Rest In Peace Whisper...

So today, April 29, 2016 was the day my dog, Whisper, passed away. He was the most innocent, loyal, friend anyone could ask for.

Right before we left for Vegas, my dad had to drop off our dogs at his friend's house, so that he could take care of them for us. I didn't think much of it because every time we go out, that's what we always do. We packed all our things and got into the car. I got comfortable, lay down and eventually fell asleep. 

I woke up an hour later to my dad and his friend on the phone. I overheard the conversation and I was instantly worried. My dad's friend said that Whisper had ran out of the house and that he had no idea where he went, so he got in the car and tried to look for him. After he started the engine, and started to reverse, he felt something under the car.... I'll let you guess the rest.

As they were taking on the phone, his voice sounded shaky and full of sorrow. Eventually we decided to meet up at the veterinarian. Once we both arrived, my mom raced out the car to check on Whisper. She instantly started sobbing... I would've done the same, but didn't want to see him in pain, it was too much for me. I started to cry, and began thinking about the worst... 

About half an hour later, my mom came out the room crying, and approached me. She said that Whisper wasn't going to make it... My whole body went numb and my heart skipped a beat. I was in disbelief. She said that I could say goodbye to him, so I did. 

I walked into the room and there he was, wrapped in a blanket, while his normally white fur, was charred into a dark, black color, and scratches and burns all over his body. My heart collapsed and I began to tear up. It was so painful so see such an innocent creature be in so much pain. I held him in my hands one last time. My brothers and my mom entered the room and we said our goodbyes. In the little amount of time I was allowed to hold him, I remembered every single memory we had together, like when I snuck him Cheerios in his kennel everyday, or when he pooped on my bed (not fun)... Despite the good and bad, it hurt so much to know that I would never see him again.

 When the vet came back, I didn't want to give him up. I wanted to hold him forever...As my mom took her from my hands and into the arms of the vet, I said one last goodbye and that I'll never forget him. She walked away, with my dying companion in her hands, while I caught one last glimpse of Whisper, my best friend.

Birthday Bash Part 2

I woke up super impatient to start the day. Coincidentally, everyone else just happen to wake up around the same time. We ate cereal and oatmeal, then got dressed and began to warm up outside. 

After skating in my front yard for about half an hour, it was finally time to go to Skatelab, an indoor skatepark. We all packed our things in the car and started to drive. 

We drove for about an hour before reaching our destination.  We all unloaded to our things and entered the park. It was completely empty! A good thing because we pretty much had the whole park to ourselves. Once we all paid for our wrist bands, we started to skate around the park. 

We skated for around an hour and a half before Max, Dax, Michael and I decided to try "grass gap," a large five foot high and four foot wide gap. I rolled up the gap, overwhelmed by the amount of space I had to clear. We all rolled up, then jumped down the gap a few times just to get a feel of the impact. 

After jumping down it a bunch of times, Michael went straight for it, with full commitment. He stuck it. He ran back up the gap for a second attempt. He rode down the ramp to gain lots of speed. Pop, slide, land simple as that. Michael got it second try. After Michael, Max, then Dax proceeded to land it after trying it a few times. 

This left me the only one who hadn't landed it. I rolled up the gap with plenty of speed. I popped, slid but then kicked the board out sideways. After doing a this few more times I decided that I would try my hardest to land it even if I was to clip the gap. So I approach grass gap once again with plenty of speed, popped, slid and landed, perfectly. Finally I landed it. It took quite a while, and finally landing it felt very satisfying. The rest of the session was dedicated to just having fun and filming for some clips.

Probably one of the best birthdays I've ever had.

Birthday Bash Part 1

I ran out school and straight into the bike racks. As I picked up my board, I saw Russ, Dax, Max and
David enter the bike racks. We all gathered our things and skated down the street to my mom's car. We all loaded into the car and started to drive to Pedlow skate park. Once my mom stopped the car in the front of the park, I kissed her goodbye and entered the park. I pulled out my camera and immediately began to film my friends. My friend  Joaquin, a very consistent skater decided that he wanted to get filmed first. He got his clip relatively quickly with ease and finesse. I proceeded to film many other skaters in the park, just like any other day. After about 3 hours or skating and filming. My dad picked us up and then we went straight to a Korean BBQ restaurant. We ordered a variety of meets such as pork brisket and pork belly. The brisket so soft and crunchy at the same, while the  salty and sweet sauces complimented the taste. We kept on ordering brisket until we were super full.
After eating, we went to a karaoke place right next door. All five of us went into a single room and began to sung our hearts out. We sang tons of songs like, "Never Gonna Give You Up," "September,"
and many, MANY other songs. Once each of us lost our voice, we decided it was best to go home and relax.
When we got home, I realized two cakes, one chocolate, and one fruit tart, lit with candles. One thing led to another, and everyone began to sing happy birthday to me.
Soon after I freshened up and slept excited for what was to come the next day.

