big kahuna burger. i attempted surfing this weekend. attempted as in got on a board and paddled out into the ocean. i tried it last weekend too but that was not really note worthy. this weekend i had a wetsuit, and that made it seem all that more impressive. my wetsuit, which was too big for me, kept me warm and covered. which was quite a revelation. i've never used a wetsuit before and didn't really realize how much warmer it could keep you. walking from the car to the beach with a board in hand and a wetsuit painted onto you really adds to the surfing "look." i like to imagine that people drove by and said, "oh, they look like they're surfers."



as for the actual surfing itself. there were no waves to be found. and even if there were i'm not sure how successful i would have been in getting up on a board. i've gotten up on a board once, a long long time ago, but it was on an eight foot monster of a board. and standing up on that was pretty similar to standing up in a canoe, so it wasn't that impressive. getting up on a real surf board however, with real surf gear on, that is kind of more impressive.



i wonder if i'll be any good at surfing. usually i feel like i have some sort of idea about what types of things i'm good at. i'll know if i can do this, i'll know if i can't do that. but once in awhile, certain things come along that you really have no clue if you'll be good at at all. like surfing. on one hand, surfing can't be all that difficult because people do it all the time. on the other, my balance and coordination kinda suck in general so maybe i'm destined to suck at surfing. sucking at anything really sucks. especially if it's something sport or physical related. it's such a bigger blow to the ego than a mental shortcoming. i mean, if you can't do math at least you can play it off as not really wanting to do math. nobody has to know that you can't add. and oftentimes if you can't do one thing you can compensate by doing another.



but with a physical activity it's much more like "fuck, i can't jump/swim/surf." you can work at it sure, but oftentimes with a physical activity, you know right away how good you can be. i've heard that it's the same way with young chess players. for some reason, young kids just seem to know when they have reached a ceiling in their chess skills. they see their potential, or lack of it, very clearly.



people at school in michigan used to always ask me, "do you surf?" the assumption is that all californians can surf. i had to answer truthfully that, "no i don't surf." but now i can give a two minute longer explanation like "well, i've tried surfing and i can't quite do anything but paddle around for a bit, but i hope to one day surf." and let it go on record that it's hard to sit on a board. all those images of serene surfers sitting patiently on their boards waiting for the next great wave? i was not one of those people. i had to work so hard just to stay balanced on the board that i practically fell over whenever i tried to shift or tried to use less than both hands to balance. it was not a glorious start to my surfing career. it's like trying to learn how to play basketball and getting confused about the tying the shoes part.