Let me explain the Uncle Mike title…
Ok, so in a previous life (married life that is) I had SEVERAL nephews and nieces from my ex-wife’s family. She was the bottom of 9 children, so family reunions for them require entire regions to host. So it seemed every time I turned around someone was calling me Uncle Mike. One day one of my nephews that I had introduced to surfing was introducing me to his friends as Uncle Mike. As it would turn out the friend he was introducing me to was one of the Tampa Bay area’s most prolific graphic artists and web designers. This individual also dabbled in making surf films. Well as things went on I too started to mentor this individual in surfing, primarily introducing him to Longboarding. He was so smitten with the longboarding culture he would go one to make a film about it with me as the protagonist:
We traveled to California and met many of the 60’s surfing legends as well as 2 current legends of the So Cal surfing scene. Throughout I was known as Uncle Mike, well in the surfing world once you get a nickname it is with you forever. So I am now known in the surfing community as Uncle Mike, and despite no longer having any actual nieces or nephews the name goes on…
So let that be a lesson; If you were to get a nickname today as an adult what would it be? Talks-Too-Much? The Anti-Listener? Blockhead? These are some extreme examples but think about it, while no one should live their life worrying about what others think of them personally it would be nice to be known for something positive. I like the idea of being the guy others look up to in the West Florida Surfing community, however small it is. I have fought the good fight against some environmentally un-sound beach “protection” projects that were really just obscure ways of trying to make beaches behind some condos private. I have run a small business in the Tampa Bay area. I am the webmaster and marketing person for Lenny’s Surf Shop in St. Pete Beach, so I stay in-touch with the community. To be know as every one’s “Uncle” Mike isn’t a bad thing so I own it…What are you going to be known for?
“Uncle” Mike Trzinski