Eby’s 2010

There have been so many ups and downs this year I am unsure what make of it: good or bad. It has definitely been the rockiest year yet. But I made it through and am still here to tell the tale. It wasn’t easy but I have compiled a list of the 10 best and worst parts of 2010. I selected a photo from my iPhone photo library for each thing listed. Some are directly related, others were a stretch to be relevant. Let’s just jump into it…

10 Best


10. Meeting New People
Each year I meet new people and this year was no exception. I met a ton of new people this year, some of which I haven’t spoken to since our first encounter and others whom I’m in regular contact with. I sometimes go years without meeting anyone new worth mentioning, but this year was an anomaly. I would name names, but I don’t want to forget any and make any feel any less important.


9. High School Reunion
My high school wasn’t big by any means. There were about 250 students in the whole school and 60 in my graduating class. Because of this, they do not have a reunion every year for each class; instead they have one every 5 years. I decided to go down to Tallahassee, FL for the Sail High School Reunion a week and a half ago to see how everyone has been since I graduated 9 years ago and I am so glad I did. Most people look exactly the same; they just have babies, marriages, and masters degrees. I felt like I stepped back into a fun/innocent time in my life and all was good…


8. New Jobs
In this economy, anyone should be happy to even be able to hold on to their old job (which many weren’t), but I have been fortunate as of late and managed to procure 3 additional jobs…all of which I enjoy. I get to work for some fun companies and do what I love doing: Integrated Marketing for Break.com, writing for Complex.com, and Product Management for ICE (project to be announced in about 3 weeks). Plus, I get to keep running Naysayer Skateboards without any creative limitations. Work is good…


7. Naysayer Tour
While I have gone on plenty of skate trips with a friend or two, I had never gone on an actual tour before. So this past summer we set off on the first ever Naysayer Tour. It was hot, it was stressful, it was tiring, but it was an amazing experience. We got to skate some epic spots and meet some rad people. You can read more about it in the article I wrote for Focus here.


6. Forgiveness
I am not one to hold grudges generally, but it does happen. People do things that are telling of who they really are and you alter your relationship with them, which is natural. However, you can usually forgive them, depending on what the things were. Someone, whom I trusted very much, blew it and did/said some harsh things to me. I didn’t think I would be able to forgive them, but with time and attempts at making amends, I was able to, which was a pretty big deal. While I may never trust them as I once did, I do forgive them. There are other instances of forgiveness throughout the year that I won’t get into for the sake of being concise, but I think it is telling of my personal development as adult.


5. Good Friends
I cannot say that I am a good friend to anyone. I mean, I want to be. I try sometimes. But at the end of the day, there is not too much specific proof of me being one. However, that hasn’t stopped my friends from being there for me when I needed them. When I had to get out of my living situation a few months back, a few of them had my back without hesitation. Shout out to Raffie, Phil, Jimmy, and especially Budi & Tanty. You all are the best. There are so many other instances of friends looking out for me that it will be impossible to list them all, but even though I don’t see them that often, I know they are there and appreciate them all.


4. Jah
My sister, Parvaneh, gave birth to my 3rd nephew this summer. His name is Jah and he is the cutest little guy. He was born only a few days after seeing my sister in passing on tour, so I just missed him but finally got to meet him last month. Sure, I did try to make sure my sister knew all her options when she got pregnant on accident, and the abortion option was made to sounded the most appealing, but it was her decision. While I don’t regret doing what I did, I do love the little guy as much as my other nephews (and my niece from my other sister) and am glad he is here…just would have rather him showed up later when situations were better. He is a happy baby though…all smiles.


3. Kocik
I love my cat. Well, she is my ex’s cat, but I lived with her for over 4 years and spent a lot of time with her. She used to snuggle up to me all the time and kept me company hour after hour each day/night. She is an amazing cat and she is going to be 18 years old in February. I still get to visit and spend time with her regularly, which is amazing. She makes me happier than any person. My next tattoo is going to be a portrait of her.


2. Some Girl
Boy meets girl. Girl lives far away. Girl visits boy. Things are great. Boy visits girl. Things are great. Things end. Was a great highlight of the year, but I won’t get into any details. Thanks for the memories, girl.


1. Skateboarding
I am pretty sure this has been the top thing of every year for the last 13 year. Well, at least it has been in the top 2. Bboying may have beaten it out for a year or two. A girl may have beaten it out for a year or two (though she wouldn’t agree with that…I suck). Either way, Skateboarding is amazing, even when it is bad (isn’t that what they say about sex?). Most of the monumental moments of the year have involved skateboarding, and it has kept me grounded and sane through some pretty intense stuff this past year. It is always there for me and always will be. Skateboarding = <3.


