Staycee here from SLAGSF. This blog will be updated periodically by either me or some other S.F. slagger to let ya'lls know what's going on with the organization.
DISCLAIMER:
(This blog is going to be typed in the form of me chitchatting to a friend and will also include poor grammer, poor spelling, HEAPS of parenthesis, and a lot of nonesense that doesn't really have anything to do with anything ie; possible nonskateboarding related tangents and rants)
Yesterday, Erica H.(Slags director/coordinator), made a visit from S.F. to the Central Valley in order to meet up with Ladonna and I for some Slag related business. A couple of weeks ago I asked Erica if she would help me talk to some of the skate shop owners here in Stockton, Ca. You could say I get a little nervous. Yes, say it right now "I get a little nervous". She came our way to help me in the Socializing With Shop Owners Dept.. A dept. in which I need an enourmous amount of practice in....thanks...
We made our way to the first shop and gushed about how awesome Slag is. We also made it a point to talk about how they should support our zine. Went pretty darn well I must type. Erica ended up buying a blank for what she thought was cheap (compared to S.F. ) for 22 buckaroos and we were off to the next skate shop. We went in with a good amount of enthusiasm. Enthusiam which kinda faded but not really, but really did. We ended up getting some numbers of people who the owner thought could help us out. Heck yes! The third shop was an in n out job. No, not the burger joint. What I mean is...we didn't need to give the guy some pitch about us. He basically took the paper about our ad space and understood his duty. THE DUTY TO DUTY ON A SKATEBOARD. So, yeah..he didn't need a pitch from us being that most of the time we had have one to explain how we're trying to get the female skateboarder's voice out there, and how it doesn't matter if they are great or suck at skateboarding..as long as it's what they like to do. You know????????????????????????????????????????????? Yes, you probably do...if this is what you choose to read.
After all that jazz, we went for a bike ride to kill some time before Ladonna got out of work. I took Erica on this trail that I like to ride. Porqoui?/Por que?/Perche?/Why? Well, the view is superb, there aren't that many pedestrians around and because there's less chance of getting hit by a semi since the bike trail is on a levvy and all. Spell check...
Riding our bikes on the trail for a good...I'd say or type... 10 minutes? We decided to take a detour. Why you ask? No need to ask my darlings...I'll tell you..it's because my curious mind wanted to wander off into the unknown...to the wilderness and back....AND since Erica is pretty tough (at least I think so)..I figured if I needed to, I'd take her and push her in front of me if any danger came our way. So, anyway, a little ways down this walking trail looking thing(such an empty word that I really don't like to use but I'll use it anyway) we came across two mounds of dirt. Erica suggested it was for dirtbikes or bmx bikes or something. I, on the other hand, suggested to ..........skate it. I looked around and found two sheets of plywood and dragged them over to the dirt piles to make it skateable. We ended up making a makeshift quarter pipe complete with a 2 inch gap, short run up and all. We managed to drop in on it eventhough doing so was uber sketchy. It was the kind of sketchy where you might think to yourself right before dropping in, "Um...I duuuuuuuuuunnno about thisssssssssss"and maybe even picture yourself biting it hard and getting splinters in the palm of ur hands or even in the face.....but then you'd ignore it a second later you say "Oh well, whatever" and just do it!!-Then feel glad you did later. We goofed off a bit then put everything back where it came from. Do unto others right?
We hopped back on the trail and stopped off near the water. We played with baby snails, seaweed and cat tails? Erica likes baby snails. So, you should definitely give her some for her birthday. Then free them the next day so they can be with their family so they won't be so sad all the time. So, yeah...I skipped rocks and tripped over them as well and we were off again to finally meet up with Ladonna.
On our way to Ladonna's place, we found out that her car was not working so well. She had to have Frank come by her work to pick her up..and also have this out of shape guy who was a heavy breather (since he was out of shape) help jumpstart her ride.
We drove to Ladonna's house and waited patiently for her. Erica popped out a bag of organic corn chips or some crazy sounding food of that sort and let me get the first handful (being the germaphobe that I am) and we ate our little brains out. Erica had her car door opened and noticed this plant right next to the car. She told me the name, but I forgot. I mean come on ... like I'm really going to remember it (I'm Staycee). She's like a plant genius. If you ever go camping be sure to take her. She'll save your freaking life she will...so you wont end up like the guy from Into the Wild and eat the wrong plant and starve to ...yeah. Anywhoo...the lady tried to get me to stick myself with it. Apparently it's a plant that has little pokeys(I just made that word up) on it and it'll stick you. I was like "oh, HECKS NO SUCKA ! I'm not crazy!"(only less ghetto). ..but she insisted... but yeah..no...not doing it. She said it's one of those things one would have to experience...crazy Erica h right? j/k. She makes me laugh...literally.. with all the things she tries to get me to do....anywhoo(rhymes).
