Decisions Decisions

Well the surf has slacked off considerably here and it has been kinda flat and mushy. We have been partying alot and now its starting to get to me. Im in need of surf again. We surfed today in chest high waves but after about 30 min, the tide was steadily getting lower and the west winds picking up. In short it destroyed what was left of the session. Nothing like taking a waist to chest high wave and seeing jagged reef and rock underneath you. My friends left on friday for Guadalajara so they could catch their flight back to the USA on saturday. I went through a pretty bad depression sat night. Its very weird knowing that now you are in a country by yourself and all of your friends are gone. Im super cool with the locals, but Ill never be one or looked at as a friend. We drank some and checked out another town dance. These things are super fun and always get very rowdy. This time however the police carrying M16s were right there and nothing big got started. We left with some locals and went back to the pad and got some beer. Some of the guys bought cocaine from like a 13 year old kid and they traded lines and beers for a while. Not my cup of tea but whatever. Im starting to feel stuck. I love Mita and its people so much and I love the waves but I feel like I should head south and see more of Mexico and surf more waves. The surf is ALWAYS better in the south here. If I was with my friends, it would have been no problem to pack up and head out. Now that I am by myself, Im struggling to find the need to move on. Is it so bad to spend your entire trip in one area? On a lighter note, when my friends were still here we went to this super cool place called Mismaloya. They filmed the movie Preditor and Night of the Iguana there. We hiked up into the mountains and hitchhiked a little too. The jungle is AMAZING!!!!! Its so dense and thick while Mita, just 30 miles north on the tip of the bay is very arid and dry right now. I have never seen anything so beautiful in my life. Well anyways, I better end this before I get charged too much.

How can I suck so bad

Well I am just on a shitty streak here. I cant find an uncrowded right break and im just averaging maybe 3 to 8 waves A DAY! Fuck me silly. The waves todayare amazing. Everywhere is around solid head high to a foot or 2 overhead on bigger sets. Later Im hooking up with some cali expats and some locals for a boat ride back to The Cove. Its around head high over reef and I cant wait to get on it. Perfect a-frames! Yes my confidence for taking peaks instead of shoulders has increased immensly and the reef or rock bottom breaks dont scare me much anymore. Im actually looking forward to being on that reef in a couple of hours. One of the locals here absolutely rips. They told me earlier today they were at the cove and he was busting 180 airs......hold on 3 super hot girls just walked by the internet place. lol anyways. Im outa here. Time to get back on the bus and catch my boat ride and hopefully change my wave count considerably.

The Arrival of Waves

Well today I decided to head to another spot because Im dying for some good rights. I checked out this place called Burros and it was rocking. Average 6ft with occasional close to 9ft cleanups. I havent been in surf that big in a long time and it took some getting used to. I got caught inside for about 20 waves, all close to 10ft and it SUCKED! I did get one ride but it was very short and shitty. I have been in some kind of a slump for the past few days and I cannot seem to break it. I really need to get out of it and start riding some of these beasts and taking waves. I hate looking like i cant surf in front of other people. Maybe thats just something I need to work on forgetting. We traveled to Sayulita yesterday and it was super crowded. The wave was 5-6ft with around 20+ people on the peak. INSANE! We sat at a bar and watched all the hot ass girls and surfers. Some really good surfers there especially the locals. Anyways.... Ill post again soon, Im off to rest and then surf. CMON WAVES!

Scared???

