A Rainy Ramble

I woke up to my phone alarm going off. I rolled over and shut it off before looking out my window to see more dreary weather bearing down on the valley surrounding our house. It was 7:00. I stammered out of bed and in some sort of daze struggled to put on a green pair of chords and a plain black T-shirt. Finally dressed and shoed, I walked downstairs and into the kitchen where I drank a few glasses of water. The rain looked uninviting but I grabbed a 5-4-3 with a hood as well as my truck keys and ran to my car through the poring rain. 

The freeway was sketchy. Some people drove fast and some really slow but regardless of their speed copious amounts of water flew off the back of people’s cars making the visibility horrible and therefore quite dangerous. I hesitantly pulled onto the side of the freeway in order to check a near by beach break. Cars flew by my window at 60 mph while I stared at the stormy ocean. The water was dark brown but a few wedges bumped up. It was nothing that looked  worthy of braving the shit-flavored water. I drove home through the poring rain.

I was sitting on the couch next to a crackling fire when I answered my phone to hear an excited friend on the line. In a few sentences of jumbled words I made out that a different beach break was head high, light offshore, and barreling.

Hopeful, I got back in my car and drove through the rain for twenty minutes. I was excited to surf but in order to risk getting sick I had told myself the waves must be quite good.

When I got to the spot I sat in my truck and examined the ocean. Light offshore indeed, but small and mostly walled waves littered the beach. I recognized several people that I knew out in the water and only one of them got a good wave in the 20 minutes I was watching.

Mini pulled up next to me. We talked for a few minutes. I told him I was heading home for a dentist appointment at 12 o clock. I pulled out of the lot and turned my music back on. Just then my mom called me saying that appointment had been cancelled but I was scheduled for ENT appointment at 245.

I sat at my computer and searched for some new music. I didn’t find anything good. It all sounded boring or it was trying too hard to sound cool. Most of it was odd sounding and gave me a headache. I gave up and listened to songs that I had already developed a desired taste for.

I answered some emails, scanned some receipts, and stared at the surf report repeatedly every 15 minutes.

Then I made a Christmas card. Gifts are always hard but I think hand made gifts that have further meaning to them are better than materialistic ones. After all, Christmas isn’t about presents. Although, in today’s society, it sure has shifted in that direction. I was pleased with the card that I drew, which is rare given my artistic incompetence. 

Parker came into my room. We agreed we were both hungry and walked down stairs to eat some lunch. The Tupperware full of Christmas muffins we baked the previous night easily distracted us and we each ate a few of them for lunch.

At 2:30 I left to drive to an ENT appointment I had in Goleta. My head slightly throbbed. I assumed it was from my lunch that consisted of mainly sugar. I experienced more rain and more dangerous driving on the way to the doctor.

The doctor prodded my nose with several different scopes and asked me many questions about the pain I had been experiencing in my sinuses. She came to the conclusion that I most likely had an infection that had created puss deep in my sinuses. I was grossed out. She prescribed me antibiotics. She made a point of telling me that her office assistant, a cute brunet girl who looked to be a little older than me, said I was a surfer.

I left the office a little disgruntled at having scopes and swabs shoved up my nose. I thanked the lady at the front desk and the brunet simultaneously poked her head around a wall and gave me a flirty wave.

I drove home. On the way I mailed the Christmas card I drew earlier in the day and picked up a new razor at CVS. It was still raining.

Now I’m sitting on the couch next to the same crackling fire as before. I’m contently full and comfortable in our cozy home wondering what is in store for tomorrow.

 --Conner