Skate Land

Hey guys, welcome to another blog post! This week is going to be about my friend, Mireille, and her birthday party that I attended this Saturday, which took place at Skate Land. Skate Land was a recreational centre that allowed all people to roller skate or roller blade. At the time, roller skating was a totally new thing for me. You might think that since I skateboard, roller skating would be a breeze for me. It turns out, it was a lot harder than I thought it was. I almost felt that roller skating was the complete opposite of skateboarding. As soon I put on the skates, I instantly felt unbalanced, which was a feeling that I haven't felt in a long time. I realised that I had to push with both feet as opposed to a single foot, and also had to change my posture in which I rolled. 

Once I put on my skates, I decided to try to skate on the floor. It wasn't so bad, at least maybe the first five seconds... I fell on my butt, due to me lifting my foot in front of my body, which is how I pushed on a skateboard. Me, trying not to look like an idiot, got up as fast as possible, and kept trying. I kept falling, and falling, but being a skateboarder, I knew that the more I fell and tried, the better I'd get. Seeing all my friends, able to do what I wanted to do, without looking like an idiot, encouraged me, and because of that, within twenty minutes I knew how properly push around. 

After finally learning how to ride around, the real fun began. My and my friends, like usual started messing around and having lots of fun. After about two hours of skating around and pure fun, we gathered to the party room, ate, then sung happy birthday. Finally, after singing and eating cake, we had about thirty minutes left to skate.

Overall, I had a really great time celebrating with Mireille, and my friends, and hope I go again someday.

A Fun Friday.

Welcome back to my blog! This week's post is going to be about this previous Friday. This Friday was particularly fun for me. Not only was it a minimal day, it's was also the day where my friends, David, Russell, Max, Greg, Kenny and I would journey to the skatepark. 

The fun began when the bell had rung  at 12:47pm. I dashed to the bike racks to get my board, then waited for my friends to come. Once all of us were assembled, we skated to Starbucks. After around thirty minutes of skating next to Starbucks and fooling around, the uber had finally arrived. We all loaded our stuff, then hopped in the van. On the way there, we discussed the goals we wanted to achieve. My good friend Greg, said that he wanted to ollie one of the biggest gaps of the whole park.   Even I considered trying it. It was around seven feet tall, and had a small slope on the bottom. All of us kept chit-chatting until we pulled up the side of the park. We unloaded our stuff then began to cruise around the park. I stretched a bit and began to warm my body up, with a few simple tricks. After about ten minutes of warming up, I got straight to business and started to try new things. There was a tall, blue ledge that was a knee high for me. After around seven tries, I grinded it. I kept trying new things, until Greg said that he was ready to ollie the seven footer. He cruised to the spot and rolled up to see the drop. I decided to roll up and do the same. One glance looking down, and I was immediately terrified. I knew that if I were to try this, I would get badly hurt. I concluded that I wouldn't try it. Greg on the other hand, decided that he wouldn't back down. I rolled next to David who was ready to film. Greg said that he was ready to attempt it. He jumped on his board with plenty of speed, and directly committed. He fell off his board on impact, and slid on his slide. He yelled in frustration and pain. We encouraged him, screaming his name, in order to hype him up, and told him that he could land it. Greg decided he would go for it a second time. He went up the drop, looking focused and prepared. He jumped on his board with even more speed. Greg directly committed once again, but didn't land it. He couldn't take the impact, which lead him to stick, then slam way harder than last time. He yelled in pain and said that his ankles couldn't take it anymore. We didn't want to force Greg into hurting himself so we told him to relax. I decided to keep on trying to learn new things. 

At the end of the day, we all had plenty of fun and got lots of clips for our upcoming YouTube video, "Sk9r Boiz." 

Nobody Likes The Dentist...

Hey guys, welcome to my fourth blog! This week's post is going to be a bit out of the ordinary, because it based on my experience at the dentist...
That word.... "dentist," strikes fear into the heart of even the strongest man. But not me, I wasn't one bit nervous, even though I had to get one of my teeth extracted. I walked in to the waiting room, listening to music, patiently waiting for my named to be called. Finally, after about an hour later, a lady called my name. She guided me through the rooms and made me sit down on the procedural chair. She told me that I had to wait around 15 minutes for the "instruments to be sterilized". Those few words sent a chill through the back of my spine. I was immediately nervous. After about 15 minutes, two dentist gently place a pack of tools labeled, "surgical" on the table next to me. My legs slowly started to shiver in fear. One of the dentist then sat down next to me with a three inch syringe needle and said, "this is the anesthesia, to make you numb." I nodded casually, but in my head I was terrified. I hate needles. I hate shots and everything that has to do with shots. She slowly inserted the needle in my inner cheek. I felt it, a small, annoying, but painful pinch. She left the needle in my cheek for a few more seconds, then pulled it out. But it wasn't over yet. She got a fresh new syringe and told me that she had to inject more into my gum. I clenched my fists and squeezed my toes, feeling really tense. She again, slowly inserted the needle into my jaw and left it in my gum for a few seconds. The feeling I felt was nothing but an annoyance. It made me want to jump out of my seat and scratch my gum. Finally, she pulled the needle out of my gum.
She told me that I had to wait a few minutes for the numbing to kick in. It was only a matter of minutes when I couldn't feel half of my face. I tried speaking but couldn't, because I couldn't feel my tongue. After ten minutes, the real action was about to begin.
The doctors asked me if I was numb. I nodded because I couldn't talk. They warned that I would feel a lot of pressure on my tooth and that it might hurt a little bit. I was prepared to deal with the pain. They open the surgical pack and got two screwdriver-looking tools. She got what looked like a flathead screwdriver and stuck it in between my teeth. She started to twist it more and more. It was so excruciatingly painful. I thought that the numbing would help, but it barely did. I felt every bit of it. After twisting my tooth, she got a dull tool and started to push my tooth down. This was even more painful. It felt like my whole jaw would come break off. Finally, she got  a pair of plier looking tools and started to pull my tooth. And just like that, it was out. My mouth was bloody, sore and in so much pain. They stuffed gauze into my mouth in order to stop the bleeding. The lady said that I couldn't eat anything hard or warm, and said I could go finally home.
In conclusion, no matter how fearless you think you are, the dentist will always be one of your greatest fears...

Chris Joslin, Professional Skateboarder

Hey guys welcome to my third blog post! This weeks' blog is going to be about how one of my favourite skateboarders, Chris Joslin, recently turned pro. Now, you might be wondering what being 'pro' means. Becoming pro is every skateboarders' dream. First of all, you get to have your name on a skateboard. This alone is a huge deal, because every skateboarder dreams of his name on a board. Second, you get income, which is amazing because you're getting paid for having fun and doing what you love. And finally, you also get recognised by other skateboarders and eventually develop fans that look up to you. 

Out of all the current amateur skateboarders,  Chris Joslin was the least yet most viable candidate. Joslin has more talent on a skateboard than most pros today, however he had just became  amateur, which is the level before pro. Normally, if you become amateur, you'd have two wait around 2-4 years before becoming pro. Joslin was only an amateur for one year. Which is an extremely short time. He even became pro before both Trevor McClung and Scott Decenzo (amateur skateboarders), who have been on the Plan B team for more than two years.

In conclusion, Joslin possess an immense amount of skill on a skateboard, and definitely deserves to be called a 'pro'.