Europe: Caernarfon and Northern Wales

After leaving London, England my next stop by train was a town in northern Wales named Caernarfon. A friend named Iestyn that I knew from online animation school lived here and we had intended to meet up for the first time. About two hours or so on the train from London brought me into a station in a town called Bangor, where Iest was waiting to pick me up.

Even before I arrived in Bangor, just looking out the windows of the train I could already tell that this was going to be an incredibly beautiful place to visit. In mid-December with no leaves on the trees whatsoever, you could look in any direction toward the horizon and stare in awe at the endless rolling hills of green grass and mountainous hills. The land itself is so vibrant and alive. It was refreshing to be reminded of just how pristine and amazing nature can be when left to herself.

Most of the Welsh landscape looked a lot like this.

When Iestyn picked me up at the train station around noon, we exchanged a few words appropriate to a first meeting of online friends, and took off in his car towards the castle town of Caernarfon. I had a reservation at a hostel in the town called "Totters", only a short distance from the train station. In the car on the way there I got another dose of the beauty of Wales. This country is certainly in no short supply of sheep…in fact they seem to be overrun by them! So many in fact, that the farmers have to put colored spots on them to tell who they belong to. It's somewhat comical to see thousands of sheep all spray painted different colors amongst the sprawling, green backdrop.

Sheep are painted different colors so the farmers can tell who they belong to.

There are scores of old stone walls, gates, towers, and homes littering the land. Some of them decrepit and crumbling away into history and others looking like they had been built just years ago. After a short drive, Iestyn told me about how the town of Caernarfon is well known because of it's giant castle. In fact, the town itself is inside the castle walls. Yes, my hostel and the town I stayed in are inside a castle. We arrived a few minutes later, I stared in awe for a good two minutes, and finally walked towards Totters.

It definitely took me a little while to take it all in and really accept the fact that I was, well firstly that I was in Wales. Secondly that I was within the walls of Caernarfon Castle. And lastly, that I was about to spend three days here exploring and seeing who knows what else! The town is right on the ocean so you've got the sea to one side, and you can stand on the wall of the castle and look out over the water. Wow! I'd only been there thirty minutes and could have written a novel about how amazing it was.

Caernarfon Castle. The town is inside.

We found our way to the hostel and I got checked in while Iest waited outside near the water, fighting off seagulls who undoubtedly wanted to pilfer and make quick work of his Mars candy bar. The hostel was quite nice, very homely and laid back. I was actually the only guest which was great, might as well have been a hotel. The only issue I had with it was that there was no internet whatsoever. It was going to be a long three days with no contact to the outside world. But, I couldn't think of a better place to spend time away from the computer than where I was. My hostel was right on the outer brim of the castle wall so when you walk outside there are two turret towers facing the sea. (I just typed that sentence and had to reread it for accuracy because it sounds so awesome.) I ogled for a moment, and we left to get a bite to eat at a local deli. The prices here are decent, not as cheap as Prague but nowhere near as expensive as London or Paris. Indeed it was a healthy medium, proper prices.

We grabbed a sandwich for the road and hopped into the car for the drive to a place called Porth Neigwyl, or in the English name, "Hell's Mouth". One of the reasons I had come to Wales was to hopefully do a bit of surfing. Hell's Mouth is one of the most famous breaks in the United Kingdom and regularly gets double overhead and perfect. I had heard about it from Iestyn and really wanted to see it first thing. It takes about thirty minutes normally to drive to Porth Neigwyl but we took a scenic detour through the country side just to see some sights and spent the next hour or so enjoying the surrounding terrains. When we arrived, we could tell before even walking out to the beach that it was going to be savage as the wind was blowing hard and onshore. We walked out to the break and sure enough, it was huge, blown out chaos in the water. Unrideable and dangerous. In Welsh, "Porth" means "Beach" and "Neigwyl" I believe means "Devil". So… Devil's Beach. Appropriate I'd say looking at the surf! It's impressive to see such a great break though, even when it's not surfable. Iestyn mentioned there was another beach nearby named Porth Oer that we could check out, though it usually isn't as good. We drove about another twenty minutes north-west and found that Porth Oer, or "Whistling Sands" in English was actually looking quite nice. Hell's Mouth faces the south west, and there was a moderate south wind blowing which was wrecking the surf. Whistling Sands though faces the North West so the south wind was blowing offshore and even though the waves were only about waist high at the time they were peeling nicely and looked quite fun. I took a mental note before we left to head back into town. The local surf shop was called Off-Axis where a friend of Iestyn named Johnny worked. We stopped by on the way back to ask Johnny if we'd be able to rent gear the following day to hit the surf. They said it was no problem and to give a call in the morning so they could meet us here whenever we needed it. It seemed like surfing was a go at that point, I couldn't have been more excited…though it was about 33-34 degrees (Fahrenheit) outside. Whistling Sands is called Porth Oer in Welsh which translates to "Cold Beach". Hah!

