Find yourself, and be that.

The passing of a great man, 30 years, a celebration and thanks

Goodbye Tata thank you for giving us a chance! 

Slashing

 Nat Tyler

Jordy Smith 

I Travel

Jake ripping on the first board I shaped

Sea in my veins

I am one

I am one of the searchers. There are, I believe, millions of us. We are not unhappy, but neither are we really content. We continue to explore life, hoping to uncover its ultimate secret. We continue to explore ourselves, hoping to understand. We like to walk along the beach, we are drawn by the ocean, taken by its power, its unceasing motion, its mystery and unspeakable beauty. We like forests and mountains, deserts and hidden rivers, and the lonely cities as well. Our sadness is as much a part of our lives as is our laughter. To share our sadness with one we love is perhaps as great a joy as we can know - unless it be to share our laughter.
We searchers are ambitious only for life itself, for everything beautiful it can provide. Most of all we love and want to be loved. We want to live in a relationship that will not impede our wandering, nor prevent our search, nor lock us in prison walls; that will take us for what little we have to give. We do not want to prove ourselves to another or compete for love.

For wanderers, dreamers, and lovers, for lonely men and women who dare to ask of life everything good and beautiful. It is for those who are too gentle to live among wolves.

Deep Blue

Here in my place and time
And here in my own skin I can finally begin
Let the century pass me by, standing under a night sky
Tomorrow means nothing

I was only a child then
Feeling barely alive when I heard a song from a speaker of a passing car
And prayed to a dying star, the memories fading
I can almost remember singing
la la la la la la la
la la la la la la la

We watched the end of the century
Compressed on a tiny screen
A dead star collapsing and we could see
Something was ending
Are you through pretending?
We saw the signs in the suburbs

You could have never predicted that it could see through you
Kasparov, Deep Blue, 1996
Your mind's playing tricks now
Show's over so take a bow
We're living in the shadow of
la la la la la la la
la la la la la la la

Hey
Put the cellphone down for a while
In the night there's something wild
Can you hear it breathing?
Hey
Put the laptop down for a while
In the night there is something wild
I can feel it's leaving me

Souls

Milky Chance

16 Steps to a better life

1. push yourself to get up before the rest of the world - start with 7am, then 6am, then 5:30am. go to the nearest hill with a big coat and a scarf and watch the sun rise.

2. push yourself to fall asleep earlier - start with 11pm, then 10pm, then 9pm. wake up in the morning feeling re-energized and comfortable.

3. erase processed food from your diet. start with no lollies, chips, biscuits, then erase pasta, rice, cereal, then bread. use the rule that if a child couldn’t identify what was in it, you don’t eat it.

4. get into the habit of cooking yourself a beautiful breakfast. fry tomatoes and mushrooms in real butter and garlic, fry an egg, slice up a fresh avocado and squirt way too much lemon on it. sit and eat it and do nothing else.

5. stretch. start by reaching for the sky as hard as you can, then trying to touch your toes. roll your head. stretch your fingers. stretch everything.

6. buy a 1L water bottle. start with pushing yourself to drink the whole thing in a day, then try drinking it twice.

7. buy a beautiful diary and a beautiful black pen. write down everything you do, including dinner dates, appointments, assignments, coffees, what you need to do that day. no detail is too small.

8. strip your bed of your sheets and empty your underwear draw into the washing machine. put a massive scoop of scented fabric softener in there and wash. make your bed in full.

9. organise your room. fold all your clothes (and bag what you don’t want), clean your mirror, your laptop, vacuum the floor. light a beautiful candle.

10. have a luxurious shower with your favourite music playing. wash your hair, scrub your body, brush your teeth. lather your whole body in moisturiser, get familiar with the part between your toes, your inner thighs, the back of your neck.

11. push yourself to go for a walk. take your headphones, go to the beach and walk. smile at strangers walking the other way and be surprised how many smile back. bring your dog and observe the dog’s behaviour. realise you can learn from your dog.

12. message old friends with personal jokes. reminisce. suggest a catch up soon, even if you don’t follow through. push yourself to follow through.

