Excerpt from “Scraping Bottom” by Jason D Olson

As I drove along the only paved road on the West side of Baja Mexico, every scenario played out in my head.  Everything from “Nothing is going to come of any of this when I get back” to “That bitch is going to have me picked up and put in jail for something” with the occasional thought of “That crazy fucking guy that tried to kill that cop is gonna have me killed if I show my face at the harbor again”.  Am I completely paranoid? Well, the answer is yes, I think I am.  Completely. 

My wandering mind was snapped back into reality as I approached a Mexican Military checkpoint.  I could see the lights as I slowly approached.  They have these checkpoints set up to thwart smuggling and assorted other things.  I think they also seem to enjoy harassing tourists, I guess I would too.  I slowly approached and was given the wave to continue forward.  “ALTO”! the fifteen to eighteen-year-old guard yelled.  Two other armed soldiers approached and began to dig through the bed of my truck.  “Que estabas haciendo aqui en Baja”? My Spanish is rusty at its best, but, I figured he was asking me what I was doing down here.  I answered “Por el mejor surf del mundo con mi amigo”.  Miguel wrote that on the top of my door so I could read it to them.  It’s the truth but best said in local lingo.  The guys going through the bed of the truck took all the Gatorade and water I had left and gave it to their buddies then waved me on. 

I quickly navigated Ensenada, then everything gradually got more Americanized as I headed North.  I moved easily through Rosarito, then through Tijuana toward the U.S, Mexico border crossing.  Never really cared much for Tijuana.  Some love the place and have great stories, and some don’t I guess.  I pulled a fast left and was met with a half-mile line of cars, six lanes wide, that will grow to twelve, then twenty-four as you get closer.  I’ve heard it said that the crossing between Tijuana and San Ysidro, CA is the busiest border crossing on the planet.  Looks like I’ll definitely have plenty of time to think about my future. 

Several hours later, I finally got close to the actual gate.  Thankfully, the many agents and their dogs that ran up and down the line of cars didn’t find anything in or on my truck.  Sometimes, people will put things into your vehicle without your knowledge, including themselves, just to get into the United States.  I made it to the gate and the agent snapped in a rather aggravated tone “State your nationality”! It pays to be calm and respectful in these situations.  “I am a U.S. citizen sir”.  He glared at me, stuck his hand out and said “Passport”. I handed it to him and he flipped through all the pages in a rather overly-dramatic fashion.  “What were you doing in Mexico”?  “Well, I came down here to catch the off-road races then stayed to go surfing for a bit with my friend”. This kind of piqued his curiosity.  “So, where’s your friend”?  “He lives in Ensenada, sir”.  After questioning me for almost twenty minutes and flipping everything I had in the bed of the truck over, he had no choice but to let me back in to the U.S.  I get it, really, I do.  I just feel that the Border Patrol could be a little less “asshole-ish” to those crossing, if you know what I mean?

I was facing about a three-hour drive back to Ventura, and whatever fate lay in store for me.  I swung off the freeway in Chula Vista and blew threw a favorite food joint again “Pollo Amigo” for a few taquitos to go.  I got back onto the freeway and absolutely murdered some of the best chicken taquitos on the planet.  I was eating as though my mouth was a chainsaw.  Shards of taco shell, lettuce and chicken were flying all over the cab making quite the mess.  Guess I figured if this is the last meal I’m gonna have then I better make it a good one.  It was late enough where I didn’t have to worry about traffic and didn’t need to pay attention.  The only thing I really had to worry about was “What am I going to do when I get back to Ventura”?

Well?  What do you think? Keep in mind this is unedited and raw.  I would love to hear your thoughts.  Please leave feedback here on my website http://www.ventsurfer.com or on my Facebook @MyAumakua , Twitter @ventsurfer or on Linkedin or email jdolson70@gmail.com.   I very much appreciate it and I’ll be watching for them.

This weekend my wife and her close family enjoyed a day of watching polo and wine tasting at a private vineyard in Santa Ynez, California. The day was nothing short of amazing.  I had never been to a polo match before but I had been wine tasting a plenty.  It was awesome!  The horses and the players looked to be having an equally good time and the wine and vineyard tour was just as special.  Some of the polo players were the owner of the vineyard and field, his son and his son-in-law.  While we were getting schooled on the wine a helicopter was parked on the other side of the polo field.  I noticed a car leaving the hilltop residence and had a feeling that that must be the owner of the property, and the vineyard that produced some pretty good wine that we were currently enjoying. The lights of the helicopter came on as soon as the vehicle was in sight.  A bag was grabbed and stuffed into the back of the helicopter.  A door closed and in a few seconds, the helicopter warmed up and lifted off.  I wonder what his story is?  Did he work for it from nothing? Was it left to him?  Did he make a few shrewd deals after college and continued hustling to wind up with this opulence? Well, I may never know, but it sure is a motivator knowing that this kind of opportunity is out there in our world and all you have to do is work for it.  The key word being work.  Life is work, happiness is work, relationships require work, all of the good stuff in life require work.  I hear that the 1% sleep 4 hours a day or less.  Something to think about.

