Dustin’s Rants

Dude, where have you been? Well, I’ve been right here. I haven’t been posting up much hate as of late….that rhymed! The quick story is I have honestly been very busy with things outside of the shop. These things will have an effect on the shop in the future…in a good way that is! So, yeah I know that is lame! Dude..I’ve been busy. I also have been kinda sick/not sick/stomach hurts stuff. This puts me in a crappy and lazy mood. So I have been backing off on a lot of things. The main reason is….I’m trying to get my modeling career off the ground! If you know anyone interested in booking me hit up my agent: Adam Carr @ 217-355-7850. Also, people have been really cool lately, so, not too much to hate on. Maybe I could just rant about anything though? Maybe I dont have to be pissed….after all ranting is just talking crazy right? We all know I’m pretty damn good at that. Ok….so from here on out Im just going to post and say crazy stuff that has no rhyme or reason…Thats the deal. Im back people….Im back!

I came in this morning and did the usual email check. I was alerted of a message on Myspace. I was pumped, because myspace messages are always worth checking out….not really, but interesting to say the least. I open up the message and am treated to this little gem. For those of you who want to get picked up someday by the shop or someone else I have just the lesson for you. Do the exact opposite of what this person did AND send a video with your email. YouTube, vimeo, or whatever. Always send a vid and keep your email short and informative. Use good grammar, be respectful, polite, and all that. I dont feel the need to type anymore…I think the letter does most of the talking.

So the other day I’m chillin’ at the shop…as usual. Sipping on my DD medium ice coffee with 2 sugars. I see a group of bros walk into the shop. I start with the usual “Whats guys, how’s it going, blah blah talkie talk.” Without even making eye contact they nod and head straight to the lounge and sit down. Bro #1 is like “Oh dude skate 2″ and picks up the controller and attempts to play the game. Bro #2 and #3 just sit there and murmer back and forth, just sitting there watching him butcher up skateboarding. They shuffle the controller around a little bit then just get up and leave. That’s all. No one said thanks or bye or anything. Let’s start with how wrong this is. One, they weren’t even cool or trying to talk to me. This is a lurkers #1 problem. If you want to lurk YOU MUST be cool with the guy working the counter. If you are not cool with the guy behind the counter then the lurk timer is ticking in his head. Number 2, you should at least check out the stuff in the shop. Even if you have no money…make it look like you at least want to buy something. After all, this is a business, technically. Number 3, dude all I’m asking for is for people to be cool. Lurking is ok with me. I like people to lurk. If you want to lurk though you need to know these rules of lurking. You have to talk about stuff, be cool, buy stuff once and awhile, and have a good reason to lurk. Like lurking because you dont know what to do with yourself isnt cool. If your waiting to skate or for your parents, that’s cool. If you are over 18 then you have little excuse to lurk if you’re not cool. If you’re not cool watch some T.V and learn.

Ok all you damn cry babies riding on a skateboard. This one is for you! I’m literally about to vomit with the influx of all these damn cry babies in skateboarding today. Back in my day skateboarders were bad ass and gnarly to the bone kid! We used to get our asses kicked just for skating….and now its “cool” and all you pussies are still crying for no damn reason. Dude this gap isn’t perfect, this rail sucks, this deck doesn’t pop right, my trucks aren’t light enough….so on and so forth. So where did all of this start? I have no clue. All of a sudden people just starting crying and bitching about everything in skating. Like taking great things and breaking them down to nothing. Some people even try to bitch about “The Berrics.” Which is the most amazing site ever. Taking dudes to spots even. Like awwww man I dont skate this kinda stuff. WTF?!? You dont skate then, in my book. Dude what the hell? I’ll skate a curb if that is all that is there. Then even if someone likes the spot they will bitch about whats wrong with it. Like dude there is a kink in the rail, a crack 20ft before the gap, or the ledge is kinda chunky. Last time I checked that was called “The Gnar Factor” and or “Cost of doing business.” So get over that shit and skate. Stop being a pussy about everything. I don’t care about the chip in your deck, or your bushings being cracked. I do care about those flat spotted ass wheels though. That is another rant all together! If you have flat spots you need to fix that shit! Peace I’m out!

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Yeah that pic is horrible I know. It was the only pic we had from the whole thing! So many people came out and supported the shop and it was sick. Speaking of sick…I was sick like all week. This is why there hasnt been any rants this week. I’m sorry I wasn’t healthy enough to keep you amused through your worthless work/school days. I’m getting back to full health now…which means I’ll be fully pissed and ready to rant in full effect! We are also working on updating the shit out of the site right now too. So keep a look out for some changes coming up. Actually if you have to keep a “look out” for the changes we are making then do me a favor and pull your head out of your ass because if you have to look hard to see what were gunna change then you cant be helped! Really though, we have some buttery ass, sick nasty, raw uncut, bad assness coming your way.

