This is kind of how Christmas Feels to me anymore. Like a shitty hold up. Haven't posted on here in a while, been busy to say the least. Too many things going on at once, and While I tend to do pretty well in the midst of chaos, well, it's been crazy lately. Between work, recording, getting ready for the holidays. Fuck. I haven't been on my skateboard in a solid 14 days. That's the longest I've been away from it all year. Now that winters here I know there be some weeks here and there without it, but it's been other things keeping me off it lately, the weather, though a bit cold here and there, and raining, really hasn't been too terrible yet.
I remember being about 12, when I got my first real, brand new skateboard. Like any kid in the late 80's, I loved Powell Peralta, and my first board was a skull and sword, with ventures and two black, two pink bones wheels. Still one of my favorite Christmas presents of all time. I have some pretty cheesy photos somewhere of me posing with it. I remember it had snowed that Christmas, and I only got to skate it out in front of the house on the 10 foot long sidewalk where my pop had cleared the snow. My friend Mike had also got a new board, he got a Powell ripper the same year. We both pined so hard to actually go skating, it sucked. I remember, about a week after Christmas it warmed up a little, like above freezing anyway, and the snow had melted away, well most of it anyway. We bundled up and hit the streets. I remember it being dark, and us being bundled up like retards. Big huge coats, gloves, sock caps, and pushing down the empty streets. They were covered in chat, and it was a little hard to push, but we went for it anyway. I had a hand me down from these guys that skated before I got that board, but I had shitty trucks and wheels, this was my first real complete. It was like a whole new world had opened up. I was cold, I could feel the wind chapping my face, and I didn't care. We dodged snow banks, pushed through the sand, and ollied icy patches that had refroze. That was probably my best Christmas ever. I had other really great Christmas gifts through the years, my first real guitar comes to mind as a close second. But no other Christmas comes close to the joy of that one. Of being young, and having that freedom. Here's to all the kids who will push for the first time this Christmas, to all the kids who will learn to ollie, and bomb a hill for the first time in the coming weeks. The ones that get it, that fall in love with something that is both unexplainable, and represents freedom. All the kids who get to experience that feeling, with the cold wind burning their cheeks, taking that first hard spill, numb, cold, and happier than shit about it. I was always proud of my bumps, scrapes, bruises, gashes and various bloody spots that arouse from the endless hours I spent on my board. In over 20 years it's never failed to give me enjoyment. Even when I was older, and too cool for a Powell board, and pissed cause I couldn't land some stupid trick, there are few things that can really make you feel like you're 12 again. Skateboarding is still the best Christmas present ever, and it's still one of the coolest things on the face of this whole stupid planet. Merry Christmas everyone, and a special Merry Christmas to all those kids who in a few short hours will be stepping on a board for the first time.
