Better and Better

I warmed up at the bridge and met up with tk and ccc. Some other guys were there too, including some young uns, one of whom learned *********s on the little rail in the back. I was really proud of him. Skating isnt really about learning new tricks in a skatepark, but that was emotionally satisfying for me to watch him accomplish. Also, I got a new one myself. Noone could go out street skating, but as it was chillly and windy and perfect, I went on my own. I cruised the blocks around the bridge for a minute in my stupras, which are the worst shoes ever made (i gave the bircas a skyburial near the front of the bridge). I found another bridge near the real bridge, and it has granite curbs on manny pads all down the length of it. After a light waxing, they were slappying pretty nicely. when the real bridge gets boring on a rainy day, i'm going to be back to this spot for sure.

I went up and down and all around central Taipei until fatigue got me. Then I painted up a new deck.

Perfect weather day

Noone else wanted to skate on friday night and it was already almost lights out, so I went by the bridge with the intention of leeching onto any crew going out. The weather was immaculate; clear blue skies all day and the blustering gusts that made them that way. J and bh were there, and a crew of guys I don't know so well, but the bridge was essentially empty. Even the fake bboys stayed mostly out of hte way. At lights out, the three of us went across the street to skate the banks. We stuck to the place where you have to ollie up onto it. I didn't get anything new but bh did. A festival or something had ended, so even though it was past 2300, a river of people kept going by. Around midnight, I went to ramen with lzyk. I had intended to skate all night, but after eating too much, I just went home with her. Then I couldn't sleep until 9 am, and woke up at 1400. It was another glorious day, so I'm going to head to the bridge and try again for another excursion.

return of the stench

rain drove us under the bridge again. the stench was back. it's a mix of rotting food, gasoline, and something else that is weirdly sweet and chemically, like paint. It wasn't as bad as before though. The session was boring but at least I had some energy. Also, the skate police have taken to turning out the lights at 9:50. This is fine on a dry night, but annoying when there isn't anywhere else to skate.

continued sob

it stopped raining, but the roads were still patchy wet. rmj and i met up at the bridge, where fruitballers were blocking the back of the spot and playing awful music. a crew i dont know were thrashing the rest of it. they weren't very friendly, but anyone doing ************* ** ******** is forgiven. we went to main station to try out a long long metal curb at the new bus station. it was too full of buses. along the way, we skated the big rough bank, where rmj got ** ********, and then some wallrides in the ms area. The night ended with a walk up zhongshan and a few metal stairs on the way.

still dealing with sob

sunday afternoon of laziness, mostly at the bridge. sukotto showed up and mw and zw and a lot of other people. i still had no energy due to shortness of breath. try three tricks, rest for five minutes.

the stench

still sick. pouring rain. flooding on the roads. went ot the bridge. the flooding washed out some terrible chemicals someone had dumped and the stench was so over powering that no one could skate. i gave up and went home in an hour.

Plaza night

I got off work and there were still puddles around, but I had a language session at 西門, so I rode the train over. The spot was pretty much dry, except for the handgrenade sized snails and the two inch wide trails of goop they leave behind themselves. My language teacher never arrived, but four unfriendly plaza skaters did, and RMJ. The spot is a classic; all pink marble, a three stair, and curbs, little ledges, medium, and very tall ledges. It also has a miraculously smooth black stone bench in the back, and four low-into high ledges, and a natural big round flatbar. I worked through everything I could think of for a couple of hours. The main ledges are really chunky, and have ot be approached with calculated authority and confidence. I started to question myself at the last second, and stuck, and fell. Seconds later, RMJ rolled fakie into a crack. Then I caught my wheel in an unseen vampire hole, and hit my face on the ground. That pretty much ended things, but we skated flatground through the streets on the way home.

Hot, but cooled off after 23:00

I went ot hte bridge after work and while it wouldn't have been a great session normally, I was satisfied considering the circumstances. RMJ came, and we left the fruitballers and about 40 skaters and hit some slappy curbs on the way home. RMJ destroyed a weird bench spot on the way as well; it's like lincoln logs with white metal bars coming out of hte ends at odd angles, so you have to either being going pretty fast or pop out to avoid getting caught up on the bars. I couldn't do it.

second day back

could skate a line from one end of the bridge to the other, but then had to rest for ten minutes to catch my breath again. at least sukkoto came to hang out.

First day back

Could barely ollie

I got abducted by Taiwanese aliens

I came to in a long, weird room. I couldn't move, and the lights were so bright that I couldn't make out my surroundings at first. Squinting, I finally started to be able to make out some details of my surroundings. I couldn't turn my head much, but  I could tell the room I was in was so long that either ends of it were out of sight. The air smelled bizarre and bad, like nothing I have ever smelled before, like a mix of unknown chemistry and unspeakable biological functions. I was dimly aware of probes and tubes stuck into my body, and I felt a rising panic when I realized they were connected to a family robots that seemed to be eating and regurgitating my blood. Vague, unidentifiable sounds teased my ears; sounds that seemed oddly familiar, but that I could never have possibly heard before. I don't know how long I laid there, drifting in and out of consciousness, but it was at least many hours, maybe days.
I don't know how I knew, but I was startled by the realization that there was a presence nearby. It was short and dark, and wore some kind of mask over its lower face, and what appeared to be some kind of fashionably huge glasses. "Do not afraiding," it said, maybe telepathically, "we help you." It fiddled with the robots on either side of me, and disappeared. I don't know if it was the same entity or others, but shapeless shadows visited me from time to time and whispered broken English and sometimes unknown langauges. "You pneumonia, we take home later," I understood once.
After some time, maybe hours, maybe days, a steady stream of entities started to pass by, turning to stare at me without expressoin, like they were looking at an animal in a zoo. It wasn't exactly terrifying, but it was distinctly unnerving.
I felt like I had been gone for weeks, but apparently it was only four days. They charged me $20 USD, and gave me some antibiotics to keep taking. I can't wait to skate again.

sick

It's been years since I had to take such a long break from skating. The longest I've been able to stay awake is about six hours. It feels like cotton swabs covered in drying elmer's glue are in my chest, and I'm hacking grey and brown bits of it up. I am winded from anyway walking. Climbing stairs is out of the question. I can't wait to skate again.

bronchitis not flu

I wrote a haiku about the last week of my life:

Cough cough cough cough cough
Cough cough cough cough cough cough cough
cough cough bronchitis.

Also, when I take steriods, it makes me insanely furious about everything.