Shaped Decks

If you've been following skateboarding recently, you'll know that shaped decks have made a comeback. The dominant popsicle shaped deck that has been around since probably the early 90's has some competition and I have first hand experience with one.

Since first finding out about Welcome Skateboards, I have been interested in the return of shaped skateboards. I watched videos of the Welcome team straight killing it with their own unique style and was amazed. I still rode a popsicle board until it became unridable and my friend hooked me up with a Welcome skateboard.

Through first seeing it, I thought it would be hard to ride. First of all it being a 9.5 incher (width) and I was used to riding 8.4, 8.5 boards, but once I got on it, it felt perfect. All the extra room on the board for my feet felt great. The squared out tail and small nose didn't actually affect my tricks that much at all. I kickflipped on it second try. That's about it for flip tricks. I can't really do nollie flips or tre flips these days anyways; too much effort.

Since starting skateboarding, I had a 7.5 inch, 7.75 inch, 8 inch, 8.25 inch, 8.38 inch, 8.4 inch, and 8.5 inch, and now this 9.5 inch. I have never regretted getting a bigger board size, and this shaped Welcome deck is of no exception. The shape may throw some people off, but it is essentially a normal board, just a bit bigger.

I thought it would be hard to skate one of these, but it is really easy. I could still do all my transition tricks in the bowl and mini at Bay. I think the change of pace from skating the same old thing is what does it for me. It just feels fun to ride. I highly recommend getting one. The only thing about this set up is that I am using the same trucks. Trucks should generally be about as wide as the board is. I have just been lazy about getting larger trucks mainly because I am happy with how these ride. Eventually I am sure I will get some larger ones, but these ain't broke so there's really no reason to fix them.

Anyways, go out and get a bigger board, you won't regret it!

Skateboarding Ruined My Life

Skateboarding ruined my life. I read all these articles about how skateboarding saved people's lives because it kept them out of trouble from the rough neighborhood they lived in. 

For me, I lived in a pretty decent neighborhood growing up. It got pretty bad in later years so we moved out, but I always stuck with my friends and I never really saw the decline of the neighborhood that well. 

As far as skateboarding goes, it completely took over my life. It became a fixation. All I would do is think about skateboarding. I would read about skateboarding in skateboarding magazines. I would watch videos of skateboarding, over and over again. I would search skateboarding on the internet until I eventually began to make my own skateboarding videos. 

It's not all bad though. Those skateboarding videos that I would watch introduced me to new types of music and songs that I would probably have never heard had it not been for these videos. 

You could say skateboarding kept me out of trouble, but I was never really one to get in to trouble. I'm not saying I was a saint, but I was at least smart enough to not get caught. Sure, we'd run into administrators when we skated Trickum and get the cops called on us if we were street skating. We'd either run away or just get told not to skate here anymore. 

And growing up we didn't listen to punk rock. I had never even heard of it till probably some time in high school. We grew up listening to rap. Crunk rap from the ATL. We'd listen to Lil Jon and Dem Franchize Boyz. 

Lil' Jon and the East Side Boyz - Throw It Up, Youngbloodz - Presidential

I now realize that that music mostly sucks, except for a few classic tunes, but it was also probably the reason why I skated so slow. I looked up to the early 90's skaters and their style throughout high school. They all had tiny wheels and got mad technical on curbs. 

I gave up technical skills for speed. I used to be the manny pad king, now I just want to ride down hills and get my transition skills up. 

Maybe "ruined" isn't the best way to describe what skateboarding has done to me. It has made me who I am today and like an addict, I can't live without it. 

If you have free time go look up "Antiheroes Anonymous" on youtube. Antihero did a skit mimicking AA and replaced alcohol with skateboarding. It is genius. 

I can't really say skateboarding is a problem though. It is a healthy activity that promotes creative thinking, and athletic ability. 

How It Works If you want what we have to offer, and are willing to make the effort to get it, then you are ready to take certain steps. These are the principles that made our recovery possible: 

1. We admitted that we were powerless over our addiction, that our lives had become unmanageable. 2. We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. 

3. We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. 

4. We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. 

5. We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. 

6. We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. 

7. We humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings. 

8. We made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all. 

9. We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. 

10. We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. 

11. We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. 

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Doing Nothing

Doing nothing is a great activity. Doing nothing can help you think about what you need to do. I don't recommend doing nothing all the time, just from time to time. You can think of doing nothing as a time for reflection. I'm not talking about sitting in front of the TV with a beer, I'm talking about sitting in a quiet room and just thinking. Nothing to distract you. A book might be ok, but we're here for some thinking time. Time to plan for the future. You can play some music or go for a walk. That might be ok. 

There is only a certain amount of stuff you can do before you need time to rest. Learning to just be is the key. Find happiness in nothing. Let your mind take you places you've never been. Daydream about driving that sports car or that cute girl you've been talking to. If you can activate your imagination strong enough, you can manifest those thoughts into something real. Learn to forget your troubles, they probably don't exist anyways. Are you in debt? Well, just think about how much money the government owes. Way more than you. 

If you don't have a job, make the most of your free time. If you have a job, be thankful you're making money. Sit there and think about what you should really do. Stare at the wall until you notice all the different colors in that white paint. It may take some time, but when you have that epiphany, get busy!

Find a way to make it happen and don't be scared of change. Whether it's skateboarding, shopping, or going for a road trip, branch out. 

Do nothing if all you do is something; Do something if all you do is nothing.