good morning. 5am and like always, i’m totally jet lagged. yesterday was a pretty long day. surf, airports, airplanes, long lines, heavy baggage, and the worst of it all, tokyo traffic. tokura-san picked me up from the airport and there was traffic all the way home. i think it took about 4 hours… the traffic is one thing i don’t miss here…. but we had an awesome dinner and a couple cold beers. i woke up at 4am and i was really wide awake. felt like doing something but nothing to do…. so here i am freezing my ass off because don’t have a jacket or sweatshirt. i thought i had one here but guess not…. anyway, going to go to 7/11 and but some breakfast. gosh, i hope there is some hot oden….. have a nice day and be safe…..

when i was at the airport yesterday in hawaii, i went to the bookstore. i opened up the new water mag and seen my photo. about a month ago, jim russi told me that water was going to run a photo he shot of me. i was super stoked. this is a pretty cool shot because jim took it from behind the wave and you can totally tell it’s me. and he was cool enough to write my name too. thanks jim russi and water magazine… you da best…

and last, it’s good to have friends in hawaii. especially friends like mine. i checked in for my 9 hour flight and i pulled up to the red carpet. i usually do because i hate standing in line. then there she was. my old time friend greeting me with my free business class upgrade ticket. i was really stoked and want to say thanks but can’t say her name. i don’t know if she will get into trouble or not. but anyway, thanks friend. you da bestest…

**check out part 2 of 2. the chicken fights were sick…..

good morning. 6:45am and i just got back from bowls. it was pitch dark when i got to the beach at 5:30am. i was about to paddle out and this lady that was fishing on the beach told me not to go out because of the sharks. i thought that was pretty funny. she said that i’m crazy and as i was paddling out in the pitch dark, i thought i was crazy too. got out there, caught my first wave and was surfing into the moonlight and the lights at waikiki. it was totally awesome… i felt like a kid again…. i had bowls to myself until 6am when this guy paddled out and told me he was shocked to see me out before him. i was going to catch 3 waves and come in but had too much fun so i caught 8 waves. gosh, i feel so fresh and energetic now. what a way to start off my long day. i’m so happy….. life is good!!!!
**got a lot of emails about the video i took yesterday. yes, i did take it by myself. somebody thought i had a photographer with me. haha.. that’s pretty funny. i feel comfortable talking to myself. i always do…. haha.. just joking. i just thought instead of writing my blog and posting photos, i’d try something different. so i’ll be doing this once in a while. i had fun so it’s all good…. now check out this other video i made of our trip to the philippines last year. anyway, i got to get out of here. heading to the airport and catching a 9 hour flight to japan. hope i don’t forget anything…. back live from the land of the rising sun later…. aloha…..

**went to the philippines last year for the cloud 9 invitational contest along with a japan surfing world magazine article. i just put together a slide show of some of the photos and video i took. gosh, besides from getting food poisoning, the trip was awesome. good waves, good friends, good experiences, and good memories…. check out part 1 of 2. it was pretty long so i split it up into 2 parts. hope you enjoy….
**by the way, i found out that a lot of people don’t know how to use youtube videos. see that play mark in the photo above, click on that and the video will play. mahalo…