Goals? Regaining enough strength to drive. Becoming a great cook. Playing quad ping-pong. Marriage. Kids. His idea of a good time? "Cloning myself. (Makes a sheep sound.) So I could have someone else out there surfing."

Jesse's pretty relaxed about his future. "I'm not really a worried guy," he says. But not all changes resolve easily.

Everything is not perfect." he says. "The problem I have is with independence. What I've got now is freedom of speech and freedom of choice, and I need that space to be a happy person. If someone takes those freedoms away, it can change your heart from a big smile to a big frown."

What threatens his freedoms? "Somebody not listening to me, or not trusting what I say." Does that happen now? "Yeah. A lot of my best friends when I did surf don't really talk to me anymore. It's kind of hard. You've been friends for so long, and then it's like if they see you, they're cool, but no way do they go out of their way to call you."

Jesse isn't eager to abandon the surfing scene, and he hasn't. "I know a lot of the pro surfers and I'd like to put a surf movie together," he says. "I just want to be part of the surfing industry. If I can't surf I'll film it."

He's part of the industry now. He flies the flag for Billabong and Von Dutch, both clothing companies, and Arnette sunglasses and Reef Brazil shoes. They've continued to sponsor him since his injury.

Whatever the future brings, Jesse says, it won't be entirely new. "I've already lived a life. This is my second life, you know? Before I got injured, I traveled around the world surfing. I basically was living on my own. Now it's like re-teaching myself, but I already know the road."

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