Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Me

That's right. I'm next in the line up. First off, to answer Zak's question, I head out of town on Wednesday, July 31. I've got one week left. We need to skate more before I leave... So my part. I'm going to say it at the very beginning, just to get it off my chest. I'm very happy with my part. I haven't been this pleased with my own video part since the first Bolts of Thunder video. Not that I don't like my other parts or wasn't happy with them, but I feel that I pushed myself for this part harder than I pushed myself for the other videos. Bolts of Thunder Gone Wild has a few tricks that I really wanted to get, like the 5050 on the hospital hubba. And I really like the Paris and Geneva footage. But I kind of got tired of filming for the second and third videos and didn't push myself too hard. Especially the third video. So this video was my comeback part in my mind. That's kind of how I felt about it, at least.

I'm not sure what it was. It could have been the massive amounts of olive oil I consumed in Italy. Or... well, no, there was nothing else. Yeah, It must have been the olive oil. So the olive oil breathed new life into me, and I caught a second wind. It's actually more like a 3rd wind, because I had given up on making videos even before Bolts of Thunder was on its way, but I decided to make the video as a final hurrah to filming and ended up making three more videos after. So for this video I really wanted to go out and film tricks. I didn't have a lot of tricks that I really wanted to get, but I just wanted to get stuff. So most of my part is full of tricks that I wasn't planning on getting, but I ended up getting on the fly when we were at the spot. Other people had spots they wanted to skate, an I got a trick while we happened to be there. That's the bulk of my part.

There is one  trick that I've been wanting to film for the last 6 years, and I finally got it. It's the grind down the hubba at the end of my part. That hubba is perfect size to skate, but it has no runway, landing, and is made of stucco. It has never been skated before, so the thing doesn't grind. I've gone there for every video we've made and have made feeble threats of skating it, none of which ever materialized. It is the one trick that I have always wanted to get and has eluded me until now. My Moby Dick, if you will. The white whale, the white devil, the one that bit my hand off and has consumed my life. All those would be suitable titles for the ledge. So what was different about this year? Motivation plus creativity. The first two videos I had the motivation, just not the creativity. The third video I had creativity, not motivation. This year I added them all together and got the trick. I had to open the door to this office building, run through the hall, jump on my board and ollie onto the ledge a split second later then land on a piece of wood before I slid into the grass. It was a quick trick. It honestly is one of the hardest obstacles I've ever skated because of its set up and because I had to wax it over and over in order to make it grind. I wanted to give up after a little bit, but I knew it was my final chance to get it. It took me over an hour of jumping down it to finally get it to grind and to ride away from it. But I got it, and I haven't been that happy about a trick in a really long time.

That was the only trick I can think of that I really wanted to get and got. All the others I didn't get, and I really don't mind all that much. I could have just had the 5050 on the hubba, and I would have been happy.

It's kind of strange when I think that I'm going to be 29 in a couple of months, and I was still able to go out and film a part of tricks that I haven't done before or that I've really wanted to get. I'm glad that I can still flip my board around and that I've got it in my legs. Seeing as this might be the last video we do for a little while, I really put all I had into it, which might not be a ton compared to other people, but it was a personal triumph on my part, and I'm really proud of my part.

I like my songs, too. Pink Floyd, Blonde Redhead, and Ennio Morricone. You can't go wrong with either one, and especially not when you combine them.

Thanks, AJ, Zak, Kenzo, and Rachel for filming my part!

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