14. think long and hard about what interests you. crime? sex? boarding school? long-forgotten romance etiquette? find a book about it and read it. there is a book about literally everything.

15. become the person you would ideally fall in love with. let cars merge into your lane when driving. pay double for parking tickets and leave a second one in the machine. stick your tongue out at babies. compliment people on their cute clothes. challenge yourself to not ridicule anyone for a whole day. then two. then a week. walk with a straight posture. look people in the eye. ask people about their story. talk to acquaintances so they become friends.

16. lie in the sunshine. daydream about the life you would lead if failure wasn’t a thing. open your eyes. take small steps to make it happen for you.

Sun gazing on the Globe

Young Liars

My Life the past few weeks

Hey Mamma do you hear me calling out your name

Your a Ghost

My New Favorite band 

Sir Sly 

The Search

"Some people do not have to search - they find their niche early in life and rest there, seemingly contented and resigned. They do not seem to ask much of life, sometimes they do not seem to take it seriously. At times I envy them, but usually I do not understand them - seldom do they understand me. I am one of the searchers. There are, I believe, millions of us. We are not unhappy, but neither are we really content. We continue to explore life, hoping to uncover its ultimate secret. We continue to explore ourselves, hoping to understand. We like to walk along the beach, we are drawn by the ocean, taken by its power, its unceasing motion, its mystery and unspeakable beauty. We like forests and mountains, deserts and hidden rivers, and the lonely cities as well. Our sadness is as much a part of our lives as is our laughter. To share our sadness with one we love is perhaps as great a joy as we can know – unless it be to share our laughter. We searchers are ambitious only for life itself, for everything beautiful it can provide. Most of all we love and want to be loved. We want to live in a relationship that will not impede our wandering, nor prevent our search, nor lock us in prison walls; that will take us for what little we have to give. We do not want to prove ourselves to another or compete for love."

▼

   James Kavanaugh, There Are Men Too Gentle To Live Among Wolves

Rad tune and vid

To do

1. Make peace with your parents. Whether you finally recognize that they actually have your best interests in mind or you forgive them for being flawed human beings, you can’t happily enter adulthood with that familial brand of resentment.

2. Kiss someone you think is out of your league; kiss models and med students and entrepreneurs with part-time lives in Dubai and don’t worry about if they’re going to call you afterward.

3. Minimize your passivity.

4. Work a service job to gain some understanding of how tipping works, how to keep your cool around assholes, how a few kind words can change someone’s day.

5. Recognize freedom as a 5:30 a.m. trip to the diner with a bunch of strangers you’ve just met.

6. Try not to beat yourself up over having obtained a ‘useless’ Bachelor’s Degree. Debt is hell, and things didn’t pan out quite like you expected, but you did get to go to college, and having a degree isn’t the worst thing in the world to have. We will figure this mess out, I think, probably; the point is you’re not worth less just because there hasn’t been an immediate pay off for going to school. Be patient, work with what you have, and remember that a lot of us are in this together.

7. If you’re employed in any capacity, open a savings account. You never know when you might be unemployed or in desperate need of getting away for a few days. Even $10 a week is $520 more a year than you would’ve had otherwise.

8. Make a habit of going outside, enjoying the light, relearning your friends, forgetting the internet.

9. Go on a 4-day, brunch-fueled bender.

10. Start a relationship with your crush by telling them that you want them. Directly. Like, look them in the face and say it to them. Say, I want you. I want to be with you.

11. Learn to say ‘no’ — to yourself. Don’t keep wearing high heels if you hate them; don’t keep smoking if you’re disgusted by the way you smell the morning after; stop wasting entire days on your couch if you’re going to complain about missing the sun.

12. Take time to revisit the places that made you who you are: the apartment you grew up in, your middle school, your hometown. These places may or may not be here forever; you definitely won’t be.

13. Find a hobby that makes being alone feel lovely and empowering and like something to look forward to.

14. Think you know yourself until you meet someone better than you.

15. Forget who you are, what your priorities are, and how a person should be.

16. Identify your fears and instead of letting them dictate your every move, find and talk to people who have overcome them. Don’t settle for experiencing .000002% of what the world has to offer because you’re afraid of getting on a plane.