Well... In case you dont surf or just didnt know, a HUGE swell from the SW is about to rock Mexico down to its core. Sunday is calling for 13 to 19ft at 20 seconds. Good thing we are not exactly on an exposed southern beach but a little inside of a bay. The swell wraps around and comes in off of Cabo Corrientes. Anyways, we all had a wonderful afternoon session when we were finally able to score a ride to the break instead of hiking 40 min down the beach and back. I was sucking horribly when the best right of the day was bearing down on me. I adjusted a little and setup, paddling way out in front of her. I was making sure I wouldnt blow another takeoff. I caught it steep and immediatly jumped to my feet and dropped right. She walled fast and for the first time, I let my legs just do the work and my pumping and S turns were very large and fluid. I exited the wave very fast and it has been my best ride so far of the trip and in my time surfing. My friends have been scoring some good waves as well and we are all surfing well in general. Yesterday the session was horrible for me as I couldnt get myself out of a slump and the dropping swell made it even harder. Punta de Mita rocks but im yearning to head south soon. We have renegotiated our little camp spot to $5 a night and there is a great lunch place right nearby that has $1.50 huge ham and cheese sandwiches on torta bread, all grilled. Then theres the .50cent, glass bottled, sugar caned cokes, and $1.80 1 liter pacifico beers. PARADISE! My feet are horrible looking due to the cuts and im actually getting a little worried about infection. O well. Today we are taking a break to heal and not stress out in the small waves and heading to Puerto Vallarta for some exploring and just messing around. Hell its only 30min away and the bus is like 2 or 3 bucks lol. GET READY FOR THE SWELL CALIFORNIA.
http://www.wetsand.com/swellwatch/swellwatch.asp?locationid=2&tabid=1441&subtabid=0&CatId=874&SubCatID=874
Take a look at that!!!! or wetsand.com locations northern mexico, and next sunday.

Las Olas de Punta de Mita

Well that basically means, The waves of Punta de Mita. The bus ride was long and scary at parts in the mountains, but overall it was a blast and i will def do it again. Our first day chasing surf didnt work out so well but today we scored chest to head high LONGGGGGGG lines. Great for longboarding, but i dont play thta game hahahhaa. everywhere in this area is reef break with the reef averaging 3ft to 9ft below you. Take one too far in and its more like 1 to 3ft. My feet are torn from so much hiking and some of the reef. Its not too sharp and is well padded from moss but is quite sharp in parts. I took some great rights, one in particular i dropped hard on the face for a fast bottom turn and I actually finally hit the lip. Not as hard or as aggressive as I want, but hey its a step right.......i cant find the question mark on this keyboard lol and im runing out of time. anyways, Mexico is awsome but this area is a little fickle with the swell angles. We are currently camping at this guys hotel/cabanas and its costing around 7 a day. not too bad. Showers, pool, beach 30ft from my tent, paradise. well i gota end this. ill try and write a longer one later! ooooooo the bus ride from guadalajara to PV is INSANE through the mountains. I havent been that afraid in a long time until just now on the bus here to this town for bank and internet. The driver was intent on killing me for interrupting his lunch and watching mexico in world cup. I was SERIOUSLY praying, i was that scared. OK im out. see ya guys

The knots in my stomach

Well when I awoke this morning and I slowly realized that I leave tomorrow at 8:30pm, my stomach began to fill with knots. I think it has to do mostly with all the anticipation and adrenaline but I know a part of it is fear. Its the fear that adds that knotty, uneasy feeling. Your half excited, and half scared at the same time. Im jittery and feeling cold a lot, but I know Im ready. The time has come for me to set out and embark on my greatest surf adventure yet. For those of you just joining, I will be setting out on a month long surf adventure in mainland Mexico. Starting in Punta de Mita on the north end of the Bay of Banderas, near Puerto Vallarta, and hopefully ending somewhere in the south in Paraiso or Boca de Apisa near Manzanillo. I have long awaited this day and finally my time has come. Im prepared about as well as one can be prepared and yet I still have a great deal of my trip unplanned as thats the way I like them. People (the non surfing type) are balking at my lack of planning and making arrangements with hotels. This trip is not about 4star Marriots. This trip is not about rental cars. This trip is about surfing and being in touch with the land and ocean and people. On a Texas surfing forum, they told me, "It is a Texas surfer's right of passage". This is something that will set the stage for my future travels and vagabonding. This is my stepping stone, my kindergarten graduation of traveling if you will. I need this trip not only for the surf, but to see if I have what it takes to accomplish my dreams of long, hard, rough travel/surf travel.