Welcome to Jamaica!

So some of you readers may know that I ended up going to Jamaica this week. And it was pretty fun. The weather was really sunny, warm with clear skies, while the water of the beach was warm. It started in the airport, LAX. We did all the regular procedure stuff to get through to the terminal. After waiting about half an hour we boarded the plane. My mom told me that the flight would almost be seven hours so I had to get comfy. Luckily, in the seat I sat in had a TV. I urged my mom to pay for the movies, so that I wouldn't get bored. For the duration of the flight, I watched Star Wars The Force Awakens, twice, and the Hunger Games. After a short seven hours, we finally landed in the JFK airport in New York. Shortly after leaving the plane we boarded another plane, for Jamaica. We eventually boarded, flew and landed within two hours. As soon as I got out of the plane I immediately felt the humid weather on my skin. Once we collected our luggages we exited the building. I noticed the huge, green mountains, all over the area, as we walked to the bus which would take us to that Resort. The bus pulled up to the front of the Resort and dropped us off. By the door, there were people handing out free drinks, and a band of Jamaican folks singing to us. I was pretty excited due to the immediate positive vibes I got from everything. As we walked into the resort to check in and get our room key, I noticed the resort was super nice. Marble floors, couches, pillars and plants filled the room. After receiving the keys we ventured to our room on the third floor of the building. The room was small, clean and nice, but that wouldn't matter because I would spend 90% of my time outside.

After unpacking and settling down, I tossed on my swim shorts and ran out the room, to the resort. I saw a single pool and a bar, as I wandered the area. I explored a bit more and then I found a whole separate section of the resort. It was beautiful. It looked like something out of a commercial. It was a huge pool with a waterfall, and a bar, with water slides leading into the right side of the pool. I knew I was going to have a blast. The next few days....

Finishing my YouTube Video! (Part 2)

My mom dropped me off in front of the park. As I rolled in I instantly recognised two of my friends, Alex and Kenny. I skated towards them, but and greeted them. After speaking to them for a few minutes we all decided to skate. I decided to warm up on "nugget", a three foot drop. I did my usual routine of starting out with the basic tricks, then slowly started to land my more difficult tricks. After skating nugget, I decided to skate the centre piece of the park. I tried to do the line that I mentioned in my prior blog (the one where I hurt my knee). I corrected my mistakes from the prior session and easily landed my line first try. After rolling away from the last trick, I decided to try a new trick on the ledge. I rolled up with moderate speed and got on the ledge, with by if my trucks. My board started to swerve a bit, so I tried to get off the ledge, to prevent injury. After safely getting out of the trick, I realised that I almost accidentally landed a really hard trick. With excitement, I ran back into position, for another attempt. I approached the obstacle with plenty of speed. And popped onto the beginning of the ledge. Mid grind, I made an effort to rotate my body 180 degrees out of the grind. I stuck it. I ran back to get into position. On my third attempt, I locked both my trucks, and perfectly rotated out of the grind. Excited, I ran to my bag to get my camera. I handed it to Kenny so that he could film me. It took a few tries, but I finally landed it, perfectly just the way I wanted it. As I put my camera away, I noticed my good friend Michael and his brother had just entered the park. I greeted him then he began to warm up.
After Michael warmed up he decided he wanted to get a clip into the kiddie pool. I told him that I would film him, and we proceeded to continue. He stuck his trick three times but couldn't land it. On the fourth try, Michael caught his trick. However he ended up landing on his toe in an awkward position, causing him to sit out for the rest of the session.
After skating around for a couple of hours, the group decided to get pizza. Shortly after eating, we skated back to the park to get picker up...
When I got home, I reviewed all my footage. I complied, and edited all the clips. After being satisfied with what I had, I decided to upload the video. It took about half an hour to render, but it eventually, uploaded. Finally. All the work I have put in the past month was finally completed.

