Manny! Look at dat pelican fly! C'maaaan Pelican!

Moments of sheer and utter bliss have been lacking this year I'm sad to say. An early spring led to a pretty crappy June and my summer rush was delayed. Followed that up with tonsil surgery and 2 weeks of unbelievable pain. It's kept me down a bit and I think today may finally have been the first day of feeling really great again. This was evidenced by a zen moment along the river again today. Gotta love that river.
A major winding section of road is currently closed down due to the threat of rising water levels. The water hasn't hit the road yet, but it has cleared all traffic off of 4 lanes of pristine asphalt on one of the most scenic parts of the riverbank.
I was boarding this stretch as part of my base building for the 100k board session I have planned 3 weeks from now. There was a beautiful stretch of downhill, into a light wind. I love long stretches of downhill. As you hit your maximum velocity you get motion without energy, and there is a sense that you are detached and free from the Earth for the duration of the bomb. It was while coasting effortlessly along that I looked up and caught sight of a pelican doing precisely the same thing. It had spread it's wings, caught an air current and was just gliding along in perfect effortlessness. In that moment I felt what the bird felt. Not a power over anything as one might think, but an independence from everything. A freedom that only pelicans, seagulls and longboarders know.

Instant Gratification.

I'm all about instant gratification. I say this and people say to me "I can relate" and they generally reference a shopping purchase. I'm far beyond that. I need instant gratification on everything, even negatives.
When I was a kid if there was a big kid that wanted to beat me up I could not stand the anxiety of waiting and would seek him out. In high school if someone told me they were going to beat the shit out of me after school I'd challenge him to do it that very moment because I had stuff to do after school. Again, it was because of the horrors of waiting.
When I have a band aid that I know is going to hurt to tear off I do it at the earliest opportunity.
But by far the greatest example of my need for instant gratification is my compulsive news checking. I check the news about 30 times a day. Compulsive is perhaps the wrong word. I've never dropped out of doing something in order to check the news, I haven't a need to check the news, but I do check it a lot. What I'm looking for is a disaster, war, assassination, tragedy of such proportions that I will be able to clear my schedule for the day and just do what I want to do.
I secretly hope for a massive B.C. earthquake or the outbreak of the third world war, just so I will be able to stay home from work for the day. I don't think beyond that to the suffering that will follow, to the feelings of those who have suffered losses. I just want some time off and a clearing of responsibility for a while. It's with this hope that I check the news 30 times a day. Isn't that awful?