the walk up just a sunny day by the pool bottles and cans slatetop up the hip Lance-fastplant...the hard way! Ripperside Shawn Kevin Burke me Tough luck. I haven’t forgotten it. It is nailed into my skin daily and some days I find it hard to go on. Golgotha. Storm clouds. I am so uncertain. Life can be crippling. I gave up everything and am left with little… some books, threadbare clothing and a few faded photographs I cannot part with. My heart is sold. I seemingly wait for nothing. I neither smoke, drink nor do drugs.  My soul is like dried, cracked leather. The older I become, the less I understand. There is a certain odd freedom in giving up all responsibility and expectation. My toughest daily decision is deciding what I am eating for dinner. Rice and beans or rice and beans. I am becoming quieter. My mouth is out of words. I am sitting at a glass and chrome table. Its surface is dull… like my senses. The sun is bleeding itself out into the ocean. I can see the night looming. I looked at a few photographs recently. They were of a session in Palm Springs with Ripperside Shawn, Kevin Burke, Brandon Wong, Lance Mountain, Samwise and myself. I was reminded –all too clearly–what is important. I must remember what I was and where I came from. I must stay grateful for what I have.  Thank you to MRZ, Samwise & Brandon Wong for the images. Skate and be grateful- Ozzie Posted- January 2010