Ask Carroll

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Nick Carroll
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Re: Ask Carroll

Post by Nick Carroll » Fri Sep 24, 2010 8:32 am

Coops@DY wrote:What has been your favourite question so far, Nicky?
shearer's one about my wife's attitude to surfing, 'cause he tricked me into writing about my family.

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bumfluff
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Re: Ask Carroll

Post by bumfluff » Fri Sep 24, 2010 8:32 am

Nick Carroll wrote:
bumfluff wrote:Nick, do all the bald jokes you cop actually offend you? Be honest. Also how about those pesky jokes about your brother being famous and you "almost famous"?
No. Not offended by bald jokes. I make bald jokes about other people, so...

But I think if there was one thing I could say I've been personally hurt and bugged and rubbed the wrong way about in my whole surfing life, it would be the cheap shots taken by people at me regarding my brother. Not so much about fame or whatever, but implying that Tom's success is somehow responsible for my own surfing life and career. It's just a really particular form of rudeness and contempt, and it hurts not because I think it's even remotely true, but because it's using our brotherhood, something special that exists only between Tom and me, to devalue a lot of years of personal effort -- on both our parts.
I'll say sorry but im not taking off my glasses.

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steve shearer
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Re: Ask Carroll

Post by steve shearer » Fri Sep 24, 2010 8:55 am

Nick Carroll wrote: execute shearer
Hey, hey hey.
Your taking this a bit too serious.
You called me a freakin New Sarcastic and I didn't say "execute Carroll."

This is business, nuthin personal.
Strictly business.
I want Nightclub Dwight dead in his grave I want the nice-nice up in blazes

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matt...
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Re: Ask Carroll

Post by matt... » Fri Sep 24, 2010 9:28 am

how big is RCJ's melon?

i've seen it from about 5 metres away and it looks largely disproportionate to the rest of his body, given he's a stocky short arse.
nature is a language. can't you read?
if you spend your life looking behind you, you don't see what's up front...

Nick Carroll
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Re: Ask Carroll

Post by Nick Carroll » Fri Sep 24, 2010 11:02 am

steve shearer wrote:
Nick Carroll wrote: execute shearer
Hey, hey hey.
Your taking this a bit too serious.
You called me a freakin New Sarcastic and I didn't say "execute Carroll."

This is business, nuthin personal.
Strictly business.
well just as long as you don't come to Newport (see dinosaur's terrible experience above)

Nick Carroll
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Re: Ask Carroll

Post by Nick Carroll » Fri Sep 24, 2010 11:03 am

matt... wrote:how big is RCJ's melon?

i've seen it from about 5 metres away and it looks largely disproportionate to the rest of his body, given he's a stocky short arse.
It is fairly big, but it's nothing compared to his arse and general lower back area, which is almost wombat-like.

Nick Carroll
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Re: Ask Carroll

Post by Nick Carroll » Fri Sep 24, 2010 11:08 am

dinosaur wrote:Do you have any regrets, personal or professional?

What are they? Would you like to change them.
Regrets are I think by definition things you've done that you would like to change. Or not just "like to". Things you feel have scarred the people closest to you, that you know you'll never be able to really heal. For me my only regrets are personal and I reckon I'll not involve them here.

dinosaur wrote:When I was about 25 me and a mate who was from up the coast paddled out early at the Peak. It was pretty big and semi out of control. But a lot smoother and better when you got out there ( as the peak often is ).

We were getting a few and were the only ones out. After a while one other bloke paddled out. I t was you. So just the three of us out. Instead of hello or anything vaguely civil you avoided any eye contact and psyched us out, even snaking my mate on a bomb. We went in after a while feeling a bit deflated and my mate who had never surfed in Sydney before, said " Gee that Nick Carroll's ****"

Do you regret this ?
No. But I tell you what, if you or your mate come surfing out the Peak again and let me know you're out there, I'll give you a set wave.