Finishing My YouTube Video! (Part 1)

So on Friday though Sunday of this week were the days I finally collected enough footage for my video. It all started Friday after school.

It was Friday, the day we finally got out of school. As soon as the bell rang I jolted to the bike racks. Once I assembled my friends we rode down the street from school, to get collected by my mom. As we drove to the park, Pedlow of course, we discussed tricks to get on film. Dax said that he would be willing to try to boardslide long rail, a three meter rail, going down a steep four foot slope. I knew that trying to complete that task would be difficult, but I had no doubt in my mind that Dax would land it. As soon as we pulled up, we entered the park. Dax decided that he would warm up his body, before trying to accomplish a gruelling task. He skated around the centre piece, skating the box, and rails. After almost half a hour. He decided that he was finally ready.
He rolled up to the rail, before beginning to commit. After rolling up, he started to fling his board onto the rail... Then finally he started to commit. He rolled up with plenty of speed, and got on top of the rail. He slid down about a foot but then immediately jumped off. Dax was ready to land it. It was clear that the adrenaline was flowing through his body, as he quickly ran back up the slope. Once again,  he rolled up with speed. He got on the rail, and slip way farther than the last attempt,  but jumped off because he could maintain balance. Once again he ran up the slope. For a third time he  approached the rail with even more speed than the previous attempts. He got on the rail, however his wobbly posture showed that he was really unbalanced. Before slipping backwards and getting badly hurt, Dax caught himself above the rail, just between his legs... My heart was racing. I probably had just as much, if not more adrenaline than Dax.
It took a while, about 10 tries but then Dax finally landed it. Dax ran back up the slope next to me to review the footage. After rewarding it a few times he said that he didn't like it and thought it was sloppy, despite the fact that I thought if looked perfectly fine... After about five tries he landed it, perfectly. It couldn't have been any better. This time Dax was completely satisfied. After that, I decided to take a brake on filming, and just try to learn a few new tricks.
After skating around, it got pretty dark, I decided that I would come back the next day the complete the video.

Filming a Sponsored Skater...

Hey guys just like my other blogs, this blog is about skateboarding.

It was Saturday morning, February 20th, and I had just pulled up to the skatepark. I decided to immediately start filming for a video I had been working on for almost three weeks. I cruised around the park looking for someone to film. Finally, I found my friend Curtis. Curtis was a junior in high school, and a really, really good skater. He had several sponsors, for clothing, boards and a shop. He approached him and asked if he wanted to get clips for my video. Without a doubt he said yes. We first decided to skate the kiddy pool, a four foot drop with a small, slippery slope on the bottom. Curtis said that he'd front shove the pool in a few tries. I got out my camera and got into position. He approached the spot with plenty of speed in order to clear the slope at the bottom. With style, he popped, caught, then landed on his board... He landed it first try, a trick that would normally take me fifteen. He ran back up the slope, and said that he would do it SWITCH... For all you who don't what doing a trick switch is, it's when you do a trick with the opposite stance, much like writing with your opposite hand. Much like the previous attempt he approached the pool with speed. However he didn't land it. After about thirteen tries, he landed it with finesse.
After skating the pool, he said that he would do a trick on the ledge in the centre of the park. I skated over there and got into position. He approached the ledge with moderate speed and attempted his trick, a kick flip front noseslide, a trick that very few people could pull off. The first attempt had me in awe. The fact that he got so close, and almost landed it, first try, left me speechless. The level of skill Curtis had was amazing. He tried, and tried, and until he finally landed it about twenty minutes later. It was perfect. I felt that I almost didn't deserve to put a clip like that into MY video... I was so happy and overwhelmed that I got to film that.

Getting Hurt Skating

Hey everyone this is another blog from yours truly. So this weeks blog is about Pedlow my local skatepark, with a little twist.

