Much like Amanda I have been writing for years about the adventures I have taken but I don’t usually publish anything. However I will occasionally update http://absenceoftime2.blogspot.com/ with some of my stories which I will try and associate with my music interests. This will offer a 2 dimensional perspective. Although the music I like to write about is often not liked in mainstream venues it helps me taste my youth for a seconded time.
So These are the stories my best friend and I share around the fire.
I found a great song by Super Chunk When I Learned to Surf. free download at amazon
Learn to Surf
“When I learned to Walk you know Humans roamed the earth I can’t hold my breath anymore I stopped sinking and learned to surf”
This is the story of when I stopped sinking and learned to surf...
The hard thing about aging and great friends is that when we are ready to start our journey our friends are often retreating from theirs. It is difficult to be in sync as we grow distant from each other. If by some chance we meet in the middle between the rise and fall of our dreams may we remember what youth felt like and the reasons for chasing surf together.
School synchronizes our achievements or the lack of creating opportunity through synergy. The emotions we feel get amplified when we group ourselves with likeminded friends. I learned to surf because of my best friend and honestly if not for him I would have stopped right when the best of us start (after high school). I traveled with this friend for years chasing the excitement found in surfing together.
I often ask myself where I would be at this moment if not for a chance meeting with my best friend in a dropout prevention class in 10th grade. Well I would have believed what the world believed. I was a loser. However through our adventures I found I had real ability to live a life much greater than the one I was stuck in
After I dropped out of YCAT Lab at South East high school in 11th grade I was told I was a looser by my instructor. She was right I suffered a great loss in my high school achievement. And while I know I should have tried harder in high school it just felt like a rigged game I could not win. So I gave up and took a GED at 19 and at 23 found a backdoor into CU Boulder.
But I should say that the time after dropping out and before Going to college was where I learned to harness the naturally occurring momentum of turbulence by learning to surf.
Don’t get me wrong when I first dropped out of high school I lived my car. I even rented a 3x8 shed to live in while I delivered pizza. This was a very hard time for me but its always hard building a foundation for the first time. I built my first business and watched it get taken from me in 1 day. It was such a sad time but my best friend and I would surf every chance we got. And this saved me form giving up.
Often during this time I wished for death. I hated living in my car and feeling like everyone knew I was homeless. Life seemed so overwhelming and when this is happing life are only kicks harder when you’re down. But while surfing with Aaron… I was free, It was like the water could wrap me in a protective barrier that could somehow stop the chaos of my life. We would surf for days with little food and water just sleeping at Sebastian Inlet or on the beach at Cocoa beach pier.
Eventually I realized that the only thing I wanted to do was travel and surf. So I did. And by a happy accident I was living in LA and friend invited me to Boulder. And Boulder CO just about handed me a great wife, 200 thousand dollars and an MBA. No, it was work and a lot of it. But it almost seems all my off shaped quirks fit for the first time here. I remember learning to snowboard quickly and then using these skills to sell liquidated merchandise for SNIAGRAB on commission in 1999 as manager of the snowboard department and made more money in 3 months than I ever have seen in my entire life.
I was 22 and this was a turning point for me. I owe Garts sports and now Sports Authority and my manger Dan a tremendous debt for this gift. Because of it I was able to snowboard the rest of the season and start at CU Boulder.
Going to college was very freighting for me. But I made a pack with myself that I would do well in college or join the military. I was not joking I forced myself to do well in college and it was not easy. I had no computer experience and had never written an essay and my first class was an introduction writing course for football players and others struggling students. But they were all more advanced than me.
To give you an idea of how bad it was when I went to the computer lab I could not find how to type. I did not know what Word was and I ended up in an engineering lab. After about 2 hours of clicking I finally left absolutely devastated. I was so embarrassed because everyone seemed to use computer so easily and I could not find how to type. The feeling of shame I had for not knowing what everyone seemed to know was excruciating. But by luck I worked with a business major named Brooke who took the time to teach me what labs to use what programs to use. After that I had a fitting chance and spent every day in the labs typing. Often I would forget to snowboard. I was on a mission and I was so afraid of failing in college because I really didn’t want my old high school teacher to be right in calling me a looser. Do you know what I mean? If one person calls you a loser well this is just one however when many call you a loser maybe I would be forced to admit I was.
However life opened up to the young wide smiling, energetic, long harried surfer I became. Honestly, I don’t know if I deserved the opportunities that through themselves in my path. However the ones I did grab lead to a life I feel resembles the life I wanted.
I should state that I did graduate high school and even obtained an MBA in marketing. I don’t know if the scholarly education is worth the cost but I defiantly got my monies worth learning to surf with Aaron.
