I get this question a lot. “Why do you like to longboard so much?” Well, the most common yet true answer would be, why not? Longboarding is not just an activity that I do when I’m bored or another “outside of school activity”. Many people don’t understand the feeling behind longboarding. It’s not just only about fun. It’s not just about being happy.Longboarding is a life style, a passion and a kind of love. Rather if I’m cruising around city, dodging angry Philly driver or bombing down a 50mph hill, it all comes back to being free. Growing up as a weirdo Asian kid that loves to hang out with more elderly people, I noticed one very upsetting fact with the society. It might sound silly that a 16 year old teenager is writing about this, but have you ever had the feeling that your life is like being a robot? Just like the movie Matrix suggested, we are like batteries or robots, wake up, eat, work, eat, sleep, again and again. Longboard gave me a life. It is a life that I can truly enjoy. It’s more than about surviving in your life, it’s about living your life. When I go longboard, nothing goes through my mind beside a pure joy and freedom. To me, longboarding is not about being coolest kid on your block. Longboard is also about love. When I say love, I don’t just mean loving longboarding, but rather the love of other longboarders. I was lucky enough to come across Rob, Earl, Matt, and many many amazing people. Everytime I longboard with them, I don’t feel competition, I feel love.

I’m not here to convince anyone to start longboarding, but rather any other things that you truly love. Be yourself, find what you love, and have fun with it. For me, it’s longboarding, and this is my story. Find your own passion, so you’ll have a story to pass down to your family and friends. Be proud that you walked this earth and didn’t waste your life.

PS, my grammar stinks, I don’t enjoy grammars, I’m trying tho haha!

-JKan the weirdest Asian kid yet?

Photo Credit – Den Sweeney!

how not to get hurt longboarding or biking.
1. DONT FALL
2. DONT FALL
3. DONT FALL
4. wear your helmet, even if you are standing on the board. Who knows, maybe a cat will start charging at you and push the board and cause inertia and make you fall.
5. JUST WEAR YOUR HELMET
6. Wear your gloves, it helps a lot because you can catch yourself without worrying about cutting your hands up. It helps mentally because you won’t hesitate to throw your hands on the floor.
7. Wear pads if you have them, especially for freeride and downhill. Hitting your funny bone against the earth is painful. VERY PAINFUL.

If you are hurt, take these approach.

For minor injuries such as pain on butt cheeks…
1. shake it off…..
2. scream and run around in circles while being weird and throws your hands up in the air sometimes, saying aiiiyo ……

Half serious.
such as a cut, and road rash.

1. Take the time to clean it with water asap, it stinks 50000x more when its infected.
2. Cover it up with a Justin Bieber bandage, it works better.
3. Eat some ice cream if it is summer… it makes you happy.
4. dubstep it away. well any music that hype you up really.

Serious injuries
Broken bone, stitches required, dislocated arm, etc.
1. Do NOT touch it.
2. Get medical help ASAP.
3. If its a big cut that requires stitching, clean it with water, and stop it from bleeding by applying a wet piece of tissue to it. Don’t move it around too much as you want the blood to stick together.
4. If broken bone or dislocated arm/leg/shoulder, don’t apply force to it, let it rest without any load. such as swinging it in circle. No dont do that. Just lay down, NOT ON THE BROKEN PART, and wait for medical help. If it’s extremely serious, don’t even more it, coz its possible to tear something since your arm or whatever is now kept together by your muscles and skin instead of bone. The only exception to not moving is when life is endanger. For example, when person A crashed and broke his ankle, don’t just let person A lay in the middle of the street if person B is charging down 50mph.

MOST IMPORTANTLY OF ALL, use common sense, and if you dont know what you are doing, don’t help someone or yourself, ask someone that knows.