This Week In Not Surfing

1. Ankle arthritis is a hard thing to treat. There are, of course, cortisone injections that can help temporarily. There are also viscosupplementation shots or PRP – neither are FDA approved for the ankle and generally come with an out of pocket cost. Bracing or inserts are potentially another option depending on any deformity. Ankle replacements are an option but have a high failure rate – higher than a total knee or total hip. The gold standard for severe osteoarthritis is an ankle fusion.
And so it begins, or continues, or whatever. "Has your ankle affected your surfing yet Toddy?" he asks in his slightly craggly Aussie accent. The question is almost quaint, then piquant. And yet, I cannot answer it in an affirmative, such is the state of my surfing in general. What effects my surfing more, a non-existent ankle or a non-existent surfing? Really, I'm not so sure.

2. Post-Truth. I have been personally post-truth since the practice saved my marriage the second time. The therapist taught us to begin our sentences with "I feel," apparently absolving us of digesting an objective truth while creating onus to gestate the other's subjective truth. There are three sides to every story may very well be the most harmful platitude in the history of democracy.

3. The iTunes shuffle goes from UB40's Reefer Madness to CSNY's Cost of Freedom to Walk on the Wild Side by Lou Reed. That's the kind of week this is.

4. Upon the us who chooses to be us is the realization that the football manager is now a brand item. Flash in the pan, johnny come lately and laden with the expectation of instant success based on a instant formula needing specialized ingredients. Gegenpressing, Tiki-taka, touchline gesticulation, post-match drama, wingback shuttler flyweight career resuscitations! Flavor of the month kool-aid acid test. It's gonna be alright.

5. There were waves at some point in the last week. Somewhere around here. I did not surf again. Not surfing is the new surfing. Has surfing finally passed through it's insipid moment in the cultural sun? I hope so. I think Kelly's wave pool basically killed off the whole mystique. Another reason to love Kelly Slater.

6. Tyler and I meet Derek Hynd for a plate of pasta at the most overtly mafioso-feeling place I've ever eaten since that time my dad took us to dinner in Fregenae when I was ten and I was the only one who ate the calamari and the family eventually got kicked out for eating too much and not paying enough. That's a long story. Derek Hynd is one of the more interesting guys I've somehow managed to be a regular in the company of given the right situation. And it's always great to be in his company with Tyler since Tyler constantly peppers him with the great burning questions of surf lore. And Derek always takes the bait, more than happy to tie a little levity-filled anecdote on to whatever arcane subject Ty brings up. It's like I'm the fly on the wall when someone says "oh to be a fly on that wall." I'm the fly!

7. Beware people who loudly claim to be loyal when the going is good. They're often missing the point that loyalty is a concept meant for when things are going badly. If someone proclaims their loyalty to you and things have always been relatively sunny between you, it probably means you’re being used.

8. Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think.