YONDER BREAKS

I hate walking away from a skateboarding trick. That's why my poor friends in high school used to watch me try tricks sometimes 100+ attempts before landing it, and usually I'd make them videotape most of them. (If any of you are reading, sorry...) I'm not as bad about that as I used to be, but I still have a lot of trouble walking away, and yesterday was one such instance. I had arrived at a bank spot at a nearby school, and was just messing around to see if I could get anything for a video I'm working on ( Skater Dad: the movie ). In my head I saw an impossible body-varial/ 360 shuv-it-kind-of-thing, and so I tried it. And landed it!! First try! Awesome, now it's time to break out the camera, shoot it and move on. About fifty tries later, I still hadn't landed the trick and was yelling things like, "This is so dumb!" and "Skateboarding is stupid!" I immediately felt bad about that last one and apologized to my board; but the fact o...

Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. (1 Peter 3:8) What does it mean to love like brothers? Brothers are loyal, protect each other, have fun. But brothers fight. Alot. Brothers actually probably fight more than friends or acquaintances or maybe even lovers. But the thing that sets them apart when they do fight, is that they will protect each other no matter what disagreement has risen between them, and ideally, they will ultimately forgive. If we are to love like brothers, as Christians, we must expect to fight with other Christians. We will disagree on theology and how church should be done. We may even have qualms with each other personally. But we must remember that, no matter what, we are brothers, bound by Christ and  grafted into  the family of God. Though we disagree, we must remain loyal to and protect each other. We must humbly admit when we are wrong, be sympathetic and comp...

Sometimes I feel like my life is inundated with poop. For the sake of propriety, though, as I explain why, let's just call it the Ticklefits, an incurable disease that spreads like wildfire and has plagued mankind since its inception, particularly after eating a lot of fruit. I had just gotten done feeding my daughter, when I noticed the first symptoms of the Ticklefits -- her face getting red and scrunched -- the evidence of some internal struggle to get the Ticklefit out. No big deal, happens every day. But then I remembered last night, when a particularly explosive endeavor resulted in some spilled Fits on the floor. I picked her up and, sure enough, her high chair was no longer suitable to sit in -- INFECTED! I rushed her to the sink to keep the disease from spreading and took her clothes off as swiftly as I could. I found the source of the Fits, and changed her overflowing diaper, all the while exclaiming about how I couldn't wait for Ellie to be potty-trained...

I love songs like the one below by  House of Heroes , calling out us Americans and the dreams we pursue, ignoring whether or not the end goal is really worth all the struggle. In the end, we do something we hate for half our lives to afford certain comforts that we believe most Americans  should  have and enjoy. " The pursuit of happiness " you might call it. Is it freedom, or a form of slavery? But I say, "No way!" Comfort is the enemy! The problem is, that's an easy thing to say when I'm  comfortable... And here comes the trouble: my wife and I are about to head into a season of cutting back, and I've found myself lamenting the soon-to-be lost aspects of our lives that I enjoy, most of which are comforts. Eating out, buying random things we want, little trips around town. Expenses such as these will all be weighed for their worth before any hard-earned money is spent, and you know what? I don't like it. It feels good buy two pairs of sho...

Last year I wrote  a post about my surfing experience  in Los Angeles, detailing each summer since 2010. Well, as we stand on the cusp of summer's cliffs, overlooking a blue horizon of Pacific dreams, I thought it might be nice to revisit the post and update it with last summer's findings. -- Los Angeles is a tough town, full of cutthroat executives and self-preservationists living alongside an influx of dreamers that will do anything for free if it’s good for their career. LA will either make or break you...actually, even if it makes you there’s a good chance some breaking will still be involved. But as every surfer knows, a good break can be a wonderful thing (see what I did there?), and for me, the last four years have been marked by a different break every summer. So if you’re new to town, here’s the breakdown of what some of our most popular beaches have to offer. (One of the early days at El Porto) My first full summer in Los Angeles was spent surfing...