Page 100 - THE ENDLESS WAVE | Skateboarding, Death & Spirituality

THE ENDLESS WAVE | PART TWO
Relationships with other skaters change and certain friendships grow stronger over the years, while others serve their purpose and they fade away. Perhaps you grow through your carefree years of youth into responsible adulthood to- gether? Do you keep nurturing friendships that no longer feel right? Do you stay with friends who drain you energetically and emotionally?
Have you ever snapped your skateboard while trying a trick? Or broken a king- pin or popped your bearings while trying a trick? What about ripping a hole in your favourite pants while skating? Do you dwell on the fact that you need to part with your worn-out or broken product or do you make plans, take ac- tion and look forward to setting up a new board and doing it all over again right now or another time?
If you’re the kind of skater who films your friends on video or you have your own tricks filmed, has your battery ever run out on you? What happens to the battery? It dies through its own sense of depletion and already, you’re thinking about alternatives. Do you have a spare? Are you able to charge it? Let’s get it sorted and try again.
If you’re out skating by yourself, with friends, at a park or at a spot, the session itself has its own life and death. It’s almost like the spot has a fire lit when this happens. The energy is amped up and it catapults you into another state of being. The process of warming up, having fun, enjoying the ride, resting, re- covering and so forth. The session might end when tricks are landed, equip- ment is packed away, everyone is tired, the lights at the park go out or the neighbours complain and the security or police show up, but that never truly is the end. There is that feeling of moving on and looking forward to the next session — the rebirth.
Within the skateboard industry, product ranges, team riders and skateboard- ing itself change. New skateboard graphics, clothes and shoes are released each season. Team riders come and go throughout the years. These companies need to keep up with skateboarding and it’s also been common for team riders to start their own companies, and form their own brands when their creative drive and vision expands beyond the teams that they are a part of. Or in other
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