Skate Jobs

I have this really great job teaching skateboarding to immigrants at a public high school. Its probably something I'd do for free, but it pays twice as much as any job I've had. Unfortunately its only a few hours a week.

Last week I was in Seattle for the SLAG conference. There's now a sick skatepark next to the SLAG office, at the Seattle center (by the space needle). I forgot my camera. Anyways, after the meeting, Jessie, Nancy, Kristin and I skated the park. Turns out skating the park is basically one of Kristin's jobs. She's the skate park "monitor", but there's no pad/helmet enforcement there (Go Seattle!). Sometimes she gives kids pointers, and makes sure that if people drink beer they have a koozie around it or something. She'll also ask spectators what they think of the park, but it seems like she mostly just skates. She can leave to get food too. Its probably one of the best jobs one could have if they just want to skate. Way to go Kristin!

By the way, I like to cheat on people that I'm with by seeing people behind their back. Then I break up with them while omitting that I've become emotionally involved with that other person. Then after I move out, I live with that other person while still keeping it a secrete so I save face in front of my family and friends. I like having messed up thoughts and being shady.

Skaters in the closet

Literally in the closet. Hating on the Life of Ryan on Youtube. That was late spring. Good times (minus the Kristina's ACL tear and two broken phones).

RAIN

Last year torrential rain meant no skating.
Right now it means F-YEAH! because I don't have go to work (landscaping). I got to lay in bed and watch these really great legs in knee high socks and underwear. She's scrambling to catch the BART to work. I get to sit with hot tea while rain pelts against the window, and look over all the San Francisco houses smashed together in tight rows.

I watched this English movie called Imagine Me and You. Imagine if you married this really really great guy who was your best friend... but you were gay...... Hmmm. Anyways, the really really great guy I married and I promised to celebrate the bitter-sweetness of our separation by drinking a bottle of wine we'd bought in Italy. We'd been toting it around for the last 7 years, waiting for a special occasion to open it. I guess one could look at separating as a special occasion. "This is a testament to our relationship" he said smiling, holding up the dusty bottle, "sometimes its easier for us to abstain then to actually do things." We laughed. I took the big caste iron pan and he took the blender and coffee maker. We divided up the knives.

Summer onward was this big blur... something like stress and sadness layered over relief and being in love with this girl (adult female I should say). Her homeless, us moving into a cramped room, the house infested with fleas, both scrambling for work, not breaking even, my internet modem broke, my phone broke, her phone broke, her camera broke, her computer broke, mine is out of memory, my transmission went out, my car brakes failed, her car brakes failed, we biked only, 2.75 jobs each, night school, still not breaking even, flea bites, SLAG emails, not surfing, not skating, not writing, a really really pathetic yoga practice, trying to get health insurance, bike repairs, no money for the BART, separate bank accounts, coming out to family ("its never going to be the same again..." ...your telling me!), separate car insurance, AAA, really cheap groceries, and eating lots of brown rice and beans. (Also really nice picnics in the park btw.)

Now I have not only sugar, in the cupboard, but honey and maple syrup too! Life is amazing.

Saturday Day Off

What was planned:
-9am-11am: surfing and going to farmers market
-11am-4:30am: grocery shopping, skating or biking at least

What actually happened:
-9am-11am: mended pants
-11am-5:o0pm: caught up on the internet. (Most of the time spent catching up on the SLAG SF gmail and organizing the 800 messages in my inbox).

What I planned to drink:
coffee from a coffee shop

What I drank:
That instant cappuccino packet and it gave me a stomach ache

I ate frozen english muffins.

It was a good day and the sun shown through the windows, and I followed it around the house with my laptop. I really want to get out of the house. I feel stale. Signing out for a 60 cent pork bun and street skating.

Session at the Ranch

Thanks to Lisa Whitaker at TheSideProject for putting together this video as well as the last one posted. She is by far one of the raddest people out there. EVER.



After this skate session (which followed GSG), we got a midnight tour of the bulls... "The Ranch" is truly a ranch and the bowl we skate is inside a true barn. The bulls were quite onery. Turns out they are famous... prize bulls, valued for their genes. Their semen is sold all over the US and Europe. Maybe you are thinking the same thing we were... like, um, how does one collect bull semen? Well, in case you don't know but have an inquiring mind, they have a fake plastic cow that the bull mounts... and the semen goes through a tube in the fake cow and collects in a bag. Then its frozen/preserved with liquid nitrogen. We were told by our guide, that there is another way to collect it... that he doesn't agree with so much... something about an electric probe in the anus... ok, maybe this is TMI for a skate blog. Anyways, the calves were a little friendlier, and they licked our hands with giant twisting tongues, which were rough, like grip tape. They were sweet, made the girls talk about being vegetarian and all that. Eventually we fell asleep on the ramp.

