Don’t you hate it when you get all snuggly in your comfy chair ready to read a book and then off in the
distance you hear the faint noise of a jackhammer? Chigachigachigachiga. You
put it off and
keep reading, but then the sound only gets louder and closer. When it
gets so loud that you can’t concentrate, you look out your window and
see a skateboarder roll by. His wheels make annoying clicking sounds as
they run over every bump on the road.
As you watch, he attempts to pop-shuvit onto a sidewalk, producing a "boink" sound that resonates through your room. The boarder spins his deck 180 degrees under his feet, but he doesn’t jump high enough. The board makes a bunch of clacking noises as it gets caught on the curb. Then, when you hope he will just walk away, he starts cursing at his board and at everything around him. You’re thinking to yourself, Boo Hoo, I just want to read my book.
As you watch, he attempts to pop-shuvit onto a sidewalk, producing a "boink" sound that resonates through your room. The boarder spins his deck 180 degrees under his feet, but he doesn’t jump high enough. The board makes a bunch of clacking noises as it gets caught on the curb. Then, when you hope he will just walk away, he starts cursing at his board and at everything around him. You’re thinking to yourself, Boo Hoo, I just want to read my book.
I used to be that person … the one in
the room reading the book. I would wonder how skateboarders could have
fun “terrorizing” the community. They seemed to always be causing public
disturbance and being super emo. That didn’t seem
like much fun ...Well, it didn't until I went to college. Skateboarding became so cool all of a sudden. Being emo still didn't.
Once upon a time, I was a freshman in college and I had a crazy roommate. I have him to thank for getting me interested in skateboarding. My roommate's name was Felix, and he taught me my first trick on a skateboard.
The trick Felix taught me was the ollie, which is demonstrated in the picture above.
The first time I saw Felix jump with his skateboard, I was amazed. I had never actually seen anyone ollie in real life. Only in videos.
I asked him to show me the trick again.
As I observed closely the second time, it looked as if the board were glued to his feet. How was that possible? Everytime I've tried, the board remained on the ground.
When he explained the ollie to me, I was dumbfounded by its complexity. The simple trick of jumping on a skateboard involved perfect placement of the body, flawless foot movement, and perfect timing as well. In order to pick the board off the ground, you have to create friction between your shoes and the griptape while you jump.
That day, I made it a goal to eventually learn the ollie.This process of learning the most elementary skateboard trick helped me gain a new respect for skateboarders. It took me 6 months - 6 MONTHS - of skateboarding before I finally did it. Continuously falling made my wrists painful for many weeks, but when I finally performed my first ollie, I was really glad I didn’t quit in the process.
After I learned the trick, I wanted to learn more and a snowball effect started. I underestimated how much fun a person could have with a piece of wood and 4 wheels. I literally had to put myself in a skateboarder’s shoes to realize what the big commotion was about for board sports. I eventually got addicted to surfing, snowboarding, windsurfing, kitesurfing, snakeboarding, and even ripsticking for a while. I am making this blog because I think it would be interesting to share my experiences with other boarders and non-boarders, who wonder why we do the things we do. I welcome you all to Get Board!
Profile
I hate reading. 0_0 My favorite blogs are the ones with very little text, a lot of pictures, and a lot of videos. I must have been out of my mind when I typed “Snowboard blog” into google search.
Regardless, I came across a blog called SMSSnowboarding. I was looking for a blog similar to mine, but I ended up finding something even better! This blog had just the right amount of reading material, a bunch of pictures, and some videos.
From a quick scroll through the
blog, I saw pictures of skateboarders, surfers, and snowboarders. Here and there, I saw a couple of homemade videos that seemed to be of kids participating in the various sports.
Reading through the front page, I was a bit confused on the purpose of the blog. Some posts were about skateboarding in an indoor park. Others were about snowboarding competitions from last year. There were also a lot of pictures of kids with medals from various competitions. The text didn't really help. Most of the writing was just explaning what was happening in each of the pictures. There didn't seem to be a connection between the blog posts. I was beginning to wonder...
Was it the blog of a snowboarding company? No… they didn’t seem like they were selling anything. Was it just someone sharing pictures of themselves and their family? No… There were too many authors to count (too many kids too)! Some posts were written by some guy named Dave, others written by Ross Powers, and occasionally, Ian Kirk would show up to write a few. A combination of families perhaps? Possibly.