My bus leaves tomorrow, Wednesday, at 8:30pm. This is great because we have 7-9 hours of just Texas to cross through until the border. Luckily Im on a Mexican bus line and we only stop in Laredo at the border and I think that is the last time until Guadalajara. From Guadalajara, we catch our next bus to Puerto Vallarta. Thats around 5-7 hours. The finally, the 30 to 45 min ride out to Punta Mita on the local bus. The travel will be hard and long but Im positive that Im up to the task. Im a little worried about my friends, especially once they head back to Guadalajara to catch their flight, but Im sure they will be fine. I will teach them enough spanish along the way to make sure their trip back will be fine. Well... I will do my best to post, maybe when and if its ever flat. ha ha ha. No really I will try as I will need the internet a few times to take care of some stuff back home etc. Well....until then. Adios

Summer Crap Surf

The surf yesterday was crap-tacular and Im not joking. I drove down with Mel and my 2 friends that are traveling to Mexico with me. The surf was waist to waist + but completely blown out due to what seemed to be an extreame NE wind around 15kt blowing sideshore onto a SW facing beach. These are all the ingredients to a horrible day of surf. It was semi decent for around an hour but as the wind picked up, it got very peaky and a horrible current TOWARDS the jetty formed making it impossible to sit and enjoy the session. Tons of paddling and dodging rogue peaks and fighting the horrendous current. I had a few good rides though and my best was during the crappiest conditions. I took a nice huge peak to the right but instead of the ride ending quickly as they usually do in these conditions, I made the connetion with a forming inside sandbar. The right walled up again on me and I got low on the board and dug into the wall and ended the closeout with a little snap back. Another nice ride I was high up on the wave, sort of dangling on the lip if you will. I couldnt break free so I worked with what I had and it ended up being a pretty decent ride. Well thats about all I have to say about yesterday's session. Ill post again before we leave for Mexico and I might reset my counter to reflect the day I will return.

Off the Radar

I'm still alive if anyone is wondering. We had a huge birthday bash for
my roommate/bestfriend Rami on saturday nite and well.... I woke up
sunday at 4pm in my bed without much knowledge of how I got there and a
few interesting emails on my phone. Apparently I said some pretty stupid
shit to mel.... Sorry again. As you can see, the counter on my site is
getting lower and lower. I can remember when it was up in the 60's and
it didn't seem to move very fast. Well here we are in the final 2 weeks
before departure and my patience is growing thin. I watch and rewatch
surfing videos all day trying to analyze their moves and see where I can
try and improve on my surfing. in case you didn't know... the company I
work for is seasonal tax work. They pay me a yearly salary but after
april 20th, I only have to come in on tuesdays and thursdays for around
3 hours. The awsome part is, I still get paid the same even though we
are not in tax season. I really love my job as the work is hard and long
for 4 months but after that its all holiday. We resume more days and
hours towards november as I begin setting up new locations and getting
all of our computers and networks ready for the new tax season. I have
been reading my guidebooks and travel websites nonstop going over last
minute travel jitters. This trip is not going to be for the fient of
heart. My 2 friends and I will be on a bus for around 30 hours until we
reach our destination. From there is a flury of camping and busing to
further destinations when we grow tired of a certain break. After around
2.5 weeks, my friends head by bus back to Guadalajara and fly back,
leaving me for another 2 weeks in Mexico by myself. I'm not too worried
about this last part but it will be very interesting. My goals for this
trip are not only to drastically improve my surfing but to overall grow
as a person. I have much faith that everything will work out and we will
have simply an amazing trip that most people only dream of. For all my
newfound surf bloggers, ill ride one for ya. For all my readers and
friends and family, ill be thinking of ya. I do plan on blogging when
and if I get the chance while I'm there but don't hold me to it. I have
room on my new mem card for close to 800 pictures so you can expect a
plethora of surf/travel images upon my return. There is also a
possibility of a video camera being brought along with a waterproof case
for surf film but I'm not making any promises. I ask this of you
guys.....please keep us in your thoughts and prayers and may the surf
gods bless us with amazing surf. Nite everyone.
--astraltx

