In 2002 (or so?), I had recently been divorced, and was working on getting the tattooed sleeve on my left arm finished. I was living on my own for the first time. I went to visit Jason Brooks (my tattoo artist) after the sleeve was complete so that he could see it all healed up. He had just made the art for some decks and was selling them at the shop. The art was awesome, and he threw in a set of skate wheels. That meant all I had to do was buy trucks and I had a working skateboard.

So I did.

And then I had a complete skateboard, so I figured I might as well start skating. And it would be harder to start the next year. So I got lessons at my local skate park and started scooting around.

I broke my nose, my wrist and injured both ankles in the process of learning to skate, but skating taught me something really important: I’m pretty tough. I can fall down, hurt myself and get back up again and repeat the process.

It was also the first place I learned about The Fear.