Rise To The Next Level

Needed a day to comprehend what happened last thursday...when I think back my heart makes a jump. Two weeks ago I was allready on a roll but the day before yesterday I was floating on air. Normally on thursdays I go to HyperHyper, only a block away from my home, at 10 pm after fixing me a light meal and a nap. Last thursday the weather was too just to fine to stay in. So when I got home from work I put my gear on and left to go skate outdoors. Something felt different, I was in a very good mood so that must have helped. Due to a 3 days rest after my UK adventure I was more then ready for some 'local' groovin'.
Passed by HyperHyper very early and in lack of anything better to do then skating I popped in. They were playing some music from their private cd collection because it won't get busy 'till their 1st DJ shows up around 11 pm. The funk for mind, body, soul & skates was buzzin' me. So at 8 pm I was allready pumpin' trucks. Every step worked, every turn swirled, every jump felt like having wings on my shoulder and the add up total felt like a burst of explosion. The 'gang' showed up at around 10-10.30 pm and it is very clear everybody is getting better and better as time moves on. We were taught a new sync, we all learned very quickly and within 15 minutes we were synchronized. We have a whole summer of outside activities we all will be attending and its's great practice before the new season when lessons start again in September this year.

At 1.30 am I went home really, really tired. All the effort I put into the skating the last months results into a feeling of extreme happiness and a peace within. Feeling this way about my skating also leaves its signs in my everyday life. Want to hold on to this because it's mindblowin'. Like I said in my first story; skating gives me so much more than just a simple pleasure. When I enter my world of skating it's a vigorous world...I boost and evolve on my own strenght...

The Dirty Dozen + 1

So my prayers were heard. From the moment we set foot on UK ground 'till the moment we left the isle, Mother Nature granted us the sun to shine the whole 4 days. Considering all the compliments we gratefully excepted we must have made quite an impression, the 13 of us.

So first jamsession was at Bagleys Studios, London; 3 'rinks' (inverted commas because they were not that big) with different kinds of music. Our hangout most of the evening was the disco-funk-soul oldies dancefloor. Everybody just stared at us almost with their mouth open. Strange experience to be the centre of attraction, we differ from other skatedancers... that must be it. It only makes it more clear we have something special to show the world hahahaha. We all get together lots of times to skate around, do our dance and enjoy the music, usually caught up in our own group-groove. Somewhere in the back of our minds we know we are eyecatchers, but being in a different country, our presence there were we are supposed to be (in rollerdisco's), we realized we really heated up the local scene with our thang!!




Second day we had the daytime to ourselves. I sneaked out alone and went wandering down the streets of London and bought some souvenirs in the Soho area for my best of friends and for myself as a reminder of London and the great time I was having. Spent a lazy hour at Hyde Park and found some peace and quiet in the middle of a hectic city.
That evening it was Colchester Rollerrink. Now THAT I call a rink!! Apart from the lasergaming, bowlingalleys and pooltables, there was a rink made from Canadian Maplewood with a size of at least 2000 square yards (this is just an estimate of my guess). For rollerjammin' we don't need this kind of space, but the Canadian Maplewood was soooooooooo very smooooth. Skated around like crazy, and great for practising skating backwards too. I normally don't get to do that much often for there are ALWAYS obstacles in the way like trees, pickets, lantarnposts, a baby's buggy, small children, fences or hedges.
Again we made another big impression. Met Jennifer and Eric from Team Riedell was also present for a demo, we were very enthusiastic because they have a totally different style called jamskating. They have a lot of breakdance moves and you have to have very, very strong armmuscles to do that kinda shit. Of course they taught us the basics, we connected right away for we all have the same passion. We had a great time and of course took some pictures together.

Third day was the trip to Eastbourne for the Eastbourne Skatefestival 2004. We did not catch a great deal of the Skatefestival itself, because we arrived late. Afer checkin' in a beautiful hotel with an oceanview we skated along the boulevard, got ourselves something to eat and ended up in the fortress where the rollerdisco took place. So here we are at an openair disco, a perfect temperature, music and the best of moods, all of us. Suddenly we found ourselves creating a circle and cheer eachother on to move across the circle in a fancy, funny, groovy, boogie, stupid or jumpin' kind of way. This was videotaped and can be nothing else but great!!! As I looked back on it...it was an unexplainable group-thing. We were all riding the same wavelenght at that very moment. Mmm...very good memento.
And for the third time we made a big impression, including of course the inline skaters that were present doing their dancetricks too.
Totally knocked out I fell asleep and jumped out early for a perfect breakfast. It was 10 am and we were about to leave at 1.00 pm. YES, you guessed right, we put our skates on for a ride along the boulevard. Made some more videotakes, guess these will be used as promotionmaterial for Quadsk8.

