Alright, the moment some people have been waiting for, actually talking about skateboarding, and not some weird board stuff like the flowboard or that skater image I keep using as a temporary image. Here was my day skating.
Yesterday I decided to actually take some leisure time and go to a skatepark. Not before I went to the dollar store and got a big Arizona ice tea jug and some poptarts. Even I know that skating dehydrated and hungry is miserable. It's exercise, gotta put gas in the tank before the engine runs.
I usually do a about an hour or so of actual skating before I zip, that's more than enough time to have my fill. I practice stretching my legs and doing some of the basics like ollieing and getting sometimes successful pop-shuvits before I work on my stalls. Said stalls is literally just the rock-to-fakie and the same thing but with a pivot back to regular stance. Then it's usually cruising around the street track before hopping up to the bowl area to do some skate studying.
In my experience, there's nothing better to learn from than from skaters that actually got their tricks on lock. I get using YT to get some of the basics of some tricks, but my issue is that I follow it to the letter, and probably develop more bad habits that limit my potential than to improve it. My ollie game improved with some help of a real homie who was there to give some advice for what I was trying to do. Having some tips and corrections when on my board is more impactful than trying to emulate some dude who already ollies like it's breathing manually.
Same thing applies when I'm riding solo, since I believe that it's self evident that I don't tend to lounge around some of the most popular social medias and haven't made lots of long-term skate friends. Find a goal, attempt it, try to change what I believe is hampering my goal. My current goal is to ollie up a manny pad, but my brain keeps interpreting my ollie attempt as a regular hop-up and sticking my back foot onto the pad, completely missing the deck. My potential issues may be from trying not to hotshot too hard, and I think developing a habit of popping standing ollies while staring at my board perpendicular.
Occasionally there's another person interested in my board or whatever the hell I'm trying to do, and we do some courteous things. Offer a tip, some small talk, maybe a temporary deck swap. That last one is the more common, usually since I like real phat popsicle skate decks (9.5" or so), which is something I picked up after my brother gave me one of his friends' cruiser board decks as a gift for me. I don't usually mind, I need the in-person socialization.
In the event that I don't skate, I'm usually trying to relax my mental block, or just enjoy the free show from skaters who know what they're doing. There's skating to be done eventually, so I usually loop back with the prior actions that I typed out prior. Rinse repeat, and there's a somewhat typical skate day for me.
I don't qualify myself as a skateboarder just yet, out of preference. Once I get like a grind and a stairwell pop, I'll think about it. Gotta pick it back up, and I have to keep my body in shape while I do it. Don't let those stories of how your skate life goes in the toilet after your mid-20's, that's bunk. There's more to life than just skating 24/7, like being able to afford food and bills, balancing your adult life with personal stuff, and being able to wake up without feeling like a puddle of sore. There's just a lot more responsibility and health to keep in mind. To be able to somewhat 'unplug', do something, and to just be in the environment is something that I do appreciate.
Speaking solely from my experience, there's something that I noticed when it comes to skate culture, and maybe it's coming from the same spot as getting massively influenced by the Tony Hawk games that seared into my brain. The act of skateboarding itself can't be taken away from you, and the skateboard is an action that you, yourself put meaning into. For some its a freedom from the weights of living in a society, where productivity is expected 110% from some guy who plays with his Newton's cradle on his/her/their desk all day. Others find it as a fun and relaxing hobby, with the potential to earn some cash on the side. Then there's the expected skateboarding industry, who have to deal with paperwork and living in a market that relies on profit instead of pure goodwill to stay afloat. The dreaded 'sell out' tag is both intimidating and also vague for me to use, as there's lots for me to dwell on. I get supporting your local skateshop and to avoid some of the more common skate-apparel shops like Zumiez and BC Surf & Sport, but you also need to realize that there needs to be supply pipelines and an actual market demand in order for whatever brand you fancy to stay in service. Also, a brand is a brand, not some pal that you recognize in symbolic form. Learning that some of the former skater brands turned into industry brands after some rebrand/bankruptcy/etc. is a weird thing. I guess the skateboarding-to-streetwear pipeline does exist, in a form of a jaggedy, rustic pipe running along a scenic highway outlook. It may be run by a bunch of people, it's hard to be individualistic in a land full of copycats in a sink-or-swim market.
At least for me, skateboarding is a way of somewhat fitting in when I felt the odd one out for a majority of my life so far. It may be a bit dingy, dangerous sometimes, and perhaps kinda mainstream, but it's my comfy little area. The ground doesn't discriminate against who falls to the floor, and you can recognize those who hold it to their heart, and not those who wear it like it's the hottest trend. Not to the degree of say, Seattle Punk (Chaotic Individualism), but definitely not to the degree of, I dunno, Braille Skateboarding (Money Grab). I aim for Tired Skateboarding as my little spot, nothing too crazy, nothing too boring, just there to take part and enjoy.
However, I am not you, I can only speak from my position, which is being in that weird in-between of old-school to hypersocial skating. There could be more succinct info that I'm blind to, like the inner machinations of the Skateboarding industry, or the actual skate world that isn't in the midwest. I skate and wear skate clothes because I figured that since I like the style and the media that spawned around it, I might as well go legit and pick up some real boarding skills.
TL;DR: Skating is just like dealing with social groups in the regular world. There's going to be cliques and peer pressure to be this and that. NOTHING happens just because, there's some form of reasoning for it to occur, no matter how illogical or 'lame' it may be. Brands get revitalized into something new, but the act of skateboarding stays the same, which is smacking pavement from trying to trick.
