Jamais deux, sans trois

The weather is absolutely ideal. Clear skies and 17. No wonder the japanese pros are in town.

I had thought about skating but surrendered the idea since I have to work early. My phone is broken and can only be used when it's on the charger, and when I got home from work and checked it, I found out a street session was going to depart from the bridge in 45 min. Reluctantly, I went. Thank god.

The was a short warm up, then mw and fa and i went to west. we started at the creative park cascade. it's a waterfall of three stairs, with sheer drops, stairs, and funny little clickity manny pads to bottom and back up. I proudly ***** somethign that scared the shit out of me for no reason (I skate like a pure bred horse) but mw and fa did thigns I never thought about.

We passed up main station, but maybe because we got seperated and mw went high to the skate spot and I followed fa down the 12 lane (smooth) road, with taxis trying to kill us. when we reconnected, we were nearly at the she men spot anyway, so we went on to it.

It's a memorial to a war criminal, in the back of a big plaza. The key feature is perfect black stone bench. Any grind or slide on it is so slick that you don't lose any speed on it. Fa got a series of *****s to various things out, at walking speed, which meant that since he grinded the whole thing, he was holding the crane pose of a ******* ***** for about three full seconds. Too bad my phone is dead, even the worst camera and photographer could have made that look awesome. The plaza next door was full of giant lanterns for a festival. Too bad we weren't japanese pros, because a line through there would have looked amazing.

We got booted, but in the most civlized way possible. A cop on a scooter came up, with no lights flashing, and waved at us, and then at the bench, and made the universal signal for "dont skate here". Well, it's probably the asian x, and not actually universal, but I'm basically Taiwanese now, so I can't imagine someone signing an X and not knowing what it means. Anyways, we nodded and left, because we arent assholes, and also, the war criminal's memorial is right beside a hotel, where presumably, people were trying to sleep or fuck.

Mw went home and fa and I went to the hospital. It's the second most important spot in Taipei, after the bridge. Even though it was midnight, there were 8 people skating there. I got a sort of ** **** ***** *** out, which was for sure the first of my life, and fa commented on it, so at least I know someone watching knew what trick it was supposed to be, even if it came out sloppily. The hospital crew are, I have to admit, cooler than the bridge crew, even though they overlap. Skating at hte hospital is like skating in sf in the mid 90s, except I wasnt there, so I cant't honestly say.

The MRT closed and fa had to go home, so I took this as an incentive to wander towards the house. I spotted the peak of mitsukoshi expertly, and although I had no apple maps, I made my way to main station without incident. From there, it was cruise mode, until I came up on the very best thing you can find in Taipei; a set of long long long stairs, each level of which is stone, and each level of which grinds  without wax. Skateboarding isnt about landing tricks, but I landed some tricks on this newly installed stone stair spot, and I was very much pleased about it.

I cruised home for a bit, across asphault, tile, cement, and concrete. Energy welled up in my bosom and I went to the Three Stair Park instead of the house. It was quiet there. A gentle breeze was twiddling the leaves in the trees, and no hobos were roosting on the benches. The usual waist high pile of trash was at the trashcan, and a black and white cat was lurking around there.

I went in for a **** *****, and hit it. Then I went for a ***** ****, and hit that too. It's my new favorite trick. Fuck how anything looks, especially on video. Fuck how hard it is to do. I skate tricks because they feel good to do, and this one feels the best of all. I have the excuse that I'm old, and I can do what I want. Also, ***** **** is the most ideal cruising trick for curbs ever. Even if the curb grabs, you can just twist out of it, even at high speed. I started skating laps; proper **** *****, ***** **** *****, and another lap. The three stair park is like a condensed version of the hospital. It's super fun, but if more than three people are there, it's too crowded. The hospital can have four, but I've never been there when it was less than six.

I'm Finding Out That True Love is Blind

I flaked out on mw last night, hard. Sorry.

I couldnt stay awake and I didn't wake up again til 13:00. Then I fucked around the house for a while and sugar coated some new skateboards and then a session got thrown together. We were gonna meet at She Men plaza, but when I rode over there, the 3 acre plaza was overflown with tents and all people and all kinds of shit that blocked the entire spot. I killed my phone, so I had no choice but ride all the way back home and inform the line group.

