looks like saturdays plan will need to be cancelled, untill we get a set of lock picks, or enough ppl to tear a door down...
gotta pull something out of my ass asap....
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Monday, September 10, 2007
I had to do an english essay on something unique so here it is, let me know what you think:
The crew had finally assembled, despite 1of the members being late, at The Youth Park Stage, which would be the starting point for their day of skateboarding. LTP, as we are known as, is a band of travelling artists, each individual bringing their personal and unique craft, each new skate spot serving as a new canvas onto which a masterpiece would be created, with their inspiration fuelled by the companionship between them.
Ordinary objects to the common man represented a breath of opportunity to the skateboarders. The marble curbs scattered across the Central Business District of Singapore are for more than just sitting down. They provide a platform for skateboarders to perform incredibly complicated tricks upon, a medium for which artistic ideas can be fully expressed and personalised.
While it did resemble a sport in terms of the need for physical exertion, skateboarding lacks the competitive element that is the cornerstone of the fore. Skateboarders are rarely in competition with each other; their only opponent would be themselves. They are merely people who share a passion, and would love to see nothing more than the progression of this way of life.
Our journey begins in downtown Orchard Road at The Youth Park Stage. Nestled in the centre of Singapore’s busiest district, the elevated stage stands roughly 4 steps high, and is seen as the proving grounds for all skaters. As we begin to warm up for the long day of enjoyable physical punishment, a sense of excitement and freedom is felt among all of us, as we know that today will be one of the few occasions we will be able to be fully self expressed. One by one, we start to take our simple flips and spins down The Stage, much like the artist who starts his masterpiece with simple sketches and outlines, eventually building up to his final work of art
Out of the blue, Alvin, a feisty young skater who has little regard for his own safety, decides to attempt a technically demanding trick down The Stage. After a series of failed attempts that land in physical pain, he senses that he is getting close to pulling off something initially inconceivable. He summons one of us to start recording each try on the video camera, and ignoring the bruises and scrapes dealt to his body he soldiers on, giving it go after go.
Disaster nearly strikes when Alvin nearly injures his ankle on the last attempt, but being the committed skateboarder he is, he ignores the nagging fear at the back of his head, as well as the natural human tendency to nurse his injuries and decides to give it another go.
As he rolls towards the edge of The Stage, he mind is completely silent. He taps his skateboard against the tiled floor, launching it into the air. The flick of his toe, combined with the rotation of his shoulders, sends the board spinning horizontally then laterally. The top of the deck slaps the soles of his feet as he complete a 180 degree rotation. He braces himself for the landing as he floats slowly towards the ground, bending his knees to absorb the impact as he rolls away from a Backside Kickflip down The Stage.
In that span of 3 seconds, his mind is a blank slate. Despite the technically demanding nature of the trick, Alvin is not reading an instructional manual while executing the trick. His body is simply responding to the single thought running through his head. The 3 seconds are flickers of pure inner peace, where nothing at all in the world matters and you are completely lost in the moment. Neither the cracks on the floor, the sound of traffic zooming by nor the scorching heat can distract Alvin in his moment of complete clarity. The distractions fade into the background as the trick takes centre stage, and the skate is in complete control, creating something out of nothing, and lost in his world of Zen.
As Alvin rolls away from The Stage, we rush forward to congratulate him. However, he is the last one who is rejoicing, and insists on doing the same trick again after reviewing the last take on the video camera. 5 flawless attempts later, Alvin is finally satisfied with himself, sitting down, lighting a cigarette up and letting the world, as well as the joy catch up with him.
5 hours after leaving The Stage and the bustle of Orchard Road, we find ourselves at the West end of Singapore in the most obscure of locations. We are underneath the train tracks and it is a concrete wasteland. Indeed this would be a plot of wasted space had a few die-hard skateboarders not decided to create a makeshift skate park out the land, metal drain covers and plenty of concrete. News of The Banks, as the spot was known as was spread through word of mouth and while to some the obstacles looked like a heap of wasted effort, to my crew, we were in paradise.
Despite having tortured our bodies during the entire afternoon of skating, we are still energized and hungry to take our skills to battle. Like a pack of wolves going after herd of sheep, we being to dissect the concrete behemoth, attacking the parts that best suit our abilities, each of us hungry to leave our mark on the skate spot. As this goes on, we feed off each other’s creativity, and one person landing a trick becomes a group accomplishment.
As the evening sun beings to sit, it comes down to me and a makeshift ledge that slopes downwards across steep embankment. I’ve been toying with the idea go getting a trick across the ledge for the past 5 minutes. My friends remind me that it has actually been 30 minutes since I started riding up to the ledge, stopping before it, testing the surface to grind up and adjusted my shoes. Heart has been racing since I first even considered trying the trick, and he stress I was experiencing made me wonder why I have would want to do something so potentially hazardous.
