one thing every day

May 16th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

Do one thing every day that scares you.

I’m going to make this my motto.  Don’t worry; there’s a criteria here.  This does not mean doing stupid, harmful things, but rather things that you’re scared of for no reason, things that you know you should do but you can’t get out of your own way for.  It could be fear of what people might think of you, or feeling foolish, or being judged.  I tend to be a little nervous about getting what I want when I really want something.  When something really matters to me I suddenly get quite worried about bringing it into the open – I guess I’m worried about being judged. And if I get judged about something that means a lot to me, then it just hurts that much more.  But I need to get over that.  I need to go out there and get what I want, even if it means risking judgment.  And usually my fear is unfounded; it’s based on nothing but my own negative thoughts.  People are generally just thinking about themselves anyway, so I’ve got nothing to really worry about.  And I have to get one thing through my mind: not everyone is going to like you, or agree with you, or want to be your friend.  But that’s OK, and it doesn’t say anything about me as a person.  When you try to please everyone and make everyone like you, you fall into the trap of catering to others wants and needs rather than yourself.  This is something that I have always had difficulty with, but I’m hoping to change that.  I want to follow my dreams, even if it means going out on a limb a little bit.  What is life unless you take some risks?  You only live once, and I’ve taken to telling myself, “In 50 years, is it really going to matter if I am embarrassed or fail?  What’s going to be worse; having tried and failed, or never having tried at all?”

In other words…when I’m 90 years old in a rocking chair on my porch, am I really going to give two hoots what Joe Blow from Idaho thought?  NO.  I’ll say, in a warbly voice, “Screw that kook Joe Blow,” and shake my cane.

surfing virgin mary, encinitas ca

Recently some stealthy artists installed a mural of the Virgin Mary on a surfboard.  It has drawn many people to come and see it, and some have even placed flowers underneath.  However, the mural is in danger of being removed, as it is on city property.  I can see how “rules are rules” but I’d really love to see this stay.  It’s a very pretty and creative piece of art, and fits Encinitas so well.

May 10th, 2011 § 1 comment § permalink

Sunset Over San Onofre

Passing Storm // San Onofre

The View // Swamis

I love California.  Last month while I was driving home from Long Beach (after returning back from New York), there were some amazing clouds.  I managed to pull over near San Onofre State Beach and capture the sunset as the brilliant pink clouds cast shadows on the water.

The bottom shot is Swami’s in March.  A surfer looks on as another is suspended in the curl, silhouette in perfect relaxation.  I love this picture…it just captures the spirit of why I paddle out time and time again.

Malibu

May 7th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

Two weeks ago I did a mini California road trip to Santa Barbara with Lori and Val.  There was no surf in Santa Barbara (at the iconic Rincon) because the predominant swell in the water was from the south.  Santa Barbara is blocked from receiving south swells due to the shadowing of the Channel Islands.  However, we stopped at Uppers on the way there, and on the way back surfed Malibu.  I took my 9′ Takayama Model T to get the full effect.  It was really windy but the lines remained relatively clean.  I really want to go back there on a warmer day with a little less wind.

malibu lines

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hipster boardbag

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dora's wall

Puerto Rico Adventures

May 3rd, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

Check out this video I made of our crew hitting Rincon Puerto Rico for a week of fun in the sun and surf.  We weren’t greeted by roping 6ft walls of perfect swell, but we made the most of what we had.

This is my first venture filmmaking with the Canon T2i, and I had a lot of fun using it.

Adventures In Puerto Rico from Hayley Gordon on Vimeo.

Well, I WAS gonna go to Japan…

March 11th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

I was scheduled to travel to Japan this Sunday for 10 days.  Now that an 8.9 earthquake has hit the country, however, those plans are off.  I was going to go with Alicia who is being sent there for work to use the wind tunnel.  I am disappointed, of course, but I feel more bad for the people caught in that frightening situation in and around Sendai.  The news footage of that wave of water rolling through the countryside and towns is frightening, like something out of a Hollywood disaster movie.  I’m glad I was not in Tokyo at the time.  Sure it would have been exciting, but it would have been a major pain in the butt.  The hotels don’t have power, the transportation systems are closed, and it’s pretty chaotic.

Thankfully Alicia is getting sent to Japan again in October.  So I will move my ticket to then.  I’m disappointed that I’m not going now, but looking at the positives I think it might even be better to go in October.  I might even be able to go surfing since it will still be warm!

I hope that Japan can bounce back from this event.  I’m sure they will.  My desire to travel there has grown even greater since watching the footage on the news.

Sorry I haven’t been posting on this blog recently, but I’ve been incredibly busy with work and actually preparing for this trip.  More posts to come!

more shots

January 30th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

took some more shots, this time at Cardiff.

cardiff speed lines

done for the day

yellow singlefin

New Camera!

