A few days ago I received some of my tax money back so I've started to save for my Ohio fund to go see her. I got about $224 back and and had got my paycheck as well. I paid my parents the rent I owed them and was able to put an even $120 into my Ohio and apartment funds. I should be getting my state tax money back soon as well so there's another $60 each.
I gotta say, being able to stow away that money makes this all so much more real.... knowing that I'm actually serious about all of this, knowing that I'm working hard to be there with her because it's hugely important to me, knowing that I took on a SECOND job to be there even though I hate working. I feel good about myself but I'm also very happy because I know inside myself finally what it's like for someone to mean so much to me, that I would take the time to save A LOT of money to be there. It's easy for me. There may be a bunch of material things that I wish I could have and could actually afford right now, but having everything in the world would never give me an ounce of happiness or satisfaction that Maria gives me. I've said this to her before and I'll say it here now; if her and I were homeless, I'd still be happy because I have her. As long as she is always in my life... that's all I need to sustain happiness. I would never let that happen to us, but I was proving a point. I, of course, will always work hard to keep us surviving... I'd never let us get homeless because part of my job of being a good husband, is to maintain a life in shelter and out food on the table. I will always do what I can to take care of my family.
I realize that I got off on a bit of a rant there, but it was things that needed to be said.
There's so much I have yet to learn in skateboarding that I really wish to get down.... I'm basically just going to list each thing and if anyone could give me tips on how to get over the fear or difficulty, PLEASE let me know. Thanks. And btw.... the picture that are include, I am putting the description of the trick for people who just may not know what they are? (*cough* my girlfriend *cough cough* since she likes to look at my blog. :P) No but seriously, anybody else who doesn't know... it'll be helpful for. Flip Tricks:
1. Tré (360) Flips
It's such a cool trick. Don't know how to describe it.
2. Inward Heelflips
3. Nollie Flip tricks
4. Hospital Flips (Those are just ridiculously cool)
A good sequence to break it down.
5. Late Flips
Grinds: 1. Smith Grind
Close up. Depending on if you're goofy or regular footed, it's where your back truck is on the rail and your nose is pointed down and in front of you.
2. 5-0
Just a straightforward gring with your nose lifted up.
3. Feeble
Same as smith except your nose is on top of the thing you are grinding and behind you.
4. Blunt slide
Where your nose is pointed toward the sky and your wheels slide across the surface.... difficult trick.
5. Being able to grind flat bars and handrails.
Boardslide on a handrail
Vert:
1. Blunt to fakie
2. Rock to fakies on about a 5-6 ft. quarter. (I can do them on smaller quarters. 3-4 feet is about the tallest I've done)
Where you bring the middle of your board to the edge of the ramp and rock your nose forward until your wheels tap the flat top and then rock backwards back in.
3. The grinds listed above on a quarter's coping.
Street:
1. Any flip trick off a ledge (Only have ollies and weird tech tricks)
2. Manny Pads (I can get them sometimes but I want it on lock)
A balancing trick. Where your tail (or nose) can't touch the ground or your front or back wheels
3. Sketchy things, like weird ledges, slopes, stair sets, rails.
4. Handrails.
Tech Tricks:
1. Flamingos (Used to land them but then I lost them)
Pretty self-explanatory trick. Looks like a flamingo. Much easier to get into than out of.
2. Mike V., Rodney Mullen, and William Spencer style tricks.
3. Primo flips and getting INTO primo.
That's essentially everything. If you have any tips on how to succeed on any of this... PLEASE let me know... I'd appreciate it. :)
So some of you may or may not have come from youtube or know me personally and realize that I am in fact a musician. But if you are a new viewer to my blog, allow me to explain my musical history and all the reasons I play, write songs, and enjoy music.
Even from a very young age, I always have been exposed to music. My dad is a drummer and has played in several bands over the years and when I was just a small kid, he'd set me on his lap and play his drums, with the occasional drum stick to his face. :P I grew up listening to my dad play in these bands and while drumming is cool and I DO wish I could do it, I always wanted to become a guitarist. Thing is, I could never learn because I didn't have enough patience until later on (I'll get to that). I started out playing keyboard/piano. My grandparents had a small kids keyboard at their house and I'd always play it as often as I could. I liked the way it sounded. I think my parents saw my interest in it and bought me my first real keyboard when I was about 8 or 9 and started learning the basic songs like "Chopsticks" and the intro part to "Für Elise". I really enjoyed playing keyboard and piano so I started to look up how to play songs and would pause the videos and write down notes one second at a time. I don't remember how I learned which keys were which notes. I started learning chords soon after, I wrote my first song on piano and played it for my Freshmen talent show. I didn't win, but it was still cool to get up there and play MY song in the talent show. I wish I had a recording of it so I can share it here.
About mid sophomore year, I met my friend Trevor and we wanted to get a band together. I would be the keyboardist. Problem was, I was limiting the type of music we could play so it didn't take off. I was hanging out with him one day and he started teaching me some songs on his guitar. I learned ".45" by Shinedown and "Let me be Myself" by Three Doors Down and actually caught on pretty fast. So I figured out that I wanted my own acoustic. I asked for that and nothing else for my 16th. Instead of asking for a car, I asked for a guitar. So my parents and I went guitar shopping and we went to this small music store called "Ozone Music" and I found it.... a very nice Huntington acoustic. It's a non-name brand but it's a pretty guitar. It has a candy apple red finish and a white liner. It sounded good [and still does]. I started to learn tabs and chords very fast and became a much better guitar player than keyboard/piano player. About June of last year, my German friend gave me a Fender Squire acoustic because he couldn't take it back with him to Germany. That guitar means a lot to me.... and I only play it now.