In the morning we headed to San Francisco for a couple more days of skating with the girls. Kristina ollied the gap at 3rd and Army, then she tried to kickflip it but it was pretty windy, and she busted her knee, which was a real bummer. Then Abisha rolled her ankle. I fell on my phone and broke it... then Kristina broke her phone. At the end of the day there were 7 girls jammed in my closet watching youtube videos and mad-hating-on 'the life of Ryan'. It was priceless. If you want to see pictures of "the closet" and this entire adventure you can find them on TheSideProject blog (link posted above).

Girls Summer Gathering (GSG) !!!

Girls Summer Gathering 2009


Enough said.

Raccoons doing it.

FYI: This Blog is deteriorating. Yes. You might read it and feel like you just listened to some message I left in your voice mail that was too long and got cut off. My suggestion is that if you want to read more about girls skating, you should log into the Skate Like A Girl San Francisco blog. In fact I recently wrote a little story about a game of S.K.A.T.E. There are other writers for that blog too, just in case you're getting tired of hearing me.

Anyways... being sick again, filling up on miso soup and tea and chocolate. My right eye keeps gooping up. A never ending chain of texts, emails, phone calls, instant messaging. A tour almost underway. Fundraising. SLAG in Pride. Updating websites. Meetings. After school programs. Skateparks being built. More girls learning to skate. Demos. GSG. (Speaking of GSG, Amy Caron just wrote a song about it, check it out: GSG Song... wait, I can't figure out how to post this... I'll do it later, or email it upon your request)

I took a little lunch break today and watched a skate video. Bad idea... shouldn't do that when I'm trying to rest and get well and resist the urge to skate and all that. After the video I looked out the window to see if the raccoons were chilling on the fire escape. They were totally doing it so I snapped these shots (I know, no privacy but c'mon, they were right outside my window which was open... and it was broad daylight... but then again maybe nocturnal animals doing it mid-day is like humans doing it in the middle of the night. At least they were quiet, not like the neighbors, geez! No, the neighbors weren't doing it on the fire escape, but still, even with my ipod in it was too much information.

Have a meeting at the wine bar now. Romantic eh?

PDX--->

Meeting. Nailing down the SLAG summer tour. Website tutorial. Dutch Brothers across the street. Pouring rain. Cat fur and spray and kittens everywhere. Dog poop. Peeing on the lawn. Enough sunshine for lil mini-ramp sessions. Flip-tricks in the street. I didn't take a shower or change my clothes for 3 days. I learned too late that if you try to catch an earlier flight and its not the same day that you pay $100... so I slept in the airport, and the next day, when I boarded standby, they gave my grubby self a fist class seat and put my skate in the special coat check. Thank god for ipods and good friends that write handwritten letters. Thats enough to make me feel like the luckiest SOB ever.

Mexico City Part 4 (Majical Mystery Tour / clinics)

Nancy and I went to Mexico city as representatives of SLAG to teach skate clinics to the girls at Chica Rider (our sister organization). They have the most amazing crew of female skaters. They seemed to catch on faster then any girls we've worked with. Their enthusiasm was contagious and we skated with them for hours. They wanted to try every trick... and due to my lack of skill and my personal preference, I resorted to a lot of old school moves. These were some of the best days I've had skating. La Fuente skatepark clinic in Mexico City. I like this park because its got shade and trees and just relaxing overall. We were happy to give away some free stickers, shirts, and DVDs for this event. Renata Ruiz came and ripped it up a little at the end, despite her apt having burned down that weekend. It was good to see her one last time before we left.


There were so many girls skating with Chica Rider. On Saturday, they filled up an entire tour bus and drove to Queretaro, the most colorful park I've ever seen. There we were greeted by more girls and really supportive male skaters. Mexican skater Mayra Gallegos showed up missing her board, so I lent her mine and despite not skating in months, she put down some impressive lines. She rips. The three hour bus ride back to Mexico city was one big fiesta. We watched skate videos and the girls danced and sang the whole time... lots of energy.
Nancy instructing over a dozen girls.
Girls skating in Mexico is blowing up! We were honored to be guests of Chica Rider and look forward to returning. Thank you to Paco and Paloma!

Mexico City part 3 (mangos and more)

Palm Sunday.
Lots of fresh fruit, papayas, guavas, mangos... The mangos were the best I ever had. Soft like a peach and sweet, and you can peel them like a banana, and take bites around the small pit. Its not the variety that you could really ship, and not super stringing like I'm used too. I ate more of these then my stomach wanted to handle.