More Crap

Well I just got back from the outdoor sports store and here's the
rundown. I got a 9x9 tent, a knife, mace, 4 plastic stakes, 4 aluminum
sand stakes, a 10 x 12ft tarp for $67. I did ok I guess. The time for
the Mexico departure is getting closer and closer. I can't even begin to
describe how excited I am. We have looked over the spot maps and have
decided that we will start in Mazatlan and work our way down. I want to
possibly make it down into michoacan a little but that mite not happen.
My friends already bought their plane tickets back as they are leaving
after 2 1/2 weeks. I won't be back until sometime around July 10th,
basically about 34 days in mexico. The bus ride is approx 24-26 hours
long. This is gonna be a killer but hell.... Its Mexico and badass waves
for an entire month, I think I can deal. Surfing sometimes should have a
warning. Chasing waves in remote desolate places. Riding busses for
extended periods of time. As Allen Wiesbecker said in his book "In
Search of Captain Zero" about beginning surfing, "careful, it can change
everything". Well I'm posting from my phone so I'm gonna end this now.

Cinco...err Drinko de Mayo

Well as the title says... it was an interesting day to say the least! We have a slideshow up and running on Mel's myspace page, head over and take a look. www.myspace.com/meltepid
Ahh it was a very crazy night with 40oz Old English duct taped to our hands. Anyways hahahaha, well now Im sitting here at work and getting very pissed at these badass deals from travelzoo on airline tickets. For instance, if you lived in or around San Francisco, you could fly to Liberia Costa Rica and back again for $255. That just pisses me off because Houston, where I live, is on of the main hubs for Latin American flights. Why dont we get included in these badass deals? Any of you cali surfers reading this, I would highly recomend taking this deal. You could fly in, surf Tamarindo(crowded as hell) for a week and fly out, and MAYBE spend $1000. Lucky you. Well thats ok because in case you didnt notice, Im leaving for Mexico very very soon. I have been buying everything I can think I will need. I have a new 7'0" Dakine double bag, a High Sierra trekking backpack, a Rough Guide to Mexico, some soft racks for taxis, some new boardshorts, and another 1gb stick for my digital camera. All Im carrying is the boardbag and my backpack so Im packing very lightly. We will mostly be staying in little cabanas, small hotels or hostels, and some camping on remote beaches. I might not be traveling alone anymore as 1 friend is headed down with me for 2 weeks and another might come as well. I will still be by myself for the last 2 weeks of the trip and in a way, Im still very excited about that. I have been doing a helluva lot of Google Earth research on points and bays and mysto spots. I have several surf maps outlining good spots and adivce on the areas. Im prepared to the max almost. Departure time is almost here!

Saturday

Well I decided to go surfing saturday after the lunch awards thingy we held for the company I work for. The surf was spectacular with chest to head high sets coming through and a hard blowing 10-15mph offshore wind. We normally DO NOT get these conditions in the spring time here in Texas so I wasn't going to miss this. I caught maybe one or two waves and then everything went to hell. I was getting tangled in my leash non stop, my boardshorts were rubbing my hips raw, I kept missing takeoffs due to strong offshores and spray in the face, and I sliced an already bad wound on my foot with the fin. yay. I wish I wouldnt have screwed up such an awsome day but I did. I will try and post some pics soon of the amazing sunset that day though. Until then...

Update again

Well I havent posted in a while and there isnt really much to say. Surf might be running chest to chest+ this weekend. That is much needed. I started running again now that work is finally over. So now I only work Tues. and Thurs, about 3 -5 hours a day and Im off the rest of the week. Same pay. Cant beat that! So yea, running. I ran around a mile for my first time since literally I graduated high school, 3 years ago. It felt very refreshing and as soon as I get off today, Im headed for another one.

