'When are you going to quit skateboarding?'

It's a fair question for someone to ask but a hard one to answer. All I can say is that at the moment I'm not feeling good. Not good at all. I wouldn't take the time to bother posting this but I wanted to let people know that I'm not checking emails nor responding to any until I feel better. I started writing Ted back in Spain but got nauseous & had to quit. My apologies to all but as you can see it's out of my control.

I've been skating for 18 years. Over that time there's been knocked out teeth, popped lung (see Don't skate stoned), 4 broken wrists, 6 or so sprained ankles, 1 broken rib, 1 broken finger, several concussions and countless other minor slams. Now I can add to that list a broken nose and 6 stitches in my lip. What most people don't understand is that it's part of skating. If you're afraid to get hurt then don't do it. I'm old now so I try and skate smarter but every once in a while your going to take your hits. Lately I enjoy taking mine in front of a crowd at the Third Lair. This latest one was a feeble grind to fakie on the quarter pipe (the starting point for the launch). I've done that trick thousands of times over the years and never gotten hurt. But it only takes once. Eric Froland (Woody) is one of my all time favorite skaters and he was taken out of skating for good on a feeble to fakie years ago. I think that was one of the first things I thought of after the cobwebs got out of my head. He happened to be at the park so after this happened I ran over to show him my face before I left. I thought he'd get a kick out of it.

If life were different, if I had a family of my own or some reason to worry about my health, then I'd consider being more cautious. But this is what life has given me. A love for something that will hurt me from time to time but will never leave me. A good slam can make you appreciate life as well as skating and friends. I may wish I were dead right now but I'm not. I'll be fine before I know it. And I'm amazed at what lengths my friends go to to help when I need it.

I've been asked when I'm going to quit at least five times today. And honestly I don't know. All I know is that I've got to get back down to the skatepark and do a feeble grind.

-Before-

This picture of me and my first skateboard is from 1984. I was 12 years old. My friend Matt Hauer introduced me to skating on his Variflex Chaos. I ran out and begged my mom & she bought me the 'Splash'. I was hooked. Tube sox, short shorts, fat laces in my adidas (I was also a breakdancer), my dog Ted and not a broken bone on my body...

-After-

If there was a God and he said that if I wanted to keep skating I'd have to get hit in the face with a baseball bat I'd throw my board at him and run to the fucking moon.

TEXT AND PHOTO BY BRIAN PERRY
11/2/02