Porth Neigwl - "Hell's Mouth"

Later that evening I met Iestyn and a buddy of his at a pub right next door to my hostel named the Anglessey Arms. We played a bit of pool and it was there that I learned that pool in the UK is quite different than what I'm use to in the United States. The table, balls, and cues are slightly smaller, and instead of having stripes and solid colored balls there are simply reds, yellows, and a single black ball. It's played almost the same way except there are a few minor rule changes. Such as, when you scratch, your opponent gets ball in hand behind the line but also two shots. If you table scratch, he also gets two shot. Small things like this. Overall it was fun but difficult to get use to since everything is sized differently. The pub was a bit dead so after a beer we headed off to the next stop, Alfred's Pub I believe it was called. I met a few more of Iestyn's mates here and we had a few pints and exchanged adventure stories. Iestyn and his friends are mountaineers, meaning they work as guides and lead hikes and treks through the mountains of Wales. Recently, Iestyn and his girlfriend went hiking through Scotland with naught but a backpack of gear and sleeping bags. It was snowing and frigid temperatures in the mountains the entire time and from the sounds of it they almost died, several times. He wouldn't have it any other way though. He's a giant, red-bearded mountain man who would probably spend his entire life living out there in the cold mountains if the world would let him. It's certainly not my cup of tea but it's the type of thing as a man you can't help but just listen in awe to the stories and tales of ultimate bad-assery.

After the pub I got a good nights rest at Totters. It's been awhile since I'd slept real well as the hostel in London was a bit of a bust with a very uncomfortable bed. Also, with no internet to keep me up all night it was quite easy to just fall asleep and recuperate some energy. In the morning I had some breakfast at the hostel and met Iestyn on the corner to head out to do some surfing. We wanted to check the surf again before calling the shop so we went to Hell's Mouth and it was the same as it had been yesterday, blown out and savage looking. There was no way I'd be able to surf it in my current (lack of) shape, and even if I'd been able, it didn't look much fun. We cruised up to Whistling Sands where I was hoping it'd be tame and offshore again, and sure enough it was looking fantastic. Waist to chest high, offshore wind, peeling lefts and rights, nobody out. We called the shop and went and picked up some gear. I ended up with a 7'10" board and a 5.4mm wetsuit with 6mm boots. Even in the frigid water I was sure to be warm with this winter suit combo. Iestyn had something similar, though I believe his suit was a 4.5mm. Apparently mountain men don't need the extra millimeter. :) We cruised down to Whistling Sands again, suited up, and hit the surf.

As we were walking down we met a guy who looked like he'd been there awhile and we chatted with him on the paddle out. It had gotten bigger, it was now pretty consistently shoulder high which looked to be a lot of fun for sure. The guy was from the eastern coast of England and was an avid surfer so it was cool talking with him. I was the first guy he'd ever met from California, which he thought was awesome. He was friendly and showed us where to paddle out and told where the rocks were so we knew a bit of where to be. We surfed for about two hours before my hands were a bit too cold to function and two overhead waves crushed the hell out of me and let me know it was time for me to be done. Not surfing for two months and then jumping into super cold water with a thick winter wet suit and overhead waves was kind of a silly idea, but it was damn fun anyway! The guy we had met before was finishing up so we all walked to the cars, and while we were drying off he goes, "You mates look like Vikings out there, surfing with those giant beards." We both had pretty gnarly beards going at the time, but to say we look like Vikings? That was easily the coolest compliment I'd ever received from anyone, ever. Made my day! We dropped off the boards back at Off-Axis and headed back north towards Caernarfon for some lunch and some rest.