Paco and Paloma were a little amazed we didn't get sick from the street food, but we pretty much indulged in everything, tacos, tortas, tamalies, smoothies. It was all delicious. Nancy even got a langua (tongue) taco. The guy cut the giant thing in half, peeled the outer skin off with a couple quick rips, warmed it up on the grill, and put a corn tortilla around it. You could still see the tastbuds and Nancy scarfed it down without much chewing or examination. She said it tasted like beef.
Gum tree. Like I said, we ate everything.
Everything except this little zoloitzcuitle, a hareless Aztec dog... a little greasy to the touch.
The culture in Mexico is very affectionate. Greetings are made with an embrace and a kiss on the cheek, and the parks are full of couples making out.

We love Paloma Guerrero!
And Mexico!

Mexico City Part 2

We were fortunate to hang out with Micaela of Poseiden (San Diego, CA), who also came to Mexico to help teach clinics for Chica Riders. Poseiden works to expand female participation in skateboarding. Micaela and Paco look back at the mariachi band while she explains that they are singing about this crazy woman who drowns her children in the river.

We went to a handful of parks. This one (called Bowls of head if Juarez, because it is next to a giant sculpture of Benito Juarez's head) had a series of large bowls, all painted different colors. We had a great time skating this park, until Nancy got stuck inside a really deep bowl and I had to help her out. We were both winded, still acclimating to the 7,000ft altitude and excessive smog levels. Check out the video at the end of this post for the panoramic view of this park

After skating we rest in the shade and talk about clinics, tours, foreign exchanges, and how we can work together in the future. Clockwise from upper left: Nancy (SLAG director), Renata (Riper!), Micaela (Poseiden), Paco, and Paloma (Chica Rider).

Above is my sneak photograph of reggaeton master 'Gold Nigga' at the opening exhibition of Converse sneakers that were painted by Oaxacan artists. We dined on fine wine and Oaxacan hours d'evours, including chapolines (grasshoppers). Unfortunately we didn't have snazzy suites like the folks below so Nancy and I showed up in our grubby jeans and sweatshirts. This didn't stop the press from shooting photographs of us or Canvas Magazine from scheduling an interview.

Mexico City part 1

Nancy and I flew to Mexico City to meet up with Chica Rider, Skate Like A Girl's Latin counterpart. We were there to teach clinics and support this great organization that Paco and Paloma have started. Turns out those two are a couple of the greatest people in North America. They greeted us with hugs, secured our accomodations, and began our great tour of Mexico City. Our first day we were given a proper tour of the city and central plaza, where we marvelled in the Spanish architecture, Aztec pyramids, museums, murals by Diego Rivera, paintings by Frida Kahlo.

The virgin de Guadalupe.
We visited the Dulceria de Celaya. Polama explained to us that the candy is over 200 years old... well the recipies that is, and the store has been in operation at that location for almost that long.
Fresh off the plane we had a midnight interview with Reactor 105.7 radio, regarding upcoming clinics.

SLAG Vision 2009

The Conference:
Skate Like A Girl coordinators and directors from SEA, PDX, and SFO congregated in Seattle this weekend for the visioning meeting of 2009. It was a grueling three days, but seriously, what other organization accomidates kickflips with bathroom breaks? To say the least we were all stoked to gather together and outline a rout into the future.

Kristin babysits Nancy and I at Snowboard Connection while we work on flip tricks.
Finishing the day at Kristin's work.
Kickflip break in the conference room
Have we really been meeting for 9 hours?
Skate Like A Girl Seattle has got an office space at the Seattle Center, next to the space needle. A skatepark is being built next door. Come visit once they are moved in!

DIY SF

Enough said.

Ladonna's B-day: Ripon and 'The Ranch'

Ladies from as far as from Southern California, Oregon, Washington and even Florida came to skate 'the Ranch' for Ladonna's birthday. 'The Ranch' has cows, hay, and a giant bowl inside a barn. Before skating The Ranch, a dozen of us hit up Ripon. CrAshley from Seattle below.
Kristeezy from Portland is a really impressive skateboarder. However, due to circumstances, she spent the bulk of her time in Cali being injured, harassing people, and sleeping in my closet.
Addaline setting up to play for the ladies bowl jam. Amy and Kristin get on the mic and clear the ramp.
Kristin gets styley while Alex gets some footage. Thanks to Ladonna and Frank for hosting! For more about this place and event click on The Ranch.