Gold Colored Fish

Had about five hours of sleep, more accurately, three quality hours of sleep.  Why am I up already?  I just ran for hours last night on the court and on the field, I’m supposed to be dreaming of Ms. Cali still, making sure I don’t hear my friend’s wake-up call because I am NOT going with him to fish at “the spot”.   I check the clock on my phone, and it’s 8:00am… crap, too early.  Wait a minute, no missed calls?  I’m worried since I’m supposed to get a call by now.  That fool, he probably is going down there by himself.   I imagine the worst for him, so I clear up my schedule and call him up-

“Fool.  Let’s go.”

We head down to his spot.  The weather is perfect, but the hike down the cliffs to his fishing spot is extra tough, no thanks to all that running last night.  This is why I don’t fish.  It’s more economical for me to go down to Foodland and buy the dumb fish than to drive all the way to the East side, hike down a rock trail, and stand for hours in the sun holding a fishing pole waiting for some random fish to bite on my overpriced shrimp bait.  Better yet, I’d rather head to the bowling alley and order my Furukaki Mahi Mahi already cooked and ready to eat.  I’d bowl a few games and still get home early enough to get some work done, without a sunburn.

We reach the bottom of the trail and the water is amazingly calm.  I feel like a fool wearing a life vest.  I told you, I was not going down there without a vest, so though I looked like a fool, I felt good inside knowing I kept my silent promise.  It’s so hot though, and this vest is adding far too many degrees.  Do I remove the hedge?  The water looks so good.  But it’s deceiving.  If you fall and hit the rocks below, it doesn’t matter how good a swimmer you are if you’re knocked out.  Kind of like market.  Man, it’s too stinking hot.  I take the vest off and throw it on the side.

We prep the bait.  I’ve got a giant 14 foot pole, which is impossible to cast when you have a sprained shoulder.  I really don’t belong here.  Why am I here?  I actually lied to myself, since I told myself last night there was no way I would go with Masaru down here.  But he’s so stupid lately, and I’d feel even more guilty if anything happened to him.  But that’s not what I told him when I decided to go.

“Masa, why are we here?  This doesn’t bother you?”

“Gio, the way I see it is we have to face our fear.”

“That’s not what I was talking about.  You know what I’m talking about.”

I don’t know if this guy has any common sense, is an idiot, or just recovers really really fast.  It’s awkward being here after scattering his ashes near where we were fishing.  It’s kind of gross actually.

He gets a phone call and it’s his wife.  She finds out we went fishing near were Mel fell in.  Crap, now we’re busted.  We should have went fishing near the harbor.  I knew I shouldn’t have came.

Every time we dropped the line in, we had a strike.  Man I’m glad we came!  Drop in, pull out, drop in, pull out.  The fish were really biting there, which was strange.  It was so strange, a nearby fisherman came near to us and was wondering why our spot was biting.  I thought maybe because Mel hadn’t been here for weeks to catch all the fish.  It was kind of nice.  For a moment I was able to forget about him even though I was doing what he loved most.

Unfortunately, I kept catching our state fish (humuhumunukunukuapuaa) which we always throw back since it’s illegal to catch.  Didn’t matter though, just the feeling of pulling the fish out the water was very rewarding.  “One last cast, and whoever gets a fish first gets lunch.”  We both end up losing our hooks and weights to the reef.  Let’s bail.  We head to Costco and since I caught more fish than him, I make him buy me a hot dog.  Take that!

Why does this hot dog taste like fish?

I felt peace for the first time in a long time, even though if it was for a few minutes.   That was kind of ironic since we basically argued the whole morning just for the sake of not wanting to agree with each other, on stuff like poker, basketball, Ms. Cali, and more poker… he was extra animated about that one for some reason.  What it came down to though  was that we both missed Mel.  That’s all.  We know he’s missing out on a lot, and wish that he could be around to try out the new food in whatever new restaurant we discover.  I kind of wish he was around so I can tell him I caught a double- that’s two fish on one line.  He wouldn’t believe me.  What on Earth?  Did I just return to the spot that I swore I would never come back to?

“Hey Masa, I wonder what your brother must have been thinking while he was trying to stay afloat.”

“Gio, you think too deep on things.  Let’s not…”

“Yeah, let’s not.”

I wasn’t supposed to be fishing yesterday, but I did.  I completely went against myself, bet against myself, like a contrarian.  It turned out to be a productive day, maybe not in the office, but at least in life.   Oh yeah, I ended up adding to gold shorts (GG.  Still holding EGO, GLD) .  Gold is treated much like a life vest.  The waters seem calm right now, so I take it off.   When the real waves come, then I’m throwing it back on.

So far, I’m beginning to think maybe Masaru is thinking more clearer than I am.  The  closer you get to your fears, the easier it is for you to jump over them.  If you keep running, you’ll never get over them.  Same with the market- There’s always an unexpected benefit when you hop over your market related fears.  Problem is, I’m a little too beat up to jump right now. Aw man, now my phone smells like fish.

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