good evening. another surf, surf, and surf day here in hawaii. went for an early morning session at a secret spot with my nephew isaiah. all i have to say is barrels, barrels, and barrels…. had a blast surfing and trading waves with isaiah. good to see him ripping and charging these days….

went over to the house and things were back to normal. after 3 weeks on the road living out of a bag, they must be stoked to be back home. gosh, i know that feeling oh so well….

then went for an afternoon session at kewalo’s. overhead and perfect. gosh, i forgot what a small day on the south shore looks like. the waves have been pumping and it ain’t over yet…. my face is so sunburned that it feels like it’s going to peel off.. [:????????????:]yikes….

how do you tell a good cover shot? i’ll tell you how. walk into a huge bookstore like borders. go to the magazine section and look for a magazine of your choice. my choice was surfer mag. while looking for it, something catches your eyes and you just can’t stop looking at it. so you grab it and check it out. understand? yeah, i was in borders yesterday to check out the new surfer mag. then this photo caught my eye. it was a bodyboarder magazine and i stared at this cover for 10 minutes trying to figure out what the heck??? i’ve never seen such a nuts photo like this in my life. i ended up reading the magazine and left the bookstore. and get this, i didn’t even check out the new surfer mag. i heard jeff hubbard is the photo editor for this mag. it figures. only a surfer knows the feeling… one of the most sickest covers ever…. i just hope that nobody photoshopped that photo.. haha….

and last. this girls daddy is going to war. the sad thing is that she might never see him again. remember, we’re still in war. and it’s in another freakin country. support our troops and bring them back home to their families…..

good morning. 5:45am wed. morning. wow, north shore is going off!!! looks 3′ with perfect conditions. town came down a little. gosh, i surfed bowls yesterday afternoon on the high tide and it was going off. 4′ sets going all the way through with only a few guys out. perfect bowls… today dropped a little but might pick up again as the tide rises again. sunny skies and waves again around the island. i’m out of hea…. have a safe and nice day….
**it’s been over 10 years since we went to tonga on a surf trip for a japanese magazine. till this day, it was by far my worst experience. the waves? flat for 2 weeks. the flies? everywhere from dawn to dusk. the price? expensive, you even have to pay for tap drinking water. the weather? hotter than hot. the accomodations? not too good. i don’t really like to talk bad about resorts and surf camps so i won’t go there. but let me just say this, i won’t go there again….

the beer was pretty good. well, that’s the only brand they had….

when in tonga, do as the tongan’s do. drink kava… yeah, we must have drank 5 kilos or more. even in the morning. yeah, there was nothing else to do. this is photographer yoshiro nakayama and pro surfer taro taniuchi. two cool guys….

the coolest thing i seen was this ferris wheel. classic yeah?

this was our living space for 2 straight weeks. imagine waking up right on the beach for 14 days straight to be greeted by a flat ocean? that hurted….

and the worst part about the trip was i had a huge “boil” on my rib. i will never forget the pain i had to go through in the little dirty hospital. the lady doctor cut me open with a rusted knife and i was screaming like a girl. the most pain i ever went through in my life. that sucked.
*anyway, somehow we got enough photos for a 4 page article in surfing world magazine. taro-san wrote the article and he named it “I left my heart in Tonga”…. cool title…

good evening. woke up to overcast skies and rain. yeah!!! i was super stoked because i knew that the waves were going off and i could stay out for a long time without getting burned. met up with todd at our little secret spot. it was only us for the first hour, then it got crowded. yeah 3 other guys came out after. haha.. the waves were perfect sheet glass. it was so glassy that you couldn’t even see the wave coming in. and the water was crystal clean. ended up surfing for over 3 hours. and the only reason we came in is because we couldn’t paddle for waves anymore. my arms were like rubber…. caught 60 waves and did like 100 turns. it was the best session i had in a while. and that says a lot because i’ve been having pretty good sessions this summer… the only bummer thing was i got stung on my foot by a box jellyfish. shit it hurt. my foot is still itai… oh well, live rolls on. i hope the next swell coming this week brings clouds too. then i can surf surf and surf….

it was good to see my grandpa and grandma walking around their block this morning at 6am. it was raining so i offered them a ride home but “no thanks”. yeah, my grandma and grandpa are living a healthy life because of these daily walks. i felt bad after for even offering…. my grandma is the strongest grandma out there. she goes to the spa to workout 3x a week, and walks everyday. i remember when i was a kid, she use to put me between her legs and squeeze the heck out of me. she called it the “scissors”…. and those “indian burns” too. super grandma….

i felt like eating healthy so i went to foodland to buy some groceries. it felt so weird being a man pushing a cart around at 10am on a working day. i was the only guy in the whole store with a cart and felt a little embarrassed. all the housewives in there must have been thinking “gosh, doesn’t that guy have a job?” it’s funny because i use to shop in japan every evening for dinner. walk in the store during winter time with slippers and a tshirt. hair still sticking up from my afternoon nap. cannot speak japanese. eating the free samples everywhere in the store. and mingling with the housewives. nah, that last part was a joke. but i can still remember how they use to look at me. the look like “is this guy nuts? why can’t he speak japanese? and doesn’t he know that he’s the only one in the city wearing slippers in the winter?” haha… those were the good old days….
**by the way, i made that sandwich to have a healthy lunch. it was so good that i made another one right after. then i felt sick from eating too much. not too healthy i guess… but my afternoon nap was awesome….. whatever works right? good night…[:?????????:][:?????????:]