It was really cold out, but Ollie and I bundled up and went for it.  When we got to the park there was only a couple flyout kids there.  We skated the little mini ramp section.  It was pretty fun.  The wind seemed to die down so that was nice, but lots of people started showing up.  Some were even smiling and nice which is an improvement on the typical Omaha crowd.  Ollie is fun to watch skate.  He landed a few legit back 50s and celebrated by doing some early grab cannonballs to fakie. 

  We went over to the street area as I wanted to do some tricks on the ledge.  My knee was feeling ok.  After a few boardslides I went for crooks which I haven’t done in months.  Got almost everyone I tried.  Awesome.  The ledge isnt short so I was hyped to also get front 50s.  Then I had a blast ollieing up the little ledge and doing front pivots on a weird bank to curb.  Ollieing into the bank was fun too and I followed it up by going into the snake run and doing a long back 50 then a front smith. 

So fun.  I also did a really slow back 50 on the little ledge followed by a bad front nose on the main ledge.  I got a ways to go before I’ll feel like I’m doing Jason any justice.   Fun day.  Best I’ve skated since the arthritis started.

Had to get all packed up for our trip to Obamaha, Nullbraska. I went out to Rampy for a bit for the first time in forever. I was nervous about how quick Rampy is and how slow my reactions are currently. It worked out though. It took me awhile to get some tricks back and my back foot kept sliding all over the board as it was swelled up and kind of numb. The trick I had been thinking about the most was front disasters and I got a few of those. They felt weird though since my back foot was all over the place. Hyped I could skate it though and it doesn’t hurt my knee.

So for whatever reason while I was under the influence of pain killers and kickflip withdrawal I gripped a new board and wrote on it “Skateparks are the new gym”. The more I think about it the more it seems accurate. Luckily I’m kind of a jock so it works out. Carreigh picked me up around 11 and we thought we were gonna be late to meet up with the rest of the Gym Factory. We even stopped by Crisis to pickup little Keenan. I guess they were still eating which I should have known. It was really nice out, but unfortunately it was little kid hour. Carreigh ate in the car for awhile while Keenan and I rolled around. He ripped it out of the gates. I was feeling better then I have in months and even got a kickflip in a couple tries. I managed to get like 7 or 8 in a row. Some of them even felt ok. Cruising around the park was fun. I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary for awhile. After quite some time I managed to finally boardslide the little ledge. That felt great. TF eventually showed up and started flexing their pexs. Most were in the bowl which I’ve been avoiding so far because I cant run fast enough if I had to run out of a bail (and you know I would). I skated the flat bank in front of the hubba for a bit and decided I should at least do all the tricks that Ollie did last time. Rock fakie first t. back rock first t. front rock first t. Whew. Then I went on to get a few more like front slash and front feeble. I took a few slams in there which hurt worse than they used to. After that I managed my favorite run in awhile which was a boardslide on the ledge, axle stall on the steep bank in front of the hubba then a flatground kickflip. Unfortunately that kickflip hurt my knee in the same way that hurt months ago. UGH. Shortly after Fuzz rolled his ankle pretty bad on a front rock bail in the bowl. Doh. Another TF down. I chilled for awhile hoping the knee pain would go away. Brian had some awesome attempts at a bluntslide transfer into a bank. Hard to describe but he flies along on the top of the deck of a bank and starts booger sliding into a bluntslide on top of the bank. He slammed a lot and even took out a game of SKATE. Careligh was cruising around and got some tailslides across the hip. Travis did a sick backside ollie transfer from the little bank up on to the hubba. Jake crooksied the ledge and did more than just kickturn on the kinked wannabe jersey barrier wall. Neil yelled at bikers, kids and did some good lipslides on the ledge. After my knee started hurting I didn’t do so much. I could cruise around fine, but not squat for ollies. Ugh. Most of us just sat and watched the good skating that was going on. At one point we tried holding our breath until someone lands a trick. Man, skaters never land anything. Brian probably won that game. Fun day. Glad I felt good for at least an hour or so. I hope the knee pain goes away like it did before.

