Skating past 24(th)
frontal lobe development through the lens of my skate commute
I wrote this in the spring when I was 24 (I’m 25 now).
I take my board to the 24th/Mission station and from the Embarcadero station to work. On the first leg of that commute, I’m this close to grabbing onto a car as it’s rolling down the street. But then I catch myself thinking two steps ahead to when the car stops and my inertia takes me either into the car itself or whatever the car stopped for. When the image of me hanging onto the back of the car returns (imagine: in sync with traffic, hair blowing in the wind, feeling infinite), I’m like wait. This might be worth it. And that’s what goes through my head every time I skate down 24th.
I used to not think this way, but then my new prefrontal cortex started coming in. I started showing up to things on time and being nice to people even if I don’t like them at first. Sometimes I wonder what’s the point of thinking so many steps ahead when the last step is the same for all of us. If you think hard enough, you can reason your way out of doing anything at all.
On the second leg of that commute, I get looks from the suits walking downtown. I extrapolate from their expressions a few samples of internal dialog: look at this hooligan, rowdy ass skateboard ruining our streets. I wonder if being a hater stems from the realization that you could be doing the same thing, but you’re not. I get it though. Me when I’m driving: ok buddy, take your time crossing this tiny piece of pavement! Me when I’m not driving: learn how to drive, asshole!
Weaving between people, pebbles, cobblestones and cracks, I feel light. Fast, nimble and all that. I wish we all felt that way more often and stopped taking so much pride in how good we are at following rules.
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This board is a recurring character in my life:
I got another board this summer. This was the day I learned how to drop in on a ramp: