Perspective

This here is an Alva ad I found in the August 1988 edition of TransWorld Skateboarding magazine:

You can scroll down and see me skating the same pipe. The honest truth is I was just a pump away from where Craig Johnson is in the this picture but we didn't get it on camera (thanks Scott!) Anyway, just wanted to fill in the blank.

I'm Too Old For This

Last weekend I found myself and a bunch of friends jumping a fence at a dead end street in Chino and hiking through the scrub, down a huge water run off ditch, past a couple of taggers and to the large Mt. Baldy pipe.

And this is a picture of me riding said pipe on a skateboard:


Turns out, I wasn't kicking too high on this thing (some of the other guys where at/beyond vert) but it sure felt like I was flying. And it was a feeling I haven't had since I was 18 years old.

Five Questions!

So it looks like I went ahead and told Valley Grrrl to go ahead and ask me anything and here's what she wants to know. I guess this marriage just got a whole lot more interesting...

Leave me a comment saying "Interview me." I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions. If you don't have a valid email address on your blog, please provide one. You will update your blog with a post containing your answers to the questions. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.


2 - Have you ever been truly scared to death?
Well, when I was in Ireland back in '94 I once ate an entire packet of digestive biscuits and then went out and drank about nine pints of Guinness and later that night I found myself naked and shivering in the predictable location and I was pretty scared that I was going to die but I guess I wasn't really scared to death. And I guess when the Little One was born I was scared but I was more like scared to Joy. I know that I'm forgetting something but that's just a byproduct of my current life - you get happy enough and you forget the scary, I guess.


3 - What the most valuable lesson your mother ever taught you?
My mother once told me to always pay myself first and that's something I've held onto until this day. It's good advice! And, other then the money, my mother's always loved all of us unconditionally and has always been there for us no matter how big the jackass we acted. I once got punched square in the face by a big dude when I was 17 and she showed up at the ambulance and was scared and loved me even though I was skating a ramp by the beach on Mother's Day. So I guess she taught me to love my kids. And to be fiscally responsible.


4 - How has being a father changed your outlook on life?
It's showed me that's it's not really about me. It's showed me how selfish I was and selfish I still am.


5 - Blind date or Mystery Date?
That's easy; Hungry Hungry Hippos!

what? me like to eat?

so it looks like Valley Grrrl has tagged me to write about my top five fave places to eat. So what the hell, let's see how this turns out.

1. Don Cucos on Brand drinking margaritas and eating combo platters. I remember sitting on their sidewalk patio on the afternoon of January 2, looking at all the day old Rose Bowl floats parked up and down the street. Very strange and very cool. I know VG talked about how we used to eat prime rib every weekend at Damons and while that is absolutely true, we spent just as much time at Don Cuco's.

2. The Sherman Room - dark and cheap. And within walking distance of our new digs deep in the valley. And, oddly enough, not mob controlled even though it looks like it might be. All are welcome so come on by.

3. Casa Vega - I know, I know, another Mexican restaurant but what the hell do you want? It's LA. I do love this place, though. Again, it's dark and the drinks are strong but just make sure you get there early. No reservations and the line starts snaking out the door by like 5pm. But that's okay because you can get your buzz on with the sun up. And sometimes that's just fine.

4. God, we just don't eat out that much anymore. Do we suck that bad?

5. I know VG said that we ate lunch together all the time at the Disney Comm but I remember us eating lunch together every day outside the Frank G. Wells building We'd take turns making lunch and eat at these little tables they had set up in the patio. Either way, I loved eating with her then and I still love our meals out.

Honorable Mention - Japonais in Las Vegas. We went here for VG's birthday and it was out of this FREAKING WORLD good. Make sure you order The Rock appetizer and the spicy tuna roll inside out and whatever else you happen to point at on the menu. So good. So very, very good.

I'm supposed to tag people but I don't know anyone so I guess this dies here.

i was going to blog

but it turns out I have nothing to say.

the govenator

I forgot to mention that I ran into Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger the other day on the lot. He was walking by with his security detail, listening closely to some advisor who was whispering in his ear about something super important. I figured what the hell so as we passed I said:

"Hi Arnold."

And he glanced at me from the corner of his eye and replied:

"Yeah, hi, how ya doing."

And that was that.

And don't ask me why he was on the lot in the first place. His skin was this creepy orange so he might have been made up for taping some sort of guest appearance on one of the shows. I guess I'll have to check my TV Guide.

the fire next time indeed

It's been awhile, sure, but when the hills outside my office caught fire the other day I thought, "Hell, this is as good a time as any to update my blog." So here's a picture of the fire as it crept down Mt. Lee toward our building. Turns out a couple of kids from Illinois started it. I wonder why. I haven't read anything about it since.