The Rio

What's Not To Love?
Originally uploaded by wootang71

San Diego re-entry: Hood to Tahoe, rolled into the Singer compound during a bbq fiesta. Tahoe to Sacto, meetings all day, then stayed with Tim and Emily in Davis. Homecooked meals rule! Sacto to San Francisco, more meetings, cruised with Jim and Gen, hung art and drank Tommy's margaritas. SF to Palo Alto for a Cali breakfast with Ashley, Liz, and Helen. Continued on to Monterey where Dewey, Gwen, and I lurked at Pebble Beach. Saw family in LA on the way to my new digs in Carlsbad. Who thought all that driving could tire you out? But it's good to be back in SD. I had a double surf day and i'm enjoying a slight sunburn. It's rad to be back in the sun and active, especially when that activity is surfing. Although California is flat compared to Indo, I like that the paddles out are 1/50th the distance. Tis the season to get married. I have 3 weddings to attend in the next 6 weeks, so it's time to break out the big boy clothes. Gonna be a busy as f week with my cousin getting married, catching up with the homies, catching waves, and people moving away. Such is the life. Pizzle's gotten a weird mix lately picking up tunes from other's pods and comps. The range is some John Lennon solo stuff, Beatles, Nina Simone, Atmosphere, T.I., Billy Joel, Ming & Ping, Morrissey, Bob Dylan, and a dash of Elvis. This pic was seen at Saffron, one of my SD comfort food joints. Marketing geniuses. Gotta treat the tract right!

the contiuum

The Goonies Rocks
Originally uploaded by wootang71

Bangkok to Hong Kong to Los Angeles to San Diego to Tahoe to Hood... going east to west gives the best jet lag. and when i say best, i mean worst. i used to not suffer jet lag, but clearly i'm not getting any younger. "home" is a concept that i think most people understand in a different way than i do. since i've been 12, the longest consecutive time i've spent in 1 place is 6 months (except for 2001 when i was in san diego for 8). i'm not trying to go into the cliched philosophical discussion of what 'home' is, but i'm pretty sure i don't have the same understanding as most people. maybe it's my nature. i can say that i haven't yet ever missed 'home'. i do miss things from california, though. like freeway driving (although the autobahn cannot be beat), mexican food, surfing beach breaks. reef break perfection is cool, and call it wabi-sabi, but i enjoy the imperfection in california waves. and, i'm often in the mood for surfing without health consequences like bouncing off a coral bed. i don't miss how crowded california is. i suppose a lot of people like the security of having a headquarters. a place to return to that is their domain. i know this feeling and sometimes it's good. walking into certain houses is like walking back into a certain life. the singer's in tahoe, griz's in hood, bill's old house in poway. while i like having my own space, i feel that a permanent home is something that ties me down. for me, the question isn't ever 'when' am i gonna go as it's more 'where'. i'm gonna go. i'm gonna follow my bliss. although i know 1 day it will end, i don't see myself ever not traveling. "i think you are like this" says marisa. sleeping on a train in thailand, in a truck in a costa rican jungle, waking up to the sound of waves on kauai, listening to the snow fall in tahoe. sipping coffee in copenhagen, partying in stuttgart, cruising the museums in london, walking the coast in kaikoura. 20 hours of sun in olso, riding the ferry in auckland, eating asian food in melbourne. sailing to catalina island, hiking the kalalau, drinking sangria in barcelona. distracted by a seahorse in indo, sleeping on a bus in vietnam, dry powder in japan. what is home?

i understand routine and how it's comforting. but going somewhere i haven't been to before has always, and probably will always be an attraction to me. while in hood, i took a day to check out the goonies rocks at cannon beach, or. the drive was a couple hours, and the pizzle was playing some soulja boy, odb, spandau ballet, penguin cafe orchestra, m.i.a., r kelly, and other songs i'll tag as hood '08 in my head.

1 piecers make your butt look big

Driving in the snow is fun, at least when there's no other cars on the road. I'm not so worried about me hitting anything as I am about other people hitting me. The confidence comes with experience. For Natalie, who grew up in Truckee, it's like 2nd nature. We're driving up to Tahoe Heights this afternoon, she's driving in her 2wd car, up a steep snow covered slope, while on the phone, and eating a salad. Very entertaining.

