Bay City Skateboarding

I just called Bruce on my way home from Central Michigan University. I was thinking how I haven't talked to him in ages. He told me he just got done skateboarding, which made me very jealous. You see, here in Michigan, it is freezing cold, drifting, and snowy. Not to mention windy. On Tuesday I was lucky enough to skate the clear spots at the Bay City Skatepark, and on my way home, I saw an increase in flurries, which turned into four inches of accumulation on the ground. Did you know that in the Inuit Eskimo language, they have over twenty variations of the word snow? In Michigan, just to name a few, we have snow, flurry, downfall, fluff, etc. In indigenous Carribean languages, if they are lucky to even have a word, they have no more than two words for snow, describing a lot of snow or a little snow, used to describe their travels to the North.

Which brings me to my subject: the skateboard season. A few years ago, a professional skateboarder in a major magazine claimed there are no seasons for skateboarding. Then what do we make of skateboarding in Michigan? We have Spring, in which our rusty legs attempt to remember muscle memories that enable us to ride our silly little popsicle sticks. Then comes Summer, when we complain that it is too hot to skate, and drink or go swimming (usually both at the same time), or we simply stay indoors in the cool air conditioning trying get 10,000 points in Skate on our XBOX 360s. Fall follows, in which the majority of our riding takes place. November comes too soon, and we are back skating indoor parks once every few weeks or shivering in the false protection of a parking garage. So, at least in Michigan, we have seasons.

Then I start thinking deeper...

Skateboarding, as I have said before, is not dictated by the act of riding on a skateboard all the time, just some of the time. Its the way a skater carries him or herself through the dulls of life. Its the thinking man's game; the creative expression is put on hold, but the creative mind flourishes strong throughout the year. Most skaters visit their skateboard daily in their mind, plotting out new tricks they want to learn, or new places they want to explore and skate. Sometimes it comes out in other ways, such as music, painting, or writing. So the seasons, as they are defined here, may not exist at all.

Is that Laura Winslow from Family Matters (TGIF!) the new host of Clean House?

Bruce, are you aware that you received a phone call from the future today? You said it was just after 5PM on February 19, 2008. I called you just after 8PM on the same day! Wild! That means that you are in the past. I already experienced 5PM. If we were to land a heelflip at the same time, I would technically have landed it before you. You can argue this concept, but these are the facts!