not much of anything

Well the title sums it up. The same ole same ole is just going on, work, school, waiting for Mexico, and wishing for waves. As sad as it sounds, maybe I can be blessed with an early season hurricane. I have been re-reading "In Search of Captain Zero" by Allan Weisbecker lately and frankly, I cant wait to be on the road. Im really trying to manage my finances well and get this whole idea rolling. Im also planning my "great escape" which should be coming up in the next year to year and a half. I have already pretty much secured a place to stay and a job when I eventually meander my way down through South America to Argentina. Im extreamly excited by the prospects of this trip. I would really like to work my way out into the Carribean and maybe find some type of bar/waiter or commercial fishing work. I would really enjoy that. I want to just take some time out in my life and really figure out what exactly it is that Im suposed to do. I know my parents will flip, Im ready for that. I just cant accept right now that I was born to goto school, graduate, work, buy a house, a car, get married, have a kid or 2.3, and then hopefully live to see them have children. What in the hell is the purpose of that really? Im getting more and more tired of our preconcieved notions of what is the "correct" thing to do. What if I never own a car? So what. What if I never really own much in the meaning of earthly, worldly posessions? What if I never get married? What if my gift with computers is just an illusion and I wasn't meant to pursue any type of work with them? All of these things keep rolling through my thoughts and Im really starting to wonder about what our society tells us. Maybe Im insane. Maybe I have that wierd thing inside of me that seperates the homely from the explorers. Maybe I have some long forgotten explorers genes in me, and my quest for the world and what it contains, especially waves, is just something from my blood trying to surface. Its so hard to break free from the mold I have encased myself in. I know no one will understand my journey this summer through Mexico. I DEFINENTLY know that no one will understand my future travels, but thats ok. They are for me and not them. There is a kid in the book "In Search of Captain Zero" that they run across deep into the jungles near the end of the road in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica. They are just maybe 30 or 40 miles from the Panamanian frontier, staying in a house of guy they know on a deserted beach call "Monkey Point". The kid, described as being in his mid 20's, lives out at this house. When they ask him what he's doing all the way out here he replies with "Im trying to figure out what to do with my life. I figured this would be a good place to think about it". To me, he picked one helluva spot. Its only missing surf and it would have been the perfect spot. Anyways, Im going to end this rant before I get too into this.

The Perfect Session...almost

This morning was just classic. I pulled up at SS today and was greeted by chest to headhigh swell with a very light onshore wind. I didnt waste much time getting into my trunks and I did my pre-paddle out stretching. In no time I had reached the lineup, all 7 of us. SS is a very long beach with multiple peaks everywhere so it can easily handle 50-70 surfers. My very first wave was an awsome left, walling up quick I crouched to get a little low as I usually do when going backside. I just raced the line doing little pumps and some small turns, trying to really start getting a feel for the new fish in bigger surf. I love the board but i have really noticed that she digs the rails very very easily if there isnt enough speed behind the turn. I caught a couple of really fun rights, one which I finally did a legit cutback back toward the white water. I was so stoked to have finally pulled this off. I knew this was going to be a great session after that. Everytime I was just placing myself in perfect postion. I must have taken another 6 or 7 waves when I dropped in low into a walling left. Are my eyes deceiving me?? She is looking ready to pitch! Im super low on the board and sure enough she graced with me a small head dip followed immediatly by a pummeling for attempting to get away with it. The conditions started to change a bit as the wind picked up a little and it started to get a little choppy. Every once in a while, huge cleanup sets around 1 foot overheard would come through. After going over the falls on one wave, I was caught inside and I must have taken easily 10 - 15 waves one after another right in front of me. I have never duck dived so much in my life! I finally made it out past all that, and it kind of went downhill from there. I got all out of sync and kept pitching myself or missing takeoffs. I finally decided to call it quits and head in. Over all it was an awsome session and Im gaining faith in my new board in bigger waves. Im thinking she can hold her own when I take her with me and my Merrick to mexico. Right now im riding it as a quadfin, but I can put the middle back in if I get into some steeper waves to try and decrease the slip. Moving on. I hung out with my friend Sabina last night. Shes headed back to see her family in Poland next Thursday and she will be gone for a month, maybe longer. I will miss her tons as I love hanging out with her. She is one of the only people that really understands my travel passion and what it really means to take off on a long term trip. To get her money to come to the USA, she took a bus to Sicily and got a job in a cafe of sorts. She didnt know Italian or anyone there. I have alot of respect for that and thats why she understand what Im trying to do. Well anyways...Im waterlogged but getting tan as hell hahahahaha. I tan very easily and I LOVE IT!
PRAY FOR SURF!