So after I became a lot better at guitar, I began to start coming up with my own intros, strum patterns, and chord progressions. I enjoyed coming up with my own stuff so I started writing my own music. I've always been lyrically inclined. I can write lyrics well.... mostly "love" songs but whatever. So my first written song is called "The Waiting". There are no lyrics but for a first song, I'm very proud of it.
So the video above is me and my friend Richard. I'm on the right with the black guitar, Richard on the left.
I also liked the idea of acoustic and electric lead together so I wrote a simple back and forth chord pattern and recorded it then improv'd a solo to go along with it. My instrumental called "High Walls" is still probably my favorite song because it sounds very passionate and I feel it's my best work.
Lastly, being in the current long distance relationship situation I'm in, one thing that really keeps me going is to write songs on how I feel. And being so dearly in love with Maria, I've wrote her 3 songs and am in process of a fourth. This song is called "United by Fate." It actually has lyrics... but you may need to turn up the volume to hear it. It is quiet for some reason. (Crappy camera microphone)
Well that's my musical self in a nutshell. My friend Trevor, My friend Derek, and I are writing a song at the moment and it should be up soon.. Definitely give that a listen when I get it up. It's a very powerful and emotional song possibly about a soldier or someone far from home. It's untitled at the moment but it's coming together really well. :)
There's really not much going on to discuss at the moment.... not like that's a bad thing because our relationship is definitely amazing as always. We just haven't had anything "new" happen I guess?
We were however, talking about seeing eachother. As you all may know, I'm intending on going to her prom in May. I start my second job today so I can actually get the ball rolling on saving for it AND I got my taxes filed so I should receive my tax money shortly which is in the neighborhood of $347.... all of which will be going towards my trip to Ohio. We were also talking about how maybe after she graduates, she might fly over here too. I REALLY hope that happens because there's so many things I want to do with her here. There's this butte that overlooks Eugene, OR which is about 20 minutes away from me. My hopes are taking her up there during a nice summer night to see the city lights. Also, being that she doesn't get to enjoy the beach... I would like to take her to the Oregon coast. It's quite beautiful during the summer. I'd like to take a walk on the warm beach, visit tidepools, show her Old-Town Florence, and just relax on the beach together in total peace. I'd like to show her my hometown where I live now and maybe go to the lake which is about a 5-10 min. drive from my house. (Veneta, OR) All these things sound amazing, and I'm hoping everything pans out according to planned. :)
Atop Skinner Butte at night
Oregon Coast Aquarium.... another place I'd like to take her. It's pretty awesome.
Florence, OR Old Town. Been here a million times and I still love it.
I thought it'd be cool to cover someone who really isn't well know as a skateboarder but definitely deserves to be. His name is William Spencer and somebody I greatly admire in the skateboarding world. He doesn't necessarily have a specific style and it's what makes him unique. He uses a lot of parkour and free-running in his style. (Look up the definitions on your own... I'm too lazy to do it now) He also likes to use second boards for some of his tricks and even occasionally uses boards without trucks. A lot of things you'll see in his style is using walls and fences as obstacles, he has skated on a car, he slid on top of a car while his board went under only to come out the other side so he can land on it. Impressive right?
Well because I idolize him as a skater, I have tried to do some of his stuff. I've done wall runs onto my board and kind of used two boards for things.
He is around 30 years old. He has a strong passion in wanting to become a stuntman (if he isn't already) He took lessons in Kai Karate in highschool which he incorporates in some of his skateboarding. He hails from Denver, Colorado and is sponsored by the skate shop "The Denver Shop" who put out 3 skate videos between 2006 and 2008 in which William is featured in. The videos are; Burning Daylight, Hollerado, and In Color. I discovered him via Hollerado and was simply amazed. Check it out for yourself....
And here's In Color.... both very AWESOME video parts from him.
Hope you liked today's "Skater of the Day." If you have any suggestions on who else should be covered, by all means shoot me a comment and I'll start my research and make a detailed "skater analysis" or so to speak.
Basically.... life is just kind of a pain in the ass lately. It seems as if nothing ever can go right. For the most part, I'm a very happy and optimistic person and don't really tend to let myself get down because I know that things will always get better. I DO believe this. I just hate the "in the meantime" moments. As you know (if you've kept up with my blog) I just got a second job. I had been in 5 days in a row to get my uniform and every time they were too busy to give me it. I finally received it and got told to call them yesterday about getting my schedule. Well I did and then was told to call later on today... so they seem to be very unorganized.
The thing with all this is, I may have to just ditch my 2 fast food jobs to get a full time job because I need to save for an apartment and I OF COURSE desperately want to be at my girlfriend's prom as I have stated numerous times. With the way things are going, I get scared that I don't have enough time to save. I also need the bigger amount of income to pay for my full car insurance because I have been only paying half of it to my parents and they pay the other half.
Well with what's gone on this past week, I've just been super stressed and feeling a little down. I have job stress, my car needs oil and I don't have the funds to pay for it because my bank account got overdrawn all because of 35 lousy cents. So I have 20 bucks to my name for the next 10 days which is payday. I still owe my parents another $170 for rent this month (yes, I have to pay my parents rent.... $130 each paycheck) I was only able to pay them $90 due to my account being overdrawn.
Needless to say, I'm having a rough patch in my life. The only thing bringing me happiness every day, as cliché as it sounds, is my girlfriend. She's the reason I wake up with a smile on my face and keeps me pushing through each day. How often can one person do that for you? I'm certainly a really lucky guy.
I just hope life starts shaping up soon... I hate being down when I'm such a generally happy person.
