Good Morning Phuket!!

In case I haven't mentioned it yet, I love Thailand. The culture, the people, the food, the flora, the fauna . . . The list goes on and on and on.
I woke up with a couple of the guys early today to ride the course a bit, so we cruised the mornings food offerings. Here is the vibe of the scene.















If you say "sawadee kop" ("hello") to anyone on the street, they will (with few exceptions) respond in kind with a smile. You may note the dogs chilling around. There are dogs everywhere. They don't belong to anyone . . . they are there own dogs.

Posted by EK.

Breakfast in Thailand . . .

There is nothing quite as fulfilling on so many levels as breakfast in Thailand. Firstly, you are going to eat something, that with the exception of an egg on top, is something you would almost certainly equate to a dinner meal.
The restaurant is almost a garage and your table is on the sidewalk. The table cloth is an old vinyl billboard scrap, or a Thai soda "branded" plastic tablecloth - which is generally cracked, stained and mildly grungy looking. The chairs are of the plastic lawn-type. Regardless, your meal is absolutely delicious - spicy (unless otherwise requested, "pet-mai"), exotic, and fresh.
Your friends are sweating (because of the spices AND it's 100 degrees Fahrenheit) and joking and smiling.
It is blaringly real-world . . . . And it is heaven :)









Good morning from Phuket!
Posted EK

Halloween!!

I made the trek back up to the Bay for Halloween with my girls - it has been high on my favorite Holidays list for most of my life. 

My Dad used to painstakingly craft costumes for me depending on what I chose for that year, and since Juniper seemed to have inherited my love for it, do the same for her.
Last year the costume choice was "Sea-turtle" -sounded like a fun challenge. It ended up being a bit more of an order than I was anticipating, so since she still loves the costume (phew), this year was also Sea Turtle . . . With some amendments and additions . . .



And here, the costumed festivities . . .






. . . And hanging with Her awesome cousin Kaj (the last air-bender) . . .

 

Chelsa and I got in on the act as well . . . 

Happy Halloween! 

Day one: Woodward West, ghost town . . .

The wait for the start of this adventure has been hard with all of the delays, so although I knew I'd be headed back up to the Bay for lessons (a six hour drive) the following afternoon, I just HAD to meet the guys and make this thing a reality. I arrived at Woodward West at a little after 1pm . . . To an empty Camp!! Because Woodward was closed for the summer aside from special events (such as our training), aside from a few of the wonderful staff, I was alone . . . . in skate heaven!
Here are a few shots for a small sense of the place (fyi: there are many more skate parks that I did not document)




After the long drive, I wasn't exactly ready to skate, but I could not pass up the opportunity to have Woodward all to myself . . . so I did roll a bit :)




. . . It's 5:00pm now . . . WHERE are these rippers!?

Thailand2

THAILAND COACH (the sequel)

In late August I was surprised and excited to receive an email from Thailand's extreme sports ambassador, Apichat Rutnin, asking me if I could train and represent the Thailand National skateboard team as coach for an upcoming event.
I had been dreaming of returning to Thailand since the last time I had the honor of this position in 2007, so . . . Yes!, I am in!






This was the 2007 Thailand Team. The contest was the Olympic Asia Indoor Games in Macau, China. We competed against 12 other countries in two disciplines - Park and Street. We received two silver medals for our hard work. It was an amazing experience.
I was told that only one of the original crew, "Es" Siriwat, was going to be competing . . . A whole new team - I was already picturing what they might be like, so exciting!!


Posted EK

Interview with . . . Christian Hosoi!

In keeping with my "charmed life" as it were, I received an email in December from my friends at Lifelounge Magazine out of Australia asking me if I could get an interview with skateboarding legend Christian Hosoi. My initial reaction was fear - that even if I could get the interview, that I couldn't write a story worthy of his mystique. After a couple of days of soul searching I decided I had to at least try and get an interview. In just a few short days I had not only set up the interview, but fate had actually brought Christian to my city of Richmond California (those of you familiar with Richmond understand just how bizarre and unlikely this is.) to skate a warehouse vert ramp! Long story short, I did Interview Christian "Christ" Hosoi and the story was published by LifeLounge Magazine (so exciting and flattering!).

Below are some shots I took of Christian in Richmond and during the interview in Huntington Beach - I actually got to session with Christian Hosoi . . . CRAZY!






The Lifelounge "Gossip" Edition with my story "Christ is alive . . . and living in Huntington Beach" can be purchased at Lifelounge .com

Thanks to Jamie Driver, Aaron Morgan and special thanks to Christian Hosoi for the opportunity to share his story and thoughts.

THE END ALL BE ALL . . .

This is our beautiful daughter, Juniper Opal. She was born on January 29th at 5:39am.

I realize that I have never truly known utter bliss until now - seeing Chelsa with our baby and the realization that she is our's and we are her's for all times . . . I'm done for in the most heartfelt way. UTTER BLISS.

Wallenberg "Back to the Berg" 2009

As life sometimes does, time has been folding in on itself keeping me from the mentally therapeutic aspects of my life (such as this blog) . . . case in point Back to the Berg post I started two days after it happended, is now the better part of a year late! Nonetheless, I have finished it and as I am pretty happy with some of the action (and the amount of friends) I documented . . . here it is. Enjoy!

On Saturday May 30th 2009, Thrasher, Zero, Quiksilver and DVS threw what is most likely the last hurrah for the Historical skateboarding landmark known as "the Wallenberg four". I cannot say just how many people showed up for this event, but it was staggering . . . and I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Hopefully, if you weren't able to be in SF for this skateboard blowout, you got to see it on the live feeds that I understand were going during the event. If you didn't have at least that luck, here is what I was able to document for posterity (and insanity's) sake. Enjoy!


Pre Jam predictions on the landing strip.

With Chris Cole out front, the Chosen few ponder the possibilities.


Marissa Del Santo gave impressive and valiant efforts . . . I've seen people ride away as far as she did in a game of S.K.A.T.E. and count it - really cool. Girls in skateboarding . . . are here!
Jordan Hoffart . . . incredible and under rated Canadian. Frontside varial heelflip
Andrew Pott - perfect hardflip

Nick Merlino - Switch Heelflip
Chris Cole, MONSTER! Switch frontside flip.
Whoever this warrior is, he tried nollie 360s like 20 times and got close on about half.
Lizard King. I now understand why he is notable - he is amazing, creative and seemingly fearless. Backside 180 one foot in thong underwear (just kidding - shoe string belt).

Man of the day (month, year and decade) Chris Cole, me and some kid trying to explode me with his mind. By the end of the session Cole had bagged it with a backside 360 ollie (2nd try), and a switch frontside flip . . . FU$&!!
(WALLENBERG PART 2) Peeps in the house!
Darin Howard looks down into the sea of skaters
My best friend and skate destroyer Bart Fasano-Jones and fellow Marinite, James Norton
DLX crew.
The Hagar brothers . . . . inner circle nomads.
A packed crowd including Elements key . . . elements.

Toad and Salazar chat it up.
Legendary smooth operator, Rick Howard
The Maker
My Ace and yours, Steve "Shrewgy" Ruge.
Tony Vitello