The Awsome Session

This weekend starting with Friday, has pretty much been a huge blur. My older brother came to stay with me this weekend from Mississippi. In all we did our best to consume all the alcohol in the Houston area and I think we did a damn good job! I bought a new board Friday night from a guy on Texas surfing forum I post on. Its a 6'0 fish with a nice swallow tail. The board uses regular fins and right now it is set up as a quadfin. 2 regular fins on the side with tiny finger fins right next to them, no middle fin. The board was shaped by a local Texas shaper and its shape is perfect for the gulf. I took it out Sunday afternoon while the swell was still holding. It was an ok waist to wast+ on sets with the occasional chest high. It was however very clean and super lined up. Water temp was around 70 with air in the high 70's. I got in around 4:30 and surfed my brains out till 7:20ish. I caught more rides ina single session than I ever have (somewhere around 20) and the board is super fun. It works so much better in the waves than my Al Merrick. I had some drama go down on sunday before the sesh and well... it was good to get my head clear in the water. Im still extreamly confused about the whole situation thats unfolding before me, but hopefully things will work out for the best. Weekend outlook has building SE swell again... I cant wait to get on it!

Update

Well I havent really had much to post or talk about so I figured I would post just to let everyone know whats been going on. Work is getting extreamly boring and there is isnt much to do. Ill be very happy come april 17th, and work is officially OVER! My older bro might be coming into town to see me this weekend and that will be awsome. I havent seen him in a while and I love hanging out with him. Im goin to try and do my best to convince his ass to move here to Texas. Well... I have a math test I should be studying for so I'll get back to work on that.

Nothing to Report

Well I dont really have to much to say. I got back early thursday morning from Oklahoma where I was attending my grandfather's funeral. Something amazing did happen when we were fallowing the herse and the police car. Everyone was pulling over to the side of the road, even on the other side and we were on a 4 lane divided highway mind you! We even passed a construction crew and they all stopped and stood on the edge of the road with their hardhats over their hearts. AMAZING! The police as they finished escorting jumped out of their cars and stood at attention on the side of the road as we passed. This just amazed everyone as we all come from large cities. This type of behavior and show of respect would have never happened where we come from. Well surf is a freaking wreck right now in texas but we will see what happens for next week. Strong onshore flow should return and start building the surf again. woooooooooooooooooooooo
PRAY FOR SURF!

OHHH btw... here is a link to a video of monday when I was out there. This is around 4 hours after I left when the offshores really started hitting. For those of you who think there is no surf in texas, well here ya go.
SURF VID!

Morning Surf

Today was a nice little session at 37th street in Galveston. 37th tends to break harder and more hallower than the rest of the spots on the island, even its nickname is 37 dump street. It was mostly chest high with semi decent lines. I caught several lefts and rights, none of which were really worth mentioning or recalling, but I had a great time overall. I did however catch a macking headhigh cleanup right on the head. This wave was huge with a horrible sucking face (the tide was going out and makes 37th very hollow) and she was hellbent on killing me. I duckdived and it slammed on my head with all its might and I must have flipped 2 or 3 times with board in hand and it was pretty exciting. This one kid took a horrible pitching wave and somehow made the drop, completely verticle. I thought for sure he would eat it, but he let out a loud yell (maybe yeee-haaawww!! lol) and landed it. The water temp wasnt too bad and I trunked it without a shirt much to the amazement of several guys out. Water was like 67 with severe overcast skies and low 60s air temp. So now Im sitting here at work, and I just love that salty feeling all over me and Im not being sarcastic. Maybe I was just a beach bum in another life or something, but I actually enjoy it. The cakey hair that will stay in any formation you put it, the flaky salty skin, the smell of the water and salt. The problem is Im so incredibly tired due to the 2 hours of sleep I got last night. BLEH!!! I had some awsome post worked out in my head while driving to the beach this morning but I have forgotten it. It was just a rant about dreams and lockdown USA, basically all the same shit Im always bitching about.

