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.