Karma Tsocheff #11.

AM Nollie Magic.

I thought this was a fakie ollie, but upon closer inspection Karma takes a nollie to fakie across a skatepark ramp. He's regular footed. I miss the glory days of Consolidated.

We got through another 12 months of skateboarding. If it wasn't all good, at the least it was entertaining. And that's all you can ask for. There's so much media to take in that it becomes impossible to keep track of everything in the same way you could back in the 1990s. Recognizing that mindset shift is important and the change is OK. You don't have to follow everything. Everybody is good and they all have better spots than you so the content churn becomes numbing to view.

As for my skateboarding, I remain undecided on what I think of the Jamestown free park. I went there a bunch more this summer. The one ledge is really good. I will say it is very nice being there early on a warm summer morning next to a river with some ducks or maybe a green heron on it. Atmosphere can make a big difference.

I finally made it back to Jamestown Skateboard Products. I hadn't been there in way too long. I have to remember to not be a stranger since it's the closest indoor park and they have a solid shop. They were featured in the most recent issue of Lowcard, too.

The Food Court Skatepark opened in the McKinkley Mall over the summer. It's fun and a trip to skateboard in a mall. The 80s kid in me appreciates that. I went there a couple weeks ago to meet up with some friends. I didn't film or even ask to film anything, but I wound up with foreground props in one of the clips so I grabbed a crappy still.

Otherwise, I stuck to the local park and the assortment of ledges I have in the driveway. The weather was decent for much of the year. The last month has seen a small amount of snow and some spring rain so that has cut into skateboard time. I've got nothing to complain about. I managed to crack 300 days rolling, which would have happened sooner if it wasn't for the rain in October and two days of snow in November.

I try to do some type of year end wrap up, but I'm spacing out on things right now. I did hit 15 months without having a beer so I think that's cool. I'm going to keep the streak rolling for the foreseeable future. I still spend way too much money on weird noise records and tapes. I maintain that the best part about skateboarding is just going skateboarding every day.

Vert Is Dead will be back on Monday, January 15th, 2024.

I need a break from this silly thing. I'll probably throw together some sort of quick look back on 2023. I also want to do another week of unique trucks. I've got a batch of Iota and Supernatural scans ready to go, too.

Happy New Year and have a great weekend.

The photo sequence is by Nik Freitas.

Thrasher - July 2001 Volume 21 Number 7