route is always good, but this had obstacles and organic feeling concrete that just took my breath away. We need more longboards in this house. The snorkel was brief, just to spy on fish while the sun was high. It's nice to just dip into the water and see some crazy tropical wildlife, perhaps even National Geographic-esque. The soccer was, well, it's my favorite thing. My dad and Razz the Pipsqueak accompanied me to the soccer field that Sgt. Cuellar had invited me to. They're supposed to play every Tuesday and Thursday at 6pm. Today I accidentally got there a bit early. We waited from the car to see if anyone would show up. On the three fields, there were rugby players, la crosse players, and a guy juggling a soccer ball. A small group of Marines passed by with a ball, and I kinda invited myself over. I saw another, smaller group and also kinda forced a game to ensue. Once we collected, moved some la crosse goals (haha suckers) and warmed up we went at it. Eventually three other guys I had previously invited showed up too. I was very excited to get to play the beautiful game with some old buddies. As Brendan Stanford played with me in, ohhh... sixth grade? Brant and I never got a proper game going in the states. It's like rounding up cats trying to get a game going over there.
Razz got a couple of legs that got too close to his bench. An hour of playing and people started leaving, but it was the most fun I've had in a long while. I love futbol.

Whitewash at Ewok Village

Everybody knows what Fridays mean: partytime. Matt and I wheeled over to Jeremy's yesterday for a sweet beerpong/Smash party that tops most of the parties I've been to this year. There was a great deal of imbibery and raunch. Normal Okibum-hosted madness amplified by the amount of people that showed up. Even a guy I knew from fourth grade, Chris Jenkins showed up! Sometime around midnight I overheard Jordan and Brant talking about surfing in the morning, and invited me. Expletive deleted, yeah I wanted to go. I almost immediately left, and packed everything that night, wetsuit, boardshorts, contacts, towel, hydrogen peroxide and some food... got picked up at 5:30am, Mexi-vanned it with all the boards and 4 people in one car and were severely dissappointed. We drove along the west side of the island for 2 hours and saw no waves. They break going east, and the forecast predicted double overhead! We were pretty upset, Brant the most as it was his first surf back. We started the descent of a island mountain, and arrived at a wall of trees that shot straight up with the rocky cliff. Still a bit hazy from the night before, we dubbed the mountain Ewok Village in accordance with the lovable, fuzzy inhabitants of Star Wars. We continue driving and see this epic little opening that just screamed paradise. Wailed it with some Homeric fervor, like a freakin' mythological beast. We had to dub the spot Ewok Village now. We did our best to drive down there, but the car was no Delica.


