The cement job was a D-. It's mostly just dust now. we went as a party to main station and hit a variety of spots. i went home to complaints. ankle injuries. tired legs. **** ** ***** on the rooftop samurai helmet. kind of incredible cops didnt come, and that noone coming out of the exit wsa killed by a falling skateboard . new ledge spot chunked. yoshinoya metal curb to street. cops came. we thrashed back to the bridge and i went on home.
Monday, February 27, 2017
Sunday, February 26, 2017
A hesitant first foray into cementing
my roommate announced that the grill has to go. i cleaned it, kind of, and hid it under the living table. she announced that if she can find it, she will throw it out. i got back home, expecting the worst, but it's still hidden there, and she's asleep.
earlier, she gave me Lettres a Anne, which is easily the best white valentines present i have ever recieved, but also compels me to buy her something equally expensive (dear lzyk; you have ot take the price tag off of gifts), or else. It won't be as easy for me, as she isn't a fan of Mitterand.
My bags of cement came, delivered to the all marble and donald trump fake gold lobby of my appartment building. The guard is my favorite old man in taiwan, but it took some time for us to work out that i was trying to pick up sacks of cement from behind the counter. in the end, he gaveu p trying to understand why foreigners do the things they do, and i put the box of cement on the skateboard and took it to the bridge. it was pretty fun time; the tienmu homies were there, presumably driven south by the constant rain, and a scattering of others were too. younguns got creative and stacked rails upon rails and *********** them until lights out. I was responsible and waited to drink beer until lights out. A japanese guy introduced himself and we shared some yellow beers. he told me wants to quite smoking, and i had to say, yeah, it's fucking hard to do. He knows k, who showed up with a couple of other guys and eventually they left for takoyaki (there is a legendary skater-owned spot that I still havent been to yet, apparently around linsen; now i am formally obligated to visit).
then i tried cementing. it was harder than i remembered (or maybe i just forgot that i sucked at it 20 years ago). part of the problem is that taiwan's mailorder cement is like grey diahhrea. mostly, it's that i just dont know what to do. i did some zen scraping and learned the hard way, for 90 minutes or so. as i finished, a couple of dudes showed up who were learning to ******. They skated until after I left. Pure.
i went home swinging a red plastic pail with a couple of left over beers and a trowel in it. if interior painting is like trying to paint with the least artistic expression possible, then cementing a spot is like trying to do architecture in the least noticiable way possible. it's really expensive here, $500 to just recoat the top of a manny pad. i feel pretty damn addicted.
earlier, she gave me Lettres a Anne, which is easily the best white valentines present i have ever recieved, but also compels me to buy her something equally expensive (dear lzyk; you have ot take the price tag off of gifts), or else. It won't be as easy for me, as she isn't a fan of Mitterand.
My bags of cement came, delivered to the all marble and donald trump fake gold lobby of my appartment building. The guard is my favorite old man in taiwan, but it took some time for us to work out that i was trying to pick up sacks of cement from behind the counter. in the end, he gaveu p trying to understand why foreigners do the things they do, and i put the box of cement on the skateboard and took it to the bridge. it was pretty fun time; the tienmu homies were there, presumably driven south by the constant rain, and a scattering of others were too. younguns got creative and stacked rails upon rails and *********** them until lights out. I was responsible and waited to drink beer until lights out. A japanese guy introduced himself and we shared some yellow beers. he told me wants to quite smoking, and i had to say, yeah, it's fucking hard to do. He knows k, who showed up with a couple of other guys and eventually they left for takoyaki (there is a legendary skater-owned spot that I still havent been to yet, apparently around linsen; now i am formally obligated to visit).
then i tried cementing. it was harder than i remembered (or maybe i just forgot that i sucked at it 20 years ago). part of the problem is that taiwan's mailorder cement is like grey diahhrea. mostly, it's that i just dont know what to do. i did some zen scraping and learned the hard way, for 90 minutes or so. as i finished, a couple of dudes showed up who were learning to ******. They skated until after I left. Pure.
i went home swinging a red plastic pail with a couple of left over beers and a trowel in it. if interior painting is like trying to paint with the least artistic expression possible, then cementing a spot is like trying to do architecture in the least noticiable way possible. it's really expensive here, $500 to just recoat the top of a manny pad. i feel pretty damn addicted.
