Another day come, not gone. I slept the last 4 hours (5pm-9pm), so I'm back for some more. I rented Initial D #5 and Kino's Journey #3 today. I watched Initial D. It's actually deeper than a person might first imagine. Unlike it's predecessor Speed Racer, it has emotion and realistic situations. The DVD came with an extra documentary done by a guy at Tokyo Pop, where he drives around Mount Akagi. They found the strangest thing there: road bumps. It's impossible to do downhill drifting street race there anymore due to these fricking road bumps. Isn't that a shame that Initial D popularizes downhill street racing and the local road authority puts a stop to it with unsurmountable obstruction (which happens to obstruct normal driving also).

I know that here in the US, all over my city there are little devices screwed down to every outsticking edge called "Skate-Blok" which makes it impossible to do a good grind on the edge. Whenever some skateboarder brings it up, there's this total bullshit excuse that "it's for your safety". But if I went around putting nails in the road for people's safety (people could get in a car accident if they don't have flat tires), I'd be locked away. It's wouldn't be half as bad if I had some other place to skateboard, say a park or something. But really none exist within range, even in the large city of Seattle. There's a park downtown, but the bus ride there takes an hour each way. And the park is crowded. Red Square is a perfect skate park. It's there, there's way too much room, people are willing to give way to each other. The only thing that stops good skateboarding are: Skate-Bloks and cops.

So a conflict exists between those who wish to peacefully skate and those who falsely accuse skateboarders of being dangerous. A city ordinance illegalizes recreational skateboarding. Cops actually go to Red Square every other day to chase out skateboarders. This does not deter skateboarders. But it's a terribly important issue: when certain people find joy in a peaceful activity and others unjustly fear that activity, who wins out? Well, I know one thing: illegalizing skateboarding wins bureaucrats nothing.

The solution? Short-term: grind between the stubs. Long-term: Hammer, chisel, and pliers. A few whacks will set a Skate-Blok straight. Hammer and chisel can be hidden in pockets or bags easily. Also, hammer and chisel can't be construed as a weapon. Early enough in the morning that the sun isn't up, no one in Seattle is awake (~4-5 AM). I don't consider Skate-Bloks to be property (are weeds property?), so it's not property damage. For the cops? Mix up your routine, improvise, find new places to grind everyday. Alas, I cannot continue to skate here in Seattle. I may do some grinding in Spokane, but the whole suburban style makes it lame. Too many rough roads and not enough good ledges. The only skate park (I wonder if it is still there) is 20 minutes away on bike. At least people in Seattle have something to fight for.