Sweet…26. I’ve officially been around skating boarding for 13 years now. I’m now the old guy. It’s funny to think back to when I got my first deck. It was from THE LOCAL SKATE SHOP!! It was a Hook Ups deck, GK trucks, Quickies bearings, Shortys hardware, and Spitfire wheels. It was for X-mas. I was able to skate a 4×4 square on the porch. Thank god it wasnt any bigger or I prolly would have busted my ass way more! Now here I am…13 years later “Living the Dream.” It really is though. Im super hyped that Im the guy behind the desk doing all the boring paper work and worrying about the money while everyone has fun. I think to have a really good skate scene and community you need that. So yeah dude, Ill do that part so everyone else can find skateboarding and have fun. I still get to skate all the time. Not as many trips now, but I still get around. As long as I’m around it I dont really care. Its all the same.

It is funny to think about all of this now. 2 years ago this was just a silly dream. A high school drop out, working a dead end job at a grocery store has a dream to start a skateboard shop in Champaign, IL. The truth is that really, I’ve had this dream since I was 16. I just walked into our “new” skate shop back in 2000 and just knew, this is what I am supposed to do. Now, here I am…doing just that thing. It’s been way different than I expected. It’s really not that cool at all. Like yeah you get to be around skating 24/7 and skate all the time. Which is sick as hell!! There is an entire other side that comes with this game. In short it is really hard and you cant clock out and walk away. It is with you every minute of every day! It is stress, fear, anger, frustration, happiness, insanity, pure bliss, and every other extreme you can think of…feed to you all at once and you might feel all of those feelings within a single minute. In the end though. When I see what the skateboard community here has become already….IT IS FUCKING WORTH IT!!!!!! All of you out there supporting the shop and skateboarding make all the craziness worth dealing with. So keep skating and supporting your scene and shop! Dreams DO come true. This shop is living proof of that!!! Ok, enough of this nice stuff! This weeks weather sucks and I had more people in here messing up the shirts! Someone is going to PAY!!!

Don’t ask what your skateshop can do for you, but ask what can you do for your skateshop! This is what I am talking about!! Things like this get me sooooo hyped on the shop! I know it seems like a small thing, but dude it’s huge!!! Today I am calling on everybody to do something cool like this for the shop! Whether its a tag on a wall, something on your facebook/myspace, anything! SHOW SOME LOVE!!! What this does is….builds a positive image for the shop, shows that people support it…so it must be cool, gets the word out, and gets others (including myself HYPED!) Even just going out and skating is supporting the shop and skateboarding. So, really… the weather is getting nice GO SKATE and tell people about the shop! If you want the “B” graphic for Skate2 you can search “boardboutique” in the gallery or click the pic. If you are out spreading the word like this be sure to send it in to us!! Send pics, tags,or graphics to: info@boardboutique.com. Maybe we can start a new section on the site dedicated to that or something….You never know?

DUDE! People, really? So this grimy ass looking dude rolls up in the shop. He’s checking out all the gear and such. Being a total recluse, not talking much and lurking hard. At the same time he is wrecking the hell out of the gear. Opening every shirt he can’t afford then throwing back on the table all rugged like. So you know dude lives his life like this for sure. Total disaster. Then without saying a word just dips out of the shop. DUDE! Didn’t buy a thing, totally wrecked the shop, and wasn’t even talking or being cool. Let this be a lesson to people. If you go to a boutique you need to talk and be cool, be cool with the gear. If you don’t buy anything that is cool and long as you are cool, but if your a dick then you best be buying some shit!

Steezy Kneez as defined by Eric Thomas: After landing a trick you bend down entirely too far while rolling away. The best steezy knees will be accompanied by a exaggerated back knee bend. Usually the culprit will be wearing a V-neck tee, dirty, accompanied by several pieces of flare. Upon further research we have concluded that this is, in fact a persons insecurities coming out in their “style.” The over compensation for lack of said “style” usually leads to the exaggeration of the trick landed. Most of the time these are good people. People you know and talk to. A lot of times you have had them in your house for tea. Eric and I believe that the steezy kneez is in fact a phase. Usually a mis-guided young lad trying to find his place in skateboard world. None the less Steezy Knees = Fake = Not fun. As usual…..Just have fun! This has been a public service announcement.