We met up later at the bridge. It was crowded and I was in a ferociously bad mood, but I worked through some basic things, like a zen cultist doing breathing exercises. It didn't really work and I was antsy, and also ironm had to leave by the last train, so me and him bailed and went to skate the ***** into bank next door. It was covered with people. So we went around the corner to the metal bank, and it had tents blocking it. Then we pushed a couple of stations away to the samurai helmet spot: it's the roof of an underpass that's pretty mellow but super exposed when the city is insanely busy. ironm tried some flip tricks on it but we went on towards to the main station.

At main station, I sat down to scope out the likelihood of bag theives in the general area as ironm skated the banks with the manny pads on top. Instead of a bag theif, a trio of slots came up to tell me they love me. I have ot say that I was flattered. I told the main one that i loved her too, even though it wasn't true, as ironm pivoted all kinds of cheese and crackers all over teh banks. he fell a few times into basically what is an open sewer for the local homeless, but piss dries, fortunately.

Eventually, the rest of the crew came up; rmj and fa and tfs. I annoyed everyoen by trying to direct teh skatespots, but i quickly got my comeuppance: the city was so busy that every spot I tried ot lead us to was filled with a sea of people. Skate moses, I am not. To be truthful, the whole thing had a poisonous feel to it. We all tried to make it work. no one was being a dick, except maybe me, but it felt bad.

we ended up failing to skate several spots and then pretended to enjoy skating the big ledge plaza at main station. it wasn't the worst thing, but it still sucked.

I credit fa with turning the tide. he started trying ******s across the plaza, for as far as he could, adn then in a minute we were all doing it. it broke the ice. rmj and i went for a beer, and on the way back noticed a man with a skateboard standing high up on the mrt entrance. It's not quite a quarter circle, but its at least 7 m off the ground. We paused far away, to watch the spectacle of someone trying ot roll down the back side of the quarter circle. he didn't make it. another day.

it got even better once we abandoned the idea of finding skate spots or having a good session. instead, we went down poop street to a spot from ancient history. It's a pair of steep, short wall rides, which require an ollie to get on at all. It also has a pink marble curb, and a metal curb, and it's nicely tiled. For me, this was the night when I could ****** **** ***** at will, ** and **. For others, it was a night of cheese and crackers on the wall rides.

A weird truck drove up, and dumped 587 newspapers on the sidewalk. we played team skate, because I begged them. tfs did some *** **** **** ******s and **** **** **********s like I wouldnt ever have expected anyone to be able to do. and ********* ** **** *****. what a douche. such a showoff.

As the session wound down, we beered up again and I lurched off before the rest of them. I'm old. At least I skated all the way home.

Back to 中山

Finally,  a proper session. It was still pretty lighthearted, but it involved a dry and not too cold trip through the old spots in the north of the city. The initial plan was to meet at Yuanshan and wander down the river, but only oc showed up, and he had already done that route, so we warmed up on the flat and went south. Soon, we were at the old green two stair. It's a doorway entrance with an upper and lower ledge. The lower one wraps around the upper one. I've gotten into some ** ****** on the upper one, but never got out. I've never seen anyone skate it. It has a rusty gate for a wall, and it takes a significant speed committment to pop out over the lower section. OC did it in two tries. Then went through a slew of other tricks. I **-** ***** ** *** out. On the lower one.
We cruised to the lil hubba and he ***** **-**d it, then ***** over the big marble balls there that keep people from parking their cars on the sidewalk. A woman had her Ubike in the way, and he knocked it over as she stood inside the ATM closet, frozen in terror. We stood up her bike and put her crap back in the basket. Sorry lady. We had things to do. Well, OC still did. By that point, what little legs I started with had left me.
Next was Rplaza, but OC wasn't too impressed. We crossed the road to the long hubbas, and he was impressed. He tried to **-** it a few times, but couldn't really get into it. By this point, I was just watching.
OC's style is topsyturvy but methodical. Rolling up to the upper part, I didn't think he had a chance for the first few tries. He wasn't getting his front trucks on at all. Then he started to get it, then he started dialing it in. Had it not been for the late hour, I'm sure he would have continued to chip away at it until he was rolling away at the bottom. He never actually slammed, but he did slide upside down on his back down the first hubba. I hope I get to see it when he goes back.
We crossed the street to the rocks. He seemed to like that spot too. He hit the ******** a couple of tries, and then tried something astonishing. For the record, in the skate film [CENSORED], a pro ********* to **-** on the rock. It's a waist high, and nearly vertical. OC **** and ****** on it, then instantly started trying to ***** it. He didn't get this one either, but again, I hope I get to see it when he does. Fuck watching videos of people skating these spots, I got to see someone do it in real time. I'm way more excited about seeing him not make hte tricks than I would be about seeing a video of someone making it.