Change of Plans

Well...it looks like I will miss out on a sunday sesh due to the death of my grandfather today. I didnt know him very well (met him once) but I will be driving to Oklahoma this weekend to meet my moms side of the family, some I havent seen in over 10 years! I will however be back in time to catch monday going off as a cool front is forecast to pass over giving us some offshores. I just finished my new "The Surfer's Path" and there is an awsome article about surfing on the Marshall Islands. The author mentions a guy he runs into and the conversation they have. The guy just seems to live and camp out kinda wherever life may take him and he says this. "I've never had a career. Soceity looks at you and sets the bar, especially in L.A. What car you drive, where you live, where you work. I haven't had a car in 25 years." "I'm rediscovering the art of human being. When I look at people in today's society, I see human doings and human thinkings, but the 'being' part - what is that? What is it to just be? I want to just 'unbecome', because our whole life is spent because something like being a beautiful creature isn't enough." As more and more time goes by, I realize...I would like to strip down....and leave. There is so much in the world for me to see and I cant keep sitting here, reading stories of how so many other people are living how I would like to live for a bit. This summer is going to rock. Anyways...hopefully I will have some pictures of the surf to post by monday or tuesday.

Here We Go Again

Here comes the swell. Well its looking like another lonnggggggg surfed-out weekend. Im not complaining ny ANY means, just getting a little anxious again. Man, I really love the springtime. Lately things have been a mess with me. I really need to slow down, and take care of the small things in my life that need my attention. Work is a major factor as I dont get home most nights until around 9:30. By then my laundry, dishes and homework are the last things on my mind. I have just been living in this stupid pattern lately to only take care of things on the weekend when I feel like putting forth the effort. That has got to end as I really feel like Im living weekend to weekend and I really cant recall much of what I did all week that has any significance. A weekend of surf like last just complicates things more as I will be spending most of my waking time in the water, and those little things I have been putting off until the weekend wont get done. I have barely seen my roommate and we havent gotten much of a chance to talk one on one lately except for last night. Well anyways. Im very excited about going to Mexico. I have been putting together a small list of things I need to buy before I leave, but believe me when I say small. I plan on packing very light and only taking the necesities, clothes (not much), batteries, sunscreen, shampoo/soap/toothbrush and toothepaste, digital camera, mp3 player, passport, boards. Thats pretty much about it. I might bring my little beard trimmer to keep the beard/mustache in check. I called the other day about my tickets and I found some good deals from Houston to Guadalajara averaging about $107. This is an express bus and has very few stops and flys right across the border so I dont have to deal with all the border crap on the way in. The way out however is a different story. I might try and get across the country before I come back to see Leslie in Tampico. I feel thats the least I can do for dragging her through so much of my shit. Im really looking forward to being in Tampico as well and it seems like a nice place. Hopefully, I will get ultra lucky and catch some nice hurricane surf going off and I will get the chance to surf with her. I hope we get some decent spring swell when she gets here in 3 weeks so I can take her out and show her our muddy water, mushy breaks, and of course.....THE SHARKS!!!!!! Hahahahaha, she is deathly afraid of them and she has convinced herself that in Tampico, the sharks dont come near the beach/surf spots. Hahahaha.....one of their main spots is right on the inside of a long jetty that seperates a rivermouth. Can you say....sharky sharky??????? Well.... I still havent decided if I will post while Im in Mexico or if I will just update with locations of where I am or not blog at all. Im really feeling the "not at all route" because I want to ..... unplug. Bad part is, I might be carrying a cell phone so I really dont know how "unplugged" I will be. Anyways.....gotta pass flyers out here at work. Surf is coming....