Ok, the philosophical question of the month: what do we have the right to get upset about? for example, when my car got stolen, well, it was stolen by a car thief. we should expect a car thief to steal cars. if your dog craps on the carpet, you can't get mad; it's a dog! shitty people do shitty things. can we get mad at that? usually, getting upset doesn't accomplish anything. I was thinking about this question lately. Because last summer, I was telling my stolen car story to Sam. And he told me "you're allowed to be upset about that". i was like, "why? getting mad doesn't accomplish anything." but is sam right? is it ok to be mad? in all honesty, i don't really get mad that much. i like to vent, but only if it doesn't negatively affect anything or anyone. i'm not saying i haven't, but i can't remember the last time i was truly mad about something. looking back at things, i was more disappointed than anything else. i remember a friend in highschool saying that she thought i didn't take anything seriously. but that's because i don't really think anything IS serious except for life and death. and even that is questionable. 'cause up to this point in my life, i don't think i've experienced anything so important that it can't be let go. (aside from surf and snow).

for the season, Jessica has agreed to be my judgement when it comes to girls. clearly i've made mistakes in the last 3 seasons. and i know Jessica isn't ms. perfect, even with her own relationships. but she's smart, she knows how girls think, and i think she has my best interests in mind. so we'll see how this project goes. we decided i'm too passive. it's like my actions are reactionary. like a response.

Automaton is getting off to a slow start thanks to the late snow. kinda weird that we're getting a lot of orders from australia. i guess aussie shreds aren't afraid to pay $250 for shipping.

Geez i'm retarded right now. Cooking dinner now. Brent Anklam and Mitch Dumdei in Mammoth is the pic. Chromeo, Kid Alex, and Nouvelle Vague are rocking my pizzle. peace out.

I'm A Verb!

Had my 1st day of the season yesterday. Deathstar was awesome. And it really is a Deathstar now. I almost can't believe how many homes they had built just over the summer. Now all that has to be done is to install the planet-destroying laser and Northstar can rule the galaxy. Even though we went from bare rocks to only 2 feet of snow, it was really good. Park was immaculate, and the snow felt really good. And, I'm glad to say, that my bag of tricks is still intact. I'll need another day to polish them, however. I'm also sore as all get out right now. "Enjoy your stiffness" as Cat advised. (Things get lost in translation from South African english to American english, apparently). I saw this shred chick rocking a Trust Me 155 and I was all, "Nice board!" I then realized she wasn't even on an Automaton at all. So I was like, uh, nevermind and scooted off. Maybe if I was rockin' a mullet...

Oh, It's already been broughten

Finally we're getting some snow. I thought the universe was against me lately. Well at least Mother Nature. My last week in San Diego, and there was no surf. I get to Truckee, and now it's double overhead up and down the California coast. When I got to Tahoe, it was pretty much summer weather, including up to 2 days ago. Then magic dump. A foot in town, and 2+ on the hill. I hope winter's in full gear from now until April. Here's a pick of the 1st day of car shuffling in the snow. In the eternal words of the Rock: Just bring it!

Call Me Snake

Back in Tahoe. I'm not gonna lie, there's no snow. Some resorts aren't gonna open until the 21st. Lame. It's def cool to be here, but with no snow, it's not as cool as catching surf. Of course now that i'm nowhere near the ocean, it's FIRING overhead sets onto the California coast. And it's also tough to sell snowboards when there's no snow. However, it's SUPPOSED to dump on Thurs and Friday, so hold thumbs and big toes! In the meantime, I'm on the hunt for a bed, and getting lame paperwork done. There's a lot of back end work to a business that I don't particularly enjoy. Most if it has to do with paper and filing. I got blogged! On my way up, I had to go through my own personal Escape From L.A. thanks to a torrential downpour that stopped up traffic from San Diego to Ventura. I saw FOUR over turned vehicles, two of which were completely upside down! I also had to make a quick visit to Rip Curl in Costa Mesa, but I got a new wetsuit out of it so I'm not complaining. Anyway, I took another quick pit stop on Sawtelle to meet up with Martin from Giant Robot, and I'm glad I did. Not only did I learn about the GR operation, but I also had an awesome seared tuna sandwich at gr/eats, GR's own restaurant. I'd def recommend a meal there. This pic is from Martin's blog. We were cruising down the street, and the fuzz all of a sudden rocked up and got on this old woman for not using her turn signal or something. Hot Chip is rocking the pizzle. Oh, FedEx is at the door. 08/09 catalogs have arrived! Lates

1/8th Pipe?

I just got new snow tires put on my truck. Such a difference! I'm not kidding. Granted my old tires were 60k miles tires, 85k miles ago, and fairly bald. Snow sucks bad, but we're supposed to get hit with a storm tomorrow. It's been warm and windy, which is usually a good sign a storm is coming in my experience. Then again, I survive soley on tater tots and wear shredded boxers. What do I know? But yeah, been super busy lately. Racked 2k miles on my truck in 2 weeks. And since the thing gets 15mpg (and that's going down hill with a tail wind, engine off, and being towed by pack mules), fuel prices have been killing my budget. I wish i could afford a more economical vehicle, but my need for 4x4 limits my options. Then there's the fact that I don't have a snowboard to ride. Strange coming from a snowboard company owner, right? Just gotta hold tight until the 07/08 samples arrive! So excited. And yet I digress.