Skateboarding- Individuals and Their Addictions

Skateboarding is unique. Anybody can pick up a board and hit the asphalt. No skater looks alike, everyone of them is an individual. There is no uniform. There is no standard dress code. You do what you want to do. Some dress in baggy jeans and T-shirts and a pair of Nikes, others prefer skin-tight pants and a battered pair of Vans. It's all up to the individual on top of the board.

We have no mottoes. We have no creed. We have our skateboards underneath our feet. The rush of air flowing through our hair as we descend down a steep hill.

It's all up to the skater. We're all good in our way. Even the little twelve year old overweight kid that got one for Christmas. Even he's good. Everyone is good. Everybody has their own unique. As long as you're having fun doing it, and you're not doing it for the chicks, you are a real skater. In my opinion, kids that can kickflip down gnarly twelve stairs are good, but if they're doing it to impress, to me, they aren't a skater. To me, a skater is the overweight twelve year old I mentioned, that can't even ride down the sidewalk. He has fun on the skateboard, the kid that kickflips down twelve stairs isn't. One is doing it for fun, the other does it for fame. The one that does it for fame is not a skater. The one that does it for fun, IS a skater.

Skaters eat, breathe, and dream about skateboarding. During the last period of school, I remember anxiously waiting, almost pissing myself, waiting for the last three seconds of class. I knew in three seconds, I'd be out with my friends, enjoying what we do, tearing up the streets on a piece of wood with four wheels. It's simple, but it was always fun to us. It was on my mind, non-stop. Even after coming home after a long twelve hour skate session, I wanted to go back out for just fifteen more minutes to tear it up some more. My friends had the same mindset. Most skaters I've met have the same mindset. It's an addiction. We're like heroin addicts itching for our next fix. They nervously pick up the spoon, and pull the plunger of the needle up, their hands shaking in anticipation. That's how we are. When we get home from school, we anxiously run to our rooms to grab our pieces of wood with four wheels, our hands shaking. As soon as our wheels hit the concrete, a rush of euphoria rushes through our bodies. Orgasmic. It's amazing.

So is skateboarding a drug? A drug is something that alters your mind, your perspective. When I pick up my skateboard, my mind goes blank, and all I can think about is hitting that six stair down the street from my house. It may not be a drug, but it is definitely an addiction.