Sun, Sand, Beach, Beer, Babes, Ball and Frisbee

Sand and sun, beach, beer, babes, ball and Frisbee; these are the ingredients that can rejuvenate even the weariest mind. There is something about beach day that makes me fall in love with life all over again. I remember a time when I would spend every weekend at Sunset bay to collect bruises over volleyball, drink beer to further aggravate the dehydration and indulge myself over the romance of having sand in my hair and all over a tired body that begs for a nice cold shower right after.

How many years have it been since I have taken those days for granted? It really is difficult nowadays to spend a day at the beach, and I can only imagine that it will get increasingly harder. While the sand and the sun are still there, the demands of a maturing lifestyle create distance between a weary mind and the simplest pleasures of life. From where I stand at this moment, I really can’t complain. I am still indulging the transient luxuries of student life yet tasting the responsibilities, and not to mention, financial supplements of having a job. It probably won’t be long before I venture into a nine-to-five program of drudgery so I constantly remind myself to live life to the fullest while I still can.

The problem however, is that my friends around me have moved on into the next progressive chapter, where commitment and responsibilities spell a daily schedule, leaving little time for rest, moreover the beach. Investment bankers, engineers, stock brokers, academics, architects; arranging a day at the beach with them would probably require a two-week notice pending an almost hopeless vacancy on their weekend schedule.

I was at Brighton beach yesterday. It was rather drafty so I was baking under the sun and bathing in the salty sea breeze in my tank top. There were almost fifty people there, over an annual occasion which a University club organised. I felt alive, just being on the sand and amongst students oozing with energy yet I couldn’t divorce myself from the fact that I was the oldest amongst them. That was made apparent when a chap walked up to me and identified me as his tutor this semester. I had fun nonetheless; you couldn’t have it any other way if you were playing volleyball for hours.

I did, however, wished that the boys were with me, just so that I wouldn’t be embarrassed to let the inner child out to play. I miss the old days and I miss the boys from home. I wish the investment bankers, the engineers, airforce pilots and captains would take their time off every now and then, if just to humour me when I return home and live life the way we did when we just turned twenty.

It was a rejuvenating day at Brighton yesterday. My body feels tired from all the excessive jumping and my mind is fresh enough to last for another week. I did learn two things at the beach though; first, that every moment I get to live as a student needs to be cherished; and second, never wear a tank top on a day at the beach, unless red arms and a fair chest is the trend of the season.