Relocating...

I think I'm leaving Blogspot for Tumblr

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Max Leaves Boulder

Max and I left school and met up with Ryan at Denver Park.

These dorks ditched high school to come "hard-style" in front of their new cars at Denver Park.  Oh, to be young again...

They also came up on a Vitamin Water sponsor.

We left Denver Park for Chipotle.

Tried to do some street skating... but there's still snow everywhere.

We checked out this spot on the way to another park.

Onto another park.

Then, ice cream!  I love Sweet Action Ice Cream.

Too Cold Still

I had off this past Saturday and didn't have any homework.  So I picked up Shardy and we went to check out the remodeled Washington Park, home of that semi-famous 9 stair rail.

Geese!

New set.  The rails are pretty tall and aren't really skate-able, but doing tricks over the side rails would work well.

Tricks down the 9 stair would work, but the middle rail isn't skate-able and the side rail is knobbed.  The knobs look semi-easy to take off though if anyone is really interested in that.

After that we went to The Denver Shop to hang out with Tony.

It was below freezing, but it had been so long since we skated that a flat bar, box, and flatground in a parking garage sounded good.  The session kind of sucked though, I couldn't really feel my toes.  Thanks to Andy and Travis for bringing the obstacles though.  Some skating is better than no skating.

The box.

After our session we hung out at Viva Burrito.  Horchata!

Joey points out the bullet holes in the window.

Classic Viva.

Random Saturday

Denver got a lot of snow Friday, which pretty much ruined any skating plans I had for my weekend off. Because I still had the day off, I decided to make the most of it and get some errands handled. 

I picked up Joey, and we headed to Floyd's to visit Natalie/Mark.  While I was putting change in my meter, my entire foot up to my ankle was submerged in slush.  Luckily Floyd's has a dryer, Natalie hooked me up with that.

The Bear.

These two are always killing it.  Fantastic work duo.

Joey and I went to Buffalo Exchange to sell some clothes.  Joey also picked up some shirts.

"I let my haters be my motivators"- Joey Abarca

Perfect.

Molly bought my clothes.  Thanks Molly!

After Buffalo Exchange, I went to the used book store while Joey sat in the car.  Two Vonnegut books for $16, and one is a hardback.  Good deals.

Joey and I feasted at Moe's.

I dropped Joey off, and went to the Denver Art Museum solo style to the the Ed Ruscha "On The Road" exhibit.

I couldn't take any photos of the art, but I snagged this.  Definitely worth seeing if you have the time.  Beautiful western images juxtaposed with Kerouac's classic novel.

Now I would like the snow to dry up.

Beginner Sunday

Today marked the month anniversary of me not skating.  Worst month ever.  So I decided that I would try to skate again.  The doctor said, "stay off of it for up to six weeks".  So, four weeks must be fine.  And it was!  I skated with knee-brace, didn't try anything to fancy, and everything feels fine.  Probably another two weeks before I'm fully going for it again, but until then I'll be casually cruising around a rebuilding my strength.

I met up with Shardy at City O' City for breakfast.  Love that place.

All our friends were going to Boulder to film, but we decided to check out the new Arvada park instead. Awesome place!  So much fun stuff to skate there.

We filmed some mess around stuff.  If I look super janky on my board, it's because I am.  Skating with a knee brace is weird.  I'm not as good as Ryan "Robo-leg" Lybarger.

After seeing way too many scooters and other dorks at Arvada, we decided to head to Broomfield park.  We stopped by Crisis on the way there to say, "What's up" to Jeremy. Great dude.  Jam was there too!

I glanced at the new Thrasher.  Shad Spencer all up in it!  So psyched to see my friends in magazines.  Excellent work Ty and Shad.

Broomfield park.  I should've filmed Shardy nollie flip the double set, but I didn't.

On the way home we stopped by Mason's Starbucks and chatted for a bit.

Then I came home and got on my piano practice.

Totally manageable.

So Far...

So I haven't done much updating in the new year, because I really haven't done anything this year.

My goal for post-"Stakes Is High" was to keep the momentum everybody had going, keep filming, skating a bunch, etc.  So, I went out filming the day after the premiere, and ended up spraining my medial collateral ligament (MCL).  I went and got it checked out, no surgery or anything, but I have to take it easy for up to six weeks (its been two), and do these awesome rehab exercises.

Since I haven't been able to skate at all, I've been working full-time, hanging out with Anna (though she is in DC now), and reading.  Here's what I've gotten through over break.

The Vonnegut short stories are especially awesome.  I know a lot of my friends don't particularly enjoy reading, but these satires of the Western lifestyle are hilarious and worth picking up.

School starts tomorrow.  I'm pretty excited to learn piano, but not really interested in any of my other classes.  I just want to graduate so that I can skate all the time.

2011

I know everybody runs the "Best of 2011" type stuff, but I had a really great year, and I'd like to reminisce on it.

Highlight reel:
Going to Washington DC with my 9to5 internship

Tagging along on a bit of the Mystery Color Theory Tour

Working two jobs for a short period... I know there's people who work two, three, or four jobs, but for me the experience of working two was stressful and rewarding.  I'm glad I did it.

Going to Washington DC again with my family.

Going to San Diego.  Definitely didn't work out like I expected, and I probably left too early, but it was a good learning experience, I met some great people, and I'm glad I went.

Little day trips to Pueblo and Greeley with the homies.

Getting a bunch of boards together for the kids at Mercy House and teaching them how to skate (with Joey and Paul's help of course).  Also tutoring at Mercy House, for giving me perspective on life and introducing me to some great humans.

Wrapping up my toughest semester of college.

Finishing and premiering The Denver Shop video "Stakes Is High"

Top 5 Books for 2011 (to be clear, these are books that I read in 2011, not books that came out in 2011.  For the most part, I don't read a lot of contemporary literature, but I'm working on branching out):

-Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

-The Omnivore's Dilema by Michael Pollan

-The Waves by Virginia Woolf

-Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

-Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

As for 2012, I'm looking forward to graduating college, skating more and more, and possibly moving.  We'll see where life takes me.