Reading through the front page, I was a bit confused on the purpose of the blog. Some posts were about skateboarding in an indoor park. Others were about snowboarding competitions from last year. There were also a lot of pictures of kids with medals from various competitions. The text didn't really help. Most of the writing was just explaning what was happening in each of the pictures. There didn't seem to be a connection between the blog posts. I was beginning to wonder...
Was it the blog of a snowboarding company? No… they didn’t seem like they were selling anything. Was it just someone sharing pictures of themselves and their family? No… There were too many authors to count (too many kids too)! Some posts were written by some guy named Dave, others written by Ross Powers, and occasionally, Ian Kirk would show up to write a few. A combination of families perhaps? Possibly.
After reading all their posts on the first page, I noticed the blog archive at the bottom of the page. This blog has made 300+ posts since 2008. A very active blog, in my opinion. It averages ~100
posts per year and is especially active during the winter season. I decided to take a look at the Hello World post they made back in 2008. Right off the bat, all my questions were answered: "Welcome to the Stratton Mt School Snowboard Team Blog."
Impressive. From what I saw on their front page, they must have a really massive snowboard team with well over fifty members. As I continued reading their first post, I discovered that this snowboard team is really hardcore and the members are apparently very well known.
Impressive. From what I saw on their front page, they must have a really massive snowboard team with well over fifty members. As I continued reading their first post, I discovered that this snowboard team is really hardcore and the members are apparently very well known.
My curiosity eventually led me to the Stratton Mountain School website.
A school dedicated to winter sports? Do my eyes deceive me? A school dedicated to winter sports? "Alrighty class, by tomorrow, I want you all to show me a clean backflip off the 4 foot ramp."
Who wouldn't want that for homework? I
knew that somewhere in the world, there were powerhouses that pump out
Olympic athletes, but ... there is no explanation for how awestruck I am. This school has created more than 36 olympians and 7 of them competed in the 2010 Winter
Olympics in Canada. I would love to attend this school. If only...
A school dedicated to winter sports? Do my eyes deceive me? A school dedicated to winter sports? "Alrighty class, by tomorrow, I want you all to show me a clean backflip off the 4 foot ramp."
Going back to the blog, everything made much more sense. The kids were training in the skatepark and the pictures are records of all the competitions they have participated in.
Although this blog doesn't look like it is directed to average readers like me, I find it fascinating. It's most likely directed at parents, fans, and scouts to keep up with the progress of the students. My blog just shares my experiences and random thoughts, but when I start competing in events, I will definitely be posting about it.
Voice
When I browse the internet for skateboard-related news, the most interesting results are always the YouTube videos.
Once in a while, i'll run into an article interviewing a pro skater, but these always fail at keeping my attention. I'll just end up YouTubing the pros anyways. Who cares how they got into skateboarding? They're good at it and I wanna see what they can do!
Over the course of making my blog, I've realized that I've kind of run out of things to say about skateboarding. I can encourage readers to try my suggestions and to go out and skateboard, but do people really want to read about it?
If I wanted to learn something, I would prefer if somebody showed me how.
In my attempts to find a blog similar to mine, I came across this.
I came across this blog post after looking up "Funny Skateboarding blog" in google. I feel that skateboard news is most interesting when it is lighthearted and silly as opposed to serious and informative. However silly the author is willing to be on the internet, the more ill enjoy what they have to say. For example, one of my favorite sites to visit when I'm bored is Christwire. They have some articles that I think are just the funniest things I've ever read, but unfortunately there isn't much there concerning skateboarding.
Anyways, when I discovered this article, the first thing I saw was the Rick Howard YouTube video peeking out from the bottom of the screen. More videos? Sorry, Rick. Maybe another day. I was about to press the back button when I noticed that this article has ... an introduction paragraph! A skateboarding blog with WORDS? Amazing!
In the intro, the author, Jay R, said something along the lines of: Skateboarding is becoming too serious...blah blah... Check out these hilarious skateboarders that I adore!
I tried to imagine the process of creating this blog post. I picture the writer sitting at his computer, drooling over the videos he's trying to post. Mhmm. interesting video. What was I writing about again? Oh yeah. Skateboarding is getting too serious. So..."Rick Howard has always done things with a smile on his face..." that should do it... NEXT VIDEO.