The Absence of Time is a great feeling Thanks for reminding me Super Chunk “ I seem a little out of it”
.
So These are the stories my best friend and I share around the fire.
I found a great song by Super Chunk When I Learned to Surf. free download at amazon
Learn to Surf
“When I learned to Walk you know Humans roamed the earth I can’t hold my breath anymore I stopped sinking and learned to surf”
This is the story of when I stopped sinking and learned to surf...
The hard thing about aging and great friends is that when we are ready to start our journey our friends are often retreating from theirs. It is difficult to be in sync as we grow distant from each other. If by some chance we meet in the middle between the rise and fall of our dreams may we remember what youth felt like and the reasons for chasing surf together.
School synchronizes our achievements or the lack of creating opportunity through synergy. The emotions we feel get amplified when we group ourselves with likeminded friends. I learned to surf because of my best friend and honestly if not for him I would have stopped right when the best of us start (after high school). I traveled with this friend for years chasing the excitement found in surfing together.
I often ask myself where I would be at this moment if not for a chance meeting with my best friend in a dropout prevention class in 10th grade. Well I would have believed what the world believed. I was a loser. However through our adventures I found I had real ability to live a life much greater than the one I was stuck in
After I dropped out of YCAT Lab at South East high school in 11th grade I was told I was a looser by my instructor. She was right I suffered a great loss in my high school achievement. And while I know I should have tried harder in high school it just felt like a rigged game I could not win. So I gave up and took a GED at 19 and at 23 found a backdoor into CU Boulder.
But I should say that the time after dropping out and before Going to college was where I learned to harness the naturally occurring momentum of turbulence by learning to surf. Don’t get me wrong when I first dropped out of high school I lived my car. I even rented a 3x8 shed to live in while I delivered pizza. This was a very hard time for me but its always hard building a foundation for the first time. I built my first business and watched it get taken from me in 1 day. It was such a sad time but my best friend and I would surf every chance we got. And this saved me form giving up.
Often during this time I wished for death. I hated living in my car and feeling like everyone knew I was homeless. Life seemed so overwhelming and when this is happing life are only kicks harder when you’re down. But while surfing with Aaron… I was free, It was like the water could wrap me in a protective barrier that could somehow stop the chaos of my life. We would surf for days with little food and water just sleeping at Sebastian Inlet or on the beach at Cocoa beach pier. Eventually I realized that the only thing I wanted to do was travel and surf. So I did. And by a happy accident I was living in LA and friend invited me to Boulder. And Boulder CO just about handed me a great wife, 200 thousand dollars and an MBA. No, it was work and a lot of it. But it almost seems all my off shaped quirks fit for the first time here. I remember learning to snowboard quickly and then using these skills to sell liquidated merchandise for SNIAGRAB on commission in 1999 as manager of the snowboard department and made more money in 3 months than I ever have seen in my entire life.
I was 22 and this was a turning point for me. I owe Garts sports and now Sports Authority and my manger Dan a tremendous debt for this gift. Because of it I was able to snowboard the rest of the season and start at CU Boulder. Going to college was very freighting for me. But I made a pack with myself that I would do well in college or join the military. I was not joking I forced myself to do well in college and it was not easy. I had no computer experience and had never written an essay and my first class was an introduction writing course for football players and others struggling students. But they were all more advanced than me.
To give you an idea of how bad it was when I went to the computer lab I could not find how to type. I did not know what Word was and I ended up in an engineering lab. After about 2 hours of clicking I finally left absolutely devastated. I was so embarrassed because everyone seemed to use computer so easily and I could not find how to type. The feeling of shame I had for not knowing what everyone seemed to know was excruciating. But by luck I worked with a business major named Brooke who took the time to teach me what labs to use what programs to use. After that I had a fitting chance and spent every day in the labs typing. Often I would forget to snowboard. I was on a mission and I was so afraid of failing in college because I really didn’t want my old high school teacher to be right in calling me a looser. Do you know what I mean? If one person calls you a loser well this is just one however when many call you a loser maybe I would be forced to admit I was.
However life opened up to the young wide smiling, energetic, long harried surfer I became. Honestly, I don’t know if I deserved the opportunities that through themselves in my path. However the ones I did grab lead to a life I feel resembles the life I wanted.
I should state that I did graduate high school and even obtained an MBA in marketing. I don’t know if the scholarly education is worth the cost but I defiantly got my monies worth learning to surf with Aaron.
The Absence of Time is a great feeling Thanks for reminding me Super Chunk “ I seem a little out of it”
.
