Have the week off.
Honeymoon in Hawaii.
Got married on Saturday.
Today is Tuesday.
Skated around Diamond Head.
and surfed at bowls.
Some guy dropped in on Ethan pretty bad.
A rad perfect wave.
The guy who dropped in on him ripped the wave apart.
Ethan did the same. Only behind the guy.
His response to the bad move was.
"Hey. You got some sick lines brah."
And the guy made a sour face.
Later an Uncle recognized Ethan.
Ethan said yeah I'm gonna take the next one in.
Uncle says, "Why you just got out. You gotta be patient."
The drop in dude was sitting right next to Ethan."
And Ethan says, "No, I just caught a sick wave right behind this guy right here."
It made the guy look small and lame.
I liked this technique... Instead of calling him a kook, and starting a fight,
Ethan came at it positive and the guy didn't know what to do.
The skating earlier in the day was good times.
I put on an old set of unused soft 78a Kryptonic wheels.
They slid real good. and were such a cush ride.
Overall the day was rad.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
Surf Wisdom: Crucial Seconds into a tangent mantra.
A second to early or a second too late is what your dealing with sometimes when catching waves.
Being at the right place and the right time. Some waves the margin of error is larger. Some waves there is no margin of error, where you must be spot on. Some boards will create that opportunity for error, however you might trade that for manueverablility. For instance a longer board will catch more waves, however you may not be able to turn it as radical.
However. with a shorter board that day and at that spot you may not catch any waves at all.
There is a right board for the right condition. And sometimes a condition that will allow for a variety of boards.
It works both waves. Ones choices are a dance or a gamble... or a recipe.
It's kind of like Mexian food sometimes. Your ingredients are beans, rice, tomato, onions, beef, or chicken and corn tortillas.
And you take these ingredients to take many differnet forms: Tacos, Burritos, Enchiladas, Chimichangas, Tostadas,
Some surfers think long boarding and short boarding and stand-up paddling boaring are separate, but they're not.d
They are all connected.
Take that a step further.
Surfing is no different than eating mexican food, Different choices, for a result of satisfying a hunger, a pleasure.
My ideas are scattered, but this is an attempt to attack the simplicity at hand.
Life is simple yet so hard to describe at times.
What angle to come at.
Well these writings are a literal practice like to be able to clearly define the secret to living life to your highest potential.
I want to surf.
I want a job.
I have to go where the waves are.
I go where the jobs are.
I like fast waves.
I like artistic jobs.
I surf where the fast waves form often.
I work where there are artistic jobs.
However the one thing that differs form life on land and surfing.
In surfing you have to wait for the waves to arise.
But on land, you can create the waves yourself with the help of others.
Waves of thought in the minds of others.
Sometimes perfect waves hit an area only once that year.
And sometimes they may not show up again for 2 more years or who knows when.
The more I surf the better I understand surfing waves and the ocean.
The more I write the better I understand how the waves of thought in the ocean in my mind.
The more I surf the better I can express myself on waves.
The more I write, the better I can express my thoughts.
The more I dance, the better I can move.
The more I surf, the better I surf.
The more I paint pictures, the better I can understand pictures.
The more I paint, the better I can understand color, shape, line, composition, narrating visually.
The more I surf, the better I understand surfing.
The more I work with people, the better I work with people.
The more I work, the better I work.
The more I love, the better I love.
The more I express my love, the better I express my love.
The more I spend time with friends, the better friends I have.
The more I breathe, the better I breathe.
The more I paint the better I paint.
The more time I spend with myself, the better I understand myself.
But watch out. there are exceptions. You will run into a time when this technique of thought will not work
in every situation. Just as one surfboard won't work for all waves.
(Woke up at 3+am coudn't sleep and had these ideas. So I jumped onto the computer to capture them.)\
Alot of words.But...
There is an ocean of thoughts with infinite waves.
The act of Surfing is an easy activity to peer into the truth of the universe because it is not processed in thought and decisions of others... and too many tools. It is one mind, one board, one wave, one moment. And the only moment you have to deal with is the moment at hand. There are very few variables to deal with. You, your board, and the wave.
Not a team of players, not a boss, a company, your office, computer, assistant, department., Just you a board and the wave.
This is why it is good to eat unprocessed food. Something closer to its original form.
If you can surf between all these... juggle all of your passions.
Balance them all... This is what you must keep in practice.