I’ve been feeling a little better lately. Doing some jumping exercises and range of motion stuff. That and loading up on Turmeric which is supposed to be awesome for arthritis. I think the turmeric is helping. Anyways, it was really cold and my injury partner ditched me, but a solo session seemed in order anyways to mess around and get the skate feet going. When I got to northGLENn there was about 5 people skating in a train over and over. It was pretty funny. I was way more bundled up then them. It was only about 25 degrees so I don’t know how a t-shirt and a hoodie is enough. I started slow. I did manage to do a bad kickflip 3rd try. I got a few more, but they were all really bad with no pop. It’s a start. I managed a few noseslides on the main ledge. After awhile the train left and a couple other older dudes arrived (Tud and Mark) and we just kinda did whatever. Mostly skating the little mellow pyramid thing. I did some back 5-0s on it, lots of back 50s on the little qp by the kicker, some front slashes on the mini bank, took a long time to get front tail on the pyramid, some bad ollies into the mellow banks, mannies across the middle thing and a line I was hyped on of ride over the rainbow thing, back 50 the qp, back slash the bank with the big coping, manual the middle thing then front feeble on the pyramid. Neat. I did a few slow flatground pop shoves, fakie bigspin, back 180. It felt good to be skating but it’s crazy having to relearn everything. For awhile there was some intense throbbing pain in both feet/ankles. I thought I would have to stop, but it kind of went away. I got an axle stall on the bank in front of the hubba. At the end of the night I did a run where I mannied the pyramid into the bigger bank, went up the the qp turned around then mannied the pyramid the other way. Fun. Hyped to skate. Hope I can get back to my normal self at some point.

I haven’t skated this park yet. It looks amazing. After a late night rager with the TF and Black Dots I thought I might be able to skate. It was supposed to be a TF day, but it seemed like it was falling apart. I didn’t help things by bringing Ollie. But when your son says he wants to go skating how can you say no? Especially when he needs to be practicing his contest runs. Anyways we met up with Jake, Travis, Brian, Fuzz and Neil. It became apparent quickly to me that I wouldn’t be able to ollie once again. Ugh. Seriously. It’s great, absolutely great being out with friends and all, but I want to skate and I’m starting to get really depressed about it. At one point I saw this dude do a perfect fakie flip into a little bank. It looked so good and fun and I about started balling that I can’t even attempt something that simple right now. Anyways, less emo, more skate. Jake was working on noseblunts on this fun pyramid bank and at the end of the session pulled it in textbook. Travis was ripping around the park blasting airs. Fuzz destroyed the little qp at the top and had some fun lines around the park. Ollie took a long time to warm up to the crowded park, but eventually started doing some stuff. We were skating this little bank for awhile and he did rock fakie then back rock. Brian came over and hadn’t seen the rock fakie and offered Ollie a huge Independent sticker for a rock fakie. Ollie did it first try. Brian felt betrayed. It’s not like it was a Thunder sticker so I’m not sure why he made a big deal over it. Brian skated the bank for a bit too and did a one footed back blunt. So sick. Ollie then got a front rock. I did nothing but carve around and do a couple manuals. I even had trouble with back 50s on the little qp. Ugh. I got a little front feeble on the pyramid hip. But other then that I was very depressed and would get more depressed when I watched people skate. Even though I couldn’t take advantage of the park I think it’s my new favorite park. I’m gonna take a few days off and overdose on anti inflammatorys and range of motion/jumping exercises. Hope it helps. I can’t describe how hard it is to try and skate with numb knees and ankles.

After the fun red curbs session the night before I thought I might be up for more. I ran a little late meeting Dean on a crisp friday morning I had off of work. Some of the park was shoveled. The quartapotty had ice in front of it, but was still skateable. Dean and Max were ripping. Dean skated some of the best I’ve seen him skate. Boardslides across the taller brown ledge, manuals across the blue one. Max skates so hard. His tricks included hardflip manual and 360 flip nose manual on the blue ledge. He almost got 360 flip nose manny nollie flip out. Wow. He did some tricks up down the little rail too. I was feeling bad. No pop whatsoever in my legs. I think the arthritis is worse early in the day and I also think I should wear long johns whenever it’s below freezing because the cold makes it worse. The only things I did I was hyped on were front 50 on the blue ledge going 2mph and a front rock on the quartapotty. Yes, I was that bad. At one point I tried to ollie onto the blue ledge and it literally took every ounce of strength I had. Ugh. It feels good to be out with friends rolling around, but at the same time it’s super depressing not being able to skate remotely like I want to. At one point I bailed a trick on the brick qp (Imagine that Brian, me bailing?) and I couldn’t run fast enough down the tranny to stay on my feet. That didn’t help my mood. Glad to see Dean and Max ripping though. And had fun hanging at Crisis after. But man, the way my ankles/knees feel preventing me from being able to really skate sucks.

