i was surfing at bowls 2 days ago. the waves were barreling. i pull into the barrel and a guy paddling out threw his board in front of me while i was riding in the barrel. nothing happened so it was ok. 30 minutes later, another perfect barreling wave coming, i take off, pull in, and another guy paddling out throws his board in front of me while i’m in the barrel. this time, not ok. my board gets a huge ding and i was pissed. if you surfed or know how to surf, you know that you aren’t supposed to be paddling straight out to the lineup and throwing your board in front of somebody riding a wave. you’re supposed to go around or just duck dive it. panic sets in and the person paddling out is usually 100% wrong. both guys say sorry, and i had to go in with a big ding in my magic board. will they learn? probably not. but someday, it will be them getting hurt or getting beat up by an angry local and all i can do is stand by and watch. it takes that much for some people to learn. i’m not being mean, i’m just being honest.
for a long time, i’ve always been supporting local businesses. even though they cost more, i just pay it to keep our hawaiian economy going. so before i left to taiwan, i went to Domenico’s Motorcycles in kaneohe. i made a verbal agreement with the manager to buy a motorcycle for $4,900. then today when i went to pick it up and pay, they manager told me it costs $5,200. what???? i said “hey, you told me $4,900!” he said “there was a communication error.” what?? my brother was standing right by me and couldn’t believe what he just heard. we were totally stunned! i walked out in disbelief. i will never ever go to Domenico’s Motorcycle ever again and i hope you don’t either. the managers name is Thomas “TC” Charters and he was the one who tried to trick me, lied to me, and treated me badly. another sad story of a locally owned business with no aloha. the other staff are very nice but TC ruined it for everybody. with service like that, businesses like these won’t last too long.
so i call up my surfer friend who was selling a better bike for cheaper. thank goodness surfers in hawaii know how to take care of surfers. everything was meant for a reason and the reason is a better and cheaper bike. thank you Shannon!
first thing, i ride home in the middle of a huge rainbow. rain falling on me but feeling so good. i head for the mountains to get some fresh air. took my deep breaths and i was feeling so relaxed again.
then i went home and ate the cake Saito-san gave me in japan. the sugar made me smile!
today i’m heading for the mountains again. going to explore and go deep. so if you don’t see a blog by tonight, that means i’m lost in the jungle. and i like it up there so please don’t come looking for me.
