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so i thought moving back to pennsylvania would work. its n
ot. i was in the grocery store yesterday, and i just stopp
ed walking. its like there is a massive hole in my heart w
hen i can't bodyboard. i have 1 more year until i get my d
egree...but right now i don't think i can do it. i just ha
ve the image of the last wave i had before coming back in m
y mind...backdooring a heavy, glassy barrel until the end s
ection closed out. i remember thinking man this is being a
live. then looking up from deep underwater after the wave
closed and seeing the sun sparkling through. people here h
aven't even heard of bodyboarding.
heh i was a good student before...everyone was like oh you
will be so successful. they don't get that it doesn't mat
ter cause when i leave the ocean, i leave my heart there to
o.

heeeeeeeeeeeeelp. one week today i flew back to Connecticu
t, USA after a year in Australia and 6 months in Chile. Th
ree days before I left, a chilean friend asked me if I want
ed to go surf a spot I have never surfed before the next mo
rning. The swell was coming up (think winter in Chile) so
I was like um how dangerous will this be? He honestly said
, "its ok, pray tonight. And stretch, and eat someting goo
d." I was like um okay? The next morning, 6am, we get up
and pick up two other guys to go to this spot. The heavies
t waves I think I've ridden, but SO FREAKING FUN!!!! 3 hou
rs way too good. Then that afternoon I was going to sleep
when another friend stopped by...we went to surf another pr
etty heavy left. When he is exited I should be worried, bu
t I paddled out. The two guys I was with called me into a
wave, so I went. Except from where I was I had to backdoor
it...the most insane barrel of my life then I got nailed i
n the head by the lip...ouch. That was not good. Anyway,
for a few days I was glad to have a break, but now I am bac
k HERE and DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!!! I just have these i
mages in my head of sweet waves from that last day. And an
Argentinian friend asked me if I want to go to the canarie
s in april but I CAN'T because I have university. I can't
believe this. I should be happy though that I ever got to
surf waves like that...and I will go back.

1) Websites like this need to have two versions: the normal
one, and one that looks like an official engineering compa
ny's site or something so that every time by boss walks by
while I'm at work he won't immediately know I'm reading abo
ut bodyboarding...

2) I need to surf! Still in the desert, but only 4 more
days until my shift ends and I go back to the ocean. I ha
ven't ridden since June 5, I had to work a bunch and my dad
came to visit so we were traveling inland. Family is one
of the few things, if not the only thing, that definitely t
akes priority over waves (altho usually its not an issue -
they don't mind going to the beach either). Anyway I thoug
ht that much time would be ok because the 12 days before ju
ne 5 i was bodyboarding twice a day in some intense conditi
ons -for me anyway- and also came close to riding by far th
e biggest waves of my life (then as i was paddling into the
lineup a friend pointed out to me i was supposed to be rec
overing from landing on my head on the reef a few hours ear
lier). I kinda wanted maybe a two week break...but now its
been way too long!!!

in way too soon, i am gonna be leaving chile after 6 months
here. wow i have seen and done so much - in terms of body
boarding and just living - and july 5 i am headed back to t
he east coast US. 7 more days of work, then 7 of bodyboard
ing, more or less. the last 12 days i was surfing twice a
day, with 2 decent swells. scared myself out of my mind, g
ot some awesome barrels, almost dropped into the most power
ful wave i've seen until I realized 4mo of experience on re
ef isn't enough to ride it yet (hmm yeah the surfers were t
owing in) - although now I'm not sure i made the right deci
sion. Still, one of my friends wiped out really bad there
that morning, and he knew what he was doing way more than I
do. I'm gonna miss it though - when the swells come in it
s so intense. Really, I am glad all this happened - all of
it - the hard times, fun ones, scary and intense and rewar
ding ones, and ultimately the friends I've made - some will
be lifelong I hope. Buena onda.

