The PB Attitude

I surfed Pacific Beach today. Pacific beach seems like your typical southern California beach atmosphere. Lots of guys running with their shirts off, tons of girls trying to look their best, and a mixture of tourists and locals wandering about doing whatever tourists or locals do.

As I was out in the water I got to talking to another surfer. We started with a few comments about the constant barrage of "close out" waves and some other random surf chatter. Eventually I let on that I was new to the area and gave him a quick spiel on why I live in San Diego now. After I shared my quick current life story he gave me his. This guy had lived in Malibu, San Diego, Yosemite, Pasa Something or other, and then some. He changed cities only when he got bored of the one he was in and he loved being outside. As he was wrapping up his story he finished by giving me the some parting advice, "PB has an Attitude just to let you know" the set came and he rode one in.

This guy left me with a roll over in my mind.

1. After a good 3-4 years of surfing I still don't understand why surfers don't say farewell to each other. The majority of the time surfers don't wave or give notice of leave. They just catch one and go. Maybe their thinking is that if you surf this area again we'll meet, so why say goodbye? Or possibly it's just not in their personality. They don't like to give goodbyes so they don't do them. I dunno. I like good byes. Good byes remind me of stories. Every good story has a memorable good bye. Good byes should be like Frodo and Bilbo leaving middle earth with the elves. There should be magic, a great ship and people with hairy feet.
2. The second thing that made my mind a wander is claiming that PB has an attitude. Everywhere you go to surf, somebody has an attitude. Every population of people has a vibe, a feeling, an attitude that they give off. It's not a bad thing unless they have a rotten attitude. If Pacific Beach had an attitude, from what I could tell it was a superficial one.
3. As I sat in the water waiting for some catchable waves I wondered if this guy was my alter-ego in a sense. I'm pretty sure I'd be that guy if I wasn't responsible. If I didn't care about school and the future and what not I could easily see myself as him. Travel around from place to place surfing, hiking and just adventuring around. I envy that man. Farewell brave traveler. I didn't catch his name that would be weird if his name was Tyler or Sally.