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bumfluff
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Re: Ask Carroll

Post by bumfluff » Fri Sep 24, 2010 12:32 pm

Nick Carroll wrote:
bumfluff wrote:Nick, do all the bald jokes you cop actually offend you? Be honest. Also how about those pesky jokes about your brother being famous and you "almost famous"?
No. Not offended by bald jokes. I make bald jokes about other people, so...

But I think if there was one thing I could say I've been personally hurt and bugged and rubbed the wrong way about in my whole surfing life, it would be the cheap shots taken by people at me regarding my brother. Not so much about fame or whatever, but implying that Tom's success is somehow responsible for my own surfing life and career. It's just a really particular form of rudeness and contempt, and it hurts not because I think it's even remotely true, but because it's using our brotherhood, something special that exists only between Tom and me, to devalue a lot of years of personal effort -- on both our parts.
Jokes aside Nick, Ive always veiwed your achievements as your own and Im sure the overwhelming majority would as well. For someone to claim your acheivements are a by-product of Tom's success is a bit of a copout. This doesnt require a response, but is just a personal opinon.

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TMC
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Re: Ask Carroll

Post by TMC » Fri Sep 24, 2010 1:00 pm

Nick you only have 21 posts to go before you hit 6000. How do you feel about leaving realsurf?

Are you apprehensive or excited about reaching 6000?
Coops@DY wrote:Tangents is a members only, wild west style frontier. People have lost their minds, cried, threatened to kill other members in here Its great!

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crabmeat thompson
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Re: Ask Carroll

Post by crabmeat thompson » Fri Sep 24, 2010 1:02 pm

I see you steamrolling toward 6000. 21 to go.

NC, can you make your last post on October 12th 10:57 am ... I stand to win a box of viagra.
Kunji wrote:
Wed May 27, 2020 8:09 am
Would you mind throwing in a little more homoeroticism

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ajohnsen
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Re: Ask Carroll

Post by ajohnsen » Fri Sep 24, 2010 3:56 pm

There are an awful lot of talented people who don't make it in their chosen field, writers and surfers among them. For one reason or another, they're unable or unwilling to push past the difficult point where they are accepted and legitamised by their peers. (This is not to suggest that it's smooth and easy sailing from there.)

And it's not always the most talented to make it to the top. Often it's a degree of talent coupled with tenacity. What do they say, 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration?

Lance Armstrong (whom I don't include in the above group) is an incredible athlete, but without ferocious tenacity and his mother's unflagging encouragement, would he have won the Tour de France seven times?

I recently read about an American animator who, as a child, showed a strong interest in building models and creating stories and short films. His mother, I think, was a seamstress and she used to make little costumes for his models, and his father was some kind of engineer who helped him build the models. He never lost his passion for what he did and had a very successful and satisfying career.

On the hand, there are people whose success was achieved through railing against, or dealing with some negative experience - Bukowski, for one. And, without severe, chronic asthma, would Martin Scorsese have become the director that he did? I think Bruce Springsteen said that, without music, he would be in jail for murder.

I've got no idea what Kelly Slater's story is, but success is rarely achieved in a vacuum.

And then there are the people who don't make it, but have immense talent.

John Kennedy Toole committed suicide, before A Confederacy of Dunces was published, after he lost hope.

I knew a guy back in the seventies and eighties who regularly beat Cheyne Horan in club contests, but he always undermined himself when competing in bigger contests by getting stoned or pissed beforehand. He came from a difficult home - no dad, housing commission etc. and no confidence in himself. Somebody like Kobi Abberton, with a similar background, had a grandmother who loved him and gave what she could. He also had a strong crew as a kid and I imagine his identity was heavily influenced by this. My mate didn't and became an alcoholic.

So, here's my question (and contradicting myself in the face of my last post): You (and your brother) have achieved a respectable degree of success in your chosen profession. Looking back over your life, can you identify anything in particular that made you the person capable of achieving what you have, of being able to keep on going despite, I presume, many obstacles and falls? Did your parents foster natural ability? Someone else? Was it born of a need to escape anything in particular?

