My Skateboard Odyssey Pt. 1

Everyone wishes they could skateboard. Don't even lie. I wanted to be Eric Koston and I played as him everytime I sat down with an N64 controller playing Tony Hawk Pro Skater. I played Skate, the videogame, at school and I was immediately hooked. I loved it. It felt like such an accomplishment when I landed the simplest trick. And so I decided that I needed to broaden my horizons and go for the real thing.

So I came home and decided I needed a skateboard. The shoes were an easy purchase because they were already trendy. If this didn't work out, I came out with a nice pair of shoes anyhow. But the board was a different story. If I broke my wrist after riding this thing one time and decided that was good enough, I was going to be very frustrated that I spent good money on an accessory to an injury.

However, my friend Ryan hit this fad up in middle school and had since abandoned it. He told me he had a name brand skateboard, a Chocolate to be exact. I kindly asked if I could have it, at which point he let me. Most likely he was looking forward to what tribulations I might face because of this decision.

The board has "chocolate" written in blue on a white board. The griptape has "HU$TLE" written on it. The wood is showing through the paint.

Now I don't know if you've ever ridden a skateboard. It's not easy. And to make matters worse, I'm uncoordinated and have the balance of Dirk Nowitzki on stilts. It's terrible. I've almost gotten to where I can just ride around without getting gravel in my palms from catching my fall. I have ridden a top distance of 10 yards so far. But I have hope.

I shouldn't be doing this. This was an adventure and task that should have been taken on when I was 13, not 19. I'm nearly 20. How on God's green earth do I expect to be able to learn how to skate? I guess I just have nothing better to do. It's the summer after my freshman year. I'll do anything that isn't work or involves staying in the house. Even if it involves falling on my butt over and over again.

I am still inspired to be Eric Koston.

Games I Would Play for My Soul

At work, I sit in a chair and watch kids swim for hours on end. So one way I pass time is think about dumb stuff. Usually a rhetorical question does the trick. A coworker asked me a rhetorical question to think about while I sat up in my tower listening to another round of "Marco Polo" yesterday. He asked me, "If you had to play any game for your soul, what would you play?"

I was flabbergasted. Usually I can answer these questions with ease and sharp wit. But this was my soul at stake!

So I started eliminating things. Sports went out the window first. I wasn't very good when I still played basketball my freshman year in high school, there's no telling how far from grace I've fallen in that realm. I'm not conditioned enough to play most sports like soccer or football. And although I swam in high school, this is the devil I'm swimming against, and I am just not confident enough for that race.

Then my friend, who was also asked this question, started to talk about possible board games. Shoots and Ladders. Candy Land. Risk. No way is that happening. So much at stake cannot afford to rely on a roll of the dice or whether he picked up a "Get out of Jail Free" card. So there goes that.



And then it hit me...



... GOLDENEYE

I could beat the devil in Goldeneye for the Nintendo 64, no doubt in my mind. My friends actually stopped playing Goldeneye with me because they never won. Perfect. Any weapon set up on any map, I am almost positive I could beat Lucifer himself with my soul in tact. The only way he could possibly sneak that one out is if he was cheap and decided to play as Oddjob.