Saturday, February 25, 2017
A hesitant first foray into BBQing
I got a grill when we moved to the new house but it sat under the couch until tonight. I spent most of the day gathering supplies in the freezing rain and zw and i met up under the bridge. it was crowded and wet and hard to get the charcoal lit. we perserved with the help of some younguns. zw and i mostly discussed insects we've eaten or encountered. taiwanese centipedes sound scary, but the ones he dealt with in thailand are the creepiest thing i've ever heard of. i dont like the idea of intelligent bugs. alledgedly, scorpions are 'dry' when you eat them. we gave away some hotdogs and ate most of the chicken and mushrooms ourselves. lzyk hasnt realized the dirty grill is in our living room yet (i didnt think this through and i m not sure where to keep it).
Friday, February 24, 2017
skating, post anal probe
i was shitting blood, so i had to get a thing stuck up my ass to find out if i was dying from cancer or not. this was kind of cool, because i got to try a new drug. i had to wait a month or two, because although taiwan has cheap health care, you have to wait a month or two, even if your butthole is vomiting blood. i showed up at the hosptial and they stuck my patient ID sticker on my actual skin. at this point, i realized i wasnt in america anymore. taiwan's cost cutting philosophy is so extreme that patients at the hospital dont even get an arm band. later, i was told that this is in violation of J-CO, but i guess joint commission will handle that.
anyway, for about thrity seconds , i wondered why i was still awake after the anesthesia, but then everything went dark as fuck. i vaguely remember watching the pink video from teh probe in my ass, but i've mostly fortoggten it now. then i tried to get home, fucked up as fuck. eventually, i made it home, and slept for 22 hours. drugs are cool. i wish i could buy the one i just took, but it's Rx only.
i went to work ,adn wen tot eh bridge, whre rmj adn i skated for a minute and mostly drank beers in the rain on various stoops in the area. its goign to rain for days, according to the wather man.
anyway, for about thrity seconds , i wondered why i was still awake after the anesthesia, but then everything went dark as fuck. i vaguely remember watching the pink video from teh probe in my ass, but i've mostly fortoggten it now. then i tried to get home, fucked up as fuck. eventually, i made it home, and slept for 22 hours. drugs are cool. i wish i could buy the one i just took, but it's Rx only.
i went to work ,adn wen tot eh bridge, whre rmj adn i skated for a minute and mostly drank beers in the rain on various stoops in the area. its goign to rain for days, according to the wather man.
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Your next airline pilot might be able to ********
On occaision, the illusion of progress in skating can make up for the very real lack of progress in the rest of life. It was hot and sunny, and I knocked off around noon in order to visit the bridge. A couple of hours of excersize break from work turned into five hours of skating. I got my first ****** ********** ** *****, which was easy to make after the first one, I just never thought of it before. More importantly, I got ***** **********, which is my first legitimately new flatground trick in a long time.
Most importantly, a homie from years ago cruised up as I was about to leave. We caught up inbwetween runs but I wasn't much for conversation, because seeing him put me into an extended flashback of skating at the bridge in the mornings before work, in my first few months of skating, and also of the first few months of being in Taipei. So that's why the paper hasn't been written yet. I couldn't go home until he had to.
By the time we left, an assortment of skateboarding enthusiasts had gathered to celebrate the perfect weather. The sun hasn't even set yet. Yall need to get out there.
Most importantly, a homie from years ago cruised up as I was about to leave. We caught up inbwetween runs but I wasn't much for conversation, because seeing him put me into an extended flashback of skating at the bridge in the mornings before work, in my first few months of skating, and also of the first few months of being in Taipei. So that's why the paper hasn't been written yet. I couldn't go home until he had to.
By the time we left, an assortment of skateboarding enthusiasts had gathered to celebrate the perfect weather. The sun hasn't even set yet. Yall need to get out there.
