We'll Miss You, Paul Newman

Good feedback comes in. Warm weather, maybe all week. We eat hotdogs in the park, contemplating the start of month five. Next month marks the halfway, a contract finish.

I miss R. More than I thought. I'm in his city in 2.5 weeks, then he's in mine soon after that. Somehow in my head I had worked out that this would be a simple transfer of energy.

Instead, it resulted in a 9 pm message and an instant response in kind.

Video: surfing Lower Trestles in the dark. Dude, glowsticks. Being in the ocean in the dark. The waves aren't there until they're upon you, motion rising up out of nowhere. I'd love to see a more complete recording of the session.

I'm contemplating which town I'll wash up in seven months from, well, pretty much today. I've made an executive decision to figure out how to spend three months per year, minimum, in water three times per day, conditions permitting. The marker is the anniversary of the month started on a board, incidentally September.

I haven't exactly worked out "logistics" and "details," but the opportunity is presenting itself this year. Concerns include community and swell. I don't need big waves, and in fact really like the 5'-6' max, but consistency is key.

J Bay is tempting. PROS: the perfect time of year. The town itself goes into low season but the breaks go off like clockwork. I might be able to swing cheap accom from friends or room and board in exchange for doing a couple hours of work. The surf community is, obviously, unbelievable, and I miss my friends. The Pro would be the party of a lifetime, and with cheap beer. CONS: airfare and having cash to cover living costs.

Staying local(ish) would give me the chance to assess a long term option. PROS: I could take all my existing gear (zero start up cost), would have an income sufficient to cover room and board, and have non-surf friends in various cities I could crash with until I had something set up. Transit would be about $1000 less. The quality of the waves is reduced but I would get better at what I was doing by virtue of new challenges. New community, summer weather. CONS: less consistent, possibly a little flat due to season. Slightly colder water. More expensive lifestyle (and beer).

The alternative is South/Central America, but my Spanish is particularly bad and a lot of it depends on how the economy in the next seven months affects tourism. I'd rather, given the modest price differential, head back to JBay than to try and replicate the life somewhere else. Oz and NZ are just a little much and I can probably figure out how to get someone to pay me to be there, for real, in a couple years if I want to make a full long term jump.

I am aware, as my quarter century is setting, that I'm really not that concerned with fast tracking my career anywhere. In fact, I'm giving myself at least five years to do whatever I want. The impetus this year is urged on by how bludgeoned the investments of everyone who is in RRSP mode are getting. Everything about this situation is saying go while I still have the opportunity.