17. Make a habit of cleaning up and letting go. Just because it fit at one point doesn’t mean you need to keep it forever — whether ‘it’ is your favorite pair of pants or your ex.

18. Stop hating yourself.

19. Go out and watch that movie, read that book, listen to that band you already lied about watching, reading, listening to.

20. Take advantage of health insurance while you have it.

21. Make a habit of telling people how you feel, whether it means writing a gushing fan-girl email to someone whose work you love or telling your boss why you deserve a raise.

22. Date someone who says, “I love you” first.

23. Leave the country under the premise of “finding yourself.” This will be unsuccessful. Places do not change people. Instead, do a lot of solo drinking, read a lot of books, have sex in dirty hostels, and come home when you start to miss it.

24. Suck it up and buy a Macbook Pro.

25. Quit that job that’s making you miserable, end the relationship that makes you act like a lunatic, lose the friend whose sole purpose in life is making you feel like you’re perpetually on the verge of vomiting. You’re young, you’re resilient, there are other jobs and relationships and friends if you’re patient and open.

Been a while

Been a while since I have posted
I have been flowing and moving over the past few days, it has been hectic and rad.
I have also been busy with some artwork on some surfboards.

Sir Sly - Easy Now

Favorite song at the moment, it is really strange how my lifes ups and downs are very closely linked with the music I listen to...

Made a life and after you

Everything else disappeared

How the hell are you here

Since all these years passed?

Watched you drown from far away

Wished that I could take your place

I know a lot has changed

But the living's easy now

Now, easy now

Now, easy now

All my troubles, all my pain

All my pride and all my mistakes

Been washed away in years passed

Watch me fall from far away

Through the glass and then all went away

We both gotta be to date

But the living's easy now

Now, easy now

Now, easy now

Now

I know something that you don't know

I've been searching in all the world

I know something that you don't know

I've been searching out in the cold

What if I could clean your slate

Play the savior, take the blame?

We both got a lot of pain

But the living's easy now

Now, easy now

Now, now, now

Steel Pulse

Woy! Desperation has return

Sodom and Gomorrah no deh yah so!

Woy desperation has return over yonder

Sodom and Gomorrah no deh yah so!

Wild one, you are like the Prodigal Son yeah

And if you're the Prodigal Son, my friend

Then you're the one, you

Left taking your only possession

Your culture

To enter a world known for hacklings

In abundance, yeah

The hustlers of life

Have hooked and drained you from the man

Form the man that you used to be, turn your back on us

Return Rastaman where you came from

The land of your forefathers

Reaching the gates with your two long hands

Searching out for clean water

Wild one...

Prodigal come forth and rejoice with your voice

To the heavens

Chant some song, chant some song

Prodigal come forth and repent

Rastafari sins forgiven

Woy! Desperation has return...

One has returned without one's soul

And has squandered all his possessions

Let us cleanse your body now

From your service to the swine, because

You've been dead and now to anoint your head

With wisdom, knowledge and overstanding

A lesson has been taught unto you my friend

Time for a feast and rejoicing

Wild one...

We wouldn't wanna know Mr Fantasy

Back on the flow

So Christmas and New Year have swung past and life is back in full swing.

I have been in Pietermaritzburg KZN for the past week, doing some varnishing and painting, in my parents apartment. 

PMB is far too hot in January and I don't suggest going there during this month, average temp was 32ish. 

So outa PMB and now soaking up the wet tropical weather of the Dolphin Coast. 

Being back on the coast means I am back in the water. I had a fun surf with Reyce and Sam yesterday in Town. It was a great feeling surfing with my brothers. Sam once again showed his skills with catching 80% of his waves and riding them to the beach- really scary how much talent he has. Reyce on the other hand learnt some important surfing lessons... fitness is most important. 

I had a few little crackers that came through and welcomed me back to the Indian Ocean. All the altitude yoga and training has left me in a good position going into 2013 and I feel good.
 A few exciting missions await me. 

I am going to be flowing and moving like the wind.

First mission is to get my surfing fitness to the best level that it has ever been. 

