Atavism and the Black Mirror

I wasted my weekend relaxing being happy with the ones I love. Monday came around, and it was time for skating, but first I had to slog through a dozen hours of work.

It should be rare to find an astonishing new spot in Taipei, having lived here for a good chunk of years. I almost never do anymore. But RMJ explores Taipei with the kind of energy that Startrek explored the galaxy, and he sent me some scouting images of a long convex black mirror ledge. It's all alone and unguarded, and you can hear crickets in the grass. It slides so smooth that I could easily match my longest ******** on it, and when I go back, I'll get a much longer one. For some reason, *******s click on again, and I landed more than I missed. It's probably been six months since I got any.

In this kind of heat, I always smell like a chlorine pool. I'm not sure why. I forgot what is was like to skate in this kind of heat (actually, it wasn't that bad, and I mostly dried out when I sat down to rest). I missed the train home adn decided to skate it, like the old days. Getting to know a city this way is magic. To get to the spot, I skated by the area where I taught Jaysus to *****. It had been fields and barbed wire then. Now it's got more than a handful of highrises. On the bridge, I skated over weird tiles that sounded like a hive of furious bees. Then I did my best to wander home.

I immediately found a 55 degree wall ride, about 9 feet tall, with a 70 degree one on the other side. I kept going, but I'll go back.

Then it was all little ollies and slappies through the empty sidewalks, well lit from above by all kinds of crazy neon signs. Long Shan Temple is a den of iniquity, and the iniquitous were milling about in droves. Someone shouted at me as I went past, and not hte usual friendly kind of Taiwan exclamation. It sounded like an angry american. Another time someone passed above on scooter and shouted "YYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH' and honked a lot, but I don't know if it was really for me or not.

I found my way to ximen and then to across the more familiar terrain bac kto the house. I decided to finish up at the three stair park and do the ritual tricks, which went quickly.

The black mirror ledge is going to be an instant classic. It doesn't make a grinding sound when you grind, just a hiss of bearings as the wheels turn freely. You don't lose any speed. Spot of the Year.


******** + 10