Belgand

Gah… 25 now and I’m just getting into it. I wanted to learn back when I was a kid in the 80s, but cheap, crappy boards honestly keep you from enjoying yourself and I never managed to learn anything more complicated than standing and moving forward. That, plus nobody I knew skated and I didn’t really have any idea how to learn anything more complicated.

Fast-forward to the present and now I’ve decided to actually learn and put some serious effort and practice in. Of course, it seems that everyone learning to skate anymore learns when they’re a little kid or into their early teens. Who’d think that a couple years out of college and I’d start feeling seriously old?

Picked up my first deck yesterday. Not spending too much, but I got a basic, blank deck at a local shop and spending my time trying to find someplace to actually practice. Living in San Francisco there isn’t exactly a lot of flat, empty pavement where I won’t have to worry about running into people or cars (and hopefully being that guy in his mid-twenties who obviously can’t skate and keeps falling off his board while just trying to ride the damn thing). But I’ve been able to get some basics inside on the kitchen tile and now I’m slightly less worried about the slight hill outside my apartment.

Not so bad so far, I think I’m getting the hang back in actually staying on, working on learning to footbreak (without putting too much weight in the wrong spot and throwing the board out in front of me) and very basic kickturns. Only fell completely on my ass once so far. Hopefully I’ll be well on my way shortly.

We’d only been dating for about two weeks and she was leaving town for the next three. It was early June and at the end of the summer I was leaving to go back to college 120 miles away while she would be staying for the next year. Our last night together we went over to a friend’s house to watch a movie… a transparent excuse to make something to do so we could see each other again. When she had to go home I walked her out to her car. It was warm out and lightly raining. Before she got in we had a passionate farewell kiss as the rain fell on us both. Almost six years later we’re still together.

This was sickeningly romantic. In reality though, while romantic, it was unpleasant. It was wet and every moment I was outside I was just getting wetter. I was wearing sandals and shorts since it was summer so even my feet were getting soaked. The rain ran into your face and you couldn’t entirely tell what you were doing or really feel all the much because although it was warm with that much rain it made things a bit cold and you got rain in your mouth.

So yeah, it seems far more romantic than it actually is. Skip it.