Sunday, February 19, 2017
spring time
rmj met me at main. hobos were hoboing all around, before he got there, so i had to warm up and skate the banks with my backpack on, because if there's anywhere in taiwan that someone is going make off with your shit, it's at mainstation. a security meandered outside but took one look at my gut and waddled back inside. he had me beat, but i'm guessing someone told him to go tell me to leave, and he gave up before we had a chance to meet.
rmj and i met up.
a hobo came up, and shouted at us "I'm trying ot sleep." so were dozens of his compatriots, all over the spot. it was so loud from all the traffic taht only rmj heard him. i dont know why skateboards piss off people so much. i do know rmj bought me a series of beers at the end of the night. thanks man.
in between, we went to a very sketchy dark ledge spot, there is probably a very asesome daytime spot, and the classic pink banks by main, where he did some *********s and i landed my first street ***. in between, we found a bank to metal curb that exits into traffic, and he got some entertaining ******* on it, but i didnt. nevermind, we blasted around the emptying streets until we decided to act like adults and hit the sack. somehow, it's still almost 0500 before I got home. i tallked to my parents in the park outside, and listened to georgia spring birds singing in the background. my mom talked a lot about the flowers there. That isn't my home anymore, but i miss it, especially this time of year.
i nearly forgot the mention the discovery of a new plaza. there are eight very large raised flower beds in the new area by mainstation, with hard slick cement ledges all around them. they range from upper calf height to mid thigh. the surface is tiled, but smooth for sections of it. it isa topnotch spot. rmj got the first trick ever there, as far as we could tell, noone had ever skated it. i waxed a little bit. it's going to be a regular spot.
rmj and i met up.
a hobo came up, and shouted at us "I'm trying ot sleep." so were dozens of his compatriots, all over the spot. it was so loud from all the traffic taht only rmj heard him. i dont know why skateboards piss off people so much. i do know rmj bought me a series of beers at the end of the night. thanks man.
in between, we went to a very sketchy dark ledge spot, there is probably a very asesome daytime spot, and the classic pink banks by main, where he did some *********s and i landed my first street ***. in between, we found a bank to metal curb that exits into traffic, and he got some entertaining ******* on it, but i didnt. nevermind, we blasted around the emptying streets until we decided to act like adults and hit the sack. somehow, it's still almost 0500 before I got home. i tallked to my parents in the park outside, and listened to georgia spring birds singing in the background. my mom talked a lot about the flowers there. That isn't my home anymore, but i miss it, especially this time of year.
i nearly forgot the mention the discovery of a new plaza. there are eight very large raised flower beds in the new area by mainstation, with hard slick cement ledges all around them. they range from upper calf height to mid thigh. the surface is tiled, but smooth for sections of it. it isa topnotch spot. rmj got the first trick ever there, as far as we could tell, noone had ever skated it. i waxed a little bit. it's going to be a regular spot.
Thursday, February 16, 2017
trying too hard is stupid
stayed up all night writing. haven't had a proper skate session in a week. It's not that I'm in way over my head on this project. It's most like drowning in a bath tub.
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
It's Wiggle-Neck Bird Season
Every year when the weather turns perfect (like today) and it's windy and blue sky and 16 degrees, little brown herons take over Taiwan. If you walk through a park at night, you have to be careful not to step on them. They usually stand frozen, but they wiggle their necks if they start thinking about something. They're very cute and their arrival means the rainy season is coming, and it's about to get hot as balls for nine months. It wasn't hot under the bridge this evening though. I got there just in time for the end of hte afternoon and blue sky sunset. young homies from tienmu were there, and wanted to know where my beer was. Even piss drunks can't be drunk all the time. also I had to go back to work (typing this is procrastination) and I have the flu. I haven't been wearing a mask to prevent the infection of others, but just as convenience for all the nose water pouring out. You can stuff it with tissues and it works like a maxi pad for your face. I'm not sure how often you have to change a regular one, but the face one gets really bogged down and heavy after about fifteen minutes.
Monday, February 13, 2017
Saturday, February 11, 2017
austerity month begins
buzzed, i was blasting up zhongshan at maximum speed, and i realized, with little margin for thinking, that the ***** stair was ahead, and I committed, and landed it. before that, i had landed some flatground, and after, i sealed the deal with a ********** on the zhongshan marble hubba. previously, i had given up on the night.
it was pure street. i warmed up by skating down teh sidewalk, trying to land every flatground trick i can do. i double dare you to try to warm up this way, it's fucking hard as fuck to land tricks while cruising. soon, you get stuck on a block, trying the same shit again and again, even though you should be making it. cracks and slants and pebbles and so on. street skating is the only pure skating. venus was bright in the sky and i went eastish, after i promised lzyk i would clean out house after coming home. it's 0430. sorry, lzyk, our house is going to be dirty when you wake up.
