My opinion on such matters: NO COMMENT

It’s ok.

I forgot about this scene. But really, I never forgot what it meant.

PS 22′s chorus singing I’ll stand by you by The Pretenders. [Good]

1. Go to Australia or the Maldives and learn how to scuba
2. Get back to welterweight or light-middleweight
3. Surf 20 days
4. Read 20 books
5. Spend time with my dogs, maybe get another one
6. Start and name my ocean site
7. Relax
8. Get better at Scrabble
9. Practice swimming
10. See people I haven’t in a long time
11. Learn to cook 10 new meals
12. Sleep in late every day
13. See my dad
14. Grow my moustache
15. Figure out what an iPad is for
16. Get my medical card
17. Visit Matt in Santa Cruz

Update: Did all of this, except shaved moustache, didn’t see my dad, bought a house, learned to cook 4 new meals, read 10 books, learned scuba local, not in aust or maldives, and surfed 25 days, not 20.

In Sum:

1. Find a subject you care about

2. Do not ramble, though

3. Keep it simple

4. Have guts to cut

5. Sound like yourself

6. Say what you mean

7. Pity the readers

Lopez is also a Patagonia Ambassador (the clothing company, not the place.) I read his book they published, called Surf is Where you Find It and learned many things but one practical thing, which is to never take the first wave in the set. That’s because many greedy people crowding the line will take the first wave, which then clears a path for you; it also means that you’ll have fewer waves to paddle through when you go back out. I love learning little obvious things that were not obvious before. At the Tin Shed, Patagonia’s site of stories from their athletes and adventurers, Gerry tells a humbling story about how people resented him for taking waves in Oregon, not realizing they were surfing with a legend. So he took some waves of poorer quality in order to have more space and to surf with, as he described it, aloha. Gerry shapes boards for Patagonia, but also, under his own name.