I'm so excited...

Some people have that one activity that they really, really enjoy...almost to the point of fanaticism. They can put countless hours into it, and yet when the day is done, it seems as though only seconds have passed. Maybe it's something like working on or racing a car, playing a sport like basketball or golf, or painting a picture. You put time into it, you put money into it, and though you might not always be successful, it's all good because the enjoyment is in the activity.

I'm lucky(?) to have a few of these kind of interests. You might find me deep in a good sci-fi book; when I had more time, I could read for hours (5+) straight. Or you might find me jamming with friends on Pilipino musical instruments. There's something about getting lost in the music of a Jota or a Kalingga beat.

My second oldest hobby (frist: reading) is fishing. I caught the fishing bug early on thanks to my dad. He used to do a lot of deep-sea fishing when I was young. I must have been around 5 or 6 when I remembered him coming home one afternoon with a bags of fresh caught ling and rock cod. These fish were huge! They were almost as big as me at the time. They were bright red or dark brown, with massive jaws and bulging eyes. He would then take a bolo knife and clean the fish out himself in the backyard. The whole house stirred in excitement during these times. My lolo or uncle (or whichever relative was staying with us at the time) would exclaim several times over "Eh-eh!! Ang laki! Tingnan mo 'yan...presh na presh!" or "Ah-ah! Masarap 'yan sa sinigang o paksiw!!" It was it was nice little village scene in our Union City backyard :)

Later in high school, my friends and I used fishing as an excuse to break curfew. We would go out late at night and call in to say that we were fishing...which we really were. But it was cool...kind of like the movie "Stand By Me" where a group of guys were just growing up through the adventures around them. We learned our independence trhough these fishing trips...late night adventures on beach or a pier and weekend trips on our own to Clear Lake (4 hours away). Starry nights canopying a little drinking, a little smoking, and a lot of talk about life and girls and the future.

Well, as life does so well, my days are now filled with other important things like work and spending time with my wife. So, I relish even more the time that I can spend on the water. This Saturday, I'm going fishing with one of those high school buddies. The anticipation in me has been swelling for the past few days. The weather here has been warm, which will hopefully encourage the wintering fish to bite. I spent three hours last night getting my tackle box together. We launch out tomorrow on our bass boat at 4:30am and will spend about ten hours on the water...but when the day's done, whether or not we catch anything, I'm sure it'll only feel like a few seconds of my life have passed.