Learning to ride, riding to learn

From approx. 1985 to 1994 I was skateboarding every single day. In fact, I barely remember being in high school, I mean, I was certainly there, attending classes every day, taking the required tests, and enduring the fucked-up social order of that climate. I did okay in school, I even went on to get a college degree (but my mindstate was vastly different in college as opposed to when I was in high school).

During the high school days I only thought about one thing: skateboarding. It saved me, really. Where would I be without it? It provided a physical activity, and ultimately gave me confidence in not one, but numerous areas of my life. Sure, all of the standard anti-skateboarding fuckwads were present back then; the jocks, hicks, mini truckers, etc...but none of that mattered because as soon as school let out at 3:30, I was rolling around till 8:00 every night. And the weekends were entire days spent skating around town, meeting up with friends and sessioning every conceivable spot that was not a bust. Ironic how on the weekends we would usually break into school yards to skate, as opposed to during the week when we were always looking for a way out. Come Monday morning there was not a trace of our presence, say for a few grind marks on a nearby bench or ledge.

These were the youthful days of zero responsibility and carefree venturing. A time precious and treasured. They can only now be accessed in the old memory banks of my mind. But I'm trying to skate again, it's just too much fun. I'm old yet not broken. I can still roll, and it seems with the coming of warmer days, the best thing to do is to get out and skateboard. Soon, I will be gone, not "dead and gone" but moved on from California. More on this later. Anyway, wherever I go I will have a skateboard nearby. I might not be carrying it with me, but rest assured, when I get the itch to roll around, I'll know that my salvation is not too far away. Long live the days of the useless wooden toy.