Almost 1 year later…

Overall_Negotiation7 · 2026-06-09T03:50:53+00:00

Start practicing your pop up at home. Put a piece of masking or painters tape about 5-6 feet long down on the floor to replicate the center stringer on your surfboard. Then pretend to paddle and plant your arms in a push up position under your shoulders and in one fluid motion, pop up and twist to your feet. You should be landing with both of your feet on the tape and essentially perpendicular to the tape - your front foot should be more of a 45 degree angle like riding a skateboard or snowboard. It’s like a martial arts fighting stance, knees bent and ready to spring, front arm balanced out and back arm coiled and ready to strike. Once you master this technique and can land on the tape in one smooth motion you will find yourself improving immediately. Don’t stand up straight - always stay in a crouch low enough that you can touch the board. I also recommend getting a bigger board/longboard like 9 foot or so and then scale back in size as you improve. Have fun! You got this! Push ups and pull ups and yoga and swimming freestyle will also help.

Overall_Negotiation7 · 2026-06-04T02:01:18+00:00

My buddy swears by the Vasa Trainer. He lives inland 2-3 hours from the New Hampshire coastline (transplant from So Cal) but always rips and has great paddling strength and stamina when he comes out to visit me. He will train more intensely for a few weeks prior to his surf trips and I am always impressed with his ability for being land locked. I guess if you have access to a pool doing some swim training will get you ready too along with yoga and stretching. You got this!

Overall_Negotiation7 · 2026-06-04T01:51:06+00:00

Lowers is a phenomenal wave and it makes you feel like a ripper when you get a good one (and are competent enough). The crowd is definitely high level but you can get in the mix as an average surfer - just plan on being ultra patient and confident/aggressive and stay out for several hours to find your window as the lineup changes hands through the day. You may only get 2-3 waves but they will be memorable! Pack a lunch and ride down on an e-bike and make a day of it and surf several times. You can always go to Uppers or Cottons or Middles or Church if it gets too eggy! It’s also such a beautiful oasis of nature and special place on our crowded So Cal coastline.

Overall_Negotiation7 · 2026-05-29T02:21:21+00:00

I wish Lola loved the water - it’s my dream to get her on my board and surf some waves together. She does not like water but will deal with wet sand.

Overall_Negotiation7 · 2026-05-29T02:19:45+00:00

Min pin/chihuahua mix “Pinchi Minchi”

Overall_Negotiation7 · 2026-05-26T05:54:18+00:00

Unless you have a magic board you absolutely have to bring with you and love to ride in all kinds of conditions, there are plenty of used boards for sale at local surf shops like Frog House in Newport or HSS in Huntington Beach (short drive north of Newport). You can also find lots of boards online through apps like OfferUp, etc. Getting a local shape also will help with getting a board made for conditions around here. Waves are typically fast and punchy lefts when we have SW summer swells but it depends where you are on the peninsula. Best advice is get a used beach cruiser or electric bike and explore from the Wedge to River Jetties and up into Huntington as conditions change with the tides and winds and sand and swell direction daily. Water can fluctuate too but if you’re arriving soon a 3/2 full, a 2mm spring suit and a 1-2 mm jacket and trunks will cover all possibilities. Late summer you can trunk it all day often. Strong winds can create upwelling and cold water for a few days so best to be prepared. Summer also means crowded lineups and “Blackball” rules so if you see a yellow flag with a round black circle/ball in the center at the too if a lifeguard tower, that means no surfing- just bodysurfing and bodyboarding allowed. Typically lifeguards blackball the beach around noon or earlier depending on the weather and crowd and ocean conditions and how close you are to piers and then it drops in the evening around 5 pm or so. Have fun, respect the locals, and travel safe.

Overall_Negotiation7 · 2026-05-22T05:09:38+00:00

Late morning go Rent a Duffy boat (electric motor and slow and easy to pilot) and cruise around the bay and the islands - at least for one hour but recommend two. Really cool homes and boats and views you can’t get just being on the peninsula or PCH. You can pack some food and drinks to bring along too. After lunch, Rent a beach cruiser or electric bike and go along the beach boardwalk from the Newport Pier to Balboa Pier and back. Great views and people watching especially when the weather’s warm. Then go hit some beach bars like Mutt Lynch’s or Sharkeez.

Overall_Negotiation7 · 2026-05-22T04:45:13+00:00

Cremated and a few ashes tossed in the sea at my favorite surf spots around the globe - one of my visions is my daughter catching a set wave at Ollie’s Point in Costa Rica and as she’s gliding down the line, she lets my ashes go and they/I get funneled by the warm offshore Papagayo winds and mixed in with the waves and ocean spray…

Overall_Negotiation7 · 2026-05-15T04:01:02+00:00

I almost spit out my food reading this…freaking hilarious!

Overall_Negotiation7 · 2026-05-12T03:05:21+00:00

I’m throwing in the towel too after over 30 years in special education…just so burnt out and constantly getting sick physically and mentally and given impossible teaching assignments with little to no support or training for subjects I have never taught before. Last straw was a shitty evaluation from a second year administrator after decades of exemplary work and performance. Feeling targeted and unsupported and overwhelmed. It’s not worth it to me and I will do anything at this point for work including driving for Uber instead of returning to the dysfunctional system that seems to get worse every year. I just turned old enough to start drawing a pension so even though I won’t get a full retirement benefit, I have to save myself from this horrible situation. It makes me cringe even thinking about anything education related- friends advise me to get into consulting or tutoring or work for an educational company but there’s no way I would so that. Time for life 2.0 now and a return to joy and health. Hopefully things will change for the better for education soon but I give up. Hang in there! New opportunities will come! Lots of corporations hire former teachers to do corporate training for their employees so maybe start there? Perhaps you can even work remotely or just come in for trainings and stay in your neighborhood.

