Skate or Die

So I was walking around One Utama today with the express intent of getting a haircut when I saw that my regular dude wasn't in the shop and I didn't really trust anyone else in there to cut my hair since he'd been trimming my head pubes since I started shooting 'Ciplak'.

It was then that I remembered the Reverend's SMS last week, foretelling of a new skate shop in the new wing. Curious, I thought I'd go and check it out and sure enough, there it was opposite F.O.S. - The Push.

To see this shop in One Utama was a pleasant surprise - when the Asian X-Games came to Malaysia the country went 'extreme sports' crazy and buying a decent skateboard was pretty easy. Extreme, Radioactive and a whole bunch of other stores sold skateboarding equipment as well as the already established skateboard shops. Skate parks started popping up all over the country.

Then, after they left, so did most of the interest. Only the really enthusiastic skaters were left and the stores slowly dissapeared or concentrated on just clothing with a deck or two available around. To see a dedicated skateboard shop in One Utama was pretty unexpected.

What was even more unexpected were the decks they had. In particular, this one -

It seems that Krooked have brought out a bunch of old school style fish decks. In particular, a bunch of Mark Gonzalez reissues as well as two types of fish decks branded Zip Zinger and Zig Zagger.

And yes, you guessed it, I bought it.

To understand the fascination with this huge, poorly color coordinated monstrosity you have to know my history of love for skateboarding. See, when I first got into skateboarding, back when I was nine or ten, most skateboards and skaters looked like this:-

Yes, those are some godawful shorts. But skateboard decks at the time looked like that - huge, fish shaped thingeys. As street skating became more and more popular the shape changed to the pill-shaped one more commonly known these days. But back when I was a kid, it was the fish.

When I was a kid, though, I had no idea where the skateboard shops were in Malaysia, and instead had those stupid toy ones you get at Toys R Us with the crap plastic wheels. When I got back into skateboarding when I was about 21 I bought myself a proper deck - a Powell Peralta blank deck which I drew on myself but never took a photo of so as time went by and I skated the thing more and more the original image of a giant Godzilla-sized sumo wrestler attacking a city with the words "Who's Ur Daddy?" have long since eroded.

As I walked towards the store, I was thinking of maybe buying a pair of shoes or something, but deep down in the back of my head I was hoping there would be fish decks. At one point when I was in England Powell brought back all their old designs from the Bones Brigade days but I couldn't afford one and when I could they were gone. I wasn't going to let the opportunity slide past me again.

The thing was, technically I couldn't afford it now. At least, not till Monday. But monetarily I had just enough cash. I inquired about the price for a full set up then went off for a cigarette to think about it.

After one cigarette, it was decided.

See, I haven't bought something that I just want in a long time. Everything I buy when I do go shopping can usually be justified - clothes are justifiable, humans need clothing. Shoes are justifiable, humans need shoes. The Canon 5D I recently bought, though something I've always wanted since I saw the footage of it, is predominantly for my work as a filmmaker more than anything else. Even anything guitar related can be justified by my involvement in a band.

There is absolutely no need to buy another skateboard. I've got two older decks that still work fine. It doesn't benefit my work, it's not required as part of everyday life, there is no way of justifying this purchase.

But I want it. I haven't really treated myself to anything in a long time. The sheer pointlessness of the purchase and the nostalgia it brings back was enough to help me decide. I walked back and told them to set it up - stick on the grip tape, pop in the bearings, screw on the trucks and voila.

The difference between this and my old board are huge. Literally:-

The wheels are 65mm in diameter compared to my old deck's 56mm. The trucks are much longer - I was originally going to use my old trucks but the board is a lot wider than my old deck so the longer trucks are to give it a wider wheel base. And it's not just the width of the board but the length is much bigger too.

As I walked back with my board in hand, holding it by its trucks, I couldn't help but smile. I never thought I'd get a deck like this. I always hoped that I could go back to England or the States once more so that I could search for a deck like this, resigned to the thought that I'd never find it here. I can't wait to try this board out and start skating again and even if I don't end up skating regularly again, it's fucking beautiful by itself.

Snoogans.