Dual Dinners

I finished a period of long and annoying work. My sister came to Taiwan. We went to Gaoshiung. It's a fanstastic city. It's somewhere further down the spectrum of intensity from Geelung and Taipei; if Keelung is a miniature Hong Kong, then Taipei is a lot more laid back, but with the sky dragon arrogance. Even with a beard and eccentric shirt, few people bat an eye on the street here. In 高雄, any foreigner is an instant celebrity. It's a far more cheerful and pleasant than Taipei, and although it seems like there are more skyscrapers, they are so far apart that you could fit an entire Taipei in between each one. We rode the slow train back for the scenery.
My sister really didn't enjoy our recent spate of earthquakes and hadnt slept well since hten, so tonight, we had supper at the old noodle shop (they remembered me after a year) and she fell asleep early. Lzyk got off around ten, one thing led to another, and I had to eat a second supper at a yakitorish restaurant in the neighborhood. At this point, any skating became a herioc mission.

I managed to waddle outside at the stroke of midnight. I cruised over to Rplaza, expecting to get booted or vomit from overfilling myself with chicken skins, but all went well. I even found a new way to skate the mellow bank to flat ledge, and did the first few flatground tricks. I didnt even try to skate the ledges though. Just north of there was a pristine and delightful and fast grinding shiny silver curby stairs, but it's now hidden behind a construction wall. I went up z shan to the lil hubba and did what I could with 5kg of extra meat and beer ballast, then went east to the temple. Things got a little better there, doing ***** **** ****** on everything I could find. The black marble ledge was grinding after a new sheen of wax,  but a construction crew was in the road next door, and made me nervous about getting kicked out. I never did. I kept going until I had all the staples. It was cold and windy and I didn't have a chance to rest because I got sweaty. On the skate home, someone jumped out in front of me, bellowing about stopping, but I kept going. He followed, changing his shouting to English, and I realized he was worried that I didn't have on a coat. "You cold!" he shouted. "You cold!" I shrugged and tried to ******* for him as I crossed the zebra. I didn't make it.

Situation Report

It's been cold and raining for a month. I've been working 14 hours minimum almost everyday. The handful of sessions that happened were pretty down tempo. Better things are coming. I may have just gotten home at midnight and I may be about to go back to work in a few hours, but this is the last day of this nonsense. Soon, Lunar New Year's will be here, and then a work schedule that will allow for some human comforts, like skating, and getting drunk. This was bleak.

Blinded by the Light

They cleaned off the lights at the bridge. Now they're so bright that it's hard to look ahead as you skate. That's ok, I skate so slowly that I only need to look at my toes anyway. 

I hadn't had the chance to skate in a while, mostly because of the cold, the incessant rain, and the need to work and make money. Tonight, I squeezed in a two hour session at the bridge, on a night meant for the bridge. It's been raining for days and days. I showed up with two jackets and tight pants because it was the second coldest night I've skated in 20 years. It poured rain the whole session, just like it has done for weeks. I know I'm mentioning the rain too much, but fuck, it's been nothing but rain. Endless rain. 

Anyway, the bridge had about 20 skaters there, which surprised me, for a cold cold sunday night. A few of them were learning how to ollie by standing still in front of the box, but most were not very annoying. A few even shyly came up at the end to shake hands. 

Another foreigner was there, I'll call him dn. We didn't talk much til lights out, but we shared an earthquake that made the green street sign shake and then a beer at a new bar around the corner from the bridge. Hopefully, we'll have another in the streets when the weather clears up. 

I'm still charging through the 411 back catalogue, because I have to wake up in a few hours, and stressed, and it's pouring rain. Also, it's as cold as it ever gets here.

This particular vm is chock full of vert footage. I don't see how vert survived. It's not that it isn't a fierce thing to do, it's just that it looks so boring on video. Although, when I see how much of this video was filmed in a shitty indoor plywood park, it's kind of surprising that skate filming survived in any terrain. At least it doesn't have the incredibly annoying editing that was about to come thanks to what I think is transworld. I tried to watch some transworld late 90s video and it was so fucking awful with the editing that I remembered my pilgrimage from one end of 411 to the other, so matter the cost.