Spring Break 2010

So now that I live in Florida and its biggest spring break capital pretty much, me and my friends couldnt figure out what we wanted to do. It was Wednesday night, and noone knew if they were going to go down south for some spring break fun. I decided that night that I wasn't going to go anywhere because I was super sick, had no voice and a bad cough. I woke up to my 2 friends telling me were going to West Palm, i was trying to tell them I wasnt going to go but i couldnt even get it out with my bad cough. Next thing you know, I'm driving down to West Palm with one shirt, one pair of pants, board shorts, my surfboard, and a wetsuit. We only thought we were staying the night, and then surfing the next day then driving back. We ended up staying that night at a Comfort in, then the next night at my friends condo in Ponce inlet and then next we stayed at a friends house in Orlando. 4 different surf spots, some Downtown Disney and City Walk fun, and just hanging out.

Palin for President?

Today, there is a lot of debate about if Sarah Palin should run for president or not. Much of the media is not in favor of her bid for the presidency and often times makes fun of her. Because of this I feel that she should not run for president in 2012. The media has done a real number on her reputation. A lot of people in America can’t even tell the difference between her and Tina_Fey which would be a huge issue if she ran for president. Palin has also handled herself poorly in the media and stumbled through countless interviews and constantly seemed unsure of herself. Most recently Palin was caught using notes on her hand in order to get through a speech.

Palin also lacks enough political experience. Her credentials to be president include city councilwomen, governor of Alaska and PTA mom. While these are all great accomplishments, they do not even come close to preparing her to run a whole country. Palin has not been head of a major city and therefore has not dealt with any severe security issues or dealt with any international diplomats. And even though she may be popular among soccer moms, her far right views may make it almost impossible for her to secure a bid. Her family issues will also cause a lot of unwanted stress in the wake of an election. The issues of her personal life will most likely outdo her political views and make it impossible for people to take her seriously.

My Life, and Skateboarding

Everyones heard about skateboarding, whether your into it or not. When I think about skateboarding, I think about a type of lifestlye. You can take skateboarding to any degree you like. Many people give skateboarders a bad rep thinking that they just like to ruin concrete ledges, jump down stairs for no reason and run from cops. This is my take on skateboarding and why I do it.

I grew up in a small town in Northern New Jersey, of course my parents wanted me to do every type of sport just because that was the norm. I played football, baseball, and basketball. I found it was really hard to focus on these sports because I was just so bored. For my 9th birthday, this girl bought me an old-school Power-Ranger skateboard, even had old-school rails under it. I remember how excited I was about this new toy at the time and didn't know what to do with it. Right away I slid down my hill on my stomach, hit a rock which stopped me short, sent me head first into the cold hard pavement. Next thing I know, my mom was yelling at me as I sat on the kitchen counter telling me shes throwing "the piece of **** out", I could understand why she was so nervous,but my nose and teeth were gushing blood. My dad saw how sad I was about her doing so, so he went into the garbage and hid it for me. Next thing I knew is I was skateboarding almost everyday, still playing football and all that but not enjoying them. A few years later I remember I was bombing down a hill at my friends house using his skateboard, during this the skateboard truck( metal object that the wheels are attached to) snapped off and sent me flying into a curb, boom concussion right there.

About 5th grade, I was pretty decent at skateboarding, and because my sister was in highschool, she told her guy friends about me. This led me to a town skateboarding team called " Skate-Attic" . Everyday after school these kids from highschool ( who some are my best friends at the time) would call me up and tell me to meet them at a spot to skate. We would skate untill dark, I'm not gona lie, I did feel pretty cool hanging out with kids that we're a couple years older then me. My mom was nervous that I was gona start smoking pot and all that just because of the stereotype, but I told her that we were honestly just skateboarding. As I got into 7th grade I would switch it up and hang out with kids in my grade, but then also skate and hang with the other crew. I looked up to all of these kids but at the same time, they all looked up to me too, I would push the limits and mostly do more then they could ever do and I was only skateboarding for a short period of time. All my friends in my grade were doing stupid stuff getting chased by cops all the time so I felt as though skateboarding kept me out of trouble as I was growing up.

What really hit off skateboarding for me was when a few friends and I went to a skatepark called "RexPlex", which what we thought was just going to be an average day. When we got there, we couldnt skate because there was a ProAm contest going on in an hour. The only way to skate was if we entered the contest. Before I knew it I was dropping into the park doing my first run. I ended up getting 5th place in this contest, got a bunch of free stuff and also had a blast. A few months went by and I got something sent in the mail, it was an invite to the ProAm contest in Philly, so i said what the heck and my dad and I went. It was a blast, I met so many people, skated real good, and got 3rd place. After this they told me I am invited to the East ProAm Championship. I started practicing more and more and when I got there, I was really stressed out, there were 63 awsome skaters and it was really gettin to my head. My toe was killin me I didn't know why at the moment. I remember my final heat like it was yesterday, the song " Hey Ya" by OutKast came on right before I dropped in. During this heat I hit up a handrail no one else was grinding cause it was so big, it took my 3 tries but I got it and everyone was going nuts. After the competition me and my dad sat there and heard they were only listing off the top 15, so i figured I definetly wasn't getting called. Next thing I new they called Jason Bell up and I was inbelief, I went up there, they let me pick a new skateboard deck, a backpack , new trucks and wheels, grip tape, bearings, a shirt and a bunch more.

I went to go get my foot x rayed and found out I had a spur on my right thumb toe and it was in excruciating pain, I could barely walk. They said I would have to get surgery on it, and be on crutches for about a year. The last thing I wanted to do was be on crutches for a year, so i decided to take high calcium pills, I didnt skate and walked with my toe off the ground for a long, long time. Im pretty sure my spur heeled somehow in about a year. Without skateboarding for a full year, I ended up not wanting to do it anymore.

The contests ruined it for me, I was skating to win, and not for myself, not why I started skateboarding. Throughtout highschool, I rarely ever skateboarded, I snowboarded and surfed. Everyone in town knew me as the kid taht skateboards, but would ask why the hell i would stop and i just said " I dont know, its not the same". Once I went to college at University of Rhode Island, there wasn't much to do in winter besides surf occasionally when there was swell, and party. I joined a frat called ZBT and really liked it at first, but felt like i wasnt being myself. I found out there was a skatepark nearby, and started going about 3 times a week. I really got back into it and getting all my tricks back. At first it was really frustrating, but its what I love, its not the same as snowboarding or surfing, because there not as challenging, skateboarding you really have to practice to get good at it.

Skating isnt about being the best, its just about goin out there and having fun seeing what you can do with it. I feel as though the reason I love skateboarding, is because you can do it anywhere, and it is not a team sport, noone is telling you what to do. You can have your own style with it, and there are so many places and different types of skateboarding you can do.

Living in Florida now, having new skate spots, new friends to skate with, gets me really amped. Skateboarding is a lot of blood and sweat, anything can happen when you do it. The first week I sprained my ankle at the Treaty Skatepark just messing around on a little box, this isn't stopping me one bit, skateboardings my thing, it relieves stress and is a form of ecstacy for me. In about a week im going to go back to skating see how it goes.

Me and a friend went out to Huningtun Beach California this summer. Surf and skate all day, one of the best times of my life.
Below is a video me and a friend took of me when we first showed up to the skatepark.

As we were skating at this park, we met a few pro skaters, one I really look up to Louie Lopez, hes an amature right now, but will for sure be pro in years to come. Whats rad about skating is, we were at this park, skateboarding with pros, talking and just having a good time. You can't really do that with most sports like football etc.