Making Friends With The Neighbours

The sun was setting, a storm was brewing, the waves were small, the crowd was thick and the air was cold... But as I stood on the beach, pondering my options, Izzy and Joe convinced me to stay! I'm stoked they're so convincing.

On Friday, I went for my first surf in a month. It was wonderful! I went with some friends - Noe, Nat and Rich. We turned up at the only viable spot, where it was breaking one to two foot. It was small, but the waves were lovely and clean and they were breaking all along the beach. Luckily, there was no real sweep and the tide had taken a lot of water out, so the paddling was easy for my poor, exercise-deprived body. The sky was clouded, dull and grey but the water was clear and warm (especially considering it's winter!) and we all went out with a fair bit of enthusiasm for it all. And we got a lot of little waves. A lot. And it was lots of fun. At one point, I was lying on my board, smiling and waving at Noe as she paddled into a pretty little wave and she was smiling back and then, all of a sudden, the sun burst out through the grey sky! The water glowed green and everything turned to glass. As I watched Noe paddle, the wave she was on lit up from within, light sparkling out thr...

When people ask me why I didn’t surf til so much later in my life, I have an easy answer for them, “Because I didn’t want to be around teenage boys.” I copped enough shit from them at school and at parties and in town and on the beach, so I didn’t really feel the need to put myself in a situation where I would have to deal with them en masse, let alone while I was in a pair of swimmers! It’s not that I didn’t like being with the guys at all, it’s just that, in a group they were generally unbearable. Hanging out with them, I had heard lots of conversations that they had about girls. They would laugh and talk about who was putting out with who and how and where and what that meant for her reputation and who was going to have a go next. I knew that they weren't always like that, but I also knew that a lot of their behaviour was unethical and it freaked me out because if they did that to those girls, I knew it could happen to me as well. I hated it and the whole thing made me sick. I ...

In the past, I have been told that Kelly Slater's biography is a really, really boring read. I have been told that it is full of contest results and descriptions, which has always led me to avoid it because, well, as a book? Yawn. I already know that Kelly Slater is rad and amazing and incredible and so on. He is amazing * and I don't dispute that in any way, but I tend to find lists of 1st places and championships get a bit mundane after four minutes or so. For proof, watch this clip. Even the congressman seems to get bored/jealous/exhausted... More Surfing Videos >> Oddly, yet not unsurprisingly, Florida's dynamic Congressman manages to tie Slater's achievements back into the US economy and retain the interest of the audience. Wow. Achievements are not achievements unless they contribute to the nation's economy. Although, when you think about it like that, it's funny they didn't mention him dating Pam and Gisele and Cameron. Surely that con...