from '94 'til infinity
*please note that the word 'skateboarding' can, and should, be used completely interchangeably with either 'snowboarding' or 'skiing,' and the article will still read the exact same - content and sentiment both.
thanks to g, i watched 'hot chocolate' (the Chocolate Skateboards video) tonight when i got home; in part because i had naught else to do; in part because i miss skateboarding. more specifically, i miss skateboarding with my friends. skating has a lot to do with rolling around on a skateboard. it has a lot to do with learning new tricks and progressing; with pushing yourself until your hands, feet, shins, knees, elbows, and just about anything else you can name are swollen, black, and blue; or scraped, red, and raw. it has a lot to do with wanting to look cool, both on and off a skateboard. it has a lot to do with having the newest and dopest shoes, pants, shirt, hat, jacket, wheels, trucks, deck, backpack, sticker on you mom's minivan, blah, blah, blah.
the most important thing about skateboarding, though, in my experience, is the friends that you do it with. landing your first [kickflip, 5-stair, boardslide, insertgenerictrickhere] is something in itself. but sharing it with your best friends is what makes it truly memorable. i can't recall half of the tricks that i might have landed at any given spot, or any given trip, but i can remember the jokes that were made, the stories that were told, and the people that were there. skateboarding is about being together.
as much as team sports create great memories and experiences to be treasured, it seems to me that skateboarding does the same in even greater capacity. you're there with those people - day in and day out - because you want to be. you're not put on a team with them based on skill or geographic location. you're not there to get a scholarship to university, or to win the national championships. there are no national championships in skateboarding. not real skateboarding anyway. your 'teammates' are your best friends. there's a lot to be said for that. in a lot of unique ways things are more intense, more involved, more emotional, more memorable. it really makes all the difference in the world.
as much as skateboarders are seen as punks, rebels, or degenerates, the skateboarders i know are as sensitive, thoughtful, and emotional as your most indie of indie rockers. skateboarding runs deep. it's a way of life. it changes the way you look at the world, figuratively and literally. skateboarders can't walk down the street without scouring everything they see for possible skate spots. everyone who skateboards is a kid in that respect: your imagination is almost constantly running, scrutinizing handrails, ledges, sets of stairs. "what trick can i do here?" "man, could you roll up to that rail?" aw, shit, wouldn't it be sick if you ollied up to that part, gapped to that part and then 5-0ed that last bit?" "dude, could you back-tail that ledge?" "fo'real? back-tail kickflip fakie?" i've never done a back-tail kickflip fakie in my life, nor even attempted it, but i've thought about it a million times. how it would look. how you could shoot it. where you'd set up the lamp to light it at night. how it would look in slow motion. what song would be perfect for it on video. how sick it would be to be there when someone finally lands it. how great it is to just be there anyway - tired, sore, drenched in sweat, hungry - sitting on a ledge with your best friends, sharing the moment. watching videos. reading magazines. talking shit about pros who'd school your ass in 5 tricks in a game of S-K-A-T-E. the list is endless.
it's not to say that other things can't be the same way, but for me skateboarding was different. there's just nothing else like it, and that had everything to do with my friends.
so, thanks, to the VBC.
without you guys this me just wouldn't be.
one,
jh..
thanks to g, i watched 'hot chocolate' (the Chocolate Skateboards video) tonight when i got home; in part because i had naught else to do; in part because i miss skateboarding. more specifically, i miss skateboarding with my friends. skating has a lot to do with rolling around on a skateboard. it has a lot to do with learning new tricks and progressing; with pushing yourself until your hands, feet, shins, knees, elbows, and just about anything else you can name are swollen, black, and blue; or scraped, red, and raw. it has a lot to do with wanting to look cool, both on and off a skateboard. it has a lot to do with having the newest and dopest shoes, pants, shirt, hat, jacket, wheels, trucks, deck, backpack, sticker on you mom's minivan, blah, blah, blah.
the most important thing about skateboarding, though, in my experience, is the friends that you do it with. landing your first [kickflip, 5-stair, boardslide, insertgenerictrickhere] is something in itself. but sharing it with your best friends is what makes it truly memorable. i can't recall half of the tricks that i might have landed at any given spot, or any given trip, but i can remember the jokes that were made, the stories that were told, and the people that were there. skateboarding is about being together.
as much as team sports create great memories and experiences to be treasured, it seems to me that skateboarding does the same in even greater capacity. you're there with those people - day in and day out - because you want to be. you're not put on a team with them based on skill or geographic location. you're not there to get a scholarship to university, or to win the national championships. there are no national championships in skateboarding. not real skateboarding anyway. your 'teammates' are your best friends. there's a lot to be said for that. in a lot of unique ways things are more intense, more involved, more emotional, more memorable. it really makes all the difference in the world.
as much as skateboarders are seen as punks, rebels, or degenerates, the skateboarders i know are as sensitive, thoughtful, and emotional as your most indie of indie rockers. skateboarding runs deep. it's a way of life. it changes the way you look at the world, figuratively and literally. skateboarders can't walk down the street without scouring everything they see for possible skate spots. everyone who skateboards is a kid in that respect: your imagination is almost constantly running, scrutinizing handrails, ledges, sets of stairs. "what trick can i do here?" "man, could you roll up to that rail?" aw, shit, wouldn't it be sick if you ollied up to that part, gapped to that part and then 5-0ed that last bit?" "dude, could you back-tail that ledge?" "fo'real? back-tail kickflip fakie?" i've never done a back-tail kickflip fakie in my life, nor even attempted it, but i've thought about it a million times. how it would look. how you could shoot it. where you'd set up the lamp to light it at night. how it would look in slow motion. what song would be perfect for it on video. how sick it would be to be there when someone finally lands it. how great it is to just be there anyway - tired, sore, drenched in sweat, hungry - sitting on a ledge with your best friends, sharing the moment. watching videos. reading magazines. talking shit about pros who'd school your ass in 5 tricks in a game of S-K-A-T-E. the list is endless.
it's not to say that other things can't be the same way, but for me skateboarding was different. there's just nothing else like it, and that had everything to do with my friends.
so, thanks, to the VBC.
without you guys this me just wouldn't be.
one,
jh..
.
.
1 Comments:
whatup, j, hope your track meet came off well; made the pit 'n shit, s'all good. fucked right up, but i am no longer here. when you read this, i don't know where i am -- call it the ether. so good to read this post, even just to see that photo again. so, so many things i'd never have done without you guys, and will never do again. not because i'm moving, or because times change irreparably, but simply because there can only really be one time in your life when you're slinging snowballs at cars off the steps of mcmahon stadium; blow-torching through a steel chain at the side of the road, trying to steal a funbox; falling OFF a chainlink fence, trying to outrun a security guard. that shit just doesn't happen if you don't make it so, and we did. pity the criminally unlucky who never figure out that they don't need a fucking niche, however they pronounce it. you just can't say enough about backyard picnic tables, hand augers and frozen soil, megahorns and gang signs. you can't say enough about your friends, and you shouldn't stop trying. saying goodbye to everyone tonight, i realized that i do have a life here, here in bloody edmonton, and that there are people who care about me, and who i love, really, without ever having thought about it. you can't walk around continually awed, but pay attention, because we all sleep and slip and forget why we're here, forget the past. the 22nd letter, always and forever. anyway j, peace, good lookin'. vbc out.
g.
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