b.loftin2's skateboarding journal


Backside 180 slide to Fakie 720. I love this kind of skating.

Podcast Episode 74: It’s In The Hips

In this episode, I go on and on about using your hips to generate power doing physical activities like skateboarding. I also blabber about some other stuff.

Podcast Episode 73: Skateboarding Anxiety

In this short episode, I talk about the anxiety I feel every year about getting back on my board after months of inactivity.

the Simple Stuff

My “project” in skateboarding the last few years has been - how far can I go without flipping the board or doing a shove-it. How much can I do with carving, end-overs, pivots, spins, walk-the-dogs, 180 slides, wheelies and other “simple” stuff.

It turns out I can go a long way with that stuff. Every session generates new ideas.

I like this board, but the 14" wheelbase is really too short for the way I’m skating now. My feet feel a bit cramped. 14.75" is preferred, but I’ll stick with this one until it is toast.

Podcast Episode 72: I Went Skating

A quick check in about yesterday’s session and some trick ideas.

Proof that I skated yesterday.

Footwork and whatnot

Over the last 4 years my freestyle skateboarding has been done mostly on big boards, and concentrated on spins, footwork, wheelies, and carving. I know a lot of people might not consider it freestyle, to which I can only reply that I don’t really care. It’s what has been interesting to me.

Tonight I was looking through my Vimeo library just to get ideas of things I want to work on. I’ve come up with so many ideas the last 4 years that it’s easy to forget what I’ve worked on. So having videos of sessions is really helpful.

This line was done in an 8.8" wide blunt-ended pops deck, Ace 55s, and 54mm Bones STF. I was just flowing around. I filmed this right at the start of the pandemic - early 2020. Looking at it now, I see a lot of great possibilities for blending other footwork and sequences into this - stuff I came up with later in the pandemic.

Podcast Episode 71: Social Media Is Stupid

In this episode, I talk about how stupid it is to base skateboarding sponsorships on someone’s social media following. It’s just wrong. And it’s stupid. I talk about some other stuff like upcoming freestyle contest and what not too.

Back to being a skateboarding journal

Just a note.

As I have returned to Aikido after a long pandemic absence I am feeling like myself again. The depression I think I’ve felt is receding. So I am converting this back to my “skateboarding journal.” I know many of you (2) enjoy seeing pictures of my dog and cat, but that will just be for Facebook and Instagram now.

Podcast episode 70: Neverwas Skateboarding

In this episode, I say a few words about this very important Facebook group that I’m part of.

Podcast Episode 69: A Few More Thoughts On Skateboarding

In this episode, I talk about some of the results, and the set up at the Tucson contest, and have a few comments looking forward to the world championships in Brandenburg, Germany, and the contest it’s coming up this summer in Ithaca New York, as well, as a contest is supposed to happen in Los Angeles.

Podcast Episode 67: Freestyle

Just a few quick words about stuff that going on in the freestyle skateboarding community.

Podcast Episode 66: The Trip I Didn’t Take

In this episode, I discuss my canceled trip to the skateboard contest in Tucson, Arizona.

Podcast Episode 65: Back To Aikido

In this episode, I discussed my return to my longtime martial arts practice, after barely practicing over the course of the last few years, due to the pandemic, and a few other issues.

Not that complicated

If I owned a privately held platform, I think I would make the decision - make the ethical leap - to not allow Nazis to express Nazi ideas on my platform. That actually does not seem like a complex decision.

www.theverge.com/2023/12/2…

Podcast Episode 64: Being An Uncle

In this episode, I talk about my recent trip to Louisiana for a funeral, staying with my uncle, and being an uncle.

Podcast Episode 63: Setting Goals

In this episode, I discussed my goals for skateboarding and gaming in the coming year.

Podcast Episode 62: The 1985 Capitola Classic

In this podcast I discuss the Capitola classic street style contest that happened in 1985. I found some footage of it on YouTube today. It’s in this video. This links directly to the relevant part of the video.

youtu.be/gasOJ1g4k…

Podcast Episode 61. Skating.

Just a quick episode to talk about my skate session this past Saturday.

Finished reading 2023: Howling Stones by Alan Dean Foster 📚

I got some skating in today.

Bluesky - meh...

I set up my science fiction blog (bloftin2sf.blog) to cross-post to Bluesky.

If I make a short microblog entry from my iphone it works. Short or long entries from my computer do not show up on bluesky at all. Wondering if long posts or podcasts from my phone will show up. Since microblog rules, I assume that bluesky isn’t fully fediverse-friendly. Very little chance I’ll continue to use something that will not work with micro.blog. I’ll give them some time to get their shit together.

Weird thing. It was impossible to get my cover image to scale properly on bluesky from their web interface. Worked properly only from their app on my phone. That’s weak. Again - not impressed.

We’ll see how this goes, but either federate or don’t.

Podcast Episode 60: My Cat

In the short episode, I talk about having a 14-year-old cat.

Podcast Episode 59: Dead Old Legs

Just checking in right quick. Putting a new freestyle board together tonight. I just want to skate.