Adventuring.

Well...Stu, Philippe and I have become quite the trio. We eat together, surf together, laugh together, adventure together, and play dominoes together (well, Phillipe and I play and Stu just puts down an occasional chip). Two days ago we (ad)ventured to Mirissa, which is about 3 towns away. We were eating breakfast (I had the Sri Lankan coconut roti and spicy daal) when Stu proclaimed that he had a "feeling in his bones" that Mirissa was where we needed to go, and so we went. The wave was far from perfect, but we were the only ones out and it was a RIGHT (hooray because I was getting tired of all of the damn lefts @ our home break 'Lazy Left'). After surfing we stopped in town for some lunch (spicy string hoppers), stu almost ate a black egg, we cooled down with some sweet yogurt, topped it off with ice cream, and Philippe nearly fell from the tuktuk as we made our way through Weligama looking for a Christmas tree. We laugh, a lot, it begins in the morning and continues on til night. Lately I feel like I have a constant state of "the giggles" when I'm around these two. I've laughed so hard that I've nearly pissed my pants as I'm doubled over, clutching my sides, overwhelmed with laughter. Anywho, Christmas trees. We are all going to be here for Christmas and we wanted a bit of Christmas cheer around the guest house, so we all pitched in and bought a tree (or maybe a fern is more like it...?). It's quite pitiful actually, but it works for us. We also decided to buy each other Christmas gifts, with 500RS being the maximum price (that's about $5usd).

Yesterday was rather uneventful as far as surf went. The night before, after our Mirissa adventure, we drank a fair bit of beers as we played dominoes and rotated iPods, everyone showcasing their favorite songs. So, we all woke up a bit late with a tad bit of a hangover. A long lazy breakfast and then a few walks to the beach throughout the day to check the surf. It was big and windy and messy and super crowded. Instead we opted for a swim. Stu and I were quite enjoying our afternoon cool down in the water, that was until we noticed that the fisherman had just dumped all of the nasty fish carcasses and guts into the lineup. Ew. Smelling like fish we headed home, showered up and putzed around the guest house. I did a crossfit and some yoga, had a short nap and read a few pages in my book. We played dominoes, and when thatngot old we built domino houses. I ordered a banana juice and though i usually dont mind bugs in my food, im definitely not down with mosquitoes in my juice. i tossed that and had a bit of tea instead. The evening surf session was kinda crap, but at least the water was nice and it felt good to paddle around a bit. We have 8 new people in the guest house which made dinner a bit chaotic since momma does all of the cooking, but stu Phillipe jimmy and I kept to ourselves and of course laughed from the start of dinner til the end.

Our trio woke up early and was out the door and in the tuktuk by 6am. We surfed The Rock, a break that is two towns over. I was big, uncrowded, clean and the take offs were thumping. I was a bit intimidated but first, but after taking one beating and getting one killer ride I snapped out of it and started to find my groove. I definitely was not taking any of the set waves, but I admired them that's for sure. The waves reminded of Dad, he would have LOVED the break this morning, I could just hear him hooting and hollering as he always did on big firing days. The take off was steep and hollow and powerful....he would have been loving it, sitting out further than anyone else, taking all of the bombs. I had a bit of a conversation with him when I was out there, and though I would have liked to chat with him face to face, this wasn't so bad considering my options. I was telling him that I needed him in the lineup on days like this, to yell at me and holler me into waves. I always had told him that I hated when he did that, but really it was his hooting and hollering that got me to "stop being a pussy" (as he always said) and take the bombs. Everyone was quite quiet and serious in the lineup but I made sure to let out a few loud hoots and hollers when I got my zippy rides, it's what dad woulda done.

Today I am feeling grateful, content, and tired. It feels good.