Yeah, when I was younger and had less disposable income, I wasn't precious at all and wouldn't hesitate to skate a board however, chip it up or give it away. But it is cool hearing that I am not the only one with this kind of an approach.
I found a dry patch of ground and was skating on my lunch break, accidentally slipped out launched my board into the snow a few times and didn't get to bummed about it. So that feels like progress.
No yeah I've seen a couple of posters mention similar habits too, but it's interesting how you weren't always like that. Growing up I basically had to make do with a deck per year, two tops and so every little chip counted, to this day that may be part of why I dislike brands that don't even try at quality - surely skateboarding is hot shit now with the mall crowds and casuals so most think they can afford to slip in that department, but in reality there still are (and always) will be those kids who struggle all the while skating their hearts out and in that position, investing into a new deck shouldn't be a gamble.
I kinda did the same today skating a plaza with rough cobblestones, walls and glorified curbs in your typical wet winter weather (it's been raining for two months straight here, with that and the 6 pm curfew for Covid skating has become way harder so every little window of opportunity counts), but that's because my current set-up is all kinds of fucked, I basically should have retired everything on it months ago. But every new damp day kind of confirms that had I done that, I would only have wasted a deck or two (or bearings, too) instead of just staying on the same old beat up one. I even kind of wonder if on a brand new set-up I would have even skated in such conditions, at least as far as a first session on it goes.
Also one of the first things I ever heard as a kid starting out skating that really stuck with me was some skater talking about another one and saying it was funny how he was being so precious with his deck, it felt like his girlfriend; it was really just a random remark, but it kind of made me aware of how one could actually feel a connection and really nurture a kind of relationship with their set-up.
I've been working on backside flips a lot lately. It's a trick I've always been able to do, but I never really do it how I want to. On hips I can do them well cuz they feel more like a kickflip to fakie, but on flat I feel like I always just whiff them around and land it. I either get ghost pop or rocket the board, and even if I land it I just don't feel very good. Any advice?
Sounds like you need to find your flick, for backside flips I feel like you have to slide your front foot through the nose even further diagonally toe-side than you would do on straight kickflips (where you also flick through the nose but along the bolts), picture a varial kickflip kind of flick but late, after your board gets off the ground from the ollie and your shoulders should be leading the turn instead of remaining square (they should be ahead of you the whole time). Back foot placement is important to get the right rebound and then friction of the concave against the front foot, too, mine feels close enough to a normal kickflip that I don't really think about it but I do feel like it matters, when I first learned flatground backside flips I was doing them the way you describe them too and then for some reason tried changing my technique for what would feel like kickflip late backside 180's, and that's what sort of ending up working out for me. Now I have better form on those but the technique is so different I lost a bit of consistency, also every time I miss one on flat it always results in the worst shinner and so I mostly just do them on banks now where they're so much easier (also to level out). Maybe learning the kind of halfcab flip that looks like it folds over will help, too, it's good practice, fun and easier.
(tl;dr - try focusing a bit more on getting an actual ollie that's leveling out, before you really flick, all the while turning)