Frank Sinatra Lives

Keep a diary of what you're hitting, what's frustrating you, and your goals.
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Frank_Sinatra
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Post by Frank_Sinatra » 11 Jun 2007 12:07

And it goes a little something like:

Image

I have never been so fortunate as to receive his gilded words upon these peasant ears.

As far as I can remember he's never said anything to me other than telling me what I should be doing with the footbag. Probably because whenever I'm in a circle with him I'm muttering "fuck this" under my breath. And polishing my brass knuckles. And glaring at him. And making the throat slitting thumb across the neck sign. And loading my revolver...

On the other hand, if I always leave the circle when he shows up, I'll never get to kick him in the face. Quite the dilemma.

Image

And remember the immortal words of MF Doom: "...let me warn you, she does a cool hula hoop but don't get any on you."
Last edited by Frank_Sinatra on 11 Jun 2007 13:12, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by CIC flurry » 11 Jun 2007 12:40

I'm glad I caught up in your blog. Funny shit as usual. So much footbag! Oh and Bj was a trial member if anything. Don't think it was important to meet him. Frickin "tell them i'm not here."

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Post by Frank_Sinatra » 13 Jun 2007 06:19

Thanks Tom. I wish I could play more, and make faster progress (so I can battle you). But my body always pays the price when I play for more than three straight days.

I think I overdosed on ibuprofen on Sunday. :(

I took the last two days off, and I feel much better today. So I might play after work, I just can't take any more ibuprofen for a while.

Probably drill BOPs tonight.

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Post by CIC flurry » 13 Jun 2007 10:29

challenge:
pixie (no plant same foot) clipper
ducking legover
pixie (no plant same foot) clipper >ducking whatever

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Post by Frank_Sinatra » 13 Jun 2007 10:46

Accepted.

I've been needing to hit ducking legover anyway. Do you want the second pixie to be flipside?

I just hacked for a few minutes on my lunch break. Big shitty crocheted bag, missed the datw attempt & on the ducking butterflier it came off my foot weird. But maybe I'll see those two (a guy and a girl - Lauren or something?) kicking again. That'll be fun - get all sweaty and come back and sit in my cubicle with a smirk on my face.

EDIT: FUCK. I have to work late because the intern fucked up & now I've got to make things right. FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK. FUCK? FUCK.

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Post by Frank_Sinatra » 15 Jun 2007 07:52

Kicked the last couple days, no highlights. I'm a sad panda. Maybe I'll get a bamboo massage.

Worked on Tom's challenge - I've got the pixie (no plant) clipper part down... tried ducking legover some more last night and was like "is this shit even possible?" Any tips on this move would be appreciated. Description of my failure: the bag is on the ground before I've completed the dex. Maybe I need to start the dex really early and try to dex it a lot higher?

Wednesday's session was a low point for me. But it did help me figure out some problems in my game and the source of my hip pain. I'm doing at least 3x more outward dexes than inward, so my muscle groups aren't ideally balanced. Perhaps Professor Frink could explain this better... Anyway I'm just going to drill legovers at the beginning of every session to try to balance this out. I did this last night and feel fine, hopefully I've found the solution.

Had problems with legover on Thursday & paradox mirage on Friday. This is really frustrating. I've done each of these so many hundreds of times, but apparently I can just lose the technique and find the move completely impossible. Sucks!

So I'm going to make myself re-learn pdx mirage, but what move am I going to forget how to do tonight? How many times do I have to do this shit before I can move on to something I'm not bored with? Probably one bazillion times.

But Thursday's session was a little bit better, eventually. I hit all my 2-dexes, hit DLO on camera (but you can't see the bag), and Magellan & Parkwalk again. Figured out one problem with my weakside butterfly - not leaning over the bag. Hit my 12-contact tiltless drill eventually. I want to be able to do that on command, and work towards 20+ contacts tiltless, but I've been drilling this same sequence too much and I'm in a rut.

Work & some other shit's been really bugging me lately, too. Very stressed out. So that may have been hurting my game somewhat. Usually footbag helps me clear my head, but not when I'm playing really badly. Then its just like the negative non-footbag shit and the negative footbag shit combine to make me miserable. Which only makes me play worse... you can see where this is going.

Well, I guess I'll end this post on that happy note.

EDIT: I just got a phone call from the 610 area code, punched it in the ol' reverse look up, and it was from Pennsylvania. Could it be... THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM???