I finally decide to go for it and on my first attempt I am sent hurtling towards the harsh and unforgiving concrete, landing with a loud thud that resembles a bowling dropping to the floor. As lie motionless, my friends rush to my side to check my conditions, it almost feels like the aching pain felt in my left arm is felt by the people who help me to my feet. Now the “first-try-gitters” out of the way, I rush to give the trick another whirl, and my crew look on with a combination of fear for my safety encouragement.
Another painful slam later, I decide to give the trick another go. This time all is right, the stars are aligned and the Gods look down upon me with favour. Battered and bruised my friends rush to join in my celebration and I am left wondering how they can be so happy for something that they are not even a part of. In fact they seem even happier than I am to have landed the trick.
Perhaps it is not about who has done what trick where, but rather skateboarders are happy when one of their own pushes their own limits, overcomes adversity and becomes someone greater than themselves. Indeed, no one felt upstage, inferior nor diminished as a skateboarder. Maybe it was because we all had a burning passion for our art skateboarding, and that they were content in people doing their very best in it and having a good time. There is no striving to be the best among us, as the best does not exist. Each of us is a unique individual who contributes in whatever way we can to bring progress to this way of life.
As the sun slowly behind the rows of high rise public apartments, the LTP crew sit outside a convenience store sharing cheaply made carbonated drinks, musing about the amazing day that had transpired. The aches and pain experience in our bodies were a small price to pay for the sheer enjoyment we experience today. Huddling around the tiny screen of the video camera, we reviewed the snippets of the day gone by, each of us wondering at the back of our heads who we keep skateboarding. In the span of a day, we had experience an entire spectrum of emotions, ranging from the elation when a friend breaks his physical limits, to the pain felt when one of our own is injured, to the oneness of mind and body.
As we step on our skateboards and push off into our separate ways home, we are reminded of what makes skateboarding so special to each of us. . Perhaps what keeps us going is the sense of brotherhood we have, coupled with a passion for skateboarding, topped off with our pursuit of artistic excellence that reminds us why we are LTP, but more importantly, skateboarders, people who keep on pushing.
The crew had finally assembled, despite 1of the members being late, at The Youth Park Stage, which would be the starting point for their day of skateboarding. LTP, as we are known as, is a band of travelling artists, each individual bringing their personal and unique craft, each new skate spot serving as a new canvas onto which a masterpiece would be created, with their inspiration fuelled by the companionship between them.
Ordinary objects to the common man represented a breath of opportunity to the skateboarders. The marble curbs scattered across the Central Business District of Singapore are for more than just sitting down. They provide a platform for skateboarders to perform incredibly complicated tricks upon, a medium for which artistic ideas can be fully expressed and personalised.
While it did resemble a sport in terms of the need for physical exertion, skateboarding lacks the competitive element that is the cornerstone of the fore. Skateboarders are rarely in competition with each other; their only opponent would be themselves. They are merely people who share a passion, and would love to see nothing more than the progression of this way of life.
Our journey begins in downtown Orchard Road at The Youth Park Stage. Nestled in the centre of Singapore’s busiest district, the elevated stage stands roughly 4 steps high, and is seen as the proving grounds for all skaters. As we begin to warm up for the long day of enjoyable physical punishment, a sense of excitement and freedom is felt among all of us, as we know that today will be one of the few occasions we will be able to be fully self expressed. One by one, we start to take our simple flips and spins down The Stage, much like the artist who starts his masterpiece with simple sketches and outlines, eventually building up to his final work of art
Out of the blue, Alvin, a feisty young skater who has little regard for his own safety, decides to attempt a technically demanding trick down The Stage. After a series of failed attempts that land in physical pain, he senses that he is getting close to pulling off something initially inconceivable. He summons one of us to start recording each try on the video camera, and ignoring the bruises and scrapes dealt to his body he soldiers on, giving it go after go.
Disaster nearly strikes when Alvin nearly injures his ankle on the last attempt, but being the committed skateboarder he is, he ignores the nagging fear at the back of his head, as well as the natural human tendency to nurse his injuries and decides to give it another go.
As he rolls towards the edge of The Stage, he mind is completely silent. He taps his skateboard against the tiled floor, launching it into the air. The flick of his toe, combined with the rotation of his shoulders, sends the board spinning horizontally then laterally. The top of the deck slaps the soles of his feet as he complete a 180 degree rotation. He braces himself for the landing as he floats slowly towards the ground, bending his knees to absorb the impact as he rolls away from a Backside Kickflip down The Stage.
In that span of 3 seconds, his mind is a blank slate. Despite the technically demanding nature of the trick, Alvin is not reading an instructional manual while executing the trick. His body is simply responding to the single thought running through his head. The 3 seconds are flickers of pure inner peace, where nothing at all in the world matters and you are completely lost in the moment. Neither the cracks on the floor, the sound of traffic zooming by nor the scorching heat can distract Alvin in his moment of complete clarity. The distractions fade into the background as the trick takes centre stage, and the skate is in complete control, creating something out of nothing, and lost in his world of Zen.