Getting into London trafficjams, crammed beds in a youth hostel although it was fun, late-night Shut-The-Fuck-Ups, getting out of Central London trafficjams, wrong turns, diversion-straight ahead, Suburb London trafficjams, everybody knows better (with a group of 13...), roundabouts with 1 entry and 1 exit ?, a burst tyre, freeway to anywhere trafficjams, hungry stomaches, out of order cashwithdrawelmachines, stupid Pounds instead of Euro's, just a regular trafficjam, 1 bus with NO airconditioning and 1 Volkswagon WITH airconditiong, lots & lots of driving with trafficjams, demolished showercurtains, and a forgotten jacket with a cellular phone! It's of no significance compared to the wonderful time I had with all of them!! Thxs y'all. Keep the groove on!

U(nlimited) K(ick)

Going to the UK in about 7 hours :-). Skating of course! A group of 14, organised by Quadsk8, will be travelling to London. First night out is the Thursday Rollerdisco at Canvas, Bagley's Studios in London, second night out will be BoogieNights in Rollerworld, Colchester, third day we'll be driving to Eastbourne for the Eastbourne Skatefestival 2004. This coming Saturdayevening there is an open air rollerdisco in some sort of a fortress. Afterwards some chillin' at the beach, then I guess a short but good nights sleep back home on Sunday. Maybe, just maybe, back in time for the second Sunday SkateSwing at the Museumpark. Last sunday the weather was great and a sort of kick-off of the summerseason. Just got home from the Wednesdaynightskate, jammin' on some f*cking rocky streetpavement. Got my hand bruised but allright, got skates on my feet and all is well. My bag is packed and I'm ready to go. Got to get some rest now, although I won't be able to sleep, too excited.

Dear light of sun, you're the only thing missin' right now. Start shining today and don't you leave before the end of September.

Funked up

Last evening was bliss!!! Got funked outta my pants watching George Clinton and P.Funk. Now this is music I´ve known since I was just a toddler. Yesterday evening I brought someone with me who never heard of George Clinton. But during the concert I heard her utter a continuous Oooh...now I know and Aaah...so this is the original?? Started singing with wrong lyrics for these are the lyrics she knows to these songs ;-)

Had a rough week and especially a rough day, so was really looking forward to this evening. Needed some mind, body & soulinjection. Stood in front of the stage and from the first second I was a part of the whole and drawn into a beautiful feeling of complete happiness. It was a parteeee!!!!! Words cannot describe how I felt for that following two hours. Will not even try to so I will quote my friend;

After the concert my friend was kinda quiet and I asked her what was wrong and if she did enjoy the concert. She said to me: "I´m shivering all over, never ever knew how deep you can feel music within. I think it´s so very cool you brought me with you, I don´t know George Clinton but I love that man, wish I had a granddadda like that!!! Would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart, for you have broadened my musical horizon."

The private life bitches the skate activities. If I´m smart I should be skating more in order to forget the nastyness of life. The feeling of yesterdayevening made THAT so much more clear. Gonna get up my gear and start 2night!!

On a roll

Yesterday I was in a right mood and making the right moves. I was on a roll allright!! Made me feel happy!

OldSkoolSkater

One of the funniest things happened to me last wednesday. I was visiting a dear friend of mine. We don't see eachother on a regular bases, but we always find the time once in a while to catch up, see and listen what we've been up to. Haven't spoken with him for the last 5 months, so of course I had to explain what I have been doing lately. Gave him this URL so he can read all about it. I gave him a short proloque of what to expect and out of the blue he tells me he's an oldskool skater from way, way back. I'm talking about 25 years or so. Me flabbergasted and not sure we were talking about the same subject, he jumps up and starts searching for what he claims to be his old rollerskates. And there under a thick layer of dust, completely decomposed boots with Krypto wheels like eggs from intense usage, his beloved skates saw daylight again after 20 long years. "Oh what the hell, I'll put 'em back on again. It's been a while, let's see if I can still stand straight without smashing facedown on the floor." He staggered for about 10-15 seconds and with any further doubt he starts doing the scisorss, the flip, the groovy and a carefull but quite steady pirouette. My jaw dropped!! Then showed me some moves, not that smooth anymore but for sure like an oldskoolskater!! D*mn I've known him for 10 years now, and strangely enough did not take him for a rollerskater. Since the day I met him he was always in the good company of his beloved skateboard or his even more beloved Harley Davidson.
So that's how his story goes. Started as a rollerskater, spending about all his spare time on the streets with some good music, dance and skates. By the end of the '70s when rollerskating became to be a hype, he traded his rollerskates for a skateboard.
He got very excited while strutting around on his ragged old skates and hollered with a smile on his face: "Oh man, this brings back memories." Promised he would come see me soon and watch how rollerjammers nowadays do their 'thang'. He's been working real hard for the last few years to get his business going, and with succes, spending all his time on this Passion with a capital P as in T for Tattoo.

Dear Les, I will never drive faster then my guardian angel can fly. Grtz and CU soon!