Tyler Skatepark Construction Diary

In the movie Rushmore, Bill Murray’s character tells Jason Schwartzman’s character that he served in the Vietnam war. Schwartzman’s character responds with his own question, “Were you in the shit?”

This funny exchange needs no explanation, but it frequently comes to mind while I’m here in Tyler, Texas helping Dave Reynold’s Lonestar Skateparks crew construct a skatepark.

The work is hard and sometimes frustrating. You’re constantly trying to acheive high levels of perfection while elements beyond your control attempt to sabotage your efforts. The concrete truck driver might hit the water button in the cab too many times giving you a mix that’s too wet. Agregate can come up in the most inconvenient places, forcing you to pop out a rock, leaving a void that needs some butter to fill it. Estimating how much concrete you’ll need for a pour can really be off due to the variable surface of the subgrade. Having too much concrete delivered is way better than not enough.

There’s a lot of bravado on the worksite. Who’s got the best technique for this and that is a frequent debate. Who’s got the best tools would be a competition if it weren’t for Fields’ obviously superior set of aluminum-handled rakes, floats, and trowells ruining the fun of that contest.

Cody has some of the best insights and observations. I’d call him something of a finishing-philosopher. Yesterday was very windy and at one point he spontaneously commented, “These Tecate cans are blowing around here like tumbleweeds.”

Everyone’s got an iPod and takes turns connecting theirs to the jam box for the work session soundtrack. Yesterday Fields was playing some early GG Allin tracks. For whatever reason he turned to me and said, “Seth, you’re going to trip out when the interview comes up. This is GG Allin. He says some fucked-up shit.”

Normally, when people understimate me and I make a big deal out of it, I really regret it. If I were perfect, I would try to sit back and let my performance reset their perceptions. But, sometimes when a person is so deep into my home playing field and doesn’t realize it, I fail my ideals.

“Dude. You don’t need to explain GG Allin to me. I saw him twice and shot photos, ” I snapped.