That night we went out to another local pub that had an interesting name and story. It was built in 1522 and even the current owners don't know the real history of the place, and as such there is a mystery behind the actual name of the pub. It's either called, "The Black Boy", or the "The Black Buoy". The latter obviously being the more politically correct title, but the former is what most people call it now. There are two signs, and everywhere it says the title, it says both titles. It's quite interesting really. The food was good and the beer was better. I was able to try a few semi-local Welsh ales named Snowdownian and The Purple Moose. Definitely one to check out if you ever visit Caernarfon. Took it relatively easy that night, went to bed early and got a record two nights sleep in a row.

The Welsh Flag Is A Dragon. Awesome!

The next morning Iestyn drove me to Bangor again where I'd be catching the train to Manchester to visit Mike Rogers and the Image Metrics office. We said our goodbyes, thanks, and promised to meet up again someday whether it be in America or here again in Wales. My time there was fantastic and I feel like I know just a little bit more about the world after visiting.

My Trip To Cape Cod: Day 4

A few weeks ago I got Google and T-Mobile's G1 Phone. I've been using it quite a bit on this trip as it's given me access to my personal and work emails literally anywhere I go. It's addicting having that at your finger tips any minute of the day. Though usually awesome, waking up in the middle of the night to an email from Victoria's Secret about their new sale or something similarly weird was a little ridiculous... Eventually I got use to it and now I wait until I wake up to check my email, but it's still the first thing I do when I'm getting up since it's right there for me.

This morning I woke up to an email from my Dad. He has been practicing typing and has been sending me emails every morning with just random things. It's really cool! Never thought I'd see the day that I'd get emails from my Dad...but I'm happy they are finally moving out of the stone age. Or at least trying to anyway!

A good amount of drinking was done last night...and I didn't get up and check email until about 11am. Not too late, but on vacation I was hoping not to sleep in so much. To hell with it though, I needed the rest so I got it. Today was going to be important, it was the day where I'd find out if my blue surfboard still existed or if it had been lost and traded somewhere in the past decade. I called my cousin Thad and asked him if he had heard anything about it, and he said he'd tracked it down to his Dad's basement in Chatham. I told him I'd be there to pick him up soon so we could head over and try to get it.

Thad lives at my Grandfather's house in Brewster, it's always cool to see that place again. I've expressed interest in buying it from my family when they sell it so that I can keep it in the family and not let it be lost into the grubby hands of some rich ass from Connecticut or something like that. We grew up in that house, it means a lot to us all. Anyway I picked up Thad from there and we drove down to Chatham where the board was supposedly being kept. Sure enough we found it in the basement with it's old board cover on and everything. Rats or something had eaten holes in the covering so it looked quite ratty, it was still hard to tell the overall condition of the board but things weren't looking all too good. It had been in storage for almost 15 years and who knew how many people had moved it or transported it without giving it the care it would need? I put it in the car, drove Thad home, and headed over to my Dad's for the unveiling.

When I arrived I brought it out into the yard and we pulled the board cover off. It was stunning...the board had no damage at all! It had been in it's cover and away from the sun all these years. The board looked exactly like it did when I left it all those years ago. A few dings here and there, but overall it lay in brilliant condition and just begging to be thrashed in some surf. This board was shaped by a well-known and world class board shaper named Michael Losorda. My Dad and him have been good friends since they were young and this particular board was shaped for my Dad in 1984. Underneath the glass along the stringer it reads, "Shaped for Darrell - Michael, 1984" It's 5'8”, three fins, swallow tailed, and big and wide. A little hard to describe it's greatness in words, here is the only picture I have right now:

The significance of this particular board, besides it being awesome and 25 years old, is that at the time when they made it, NOBODY had a board like this. It was a new shape that my Dad and Mike went through each step together talking about it's design and what it would do. Nowadays you can see boards like this all over the place, but this thing was a pioneer in it's day! To the world, this may just be another thruster...but to the guys who shaped it those fateful days back in 1984 this thing was a precious piece of history. The fact that 25 years later it reappeared in our possession with almost no damage whatsoever was like the stuff of dreams man! We hosed it down, cleaned off all the dust and grime that had accumulated over the years, and started getting ready to get it in the water.

