Circular Mountain Station

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're … ok that joke got old for me really fast. So did my plan of skating and taking notes on each of Taipei's MRT stations, in physical order.

I tried to cruise up to circular mountain station, where a number of bars and drunk people are open to the night air, and slammed a few times on the way. This is because my brain has forgotten how to process cracks. It used to be second nature, but now I have to think about each and every one, and also I haven't cruised the city in so long that many cracks are new or more severe than before. By the time I got to the bar area, I had paid my dues.

I paid respect to CfromPEI and he ***** a few times even though he was working, so it counted as part of the session. wpn and IS and pj sat outside with me while we sipped the etoh and discussed the finer points of life. rmj arrived and IS and me and him skated around the corner into a wonderland plaza that I had never seen before. It must be usually closed off to the public or something. It's a medium to large plaza with scrabbly pebbledash surfaces, and low-thigh high manny pads. For us, the keystone was a two stair up, to wooden planks, to grass gap (or one stair up to higher manny pad and then back down) to another gap and then downstairs. The boys skated it heroicly, but nothing was really perfect, although rmj got a ********* on the step and IS ****** up, to ***** to *** to semislamming into a table. For those with the very very quick feet, the tables are also skateable.

A hobo tried to steal my skatebag, but I grabbed it out of his grimey hands. I should have left it to him, because all that was inside was an empty water bottle, a rusty skatetool, and some wax. Eat that wax you hungry mother fucker.

It rained and I'm out of shape so RMJ and I beer rolled back down to my hood, admiring the spots as we went. Also, a lady yelled at him for putting a receipt in the charity box at seven. actually a lot of weird people were out tonight. It felt good to be one of them. I came home and the PBH was passed out outside. Drink some water bro.

Medium Mountain Station

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're BACK. 

and we have a very, very special guest with us tonight.

Actually, it was just me. I went out determined to just get back into *****ing on the streets and it went reasonably well. I rediscovered some kickers and cruised for a bit. I can't pretend I'm anything other than completely out of shape, having not skated much for most of a year. I found a slate smooth spot for flatground in front of the station and ventured into ** *****s, and a slate slappy curb that I got some shaky shitty ** and ** *****s on. I cruised back home down some twisty alleys with 15 stories buildings on either side, and woundup forced to roll through the dripping sludge of a late night garbage truck with lzyk's voice in my head. It's an interesting point, cause when I was skating that slappy curb, I found a certain tranquility in my own thoughts, particularly, that the mrt guard or the thugs next door were going to kick me out before I got the trick. Old anxieties crop up in the weirdest of ways. 

Tainan Tour

I took time off to go to Tainan but a typhoon came. Instead I partied with robthefrog. Tainan seems fun. Shame about the rain.

False Start

I skated north to the MRT and rode up to the transit station. There, I ran into a kid toting his deck under his elbow. We said what's up, and turns out, he's from a city that sounds like kong hong. We rode north together for half an hour, talking about what's going on there. I don't want to get political in this blog, but goddam, I am convinced of how far the hong kong people are willing to go. It's a David and Goliath situation. Any hong kong people, skaters or otherwise, who need to sleep on my porch, well, the offer is open. Good luck.

Then I went to a party, got drunk with slots, made a new socal friend, and didn't make the session. But I discovered micheladas. Lacking proper ingredients, it's just a taipeichelada, but it's not that bad.

He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.

I got started early, not aware that a contest had taken place at Hsinchu. I mean, started drinking, not skating. I didn't really want to skate at all, but even after a few beers, I knew I didn't want to spend my Saturday evening alone on the roof. So I went to the bridge. I mistook a new guy for CA. We chatted and I got a drunken ******* and a drunken *******. RMJ and IS and 3c showed up, and they skated til lights out and I mostly drank beer and talked shit with whoever was resting. It was nice to get back to the grime.

IS wanted to visit a special spot, so we cruised over. I got caught out behind them, and as I rolled up, yelling, "I'm back," I instantly caught a loose tile and slammed. Skate juice came out of my knee and elbow. I also threw up.

It's a metal bank that you have ollie up to get onto, and both sides grind. They skated and I drank more beer, to wash the taste of vomit out of my mouth. Then we were invited to leave, because we     ( I) were talking too loudly.

All that beer tried to come out of the other end of me, so I bolted home.

Some are one trick ponies but we embrace 'em Cuz I've always had a soft spot for repetition

Working Saturdays is what it is, which is a way to make money. After I got off work, I wasn't sure what to do with myself, so I drank a few tallboys. IS and RMJ went up to yuanshan station for some cruising and I got there early and had another beer at crafted, and a quesadillo from the stand that sells them there. Eventually, I got impatient and cruised sloppily across the square tile plaza and down to the hidden green two stair curbs. The guys showed up and we got to skating.

It took me a bit to skate off the buzz, and before I did, I tried a nasty ** **** on the lower curb, and twisted to ride out, not realizing my heel was off, and it stuck, and that's why I have a sore neck several days later. We pushed this way and that, security would come out to smoke a cigarette but not actually say anything to us, and off we would go into the steamy night.

We ended up at family or seven, I can't remember which, and beered up. A dude nearly broke his neck trying to ogle us from a bike, and then he kept walking by and staring. The beer store had a toilet downstairs, and next to it was a couple romantically looking into each other's eyes, under the florescent glow. As I walked past them and went upstairs, I noisily broke wind, and the girl shouted in disgust from the other side of the room.

After a while, we were at xingtian and I got to skating again. I was trying a line of **_**, *******, ** ****, and I guess I sort of made it. I also spend a bit more time on the ground, but not in a bad way. We rolled up on the old stoop, which is a 30m long set of pink marble stairs, grindable to the sidewalk side. It has a carpet across the middle, and for years, I've been trying a certain trick while cruising, trying to get it across the whole carpet. For whatever reason, on this night, buzzing like a bumblebee, I actually made it. In my opinion, the greatest feeling a trick can have is to be done while cruising, first try. Anyway, RMJ took off and IS and I talked about life til the birds started singing, and I pushed back home and got in bed before the sun came up. It must have been a close one though.

IS told me it was nasty and not to do it

I've been growing a table of microgreens on my roof top.  I've got spinach, Taiwanese spinach, mustard greens, radishes, watercress, amaranth, garden rocket, and probably something else I'm forgetting. I just sprinkled the seeds thick and eat em as they come up. IS came over for a roof topper the other night and pointed out how nasty it is to eat greens like that. I poo poo'ed his criticism and thought nothing of it. Last night, I bit into a crunch leaf. It was like it had bones in it or something. It was very gooey, and tasted like a booger. I spit out whatever it was, and went about my business. This morning, I noticed the greens were covered in tiny snails. Here's hoping I don't get any Angiostrongylus cantonensis.