The last official UCB of the quarter is taking by Nick Kiefer.  The bonus triple point blog will be written tomorrow 9/6 and entries for that blog are still up for submission all the way until 9pm Pacific Standard Time on the 6^th.  Kiefer proposed I write where I see myself in ten years.  Truth be told it is a topic that I have been giving plenty of thought to lately considering I am turning thirty in less then a year.

The reality

Part of the plan has already went into action with me taking this new position at Westmont (if you don’t know what Im talking about read “The Apprenticeship” blog: https://surfingruinedmylife.net/2010/09/02/the-apprenticeship/).  What it all comes down to for me is that I don’t want to be penniless working for minimum wage with out a pot to piss in when I am forty, which I regrettably will be in ten years.  I have a few friends out here I surf with on a regular basis who are on the verge of forty.

Out of this group I look to my friend Ryan to be the guy I most want to be when I reach his age.  The dude has a job that allows him to surf a bunch, a good chunk of change in the bank, owns his own home and has a nice family.  Now I don’t care much for the family or home ownership thing, but I want to be stable and not sweating how Im going to pay the rent every month, as I do now and have for as long as I can remember.

So that brings us back to my current state in life.  Right now Im paying my dues in the kitchen, working like a dog.  Im not going to lie its hard work and long days, usually around 9 or 10 hours.  The work is very tiring leaving me completely spent and as a result not too vigorous on surfing.  Hopefully this is temporary.

I plan on working this job for a few years to get my skill and experience up.  I also want to take culinary classes in the summers when I am off and gain my certification and maybe in five years either run a kitchen of my own or at least have a sous chef job someplace.  I really want to be in a restaurant geared more towards dinner so that I can work from 2pm-10pm giving me plenty of hours to surf.

Who knows if I save my money and play my cards right I can open up a little Italian Bistro somewhere by the time Im forty.  I think I could live with that.  As far as where I will live I guess I would stay here in Santa Barbara.  Its really the only place I could truly live here in America and with the bustling tourism industry it would be a choice location to work as a chef and open my own place.

The Dream

The dream ten year plan comes in the form I like to call Emma Wood Ranch.  Emma Wood Ranch is my sheep farm in New Zealand I like to go to in my head whenever life gets me to point where I want to jump the center divider of the free way on the way home from work and drive full speed into the oncoming traffic.  If I could save enough cash, maybe around 100k or so I could take that money and purchase a grand amount of acreage, forty or so of grazing land on the North Island of New Zealand.  I was thinking either on the Wairarapa Coast or Taranaki Coast.  Both are riddled with tons of great waves and plenty of ranches that are always up for sale by farmers looking to move to the city.

I would get fifty head of sheep; maybe thirty head of cattle over time, a dozen or so alpacas and Ill even throw in a few emus and ostrich just for shits and giggles.  I would also grow my own garden for my personal food consumption and build some bare bones surf accommodations for the budget surf traveler.  People can even live for free if they are willing to help keep up the place.

Any of my friends who want to drop out and join in the festivities would be more then welcome as well.  Together we can live in the beauty of a simpler life where you get out of it what you put into it.  I’d get a few good work dogs to help with herding and wear nothing but soft warm comfortable alpaca clothing.   Sound good?  Who’s on board for a little bit of surfing and a little bit of hard work under the clean pristine skies and vistas only New Zealand can offer.

This could be your backyard with the dream plan

Here is a fail safe ten year plan if you ask me.