This performance was part of a group show - at the Octopus Literary Salon in Oakland, CA on March 10th, 2018 - in which everyone played songs written in the last six months. Written for a friend's birthday in October 2017, The Surfing Life explores the important role the outdoors can play in a person's life. I might as well admit that I ripped off the title from a Tim Robinson song. But, of course, you can't copyright a title! The Surfing Life Finally to bed, in the neighborhood of dead, from a gathering of all personnel I couldn’t fall asleep, I was conscious of a deep sense of purpose, and a northwest swell I slipped out of bed in the dark, “embarking,” the journey is never complete I wrote a pithy note to my son and my wife Who are sleeping through the surfing life Though I spend the week, underwater (so to speak), in a critical advisory role I’ve created space, there are processes in place, for the benefit of body and soul I’m satisfied with a pre-dawn ride, which—at least—takes the edge off the beast Weekends are for fun with my son and my wife And adventures in the surfing life Average body mass, over foam and fiberglass, balancing harmoniously Existential dread, when it’s pumping overhead, and you paddle ineffectually Accelerate, to a heightened state, any other realities fade On the edge of a knife, my son and my wife Disappear into the surfing life Shivering I stand, meditative in the sand, and wondering if I’m getting old “Practice what you preach,” say the ghosts at Ocean Beach, and I catapulted into the cold Jolted awake in the breakers, I’ve never felt more intensely alive Everything is one says my son to my wife When he contemplates the surfing life