I don't want to put you on the spot personally, but what drives people is fascinating. And, while nature plays some small part, I believe that it's nurture (or lack thereof) that makes us who we are.

I guess it's especially pertinent for me, these days, with two kids under four.

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daisy
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Re: Ask Carroll

Post by daisy » Fri Sep 24, 2010 4:22 pm

cheers for answering my questions. i'm kind of hoping Shearer is right, but things are starting to feel pretty final. i reckon i'm not the only one who has been inspired and educated by your insights and level of honesty on here. fu(king great way to go out - thanks NC

Nick Carroll
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Re: Ask Carroll

Post by Nick Carroll » Fri Sep 24, 2010 4:36 pm

TMC wrote:Nick you only have 21 posts to go before you hit 6000. How do you feel about leaving realsurf?

Are you apprehensive or excited about reaching 6000?
I'm not feeling too much of anything about it right now. It's Friday and I've been working like a Dog.

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TMC
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Re: Ask Carroll

Post by TMC » Fri Sep 24, 2010 4:41 pm

My dog spends most of it's time sleeping in the sun. Hope your week was as relaxing as hers.
Coops@DY wrote:Tangents is a members only, wild west style frontier. People have lost their minds, cried, threatened to kill other members in here Its great!

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lessormore
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Re: Ask Carroll

Post by lessormore » Fri Sep 24, 2010 4:52 pm

Finally- the secret is out- NC has a new job waiting!
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010 ... 021335.htm
Just when you thought life couldn't get any worse-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUfKnqv2C3k

Nick Carroll
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Re: Ask Carroll

Post by Nick Carroll » Fri Sep 24, 2010 5:02 pm

ajohnsen wrote:You (and your brother) have achieved a respectable degree of success in your chosen profession. Looking back over your life, can you identify anything in particular that made you the person capable of achieving what you have, of being able to keep on going despite, I presume, many obstacles and falls? Did your parents foster natural ability? Someone else? Was it born of a need to escape anything in particular?
Hmm that's a pretty complex question yet also quite simple. I think Tom and I (and our sister) had quite a strong genetic inheritance from our parents, three of our four grandparents lived well into their nineties and mostly had a strong life force and largely positive outlook on things. My Dad is a very sensible man, intelligent and quite a sportsman in his day; he made a few choices that led directly to us living near the beach when very young, and he didn't try to influence us unduly in any direction. My Mum was a very intelligent, nervy, complex person with a highly strung emotional life; she died when we were quite young, which affected us in different ways, some predictable and some not. One way in which it similarly affected us was to foster a sort of hard, sometimes brittle self-reliance and a tendency to withdraw into the comfort of clearly focused effort; we've both used that to drive ourselves at different times, but I'm not sure if it was really much of a benefit in the longer term, at other times that tendency has been a significant drawback in both skills development and emotional development. I am certain that surfing and the ocean has absorbed a lot of sadness and negativity from both of us and given us the home we needed, especially when we were young. I think more than anything we've both been really lucky, to have fallen into things we really enjoy immensely, at almost the exact moment in history when it was possible to make 'em work, and to have known so many good people who've set us examples. I'm sort of vaguely beginning to see why a lot of cheery old people see life in very simple terms.

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bumfluff
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Re: Ask Carroll

Post by bumfluff » Fri Sep 24, 2010 5:11 pm

TMC wrote:My dog spends most of it's time sleeping in the sun. Hope your week was as relaxing as hers.
That almost bought a tear to my eye TMC.

Oh wait, it was just a bug.

Carry on.

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ajohnsen
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Re: Ask Carroll

Post by ajohnsen » Fri Sep 24, 2010 7:58 pm

Thanks for being so candid.

I was eighteen when I attended my mother's funeral. At that age, I misunderstood the laughter at the wake. I grabbed my board and snuck off. It was July and a still, grey day when I paddled out at No Man's. There was no one out, or that's my memory.

It's good like that, the ocean.

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