I bought a skateboard today. It kept bubbling up in my consciousness,
so I finally went ahead and got one. I headed down to the skateboard
shop in Kensington Market and talked to the person at the counter
about what I wanted. She talked to me about my options and advised me
not to go for the cheap already-assembled ones or buy a used one. I
thought she made sense. =) If I'm going to try this out, I might as
well pay for good stuff so that I don't have to struggle with it.
Nice, big wheels, good tracks, etc. I got a used deck, though, as I
don't really need a bright and shiny one. I'm also not planning to do
any tricks that'll really chew up my board… ;)

I spent the next hour or so figuring out how to travel in a straight
line. I still haven't quite figured out how to come to a sudden halt,
although I've gotten the hang of using my foot to speed up or try to
stop.

What I really, really appreciate about skateboards is that when I
panic, I can _get_ _off._ It so totally owns bicycles and inline
skates in that respect. Being able to get off the board when I feel
even the least bit worried saved me quite a number of falls earlier!

I used it on the way back, too. The road going up to Harbord (one
street west of Spadina) was fairly quiet and car-free, so I tried it
out. I managed to make it all the way up to Harbord without doing a
faceplant! Happy girl. I didn't dare try it with the cars and people
on Harbord Street, though, but I'll get there soon enough.

I'm cooling off in my dorm room a bit before heading along Bay to
deposit those checks and go to Indigo. Bay is a busy street, so I
won't take my skateboard. Besides, I've practiced enough for today.
I'm looking forward to playing with it more tomorrow, though!

(Picture by mutednarayan on Flickr. Creative Commons license: attribution, sharealike.)