What about Sunday?!?!?

Sunday I met up with my friend Nina. Whenever I come to SF, I always try to find time to hang out with Nina. She used to work at GW in DC and moved to Oakland for graduate school. Oddly, we didn't really become friends until she was in the process of leaving GW for grad school, but that is a whole other story. Anyway, she suggested that we check out a festival that was going on in her neighborhood called Lakefest. I was like "cool", sounds like a plan. She also mentioned that there were a bunch of bands playing and a litlle skate contest going on there too. That got me even more psyched! It turned out to be the Hood Games - basically a local contest, started and supported by Karl Watson and Organika skateboards, that promotes skateboarding in a positive way and is trying to the city to put a skatepark in Oakland. Now I was getting even more excited - Karl was just in DC on the Battle for the Nation Tour - I had met him last year, seen him in NYC in June and had given him a copy of my book during the BFTN Tour. He was pretty stoked on it, so I was hoping to see him at the Oakland contest too, just to keep the line of communication open. Karl is an awesome guy and I would love the opportunity to go out and photograph the Organika team on the road. Sure enough, he was there - his 2 sons in tow. The contest was cool - local kids just having fun - like it should be. I bought a Hood Games deck to support the cause and got Karl to sign it. I started taking some photos and I recognized one of the guys skating - it was F-ing RON ALLEN - legendary H-street rider from back in the day! Talk about stoked! I ran over and introduced myself and showed him a photo I shot back in 1989, while he was on tour in Baltimore. He was lov'n it- as much as I was. Talk about having an awesome time! Much thanks to Nina - I love you and wish we could hang out more often!