Monday, August 19, 2013

Do you realize what you've done???

10 years ago I quit my favorite job of all time and drove away from Seattle with just a basic gameplan for an uncertain future. At the time I never knew it was the perfect snowboard brand filled with people who held a lot of my same beliefs on what a quality life means. It was a little risky to leave, but at the time the economy was picking up, jobs were plentiful, we didn't know what the Great Recession was bringing, and I was full of hopes and dreams. All I wanted to do was live at the beach and surf my brains out. And it worked out fucking awesome! Why not take that same chance again, only older, a little more experienced, more broken down, but still with those hopes and dreams of an 43 year old? Today, almost exactly 10 year to the day, I'm once again letting intuition, guesswork, wanderlust, ADD, and trust be my guide. Because I am so stoked on the company I work for, it was with a lot of regret that I put in my notice at work today. There is hands down, no better company than Patagonia if you're into action sports, quality gear, and supporting the cause. I didn't necessarily love my particular job, but I would've stayed there forever if it was located at the beach instead of Reno. There's a slim chance I transfer somewhere inside the family, and I'm working hard to make that happen. But that's really beyond my control. I have 2 weeks until I don't need a clock of any kind and can wake with the sun and go to sleep by the moon. I'll spend every single day biking, hiking, clownin, slapping high fives, drinking coffee, inter netting, slothing, reading, fishing, and/or surfing. Even with a tuneup on the Subaru, and since I live relatively low, I have roughly 200 days worth of cash to burn through before I must make a decision. And I also have 65,000 Alaska Airline miles in my back pocket. That's all before the emergency fund gets drained.


“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown”
― H.P. Lovecraft


So with a bit of fear and in no hurry to just take any old job, I'm gonna take a little adventure and try to shake that out of my system. First stop is Idaho...as long as it doesn't burn down before I get there. The mountain bike trails in Sun Valley are gorgeous and empty. There's friends and fish I need to catch up with over there also. After a couple weeks, I'll head north to Lewiston and catch up with my old man. That town blows, but my step mom just had a quick scare with the dreaded cancer. As quick as possible, the Seattle leg of the 2013 Jeff Experiment begins. Hope to catch up and surf with The Worlds Greatest Landlord, By By Bybee, World's Worst Dad, and possibly Galapagos. There's a surf zone in the Pacific Northwest that seems to be calling my name. I will have to go see what's going on over there and camp among the moss. When I get into some sort of surf shape, the plan is to head to some long, cold water left point breaks, possibly Chile Chile has those, and it's been in the back of my mind for quite a while now. Empty, cold, lefts. I'll head down to Portland first to hang with my mom and brother for a few days. There are just way too many P-Town peeps to pop in on, but I know where to find them. Plus my family can look after my camper and car while I'm out of country. I'd like to work on my Espanol while I'm in South America as well, and I'm in luck. There's an awesome school in Pichilemu. After surfing and cramming my brain full of knowledge, then it's onto the completely unknown. I'd love to expat somewhere. Or I'd like to end up back in Santa Barbara. Perhaps I end up back in Sun Valley slingin Hendricks & Tonics with a cucumber slice to my old boss Gumby all winter. I'm letting people, experiences, and Dumb & Dumber be my guide.



8 comments:

  1. you are a great inspiration. all the best on your journey, and I better see you when you're here :)

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    Replies
    1. A great inspiration? Quitter. I better not be paying into your fucking vacation again with my taxes and you collecting UN-Enjoyment.

      Get a job and be miserable like the rest of us.

      Fuck stick.

      When you in town?

      Delete
  2. Best of luck to you....

    (FYI, 65,000 Alaska miles can get you a RT ticket to Bali via Cathay Pacific sharemiles.... just sayin!)

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  3. As the world turns... step on the gas Dr., times a flyin'... hurry up so we can wait for that swell to arrive.

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  4. I've love to catch up Lito. I'll track ya down. But no real inspiration here, just a simple retard trying to link some adventures and avoid becoming complacent with a mundane life. It's a constant juggle of chaos, though. And I just realized thai I forgot to add that I'd like to meet some Cyber Bros like Surf Sista, A-Man, Forrest, etc. More interesting posts coming soon.

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  5. JUST LOGGED IN TO SAY WE WERE DONE FOREVER but then I see you added me to the list! Good thing I ain't bloggt in forever or else you'da been HERSTORY.

    My luxury apartment is going through changes like Ozzy, but currently still has a hide-a-bed couch. What's your bike setup? I'd rather not hang out with any of these other commenters--they seem lame--but maybe for an hour or so it could be okay.

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  6. also your woe-is-me whining about leaving whatever snowboard job sounds like me still blaming my parents for not buying me a computer when I was twelve: SHUT THE FUCK UP AND SLASH SHIT THIS IS ALL THERE IS AND YOU KNOW IT! THESE OTHER HORBZ ARE LOST IDIOTS AND WE ARE THE TRUE HUMAN BEINGS HERE

    ReplyDelete