Unbe-freakin-lievable !

So, I've been frequenting a gym relatively close by - roughly twice a week for almost a year now.  For legal reasons I can't reveal its name, but it's got L.A in the name and the focus is boxing.  Yes - a boxing based session, where you basically just get to beat the crap out of a punch bag while throwing rakes of push-ups, burpies, jumpin' jacks and other oddly named exercises into the mix.

Having recently renewed my membership for another 6 months, Alma and myself headed down last Wednesday for the mid-week session (Alma hits the YMCA gym).  As we're pulling in I remark that they must be renovating because there's quite some activity going on - and not of the boxing variety.  So after jumping out the car and heading over it suddenly dawns on me that this is no renovation.  No - no, they're tearing the place down !  Turns out, the place has closed down - literally within the space of 24 hours ... though I'm sure the owner knew for a lot longer that it was all going south for him.  A few other ex-members with bewildered expressions were also hanging around.  Some of them had signed up just two days earlier - a nice kick in the teeth - even for a boxing club.

To top it all off though, and just to show how cut-throat it all is when it comes to the almighty dollar, the YMCA were after hanging up two advertisement posters at the entrance.  Now that's gotta be like salt in the wounds !

Riding a Big One

Last weekend a load of us headed to OB (the cool name for Ocean Beach) for our very first surf lesson.  The deal was for 3 hours after which you could keep the board for the rest of the day should you so wish.  "3 hours !", I thought .... what are the chances you'd ever want to keep the board afterwards !

Anyways, when we all got there it turned out there was 13 in the group; 9 of us and 4 of dem dere outsiders - one of which turned out to be Irish - they're freakin' everywhere dem lads.  So after introducing ourselves (which was of course hilarious because of all the Dutch names that no one could pronounce) the 3 instructors - all hard code surf dudes - took us down to the beach.  We had to start off with some of the basics - the pop-up, some balancing exercises etc. - all of which turned out to be a good laugh despite the dripping sweat.  I say "good laugh" because the instructors seemed to get a kick out of it in any case.

Having quickly progressed from white belt to green, the instructor dudes decided we were ready for the big time.  Sweat suits on; pick a board and let's go ride a big one ... (wave - you pervs !). 

Cautiously pacing the periphery.  It's all about timing after all.

There was plenty of this !

But just once in a while (let's face it - just once), this happened.  You can see the total and utter jealousy on the face of the girl to my right - not to mention the disbelief on my face.

When it was all over and done with (exactly 3 hours later !), I was none the worse for wear - aside from the bruise on my forehead, broken toenail and the red raw hands that is.

The lads !  No prizes for spotting the (other) Irish guy*.

*Hint: builder's tan.

What a gift ....

At the end of their visit here, Karl & Maria decided that I deserved something special for "putting up with them'' - their words not mine !  I loved having them here and that was enough for me but ok ... if you insist.  The "something special'' ended up fulfilling one of my dreams - swimming with Dolphins ...  I was ecstatic when I found out !!

The date was set for September 8th and I could hardly bring myself to think about it.  It was too huge for me.  I couldn't sleep the night before and had butterflies in my stomach all the way to Sea World.  I was feeling very emotional about the whole thing.  My father was on my mind and I was thinking how much he and his brothers (who have all passed away) would have been blown away by this adventure.  They grew up by the river and loved anything aquatic.

Anyway I decided to focus on the Dolphins, just live in the moment and enjoy every second.  I TOTALLY enjoyed every second .....   Well that's a little white lie.... NOBODY enjoys having to walk around in public in a wet suit.  William kept telling me to ''stand up straight''..... I WAS!!!  I spotted Freke, Johan and Harm in the distance and tried to calculate how long I could suck it all in and hold my breath ......  Nope not going to work ... and Freke had an alarmingly large camera with her... not good!!!  I've been going to the gym for ages now!!!  Twice a week without fail.  I don't understand what's going on .....  Ok, I don't particularly like sweating; I'm addicted to Pringles & I like the odd (bucket of) ice-cream ....... but seriously???

Anyway I'm digressing from my wonderful new friend ''Beaker" a 500 lb female dolphin (named after the muppet show star).  She was totally amazing.  It was truly unreal to be in the water with her.  We got to interact quiet a bit and I just couldn't stop smiling...  I absolutely LOVED it !!!

Dancing with Beaker.

Sometimes our dreams are really far removed from reality but this dream became a reality and didn't disappoint.  I will never forget this.  A huge thanks to my wonderful family for making it happen xxx

Come back again next year guys........................ I have more dreams...................... ha ha ha!!!!

The guilt finally caught up .......

After a year of total indulgence "Living the Dream", I decided to check out some volunteer work.  There is so much you can do here but I found it hard to find something that appealed to me.  Finally I decided on the San Diego Food Bank.  A lot of Americans do volunteer work. It's a culture that really encourages it.  Lots of people use it to gain credits towards work or study and then petty criminals may have to do volunteer work as part of community service.  I've worked in a warehouse before so I felt somewhat prepared for the experience.  I arrived at the warehouse; got a quick explanation of what was needed; put the gloves on and started to go through the boxes of donated food.  We needed to check the expiration date, the condition of the package and follow a few basic guidelines as to what to keep and what to throw out. 