A quarter mile hoof up the rock beach we left our sandals and the keys. Brant and I had to pee so we were first in the water. He took off like a rocket, well, it felt like it because everyone was faster in the water than me. Alex passes me too. Jordan sticks with me and gives me pointers about paddling, which is nice because I look like a Viking on the teeny board I was using. No offense, teeny board riders. Once we got past the island, a weird rip current dragged us into a sharp rocky shallow area. The waves were picking up, so we got psyched. We charged them head on, and took a lot of punishment, me the most. (I'm not as fast of a paddler as them, remember?) I actually got sucked into the whitewash and was force fed about a gallon of Okireefwater. Delicious. I gave up the fight and paddled around the whitewash out past the breakers and joined the crew. We were all smiles, happy that everyone made it and was okay. At this point the waves have picked up and are agreeing with the surf report- overhead to doubleoverhead. Right when I got comfortable with the incoming waves, conversation of wave attack strategy and shallow reef underheel, one of the more magnificent of the wave-beasts shot up out of nowhere. Also remember that the reef is 2-3 feet underheel, and a big wave dries the area it's about to hit. This wave was angry. I was unprepared. It kicked my booty. I did a backward somersault, and landed backfirst on the coral/rockface. I tried to gather myself, sitting on the reef, underwater. It didn't make sense. Everywhere I looked I saw waves. I'm glad my head didn't get smashed, nor did I choke for breath or anything dire like that. I did, however, manage to have the leash pulled straight from my foot, and rip open my fingers, ankle, back and some knee. Board gone, I pathetically avoided waves as well as I could. No such luck. When I finally did make it to the afterparty out in glorious past-breaker smooth-water splendor, I was pumped. Everyone was cool, Jordan said don't worry about the board, and we discussed the game plan for me heading in. I basically just started swimming. It's not like in Pensacola Beach where you paddle out in five minutes and can get pushed the 45 feet back to the soft sand. We paddled maybe a third mile to the island, then past it and the waves. I was bleeding, bruised and exhausted. I had to swim the opposite way back, and halfway there I saw Jordan's board just kinda bobbing along. It was completely fine! This is amazing considering the huge waves that really should have pushed the board and me onto the jagged rocks of the island, but the board was in one piece! Dented a little, maybe. I slipped the crappy leash back on and headed for the nearest land without whitewash and sharp rock. I cannot describe how awesome it felt to be back on dry land. It was like there was an oasis with a waterfall and a huge hot rock to lie on. Oh wait that was a bit further down the beach back to the car. I'm getting ahead of myself. Heh. As I'm walking back, I saw that and passed out for a half hour. (Thereabouts, considering time is all goofy after surfing. It's kind of like when you can't smell underwater when you're SCUBA diving, then you get out and everything smells potent and wonderful.) I woke up with the waterfall rushing next to me, showered off, said a little prayer to a couple of gods including the white one. (Joke, people, joke.) The whole way back I was stoked about the beautiful day, and then this fine mist edged over the entire panorama of landscape. Gorgeous. Unbelievable. Other surfers started showing up, and I used the mirror of the window to see my back, which was in a little pain. (It's funny, the more you tear your flesh, the less it hurts. I'm not saying go cut yourself, but totally go live.)
The other surfers were laughing, but it's cool. I had just had a religious experience, a life or death experience, and climbed a sweet rock wall with a surf board in hand. Not my intentions to let some jerks rain on my parade. Then I noticed, my butt was hurting too, as I got tossed like Hercules' salad against that island. There was a rip in my board shorts, right on my left butt cheek. I couldn't help but laugh too. Alex made it back first, then Brant and Jordan. I gathered some river rock for my dad's footpath and we packed up. Trading wave stories on the way back, Jordan said he saw just a foot at the top of the wave that thrashed me. Everyone thought I wasn't going to make it out, but I did. And it feels great even now,with the hydrogen peroxide on the battle wounds. Actually, I think I'm going to go longboard the sea wall after the picture posting. Okinawa is paradise.

Paddling Out

Ohiogozaimasu! Decided to write this one without getting outta bed today. The mama-san's cleaning the stairs and I swear she descended from a long line of ninja ancestry. Okinawa has a proud tradition of hand to hand martial arts.... Tae Kwon Do practically started here. It's a shame I didn't get past green belt. I have a bit more dedication to sports nowadays. Wednesday night was basketball night with the pops, and they had me guard Tom. Tom is black, and freakin' gigantic. Six five-ish, with a mean lay-up. I'm telling you this so you understand the current condition my body's in. Le Tired. For some reason, yesterday after guitar lessons I skated past Mihama. A couple miles on my longboard is no biggie, it's a top-of-the-line cruiser, plus, the smoother asphault is that-a-way. Also, I played soccer with the marines again on Foster. Field One if anyone's interested, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 6pm. (We only had ten last time, I'd like a couple more.) I got back, helped my dad with a couple of chores, and passed out. I woke up this morning, but my body didn't. It's one of those days where you have to really want something to get up and walk to it. My legs haven't had this much punishment since my last (well, only) breakup. (I run when I get my panties in a twirl--Stress Relief.) There will be no running anytime soon. Tonight's entertainment includes a barbecue where the basketball guys will most likely be talking about 40 to 50 year old things, considering that's how old most of them are. Also a younger crowd party at Matt's friend's house; however, this includes beer, and alcohol is the enemy. I was hungover for soccer and if I'm ever unable to play the glorious sport because of booze again I will be very upset. It was frustrating.
I'm looking forward to seeing Dave Ralston live.. he's pretty good and I'll get to sit real close. Also looking forward to taking care of Razziematazz! (Tiny, loud Jack Russell terrier that is sweeter than mochii) Now back to grading papers... okibum, out.

