Metamucil is the most critical daily supplement I take in this picture, but the other two are essential as well. In June of 2022, I had a health scare that I went to the ER for, which put me on this middle-aged man regimen. It feels so long ago, even though it’s less than a year. This picture received some likes on social media, so I thought I’d share it here too. In October, I experienced a car fiasco when my car broke down in Pennsylvania on a Saturday, and I didn’t return to NYC until the following Wednesday. Shortly after I got covid for the second time in a year. 2022 was not the best year for me, and at the start of winter, I had some mild depression. I may have found the solution to depression in that I became a member of Substance skatepark and plan to skate there most evenings.
For years, I’ve known I’m happier when I skate. For a little more history on Thanksgiving of 2021, I hit my head while skating. I did not spend much time skating that whole winter. I started back in Spring, and had my health scare in June. After that, I did not skate for a while because I did not want to mess with my colonoscopy in August. Reflecting, I didn’t really start again until September. Since then, I’ve skated once or twice a week. Not enough to progress and barely sufficient to keep my skills up.
A few Sundays ago, after having lunch with my sister and nephew, I drove to the K-bridge spot. It’s underneath a bridge in Brooklyn, and a vast space where numerous people have placed skate obstacles. When I got there, I liked cruising from one side to the other, but I couldn’t warm up for tricks; it was cold. There were only a few skaters there. I felt a little vibed out when I should not have. I could do nothing on a skateboard. I ended up falling when I tried to bail. I was wearing jeans, but they scraped my knee and cut open my hand.
There will always be sessions like that when hesitancy and nerves get in the way. But the more one skates, the better one becomes, and the chances of having a good time increase. Two days ago, I skated outside a little bit and felt the cold again. So I decided to join the Substance skatepark. As a member, I can skate in this indoor park anytime I want. They have open hours that people pay for on a per-session basis. I plan to skate 3 to 4 nights a week from 8 to 10 pm. It’s about a 50-minute drive both ways. So each session is 4 hours of my time. I do not have to commute for work, so I don’t mind the drive to it. I can listen to my music. Being honest with myself, except for some summers, I haven’t skated 4 times a week in years. It’ll help. In a Google search, I saw someone recommend skating for at least 6 hours a week to progress. That could be three two-hour sessions or four one-and-a-half-hour sessions. That makes sense to me and is a good goal. I’m paying for the monthly membership, so I plan to make it happen. Even in summer, there are rainy days, and it’s tough to find parks with lights.
I do still have work. In several respects, work is going well. I enjoy hosting the virtual book club, which takes time to read each book. Working full-time and 3 to 4 skate sessions a week means I need to let go of one of my goals temporarily. I decided I’ll take a break from my writing project. I got 60 pages into my memoir about my psychotic episode in 2016. I attempted to write in the first-person present and have each chapter serve as a vignette or scene of its own. For most of January, I wrote 1000 words a night, and it seemed much more straightforward than fiction writing. Then I got to the part where I was committed to the hospital. The memories are there, but organizing chronologically in a semi-accurate way was a challenge. I also started thinking it’s a serious subject, mental illness, in NYC, you see it every day with homeless people and others. It’s not something to be treated lightly or to attempt to profit from it.
So I stopped writing about two weeks ago. I cannot skate four nights a week and write a long work at the same time. Now my focus will be on work and skating. Through work, I got to write a little article for the union, and that was fun and manageable. I could write shorter works, or maybe try to blog once a week. That I can and should do.