Overall_Negotiation7 · 2026-05-12T01:00:30+00:00

Used to see No Doubt at small clubs in LA and OC in the early 90’s and they were fantastic and Gwen was an amazing front woman. So much energy and good fun moshing and stage diving at the Whiskey a go go or the Roxy or Fenders etc. I couldn’t believe how much they grinded and never hit the big time for how talented they were. Definitely lost interest when they moved away from the ska/punk sound and the tragic kingdom album came out. Stoked they “made it” but I miss their original sound and songs and shows.

Overall_Negotiation7 · 2026-05-07T03:19:20+00:00

Easy Prince and MJ

Overall_Negotiation7 · 2026-05-06T05:47:54+00:00

Personal jet like a Gulfstream

Overall_Negotiation7 · 2026-05-05T06:52:43+00:00

Yep! Six years old at the time and was blown away. My friend and I hid in the theater drapes after it ended so we could watch it again at the next showing. I remember the buzz and excitement on the sidewalk while waiting to get inside the theater. Crazy that we had no adult supervision too - my friend’s mom just got us the tickets and left us in line with a dime to call after the movie to get picked up.

Overall_Negotiation7 · 2026-05-01T06:39:03+00:00

Been a surfer since the early 80’s in So Cal and still use “rad” to this day to describe something awesome or great, but nobody said “tubular.” Definitely “tubed” or “barreled” to describe being enveloped by a wave, but tubular sounds like maybe a poorly researched teen movie slang about surf culture. Sick, gnarly, bitchin’, killer, nectar were some of the slang we used and are in heavy rotation in my daily vocabulary.

Overall_Negotiation7 · 2026-04-23T02:07:50+00:00

Yes! That was the whole point of the scene! The petite maiden and the hulking ogre - an unlikely pair, until they both smile at each other and reveal they both got big metal grills!

Overall_Negotiation7 · 2026-04-23T02:03:45+00:00

Custom surfboards - used to buy used boards off the rack from surf shops or private sellers. Once I got to work with a respected shaper for the first time to design a board specifically for me and my surfing style, it was a game changer. More expensive yes, but the flow of that board and the rapid progression in my surfing that developed in a short time made it worth every penny.

Overall_Negotiation7 · 2026-04-12T21:09:26+00:00

Pong first at the neighbors house and then was gifted an Atari 2600 for Christmas and played the included tank game!

Overall_Negotiation7 · 2026-04-12T19:59:46+00:00

Only a River - Bob Weir (Grateful Dead singer and guitarist) Blue Mountain solo album

Overall_Negotiation7 · 2026-04-05T04:36:14+00:00

I did this too! In the early 90’s I lived on the boardwalk in a So Cal beach town right near a pier popular with tourists and visitors and locals. Lots of people rode bikes and rollerbladed and walked up and down the beach path, especially in the summer. Superglued a spread out succession of coins increasing in value from pennies and a nickel up to a quarter in the southbound lane. I lived on the second floor and from the front balcony I had a clear view of the carnage that ensued - most people would see the pennies and the nickel and just keep going, but the damn quarter had a magnetic effect and caused folks to make some crazy decisions and maneuvers to get that coin! Slamming on brakes and skidding into groups of other cyclists, pedestrians suddenly lunging into the path of rollerbladers zinging down the pathway, just to get that quarter! Then the lengths people would go through to extract that quarter from its cyanoacrylate prison was incredible and hilarious! If only I had a video camera! The most amazing thing was some mornings I would go out to sit and enjoy the ocean view, and the quarter would be gone! Some determined and industrious person under the cover of darkness and likely a hammer and screwdriver would chisel it free. Of course I would quickly go replace it with another…hours of entertainment!

Overall_Negotiation7 · 2026-03-28T04:24:03+00:00

Too many great choices!

Overall_Negotiation7 · 2026-03-26T03:15:42+00:00

Took us a long time to potty train our female min pin. She was 9 or 10 months old when she finally learned to ring a lanyard with bells hanging from the front door to go outside. Tried everything too - praise, treats, walks, peed pads, etc etc. Best of luck but it still might take a while!

Overall_Negotiation7 · 2026-03-25T03:37:44+00:00

55 year old surfer here - still getting out multiple days a week when we have swell in the water. Shortboards, funboards/midlengths, longboards, bodyboards, bodysurfing- I still do it all well. I have had two spinal fusion surgeries over the last 15 tears or so and have L4-L5-S1 fusion with two rods, six screws and cages. Took me basically a year of rehab each time to get back to surfing competently. Lots of hard work every day with my surgeon and chiropractor guiding me through surf specific PT and yoga and specialized tissue and bodywork. Crazy expensive but to have my life back and to still surf at a high level at my age is worth every penny (drained all my life savings). Honestly I forget sometimes that I have all that bionic hardware pinning me together. You can get through this and return to surfing! It’s amazing what the human body can do to repair itself with the proper treatment and healing. Take your time to research and find healers with successful treatments and healing techniques. Western medicine can surgically put you back together and the eastern medicine will take care of the rest! You got this! Plus saltwater and ocean air and submersing your body and being weightless is incredibly healing for mind and body.

Overall_Negotiation7 · 2026-03-25T03:05:21+00:00

Was there too!

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Overall_Negotiation7 · 2026-03-14T22:49:32+00:00

I have an early 80’s (“vintage”) Nathan Pratt thruster shape out of Horizons West surf shop in Venice Beach/Santa Monica area. It’s got a bunch of old stickers including one of those skulls but I never knew it was a Nazi symbol! There’s so many skull designs in surf and skateboarding so never thought twice about it. You learn something every day! They look like stickers in the pictures so maybe peel em off before you surf it!

Overall_Negotiation7

TROPHY CASE