So it was Thursday. I rode into Pedlow my local park, anxious to film for my video. I decided to warm up in the centre piece before filming anybody. I skated in the main manny pad. I thought of a line (series of tricks) to do to warm up. I immediately thought of something to do and decided to go for it. I ollied up the manny pad ready to execute my second trick, a no-comply 180. I quickly took my front foot off the board, while simultaneously scooping the board 180 degrees to the right. Right when I landed the no comply, I prepared to finish my line with a 180 of the box. I missed it. Motivated to land it, I went for it a second time. I ollied up the pad ready to no comply. With plenty of speed I tried to no comply however I missed the board...
The next thing I know, I was flying, then sliding across the pad and ended up slamming straight on my right knee. I couldn't get up. My leg hurt so much, to the point where it was pretty much numb. Luckily I knew that I wasn't seriously injured because I could still move my leg. I limped out the centre course and just sat... For pretty much the whole time I was there. It sucked...

Late Night Sky High Get Together

It was 9:00. My dad dropped me off in the front of the building. I said goodbye, then exited the car. As I walked, I instantly recognized my friends, Max, David, Dax, and Russ, along with many of my other friends, too many to count. I quickly registered, then put all my belongings in the parent lounge. Then the fun began. I jumped into the path of trampolines. We all jumped doing flips, running of the walls, and goofing around. After messing around, we all decided to venture to the foam pits. I got in line and waited. Finally, after waiting a long three minutes, it was my turn. I jumped on the tramp, to gain height. I bounced three times, then launched of the trampoline. Midair, I tucked in, then grabbed my legs, then landed straight in the foam. After fooling around at the foam pits, we decided to go back on the trampoline path. When we all assembled, Max, Dax and I, wanted to learn something new. Dax challenged himself to learn to back flip off the wall. He started, two squares from the wall, and sprinted toward the wall. He jumped from square to square, gaining more, and more speed. He leaped on the wall, and went for the back flip. He landed on his feet, however his great momentum caused him to roll backward, much like a tumbleweed. I fell on the ground, cracking up. It was the funniest thing ever. Fortunately for Dax, he didn’t have any injuries…   

Meeting Pros at the DC Demo

 It was a normal Friday after school. Me and my friends planned to go to our local park, Pedlow, in order to witness and meet, the DC pro skaters. We all decided to skate to the bus stop. After skating about, fifteen minutes on our way there, we finally boarded the bus. The bus ended up taking us to Encino, where Pedlow was located. From the Encino bus stop, we skated to Pedlow. As I rolled in to the park I noticed, a huge mound of people, all around the park. As I rolled in I instantly, recognized Evan Smith, an amazing pro skater that rode for DC and Element skateboards. All of a sudden, a swarm of people, started to make their way to the bowl. I began to follow the swarm of people, and in the heart of the group, I noticed Wes Kremer, an amazing skater, that has won Skater of the Year. And the awesomeness began. Evan Smith dropped into the bowl, going crazy fast, pumping over the transitions of the bowl. All of a sudden he whipped out a backside smith grind on the deep end of the pool, first try, which was about eighteen feet tall… Soon after landing his trick, Wes Kremer rolled into the bowl. He pumped from side, to side, until he had enough speed. Then he soon bursted into the deep end of the bowl, and landed a shuv-noseslide, first try. The crowd went insane throwing throwing their boards, screaming. Twenty minutes, I’ll never forget zoomed by. I decided to skate a bit myself. I skated a small blue legde for almost half an hour, learning new tricks, while practicing ones I already knew.

                Finally ending the day off, the pros decided to do a product toss. The threw shirts and other attire. Unfortunately, I didn’t get anything, but I wasn’t going to complain, because watching pros skate in person, was already enough.

Skatelab

    Hey guys! I'm finally back with another blog. This blog is about my friends birthday party and an indoor skatepark called Skatelab.

    Max and I rode up to the entrance of the park, with nothing but excitement. We opened the door and realized an mediocre amount of people cruising around the park. We walked up to the counter and registered ourselves. Shortly after paying the entrance fee, I walked to the counter and decided to buy a new board, because mine was pretty wrecked. After the shop keeper set up my new board. It was time to skate. I rolled up to the hip (a slanted surface), and decided to warm up on it. Max and I sessioned it for almost half an hour. Shortly after, I realized my good friend and the birthday boy himself, Michael rolled into the park with his older brother. Then suddenly, my two other friends, Dax and David entered the park as well. We were complete. The whole gang decided to session an 8 Frame rail, a slanted downward rail. After getting lots of footage, and learning new tricks, we decided to skate the half pipe. We all took turns, skating the pipe, and filming clips. 

We ended the day once again skating the hip, filming even more clips and eating pizza. All in all, it was a fun and productive day.