As Alvin rolls away from The Stage, we rush forward to congratulate him. However, he is the last one who is rejoicing, and insists on doing the same trick again after reviewing the last take on the video camera. 5 flawless attempts later, Alvin is finally satisfied with himself, sitting down, lighting a cigarette up and letting the world, as well as the joy catch up with him.
5 hours after leaving The Stage and the bustle of Orchard Road, we find ourselves at the West end of Singapore in the most obscure of locations. We are underneath the train tracks and it is a concrete wasteland. Indeed this would be a plot of wasted space had a few die-hard skateboarders not decided to create a makeshift skate park out the land, metal drain covers and plenty of concrete. News of The Banks, as the spot was known as was spread through word of mouth and while to some the obstacles looked like a heap of wasted effort, to my crew, we were in paradise.
Despite having tortured our bodies during the entire afternoon of skating, we are still energized and hungry to take our skills to battle. Like a pack of wolves going after herd of sheep, we being to dissect the concrete behemoth, attacking the parts that best suit our abilities, each of us hungry to leave our mark on the skate spot. As this goes on, we feed off each other’s creativity, and one person landing a trick becomes a group accomplishment.
As the evening sun beings to sit, it comes down to me and a makeshift ledge that slopes downwards across steep embankment. I’ve been toying with the idea go getting a trick across the ledge for the past 5 minutes. My friends remind me that it has actually been 30 minutes since I started riding up to the ledge, stopping before it, testing the surface to grind up and adjusted my shoes. Heart has been racing since I first even considered trying the trick, and he stress I was experiencing made me wonder why I have would want to do something so potentially hazardous.
I finally decide to go for it and on my first attempt I am sent hurtling towards the harsh and unforgiving concrete, landing with a loud thud that resembles a bowling dropping to the floor. As lie motionless, my friends rush to my side to check my conditions, it almost feels like the aching pain felt in my left arm is felt by the people who help me to my feet. Now the “first-try-gitters” out of the way, I rush to give the trick another whirl, and my crew look on with a combination of fear for my safety encouragement.
Another painful slam later, I decide to give the trick another go. This time all is right, the stars are aligned and the Gods look down upon me with favour. Battered and bruised my friends rush to join in my celebration and I am left wondering how they can be so happy for something that they are not even a part of. In fact they seem even happier than I am to have landed the trick.
Perhaps it is not about who has done what trick where, but rather skateboarders are happy when one of their own pushes their own limits, overcomes adversity and becomes someone greater than themselves. Indeed, no one felt upstage, inferior nor diminished as a skateboarder. Maybe it was because we all had a burning passion for our art skateboarding, and that they were content in people doing their very best in it and having a good time. There is no striving to be the best among us, as the best does not exist. Each of us is a unique individual who contributes in whatever way we can to bring progress to this way of life.
As the sun slowly behind the rows of high rise public apartments, the LTP crew sit outside a convenience store sharing cheaply made carbonated drinks, musing about the amazing day that had transpired. The aches and pain experience in our bodies were a small price to pay for the sheer enjoyment we experience today. Huddling around the tiny screen of the video camera, we reviewed the snippets of the day gone by, each of us wondering at the back of our heads who we keep skateboarding. In the span of a day, we had experience an entire spectrum of emotions, ranging from the elation when a friend breaks his physical limits, to the pain felt when one of our own is injured, to the oneness of mind and body.
As we step on our skateboards and push off into our separate ways home, we are reminded of what makes skateboarding so special to each of us. . Perhaps what keeps us going is the sense of brotherhood we have, coupled with a passion for skateboarding, topped off with our pursuit of artistic excellence that reminds us why we are LTP, but more importantly, skateboarders, people who keep on pushing.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Monday, September 03, 2007
i went for my first date with claris to the zoo last sunday, the 2nd of aug and it was really fun.... good times with a great girl.... i rarely go on dates so this was great...
being with her rekindles a feelign ive not felt in a while... even sam says i sound different now, which is a good thing...
i once posted abt a bob marley song, is this love, when i just broke up with janice, my ex... i posted that in hopes of trying to get her back... i listened to the song today and i felt like posting abt it again because it expresses how im feeling right now abt claris....
I want to love you
I want to love and treat you right
I want to love you, everyday and every night
i want things to work out.... i guess ill have to take things slow, just like at kokomo..... another song by the beach boys....
being with her rekindles a feelign ive not felt in a while... even sam says i sound different now, which is a good thing...
i once posted abt a bob marley song, is this love, when i just broke up with janice, my ex... i posted that in hopes of trying to get her back... i listened to the song today and i felt like posting abt it again because it expresses how im feeling right now abt claris....
I want to love you
I want to love and treat you right
I want to love you, everyday and every night
i want things to work out.... i guess ill have to take things slow, just like at kokomo..... another song by the beach boys....
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