bob_dobalina

its been raining in los angeles since saturday night and with rains comes the red flagging of the beaches in the los angeles basin. since it rains so infrequently out here, a lot of muck and crap builds up in the storm drains that empty directly into the pacific. once the rain comes, that bacteria, refuse, and even raw sewage gets washed out of the big storm drains in santa monica and venice directly into the ocean. the general rule of thumb is to avoid going into the water 48-72 hours after the last rain and with rain expected to stay through wednesday any plans to go surfing in the near future should probably be postponed. its bad in orange county too because of the large storm drain in huntington. further south in san diego there's problems because rain causes the sewage treatment plants in tijuana to overflow and belch waste into the ocean.

its just as well i suppose because i think i need to take a little time off. i had a great session charging the venice breakwater and even did a little backside re-entry. i was having so much fun that i ignored the building pain in my left shoulder and continued to paddle into waves. this is the same shoulder that i dislocated so many times playing football in high school that it often slips out of joint when i sleep. death and taxes may be a certainty for most but entropy and atrophy are my fuckin reality. and this reality is damn painful every time i feel the joint grind and pop.

saturday night was spent in beverly hills at the wedding reception of a cousin of mine that i'd never met before. the food was good, the chardonnay from santa barbara county was nice (and not over-oaked as is typical from the counties to the north), and the perrier-jouet champagne was maginifique! so much so that i didn't mind that the mother of the bride asked me which grade i'm in or the awful speeches delivered by the best man and maid of honor. with all of the medical doctors in the family (the ushers were like 80% of the trauma unit at a hospital in pennsylvania), i made a point of talking to one of my uncles about my cranky shoulder. although he recommended getting an MRI and ultrasound picture of it, the prognosis isn't great.

given the symptoms and what my uncle could figure from his poking and twisting was that could be a delightful combination of tendon damage and bone fragments that's giving me problems. a turn on the table for some arthroscopy could be an option as these things won't get any better if i maintain my current activity levels of lifting weights and surfing. another option is medication but i've done the celebrex thing before and all it does is address a portion of the problem (inflammation of the tendons).

the irony of the link between my shoulder pain and the bacteria levels of the LA beaches hasn't eluded me. in both cases, i'm just waiting things out and waiting for conditions to return that aren't so bad. just hoping for things to go back to the way they were not too long ago yet not addressing the fundamental problem that LA is just too fuckin polluted or that my shoulder is just too fucked up. i guess i could become a member of heal the bay or the surfrider foundation but i don't think any amount of arm twisting to get me to sign up for surgery and the weeks and months of recovery time that are to follow.