The world can’t breathe without us. We create stimulants that awake the brain and speed up your pulse. You breathe in from shock and excitement, alas the un-heightened nature of probability that anything might actually harm you allows you to exhale and feel released until we capture your heart again. Blood is flowing, your mind is processing faster than it ever has before, you can’t blink because you don’t want to miss something. You’re in a new place but you find comfort here. The continuity in the visuals relax your eyes. You are not blinded by the light or lost in the dark. We came here together, we will leave together. This upside down angle in which you see the world is like none you’ve ever seen before. Yet you are content. Your smile slips larger with every breath and you become attached. You want to stay here, call this home. Yet suddenly in the midst of amazement, it disappears. You are flipped right side up and back where you came from. Your eyes burn, its too bright here, visuals aren’t clear and it makes your head pound to the beat of the snare drum. You want to go back. Your heartbeat slows down and you are back to the daily grind, the typical perspective, the colors are dull and you can’t quite keep your eyes open. We’ll come back. We’ll come back for you.

Today has been a strange day so far and it’s only just begun. People text too much, I can’t keep up with them. Sorry that was just a random fact on my mind. I’m no avid ‘You Tuber’ but this is my favorite! This kids have tough competition, Keaton and I are planning a remake with our real eyebrow skills, not the special effects used here. Keep your eyes out folks!

I will not text & drive after watching this. Pretty gnarly PSA. I can hardly watch the whole thing…

First and foremost, if the word ‘wakeskating’ sparks your interest in the slightest bit, get on over to the Nike Aquafrolics site and check out their new wakeskate video! It will blow your mind, whether you wakeskate or not. Nike is doing some amazing things in this industry. Not only did they come out with an epic movie that pushes limits in riding, but it’s also avaliable for free download and they threw the best prom I’ve ever been too…

Nike knows how to host a good times. They’ve proved it before and they continue to prove it over and over again. That Saturday night we whipped out our 80s prom attire, scrunchies, and hair crimpers for a night on the town. We got some great looks to and from the theater. You can check out more awesome photos on the Nike Aquafrolics site, and in Letchy’s Darkroom! They are worth the peek. Nike made some sweeeeet special edition shoes for special folks, tuxedo shirts & coozies. I had a blue tuxedo shirt just like theirs when I was 5, pretty sure it was my brothers, but theres a photo of me somewhere wearing it next to the christmas tree. I was on a mission all night to get one, and *score* I did.

…Shred! Keaton and Nick’s Built to Shred is now online, thanks Fuel TV. Check it out:

I picked up some new kicks somewhere between Beta and Covert yesterday. I originally bought them to wakeskate in, but when I got home I realized the soles are leather…so that might not work out as well as planned. Should I do it anyways? I miss wakeskating in slip-ons, they swim so good.

PS – We’ve been waking up at 6:30am and filming. Some new goodness in 60fps coming soon.

Imagine this:

You wake up and you can open your eyes just enough to see your surroundings, but not all the way. You can hear everything around you. But you go to pull the covers off and you can’t move. You can’t move at all, not even the slightest bit. You can’t even lift a finger. You try to yell for help, but you can’t even open your mouth. You can’t even moan. And you start to panic. You might be stuck here forever. You can hear people in the other room but you can’t even yell for help. Breaths become short and you are struggling to even breathe at this point and you wonder if you will lose control of this too. This goes on for several minutes which feels like forever. Then finally, with what feels like all of the effort you could possibly have you manage to kick a foot, and slowly wake up the rest of your body.

—

This morning was probably the 6th or 7th time my mind has woken up before my body. It is a really scary feeling. So I finally looked it up to see if this was common, or normal. And it does in fact exist, and it has for century’s. Most people’s minds make a lot of other crazyiness happen, like seeing figures, or hearing their names called, or feeling levitated like an alien abduction. Luckily I don’t experience any of that. Just a panic as I start to struggle to breathe.

Sleep Paralysis is the exact opposite of sleep walking. Your body releases a chemical when you are in the REM stages of sleeping so your body doesn’t act it out. When your brain wakes up before your body during REM the chemical you’ve released still has your body paralyzed, and you can’t move. There’s nothing unhealthy or dangerous about it, but it is really scary. You can check out some weird vids on YouTube about people that see stuff during sleep paralysis and hear things, creepy! There’s cool things about it to though, like it’s connection to lucid dreaming and out of the body experiences.

Love you Mom!

Farmer’s market everyday! The strawberry’s are a strange shape here but they taste something amazing…

I have seen 5 McDonalds and one Burger King. There is a McDonalds directly across from the Pantheon….really America? Is that necessary?

Panini! Panini! Less than $3 for a fresh delicious panini, it’s heaven. Did I say fresh? I will never want to eat another $7 not completely fresh sandwich in the states again.

