Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Old School Hi-Pro


Sally is a woman who knows what she wants. She lives with four huge dogs, makes her own sausage, and has little patience for smalltalk. I suspect she has roots in a Rocky Mountain state. Maybe even Alaska.
A few weeks ago she called to order a board.
"I want a log," she barked into the phone. "Ten feet long and wide as hell."
When asked about her most frequented surf spots, she ticked off a list that would make our most hardened, heavily-bearded northcoast hellmen pucker in fear. Real ugly stuff--top to bottom suckout dredgers, sharky rock pits, thick horror shows with freakish appendages.
"A log?" I asked.
"Yeah," she replied. "And make it old school. Rolled bottom, single fin, heavy as a mofo."
"You might have some problems carrying a really wide board," I offered.
"What do you care?"

The information-gathering process was no less thorny. When I inquired as to her weight, she replied, "Somewhere between zero and a freaking million." When I asked her what she wanted the board to do, she replied, "Everything I can't, I'm forty two years old for God's sake."
I was smitten.
Complex women have always held me in thrall. Their powers of vexation seem unlimited, their motivations hazy. Psychologists might speculate that these women are embodiments of my self critical nature. That I seek them out to deflate an ever-swelling ego. That I attempt to recreate a dynamic with my mother, a complex woman with a penchant for making delicious kugels.
I took on the project--what else could I do?

As is my custom, I emailed her a few snaps of the freshly-shaped board. She replied a week later (message sent at 3:23am) with the following message, perfect in its litigious ambiguity:
You bastard.
The postscript read: get a haircut.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Go to google, type in jamie murray s and see what comes up. Nuf said.

HeadHighGlassy said...

My personal favorite is where I am described as a "sultry femme-fatale."
Damn the surf paparazzi and their privacy invasions!

Jamie Welsh Watson said...

That's the best story I've heard all week!

Anonymous said...

There I go with my stereotypes again. I always thought you were a dude. Just googled you and I have to say you're HHHOOOOTTTT!!! One question - if you're such a successful british actress what are you doing wasting your time shaping boards for moldy surfers on the northcoast? BTW - please show more pics of yourself and less of the boards or better yet you with the boards.

Mick said...

Great post Jamie, really enjoyed theyarn.