Thank God the round of celebratory events and 'stuff' to get through over the Xmas, New Year break is over. It was actually quite OK but I am really looking forward to all the annoying tourists going back home. The main street still jams up with traffic and there are dumb drivers everywhere with blank looks on their faces looking for 'things' or places to park or roads. I have lived in coastal tourist towns all my life and it is the price you pay for having the place to yourself most of the time. But the shops run out of food, there are queues everywhere, no places to park and the waves are chockers with all types of surfers, some out for their 'annual' surf event and some agro bastards who are used to surfing in crowds on the west or east coast and having to be pushy just to get a wave. I wonder if the tourists realise how much the locals hate them!!! Fuck the economy, most of us don't actually benefit anyway.
Apart from that. everything is cruising along. Got some waves on Simon's 6'8" board at Deserts the other day, 3ft, clean and quick. I was encouraged by being able to get some waves on that board as it is a conventional design (even a bit of a gun board if Simon surfs it). So that is the next level for me as a surfer. It is a constant challenge but one I can take as far as I am able to survive basically. Hell, I was so envious of those guys out on the point in the Big Friday swell at Mids. I know I am not up to it but that is where I really wanted to be. Simon reckoned that he saw a guy on the face of a wave as he was paddling back out and that it was 2 and a 1/2 times overhead. Shit. Out in the middle of the bay was the best big wave that you could have surfed on a really big board and gone for ever. That looked really cool too.
Well, back to the Candidacy. I am still really excited about my subject but I do think it warrants a PhD equivalent in the form of a Doctor of Creative Arts. It is such a huge subject so I may still see if I can transfer over if I get through this candidacy bit.
bloody tourists and Xmas