There are fountains and parks everywhere. Gorgeous fountains. The sound of the water flowing makes my heart beat faster. I am a being of the water and it is necessary to my survival. You can drink right out of most of them. Fresh water flowing all throughout the city. The Trevi fountain was my favorite sight in Rome.

Many people know English and they appear to be helpful but really they just pretend to know the answer to your question and may lead you to keep walking in circles.

There are some strange looking dogs here…and allergies exist here too. Hah. Sneeze.

Young Romans confess their love to each other by writing something meaningful on a lock and locking it to the bridge. How romantic. I love it.

Walk, walk, walk, walk. I’ve never walked so much in my life. It has to be so good for you. I went to sleep every night with my legs aching and feet killing. Burning through 2 pairs of socks a day, that’s what happens when you walk more than 6 hours a day.

We saw the Pope, and he give mass in 5 different languages.

Never pay the street market price, they make bank on Americans that don’t know any better than to make deals.

I could live there if there was more water. But the river is kind of nasty. If it was clean, and clear and more life revolved around it, I would be all over it.

The drivers here are insane, especially the scooters. I was pretty sure every other scooter/car was going to hit me. One was only a few inches away. I think the safest means of transportation rank something like this: train, tram, bus, walking, biking, car, scooter.

That’s all I can recall at the moment….maybe more to come later. I took tons of holga photos and even some 35mm…more photos to come soon!

photo: casey friend

7am shoots are beautiful. A little while back my friend, Mike Dalton (aka Dreamery Films), and a few other friends came out to play on the lake and film an early morning sunrise session. Mike just graduated from Full Sail (congrats!) and is about to head of to Iraq to do some really cool things with Matt which can be followed at To Open Your Eyes, so watch closely. This was Mike, Casey and Lance’s first adventure filming wakeskating/wakeboarding. Mike put together an artsy little edit, beaming with good vibes… (more…)

I’m really not into the whole YouTube thing or an Idol fanatic, but if you haven’t seen this you really should…all seven minutes are worth Simon’s facial expression.

Remember me? Didn’t think so. Sorry I don’t know how posting has become such a rariety. The days are flying by. I’ve been busy…road tripping to North Carolina, working on my sweet southern accent, swimming with gators in the St.Johns river, celebrating lifes and birthdays as I get older myself, trying to convince 10 girls to enter Wake Games, houseboating, and bringing the Ski Cuda back to life.

Wake Games is a short three weeks away, April 23rd-26th at OWC in Orlando! I’ve got plenty of tickets for the weekend if you want any, or if you know someone that wants tickets. Don’t be shy! We need your support :) and if you know any girls that wakeskate and have the potential to ride in the contest, send them my way! 10 girls wakeskating in it would be record-breaking…wish me luck!

anom·a·ly
\ə-ˈnä-mə-lē\
1: the angular distance of a planet from its perihelion as seen from the sun
2: deviation from the common rule: irregularity
3: something anomalous: something different, abnormal, peculiar, or not easily classified

I’m anomalous.

As much as we wish it was….Thanks for the reminder Frank, and the link FormFifyFive.

I stumbled upon this today, it’s insane…

Seriously rad. They engrave all sorts of things, wood iphone cases, moleskn notebooks. Engrave Your Tech. I’m a fan. These wood iPhone cases from Miniot are pretty nifty as well…

Reality is nothing more than a state of consciousness. – 5/1/07

That is simply something that hit me on the way home over a year and a half ago. I still think about it. I’ve been busy. When I get too busy to come up with new things, I look back at the old so I don’t leave you hungry with an empty plate. Sorry I’m late. I still have to pick up a roll of film I dropped off 2 months ago and still haven’t had the chance to get. I will be surprised if it’s still there.

I have been tearing my brain apart trying to think about what I want to do for my board graphics. Tearing it apart. For some reason this photo of my grandma came to my mind so I asked my bro to find it and scan it for me. I could have sworn she wasn’t in a wedding dress, oh well. She is still absoultely gorgeous…then, and here, and now. It would be cool to use her on the graphic, but the wedding dress is throwing me off. Suggestions welcome (of any type regarding board graphics)! You think you know what you would do until it actually comes down to being able to do it…

Ridiculous things that have happened to me in the last few weeks:

- Tripping over a bike tire in the garage then flying into a cement step…drink in hand. Knees hit the edge of the step, hip and elbow on cement, 4 sweet bruises, spilled my drink everywhere. I can’t believe I didn’t break my glass.

- Jumping off a 40 foot cliff into the lake which threw out my back and bruised my tailbone because I landed wrong.

- I dropped my iPhone in the toilet on the 3rd day I had it. Post piss, pre flush. Ugh. Fished it out then ran it under the sink (bad move?). I guess there was a reason I didn’t have one.

