Two great things; not so good together
Posted in Fun by RB on November 12th, 2007 Noe one really likes jet lag, but there is a bright side to it. Jet lag means that you’re somewhere far away from home, and that usually means that you’re somewhere exotic like Europe or Hawaii. And that pretty much described me today. I don’t care what people say, jet lag hits me going both east and west. So I was in a fog until lunch. I thought about taking a nap, but today was my only real free day, so I decided to hit waikiki beach. I walked past the wall which protects most of the beach from the waves and joined the crowd closest to the surfers. Maybe it was the exhaustion; maybe it was the need to overcome the severe loneliness that comes from business travel; maybe it was the beers I had with lunch. Whatever it was, I found myself walking back to the beach.
Surfing. That’s a lot like snowboarding - the sport which led to two wrists broken in the same day. Could this really be a smart thing to try, even with lessons? It probably wasn’t, but I shelled out a few bucks for a group lesson anyway. A local guide who called himself “Hi Tide” showed us the basics and led us into the Pacific. He guaranteed that I’d at least stand up on the board, and I did on my first try. It was such a cool feeling, and I felt like I could go on forever. That is, until I realized I was about to run someone over and I didn’t know how to steer the 10 foot board underneath me. So I followed Hi Tide’s instructions and fell onto my stomach. When I came up I grabbed for the board and couldn’t find it. The safety had come loose, and now I had to swim for what seemed to be forever until I could retrieve it. By the time I got back out to my class I was pretty tired, and by the time I tried to catch my third wave I knew I was done. I told Hi Tide “mahalo” and returned to shore proud of my meager accomplishment.
Learning to surf was a rush, and I hope I get to finish my lesson. Next time I’m going to try after a proper night’s sleep. At least, I’m telling myself that I had to give up because of the jet lag. Surely it doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that I spend 8-10 hours a day sitting on my ass behind a desk…
