Easing Up

It has probably been two straight weeks, maybe even longer, since I have touched my own skateboard. I need to go out and skate to relieve all this tension. All this tension is coming from these end of the year assignments that I fear I might not be able to complete. I always stress out, but end up doing good in the end. The stress is what pushes me to do such a great job. I need the stress. Without it, I will crumble down into a worthless slacker. I am starting to miss out a lot on friends and such because of doing these projects. I have not had a session ever since two Fridays ago. But, this will all be over soon, and it will be summer. I will finally be able to hang out and play with my friends for hours without having to worry about school or grades for at least another two months.

I plan to put this summer to good use. Last summer, my friends and I had progressed our skateboarding by a lot. One of them started landing 360 flips, the other got dolphin flips, and I finally got stylish pop shuvits every try, landing them on the bolts of the skateboard ("proper form"). It is a shame that I am taking a break from skateboarding because I had just landed two kickflips of mild height, on the bolts (proper form), within a month. I was so happy because I only landed one a year ago, and lost hope after that, until now. I can finally feel the trick within my grasp. I want to be able to do them consistently.

What makes me even happier, is that I did the better looking and feeling kickflip under pressure. It happened two or three weeks ago. I was with a couple of friends at one of their houses. His house is pretty cool because he has a long driveway and his parents allow him to build many "skate-able" objects. One of them we were using a lot. It was a nine of ten foot long movable manual pad that was approximately mid shin height. Some of us were playing a game of L.I.N.E. This is some sort of complex game that we heard of on the Berrics. Well, I was losing, and my friend set the trick by doing a kickflip and after that manualed the ten foot pad. I was pissed at the time because I knew that I did not have kickflips. I had proper rotation, catch, and height (knee high sometimes), but my front foot just never stayed on. I watched my other friends go and do their attempts, but none of them were able to copy, so they received their letters. Then, it was finally my turn, I did my first try, did not get the proper flick, so the board spun wrong and I did not land it. The second time was the charm. I caught and landed it. I looked back at my friends and they were screaming with joy, but I remembered that I had to keep going and do the manual pad. I thought that I was not, going to make it, but I told myself that I will not let anything get in the way of this moment. So I ollied lifted up the front end of the board bracing myself for the back wheel impact. I felt total concentration flow throughout my body. And finally, just as briefly as it had started, the manual was over, and I was rolling away, back to my friends to celebrate my accomplishment.

San Francisco

San Francisco is a pretty darn famous place. It has become a famous tourist attraction to travel to due to its Golden Gate Bridge. People might possibly even consider it to be the “New York of the West Coast.” Not only that, but apparently the steep hills and the skate spots have made it a pretty darn popular city to skateboard in. The place is full of numerous local skate shops and many amateur and professional skaters.

My friends and I traveled over to San Francisco this weekend for a little “skate trip.” They have been doing this for a while, but it was my first time there in the city (without any parents). Now, being from a different city, we did not know too much of the rules about where to and where not to skate. It was a shame. There were so many beautiful stair sets and ledges. Some were way too big for our skill level, so we skipped them. Others, we made good time with. The major problem is that we kept getting kicked out of these public areas over and over. Even when we were leaving to go find somewhere “appropriate” to go to, we were getting yelled at by police. We were not aware of the fact that we could not skate on the sidewalks (while going from place to place). That is just stupid. We saw people bicycling way faster than we were going down the sidewalk. They might as well just make skateboarding illegal in the whole city of San Francisco. But, that would be even more stupid. Making pieces of wood with wheels on illegal. The government should go and make more efficient laws. Maybe even some that involve keeping a closer eye on drunk drivers.

The skateboarders over there are so good. They range in skill level, age, and race. Over there, we visited the local skate shop DLXSF. My brother and my friends bought some parts and clothes over there. They use their "recycling system" by purchasing used parts for only five bucks. I was surprised to find out that some of the used stuff was still in pretty good condition. We met some people that ride for (sponsored by) another local shop called FTC (For the City). They were really good. We were lucky enough to have a session with them. One of them only had a small cruiser board with large wheels and was doing tre flips on it and frontsiding up the four stair. Even though they were all amazingly good, the best part was their attitudes. The guys were so good, but were impressed and cheered for one of my friends when he did a huge kickflip on the four stair and landed it bolts. They were all very positive and loved to joke around. It made me realize what skateboarding is all about. Just to have fun and be with friends. Even though people get really good at skating, it will always be the same. Another activity that brings people and friends together to have fun.