My Dad really wanted to get in touch with Mike Losorda the shaper and show him the board. He knew after all these years he'd be really happy to see it so the first thing we did was to take a drive out to his house in South Orleans and see if he was around. He has a great house right on a lake that is waaaaay out in the woods. If you didn't know the way, you'd never find it. On a side note, apparently tradition says that if Mike ever made you a board, you had to paddle it around in his pond naked before you could take it home. I thought that was hilarious! Anyway, we arrived and he wasn't home but we were greeted by his wife Annie. (I think that was her name...) She was really nice and showed us around their newly remodeled house. Apparently we had just missed Mike, he had gone out surfing with a buddy down at Nauset Beach. We said thank you and headed out to see if we could find him.

A short drive later we were at Nauset Beach at a break called Poachett where we found them out surfing. The waves were not all that great, but who cares!? It was the first day since I arrived that it wasn't pouring rain, so we were going no matter what. We headed home to get suited up and get ready. I forgot my wet suit in California for some dumb reason so I had to rent one which kind of sucks...but it was worth it. The water is coooooooold! We were suiting up in the parking lot and out of nowhere, Mike and his friend drove up and saw us there. We showed him the board and man he was stoked! “Whoa man, it's almost like I knew what I was doin' back then!”. He offered to fix up the couple of dings on it and help me to pack it up for the trip to California which is great. He travels all over the world to surf and has packed up boards enough times to know exactly what we needed to do. He headed off and we headed out into the surf.

Surfing with my Dad is a lot of fun. He has decades of experience so he is the one I can always ask about stuff I'm either having trouble with or am just curious about. Often he has these great pearls of wisdom that I would never have even thought to ask about, but he'll mention some little thing and I'll improve a lot from it. Today wasn't the best day out there, I got a couple of small rides, but it was a lot of fun anyway. My Dad was trying to surf the shorty, while I was riding his 7'10”. He managed to get up on it a couple times and rip a bit, which was awesome! I've always ridden a long board so when I gave this super short board a try it was damn tough. On a long board you can stand up and then adjust your feet to where you want to be. On this board, you have to put your feet exactly where you want them the instant you stand up. I don't have really any experience doing that yet so I ate it hard a couple of times. Man....it is so much fun though. =) I'll be reporting in on my progress with this board in the coming weeks. We surfed for a couple of hours, headed back to the lot, dried off and packed up. When I checked my messages I had a call from Mike McNulty, my old roommate from out here in California. He was living in Brewster and wanted to hang. Called him, set up a plan, then my Dad and I drove over to Mike Losorda's house again to drop off the board.

At Mike's, we hung out awhile and talked, saw pictures of the remodeled house's construction, laughed, had fun, etc. He gave us a tour of his shaping and glassing rooms which was awesome. He had a lot of boards in the works so it was rad to see the various boards and blanks in their different stages of being built. Mike said he could have the board ready for us on Tuesday so we said thanks and headed out. He tossed me a bunch of stickers and a t-shirt as well...win!

After cleaning up and getting some dry clothes on I hopped in the Caddy and headed over to Mike McNulty's house for a few beers. Surprisingly two more guys from high school were there: Andy Grover and Caleb Portnoy. It was great to see them again and get caught up on various things. Andy was there with his girlfriend Mary who was very nice. He had been doing some work with Septic Design and apparently doing very well for himself, that was great to hear. Caleb lives in Taiwan as a teacher, and has been doing a lot of surfing over there. Shortly after, Dylan (who lives with Mike there) came home with Jill and we all started chatting about what we'd be doing that night.