About an hour or so later, we up with Ladonna at her house. Time....hmmm..around 6:30? I pretty much forgot. Je suis desole.
Erica went through a couple points about the direction of Slag and the up and coming events. Ladonna updated us on the zine and everythang else that had to do with the zine's progress. I, on the other hand, basically watched the Ladonna's cats run around and turned my focus to how warm the cats forehead was to the touch and admired it for that........................for realssssssss...but only for a short period of time. I dunno, the cat had me tranced for some reason and I had A.D.D. or something for like...a second. Just a second though. Uno momento...une moment....
Anywhoo...
Drove back to stockton around 9 and felt pretty hungry. We couldnt decide what we wanted to eat. Erica said she didn't care, but just not hamburgers (or something around those lines) and not Weinersnitzel. Quickly after stating the words that she stated, I remembered that the Weinersniztel right off of 99 had a pretty cool spot to skate. My cousin took me there a year or so ago. It's really rough...I think I may go back when I become rich or something and fix it up when nobody is around. There's just a lot of asphalt whereas if it were concrete..that would be such and awesome spot. Anywhooo...check it out if you find yourself in Stockton just passing by. It's off the Hammer Lane exit. Theres this weird bank that you can ollie into. It comes at you fast, and at the bottom there are lots of little pebbles..so it might be smart to bring a broom. There's also a really skinny manual pad and a ledge. I'm not really sure if the ledge is grindable. Perhaps with a little wax, it could be. I think it's the kind of concrete where it breaks easily. Not too sure what that kind of concrete is called exactly.
We were feeling a bit tired before that..so skating the Hot dog place woke us up a bit. We left and made our way again. We started conversing on how once again..we were hungry, but we still couldnt decide...so, I pointed out a skate spot that was located right off the street we were driving on. So yes...we went and hit up another spot. This time, the spot was Lowes Hardware and supply. It used to be a nice spot until the poops put skate-stoppers on the ledge (not that it would stop any creative skater..or any skateboarder for that matter from enjoying it). Erica found herself squishing a waterbeetle and mourned over it's loss for a good 2 seconds then got over it. FYI, she's also like an insect genius as well. She loves her some bugs. AND NO, Not the car kind.
After skating Lowes...and ducking over trucks for a quick hour...we decided that we couldn't hold off our hunger any longer...so we looked for places to eat and ended up at Safeway since everything else was basically closed.
I was talking about how I wanted to eat some French food earlier in the day, and Erica wanted me to get some Fromage for us to eat. I didn't want to because she wanted to pay for it..and the cheese was like ...expensive..but she did a handstand in exchange for me picking some out. We get kicked out of the store and they tell us to never come back again because Erica did a handstand and fell all over the olives breaking 5 jars and hitting an old lady in the face with the back of her foot. No, not really, that last part didn't happen. Erica leaves to use the restroom..and on her way out I scare her and I laugh in her face..and we both get over it cause it's late and we get our Baguettes and camembert and nuts and head out of the grocery store.
We were having trouble deciding whether or not we should camp out at the Ione skatepark, or stay at my house and sleep. So, I cut a paper into two halfs and wrote a large "I" on one, and an "I" with a circle and a slash threw it (like those no smoking signs) on the other. I had Erica look at the ceiling while pointing at one of the papers I was switching around frantically to confuse her. She chose the latter.
Watched 3 episodes of the Sarah Silverman Program (The "I'll be back...I'll be black...I'll be white black", the "where's myblanket? Where's my blanket? Oh, there it is" and the Cookie party/cough syrup episodes) and ate our baguettes with the Camembert.
Erica and I fell asleep quickly and didnt wake up till around 8am. Then we decided that we should get our butts to the Ione skatepark..and that's exactly what we did.
We arrived at the Ione skatepark around 9:40 or something. Upon arriving at the entrance, I noticed a sign that read "Reward for Park Assassin" or something..which to be totally honest...freaked me the heck out. I was pretty much paranoid the whole time picturing someone preying on us...and targeting us right before we leave...taking aim and taking us out. Buuuuuuuuuuut since I know that I get super paranoid for no reason (minus the sign at the entrance) and I think of the worst case scenarios...I kinda forgot about it and we made it out alive to skate it for another day. YAY!
...oh yeah..and just fyi, Erica ran over a medium sized spider with her skateboard while carving....weird.
-S
Its called "stinging nettle."
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