10 Worst


10. Filming
I do like filming. I may not be the best at it, but I enjoy it on my own terms. However, some people like to take advantage of that. It is my fault for allowing that, but perhaps I saw these guys as homies and wanted to help them get footage, but at the end of the day, why? They never want to just skate or hang otherwise. It’s pretty lame. I am over filming now, though that is mostly because I have no time to do so.


9. Waiting On People
I have grown extremely impatient with age. I hate waiting on people to do things, which is why I do not have a specific group of regular friends. I go to events alone and go skating alone a lot because I want to just make moves and I know I will run into other along the way or those I would have been waiting on can catch up. While NYers can be pretty slow to make moves, it is nothing compared to people from the south or California…so I guess it could be worst. I want to say that I need to work on my patience, but I don’t have the luxury of time to do so…not sure how everyone else does.


8. Bus To Charlotte
While I do occasionally take the bus to Philly to skate, I haven’t really taken a long bus ride in a while (Philly is 2 hours), other than that trip to Boston where a 4-hour bus ride took 8 hours due to traffic. A month ago I decided to take the bus from NYC to Charlotte, NC to visit family. After all, it was $70 round trip. You couldn’t beat that price. However, it took 12 hours each way and I couldn’t sleep either way. Then, halfway back the driver falls asleep at the wheel and almost flips the bus. I though I was going to die. Not doing that again. Only flying and renting cars from now on for anything over 4 hours away.


7. Autumn Bowl Closure
I miss the Autumn Bowl. After 7 years, it finally shut it doors about 3 months ago due to issues with rent. I was a key holder and while I didn’t skate it as much as I should have, it was always there for me to skate when I had the urge. Be it 4am alone, on a rainy/snowy day, or at a party with a thousand people crammed in there, it was always a good time. I got broke off more times than I care to remember, but I also landed some things I am so stoked on. There was nothing like the feeling on long 50-50s on the worn in pool coping or 5-0ing around the hip.


6. Lacerated Kidney
I have been fortunate enough to go 13 years of skateboarding without ever requiring a hospital visit due to an injury (I have had to go to the hospital for other injuries, just not from skateboarding). But this year broke that streak. Amy, of KCDC, ask about 18 of us to go skate this 8 foot miniramp in this art gallery in Chelsea for this art installation, so it looked skated, not as performance art. We were to skate it for 4 hours or so. During the last hour my foot slipped off while on the coping and I fell from the top straight to flat with my elbow into my ribs. It knocked the wind out of me and I could hardly breathe for 5 minutes. I went home and was peeing blood so decided to go to the hospital. Turns out I lacerated my kidney and was bleeding internally. Had to stay over night for tests, observation, and to flush my system out. I got to keep my kidney though and was skating again after 3 weeks.


5. Instability
This past year has been a year full of instability. While I am not resistant to change generally, this year was full of change. The only constant was change itself. It can be a bit much at times. Going through change with someone else is much easier, but this year I had to do it all alone. Was pretty draining and lonely at times.


4. Stress
I kinda let Organized Konfusion down this year. “Crush, Kill, Destroy Stress!” Stress came from all angles this year, many of which were mentioned in other points in this list. I was able to handle the stress pretty well over all, but there were times that it was overwhelming. I typically cry (at most) once a year, but this year the stress (some of which was emotionally driven) caused that number to be multiplied many times over.


3. Creativity Lost
I like to think of myself as a creative person. Both personally and professionally. While this is a side effect of other things, it is still an occurrence worth mentioning…I have been creatively inadequate this year. This includes ideation as well as artistically. I have not done any art I am happy with this year and I have struggled for creative, unique, & original concepts in 2010. I know too much other stuff on my mind has clouded the creative process.


2. “Relationships”
I have always sucked at relationships, but this year was an all time low. I wrote about this before so I will not repeat myself, but this is something I do plan on remedying. Or trying. Though that is probably useless since I should just accept how I am and find a girl who can also…poor girl. Though I really need to not have a relationship for a while for my own good as well as the good of the girl.


1. Love
I can’t handle it.

2011
This coming year is to going to be a great one. I see it coming. Everything is already set for this to be my best year yet. Productivity is at an all time high, I only have myself to take into account when making any life decisions, money is good, and skateboarding will be there as always. I also plan on doing a lot of traveling, perhaps even going abroad a couple times or so (Indonesia again, maybe, and France…maybe Japan?). Plus, lots of domestic travel, hopefully monthly. 2011 will be the year of me. Looking forward to it.