Unconventional Wisdom

i loved this interview article...

Unconventional Wisdom

Yvon Chouinard, loving life. Photo: Davis

Interview by Brad Melekian
You can’t be a happy person without using your body. That’s the reason you feel so good after surfing, even if you’ve had a shitty day.
I started surfing at 16. I made my own board out of balsa. Eventually I traded the board for a Model A Ford engine. I drove that Model A all over the place—Canada, Wyoming. It was a fair trade.
There were so few surfers. I’d drive from the Valley down to Malibu, and guys coming back from Malibu would give you the thumbs up or down. Now they give you the finger.
The surfing itself hasn’t changed at all. There’s still a wave and a board and a wetsuit. But the equipment has gotten a lot better. I used to surf Ventura overhead in February with no wetsuit, no leash, and when somebody lost their board, you’d have to follow him in and make sure he made it.
Personally, I try to lead a simple life. I don’t walk around with my hat on backward looking like a surfer. My Patagonia clothing, some of it is 20 years old. Just because I have a clothing company doesn’t mean I have closets and closets of brand new clothes.
Sure, it’s a consumer society, but you don’t have to be part of it. I hardly ever spend any money. Consumerism is just people trying to make themselves happy by consuming. And that’s wrong. Doesn’t work.
The secret to happiness is to be working at your passion. If you want to be miserable, lead a desperate life like everybody else where they drag their asses to work everyday because they hate their job.
My wife and I give 50 percent of our salaries away to charity. I don’t need the money. I don’t hang out with other businessmen. I’m a surfer for God’s sake. The only reason I hang on to this company is that I’m totally pessimistic about the fate of the planet. I feel like I couldn’t sleep at night unless I felt like I was part of the solution.
What’s wrong with just accepting the fact that there’s a beginning and an end to everything? I’m perfectly comfortable that I’m going to die.
I just live right now. You ask me about the past, you ask me about the future, the only way to be happy is to be living right now.
Everybody I know who’s studying the fate of the world is totally pessimistic. There’s no reason to be optimistic. We’re not going to get a handle on global warming, we’re way too late for that. It’s just a matter of knowing that you’re doing what you can, and so be it.
It’s not too late to start. I give talks to young people, and I can just see what’s going on in their heads. They’re thinking, “Oh yeah, when I get rich, I’m going to give a bunch of money away.” But it’s all relative. Ten dollars given away now is worth more than a hundred given away ten years from now. So you don’t have to be rich to be a philanthropist, or to do good.
I’m going to be in that seventh level of hell for using so much jet fuel. I don’t have the strength of character to say, okay, I’m going to quit traveling.
The whole history of America is you despoil your area and then you move west, right? Once you hit the bridge, you become multi-national and screw up the rest of the world. We’ve got to go back to absolute local living. You protect what you love, and how can you love something when you’re just looking for new loves all the time?

iPhone photos lately...

flaming lemongrass soup at Little Viet Garden in Georgetown. mmmm.

View of the White House as I walked home from an IIDA meeting

Phase 1 of my latest painting update. No more brown with overlapping squares....

this guy was texting on the stairs of this huge, stark space. it was just a scene that i wanted to capture. he looks so alone.

pink lights on the boats in the harbor, for Cherry Blossom Festival

the screen i stare at all day. with 15 people working in the same file, designing 9 million square feet, Revit gives me the blue pinwheel a LOT.

took a break from work to go out on the roof and see the space shuttle fly by.  

Easter in a nutshell

we thought we'd try natural dyes. turns out i have no idea how to use them. we ended up buying the toxic kind instead after all.

the Easter bunny was very healthy this year. other than 3 chocolate eggs (which yes, i did open and eat before documenting the good news), i received only healthy things. and lovely flowers that make our whole apartment smell lovely.

 

the Easter bunny didn't bother bringing Alex any candy. he still has Christmas candy in his not-so-secret hiding spot under the bed. so, he got plastic eggs filled with notes instead.

my mom was nice enough to mail us these! a tradition of our families has been to have these eggs in our baskets for as long as i can remember. when the lady stopped making them, my grandma and mom had to learn and make them themselves. it's been a lot of disasters over the years, but this year i think they were perfect. the true definition of Egg Hunting was discovered by me this year, as the act of finishing my own egg and then ransacking the house to look for my husbands chocolate egg. i don't think he appreciates them quite as much as i do. or so i tell myself to justify sneaking a taste of his.

happy late easter!

enough with the cherry blossoms

i know. i already posted about them. but alex surprised me with a fun idea this morning, to ride our bikes over to the tidal basin and eat breakfast under the blossoms. they've changed from pink to white, and will be gone by next week i imagine. it was a great way to start the day. 

 

the guy who thought this up. love him. even enough to get up at 6:45am, which is a lot. 

new york i love you, but you're bringing me down...

ok. NY is not really bringing me down. it's a song. 

went to NYC for my birthday. it was absolutely the best birthday ever.

and this was my favorite card. 

on first glance it seems like a thoughtful card from my siblings. upon closer examination i see that it is written on my stationary, in my husband's handwriting. he made it up himself, without help from any of my sisters. hilarious.

we walked through central park

 stayed in a hotel by the chrysler building

 walked the West Village, and saw the Friends apartment building.

 went to the pier

 and the highline park. both both of those were new experiences for me. 

 so cool! you can still see the old tracks.

 stopped by the guggenheim

 central park

 and, last but not least... my dream breakfast. waffles with Cinnamon whipping cream from cafe lalo. 

 with a cute date. in the best, secret corner table in the house.

 we also stopped by my old apartment, when you can see my initials.... they're fading though...

i miss living in new york. glad it is only a bus ride away whenever i need it. thanks Alex for a great weekend!

my saturday...

this is my first time seeing the famous DC cherry blossoms. 

 they did not disappoint.

 i went on a run to see them, in hopes of getting our high-energy house guest a little tired.

 we ran for 5 miles, all the way around the jefferson and back.

 beautiful scenery.

 Louie at the reflecting pond.

 as you can see... he's not that tired. ears perked, and ready to play fetch.

 he's such a cutie though. we've had a great weekend giving him a tour of foggy bottom. we went to Watergate, Trader's, the Waterfront, several parks, and past this random gas station. had to take a picture because Premium is $5.69! thank goodness we don't still have a car...

 this is maybe my favorite pic of the day though. i was begging him to come cuddle in my lap all evening, and he would not. he only wanted to play fetch. then he jumped on my stomach unexpectedly, and when i yelled "oh!" in surprise, it startled little Louie. he promptly ran to alex for safety and cuddled in HIS lap instead. of course.