Under The Sea

As we left Okuma, I couldn't help but feel the relief that comes with leaving the Marine Corps folks behind. They're 96 hour leave on Memorial Day weekend is my family outing, and let me tell you, they are rowdy as leatherbacks on-vacation-on-an-island-paradise can be. Lots of beer pong. Everybody was having fun, even the staff. We did have a cajun cookout with some of the best corn I've ever had. Random? yes, but damned good.
On the way back from the North end of the island, we decided to double back and hit Oku. Okuma Resort is different from Oku, just to inform the populous. Oku is further north, more beautiful, and full of skating hills and climbing rocks. As depicted below, I like climbing, and this is my playground:


After we got our fill of gorgeous scenery and river rocks for my dad's walkway (tough work, carrying rocks) we departed. The fam left for the city, listening to our playlists, enjoying the breeze. We ate at good ol' Mickey D's, where I had my Tatsuya burger and Qoo juice. The drive back never lasts long enough.


After the neccessary unpacking and grumpiness, we passed out like babies.
The next day we randomly decided SCUBA diving was the flavor of the day. I should've brought the underwater camera, but then again visibility was only okay because of the recent rains... I got to take advantage of my prescription goggles and some yummy clams. It's always zenlike, getting to drift underwater, but over coral. The lionfish I saw was the only one against our interloper ways. Holly and I finished our tanks, then met my dad at the surface. All we could think about was food, so later that night we went out to Tex Mex. It's a Okinawan restaurant that serves Mexican food. Gross right? WRONG. Dead Wrong. Effing delicious. Then, to add insult to injury, we went to Yogurtland too! It's this frozen yogurt parlor that gives you 16 flavors and you pay by weight. Add brownies, gummi bears, sprinkles, horseradish(JK)or anything you want. Today is my first day of R & R in several weeks. With Matt and Jon on their way to Aja falls, I took the liberty of taking the day off for chores. Chores, healing and bills. Lots of fun right?
Today is the day I post pictures too. So hopefully this blog gets way brighter very soon....

When It Rains It Pours

Hey blogosphere. Soooo so much for Okuma. It was raining on the drive to the north side of the island, and didn't stop for 36 hours, which brings us to now. Matt, Haley and I cruised the scenic route with all the gear (and no stereo), and the 'rents took the droptop. Nice, dad. It was nice to unload everything in the rain, for some reason. It may have just been the "getting out to stretch" thing that let me unwind. The adults, matt and I played beer pong in a hallway, then got into trouble with Haley's friend's mom. (We had started playing light up frisbee in the field and were too loud for the other campers). We then did the only logical thing left... we slipped into the resort next door's pool. Sometimes it's great to be on this island, and those pools were just amazing.

The next day consisted of watching Star Trek, (the new one) and playing gin rummy to the heart's content. And trust me, my heart is content with cards for a WHILE. The highlight of yesterday was the bathhouse. My first time in a traditional Japanese bathhouse was terrifying. "Get bucknaked and put your pecker towel on!" Oh okay. The hitch is the other 12 guys already naked. Overall, the bathhouse was amazing though... with a sauna, jacuzzi, cold bath, and showers you can't go wrong. Man butt is a neccessary evil. For the record, Oki local dudes are like women. Skinny little things that like playing with hairdryers more than the sauna... heh. Hit the FamilyMart on the way home, picked up Shikuwaasen soda and this stuff called Green Cola... made by Asahi... weird. Oh and never drink Boabab Coca Cola... stuff tastes like ginger butt.
My dreams were awesome last night... in it I had a bunch of my friends and I watching a documentary on Okinawan surf policies... many of my stateside friends were in it, and some Spainsides too... as I post this, the weather has cleared up. It's probably (finally) time to skate those back country hills... later guys.
PS I swear I'll post pics on this blog, it's just that i broke my camera and Ryan's is inaccessible...they will come!