A good friend of ours, Jesse Carnes, had gotten married today and we were hoping to see him somewhere before he left on his honeymoon to say congratulations. I called Genghis who was at the reception and he said it was okay for us to all stop by and say hi. Thirty minutes later we arrived and met Genghis and Paul Foley outside. When we went in, I saw Jesse right away and he looked so different! The guy use to have scraggly long hair and a sort of unkempt beard. Given, we were kids last we saw each other...but it was great to see him all cleaned up and looking great. Short hair, a clean cut beard, and all dressed in a tux. His wife Liz looked amazing in her dress. Jesse and I use to be in a band together in high-school, along with Lucas Ferrerria who was also there. We had a hell of a reunion, talked for as long as the other guests would allow (they all wanted to talk to him too), and exchanged numbers. One of the highlights of my trip right here, I was really proud to see my good friend taking such a great step forward in his life. My best wishes go out to him and his new wife Liz. I even got to talk to his mom Steph, and his sister Ally. It had been so long since I'd seen any of them. Today was such an absolutely awesome day.

Afterwards, some drinking happened at the Land Ho in Orleans where I ran into even more friends who I'd not seen in years. It was only halfway through my vacation and I already couldn't think of anyway this vacation could get any better. I wish Emily had been here to experience all of this with me. She is definitely coming next time!

Thanks for reading!

My Trip To Cape Cod: Day 2

Wow! This trip is already amazing. I spent last night at my Mom's place in Brewster, Massachusetts in the house where she has lived for the past ten years or so with her boyfriend Scott. They also have a nice dog named Baby who is always good and excited to see me when I visit. I woke up around 8am (somehow) and got myself ready for the day before heading off to Orleans to my favorite restaurant in the entire world.


The Hole-In-One is a small breakfast and lunch place in Orleans that is easily and by far my favorite place in the world to get food. When Emily and I visited last year I made a point to bring her here right away! I walked in and got lucky with a seat at the counter and ordered a cup of coffee and the same thing I always do, Eggs Benedict, or Eggs Benny as they like to call it. Eagerly awaiting my epic and glorious meal, I read the paper to see what was going to be happening this week and get a glimpse of the weather. Eight days in a row of rain and clouds....blah! Oh well, I'm not here for the weather anyway...

Less than five minutes later my food arrived and it was everything I could have ever hoped for. For some reason I am just hopelessly addicted to the Hole's Eggs Benny. Their hollandaise sauce is just so good, I can never get enough of it! A few minutes into my meal an older gentleman sat next to me and decided after a quick look that he would have the same thing I was having. Seemed like a good enough reason to chat, so I introduced myself and told him about how I traveled three thousand miles to eat the Hole's Eggs Benny and that he had made a good choice in it. He agreed about it's greatness and told me that he had been coming for years and had even been the one who built the very building we were eating in. This eighty-five year old man and I had a great conversation about his kids (who were old enough to be my grandparents) who lived in California and about his grandson who was a great artist and was interested in an animation career. It was a solid start to what was definitely going to be a great day.

After breakfast I drove over to my Dad's house to visit with him and my brother Jeff. My brother unfortunately had a spot of the flu and wasn't able to leave the house much but they had made an exception so that he could come to pick me up at the airport. After that he was on house arrest until he was healed up. We hung out and played some video games, talked about a great many things, and caught up on all the things that had been happening over the past year with his schooling and such.

A month or so ago my family had an unfortunate break in where their only laptop had been stolen. They'd only had it for about two months and it was a pretty devastating event as none of them had ever experienced any break ins or theft in their neighborhood. All of the sudden everyone was locking all of their doors and being a lot more cautious with everything, which you'd expect...but it's just sad that a single event like this can really alter their habits like that, but such is a life. Without a computer I hadn't had a whole lot of contact with them over the year besides the occasional phone call, so I started thinking of a plan on how I might be able to get them back online before I left. Everyone should be able to send emails!