OK, maybe Ray deserves some credit. I'll admit some of the videos were prettyhilarious ridiculous...Like the Jimmy Carlin one.
But, let's
get back to the author's voice. One thing I really noticed in the post
was that this guy likes to say "dudes" a lot. It's even in the title of his post.
This habit definitely gives me a sense of how the guy talks. I'm not sure if I know anyone that says "dudes" as often as this guy. Notice that he doesn't say duuude, but ends with the "s." This gives me the image that he isn't the stereotypical cottonmouth, but just a really chill guy.
From the rest of the post, there are many subtle details that give me the sense that this author is care-free (The penis joke when talking about Mike Mo, Really?) and immature (in a good way). The whole time, Ray's just trying to convince us that at the end of the day, we're just riding a toy and skateboarding should not be taken so seriously.
When the author talks about his skateboarding heroes, I also get a sense that he is extremely informed in the world of skateboarding. He knows everybodys' sponsors, their most notable feats, and even their nicknames. I learned a few things from Ray. Who knew Jerry Hsu had a phone blog called NaziGold?
Although not really his "voice," I also got a really good glimpse of his sense of humor through the various videos he shared. I didn't get the chance to watch them all, but I feel he put this post together pretty well.
Too bad this is only one blog post out of millions that has a "voice" or words at all.
Although this blog doesn't look like it is directed to average readers like me, I find it fascinating. It's most likely directed at parents, fans, and scouts to keep up with the progress of the students. My blog just shares my experiences and random thoughts, but when I start competing in events, I will definitely be posting about it.
Voice
Once in a while, i'll run into an article interviewing a pro skater, but these always fail at keeping my attention. I'll just end up YouTubing the pros anyways. Who cares how they got into skateboarding? They're good at it and I wanna see what they can do!
Over the course of making my blog, I've realized that I've kind of run out of things to say about skateboarding. I can encourage readers to try my suggestions and to go out and skateboard, but do people really want to read about it?
If I wanted to learn something, I would prefer if somebody showed me how.
In my attempts to find a blog similar to mine, I came across this.
I came across this blog post after looking up "Funny Skateboarding blog" in google. I feel that skateboard news is most interesting when it is lighthearted and silly as opposed to serious and informative. However silly the author is willing to be on the internet, the more ill enjoy what they have to say. For example, one of my favorite sites to visit when I'm bored is Christwire. They have some articles that I think are just the funniest things I've ever read, but unfortunately there isn't much there concerning skateboarding.
Anyways, when I discovered this article, the first thing I saw was the Rick Howard YouTube video peeking out from the bottom of the screen. More videos? Sorry, Rick. Maybe another day. I was about to press the back button when I noticed that this article has ... an introduction paragraph! A skateboarding blog with WORDS? Amazing!
In the intro, the author, Jay R, said something along the lines of: Skateboarding is becoming too serious...blah blah... Check out these hilarious skateboarders that I adore!
I tried to imagine the process of creating this blog post. I picture the writer sitting at his computer, drooling over the videos he's trying to post. Mhmm. interesting video. What was I writing about again? Oh yeah. Skateboarding is getting too serious. So..."Rick Howard has always done things with a smile on his face..." that should do it... NEXT VIDEO.
OK, maybe Ray deserves some credit. I'll admit some of the videos were pretty
This habit definitely gives me a sense of how the guy talks. I'm not sure if I know anyone that says "dudes" as often as this guy. Notice that he doesn't say duuude, but ends with the "s." This gives me the image that he isn't the stereotypical cottonmouth, but just a really chill guy.
From the rest of the post, there are many subtle details that give me the sense that this author is care-free (The penis joke when talking about Mike Mo, Really?) and immature (in a good way). The whole time, Ray's just trying to convince us that at the end of the day, we're just riding a toy and skateboarding should not be taken so seriously.
When the author talks about his skateboarding heroes, I also get a sense that he is extremely informed in the world of skateboarding. He knows everybodys' sponsors, their most notable feats, and even their nicknames. I learned a few things from Ray. Who knew Jerry Hsu had a phone blog called NaziGold?
Although not really his "voice," I also got a really good glimpse of his sense of humor through the various videos he shared. I didn't get the chance to watch them all, but I feel he put this post together pretty well.
Too bad this is only one blog post out of millions that has a "voice" or words at all.
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