Allow me to set the stage for you.  I wrote and published my book a couple years ago “My Aumakua” (available on Amazon).  Since then, I have been positively inundating Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson @TheRock on social media, Facebook and Twitter mainly.  Well, I “liked” a Facebook post he and John Krasinski (The Office, 13 Hours) made at the gym where they were involved in a challenge to raise money and awareness for veterans #themurphchallenge.  This is a subject near and dear to my heart being a vet myself.  So, naturally, I took the moment to plug my book to Mr. Johnson by begging him and his production company to read my book and help me make it into a movie.  Classy move right?  In my defense, and to my knowledge, neither he or his company have ever looked at one of my posts.  I’m quite sure I am the only one plugging my ideas to him and them as well (wink).  Which is why I was so very surprised when I looked at my Facebook account (@MyAumakua) this morning and found that Mr. Johnson “liked” my post on he and Mr. Krasinski’s post.  Was it really he who did the liking?  Was it a staff member that has seen my barrage of tweets and posts to him, and Seven Bucks Productions, and decided that enough was enough? I may never know the answer to that, but, it made my day and is a big deal to me.  Just thought I would share a happy moment, just in case anyone is listening.  Keep on swimming people, ya just never know.

(Actual conversation I had with myself this morning) “Dude, where did the time go?  I think you better get your a$$ back in the saddle pal.   I mean, when was the last time you wrote a blog?  For that matter, when was the last time you worked on your book, went surfing, rode your mountain bike, took your wife out for an elegant dinner?  (All that was in my head, this was out loud) You sir need to organize your time a little better.”

Everyone is busy.  I could also come up with plenty of excuses as to why I haven’t done a lot of these things, but excuses are easy and I don’t like them.  I feel the truly successful people know how to manage their time so efficiently that they are able to fit in all the things they love to do and spend time with all the people they love to spend time with.  There are things I need to change in my life to accomplish this very task.  Some will be difficult for me and others not so much.  There are things I am allowing to affect my time that do not need to be there, and some things I want to be there but are not mainly because of the things I don’t need.  I know, major run on sentence, but necessary.  Everyone seems to have advice today on how easy it is to be successful.  I am finding that there is only two things that can get you wherever it is you want to be.  In my case, where I want to be.  Working hard and getting organized.  By organized, I mean a lot of things.  Maybe I’ll start with having a little less coffee.  One thing is for certain, the clock waits for no one.

It is key.  It seems that more and more societal emphasis is on control these days.  Control your medicine, control your access to open spaces blah, blah. Wouldn’t a more practical thought be to move toward a better control of our kids education?

When I was a little boy, my father taught me how dangerous a gun he kept inside his night stand was. He made sure to infuse the training he was giving my older brother and I, just how dangerous a gun can be. A few years later, my uncle took me out and gave me hands on training, in an orange grove, just how powerful a gun can be. Fast forward, I spent ten years in the Army learning about all kinds of weapons, not just guns.

That being said…

I cannot help but feel that education and discipline need a re-boot…

I also, never want to know what it is like to lose a loved one though some senseless tragedy. (No words)

In my lifetime, I have seen several government leaders speak about the importance of education and how they are going to fund it.  They speak as if it was their top priority, almost like taking out the trash.  We need to demand more from our elected leaders when it comes to education.  Cuts in education, I feel, have reeked havoc in society, again, my opinion.  Can we not agree on something that is not left or right, democrat or republican, black or white?  Can we get past all this polarization? I mean, is it even possible?  We cannot allow this foolishness to continue.  We need to educate ourselves and then educate our children, enrich our lives with all the wonders this world has to offer.  We live in a time where access to information is as abundant as could ever be. Yet, so few take advantage.  If you read this blog, then you have the llaves to the future 😉

Sure, if you’re the owners of “Grumpy Cat” that are making a lot of money off of their pet that has a unique face, then yes, you agree.  For those of us that do not have a cat, or dog, or any other “thing” to give words to this “issue”, why do you “hate” Monday? I mean, have we been programmed that way, or is it something more deep?  Personally, I live my week looking forward to Saturday, what a  wonderful and totally unappreciated day, so Monday is just  another “day in the week” to me.  My life revolves around Saturday.  It is the best day of the seven, and I care not anyone’s opinion on Saturday.

