Tomorrow morning. One last Gel Labs this week, a downtown Los Angeles cruise through the streets to the parking garage that we have to sneak into and are never caught cause there are no guards or cameras, just a gate we’ve figured out how to open. Picking up Aaron from the Block from Skatehouse in the morning to get him back to SF for a 24 Sunset Sliders event on Saturday. Interviewing Cliff Coleman in person on Friday in Berkley.
My favorite Raptor has an interview at an organic farm in a small town of 1700 people surrounded by mountains and trees in Northern California, east of Humboldt, west of Redding.
The town has 3 white water rafting places, all of which I intend to walk into and say “Hey, I’m Daisy. I want to work here, what do you need help with?”
Hopefully I can secure my first summer working on the river, because I’ve known for over a decade that the river life is for me. I suppose maybe it’s why I put all my stuff in storage in August.
Everything that we own (including my dog) fits into one 90’s mini van without the middle seat. It fully functions as a get away vehicle, a daytime lounge, and a night time nest.
I thought I was almost done with it, but it’s gonna need another day of finicking at least, I just found a few more clips that didn’t come over in the main import.
If there’s one thing the skate world has that the hooping world does not have, it’s an abundance of go pros. 97% of hooping videos are filmed via a mac from one spot, with music playing from the computer, unedited, usually in a bedroom or living room. A raw run, basically. A really boring, bad quality, first-ever raw run with a filming pole in the center of the shot. The type only a mother could love. Er.. only a hooper could love. But still. I spend hours watching hooping videos. Youtube is confused about what to suggest to me. Hoop or skate. And I need both. Ying and Yang.
I haven’t used gopro much since the initial satisfaction of filming and editing a video set in after breaking my leg. I had no motivation to film anything when I hurt my foot in January. Pretty much just wanted to crawl into a hole and sleeeeeep ah hah.
I just spent a weekend in the woods with a raptor name Shpongie, and we didn’t film or take pictures of anything. Camped at the top of GMR, Tugnar, and Malibu’s longest grip run, but all I got were a few crappy cell phone pictures. I’ll keep those memories to myself and their collaborator, and start pulling out the go pro more now.
My foot feels good. It’s weird to say. I almost took that back for a second, but it’s the truth. It’s been 6 months since I skated with a vengeance big enough to satisfy the hunger. It’s insatiable.
I pulled out the techslide deck Kyle gave me in December again the other day for the first time since I killed myself on the mini ramp. Earthwing Paloma, Indys 169, bones hardcore medium, slide A’s.
I did a bunch of toeside 180s, a few switch 180s, and ONE switch toeside 180. But.. ya know. Hard wheels. It’s like cheating, basically.
I love it.
PS. I’m about to start drilling new wheelbases for myself. Find my zone.
Perfect day in the mountains. Car camp out at the top of the run. Morning stretches on the way down. From the mountains to the beach.
Found my homies after lunch and hula hooping on the sand dune overlooking the Pacific Ocean, took a couple runs. Woman pulled out of a driveway without looking after 2/10 riders passed her. She was horizontally across both lanes just before a right. I passed her on the left side of the lane in oncoming traffic Everyone behind me had to do something hyphy, too.
Shortened my wheelbase. Love it.
One set up. Dance to freeride to downhill. In love.
Went to Beyond Wonderland with some homies on a whim, got tickets the day before. Was pleasantly surprised that it was outside, not inside.
Happy warmer weather is rolling in. Ready to party in the woods with the trees.
I think I’m better at hula hooping than skateboarding.
Confession.
But I’m fully addicted to both. My yin, my yang.
Can’t stop, won’t stop.
Also, I’ve been asked to interview Cliff Coleman. My subconscious is writing the questions for him. It will let me know when I’m ready. Today I’m writing that story I promised on Mexico, because the ending made itself clear to me in the past 8 hours.
From race to rave, Saturday was one of the fullest days I’ve experience in a long time.
I skateboarded and I hula hooped and now I’m going to sleep.
(That’s what all of my elementary journals sounded like, except I rode my bike and did gymnastics or played soccer and went to school.)
I’ve come so far. Or I’ve learned to type so fast. Or write more nonsense.
Someone got on me about the rhyming thing. I gotta start slinging more bling with my words. Damn. I’d be more of a hippy if it weren’t for the man. That was said by Kee-nan.
Dude asked me if I perform with hooping at the race today. Oh, I brought my hoop to the race today. I can’t help it. I need to get that flow. But I shouldn’t be skating so much. Ya know how when you’re in the grocery store, and you see something that your body really needs (naked green machine) at that moment and you’re like …. “oh shit… I need this” and your arm reaches out to grab it even if your mind is just trying to get some icecream? Well that’s what happens to my ankle and the hula hoop. Skateboard bad. Hoop good. But I need to get that flow, man. Hoop flow is a different beast than a groovy downhill run, but it flows still, if you do it right.
Anyway, I said no to the performing question, but I really meant: “Sure, I guess.”
Can’t wait til the parties start going outside again. I don’t like to be cooped up in a warehouse with so many dirty hippies. I like to have my friends the trees around. Okay, Daisy Bear, cool it.
Raced Victoria and Francesca today at an outlaw in Cali. Really that means that I went down after them, but taking tight lines and tucking hard are the two things I can’t do right now, and they come in handy for racing. I wobbed out all gnar right after the finish line on my second run, thought for a tiny sec I was going down and for a longer second that that would be silly and I just surfed it out from a mostly-standing position.
Victoria Waddington is pretty quick these days, and her race face is hungry.
