Ennui

“I’ve got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom.” - Thomas Carlyle

Boredom. The long wait that comes with injury. The plague of all skateboarders. We are unique in that we throw ourselves into harms way more often than not. Personally, I’d rather feel like I’m alive by pushing my limits than sitting around in a stagnant pool of complacency talking about how rad it was…  ’back in the day.’ Excuses. Lies. Lethargy. I’ve seen it all. Steve Caballero & Lance Mountain have been icons of the skateboarding world for a long time. They invented a new way to skate. Innovation and style. It pours from them everytime they skate. They’ve both had their fair share of injuries as well. In their long and stellar careers, I think that they’ve been hurt about as much as is humanly possible. They still come back for more.

They both have had the crushing weight of boredom envelop them as they healed. Lance delves into his artwork and Cabbie plays music and paints as well. Perhaps their creativity is all-pervasive. Maybe we are all like this. We create and express ourselves on skateboards but we are more than just this. Skateboarding might define us but we are more than the sum of our unique parts. We cannot be pigeonholed. If you are injured, hang in there. Write, paint, play music. Be creative. Lance said it best: “Skating does not make you a skateboarder. Being unable to quit skating, is what makes you a skateboarder.” Thanks to Deville Nunes and Naka for the images. Skate- Ozzie