bali

when i went in to sign my new employment contract i sure did get a fright. 14 days leave. per calendar year!!! goddamn singapore employment laws. it's pure exploitation. considering i haven't had a full-time job since april 2007, i thought that was a bit rough on their part. so decided to head to bali for the wend for one last big chillout before starting, once again, to plunder the world's natural resources. i have no morals when i need money. i am pure rapist.

so i landed up in kuta. the hub of bali. loads of sea and sun and sand. and waves!!! but no scando's. buddha must be punishing me for a return to my evil work ways. so for two days i did nothing. i just chilled. for a change. i learned how best to fix a motorcycle. i dreamed of spurs and bentley and modric and gds and berbs. i watched sunsets. i drank beer. i oggled girls. i also thought about how the future rushes up from behind you, the past receding away before your eyes. like sitting on a train, in a seat facing the the back end of the train. and i decided i wanted to become an uncarved block. just like pooh. 

"then what day is it?" asked owl.

"it's today!" squeaked piglet.

"my favourite day," said pooh. 

and then i became a bit restless. so i went drinking. ace out. and it was happy hour. for three hours. two-for-one special. and i sat by the bar and started thinking about noah's ark and parallel lines and the highest truth. and pretty soon the pub (paddy's pub - go figure) turned into a night club. quality. so i decided to sit there and look pretty and bide my time until the right opportunity came along. so i sat there and looked pretty and bided my time. and continued to drink. and sure enough, but not quite soon enough, opportunity came knocking. by the time the pretty dutch girl with blue eyes came over to chat i was super rocked. and i fell off my barstool. for no obvious reason. i just kinda swayed and then fell off. she just left me on the floor. bitch.

so the next morning i needed to get healthy and when i woke up i went for an afternoon swim. it was about 6pm and the sun was just above the horizon, throwing reds and pinks and oranges across the water like skipping stones. not a breath of wind. there were only two of us in the line-up. myself. and a body-boarder. he had one of those old mach2 boards. yellow top. black rails. orange slick. it was one of the best wave sessions i have ever had. consistent beach break. peaking at around 3 foot. throwing lip and beep barrels. it was awesome. i was living without desire. i was becoming the uncarved block. 

the sky could be blue

i don't mind

without you it's a waste of time

the last time i felt like that, without desire and at one with nature, was when myself and frank were frolicking in the waves in mozam and we pulled a kevin and perry go large. FLOATER!!! there was a bunch of dutch or austrian or some foreign european girls down current innocently playing catch with a tennis ball or frisbee or something. the plan was to watch their faces for signs of recognition as it bobbed through their circle: hey, is that a... FLOATER!!! cue jaws-like panic. splashing. screaming. a big wailing siren on the beach. general all-round mayhem. i panicked though at the last moment and chopped it into four neat quarters with three sharp kung-fu chops and it disappeared below the wave line. childish shit like that amuses me enormously. 

the next day i moved on to balangan beach in the south of bali where i slept in a shack on the beach. it was very cheap. but very beautiful. and very rustic. and quite hippy. the beach was dotted with huge palm trees and surrounded by weather-beaten sheer-faced cliffs. there was was an awesome right-to-left reef break that was a bit too big for me. but great to see. like one of those exotic zigzag magazine photo-shoot locations. a real surfer paradise. i really liked this place a lot. even though i'm not a surfer. i'm a body-boarder. and body-boarders rule man!!! 

the clouds above us join and separate,

the breeze in the courtyard leaves and returns,

life is like that, so why not relax?

who can stop us from celebrating?