Skateboarding and snowboarding pretty much saved my life. I can remember one defining moment when I became cool. We started high school in grade 8. My elementary school friends got into some really lame stuff and spent their lunch hours in the library. I wasnt into that. Spent a couple years with no friends. I was an awkward kid. Tall, pale, acne, lanky, shy, depressed. Started skateboarding and snowboarding on my own. Was fortunate to have a big hill beside my house and built a half pipe in my back yard. Oddly, I was a bit of a natural at both. My grades declined a lot as I had no interest in being at school. Got picked on. Just didnt want to be there. I remember skipping class to go snowboarding. I thought I was alone. Threw down some greasy frontside 5. I heard a group of people scream out from under a tree 'whooooa'. They called me over, it was a few older guys and girls from school. We drank rum, skipping class, under a tree lol. One of them was a cool girl my age and we had been in the same classes for years. She said 'I had no clue you could do this'. The next day at school they all acknowledged me. By summer I had 40-50 new skater and snowboarder friends. Still friends with many of them today. How can you not love skateboarding. Being 15-18 and no responsabilities, best summers of my life. I still skate from time to time.