The more I balance, the better I can balance.
The more I juggle, the better I juggle.
But there comes a point where I can only juggle a certain number of elements my life.
One more too many and the whole juggle collapses. I drop all the balls.
I gotta watch closely how many things I try to juggle.
Myself. Wife. Kid. Surf, Skate, Create.Write. Speak. Business.
Its funny how peoples priorities differ.
What happens when I shift around my priorities.
Like put Business on top.
nahhh. that would be gross.
But hey how about different priority combination for different conditions.
Switch up the ingredients for different occassions.
We're not gonna eat tacos every night right.
hmmmm. To be continued.
Being at the right place and the right time. Some waves the margin of error is larger. Some waves there is no margin of error, where you must be spot on. Some boards will create that opportunity for error, however you might trade that for manueverablility. For instance a longer board will catch more waves, however you may not be able to turn it as radical.
However. with a shorter board that day and at that spot you may not catch any waves at all.
There is a right board for the right condition. And sometimes a condition that will allow for a variety of boards.
It works both waves. Ones choices are a dance or a gamble... or a recipe.
It's kind of like Mexian food sometimes. Your ingredients are beans, rice, tomato, onions, beef, or chicken and corn tortillas.
And you take these ingredients to take many differnet forms: Tacos, Burritos, Enchiladas, Chimichangas, Tostadas,
Some surfers think long boarding and short boarding and stand-up paddling boaring are separate, but they're not.d
They are all connected.
Take that a step further.
Surfing is no different than eating mexican food, Different choices, for a result of satisfying a hunger, a pleasure.
My ideas are scattered, but this is an attempt to attack the simplicity at hand.
Life is simple yet so hard to describe at times.
What angle to come at.
Well these writings are a literal practice like to be able to clearly define the secret to living life to your highest potential.
I want to surf.
I want a job.
I have to go where the waves are.
I go where the jobs are.
I like fast waves.
I like artistic jobs.
I surf where the fast waves form often.
I work where there are artistic jobs.
However the one thing that differs form life on land and surfing.
In surfing you have to wait for the waves to arise.
But on land, you can create the waves yourself with the help of others.
Waves of thought in the minds of others.
Sometimes perfect waves hit an area only once that year.
And sometimes they may not show up again for 2 more years or who knows when.
The more I surf the better I understand surfing waves and the ocean.
The more I write the better I understand how the waves of thought in the ocean in my mind.
The more I surf the better I can express myself on waves.
The more I write, the better I can express my thoughts.
The more I dance, the better I can move.
The more I surf, the better I surf.
The more I paint pictures, the better I can understand pictures.
The more I paint, the better I can understand color, shape, line, composition, narrating visually.
The more I surf, the better I understand surfing.
The more I work with people, the better I work with people.
The more I work, the better I work.
The more I love, the better I love.
The more I express my love, the better I express my love.
The more I spend time with friends, the better friends I have.
The more I breathe, the better I breathe.
The more I paint the better I paint.
The more time I spend with myself, the better I understand myself.
But watch out. there are exceptions. You will run into a time when this technique of thought will not work
in every situation. Just as one surfboard won't work for all waves.
(Woke up at 3+am coudn't sleep and had these ideas. So I jumped onto the computer to capture them.)\
Alot of words.But...
There is an ocean of thoughts with infinite waves.
The act of Surfing is an easy activity to peer into the truth of the universe because it is not processed in thought and decisions of others... and too many tools. It is one mind, one board, one wave, one moment. And the only moment you have to deal with is the moment at hand. There are very few variables to deal with. You, your board, and the wave.
Not a team of players, not a boss, a company, your office, computer, assistant, department., Just you a board and the wave.
This is why it is good to eat unprocessed food. Something closer to its original form.
If you can surf between all these... juggle all of your passions.
Balance them all... This is what you must keep in practice.
The more I balance, the better I can balance.
The more I juggle, the better I juggle.
But there comes a point where I can only juggle a certain number of elements my life.
One more too many and the whole juggle collapses. I drop all the balls.
I gotta watch closely how many things I try to juggle.
Myself. Wife. Kid. Surf, Skate, Create.Write. Speak. Business.
Its funny how peoples priorities differ.
What happens when I shift around my priorities.
Like put Business on top.
nahhh. that would be gross.
But hey how about different priority combination for different conditions.
Switch up the ingredients for different occassions.
We're not gonna eat tacos every night right.
hmmmm. To be continued.
