Wipeout
“From the Diary of a Madwoman: Excerpt #63,902”
(i.e. actual excerpts from my diary)
I got the raddest (and cheapest) How to Train Your Dragon skateboard about a month ago. Sweet wooden deck, awesome dragon griptape, lime wheels, and the coolest dragon design ever, haha.
I’ve been trying to teach myself how to skateboard over the summer, and had my first major wipeout today.
Isn’t this the sickest board ever? Not juvenile or cheap-looking at all, haha. (Photo by: Jennifer Icaro)
This is EXACTLY how I…didn’t…fall. My spill was less epic then this one, but I wouldn’t put it past me and my clumsiness to pull this insane move next. (Photo: http://www.jonco48.com/blog/skateboarder.jpeg)
I still suck at boarding, but I can cruise a couple of feet without looking like a complete idiot. Today, I went a little too fast, let the board slip out from underneath me, and landed on my ankle in a weird position. I think I might have sprained it. Ooops. No big. I’ve sprained it before when I was a kid without even noticing it. I wasn’t even aware that my ankle was swollen until my mom pointed it out about a week later. My ankle still pops to this day if I walk down the stairs. Maybe it didn’t heal properly or something. Huh.
Part of my foray into skateboarding began with inspiration from this video. Initially I wanted to longboard, but it got too expensive. How can you beat a $15 How to Train Your Dragon skateboard over a $200 Sector Nine longboard?
How can you not love this? Everything here is euphoric: the music (The Dodos=best band ever), the imagery, the stunts, the metaphoric freedom and bad-assery that boarding stands for. I want to feel the wind in my hair as I cruise along the winding, tarmaced roads. I want to do crazy scar-inducing tricks until the blood from my knees paints the sidewalk red. I want to board during sunset with rad shirtless men, haha. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rXwBmGyMRo)
I’ve been frequenting Zumiez lately to get pointers from some of the boarders there. They never fail to shower me with help and undivided attention. They’re not even mad that I never buy anything when I come in, and most of them know me by name now, haha. One time one of the guys there let me ride his board and held my hand the whole time. Another time I came in just wanting to learn how to stop properly. My methods of stopping beforehand consisted of running into brick walls and lamp-posts. One of the guys there laughed at my questionable methods and let me ride his board back and forth across the store for a whole hour until I learned how to stop properly.
I’ve only told a few people about my new foray into skateboarding because I’m tired of the “WHY?” question that follows. For instance, the first time I came in asking for help at Zumiez, I got the clichéd reaction of, “I never would’ve pinned you down as the type of girl that would want to learn how to skateboard…coming in here all pretty like that. You look too delicate to board…yada yada yada. Why skateboarding?” The guy’s stereotypical judgment that I’m not “that type” is the exact reason why I’ve always wanted to board. It’s something soooo outside my comfort zone, something that no one would ever expect me to do. A big part of me doing this is to prove people wrong. That I’m NOT just a delicate little goody two shoes who studies all day. I can be edgy and adventurous and bad to the bone, too. Kind of. Maybe. Sometimes? I dunno. Maybe a simpler reason of why I’ve always wanted to learn is because it’s the coolest thing ever.
It’s been nearly two months and I have barely made any progress. Maybe it’s because I never have time to practice. Orrrrrr, maybe it’s because I’m the biggest klutz ever. At the rate I’m going, I’ll never be able to skate like a pro until I’m seventy years old. That’s okay; I’ll keep at it.
Can you believe I took this at midnight? I board at night so no one can see me do my awesome face plants. (Photo by: Me)
Yeah, baby. Me in fifty years. Once a boarder, always a boarder. (Photo: http://www.nerdtests.com/picsarea/39d2c2f029d389a5dd393df90f6711c7.jpg)
