Carl

Someday I'm going to perfect my bearing cleaning technique. Not there yet, but ... someday.

Or worse yet, the stuff that is in the process of being worn out and overexposed right now. I guess that's just what people want ... they want to hear the hits of today and the hits of yesterday. But, gosh, it's so disappointing and boring.

Music is such an integral part of the experience of skating at a rink, and there is an unfathomable wealth of great music in the world. Why play (and replay, and replay) such a narrow selection of the old, tired tracks that radio stations wore out decades ago?

I really wish skating rinks were more gutsy about their music selections. The best, most memorable sessions I've ever been to all had DJs playing stuff I've never heard before in my life.

Very fun to watch. The camera work is exceptionally good, but the rink lighting also makes such a huge difference. Everything is well-lit without feeling too clinical, the party lights are just enough to give the skating vibe without being distracting. Such a delicate balance.

My informal resolution this year has been to stop chasing after new tricks and instead focus on refining fundamentals and tightening up the things I already know. Then I saw some teenager at the rink doing really clean 360 jumps and I was like "fuck, I need to get back to working on those."

I think I'd prefer to use this account in that more old-fashioned way. I'm more than happy to talk to people about skating, but I'd also like to use this as an opportunity to collect my thoughts, to externalize some of my inner monologue about this topic I spend so much time thinking about.

The goal wasn't necessarily to start a conversation, and in some cases there wasn't even a mechanism for that.

I remember in the early days of Twitter and Facebook there was less of an emphasis on engagement. Back then, the prevailing idea of these platforms was "microblogging," where you'd quickly jot down a thought or an update on your day and leave it at that.

In the meantime, I will happily shout into the void about how much I love roller skating.

I've been on Bluesky for a while now with another account. I've registered this account specifically for roller skate stuff.

There is a dearth of skate chat on here at the moment (as far as I've been able to tell), but hopefully that will change in time.