TET.Life (The Extraordinary Tourist Life)

Winter has pretty much kept my skateboarding sessions to the driveway where I have a little bit of cover from the wind and rain.I don't really like skating on cold days. I'm not a person who like being in the cold at all. But I don't like going for too long without skating either because it's frustrating to have to relearn how to do tricks I've only just relearned.Anyway, when I have been out in the driveway I've been working on my kickflips and heelflips amongst other things. Below are two driveway session that aren't particularly remarkable but, if you have been following my skateboarding journey, you can see where I'm at with heelflips and kickflips.The videos really speak for themselves. Both sessions were really just running through various tricks I've been trying to see if I could progress with them at all.As Spring rolls around I'm hoping to get out of my driveway a little more often with some street skating adventures. I hope you'll …

The day finally arrived where I could unbox my Pizza Monkey Lifeline, Square Nose, Skateboard deck from BoardPusher. 
If you're new to TET.Life, this skateboard deck features my reworked #DesignALifeline Competition entry that I submitted to Revive Skateboards. While it didn't win their competition I still love the design, which makes even more sense as a Pizza Lifeline (we've all needed one of those at one time or another) than a Revive Lifeline.


The Pizza Monkey Lifeline is currently available to buy in my etouristSkateboards BoardPusher store on several different board shapes including your standard popsicle, longboards, cruisers, and the all new square nose shape.
In the video below you can watch me unbox and set up my new deck, going through the details of the various components and why I chose them. I also talk a little bit about my BoardPusher store because I really do love creating skateboard graphics and sharing them with you all on real skateboards that you can ride…

Christopher Nolan's film, Tenet, I wanted to see because Nolan's films are always interesting, regardless of how you feel about them after viewing, and because the trailer pitched it as a time travel movie with an angle on that theme I don't think I've seen before.Beyond that I didn't really have much of a clue on what the movie was about, and an early review I read said you should expect to be confused for at least the first hour, before the plot starts to fit together in a way you'll understand.To give you the basic outline I'm just going to give you the IMDB version because I don't really know how to expand on that in any meaningful way:Armed with only one word, Tenet, and fighting for the survival of the entire world, a Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time.At two and a half hours I was concerned this film might drag a little because Chris does like his ex…

The Queen Elizabeth Cruise Ship arrived back in Melbourne sometime in the early hours of the morning on Sunday, February 2. One of the few benefits of being in 'riff-raff' class is that we'd be among the last to disembark at 9:30am, allowing us to relax for one final time with an unhurried breakfast in the Britannia Restaurant.If this is your first time (or first post) reading about the cruise my partner, Enigma, and I took on the Queen Elizabeth at the end of January, beginning of February 2020 you may like to go back and start from the beginning by clicking this link (posts will be listed in reverse order). It may be your last glimpse into the world of cruise ship holidays pre pandemic 2020.It was 10am by the time we were actually leaving the boat and collecting our bags from the terminal. We were asked to wait in the upper level of the Britannia restaurant while they double checked that all final guests still on the boat were present.Not being international travellers w…

Whenever we have a fine sunny day during Winter in Australia I always try to take advantage of it by getting in some skateboarding, even if it's only in the driveway (not that I really skate anywhere else at the moment).
In this driveway skateboard session video I didn't really have a plan for what I wanted to try so I started out by revisiting manuals on the world's smallest manual pad.
From there I felt like skating my small quarter pipe, which I don't skate often on account of not being able to do anything on it beyond drop-ins and BS 50-50 stalls. However I do kind of feel Rock'n'Rolls are the trick I'm most likely to relearn next so today was the day to give them a real go.
As I explain in the video I don't like people who half ass Rock'n'rolls by tapping the middle of the deck on the coping and turning back in. The trick looks super cool when done right with the back trucks pushed all the way up to the coping. That's how I did them back i…

Cruises are very much different experiences for different people. If you want a quiet relaxing time, you can pick and choose what activities you get involved with that match your tastes.
If this is your first post in my series, documenting my partner, Enigma, and I's week long cruise on the Queen Elizabeth that we took at the end of January, start of February 2020, just a month prior to the world going into lockdown thanks to Coronavirus, you may like to go back and read all the available posts in this series (in reverse order) click here.
As you read about our experience keep in mind my Partner and I tend to keep to ourselves. We're polite and talk to people who we happen to cross paths with, but we really like the quiet relaxing side of cruises.
If you're more adventurous, looking to meet new people and get involved in more physical activities like sports or dancing, maybe even have a holiday romance, all that is on offer too. You just won't read about those things here…