- Getting up, showered, and dressed for work then sitting in a chair the cat pissed on only minutes before. The worst part was not realizing it until I sat up 10 minutes later.

- A two hour drive to go ride in Chuluota…partially because of 5o’clock traffic and a bad route, and the other part because I don’t know my left from right.

- And then getting stuck in Chuluota because my roommates dipped without saying a word and my car keys where in their truck…but I didn’t know that so I searched for 45 mins.

- I accidentally hit my friend in the face who already had two black eyes, a broken nose, and 6 stitches. He bled from his stitches.

I know there is more…I’m a wreck. Not in a bad way, but in the I can walk without tripping over my own feet kind of way.

This is pretty daring of me to put this photo up knowing most people won’t read the text explaining the situation. It’s called word association. I say ‘apple’ you say whatever comes to your mind first, for example: ‘orange’. We are in the car on the way back from Angora, Jason says ‘paradoxical’. I say ‘romance’, then take a big sip of water. Jason starts laughing. I start laughing. Kress says ‘novel’. Paradoxical romance novel. I laugh so hard I have a constant stream of water pouring out of my mouth and all over my lap for what feels like 3 minutes. Funny funny. Highlight of the day.

Paradox
: a statement that appears to be self-contradictory but may actually be true
: a situation which theoretically should not be able to exist but in reality does; a self-contradiction
: a sound logical argument leading to a logical absurdity.

In 4 hours I have to be at the airport. In 5 hours I will be on a plane. Don’t be fooled by the ‘expert’ traveler line for security, in Orlando, it’s actually the longest line. I’m about to be right here again:

…just 3 years later, and I’m really exited about it. The whole family is going to be in Tahoe. Not that it never happens, or hasn’t happened in years…it’s just that this time it’s not Christmas or anything so it feels different, it feels better. I think that photo was our last trip to Maui from my brother’s college graduation. That would make me about 17, not much has changed. I like it because my brother is actually smiling, and he doesn’t generally smile in photos. Maybe its the girl he’s looking at, hah jk, who knows. I’m almost home…

Blog. Ugh. I hate that word. Blog. Blogging. Gross. I wanted to see how much everyone else hated it, so what better place to go than Urban Dictionary? Might as well make fun of myself some more…hah. Here is another conversation sample. Have a good laugh.

Tim: Hey i just set up a blog on my website.
Joe: What have you written in it?
Tim: Oh just some random drivel.
Joe: Sounds like the typical blog.
Tim: Yeah, but plenty of people will still read it, and that will make me feel special.
Joe: That’s sad.
Tim: I know.

Some great ‘blog’ definitions:

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Just got home from WWA Nationals in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. Highlight of the trip: Ryan having to ride the pink elephant ($0.25 cent ride) at the ‘Brat Stop’ because he lost a game of pool…it bucked him off immediately, drink in hand. His full glass broke, he ended up on his hands and knees, and the elephant on its trunk. It’s amazing how much power a children’s toy has. Haha. Oh and then he got back on it and was bucked off two more times. I’d give my trophy back to see it again and get a sequence. Embarrassing moment of the trip, having to carry that monster trophy through the airport.

‘Pro’ Women of Waterdancing Delight

Conway PUNKS – taking over the podium

Interesting and completely random lunch AIM conversation:

Jen: I feel like my (or our?) life motto right now should be: Jen…aiming for awkward.

Lacy: really cause mine would be: Lacy…unintentionally awkward.

Jen: or are you aiming for awkward unintentionally?

          Lacey…unintentionally aiming for awkward.

Lacey: maybe subconsciously?

Jen: can you unintentionally aim?

          yea. maybe subconsciously.

Lacey: subconsciously aiming for awkward…and oncoming traffic.

Jen: love it.

Lacey: hold on. i gotta update the fb with that shit.

fb = facebook…of course.

Let’s go for a fang! Not to be confused with a big sharp tooth, the kiwis (Founts) call a speedy boat cruise a ‘fang’. Lovely word. Andrea we are going to miss you! Suzy Q has been good to us, from late night cruises to fangs. Jen Hettler snapped this sweet little photo on her fish eye holga, I need to get my hands of one of those! You can find the rest of her holga photos here, oh joy.

Critical Mass was glorious as usual until we got rained out, but that didn’t stop us from having a good time. Our crew found the closest happy hour and waited it out. The Annalemma Magazine release party was a real hit, I’m sorry if you missed it. I didn’t capture any of the action, but Chris and Chase both have photos of the fun, check out all the excitement you missed.

Rally the troops! Tomorrow is Critical Mass! I love the last Friday of the month. Dust of your bike, pump up the tires and meet up with us at Loch Haven at 5:30pm for a nice afternoon cruise where a few hundred bicyclers own the streets for an hour. And then after that how about a drink at the Annalemma Magazine release party? Pardon me while I plan your Friday for you…hah.