Rice with Shirasu and Cherry Blossoms…

Good morning 3:15am.
Ala Moana waist high and clean.
Diamond Head waist to chest high and good.
Light winds at 10mph.
Sunny and warm.
Going to the sea.
Have a wonderful day!

I got a call from a loved one, “I need your advise?”  She said “I’ve been doing social media since I was 15 years old.  It’s like an addiction and I feel like I’m wasting hours of my life that I can’t get back.  Now I’m thinking about stopping, but it’s so hard!”

I told her “You don’t need praise, likes, and distractions in your life.  Social media can be toxic if you’re unprepared for the hate you will encounter.  You are very young and have a bright future ahead.  Don’t give the haters a platform to attack you.  Just quit and don’t look back.  No regrets and just look forward.”

10 minutes later, she sends me this screenshot.  “PERMANENT ACCOUNT DELETION.”  She cancelled all her social media accounts just like that!  I was so proud of her!!!  

I also told her, “At 21 years old, you don’t need your 30,000 followers.  You just need your family and friends because we won’t just “like” you, we LOVE YOU!

2 days later, she tells me “Omg, life is so much better now.  I’m so happy!”

Right now there is a Super Typhoon spinning towards the Philippines.  It brings back memories of tracking these typhoons and jumping on a flight to Japan to surf it.  Now that I look back, it seems crazy to chase these catastrophic storms and put yourself right in the line.  We would surf the swells as it arrives, and as it passes by.  In the meantime, we’d be sitting in wooden houses as the winds felt like the roof will blow off.  There were a couple of times we were right in the middle of the eye and it suddenly turned calm, sunny, and very hot.  Then 20 minutes later, you’re holding on for your life again.  We as typhoon chasers were like mad scientists.  Tracking 25 typhoons a year for 20 years, you learn a lot.