I Want To Be Indulged

Things are looking a little different today. There are still lots of clouds out but also some spots of blue sky. I’m house sitting for my ex-wife in Capo and it looks pretty darn cloudy here but I can see some golden light shining on the water and sand and it looks pretty great.

I go through my morning routine and play some piano on what is now my third Instagram Live session. It’s still unnerving and I feel like I am still not close to full creative capacity as I play but I also feel like this is exercising a muscle that would do well to be exercised. I am hoping that in time I will become less nervous and the playing will feel more natural.

I leave for the beach at about 9:00 and it looks like it might just be shaping up to be a beautiful day. As I get closer to the parking lot, I can see a big hole of blue sky just over the northern part of the beach. Well that settles where I am swimming.

I park and walk down the stairs. The sun feels luscious on my skin. Nothing quite like direct sun light. The actual temperature reported on my weather app probably isn’t much different from what it was yesterday when it was cloudy and windy but it might as well be 10 degrees warmer here right now. Also the water looks smooth. Surfline says there is a 7 knot west wind which would usually ruffle things up quite a bit more than what I am looking at right now.

I get to the beach and dip my foot in the water. It is definitely colder than yesterday without a doubt. The buoys were down a few degrees this morning at 64. Still, 64 is nothing to complain about. It’s no 67 but I’m not going to catch hypothermia either - not even close.

I get in the water and get past the surf and start swimming north. Yes, the feeling of immersion is definitely colder today. However it seems like I cross this sort of barrier as I am swimming further out where the water suddenly warms and it’s actually quite comfortable. Honestly more comfortable than I anticipated. Through the remainder of the swim, I pass in and out of colder and warmer patches. There are a couple colder ones that are quite icy but they are brief. The average temperature feels very comfortable. It’s super nice.

Also super nice is this sun. There is still plenty of cloud cover too but it is not at all gray. Everything looks crisp and blue and beautiful and the surface of the water is extremely smooth. I swim all the way to the Monarch Bay Beach Club and it is all very pleasant. Things do feel like they are changing upon turning around. It feels like there is a little more cloud cover and a bit more of a breeze stirring up the water. However, it’s not enough to sour the mood, and as I swim back south I have my face to the east which is the sunnier side.

As I am swimming, I have this sense of impending hope. It is the opposite of the feeling of impending doom. Needless to say it is a good feeling. I have been getting this feeling off and on over the past year. I’m not sure where it comes from. I just have this sense that things are changing for the better. Things are changing for the better, but I feel there is an inflection point coming - a slight change in trajectory that is up and to the right. For data nerds, it is the familiar “hockey stick” trend. I don’t have solid evidence but I’m not going to let the absense of evidence steal my hope or my faith. If this feeling wants to indulge me, let it. I want to be indulged!

I swim past the Ritz and I am passing the group of surfers here at the point. At the front of the pack is a surfer who looks like he is fishing but I just assume I am not seeing things correctly as I swim. I stop and look and he is in fact fishing! Haha. He is just sitting on his surfboard like everyone else but has a fishing rod. I ask him if he has caught anything and he says a couple Calicos. We chat for several minutes and I tell him about the huge Bass I saw last week.

I move on and finish the swim. Just as I stand up and walk towards the dry sand, a wave breaks and literally knocks me off my feet. This makes me laugh. I walk by the lifeguard hut that opened while I was swimming and the water temperature is posted at 66. That is probably about what the average was. Must be a different lifeguard on duty today who is perhaps more “by the book” when it comes to taking the temperature.