Table of Contents
1 Beirut, Lebanon, 2006 1
2 The North Shore, Oahu, December 2009 8
3 Birds, Boats, and Past Loves. Or, from Beirut to Bondi. 16
4 The Thoughts Your Actions Entertain. Or, My First Impression. 24
5 There Ain't No Motive for This Crime. Or, Welcome to Paradise. 36
6 I Know You Are the One, Yeah. Or, We Can Collide. 43
7 Addicted to a Certain Kind of Sadness. Or, I Don't Even Need Your Love. 48
8 Everything About This Is Real. Or, a History. 57
9 The Joy Formidable. Or, Here We Are, in the Dark. 64
10 No One Laughs at God. Or, It Ain't My Backyard. 77
11 Don't You Want to Share the Guilt? Or, Waves Are Oil: an Interlude. 83
12 Fade into Darkness. Or, Eddie. 107
13 Girls, We Run This Motherfucker. Or, a Wander and an Explanation. 143
14 You Said That You Could Let It Go. Or, a Contest. 157
15 I Found a Wallet. Or, Back to Town. 189
16 I Let the Bad Ones In and the Good Ones Go. Or, He Wasn't Here for a Long Time; He Was Here for a Good Time. 194
17 He Came from the South of Sweden, He Spoke Just Like a Dane. Or, V-Co. 203
18 You Are Not Invisible Now, You Just Don't Exist. Or, Surf Houses: an Interlude. 206
19 And Now Your World Is Here, Watch It Disappear. Or, Kai Garcia Is a Zen Thug. Or, Full Consumption. 212
20 Let's Go to the Beach, Each, Let's Go Get a Wave. Or, Let's Do This One Last Time. 226
21 Burn Them Bridges Down to the Ground Because I Won't Be Coming This Way Again. Or, a Postscript. 235
Acknowledgments 241
Index 243