By the Numbers

I'm back and already missing the hot sun and friendly smiles in Costa Rica. What an amazing vacation. It was an unusual one for me because, although I went alone, I spent almost all of my time with a group of people. It almost felt like going on a trip with a bunch of friends. That was very fun but a smidge different than what I thought I needed. Still, I'm really glad it worked out that way. Different can be good.

I can't wait to tell you all the deets about my rad time and how incredibly Type-A I was about my surfing, but for now let's take it by the numbers:

34 bug bites in one night of not using bug spray
3 stings from stingrays
10' 2" - the board I started with
9' 2" - the board I ended with
1 fish I almost caught in my mouth while taking a wave in
10" - the size of that disgusting fish
4 surfer-specific massages at Tica Massage
7 fresh jugo de piña and banana pancake breakfasts
17 surfing lessons/sessions
3 naps in my hammock
16ish outdoor showers on the deck of my room
60 minutes journaling by candlelight observing Earth Hour
2 big wipeouts
1 million little wipeouts
1 awesome 40th birthday

If You Need Me, I'll Be Napping in My Hammock

Thanks for all of the really nice birthday wishes, peeps! Hello from beautiful Costa Rica. I borrowed a laptop tonight to quickly check in with reality, but who cares about that. Let's talk about me: 40 is working pretty great for me so far. I surfed for hours today, and tonight I just got back from a really fun dinner out with the group. The sunsets here are amazing, the surf is the most consistent I've ever seen, and the Howler monkeys are named that for a reason. Send my things!

Forty

As if on cue, a thick, silky grey hair appeared last week at my right temple. I've been highlighting my hair since I was about 20, so I don't have many opportunities to see grey coming in. However, this thing is The Little Engine That Could. Try as I might, it wasn't going anywhere.

I am almost positive there has been a mistake, but it seems as though I am about to turn 40. This is a big one. You and me, me and you, we've gone through a lot of birthdays together. But this one? This one feels very different. Not bad-different. Just different-different.

I leave in about an hour for Costa Rica, so it must be time to pack. I never got that final paper done (poo), and I left approximately one million e-mails unanswered at work. But there comes a point when you can't *do* any more and you just have to let. shit. go. Thank goodness!

I feel like I've had a lot to say, but I haven't been able to find my words lately. I'm nervous about traveling alone. I've done it so many times over the years -- will it still be fun? I hope my sense of adventure comes back to me quickly. I can feel it creeping in just a tiny bit at times. Huntington Beach called the other night and caught me in a "What was I thinking?" moment. He calmly and confidently said all the right things at all the right times (this is his specialty) and made me feel like the smartest girl in the world for running off alone and clueless to some little place I'd never even heard of not too long ago.

So here I go! I hope I can really take my surfing to the next level with all this warm water practice. I'll be back soon with lots of boring stories about laying around in the sun, reading yummy books, drinking ice cold beer, and surfing my brains out!

Watashi No Nihon

Zac Neulieb has designed this haunting print named Help Japan. It's only $22.50 and all proceeds go to support the country I love and called home for several years.

Ten

That last post got me thinking about my other nine reasons it's great to be alive. Here is my current list:

1. Les Miserables - 1,000 specific things about it
   
2. Surfing. Natch.
3. Hearing or reading words that perfectly describe something I am thinking or feeling
   
4. Sun on my skin
   
5. Books. Delicious books.
6. The absolute perfect song at the absolute perfect time
7. Feet pounding on pavement, fresh air in lungs, moving forward, always forward
8. Being thought of, being comforted, being held by just the right person
9. That feeling when I'm in bed and I wake up in the morning after a great sleep and I'm the perfect temperature and the covers are just right around me and I am totally comfy
   
10. Getting nuzzled by my furry little pet - they're our true companions, aren't they?
    

Now that I've gotten started, I feel like I could come up with 100 more. I guess that makes me very lucky, doesn't it?

Nothin'

I'm sick as a dog right now. Sick, sick, sick. Work is a disgusting petri dish of germ-infested germy germs and late last week I got slimed. Every strand of my hair hurts. It hurts to move my eyeballs back and forth. Sick. Do you understand me? I'm sick.

While I've been slipping in and out of consciousness tonight, I've been watching the 25th anniversary special of Les Miserables. For me, Les Mis is in the top 10 reasons to live. This version has some boy band member as Marius, which doesn't sit well with me at all, but I think I may have found my new favorite Javert. That's no small thing. My all-time favorite Jean Val Jean? Colm Wilkinson, of course. Duh. But this guy did just fine during "Bring Him Home" which is, of course, the ultimate test.

17 Jean Val Jeans are right here. (Is it just me, or does Iceland look like Vladimir Lenin?) And my favorite song from Les Mis is here. You must wait for the very last note. Ahhhhhh.

I didn't watch the Oscars last week or whatever, but I enjoyed the summary on Bigezbear more than I could have any television show. My favorite part of his recap?

I'm hearing today that a lot of people were put off by Kirk Douglas's appearance. He was old and kind of decrepit. Yes, he was. Get over it. Getting old and kind of decrepit is what happens to you when you don't die young.

If you're not reading Glenn, I can't help you.

Speaking of Les Mis, a month or so ago I ordered myself a couple little surprises and they arrived last week.


(The two on the left are mine - the one on the right isn't custom; just one she sells that I think is cute.) Jane Mount is a genius who paints porn pictures of your favorite books so you can oogle them for all time. (She also has a birthday close to mine, and she also turns 40 this year. We chatted.) She had a Valentine's Day special running so I indulged and got them made for my favorite valentine. I've been making tiny changes to my apartment, just mixing it up a little to make it homier and keep it organized. I bought a new bookshelf, and I got a bunch of cheap art from Etsy framed with IKEA frames. I love my little place. I'll post some pics when it all comes together.

My 200 year old, totally blind cat needs company while I'm on vacation. He's . . . special, so he needs some special help. I hired a friend of an acquaintance who runs a pet sitting business (sounds so legitimate, doesn't it?) who came to meet the cat last weekend and made two racist comments within five minutes of setting foot in my house. As she left, she casually said, "You would want JJ to be humanely euthanized in the event something terrible happened, right?" I then sent out a desperate e-mail plea to my schoolmates asking if anyone lived in the area who didn't want to kill my cat, and got a reply from a woman whose daughter lives and works close by. I met her this weekend and handed over the key to my house. Another perfect stranger. She's not going to torture him or ignore him, right? Taking care of the cat issue is always the most stressful part of going away.

I kind of hate school. I don't really know what to do. I'm grateful that my current class, Multiculturalism, is really great and making it all almost worth it. My sister went into nursing as a second career in her mid-30's and from her first day of school, I was shocked at how mean experienced nurses were to new nurses - constant discouragement and horror stories about the industry with no "other side" to balance it out. That's all I can compare my experience of being in a teacher education program with. I need to figure this out at some point.

This is 10-time world champ Kelly Slater from an article in GQ on the best athletes of all-time. Yes, he's pouring a beer over his head while riding a wave. Can I learn to do that?


I like watching the kids, but I tend to find the (ahem) older surfers a little more inspirational. Kelly is 39 and he currently holds the record for being both the youngest and oldest world champ. Not bad. Here's a gorgeous, quick vid of Kelly's evolution to 10 titles. Pure beauty, no?

And this is one of my sister's dogs finding the only sliver of sunshine in the state of New York.


I don't know; I just thought it was cute.

Enough. Night!