Rainbows Are Squishy: The Surf Monster Attacks!

Learning something new can be fun and exciting. Sometimes it is so exciting that all you do is the new thing! Yes, basically we have done nothing but surf. Pretty much, nothing, but surf. (Ok, there have been a few things that we have done that is not surfing, but not much that is interesting).

For instance. Saturday afternoon Eric Miyashiro (crazy amazing jazz/everything trumpet player) was headlining a Jazz Festival at Kamehameha High School, which he performed with the PacFleet Jazz Band at the end, so we totally attended that. While I probably hit my limit for listening to high school jazz bands (so, I realized, that if I am running a rehearsal of high schoolers, I enjoy it, but listening to high school musicians for pleasure? Maybe not so much), Eric Miyashiro's virtuosity on the trumpet was truly an inspiration (like, I should go practice now.. but won't, cause it's late.. and well, Deanna is practicing)...

Anyway...

So, I have started substitute teaching! This is great, and hopefully it leads to something full-time like. One can only hope. I definitely have been letting everyone know what I can do (music) while filling in for everything and anything else. Unfortunately, the Hawai'i substitute call system is weird, or rather, is different from what it was in Rhode Island. So, I have had a few mishaps in getting jobs that come available. Net result = I have only subbed 3 times in the past two weeks. However, I have the hang of it now and can make some of the monies, so that is nice.

Anyway, so, I have really enjoyed surfing on the new surfboard that I had got around New Year's. However, I think I never anticipated the surf monster that has been created through the combined forces of getting a surfboard for Deanna and reminding her that she is an incremental learner.

It's funny, we basically have completely opposite learning styles. I am a "sink or swim" kind of learner. Throw me in the water, show me how to do the stroke, and I will eventually figure it out. I will make lots of mistakes along the way, but I will learn how to do it... sometimes after a fairly long while.. but it will get figured out. Deanna on the other had learns progressively. Meaning, she needs to learn by slowly increasing the difficulty level. Kind of like a well paced RPG (it's a type of video game for those who don't speak dork)

Essentially, she learns best when she has a way to learn things through progressive increments. For surfing it basically boiled down to:

Step 1: learn which waves are good to catch. You can see here in this video Deanna chooses a pretty bad wave to catch. Baby steps. It's super hard when you are first starting to not get excited and try to catch all the waves. Patience is key. Wait for the good waves. They will come. Have faith.

Step 2: Learn what it feels like to catch a wave after having picked a proper wave. So, she caught a few waves, and just hugged the board, got a feel for it.

Step 3: Try to stand a little. Just a little. Actually, don't even bother standing at first, just low crouch and hold on to the rails of the board. Of course, sometimes, you may do it too fast. So, you end up crashing and burning. Even in incremental learning, sometimes you try to take a leap, when maybe you are only ready for a step. So, you try, try again.

Step 4: Now you are doing a good job catching the wave, you have also had a few good rides where you almost stand (near the end) Your confidence is through the roof. So you do this.

Ok, so you kind of get the idea. Basically she was making a lot of progress these past few weeks but then had that "breakthrough" moment this past weekend. We of course like to share our surfing adventures (turns out it's fun to do things with friends!) and invited Chris to come out. Chris's first surfing experience, was, well.. let's just say he didn't get a whole lot of help from his co-worker who went out with him.

So we gave him a few pointers and he did a pretty nice job. Unfortunately, I am not sharing a video of a successful attempt, because I am pretty much a mean friend. So, here he wipes out. You know, because, basically wiping out happens.

You know what else happens sometimes? Sometimes the cameraman (aka, me) tries to take a video while he is floating on his board.. and all goes great, until that wave that Deanna is surfing (or attempting to surf, depending on the wave, etc)... comes rolling in and the cameraman (once again, me) gets REKT!

Yea... that happens when you aren't paying attention to the ocean. ALWAYS PAY ATTENTION TO THE OCEAN. Oh well.

Happy Easter btw! Yea, so for Easter, we woke up early and went to church.. and by "church" I mean, we got our spiritual awareness going by heading down to our favorite (currently) local surf spot (Castles Beach in Kailua at the moment) and hit the waves. The conversation went something like this:

Deanna: "I have an itch"

Stephen: "Uh, so scratch it?" So, I then start scratching her randomly. On the leg, shoulder, ear.. etc.

Deanna: "no, I need to go surf"

Stephen: "oh...."

So, even though we surfed Friday for an hour plus. Surfed Saturday for more than an hour. What the heck? Let's go out again. So we went out at 830 in the AM and did some surfing. I didn't bother taking the camera, but we had a pretty good session. Only lasted for 45 minutes or so, maybe we were still fatigued from all the surfing the past two days, who knows?

Some Easter Brunch

We headed down to Chris's house for some Easter brunch. Fruity wine, mimosas, bloody marys, and lots of food were had. Some good conversations as well! Oh, and there was more food. Thank you Chris for successfully putting me in a food coma. I mean, I crashed..

Sometime after that Deanna and I decided, what the heck? Let's go down to the beach and just bop in the waves. Of course, since there is currently an east swell going for the island, the surf and shore break was as big as I have ever seen it at the beaches in Kailua (usually it's pretty small on this side).. after 15 minutes or so of bouncing in the waves we both just kind of decided, "nah, let's go grab our surfboards and take them down to Castles and surf more!

So, two hours more surfing (yes, two more hours)... and She's a surfing pro! I got lucky on a few shots.. I had a few really nice long rides that took me nearly to shore and just in case, I grabbed the camera out of my board short pocket and started paddling back to the waves.. and then I see Deanna surfing right at me, so I snap some great pics! Makes me almost seem like I know what I'm doing with a camera!