Christian Hosoi
I don't know if I wrote about this already, but a couple of weeks ago I was skateboarding to Enterprise Rent a Car to pick up a vehicle as I do most Tuesday afternoons. Except this time I took an alternate route.
On the way I noticed in a courtyard between buildings, a big crowd and a mini-ramp with a bunch of kids skating.
Of course I'm thinking, "Mini-ramp. I wanna skate the min-ramp. At a closer glance I see Christian Hosoi at the base of the ramp narrating through a loudspeaker phone. He is the host of some kind of big event. It is then that I notice that the location is a church named "Word of Life"
Then one of the kids on the other side of the fence notices me and my board and says, "Hey man you can skate too. All you have to do is sign up."
To make a long story shorter, I get the car hustle back and Christian is saying can anyone out there do a layback?
First person to do the best layback gets these set of wheels"
Coincidentally the layback is one of my signature tricks because one of Christian's signature tricks is the layback.
You see like thousands of other skaters around the globe from 80's, Christian was my role model... Hero if you will.
So I say, "I can" and jump onto the ramp.
Christian says "Oh, here we go."
I drop in and Christian says to the crowd, "O.K. this guy's got style" and I'm thinking "Christian my teenage hero known as the "most stylish skater that ever lived" is saying that I have style.
I'm so stoked and I do a layback and the crowd cheers.
Then I notice the soft wheels I'm riding are too soft for the ramp. So I say" Christian. Can I use your board?" and he says, "Sure." and hands me his board and...
Actually this is one of the main reasons I'm writing this story.
His board was so elite.
His board was light in weight.
Trucks the perfect looseness. Not too tight, not too loose.
Perfect tail length.
Perfect pop.(the wood so fresh and hard) the sound of smacking the tail made the highest pitch "DAK!"
His wheels the perfect height...
actually very low to the ground.
The center of gravity of the board so low.
and the board the perfect length and with.
A big board yet so light.
It even had a thin set of rails on it.
and the board still weighed so little.
I rode this board and it was magic.
I rode it until he took it back.
We then got into a deep conversation about Jesus.
I told him that I was just randomly skateing by and i saw this ramp and wanted to skate.
Then I saw you inside hosting and was like, "No Way!"
He was stoked about the randomness of my experience and said, "How do you know that Jesus didn't put this ramp for you to skate and talk with me right now. Jesus has the power to do things for you individually and for others at the same time."
Then he said lets skate. And we run up the ramp and Christian drops in for a flawless epic run as usual. To see Christian bail is kind of rare. Long 5-0 grinds to fackie. Big backside disasters to smith. A frontside floating olllie. Long frontside 5-0 grinds. A hand plant, and of course a classic layback like no other. Then dismounts onto one the deck.
He climbs off the ramp into the crowd. And I take my run. A hard act to follow, but do anyway.
I then here my name from below.
Its Christian. He says, "Manny!" and gestures for me to come down. So I do.
Christian says, "Lets say a prayer. Repeat after me"
"Thank you lord for giving us this ramp to skate and have fun. If there is a god out there, give me a big sign that I will notice"... Amen.
.... It was something along this line.
He then said here take my number down. I had it previously from when I did an interview with him for the Honolulu Weekly a year ago but had lost it with a new phone.
He said, You're gonna call me when you get blown away at the power of Jesus. You are gonna be blown away."
We parted as he was scheduled to speak during the next part of the event...
I stuck around a little while and listened to him speak to the crowd of about 500 people or more. I was touched to hear him speak about our encounter... about how I randomly rolled through that street and found the ramp. And how Jesus possibly put that ramp out there for me. as well as he did it for all of us...
I was like wow. what a day.
Kind of surreal.
I feel blessed actually.
God has bestowed a wealth of good times and moments to me... and my surroundings.
I am blessed.
God is with me.
And that is what my hame "Emanuel" means actually.... God is with us.
On the way I noticed in a courtyard between buildings, a big crowd and a mini-ramp with a bunch of kids skating.
Of course I'm thinking, "Mini-ramp. I wanna skate the min-ramp. At a closer glance I see Christian Hosoi at the base of the ramp narrating through a loudspeaker phone. He is the host of some kind of big event. It is then that I notice that the location is a church named "Word of Life"
Then one of the kids on the other side of the fence notices me and my board and says, "Hey man you can skate too. All you have to do is sign up."