Checking the Weather

So this is my first blog, and I require that everyone read it with that in mind. The following will be a documentation of my (possibly) final stay in Okinawa. It is a sad occasion indeed, but honestly I am enjoying myself at the moment. With a different distraction every day, one can't help but simply have fun and enjoy the view. They say stop and smell the flowers, but here the scent is ingrained to the rocks, coral and island itself. On a clear day you can catch a wave or enjoy some of the greatest scuba diving of anywhere, ever. I can make such a comment. It's perhaps invalid, considering the amount of countries I've been to isn't more than two dozen. Nevertheless, it's better than Phuket, the Great Barrier Reef, Bali, anywhere in Florida, Bahamas, Cozumel, Belize, AND Oahu. Clearer and more diverse. It does bother me a bit at the informalities of a blog, but I'll still try and cop out with a fragmented sentence once in awhile. To clear things up a bit, I'm in Okinawa as a dependent at the age of 22. My dad retired here (with good reason) and I've visited every summer since. My other home is Pensacola, or Gulf Breeze if you want to get specific. I graduated GBHS class of 2006, and just finished my AA at PJC. The AA wasn't the goal, but a nice side item to complete the BA that I will have within a year. Ish. Hah, informality at it's laziest. Oh yes, I'm also very funny. (That's a joke too.) So my stepfamily is awesome, as is my soon-to-be stepfamily on the other side. My stepbrothers from Holly (current stepmother) are 19 and 20 with the younger on the hunt for a ladyfriend. Hint, hint. So this is the third or fourth summer I've spent here on 'The Rock', and Oki just gets easier every time. Driving's a breeze, my brain's trained for both sides of the road, and don't let me start on the food. Oishii, ne? Sushi for every meal, if I desire. Yes that's the 'be jealous' moment. It's a shame yen rate is kicking American dollar ass right now, otherwise I'd be 20 lbs heavier. I'm also a fat kid at heart. Without the heart disease, that is. This island boasts the best longboarding I've ever encountered in addition to the sweet waves and crystal clear waters. The roads are paved with shells, which makes them slicker and smoother. This is a bit more dangerous when it comes to high speeds, but you can't make a cake without breaking some eggs, right? Wow I'm lame. Also, I'm possibly the biggest nerd you know. Maybe not true considering I am posting this on the inter-web, but in many cases... yeah. I am. Pic included.


This summer I arrived from the Narita airport with Bubba, (Matt) my stepbrother, and we'd had a terrible plane ride. The really long one, across the Pacific, we sandwiched this old Chinese lady that was holding a baby. Pics to come. I had to change shirts from the drool. The first couple days consisted of jet lag and karaoke bars. Drunk kids singing out of tune with bad songs. And good ones. Orion, the beer here, is top notch compared to cheap American brews. Miller High Life and BL have nothing on Orion Lager. We'd have been outside, but the weather was wet season blahness. Just rain for an almost uninterrupted three days, and you'll want to sing drunkenly too. I had lived here in Oki for 4ish years when I was a youngin', and still don't know the language. It helps with directions, considering all the signs are in Japanese, but I do wish I could converse with the locals. Maybe I'd be able to ask the jerk that pushed me off my board and onto the coral why he did so.
The planes that fly over Sunabe (a surf spot, or collection of surf spots anyway) are all American and very, very loud; I guess that's enough to piss any local off. With how much I've rambled I've obviously got more to say, but I'm cutting it short so I can get packed. I've got Okuma this weekend, and skating in the mountains to look forward to. Hopefully I'll get to chill at Aja Falls or Oku too. Umm shoutouts: Happy Birthday Stateside homeslices! Stay safe Ali! No bringing European boys home either. Lindsay, that goes triple for you. Brant, hurry up and get here, I need a blocker or something to surf with. Anyone in Oki that can play soccer, I challenge you. I need someone to play withhh...... ahhh.