I never imagined getting to do what I love for a living and having so many people appreciate it. There was only one other skater in my high school and we were the lowest form of cool. Our classmates couldn't figure out why we liked such a loser sport, or why we hadn't grown out of it yet.

Most of my friends are skaters or were skaters at one time, so they obviously relate.

I think that there's a sense of self-reliance that exists in skateboarding that kids can take to their daily lives. I think there's also a sense of creativity and community-based goals - in skating, even though it is an individual pursuit, a lot of things that you learn are things that you borrow and expand from other people's ideas. I call skating a combined evolution - it's individual, it's artistic, but at the time, there is a communal push to keep doing your thing. And a sense of camaraderie in that.

Snowboarding is a spawn of skating, and skating is my passion.

I think skateboarding is better now in terms of the amount of facilities and the amount of support young skaters have - including encouragement from their parents. There was definitely an element to it when I was younger that was exclusive and kind of rebellious because most parents didn't want their kids skating. They thought it was a bad influence.

I started skateboarding at around age 10, and enjoyed the artistic aspect of it as much as the sporting aspect, so for me it was more of an art form and a lifestyle.

Being different is awesome! All of those who are different are more interesting than those who are clamoring for acceptance because they follow the path.