To make a long story shorter, I get the car hustle back and Christian is saying can anyone out there do a layback?
First person to do the best layback gets these set of wheels"
Coincidentally the layback is one of my signature tricks because one of Christian's signature tricks is the layback.
You see like thousands of other skaters around the globe from 80's, Christian was my role model... Hero if you will.
So I say, "I can" and jump onto the ramp.
Christian says "Oh, here we go."
I drop in and Christian says to the crowd, "O.K. this guy's got style" and I'm thinking "Christian my teenage hero known as the "most stylish skater that ever lived" is saying that I have style.
I'm so stoked and I do a layback and the crowd cheers.
Then I notice the soft wheels I'm riding are too soft for the ramp. So I say" Christian. Can I use your board?" and he says, "Sure." and hands me his board and...
Actually this is one of the main reasons I'm writing this story.
His board was so elite.
His board was light in weight.
Trucks the perfect looseness. Not too tight, not too loose.
Perfect tail length.
Perfect pop.(the wood so fresh and hard) the sound of smacking the tail made the highest pitch "DAK!"
His wheels the perfect height...
actually very low to the ground.
The center of gravity of the board so low.
and the board the perfect length and with.
A big board yet so light.
It even had a thin set of rails on it.
and the board still weighed so little.
I rode this board and it was magic.
I rode it until he took it back.
We then got into a deep conversation about Jesus.
I told him that I was just randomly skateing by and i saw this ramp and wanted to skate.
Then I saw you inside hosting and was like, "No Way!"
He was stoked about the randomness of my experience and said, "How do you know that Jesus didn't put this ramp for you to skate and talk with me right now. Jesus has the power to do things for you individually and for others at the same time."
Then he said lets skate. And we run up the ramp and Christian drops in for a flawless epic run as usual. To see Christian bail is kind of rare. Long 5-0 grinds to fackie. Big backside disasters to smith. A frontside floating olllie. Long frontside 5-0 grinds. A hand plant, and of course a classic layback like no other. Then dismounts onto one the deck.
He climbs off the ramp into the crowd. And I take my run. A hard act to follow, but do anyway.
I then here my name from below.
Its Christian. He says, "Manny!" and gestures for me to come down. So I do.
Christian says, "Lets say a prayer. Repeat after me"
"Thank you lord for giving us this ramp to skate and have fun. If there is a god out there, give me a big sign that I will notice"... Amen.
.... It was something along this line.
He then said here take my number down. I had it previously from when I did an interview with him for the Honolulu Weekly a year ago but had lost it with a new phone.
He said, You're gonna call me when you get blown away at the power of Jesus. You are gonna be blown away."
We parted as he was scheduled to speak during the next part of the event...
I stuck around a little while and listened to him speak to the crowd of about 500 people or more. I was touched to hear him speak about our encounter... about how I randomly rolled through that street and found the ramp. And how Jesus possibly put that ramp out there for me. as well as he did it for all of us...
I was like wow. what a day.
Kind of surreal.
I feel blessed actually.
God has bestowed a wealth of good times and moments to me... and my surroundings.
I am blessed.
God is with me.
And that is what my hame "Emanuel" means actually.... God is with us.
Uncle Outside
I surfed "Lighthouse" yesterday morning. It's one of the high performance waves on the South Shore.
Every spot of course has it's regulars. At Lighthouse there's this one Uncle who sits the farthest outside waiting for only the big set waves. From further inside where most sit, Uncle sounds like he's speaking in tongues...mumbling.
He'll be like, "Ober der inside yeah!... oops maybe not. Hmmm. Maybe... mmmm..No. Sorry eh!" or" Der inside! Going brah!"
Then, Uh Oh! Here dey come (talking about approaching waves in the far distance.) "Here we go, ha ha ha grrrrrhhm. Yah!" as he paddles to into position. He'll be what looks like just a little too far inside where the wave is gonna crash on his back... And the wave does just that. He'll do the latest of late take-offs. The wave jacks up. the lip crashes on his back as he is saying, "Uh. Oh." under his breath and make the drop somehow. Any second later a total wipeout. then he'll go left sometimes instead of right (the way the wave is known for breaking).
Most people think longboarders are not welcome at lighthouse.
But the way Uncles rides, he is an obvious exception.