Thing is, no matter what kind of schedule you have, everyone has a “Monday”.  Why does Monday it have to be bad?  I think we all need to re-focus our glasses (eyes) and look forward with some appreciation of what you have, how you got there, and how much you might miss what you have now.  If you have a problem with “Monday”, maybe you have a deeper problem.  Find a job that makes you feel like it is Saturday, everyday.   It’s all up to YOU. #EasierSaidThanDone #ILoveMonday  #MyAumakua #MondayMotivation #myaumakua

 

Quite the hook for a title If I do say so myself.  Truth is, I had a temporary employee today, which is a new thing for me as I have never managed “temps” before.  This young man, we shall call him Henry, was late at the onset of his shift.  We honestly were not sure if he was going to come in at all.  I was informed by the Operations Manager that he had to rely on public transportation so we should wait and see.  About ten minutes later, Henry rolled up on a bicycle.  He apologized for being late while handing us his time sheet.  The Ops Manager let him know the plan for the day while giving him his hard hat and safety vest.  I secretly thought to myself that I didn’t think he was going to make it through the day, then went on about my business.  Well, Henry did make it through the day and managed to impress some of the permanent guys.  After signing his time sheet at the end of his day, Henry asked me if I had a minute to talk.  I invited him into my office where I had stored his bicycle while he was out on deliveries. Henry asked me if we were hiring for permanent employees.  I told him that we, like most companies, were always looking for good people to hire.  He then proceeded to tell me that although he enjoyed the work and would like nothing more than to come work for us, he has some issues that might prevent that from happening.  He had a troubled past and was currently homeless…homeless.  I was, in a way, dumbfounded.  How could this young man sitting in front of me with a strong, positive attitude, have no place to go?  I couldn’t help but think about what will happen as he rides his bicycle out the gate of the yard.  We talked for a little while longer about things and then exchanged contact information.  I hope to bring him on again, through the temp agency, as kind of an interview process.  If things go well, I would like to think I would hire him.  The only advice I could give Henry was the easiest advice a guy like me COULD give, which was “You keep that positive attitude and things are going to work out.”  I really meant it but it still sounded cheap and easy.  Thing is, I really hope he does, but also wonder if my hands are tied in all the red tape.  I think it is time for an individuals past to be weighed on a different scale, rather than the current one.  (My opinion).

Yeah, heard this one a hundred times if once.  It is a play on words that can mean many things.  It could mean “When the going gets tough, hit the bricks and find something easier”, no?  It could also mean what it might be intending which is “When the going gets tough, be tougher than the situation and get energized or work harder”.  If the going gets tough you need to dig in and look within.  Take a look at the whole situation.  Are things getting tough because of some outside force of nature?  Maybe from a recent change?  Maybe its not anything but something you can control like your own attitude or will.  Maybe it is a whole lot simpler then some cosmic negativity.  I’m no expert in any of these things, but I know that I feel different today about a recent stint of time that was very tough for me and I feel that the light is growing brighter.  A light I wouldn’t have seen had I decided to “Get going” Or if I just left my head in my hands instead of looking around for a solution.  Is it wrong to “get going”?  Not what I am saying, just do your research which I think starts with looking within yourself.  I think this thought can be summed up with a simple assignment to loosely prove my point.  Listen to the song #Margaritaville from a business titan #JimmyBuffet.  It outlines the very progression and search for answers only to wind up where the trouble truly started.  Be safe out there.  #MyAumakua #StickWithIt #ItsMyOwnDamnFault

I can’t help but feel excited about it being a “New Year”.  There are many like me that see that magical moment on January first at 00:01 as the moment to look forward with optimism and excitement.  I could site a few thousand (or more) negative things to do with this topic, and if you are waiting for those you are going to be sadly disappointed… starting now.  If you happen to be one of the people aforementioned, stop reading my stuff and stop following me.  I won’t stand for negativity in my life anymore as there is so much to be positive about, no matter what your situation.  We are all better than that, aren’t we? #StopLookingDown #LookUp #Happy #LifeIsGood #FeelYourBeatingHeart #Pulse #BeTheGoodPartOfSomeonesDay #Hawaii #MyAumakua #SouthernHaole

I have always looked forward to two days of the year.  The first is Thanksgiving. Now, knowing what we have learned in the last decade or so in relation to Native Americans, there is a tainted feel about Thanksgiving, but, you cannot argue that Thanksgiving is a day where thanks is given for those you love, for what you have and for life itself.  It is not materialized like the other holidays, it is as pure a holiday as can be.  Thanksgiving has not been tainted by the material giant thankfully.  It is  a simple holiday where we give thanks, in any religion, race, creed or color.  Can we not do this for more things?  My other favorite day was the eve before Christmas.  What a special time.  I have always felt everyone was at their best on this day.  I was raised in a place that celebrated Christmas as a fantastic “end of year” celebration.  There was no politics, no hatred, no bad feelings, everything positive, a nice slide into the new year.  Remember, these feelings and memories are from when I was a kid.  Oh how I would love to feel those feelings again, without all the worry and uncertainty of today.  A lot can be learned from some past cinema.  How about we all decide to go into the new year like this…

“Be excellent to each other” “Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure”