Pink Allison

Well, for now, I'll post about Pink Allison on my personal blog. After a while, should things go well, I'll get something together specifically for Pink Allison.

So, what is a Pink Allison?

I've been asked this question a lot in varying forms. What does it mean? Where did it come from? For reasons beyond my understanding, I haven't just straight up and given the answer. Well, the time has come, and the answer is simple. Pink Allison is my skateboard. Was my skateboard. Like, years ago. Damn, I'm old....

Once upon a time, there was a teenage boy. As most teenage boys do, he rode a skateboard. Thrashed mad hard... whatever that means. He bought a deck. Being poor (and also not willing to go into debt for a Tony Hawk pro deck), he bought a basic deck. This deck was a nice shade of hot pink. Melt-the-skin-off-your-face hot pink. He loved it.
One day, out with his brother and friends, they ran into some members of the opposite sex. This teenage boy had the hots for one of them, and as conversation flowed, he came up with the brilliant idea to ask: "What's your name?" Thinking to sweeten the pot (for God knows why), he added: "I'll name my skateboard after you." (As you do.) And thus the name Pink Allison was born, the offspring of youthful lust, spontaneity, and lackluster imagination. The end.

The name stuck with me. Allison was forgotten, but Pink Allison was not. And through the years, it's grown from marking up skate decks with Sharpie designs to marking up ball caps and t-shirts to being this symbol of longing, of passion, of adventure, this idea of trying and being something more.

So, what does it mean? Any number of things. Take your pick. For me, it's just an expression of myself, the whole of me in a nutshell. It's a beautiful contradiction, an embrace of the past while jumping into the future. Come jump with me and follow along with Pink Allison.

You can find some shirts at with the old logo at www.cafepress.com/pinkallison. Buy one and save a panda. Those are two separate commands... :-)