Yay weekend.

EDIT #2: Had the days wrong, got myself all confused.
Last edited by Frank_Sinatra on 19 Jun 2007 08:15, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by CIC flurry » 15 Jun 2007 13:48

For making moves stick you must throw them in strings. That's what helped my ducks, and that's why my flip swirl still sucks (I can only usually hit it after freezing (the way i learned it)).

Tips for ducking legover.... you must thrust! Seriously though... I'm serious, always, when it comes to thrusting.

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Post by Reid » 16 Jun 2007 00:17

Challenges:
4.Right clipper>far legover> mirage>right clipper> same side legover>left clipper>far legover> mirage>left clipper> same side legover>/right clipper>mirage>inout ATW>left clipper >mirage>inout ATW

1.Clipper X26
2.Butterfly X10
2.Ducking clipper X6
3.Ducking butterfly X2
1.legover> same side tap legover> repeat X2(eight contacts)
1.Toe ducking toe X 10
3.Toe ducking legover X 4
2. In ATW> pickup> out ATW > pickup>out Atw>pickup>in Atw>pickup
2. Same as above but legover instead of pickup.
"...You have to get, really, practice, like eight hours every day. Then you get good level and then you can compete....There is no money, so players are like big family and that is what I -like" -Vasek-

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Post by Frank_Sinatra » 19 Jun 2007 06:45

Accepted.

I think the toe ducking toe x10 will be the hardest out of those. You know that Simpsons episode where Homer becomes an outsider artist, when he's trying to build a grill and fails and charges into it with his umbrella while shouting "why must everything be so hard?"

That's what ducking toe is like for me. Doesn't even make sense, I must be doing something really wrong.

Kicked Friday, Saturday, & Monday.

Friday was a massive solo session, 2 & 1/2 hours, drilled everything. Spent the most time on weakside butterflies, infinities, legovers, pdx mirages, and ducking clippers. Did my tiltless drills, pushed a couple of them farther than I have before. ATW>Pixie>repeat to 15 contacts (I've done 18 contacts before); ATW>Pickup>repeat to 13 contacts (new personal best); Mirage>Legover>repeat to 15 contacts (new personal best). Also did clipper>pdx mirage>op clipper>pdx mirage, butterfly>op butterfly>op butterfly (new personal best for butterflies), and some non-descript tiltless strings. Hit all my 2 dexes (though Parkwalk was not totally sealed - having trouble with that one), then worked on flip pixie sets until I was totally exhausted.

There was also this dude who was like "hey that reminds me of Pioneer Square in Portland" and I was like "awww yeah - Sole Purpose is famous."

Saturday was the anticlimax of the century. I thought World Juggling Day was gonna be a bigger jam and I spent too much time running around town trying to be prepared - like going to Sports Authority - and basically missed all the kicking. And then I played poorly, couldn't get anything to come off my foot correctly. Had one like 8 or 9 contact tiltless string, which just missed being on camera - that was the highlight.

Then yesterday I just had a short session with Freddie from like 8:15 to 9:15. Had some ok tiltless strings, still having trouble with parkwalk, tried flip terrage about 15 - 20 times & I think I'm gonna start working on this a lot more. I'll hit it soon.

EDIT: Corrected spelling of "Simpsons" after reading Jorden's pet peeve. I was afraid he'd launch an assault from his avatar.
Last edited by Frank_Sinatra on 25 Jun 2007 11:03, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by CIC flurry » 19 Jun 2007 12:23

I'm jealous that your terrage might look better than mine. I'm gonna practice it!!!

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Post by Reid » 19 Jun 2007 19:18

Frank_Sinatra wrote:Accepted.

I think the toe ducking toe x10 will be the hardest out of those. You know that Simpson's episode where Homer becomes an outsider artist, when he's trying to build a grill and fails and charges into it with his umbrella while shouting "why must everything be so hard?" .
Yeah, toe ducking is akward, but if you can do it it defiantly will benefit alot of your sets. Will Rocky did lots of toe ducking, and he has great pixies and fairies in my opinion. Back to the sotry. I was like "will why you doing all these toe ducking they're not hard", and he said "you try it." So I did, and then I reached the age of enlightenment after several attempts of the bag being set nowhere near ducking point.