Later that afternoon my Dad lent me his 7'10" surfboard and a wet suit and I drove out to Nauset Beach to hit the surf. The Cape had a really nice swell coming in from the east, but it was very windy and messy surf. I went out anyway and it might as well have been my first day surfing! I got totally thrashed out there. Head high waves were closing out the beach and definitely had their way with me and by big board. It was still fun though! The waves here are so much more powerful than at my local break. Even the smaller surf will push you all over the place, where as back at home I can go right through them like butter. It was a good eye opener though, I need to expand my local surfing a little. I love the Atlantic!

When I was about thirteen my Dad gave me a really nice gift. It was a surfboard that he had used when he was young and surfing competitively. In 1984 a good friend of my Dad's named Mike Losordo had shaped it for him at his house in Orleans. Designing it together, they concocted a wide 5'8" thruster with a swallow tail and a three inch rocker. Three glassed in fins, with a sick orange and blue paint job. This was the type of board that for the time was just ridiculous. It just absolutely rips. When I was a fledgling surfer at the age of thirteen my Dad gave me this board and sent me off to the beach to learn how to ride. I could barely use the thing! I don't think I ever once stood up on it it was so damn squirrely. Definitely not a board meant to learn on and definitely not for the faint of heart...but I loved it anyway. A year or so later I retired the board to the shed at my Grandfather's house in exchange for a longer slightly easier board and there it sat for about 15 years. When I came back this time I decided I wanted to find this board, fix it up if I could and bring it back to SoCal with me. I called my cousin who is living at the old house still and asked him to help me find it. Will we find it? And will it be in decent, ridable condition? To be continued!

Today was my sister Amanda's birthday, so that evening my Mom and I bought her some Chinese food and took it over to her place to surprise her. My 3 year old nephew Jordan met us at the door and brought us to see his 2 month old baby sister Neveah. She is really cute! It was great to see my sister and we got to catch up a little while Jordan told us all about Peter Parker and Spiderman's powers. He also made sure we knew that Spiderman loses his powers in the second movie, and that he later gets them back. He is such a great kid!

That night, I went out for a drink at a local bar called Mahoney's where I met up with my friend Tim Adams who worked there. Another friend Dylan McCoul (spelling?) stopped by with his girlfriend and we all spent the evening talking about old times and hanging out. Always a good time. It was an amazing day! Tune in tomorrow for what happens next. ;)

Off To Cape Cod!

As this posts I'll be on a plane back home to visit sunny Cape Cod for a week. There is plenty I need to do while I'm there, but most of all I'll be spending a lot of time with my family. There's a little niece I've yet to meet that was born just a few months ago. There's my younger brother Jeff, my nephew Jordan, my Mom, Dad, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandmother, friends, and so many more. Can't wait to see some familiar faces.

I'm also extremely excited to surf some awesome, clean Cape Cod Atlantic waters.

Absolutely Amazing Photographs Of Waves

These are photos taken by a guy named Clark Little. Absolutely stunning. This guy puts himself into some serious wipe outs to get these shots.

Life Can Make You Tired

Today I went surfing around 3pm. Low-tide was around 2pm and there was talk of a swell coming in tomorrow, so I thought I might be able to catch a few lucky early sets and have some fun. I walked down to the beach and the wind was blowing a lot harder than I had expected it too. The surf was around waist high and it wasn't quite blown out chop, so I decided to go for it. Though, who am I kidding I would have gone out no matter what the conditions were. I really needed some salt water.

I paddle out and the waves are very uneven and messy, but I manage to get a couple of really fun rides. In fact, one of the best rides yet on my new board was today. It surprised me, but I turned and paddled back out yearning for more. There were a couple other guys out too, though it was a little more chilly than normal and with the wind blowing, surfers were scarce.

As I'm paddling back out I notice a larger set coming in, so I paddle out quickly to get over the first wave and make it just in time. My large nine foot board makes it very difficult to duck dive under the waves so I try my best to get over them and use the board's speed to my advantage. I get over the first wave but it still pulls me in about ten yards. As it peaks and I look over I see another, not abnormal so I just paddle out again. Normally a set will have 3-5 of these big ones and calm down again, but instead they kept coming. They were getting bigger and I was getting really tired by about the fifth one. I raised up on a peak and sat up and saw that there were at least ten more coming, so I said "Shit." and let one tumble me into shore a bit.