If you paddle next to him, you realize that it is not the sound of waves and distance that muffles his voice, but he actually speaks that way, in grunts... but I totally understand him... Probably because I speak like him as well at times like when I speak to my lady Marisa. She can't stand it. But somehow it makes sense to me.... or isn't worth articulating.
Unga bunga.
Aloha yeah?
-Manwell.
Every spot of course has it's regulars. At Lighthouse there's this one Uncle who sits the farthest outside waiting for only the big set waves. From further inside where most sit, Uncle sounds like he's speaking in tongues...mumbling.
He'll be like, "Ober der inside yeah!... oops maybe not. Hmmm. Maybe... mmmm..No. Sorry eh!" or" Der inside! Going brah!"
Then, Uh Oh! Here dey come (talking about approaching waves in the far distance.) "Here we go, ha ha ha grrrrrhhm. Yah!" as he paddles to into position. He'll be what looks like just a little too far inside where the wave is gonna crash on his back... And the wave does just that. He'll do the latest of late take-offs. The wave jacks up. the lip crashes on his back as he is saying, "Uh. Oh." under his breath and make the drop somehow. Any second later a total wipeout. then he'll go left sometimes instead of right (the way the wave is known for breaking).
Most people think longboarders are not welcome at lighthouse.
But the way Uncles rides, he is an obvious exception.
If you paddle next to him, you realize that it is not the sound of waves and distance that muffles his voice, but he actually speaks that way, in grunts... but I totally understand him... Probably because I speak like him as well at times like when I speak to my lady Marisa. She can't stand it. But somehow it makes sense to me.... or isn't worth articulating.
Unga bunga.
Aloha yeah?
-Manwell.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
4th of July Ding Repair
I'm not bragging about this moment. I just found it funny and a little scary.
At the supermarket with my pregnant lady Marisa.
We're buying groceries of for a BBQ at our friend Rob Duncan.
Marisa is being good and buying veggies and fruit.
I'm almost totally broke and all I want and can afford is chicken and beer.
And all I want to do is do ding repair and sand my surfboards.
We get to the register and pay separate and the beer cost more than the chicken,
which she points out.
I almost feel guilty but not.
I can't focus my mind on anything else but sanding my boards. And its Marisa's only day off.
I felt so selfish.
So she says go sand. It's too late I had to leave.
I go to Rob's because he has a big backyard for me to make a mess.
For the next 2 hour I sand and drink a few beers while Marisa stayed home and cried.
I felt terrible, but there was nothing I can do.
I already dropped in.
When I finished, I hustled back home, got down on my knees and apologized for a while and finally got her to come with me back to the BBQ.
but first we drove up Tantalus Mountain and watched the fire works in the rain. We sat in the back of our station wagon hatchback until the fireworks started. Then I held two layers of straw matting over our heads for perfect romantic shelter.
Those fireworks saved my relationship.
If we would have missed them, I may have been a gonner.
The fireworks went off right on time at around 8:30pm.
Then we went back to the BBQ just as Rob started Q-ing it up.
We ate big.
then went home and crashed.
That was a close one.
I almost lost my lady to ding repair.
-Manny
At the supermarket with my pregnant lady Marisa.
We're buying groceries of for a BBQ at our friend Rob Duncan.
Marisa is being good and buying veggies and fruit.
I'm almost totally broke and all I want and can afford is chicken and beer.
And all I want to do is do ding repair and sand my surfboards.
We get to the register and pay separate and the beer cost more than the chicken,
which she points out.
I almost feel guilty but not.
I can't focus my mind on anything else but sanding my boards. And its Marisa's only day off.
I felt so selfish.
So she says go sand. It's too late I had to leave.
I go to Rob's because he has a big backyard for me to make a mess.
For the next 2 hour I sand and drink a few beers while Marisa stayed home and cried.
I felt terrible, but there was nothing I can do.
I already dropped in.
When I finished, I hustled back home, got down on my knees and apologized for a while and finally got her to come with me back to the BBQ.
but first we drove up Tantalus Mountain and watched the fire works in the rain. We sat in the back of our station wagon hatchback until the fireworks started. Then I held two layers of straw matting over our heads for perfect romantic shelter.
Those fireworks saved my relationship.
If we would have missed them, I may have been a gonner.
The fireworks went off right on time at around 8:30pm.
Then we went back to the BBQ just as Rob started Q-ing it up.
We ate big.
then went home and crashed.
That was a close one.
I almost lost my lady to ding repair.
-Manny
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