The firstspot of the night was a tiled and awkward *** stair, with a very long bottom stair. i tried it a few times, increasingly frustrated, and secuciryt turned on all the lights to let me know i wasnt welcomed. i made it on the next try. i did a lot of flatground trick cruising (a trick landed on tiles counts as a whole new trick) and i found a legendary spot, ok, rediscovered a spot that rmj kept telling me about, which is a nice smooth flatground, with a pair of marble ledges and a flat bar to popover in to street, which i didnt skat e. judgingin from the rail, it's totatlly virgin. sometone needs to pop its cherry.
i went back to the brifge but noone was home. i did my minimum tricks, for times i m just appsing through. i skate d the marble across the street, adn did some new bullshit.
i went to the lil plaza, it's a three down, three up, with lots of curbs around the inside. i pissed off everyoe who lives in my neighborhood by skating late at night, adn then went up zhongshan to xintian and ******* up the 2001 black marble ledge. after that, i got the aforementioned line, which was the bets of my life.
at some oint, i hit rplaza and got a ********* in front ofa small but cheering crowd.
i identified a spot on my phone's map without any yellow stars marking spots, so i cruised down bade road by the manny pads at the KMT's headquarters. It was three am but security was already outside to intercept me.
at the end, i got some beers at the 7, and skated the micro bankcurb by the house.
my shoes smell like a hog farm.
it was pure street. i warmed up by skating down teh sidewalk, trying to land every flatground trick i can do. i double dare you to try to warm up this way, it's fucking hard as fuck to land tricks while cruising. soon, you get stuck on a block, trying the same shit again and again, even though you should be making it. cracks and slants and pebbles and so on. street skating is the only pure skating. venus was bright in the sky and i went eastish, after i promised lzyk i would clean out house after coming home. it's 0430. sorry, lzyk, our house is going to be dirty when you wake up.
The firstspot of the night was a tiled and awkward *** stair, with a very long bottom stair. i tried it a few times, increasingly frustrated, and secuciryt turned on all the lights to let me know i wasnt welcomed. i made it on the next try. i did a lot of flatground trick cruising (a trick landed on tiles counts as a whole new trick) and i found a legendary spot, ok, rediscovered a spot that rmj kept telling me about, which is a nice smooth flatground, with a pair of marble ledges and a flat bar to popover in to street, which i didnt skat e. judgingin from the rail, it's totatlly virgin. sometone needs to pop its cherry.
i went back to the brifge but noone was home. i did my minimum tricks, for times i m just appsing through. i skate d the marble across the street, adn did some new bullshit.
i went to the lil plaza, it's a three down, three up, with lots of curbs around the inside. i pissed off everyoe who lives in my neighborhood by skating late at night, adn then went up zhongshan to xintian and ******* up the 2001 black marble ledge. after that, i got the aforementioned line, which was the bets of my life.
at some oint, i hit rplaza and got a ********* in front ofa small but cheering crowd.
i identified a spot on my phone's map without any yellow stars marking spots, so i cruised down bade road by the manny pads at the KMT's headquarters. It was three am but security was already outside to intercept me.
at the end, i got some beers at the 7, and skated the micro bankcurb by the house.
my shoes smell like a hog farm.
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
I spent the day teaching about mosquitos, locked in a room of children's farts
Today was exhausting but fm asked about skating and I went. We planned to meet at 圓山 but my phone died and as I tried to limber up at the slappy curb, it started raining. I told myself I couldn't be mad at fm if he didn't show up, because all that's there on a rainy night is some flatground, some pebbles, and some benches. This time, there were also about four dozen longboarders there too. When I got home, I found he had sent more than a few unanswered messages asking to relocate the session. But he showed up anyway. We skated for a minute but mostly went to a constuction spot to discuss logistics of a building project. Then we skated through the crowded sidewalks to get to yakitori, since the phillipino restaurant was closed. fm always skates hard down the sidewalks. it was fun.