Mucho Passion

At school I am usually stereotyped as the "good grade" child. I guess that this is true. People normally tend to get surprised when they find out that I skateboard. Probably because they never see me carrying a board to school. And, it may have to do with the fact that I use to think that I sucked (terribly) at skating. But now, I do not have much of a problem with what other people think about me skateboarding. I have some really good skateboarding friends at school (maybe even some of the best at the school) and they tell me that I am actually a pretty good skater. That gave me a confidence boost and makes me realize why I do it anyways. Its because I love it so much. Some people just do not understand why these "kids" and adults throw away their future to "push a piece of wood." It just brings so much bliss to us who enjoy it. I am not saying that I am trying to get a future in the skateboarding industry (although some of my friends have a fighting chance at getting sponsored), but I skate because it is an activity that relieves me of all my stress and allows me to have wit my friends.

Just this past Friday I landed so many tricks that I thought were extremely difficult and I may never have a chance at landing. Other than that, I really liked just being around my brother and his friends because of all their positive attitudes. His friends are getting close, if not have reached, the skill level my brother and I are at. They (including my brother) are all two grades bellow me. Just seeing them doing some of their tricks makes me wish that I had began as early as they did. I started learning how to do tricks in the eighth grade (but knew how to ride a board before that). They probably started around seventh grade. The tricks that the majority have now are some I did not get for a year. Others have tricks that I may never land. But, thats another reason that I love skateboarding. Everyone has their own "bag" of tricks and individual style. It is just purely fascinating.

Well, back to last Friday. I landed some serious tricks and I landed some silly tricks that I simply put together that suited the surrounding. We went to a local public park that had a little wave/wedge good for skating. My brother told me that one of his friends just learned a few tricks last weekend that I wanted to land involving that concrete wave. I had been working on them before (not seriously) but always ended up falling because I lacked the ability of shifting my weight to the slope of the wave. Strangely, the trick that I had been going for (for all you fellow skaters out there it was a rock fakie) I landed it on my first attempt. Then on all tries after that I landed it. I was so happy. That I decided to go for other stuff too. I went to the waxed ledge to the side of the wave (the people at the park don't get mad at us for using it because it is not a part of any of the nearby buildings). By just fooling around I landed two frontside feeble grinds. And this is only one week after learning how to grind. Hopefully, I can continue my passion for recreational skateboarding (I don't have a big dream of getting sponsored and going professional) and get better over time. Well, at least for a few more years. Before my parents tell me to grow up and get a job. So, I will enjoy whatever is left of my youth while I can.

PARTAY!!! (Yes, I know that I misspelled it)

This previous weekend, my friend had a really fun birthday party. The whole day was dedicated to just relaxing and doing whatever we could to stay entertained in a stress free environment. Instead of talking about the bad things that happened, I will just talk about everything good. The good things that happened made my weekend worth it. I am going to start out the day before the party. I didn't get to make the cake batter and bake it, but I got to prepare it by choosing and putting on the frosting. I am a unique person that has a very strange taste in food. It was a good thing that the birthday boy had a unique taste in food too, so he wanted his cake to be a surprise. Because the cake was already baked (it was the yellow batter kind), I had to make the frosting stand out the most. I decided to go with mixed peanut butter and jelly, and nutella (a hazelnut and chocolate mixed spread). Too my amazement, everybody loved the two cakes.

Other than the great food, the activities were what also made that day great. As I said before, I will not talk about the worst events of the day, such as the tennis court incidents, and our first game of "Sandman." The highlights of the day were the tournament of the games of skate (a game of horse played by using skateboards), and the games of "Sandman" that we had played at night on the play structure (after all of the little kids that unfortunately can get injured from us older children had all left). In the tournament, I actually wanted to win for once. I usually never take them seriously, but this time I wanted to prove myself. I beat my brother in the first round. It was an intense game. I cheeped out on a semi-easy trick and won. The next round was a three-way final. It was me against the birthday boy and a cool other guy that we had just met in a free-for all match. I was the first one to go, but I was able to give the two of them a letter each. In the end, the birthday boy had won. To end my day, we played sandman until my mom arrived to give my brother and I a ride home.