Skatepunk

Today would be my Mom's 83rd birthday... rest in peace, Mom! July 9, 1926... and she passed away in 2005. This is me and Mom is 1976.

Well, since I got this site going a while back I spent a lot of time updating and posting pictures, etc... but then life took over once again, I got busy doing other stuff, specifically work and playing music for a while, and snowboarding a lot. And then getting all the stuff together to get married, although I must add that Claudine did do most of the heavy lifting. I'm a pretty lucky guy. Or very lucky, actually. I love second chances and will make the most of this one.

In this context it matters only to skaters who learned to hate going to certain European countries for contests and demos over the last 8 years, but I recently saw these stats and thought they were pretty interesting. In the good ol' USA, 18.7% of people age 15 and older smoke once a day... about 1 in 5. And after going on tour throughout Europe over the last 15 years, I would've guessed that 1 of every 2 kids in the SkateHalls was coughing one up as they skated, or as we skated...

As I was moving a bunch of the blogs from 2003 from the old site to this one I came across this link to Georgetown University's US History Reference Microfilm Library. It's got tons of great information on the last 50 years of political policy as set by the US government. There's a lot to wade thru, and it must be examined for what it is, but it is definitely worth reading.

So it's probably not as big of a deal outside of California, but a couple days ago a small majority of voters -- 52% or so -- voted to take away the rights of people and make it part of the state Constitution. First time it's been done. They voted to take away the right for gay people to get married. Proposition 8 did not grant or give anything to anyone, it was aimed solely at removing that right from that group. That's bad enough, but the way they did was so lame it's hard for me not freak out when I think about it.

So on this evening of historic proportions in the good ol' US of A, I'm blessed to be able to write once again on what is now called a blog. My friend Mike has been working on a redesign for the site for a few months now, and I'm stoked to have a modern version of my little online 'zine. I can work on it and put up photos and write stuff and put up music and it's way, way better than the one I first did in 1996 that I "hammered out code" for.

How can it be December already? Man, it's going by fast...

The list below came from my friend Justin Pearson. Funny, and sadly, truer than we want to think.

40 Last Minute Things to Do Before the 2nd Coronation of King George II

1. Watch PBS or listen to NPR just one last time.
2. Drink a nice clean glass of water.
3. Cash your Social Security check.
4. See a doctor of your own choosing.
5. Spend quality time with your draft age child/grandchild.
6. Visit Syria -- or any foreign country, for that matter.
7. Get that gas mask you've been thinking about.
8. Hoard some gasoline.

Perfect:

Here's a definitely interesting story... was the whole thing rigged, again?

Ever wonder about just how smart those Bush Voters are? This is a slippery slope, claiming that IQ is linked to how we vote, but hey, it's just the facts. I think the more interesting chart would tell us the share of voters in each state who claim that they are "very religious, in a Christian-based religion" or something like that. I bet the parallels would be the same.

Eminem's new video Shut up until you see and then you'll know why I put up a link to it.

Thanks to friends for editing help. And for the few kind letters I got this morning. It's cool, I've just accepted that October is a time I need to be around friends a little more than the rest of the year...

An old dear friend of mine read the front page of this site this week and then emailed, asking why I wrote stuff on the cover then didn't continue the thought or deliver on the promise inside...A lot of times, it's not the intention, but rather the result of ambitious blurbing. Anyway, it's possible I may be on the verge of a change in direction, professionally, but I can't write about it just yet... as I can, I will...

I got this funny Florida map thing sent to me today. It's funny, and coincidental, huh?

What does being a skateboarder mean to you? Does it mean the same thing to the new, current generation of kids who grow up skateboarding? I don't think so. More soon on that.

Although skateboarding as an activity could never be ruined as long as somebody keeps it pure and real, I'm overwhelmed with a sense that skateboarding's industry is falling apart, or at least falling prey to evil forces. Maybe evil isn't the right word, because skateboarding has always been subject to evil forces. Maybe the right term is detrimental forces. Money. As more and more companies sell themselves for millions of dollars it seems to me that the spirit is lost. Yes, I know that Ken Block and Damon still actively run the DC Shoe company, but is their soul in it?

Has anyone seen Farhenheit 911?