The combination of the wind, low tide, and these random out of nowhere chest high waves were draining my stamina a lot quicker than I was comfortable with so after getting bashed on the head by about three more waves I finally road one in to shore. As I got onto dry sand and turned around to look at the surf, I realized that Thursdays swell had arrived early. The surf had gone from messy knee to waist high sets to chest high plus and dumping like nobodies business. Low tide and big waves do not mix at this spot. It's always a funny site. I walked back to the beach where I found that my $5 sandals had been taken by someone. I presume they thought they were abandoned. I don't mind, hope they are happily aboard somebody's feet. I walked back to work barefoot and dug back in to my computer.

A few hours later we headed down the beach again to the Ocean Park tennis courts for our Wednesday session. Brian, Than, Tom, and myself all played a bunch of games and leveled up our tennis a bit, but ultimately they beat us each time. 5-7 and 4-6. Blargh!

I am damn tired. Minutes before I hobble to bed and drown myself in Zzzz's and Sonata Arctica, I felt a quivering need to write a little. I hope my five paragraphs were an acceptable expenditure of your time.

The Ocean Got Me.

I think for the first time I've gotten sick from surfing in the ocean here. The waves have been really large the last couple of days, yesterday (Monday) there were a couple head high sets. It was awesome, a fun time was had, but I have a perfect memory of one of the waves forcing about 12 ounces of water down my throat against my will. I knew it was gross but I thought nothing of it, and now I am officially sick. I have no proof it's from the water, I can only guess. But, the timing is just too good. About an hour after I got out of the water my throat started hurting and today I am a mess.

It's no secret that the water here makes you sick, you're suppose to keep your mouth closed at all times while in the water. However head high waves have a way of not letting you do exactly what you want sometimes.

*sigh.....*

I miss Emily.

Photography and Voice Lessons

Since Emily got me this new camera I've been taking photos non-stop and managed to sneak in a few good ones here and there! I'm having so much fun with it, I knew I would but never imagined I'd like it this much. To check out all the stuff I've done so far and for further updates be sure to check out the official Jayonidas FLICKR page. (Link)

This past weekend was my first vocal lesson. It went extremely well and I'm very excited to learn more and get better with my singing. Eventually I'll start recording and maybe post up a piece or two but for now you'll just have to visualize. It's a lot of fun, can't wait to keep it going.

Oh yeah, new blog header, and the waves today destroyed me. Off to nurse my headache!

Image Metrics, Surfing, Halloween

Towards the end of October I started over at Image Metrics again for a stint until the end of this month. It's been so much fun! I was doing only at-home freelance work for a few months and it was really starting to be a drag. Sleeping in is always nice, but not having any reason to leave the house for days at a time can start to make anyone get bleh'd out. I was stir crazy and running out of money, so the new job has been a light in many dark places. Getting bills payed, things fixed, being able to eat, etc. It's awesome!

Since the studio is on Main Street, it's a one block walk down to the beach and we've been taking daily surfing breaks during lunch or whenever the tide is good. My old spot down by the Venice Pier is significantly less awesome than this new one for my personal taste. The water is nice and shallow and the larger breaks are quite a ways out so you've got plenty of room for variety in between. My buddy Jonas bought a 6 footer which we've been trying to shred and I've been on my body board until I get the cash for a new board. Ultimate fun though, so happy to be getting out in the water every day.

Halloween was pretty entertaining. We cruised down to Bill's house in Huntington Beach for his annual Halloween bash. He went all out this year with a full on Halloween decor that put Knott's to shame. It was an awesome time. Got to see some old friends and meet new ones, who could ask for more? Emily dressed as Tifa Lockhart from FF7, and I was Luffy again. Almost everyone knew who Emily was right away so that made her happy. =)

I finally beat Final Fantasy XII. It's been sitting at the final battle for like 4 months and I forgot about it until the other night where I plugged in, logged on, and proceeded to hand Vayne his ass in all 3 forms. Good times.