Slats and his 8th world title!!!

How amazing it is to actually see someone accomplish this feat. To have been in an ultra-competitive environment as long as Kelly has, and to still be at the top is amazing! If there were any doubts about Kelly Slater being the greatest competitive surfer ever, they have evaporated! In character, spirit, drive, and inspiration, Kelly truely has become one of my heros.

You may ask why I like Kelly so much? Well, i like surfing, of course, but more importantly, I strive to somehow, oneday, become as good at something like he has...from learning about him and watching him, I find him a great person, and an innovator! I'm not a very great surfer, nor am I good anything to a degree that would merit 'World's Best'...but it gives me hope that maybe one day I can do something as cool as that! (this pic is from ASP's website...i copied it, then cropped it...)

marriage, engagement, and babies

Well, this has been an exciting weekend!

My friends Darren and Kim got married this past saturday, my little sister Michelle has a healthy baby, and my cousin got engaged!

When good things happen, they happen in groups.....Im exhausted!

Between driving and riding a lot this weekend, keeping a nervous groom at ease and helping getting a wedding together, having a million phone calls, and hearing lots of good news, it seems this definitely is harvest season!

I hope to post pictures in the near future, but until then, I am super excited for everyone.

I guess it's time for me to meet someone too...sheesh

insight, independence, and i

October seems to always creep up on me.....no matter the year. Well here it is....OCTOBER '06!

Things have been busy for me lately, but I do have to say that I have been enjoying my 'busy-ness' I feel like the longer I am immersed in nature, the more profound understandings of myself become exposed.

I tend to appreciate things more, little things...little people, and little gestures that random people do for me.

I like bugs more now (which, if you know me, is amazing news since ive been deathly scared of bugs since I was little)...like argiope spiders, rolypolies, damsel fly nymphs, and grasshoppers...I also am starting to finally and totally let things shed away pastwise. I really don't care, well I care, just am not as interested in holding onto things that have brought me down lately. I've accepted what has happened in my life's past, and I am here now as consequence, or more as reward.

I am coming into my own - and finally feeling more like an adult.

Found a baby snapping turtle yesterday and just stared at him/her for almost an hour trying to figure out how it felt right before I snatched him from the ghost crab that was going to eat him. It kept on being itself and didn't really care if I was holding him/her or not, just that it could crawl how it wanted.

I want to crawl...and not be afraid of doing what I want and need. I think I am there now and ready to fully apply myself in any endeavor.

I can soar like a hawk...like the red tailed hawk on my arm yesterday. it bated and squeezed its talons through my glove, but looked at me in a knowing way (it's okay, im just trying to get balance) So I trusted him.

I like validation in my efforts and knowledge...and it felt really good today when my bosses gave me good feedback on my teaching...but something was different in myself, something that I just realized about myself...the fact that although the feedback keeps me striving to be better, I can do things. Do things that make me who I am.

I guess it's kinda hard to articulate what I feel, but feel I do...more passionately than I have in a while about myself....and what I want and what I have interface to create this comforting web of independence and ambition.