Meditate

I guess that is why I really go out to the beach. With all that I have to do, I just need time to stop and think and relax a bit. I had my belly dance recital and I had been practicing everyday like a mad woman.

Taking out my board last Friday was just what I needed. To get out in the fresh air and think and relax and feel the cold water at my feet and taste the salt water running down the back of my mouth.

At my spot I unloaded my board and checked out to see who was in the water. The waves were mellow, yet again and there were a quite a few long boards out there. The day was overcast and my butt was freezing on the way home. Thank goodness for seat warmers!

What did I have to think about? The fact that I am not skinny and yet I was going to belly dance in front of a live audience. Would they think I was a dumb fat girl that didn’t realize she was fat and somehow was disillusioned and thought she was 22 again and really hot? I know that those kinds of things are left over from my family. The other girls were not perfect either, that helped a lot.

There is also the fact that I have been dancing so much, it is helping me to keep my waistline down. One of the many reasons I love doing this, sure it’s fun. Helping me lose weight so much better!

The belly dancing is helping me lose weight and my stomach is smaller, which helps my surfing. Surfing makes me feel good and I was in a great mood the whole day. During the day I work on this blog or my book. The belly dancing makes me feel sexy and confident and that helps me work on my book and feel confident about my work as a writer.

It does all seem to keep feeding and helping each other. A symbiotic relationship so to speak. I do feel a lot better these days that is for sure, and when I am in the sand drying off, it’s the sort of thing I meditate on.

Watching

In the water we have to watching for the next wave, others around us. In driving we have to constantly watch and see what the other idiot drivers are doing around us. When I am in the water I operate under the idea that no one cares or notices a thing I am doing.

One day as I got my board waxed and ready to take out, a tourist family showed up. There was a mom and dad and two little boys. I had no intention of doing anything more but practice and get a good work out.

The boys watched me intently and when I was paddling out there was a few big waves that I swam over. As I came up to each wave, I could hear one of the boys gasp, a few times he said. “Watch out!”

I was fine and swam over them no problem. It was funny to hear his concern for me. I had no idea he was that worried. Later when I came out he was a more than disappointed. I had not busted out any great moves. There wasn’t way to, since there were not any great waves. I suppose he thought this was like live Fuel TV, but it wasn’t.

When I go out I also enjoy watching what the other surfers are doing and seeing them get a good ride in. At this point I am still not much for others to watch. I need to work on that. I have not pushed myself too hard in this sport. The whole beach time for me is more meditative for me more than anything else.

I love the ocean and miss the salt water in my mouth if I don’t get to go out that often. These last two weeks I didn’t get to go out. I will get up early and go out tomorrow. I need it. I have been working hard on my dancing, but I need to clear my head and watch the water for a bit.

Land Locked

This last weekend I was in Reno to attend a scooter rally and visit some friends. I don’t gamble and I don’t really like Reno. If it were not for friends being there, I could have skipped the whole thing. What with the crack heads and daytime hookers, no thank you.

Since I work at a scooter shop the rally was really a way to promote the shop. It was a smaller rally that some of the local ones. Not that it is a bad thing. You really get to know everyone in the local scene and they are so appreciative of the attention.

Saturday was really dry and windy. The ride was great and even though 23 scooters and 4 mopeds showed up, they were all very excited bunch. The ride took us to a nice park and it was nice drive back. The group stayed together for the most part, and helped visitors back to the meeting spot.

After the ride, while we waited for the gymkhana to start, there was a swap meet being held. I was able to pick up some nice things. There was also a small food stand, selling cold beers and calamari.

While it was nice in the hills, being land locked like that has much to be desired. I have lived in areas before where it’s hours to the ocean, it’s so much not for me. When I visit places like that, it’s just a visit. Nothing to me says I have to stay or would want to stay. On the other hand, being on an island is not something I would want either. I love the idea of taking a plane flight and go to another side of the country, or drive for hours and never leave the state. I wouldn’t want to drive all-day and just go in a circle.

I know these preferences are in me because of where I have grown up. If I had grown up on an island I would love it. Being in So Cal is pretty great; we have the beach, the mountains and the desert, not too shabby. At least we aren’t land-locked, unless we want to be. Glad to be home.

Same time, same place

I was at my regular spot on Sunday. I did take time to check out another surf spot before going back to my same old, same old.

The morning was quite grey at first. By 9 am it cleared and was starting to get warm. I have been out all summer and have not gotten that tan. Sure I have an all year long tan; it’s just that I take off when the sun really starts to come out. I always use sun-screen, even if it is overcast. I have learned years ago to take care of my skin.

The day was nice and the surf was mellow. Like it has been for the last month. I was tired from being out the night before. I had gone to the symphony and while it’s not a wild evening it was fun. They had played Beethoven 5th and we had drunk some wine. There was also a fireworks display. That was fun and I got to spend time with a friend I haven’t done anything with in a while, always great to catch up.