Monday, February 6, 2017
gore
zw went to the bridge so i met him there, even thought i didn't feel like skating. it was cold and windy. young homies were there, much much better than the last time i skated with them. it was mostly empty. i skated lots of ***** *****s because my ankle hurt, and byc came up, and we skated a rough bank in the park near the bridge. then i cruised home, mostly doing a series of ********* on marble and metal curbs, and then suddenly at an alley, i crossed at slow speed and a scooter went by so fast that i only had to think it was going to hurt, but he missed inches behind me and hopefully was instantly killed by a taxi as soon as he turned out into the street.
zw was a rural train statoin last night and was greeted by a crowd of crying women. he could smell the gore inthe air,and found out someoen had been struck by a train. his english is better than my mandarin. the best i could understand was something about a pile of meat.
i cruised up the sidewalks and felt happy i didnt get hit. then i fell twice in quick succession and decided to call it quits. i came home to lots of naggining about having failed to clean the oragne juice out of a certain special cup that i didnt know was special until this moment. she is ranting as i type this, stomping her feet and accusing me of not letting her go upstairs, even though, i am typing with both hands. she is now ranting that i didnt wash the cup for 24 hours. this is going to take a while. i should stop typing.
zw was a rural train statoin last night and was greeted by a crowd of crying women. he could smell the gore inthe air,and found out someoen had been struck by a train. his english is better than my mandarin. the best i could understand was something about a pile of meat.
i cruised up the sidewalks and felt happy i didnt get hit. then i fell twice in quick succession and decided to call it quits. i came home to lots of naggining about having failed to clean the oragne juice out of a certain special cup that i didnt know was special until this moment. she is ranting as i type this, stomping her feet and accusing me of not letting her go upstairs, even though, i am typing with both hands. she is now ranting that i didnt wash the cup for 24 hours. this is going to take a while. i should stop typing.
Sunday, February 5, 2017
back to school night
most of us had to work a couple of days last week, but for the lucky few, this was their back to school night, and we joined them at the bridge in the drizzle. sukotto was there for four hours before i even arrived, and me and him were the next to last ones to leave. i skated until my legs couldnt work anymore, and we played a game of skate in the back for old time's sake, which was humiliating at first. it was really crowded tonight, i think because of the end of the holiday and the rain. a homey learend ******** to ** ****, and showed it to me. sukotto and i went ot mighty mos burger. i have to go back to work in the morning.
Friday, February 3, 2017
Thursday, February 2, 2017
welcome home x2
a true homey from before came from overseas. I haven't managed to make time to skate with him for at least a month. we planned seek and destroy mission for a few times. tonight it finally happened. but first, i needed new pivot cups (i m about to buy some polymorph and jjust make my own, since no one in taiwan stocks the shape i need) so i went to anytime's new location. it is the ideal skate shop. they have a wall of decks, and a quarter pipe on the back end, with a box on the opposite wall of the register. three dudes were skating it while i bought some new (wrong sized) pivot cups and replaced them. anytime also earns pionts because htey have shop decks.
then the re was a small delay while fm needed to eat and drink. i tried to warm up at the bull ring in ximen, but it was full of rollerblading bmxers, so i split and went to meet fm at an undisclosed location. it was near 101, i just cant remember where. oh yeah, it was at merlin's 5 stair, and we skated it for a while, but the vibrations weren't there, and we took a bus east. this was a fantastic decsion, because fm showed me a virgin spot. it's a plaza with slate ground, and black marble ledges, about 100 yards by 50 yards. There were two parking police at each end, but we skated the ledges until we just couldnt anymore, and there was no bust. It is an ideal spot, with photogenic king of buildings in back. thanks, fm, im glad you're back.
my foot was hurting but the spot sped me up, so i went to the bridge, because it's not far. freebird dudes were filming and slipboarding around, and a homey was there, and he gave me lots of beers. i skated until my legs dont work. tonight makes me look forward to the future.
then the re was a small delay while fm needed to eat and drink. i tried to warm up at the bull ring in ximen, but it was full of rollerblading bmxers, so i split and went to meet fm at an undisclosed location. it was near 101, i just cant remember where. oh yeah, it was at merlin's 5 stair, and we skated it for a while, but the vibrations weren't there, and we took a bus east. this was a fantastic decsion, because fm showed me a virgin spot. it's a plaza with slate ground, and black marble ledges, about 100 yards by 50 yards. There were two parking police at each end, but we skated the ledges until we just couldnt anymore, and there was no bust. It is an ideal spot, with photogenic king of buildings in back. thanks, fm, im glad you're back.
my foot was hurting but the spot sped me up, so i went to the bridge, because it's not far. freebird dudes were filming and slipboarding around, and a homey was there, and he gave me lots of beers. i skated until my legs dont work. tonight makes me look forward to the future.
