I'm officially a safe person

I just completed my order for a helmet for longboarding. It's grey and green and I got a great deal on it from the same site I got my longboard from over 2 years ago now. My helmet is set to arrive in five to ten days.

It's a beauty, eh? Now all I have left to do is set up an official date with Stopher to go down the canyon again. I'm not sure if I shared this picture back in spring or not but it's one of my all time favorites from my 3+ years at college.

Stopher, me, Stacy & Joe @ Bridal Veil Falls for a canyon ride.

I debated a long while over colors. Literally months. Just a few days ago Jordan and I spent probably close to half an hour trading links back and forth on g-chat. (You can learn a lot about a person when discussing the merits of different colored helmets, that's for sure. A lot of things you already knew get confirmed as well.) I'm quite pleased with my decision. This time of year is probably my favorite time to longboard as well. It's starting to get slightly brisk in the evenings but not so cold that you can't go out in a t-shirt still. The best time to go is at sunset in the fall when leaves are changing colors.

In other news, this week Becca and I go to California! I'm quite excited to skip town for a few days, even though it means missing a football game. Getting out of Utah is always a treat, one I hardly ever pass up. This will be my second time going to California within less than five months as well.

Oh, and yesterday I went impromptu wakeboarding with Lorraine and her cousin and his friends! It was brilliant. I've been a grand total of three times now. Every time I think I love it a little more. I'm also incredibly sore now. I'm pretty sure there's some official wakeboarding law that says you have to have an amazing go of it on your second last run. Then on your last run, right when you're completely confident in yourself, you biff it within a few moments and have your worst attempt of the day. Lorraine and I both experienced that. It was still wonderful, though. I'm definitely going to try to marry into a family with a boat, that's for sure.

What can I say? Life is beautiful. Senior year is magic. I'm definitely not forgetting to be awesome, and neither is anyone else in my life.

Last YouTube video I watched: Talking Pictures

Longboarding high

I went out on my board for the first time in months. I was gone maybe half an hour, probably a little less. It's a beautiful day, currently 59 F. Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer, so I will most definitely be going out then as well.

You know how runners rave about how good it feels and the whole runner's high? Yeah, longboarding definitely gives me that. I've never had a runner's high, nor do I ever really want to, but if it feels half as good as a longboarding high does that'd still be pretty good. How I longboard is sometimes how I wish I felt running. My mind becomes so clear. I hardly think about anything, even when I'm trying to work things out. I get distracted to the point of thinking about nothing. I often like going out on my longboard to figure things out a little, but the actual figuring doesn't last long.

I distinctly remember the last time I went out longboarding before it got too cold. It was a night late in October. I'd gone on a date the night before, a first date, and had a really great time. No one was really around that night and I had a lot on my mind so I took out my board. It was probably around 9, maybe even later. Riding at night is definitely better than riding in the middle of the day but not quite as good as riding when the sun is beginning to set, like it was when I went today. My figuring out of the whole date situation and other things was weighing heavily on my mind but once I got out on a smooth road, nothing else mattered. The feeling your feet and legs get longboarding is crazy. I love it. I get so relaxed on my board. Eventually I did figure out how I really felt, but it took awhile. If I have the intention of going out on my longboard to think, I usually spend a lot more time out.

One thing I wish I had was my own soundtrack while longboarding. I have running playlists, or for tennis, or for walking home from school, or just really chill things. But I don't have a longboarding one. I don't often bring my iPod w/ me since a) I want to be aware of traffic, b) headphones can get annoying and c) I love the sound of my wheels on the asphalt. Said playlist would definitely include songs off the new Coldplay album Mylo Xyloto, all the songs from Imagine Dragons' new EP Continued Silence, and I can see it having a couple Weezer songs.

So try longboarding if you like skateboarding, snowboarding, wakeboarding or any of that stuff. Even if you don't like those things, you should still try longboarding. It's magical.

Last YouTube video I watched: Meeting Charles Barkley

The learning curve of semi-dangerous activities

Tonight I ended up learning one thing and teaching someone another thing.

I learned how to use Heelys and I taught about longboarding.

Never before had I even worn Heelys but the concept has always fascinated me. I mean, let's get this straight: THEY ARE SHOES WITH WHEELS. How much more awesome can shoes get?! Answer: Not much more awesome. It's a very strange thing to get used to, however. They require a great deal of balance and leg strength. The balance thing I expected but the leg strength not so much. It's not that I have wimpy calves or anything but I didn't realize how much work they would get. I ended up being able to go a few feet without holding onto anything after about 10 or 15 minutes. Maybe someday I'll buy a pair of my own and go zooming around.

As for the longboarding, that is something I have come to excel at and love. It's weird wheeling around on a piece of wood, in my case bamboo. My friend Kate has had her longboard much longer than I have had mine but she hasn't quite gotten the hang of it yet. She fell one time pretty bad and since then sort of gave up on it. Boarding can present a huge mental block, just like any semi-dangerous activity can. (Look at me, acting all legit, using the word "boarding.") After she let me mess around on her Heelys, we came to the conclusion that we should hit up the freshly paved road right by my house. It was a great night for it: not too hot and the road was very empty. For me, I wanted to be good at longboarding from the get-go, so I made myself good. I've only crashed once, though it was pretty bad, almost exactly a year ago. Since then I've just become more confident. Kate's biggest issue came from trusting herself to push off, something that troubled me for quite some time. I like to think I at least got her on the way to feeling more comfortable on her board. It was actually really fun trying to figure out what she was doing and how we could make it easier. I like the problem solving aspect of it.

What great fun. I'm quite excited to get back to Provo and find some new friends to board with. That's always a need in my book.

Last YouTube video I watched: Philadelphia Airport Speedrun (While writing this post about Heelys, I knew I had to watch this video again.)