It’s been a really long time since I’ve skated with Ollie. He hasn’t been skating much lately, well I guess no one really has with all this snow. I was wanting to be lazy, but randomly asked Ollie if he wanted to go to Red Curbs. He yelled “SIR YES SIR” which is what he does for all of his yes’ now. It’s so funny. I was pretty surprised to say the least. I got some long johns on and headed out with Ollie who was all bundled up too. I felt better then I have yet getting on the board initially. I still couldn’t really ollie and I didn’t even feel up to trying flip tricks. For the first 10 minutes Ollie followed me around doing little slappy noseslides and stuff. He ripped it. He’s been skating once in awhile with the neighbor, but I am always surprised by him. He did legit backside boardslides, frontside boardslides and 180s both ways. He ollied up the curb a few times, did 180s off both ways, did some super sick backside cali 5-0s, typical Ollie stuff. I love the way he skates though. Even though he’s seen skate videos his whole live and been out and seen Null filming sessions, he doesn’t care. He skates like a kid and it rules. I managed some fs and bs 50s on the curbs which felt so good. They were slow and awkward, but felt great. I got a line of noseslide the two stair (above photo by Ollie), boardslide the curb, back 50 the next curb then tried to do a kickflip, but couldn’t get it. I really want to learn front lips, but I can’t ollie that high right now so i tried a bunch of switch back boards instead. I slammed once really hard. It hurt more than it should have. My wrists suck so bad right now. I managed to get up and keep trying it though. I couldn’t ride out, but decided to try a back 270 out instead. I got one! It stoked me out so much. It was the first day I felt like I really skated. The last couple didn’t feel like skating. Yeah! Red Curbs rules!

I am still not feeling 100%, but Brian invited me to the warehouse for a session with TF.   I was super nervous because I’m already too self conscious as it is and now I can’t even really skate.  I was super hyped to roll with friends though.  It was super crowded when we got there.  Doh.  I hung out with my injury partner in crime Carleigh and the every shy Jack in a corner that had a tiny bank for a pyramid that was under construction.  The ramp was super crowded.   Carleigh did some kickturns and little tailblocks.  She just got her cast off so she isn’t allowed to ollie yet.  Jack did all kinds of goofy tricks.  Kickflip pretzels, etc.  Neil came by and got me to do a flatground shove it.  It had no pop and I wasn’t even really moving, but it felt good.  I did some other little front rocks and stuff on the side of the pyramid.  I felt so awkward on a skateboard.  But we kept dorking around and I felt a little better as opposed to the red curbs session where I kept feeling worse.  So that’s cool.  Eventually I skated the main area a bit by dropping in on the bank to ledge, doing a kickturn and then a little boardslide on the ledge.  That was fun.  I had a couple bails though that felt so weird.  My ankles haven’t moved that way in a long time so it would hurt for a few minutes then feel looser and better.  This whole arthritis thing is so weird.  At the end Brian and I tried some flatground kickflips and got some back to back!  I got two in a row.  They were still mobbed and horrible, but man that felt good.  I also tried some front rocks on the bank to ledge.  It felt fun to try a somewhat real trick, but we had to go before I got it.  I felt like at the end I could kind of feel my skate feet.  I just wish my legs would have some pop in them.  I’m really rambling on here.  Skating hanging with TF felt great.  Bye for now.

I went to Red Curbs on a very cold day. I had an offer to go skate the 303 warehouse later on, but I wasn’t sure I could actually skate and I was on call for work. Turns out it was probably the right call as skating didn’t really work and I got called in for work. Skating was harder then I thought it would be. I did a boardslide on a curb quick and fell. It didn’t hurt, but it kind of set the tone. I couldn’t do much of anything. Ollieing up a curb was really, really hard. It’s a mixture of my muscles not being used and arthritis. My legs did everything slower than normal. It sucked. It didn’t hurt, but it didn’t feel right. It’s not like a normal injury where your nursing one part of your body. Both feet, ankles and knees felt weird. Really weird. I quickly realized that flip tricks weren’t going to happen. I wanted to do a kickflip though. I tried a run one way of front 180, sw front 180, slappy tailslide the curb then a kickflip attempt. Never got it. Going the other way I tried a slappy switch front nose, halfcab, then a kickflip. Nope. I did manage a horribly mobbed kickflip, but it was on it’s own. It made me happy to land a kickflip again and get out skating, but it was kind of more just depressing and I realized I have some more waiting to do before I can skate the way I want to. I take another injection of the arthritis drug tomorrow and I hope that it does it’s job.

I’m on the come back! Been feeling way better this week. Not good enough to skate, but better. Been doing some exercises and trying get back in shape a little. Stretching again, all that. The arthritis is still there though. It’s really hard to describe what it feels like now. It doesn’t hurt so much anymore, but it makes everything feel slow and restricted. With that being said it was almost 60 degree outside and I couldn’t resist seeing how I felt skating. I didn’t think I’d be able to do tricks at all, but just wanted to push. Surprisingly pushing felt pretty good. I went pretty slow and felt it out, but man it felt good. I did a few manuals between tree shadows and they felt ok. Tried to ollie a bit, but that didn’t work. My leg reflexes are way too slow for that. I did a few slide around 180s where you just pivot off the front truck. Fun. Then I went inside before I did anything stupid. I’m not sure what would happen if I fell. My wrists still hurt pretty bad. I have no idea when I’ll be skating for real. I’m hoping by next weekend. It sure felt good to get out and push a little though.