David Siskind | Sunday, 20 October 2024
October 19 - I’ve been driving up the California coast between LA and San Francisco. Saw the elephant seal juveniles on the beach in San Simeon, visited Big Sur, then retraced my route back down to Cambria to avoid the sections of Highway 1 that were damaged by landslides this past April. Drove north to San Francisco and bagged a couple of museums and great restaurants in Chinatown. Now we’re in Monterey for the wedding of a couple of work associates. Or I should say former work associates. Just before the storms and landslides in April I retired.
No longer burdened by work, I’ve been concentrating on improving my casting (I’ve been studying with professor Arden for nearly two years now) and enjoying local Los Angeles sight fishing opportunities - carp in the LA River and corbina on the beach. I try not to drive more than 20-30 minutes. It’s been grand. Undistracted by the pull of work and my lifelong guilt about not really wanting to do any, I’ve made some great leaps forward in all aspects of the SexyLoops curriculum and my fish-sighting skills.
All this recalls my brief golfing obsession 35 years ago. Then I was working unhappily as an engineer, selling, designing and building industrial and mining wastewater systems. I practiced golf diligently but with two young kids was strapped for time. However at one point I stumbled on a golf swing on the range. It was long, smooth, and effortless, generating a lot of club-head speed. I took it out for short evening trials on the nearest public course and killed. I couldn’t wait for the weekend and bailed on work on a Thursday, got a tee-time as a single and played a full round. Wracked by guilt for taking an unscheduled day off, I lost my sweet swing never to find it again. I fear this will happen to my recent casting advances.
The US election is pissing on my parade. With due respect to the diversity of opinion here, I have been tortured since Mr. Trump descended his golden escalator. His increasingly violent rhetoric, my close friendship with many Central American immigrants, and his disdain for the flawed but improving alliances and social order are driving me nuts. I know I’m not alone. I have already voted but am haunted by the knowledge that I could be doing more than that. GOTV (get out the vote) is a big deal here where participation is lower than most democracies. I think I have a solution but need to do more research.
I have a lot of good fishing coming up soon. Planning and enjoying these adventures compete for time with any GOTV activities I am contemplating. I could cancel the fishing coming up next week but that might be a hardship for the friend and guide who is taking me fishing for reds in the Mississippi delta. He is a Florida resident who drives his trailered skiff to Louisiana for the fall season. HIs home was hit by two hurricanes in the last three weeks and I’m sure he’s looking forward to the income from guiding me. Also I don’t want to cancel.
I just hope all this doesn’t fuck up my new found skill advances. I find that nagging real world distractions are very bad for my fishing. We’ll see. I’m crossing my fingers for good outcomes all-around.
David Siskind