Bali

I was in the Mentawaiis the day the quake hit. I was traveling throughout Indonesia surfing and doing humanitarian work. As with so many surfers who volunteer every year, the first part of my trip was to consist of a standard boat charter trip with friends through the Mentawaii Islands. After that I was scheduled to fly over to Bali and work, with Skills For Humanity ( www.skillsforhumanity.org ), on a humanitarian project for my new foundation — Waves For Water ( www.wavesforwater.

Surfers gathered at Rockpile on Tuesday for a paddle-out to remember “Jungle” Jack Denny, a legendary Laguna Beach surfer and clothing designer who died of cancer Sept. 9, 1998, at the age of 33. Denny founded World Jungle clothing, an early and ground-breaking surfwear company, which started out in 1990 with a $9,000 investment and grew to a $1 million enterprise in two years. Denny spent six years designing for Gotcha, and also worked for MCD and Bash clothing, before launching his own business.

The Boys and Girls Club fundraiser Saturday night at Montage Resort & Spa is a sell-out. "We are expecting more than 400 people," said Bali Thorn, club director of administration. Tickets were $300 each, proceeds from the Sixth Annual Art of Giving Gala will benefit the club on Laguna Canyon Road and TLC at Bluebird Park, now affiliated with the main club. Locally connected companies or residents who underwrote the event include PacifiCare, Philo and Diane Smith's Peppertree Lane, Donnie Crevier's BMW dealership, Impact Marketing Specialists' Milt and Barbi Naylor, dentist Joe Baker, Rick Balzer, Dan and Jennifer Burge, Tim and Lyn Carlyle, Dan and Judy Daniels, Bill and Mary Fischer, Judy and Keith Swayne, Tony French, Bob and Kirsten Whalen, Hearts of Montage and former Lagunans Mike and Laurie Hefty, who both grew up in town.

Does anyone know where the sun has gone? After a blistering June it seems that July this year has become more like the June of past years. Clouds and drizzle. Perhaps August might once again bring us sunshine. On Wednesday the swell was increasing, as another “southern hemi” (southern hemishere) swell is forecasted with expected overhead surf on its way. I would like to think the swell might be big enough and last through the weekend so we can once again run the Brooks Street surfing classic.

Ryah Arthur and Eli Viszolay are heading into the U.S. Open of Surfing in different ways. The Laguna Beach athletes will be a part of the world's largest professional surfing competition, which begins its nine-day run at the Huntington Beach Pier on Saturday. Arthur, 22, will go as a competitor; Viszolay, 18, as a contributor. The summertime classic is North America's only combined Assn. of Surfing Professionals Men's Prime and Women's six-star event. "No other surf contest compares to competing in the U.S. Open," Arthur said.

A harrowing week has ended for two of Laguna's own, trapped amid the escalating violence in Egypt. Concert Band founder Carol Reynolds and her daughter, jeweler Patti Jo Kiraly, were due home Thursday. They were among the tourists stranded by the political upheaval that coincided with their arrival in Egypt, stuck there until Wednesday, when they were flown to Rome. "They originally were supposed to fly from Rome into New York, where their tour had originated, but the tour company arranged a kind of special flight," said Kiraly's husband, Sherwood.

Tom Titus Lagunans -- most of them anyway -- have a pretty well developed sense of humor, as well as a thick skin, the result of enduring endless jibes about the Art Colony on subjects ranging from traffic to lifestyle. Some of them even enjoy poking fun at themselves, as writers Bree Burgess Rosen and Tim Dey began doing 10 years ago. They created an evening of skits called "Lagunatics" as a fund-raiser for Laguna Shanti. The event was a howling success, and it's gotten bigger every year.

The dream deferred can nag at you. Maybe you said you'd go to Bali and didn't. Maybe you always intended to jump out of a plane someday and here you still are, waiting till it lands. The task begun and left unfinished is worse. You were going to lose 10 pounds, but you lost four and then lost interest. You started to clean out the garage, but something came up and now every time you look in there you feel like a slacker. When you do manage to complete one of these endeavors, the boost in self-esteem is disproportionate --- you feel better than the achievement calls for, because it took so long.

2008 is Leap Year and today, Feb. 29, is Leap Day. Leap Day occurs every fourth year, to bring our man-made calendar in sync with the solar calendar. It takes the earth longer than 365 24-hour days to revolve around the sun — 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds longer, to be exact. Most historians agree that it was the ancient Egyptians who first discovered this discrepancy and added a 366th day to every year divisible by four, and the Romans later designated Feb. 29 to be this extra day. Historically, in English law, this day was not recognized and so it was “leapt over,” hence the term “leap day.” Since the day itself was disregarded, so were the social norms.

I was in the Mentawaiis the day the quake hit. I was traveling throughout Indonesia surfing and doing humanitarian work. As with so many surfers who volunteer every year, the first part of my trip was to consist of a standard boat charter trip with friends through the Mentawaii Islands. After that I was scheduled to fly over to Bali and work, with Skills For Humanity ( www.skillsforhumanity.org ), on a humanitarian project for my new foundation — Waves For Water ( www.wavesforwater.