Training will comprise of lots of yoga, lots of running on the beach, lots of surfing and lots of hill climbs,

mixed in with some trail running, body surfing and meditation ( keep my mind in the right places) 

I have  2 and half months before I leave for Trivandrum India. 

Everything from the 21st of December, till I depart is and has been about preparation, for the most anticipated soul searching mission of my life.

Destination: India - via Surfline.com

Son of the Sun

From their upcoming album "Hummingbird" - out 28th Jan

Born in the 80s on the Southern East Coast of Africa

 I am a Son of the Sun

I am many of more to come

Many more 

As the blown out Seagulls fly against the summer East in search 

As surfers battle their bluebottle stings

As Vaallies swim in the ocean with their bling

As they dos  

I am a Son of the Sun 

Back to Salt Rock I go 

The Indian Ocean becons my name

Boardies, wax, suncream
New adventures new experiences 

As the Vaallies migrate North  

I return as the Son of the Sun 

Good bye Zulu Mountains
Good bye

Let there be South Westerlys 

Let there be days
Let there be smokers smoking
Let there be nights

Let the drunks drink their drunk 

Let the Seagulls fly 

Let Nelson live

Let the Sun shine 

This moment

Occasionally an album will come around and blow me away. Make my bones ache because it is so good.

Live and learn

…                                                               I'm relaxing in your face

Listen I am on my job I set them standards and erase

Live and learn

The 1st day of 2013

Woke up to the new day and new year with a healthy bite of energy and no hang over.

So Sam, Shels and I went on a skating mission.
Around the corner from my parents home is a super smooth tar road, that we turned into sliding fun. 

The track below I found through a friend, it turned out to be my first favorite song of 2013

Thanks Zulu for your magic

Green New Years Resolutions 2013

Goals related to health or your relationships may top some lists, but resolving to change your environmental habits could have a huge impact on both yourself and the rest of the world.

Below are a few ideas for green resolutions for 2013

Regardless of the personal changes you decide to make in your life, the new year is a great time to learn more about environmental issues and why they are important.

You can also find out how to be both environmentally conscious and fiscally responsible with these money-saving home improvement tips and cheap, eco-friendly upgrades for your home.

1: Recycle Everything

In some cities, recycling is mandatory. Since materials like aluminum can be recycled indefinitely, and energy costs drop 2-3% when making glass from even 10 percent recycled material, wider recycling programs can help.

Learn more about curbside recycling at Earth911, and check if your neighborhood offers the service. If not, contacting your local elected officials could make a huge difference!

2: Compost

Do you have a beautiful garden that you treat with store-bought fertilizers? According to Earth911,making and using your own compost is a great way to care for your garden. The homemade mulch stabilizes Ph, increases moisture infiltration and much more.

If you're not sure where to start there are plenty of resources around the web to give you how-to tips. Or visit your local garden store to get some advice!

3:Cut Down On Paper Waste

Paper is a resource that could easily be reused and utilized in an environmentally-friendly fashion. According to the Clean Air Council, a ton of paper made from recycled paper saves up to 17 treesand uses only half the water of paper from virgin pulp. In fact, the energy equivalent of 185 gallons of gasoline is saved for every ton of paper recycled.

To reduce your waste from paper, be sure to recycle properly and resolve to subscribe digitally to your favorite magazines and newspapers. If possible, choose to stop receiving paper bills and statements, and make payments electronically.

We should also make use of hemp!

4: Eat Less Meat

If going totally vegetarian is not the right resolution for you, consider observing Meatless Monday, or only eating meat on specific days of the week. In addition, try to buy your meats from grass-fed, free-range farms that ascribe to a higher standard of living for their animals.

5:Stick With Reusable Shopping Bags

According to TLC's How Stuff Works, over 1 million plastic bags are consumed per minute worldwide. Considering the fact that the petroleum used to make 14 of those bags could drive a car for a mile, that is a lot of wasted energy and pollution.

For 2013, break the habit and make a serious effort to use only reusable shopping bags. Many shops are starting to charge a few cents per bag anyway, so this should save you money in the long run. The reusable totes are now being sold at most grocery stores.