The next morning after getting even more tired from being in the water, I relaxed and read on the sand. There was a pod of dolphins again. They stayed a while and I could see two of them jumping out of the water together.

The rest of the week has been so busy for me. We are going out of town this weekend and I will be with mostly men, and nowhere near the ocean. If I hadn’t forced myself to get up early and get going I wouldn’t have been there to see the dolphin and recharge my batteries for this next week.

I will have to wait till a week from tomorrow to go back out again and I will again not pass up the chance to get my board out and take it to the same place. Good thing it will be there waiting for me.

Great Time

The last Sunday was another great time at Lake Newport. The tide was so low I could walk up to the lineup and the water was only up to my shoulders. Being that I am only 4’11’ that makes it about 4 feet of water.

I had to joke with the other surfers and we talked a bit. I waited for some of them to leave to take my board out. There were about 10 and no waves. Okay, just little bitty ones that were better for body surfing than board surfing. There was no need for my 9’6” board to be hogging up space. I swam for a while and played a bit in the water, making sure to keep out of the way as best as I could.

I did get my board out. I am finding out that I am not as tired as I used to be. Now I feel ready to try to add Friday mornings to my schedule of exercise. I should be able to go out and then head back in time for work. I don’t know if I will be able to do every Friday, but I will try.

This will be my first time going out twice in one week. Of course I will be reporting back as to how that goes. As always I will check up on Surf line before I go out. What did we do before that? Oh yeah, the surf reports on the phone.

The end of my morning ended as usual with breakfast and a good book. Before I left I took a long last look. They sky was blue and the water sparkled and I was listening to good music. It’s times like that when it’s so hard to leave.

This is what I do, first I think about making a change. Test out the waters to see if it is possible. Then when I feel it is right I go for it and don’t look back. I can’t always do that with everything, but I will keep trying. :-)

Out

For a Sunday in August it was pretty overcast. I was out the other day and after I got out of the water I needed my sweater. It was still good to be out of the house and in the water.

I was almost going to stay in and sleep some more, but I went to Surf line and saw that that water was really calm and slow. If I didn’t go and get out there it would have been really lame of me. I got myself ready and strapped up my board and got out there.

It was nice, I got a good parking spot and waxed up my board and got in the water. After a while another surfer was coming up to my left in the lineup. I was off my board just playing around. I didn’t want him to think I was going to be a pain. “Don’t worry I will stay out of your way.” I said.

“It’s a lot colder that I thought it was going to be.” He said after a chuckle.

I did move and get out of his way. I was there to keep working on my upper body strength and the only way to do that is to get out there and get on my board and really paddle and swim.

When I was ready to get out I made sure there was no wave any one was trying to catch and I rode a small wave in to the shoreline. I kept my word and did not get in any ones way. I watched as the other stayed in the water longer and after a while I drifted off to sleep in the sand.

Later I woke up, since hunger pains set in. Yeah, like no one ever gets starving hungry after swimming. The morning ended with breakfast by myself. At home it was a lot hotter, good thing I had time to go into the water and get out of the house.

How do they do it?

I know there are other spots on earth that are hotter than So Cal. Just going farther east into Palm Springs and you are hotter still. How do they do it?

The hottest place I have ever lived was in Las Vegas NV. I lived there the summer I turn 16. The daytime high was 120 and I was able to walk around and everything. The funny thing about that was that all summer I never saw another teenagers walking around and I never meet them. When I went to register for school I just sat back in wonderment. Where had they been all summer? My sister and I would go to the malls during the day, and yes I carried my bomb box proudly. I blasted Siouxie and the Banshees, and everyone stared. Also I spent a lot of money on Perrier that summer.

In Rancho Cordova it was also about 120 at noon in the summer. The difference was the humidity. Rancho was much more humid than Vegas, for obvious reasons. In Vegas I didn’t feel tired from the heat as much as I do here some times. In Rancho I really felt it, the kind of heat that makes you sluggish.

There was no way I could live in Vegas. It was quite a while ago, but there is nothing to do when you are underage and not a tourist. At the time I couldn’t deal with the fact that I had to go to another state to go to the beach. Now, well my family lives there and we are not close, one more reason to stay away from Vegas.

It is just amazing that we can live in all these different climates and still be okay. Somewhat, we all get uncomfortable and sticky. Here in So Cal over a hundred years ago, a very wealthy Spanish woman used to keep a glass of ice tea handy and press it to her wrist to keep herself cool during the summers. Others just drink tons of water. For me, it’s all about getting back into the water to cool off. If it’s the pool or the ocean there is nothing like cold water on a hot day. Okay maybe a cold beer, and yes I would walk over my own mother to get one on a day like today!