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
welcome home
i had a bad day, for irrelevant reasons. i was ready to be violent. I awkardly said good bye and i love you ( we dont say the second part here, but i tried to show it by offering money for the things they gifted me) and lzyk and i went back home on the hsr. it super sucked, but her mom gave me a couple of tb's for the the, and i was embarrassed to drink them in the atrium of hte train, but i did.
then domestic disputes happened and then i went to skate, pissed.
i got to the bridge after lights out, and a motely crue of homies were still tehre. i skated, they wound down, and an hilariously drunk dude from NC sang us hours worth of original material. One young sawty smashed hisself on the ground trying to ******* the bar, and then two homies showed up. we skated for a minute and then the police showed up. I shook their hands to thank them for kicking us out of the skate spot (they had to ask me to repeat myself when i said thanks, because the cars and scotters where deafening) but fuck it, it's taipei, and there is always a new spot around the corner. i successfully hit a few small spots on the cruise north, and tried to ***** the **** stair at my old house. This was a mistake. I tried it once and didnt make it, but kept kept going and hit the steep ass banks at the mrt entrance. i tried it again and hurt my fucking foot, a lot. so i got a tb and posted up on the stoop, and i mean, the old stoop, the one true stoop, in order to feel sorry for myself and fill my night with hate.
i cracked my beer open and a western voice shouted "yoooooooo" from the crosswalk. It soudned like rmj, but i half expected it to be the NC dude ******** on ***. It wasnt the NC dude ******** on ***, it was rmj. i have never been so glad to see him. he was out for a walk, because we both are driven to wander this perfect city, and somehow, we came back to the same stoop, at the same time. at this point, i awkawardly paid for a new beer and he brought it back and i put it in my backpack and then mildly accused him of not getting it, so sorry there, beause i just found it, hot and warm, a few hours later in my back pck when i got home.
anway, rmj told me to chill and walk me back across the city like a guardian angel and now my life is still fucked but I dont feel quite so furious about it. sometimes taiwan castes some magic around.
then domestic disputes happened and then i went to skate, pissed.
i got to the bridge after lights out, and a motely crue of homies were still tehre. i skated, they wound down, and an hilariously drunk dude from NC sang us hours worth of original material. One young sawty smashed hisself on the ground trying to ******* the bar, and then two homies showed up. we skated for a minute and then the police showed up. I shook their hands to thank them for kicking us out of the skate spot (they had to ask me to repeat myself when i said thanks, because the cars and scotters where deafening) but fuck it, it's taipei, and there is always a new spot around the corner. i successfully hit a few small spots on the cruise north, and tried to ***** the **** stair at my old house. This was a mistake. I tried it once and didnt make it, but kept kept going and hit the steep ass banks at the mrt entrance. i tried it again and hurt my fucking foot, a lot. so i got a tb and posted up on the stoop, and i mean, the old stoop, the one true stoop, in order to feel sorry for myself and fill my night with hate.
i cracked my beer open and a western voice shouted "yoooooooo" from the crosswalk. It soudned like rmj, but i half expected it to be the NC dude ******** on ***. It wasnt the NC dude ******** on ***, it was rmj. i have never been so glad to see him. he was out for a walk, because we both are driven to wander this perfect city, and somehow, we came back to the same stoop, at the same time. at this point, i awkawardly paid for a new beer and he brought it back and i put it in my backpack and then mildly accused him of not getting it, so sorry there, beause i just found it, hot and warm, a few hours later in my back pck when i got home.
anway, rmj told me to chill and walk me back across the city like a guardian angel and now my life is still fucked but I dont feel quite so furious about it. sometimes taiwan castes some magic around.
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