-I turn 40 this June, 2014 and love skateboarding as much now as I did when I first started in 1985 as an 11 year old kid with my first Nash.
-I am deeply grateful that I can skate at the level I do (which is quite humble mind you but hey, I can land some stuff), but realize that I truly am in the twilight of my time of really skateboarding and not just cruising around, not that there's anything wrong with that.
-I'm glad Rodney Mullen voiced in an interview what I've felt for years, that I shy away form skating "in public" or with too many people anymore because I'm becoming more and more self conscious of my age and looking my age and well basically sucking on my board. I want to skate and not think about it and not feel like somebody's thinking, "oh look at that old guy, isn't that great he's still on it, and he can actually land some stuff here and there." Go fuck yourself.
-I can't do kickflips anymore, not because I can't do them, per-se, but after doing them for 20+ years, the pressure points in my knees and ankles just make it, well hard. But I can variel flip like a champ! Weird.
-Three weeks after meeting a woman I began dating, she came home from work to find me building a bench and a flat bar on her nice deck, (cause the area we lived in didn't have crap to skate) All she did was asked me if I needed a beer. We've been married for 11 years now.
-All the clichés we all rolled our eyes at are actually true. Life does go by fast. I was a brooding teenager then a sophisticated 20 something who thought everybody was beneath me, a panicky 30 year old finally establishing a career and now I'm 40 and realize I was always a dork and am happiest with my family, friends or on a skateboard. (all three together rule). Enjoy the moment.
-The older you get, especially after 30, the more the perception of time passing accelerates.
-Declaring, "I wont live past twenty something" is a cop out and an attempt to not plan for the future.
-Wear Sunblock! Between the ages of 8 to 18, is when your skin is the most vulnerable. The damage done during that time can have repercussion's throughout the rest of your life.
-Did I mention wear sunblock? Seriously.
-I appreciate it when skaters deride park skating. But when you get older, and your time becomes more scheduled, you need to be able to show up, skate, land what you need to land and get on with your day. Only those damn skateparks allow that. But I do love skating street, the rare times the opportunity presents itself.
-I have never ollied into an air on a ramp. I still early grab, but man can I early grab an air above the lip! It's a full stink-bug, and I'm the only one who likes it, when others see it, they involuntarily grasp their knees and convulse into the dry-heaves then plead with me to never do it again, but it feels great!
-I've only dropped in on vert and chinked my back trucks, 50-50 stalled and rocked to fakie on vert. That's it.
-I have never landed an impossible, so I redeemed myself by learning 360 flips instead. My friend who skates like Mike Carroll gave me the pointer that still sticks today, "ya gotta scoop with that back foot man, scoop it!"
-I have lost my nollie flips, but I can still nollie 5050 a ledge.
-When I really want to hit it hard at the park, I will only wear long jeans and I wrap my angles and shins in Ace bandages because after years of abusing my shins, it feels great to have the skateboard bounce of my shin and all I feel is a light bump. It really improves your commitment level to tricks too. I wish I wrapped my shins long ago. They look like skin grafts from a burn victim.
-I do not STILL skate. I simply Skate!