January 23rd, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

After much deliberation and procrastination I finally purchased a new camera.  It’s not just any old point and shoot digital camera, but rather a DSLR (digital single-lens reflex camera).  Don’t ask me to explain that name.  Anyway, it’s a CAMERA.  It’s not a professional camera but it’s kind of an entry level one.  It has all the bells and whistles such as exposure control and aperture settings.

I’m pretty excited.  I once started to get into photography when I was in high school, but I fell away from it because of the prohibitive cost of buying and developing film.  I remember reading books all about exposure and stuff.  Now that it’s about 10 years later I have forgotten everything so I have to learn it all again.

This camera also has the ability to shoot professional grade high definition video.  So I’m very excited to start getting back to things I really like: photography and film.

I took the camera to the beach today to try it out.  With a little help from Photoshop this is what I’ve done so far.  I barely know how to use anything on the camera so far, so I was pretty pleased with what I was able to do.

Done For The Day

Dog Day Afternoon

Opposition

San Elijo State Park

Sunsets in PB

January 12th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

Heather and I enjoyed a great sunset last week in Pacific Beach

It was my 2 year anniversary of coming to San Diego, so I bought a California flag on the boardwalk for $10.

Series 1

December 13th, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink

Tonight I went back to my artistic side, a side that has not been visited for a long, long time.  It’s seriously been over a year since I seriously drew anything, and quite a long time since I ever tried to do anything artistic with my hands.  I’ve done some computer graphic design, but that’s not the same thing.

So tonight, I poured myself a glass of wine, played some music, lit a few candles, and got down with some pastels and a few mini canvases.  I liked these canvases since they are only 2″ x 2″.  They don’t overwhelm you, making you feel like you have a huge space to fill.  It’s great to start out with.

Anyway, like the surf bum I am, I decided to do my favorite subject: waves.  How original.

I’m pleased with how it came out, although I feel like it might be a tad derivative of the various surf art I’ve seen over the years.  I’d like to develop my own style, but that will come if I keep at it.  I’m more happy with the color ones.  The black and white one was the first one I did, so I was still getting used to actually drawing with my hands again!  My favorites are the stacked set (horizontal waves) and the dark blue one with the two thin waves.  The others look a little stilted I think.  But that’s just my inner critic!  Can’t wait to do more.  Click the picture to enlarge.

Series 1

For Scale...

The plan will be to put them in a shadowbox of some sort I think.  I’ll post when I make more!

New Car and Disneyland

December 1st, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink

I got a new car!  I bought it last Wednesday, right before Thanksgiving.  I’ve been thinking about doing this for a while, and I finally pulled the trigger.  I kind of made a quick decision…whether or not that was the right thing to do I’m not sure, but it was a great deal for exactly what I wanted….and more.  I keep finding new features!  I didn’t actually read each and every feature since there were so many.  As long as it was black and 4×4 I was happy.  Tonight, for example, I found out that the rear view mirror is auto-dim, and it’s really cool.  It looks so much better than the old style mirrors that you push the tab and then you kind of see a shadow of the headlights behind you.  It’s electrochromatic or something, not sure how it works.  BUT not only does that auto-dim, but so do the side mirrors!  So cool.  No more getting blinded by that one dude who always has one headlight adjusted wrong so it’s super bright.   There’s in-dash navigation and a camera that lets you see what’s behind you as you’re backing up.  There are heated seats – not only the front two seats but even the BACK has heated seats!  It drives great, the steering is so tight that it took me a bit to get used to it.  With my Blazer and even my 03 Jeep back home the steering is fairly loose and moving the wheel a lot doesn’t have a huge effect when you’re driving down the highway.  That’s not the case with this new Jeep…I have to make sure I don’t steer as much as I did with the other cars.  It’s fine, just took a bit of getting used to.  Now that I’m getting used to the dimensions and the handling I’m finding it very nice to drive.  The seat is super comfortable.  Now that it’s getting colder here in San Diego at night (temps drop into the 40′s) it’s nice to jump into the car and turn on the heated seat.

The funny thing was that Donny bought a new car the same day as me.  I was driving up to LA at the time and bought the car on the way after test driving it.  I texted Donny that I’d be late, and he said he was at a car dealership too.  So funny.

The trip to LA was great.  Donny, Katrin and I had a blast hanging out in LA and going to Disneyland.  I’ll post pictures later when I get them off my phone, but for now here is us on a roller coaster:

California Screamin'

I don’t know who the guy in the top left is, haha.  Of course Donny is making a face haha.  Anyway, it was a great time and I really needed a change of scenery and to spend time with family.  The cool thing is that I’ll be meeting the whole clan out in Arizona this weekend yet again to see Katrin perform in Secret Garden.  I’ve been seeing so much of the Murdocks these days, which is awesome.

Hey, it’s not every day you get to get a new car AND go to Disneyland!

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