ha so i am sitting at work with my heart basically constric
ted in my chest because 1) there is a bodyboarding comp sta
rting in 2 days and 2) its like 10-15ft and barreling (at a
great spot where i almost drown last time) according to ev
eryone at the beach. Problem: I am at work 100km into the
desert. And seriously considering just taking a couple of
vacation days starting tomorrow, taking the 6hr bus ride to
get there tomorrow night, and being in time for the comp t
he next morning. This would be a great plan if my boss wou
ld appreciate why I am going. I gotta take a company bus t
o get out of here which means he has to approve it. Ha ha
i've been at work for 4 days since my last bodyboarding tri
p and i am considering leaving already. I either learn tha
t yes there will be waves other days, figure out how to dea
l with the fact I am missing a sweeeet swell, or actually g
o ride it. For now, I sit here imagining what it was like
last time I rode a swell like that at the same place the co
mp will be at...

i realized, honestly, YESTERDAY, that next year I am gonna
be graduating from university (supposedly). I kinda forgot
I was a student for awhile - went to Australia to study an
d now I'm working in Chile. but in the last year and a hal
f I realized I have to live near the ocean. And I pretty m
uch have to bodyboard. Ok maybe I'd physically survive wit
hout it, but the emotional/mental/spiritual part that I'd l
ose is too much. so now I have no idea what to do. right
now, i could get sweet recommendations and have a pretty so
lid application...if i don't apply to grad school right awa
y i might not have the same chances i do now. or i can get
a job...some kind of mechanical/optical engineering. but
i can't not surf! so working all the time in some dark off
ice, sitting in a chair...its just not what i want to do ev
en though i've done it in the past. i am happy in the ocea
n. at the same time, i need to be working hard at somethin
g academic i think. i have so much freedom right now - a j
ob that interests me, working every other week, and riding
sweet waves in chile when i am not working. too bad my con
tract ends end of june and i have to graduate from bucknell
in central PA, USA next year. ha that is gonna be painful
...what to do without the waves. pretend the hills nearby
are ground swell?

If I want to even pretend to be thinking about work when I
am at work, I have to stop watching bodyboarding vids durin
g my lunch break. It is definitely not helping me do the t
ests I have to for about 2 hours or so afterward. But only
3 more days until I get to surf again...for 10 days straig
ht! I WILL backdoor this one wave...before I ha
ve to come back here for more work. I spent the last week
or so of no surf convincing myelf I will either not hit the
reef or I will be ok if I do. Can't wait to go to the oce
an!!

So my mom came to visit me in Chile last week...I had 12 da
ys off from work and she was here for 9 of them which was
s
uper fun travel. Anyway for the last 2 days I was like ok

I shouldn't go all the way to the waves, but I am going to

anyway or else I will regret it...took a bus for 6 hours..
.
IT WAS WORTH IT. Another girl was there who could ride...
the first time I have ever bodyboarded with another girl.

SO FUN!!! At 7:30am we were the only 2 people out at my f
a
vorite reef spot ever...I couldn't believe it. 2 girls...
b
arreling reef...all the waves we wanted. 7 or 8 hours in
t
he water. The next day, another 5 hours or so. Just afte
r
sunrise sessions and sunset too. I love this
sport. Now I am back at work in the desert...he he I can't

complain too much after that. Plus in 11 days I'm going b
a
ck.

i just got out of the water and need something relaxing to
do.  basically i woke up this morning, saw some 10ft s
ets on a reef near here, and decided for once and for all i
was just gonna ride it.  so i called a friend and ask
ed him if he wanted to go out...he realized i should probab
ly not go by myself as i've never ridden the spot before an
d ok it was a bit big.  anyway i can't paddle in very
fast, i'm just not in good enough shape.  so this leav
es me another option, sit farther inside and as it turned o
ut, drop more or less in the air to get in.  um well t
his works sort of unless the wave is closing out.  lon
g story short:  wiped out, took set on head over reef,
lost board, swam rather far back to shore.  friend's
leash broke when he tried to come find me in the whitewash.
  good experience tho.  :-D  I am going to s
leep now.  Anyway, yay for riding waves!!!  Aside
from not breathing for a bit too long and I rode like crap
, it was sweeet!  another friends comment:  man y
ou got trashed out there!  like i didn't notice. 
;-)  Ah well something to practice.

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