I went to the skatepark today. It's right up the street from me, if I stood on the top of my little duplex house, I could probably see all the anxious little skaters wanting to do this or that, and asking people like me what kind of board I ride, what rating my bearings are, what's the hardest trick I can do and whatever else I don't have the answers too. My muscles are all tight like rope from not streching and being lazy.
Yesterday was New Years Eve and that day saw me standing on the 16th street mall as the fireworks display surrounded me like a pack of exasperating fans wanting my autograph since I was famous and everyone wanted to touch me. I've never seen fireworks lit off from so many different places, on a park, on the top of a bell tower, around the buildings above me. Amazing. Seemed like a colorful war was being raged in the sky above meand I was just caught in the middle.
The skatepark is so close I just have to skate there. Its a bit downhill too, so I don't even have to try too hard. If I get there early, the only people there are people like me, somewhat older (yes, at 19 I am the older skater) and ditching work to skate. I had on an old rusty pair of jeans that were too big even with a 34 waist, a strange running undershirt made of blue itchy material that keeps you warm, a shirt over that, a weird polo style shirt I stole from the floor after a Misfits/Murphy's Law show in Denver and over that a black hoody you can sip on the front that everyone seems to have. Mine's actually my girfriend's, but it might as well be mine, I haven't washed it for weeks and its infused with a recognizable smell.
I take long skateboarding to realize just how large my pants were. They kept sliping down past my ass and screwed up my tricks. The one time I don't wear a belt ... I decided to tuck all my shirts in to get some bulk under my belly and look all dorky, the hoody is off since skating makes you hot and hoodies are heavy and get in the way.
I am the dork of skateboarding.
I haven't been feeling too well recently, but today I was thirsty to learn new things. I don't have a gift for skating but I find it virally fun to do. Like Legos, you start with a simple piece and build from there. If I can a trick on the ground, I could probably do it on a small incline, if I can do it on the incline, I could probably do it on a small quarter pipe, if its possible on that, why not a huge bowl? There's no finishing learning the basic movements, just a path that keeps going beyond the mountains and horizon.
The transitions of a skatepark are like maping out gravitational forces, its magic to see someone move without the use of an enginem just pumping theoir bodies, gaining momentum on anything that's not flat.