The first few boxes were fine, nicely packed with lots of decent food.  Then we came across a few half empty bottles, half eaten bars, opened jars etc.  This was a little disturbing but what was even more disturbing was someone finding a 12 pack of canned food thrown (by one of us volunteers) into the "unwanted skip".  He calmly asked why it was in the skip when to my horror someone said, "there was a dent on one of the cans and I couldn't find an expiry date".  He explained that the date would be on the individual tins, and if we could think to take the outer plastic off and save the remaining cans, he would greatly appreciate it.  This was followed by, "Oh, that's clever", by of the women standing beside me.  OMG!!!!!!!!

Anyway as we progressed through the boxes, we came across so much rubbish, I ended up having to ask if we were checking the right boxes.  It turns out that a lot of the boxes come from supermarkets and they refuse to separate the rubbish from any items that could actually be saved.  That was our job!  I have to be honest that a moment of sadness came over me as I thought of the poor people that were depending on us rooting through rubbish in order for them to be able to eat!

In any case, I've signed up for next week.  Should I however be unfortunate enough to come across any cockroaches, spiders or other creepy crawlies (there were numerous "reports" from others on my last shift), I shall either leg it out the door never to return, or shall be forcibly removed from the premises for the involuntary use of "choice" language!!

Festival of Sail

This weekend it was the "Festival of Sail" in San Diego with loads of fun activities for the whole family (sounds like I took it straight from the brochure - right?).  We took a trip as far as North Harbor to check out the sand sculptures and the tall ships.  If I had to guess then I'd say there were about 15-20 sand sculptures in total - all of which were really really impressive !

"Crawling flowers for peace"

The winner - "Home is where the heart is".  The level of detail in this one was unbelievable !

A couple of tall ships reenacting a battle at sea.  The sound of the cannons kept on setting off car alarms.

Godzilla

Alma, having busted a gut cleaning the BBQ went to cover it back up when she discovered a little (or in her words HU-MONSTROUS) lizard who had decided to take up residence.  Having tried almost everything - including shaking the cover, swinging a sweeping brush wildly, talking to him etc. - decided to wait and see if he'd make his own way back to his mommy in Japan.

A couple of days later the two of us crept up on the cover; Alma with the killing brush in hand.  After numerous minutes on one side of the cover spent lifting here, poking there, she decided that Godzilla had left for greener pastures.  So the two of us decided to put the cover back on - but who was going to grab the other side?  After a couple of minutes I decided to be the man I obviously am (losing the best of three arm wrestles had NOTHING to do with it people !).  So we both picked up our respective sides and were just about to start moving towards the BBQ when his nibs popped his head out right beside Alma's hand as if to say "WHAZZZZ UP !".  Needless to say Usain had nothing on her ! - though I'm pretty sure he's not familiar with a number of the choice words used.

Godzilla !  The green water hose like object is actually a US navy submarine.

Despite the shock, softiepants decided Godzie must really like living in the BBQ cover, so now we have to tip toe around it the whole time so as not to disturb him ... the fear factor has nothing to do with it.

You look after yourself there

Following on from the shock at the off-license, we stumbled across the road all the while breathing heavily into our paper bags to Alma's favorite haunt - Baskin Robbins.  BR serves and I quote "the best ice-cream EVER !", and no, that's not the company slogan - it's Alma's.

So, Alma steps up to the counter and more or less whispers that she'd like two kiddies cones, which the lady behind the counter then repeats at the top of her voice.  Discretion - not one of the stronger American traits.  The portions here are always huge, so the kiddies portion is often enough to satisfy even the largest third world country.  Anyways, mine was served up, at which point Alma pipes up (a little louder this time) .... "Eh, maybe I'll have the standard size".  Stung again !

A wee taste of home

During our Labor Day preparations we paid a visit to the local "offie"; Bev-Mo for a few ciders, so that we could rough it with the best of em under the Coronado Bridge (well it does have the reputation as the bridge with the third highest suicide rate in the US so there's bound to be a large public present).  Bev-Mo is one of these places that has beer from the larger beer manufacturer's - the Budweiser's etc. of this world, but no doubt also prides itself on having a respectable stock of local brewery produce as well as a large selection of imported beverages.  While scoping the place for our ciders we came across a beer that would bring a tear to a glass eye .... "Wexford" beer ... the old home town (cue some Dolores Keane music in the background there Colette will ya).  "Following in the age old tradition ... blah dee blah ... chill for 2-3 hours ... creamy head ... mellow taste of Wexford." - you get the idea.

After pulling ourselves together we reverently picked up the can to "ooh" and "aah" at its mastery - and let's face it - to find out about it too, cos neither or us had ever heard of the gear up to this point.  After half a turn of the sacred can, it became clear this was no "Wexford" beer.  Nay t'was an imposter I tell ya (which we proceeded to shout at the top of our lungs).  Freakin' made in the UK of all places - despite the Celtic like writing with the lashings of green on the can.  Is there nothing sacred anymore?!?!?