Anyway I'll be watching you and your challenges :twisted:
"...You have to get, really, practice, like eight hours every day. Then you get good level and then you can compete....There is no money, so players are like big family and that is what I -like" -Vasek-

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Post by Frank_Sinatra » 20 Jun 2007 06:05

Well, I'll have to print those challenges out & carry them with me. Possibly get them laminated... or put on the back of a business card. :idea: Or tattoed to my forearm.

Kicked last night with Fred. Hit smear>ducking mirage, also hit pdx mirage bsos again, probably hit some ok tiltless strings but nothing that sticks out in my memory. Footed flip terrage a couple times, hopefully I'll hit it by the end of this month.

Also got kicked off ("asked to leave") the tennis courts at Independence Park yesterday. But don't worry, I was a stubborn dick about moving. Probably should have just moved in the first place, but whatever... the people who wanted us to move were pricks about it, so fuck em.

Not kicking tonight, going to a concert. SUPACHUUUUUUUUUUUUNK!!!! I have tomorrow off work but I've got to wait for Peoples Gassholes to show up. I'll spend most of the day sitting around my apartment listening to "Waiting in Vain" by Bob Marley over and over again.

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Post by Zeke » 20 Jun 2007 14:28

If they get done early, call me.

EDIT:You probably won't be able to read this post then. I'll just call ya.
Zeke

Funny movie titles if the movie were about poop:
Red
Fast & the Furious
The Green Mile
Children of the Corn
There Will be Blood

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Post by Frank_Sinatra » 22 Jun 2007 06:48

The concert on Wednesday night was amazing. I am so happy that I got to see Superchunk. If anyone reads this blog & lives somewhat close to Asheville, NC, I'd highly recommend catching their next show (which will be in 2008). There is not a font large enough to describe how hard they rocked.

All the gas stuff got taken care of really early on Thursday, so I had the whole day to just relax. Haven't had many chances to do that lately, I feel so refreshed and calm today. It won't last!

Kicked at Welles yesterday. Showed up a little before 3, was the first one there, started warming up & doing tiltless drills. There were all these high-school kids there, they were preparing for Olympics Day. So I was a little worried about my playing area getting overrun, and having another confrontation with some douche. But it didn't happen, and the only comments I heard from the kids nearby were positive. I hit some really clean datws for them.

The session started off really relaxed, Zeke was working on his bike, Ronnie showed up a little after Zeke. I drilled flip terrage until I hit it. Booyah. Ronnie and I hacked and then Ronnie borrowed my footfighter to practice ATW - which he hit for the first time. Vicarious booyah. So I only have one other 32 panel - a Raye mini, which is basically retired because one of the colors gets holes in it very fast.

I was pixie setting the Raye bag really well and came agonizingly close to Phoenix once or twice, but no cigar. Also practiced flip datw, also came close but not quite there yet. So we just kinda hung out for a while, I was lazily practicing some stuff, Zeke was still working on his bike, Ronnie worked on his bike too.

Then we played squares. I won the first two games of three square against Zeke & Ronnie, just started out hot and managed to stay a point or two ahead of Zeke each game. Abe joined us to make the third game a proper four square matchup, and I won that as well. Then Twitch, Meinard, Marty, Cuba, and eventually Reile all joined us as the fourth game was in progress.

Whenever the games get that large, with people jumping in midway, it gets harder to stay focused. I had trouble adapting to Abe, Meinard, and Marty for the first several rounds against them. Also there were a lot of hack offs and probably questionable calls in that game, which is kind of a sign of amateurish play IMO (not that 'amateurish' is really the appropriate word, but you get the point). I think that lots of bogus calls and overly generous hack offs just mean that somebody who should have won probably got denied the win just because people were voting against them. I think Meinard probably should've won, but had to hack off like every other point, some of which were probably bullshit.

Anyway, Meinard, Zeke, and I were all at game point for dozens of rounds. Twitch and Marty got into the middle teens as well (playing to 21), maybe some other players, too. I broke out all my most vicious tactics to keep Meinard and Zeke from winning, like dumping a pass behind them when they're in sq1 just to keep them out of the game. After several rounds of not getting to ksq, I made it in, and won game point when somebody (Cuba?) kicked it out of bounds. That was a very satisfying victory - received props from everyone. Next time I demand that you carry me around the softball field on your shoulders. :roll:

So I won all four games of squares that I played. Just played really solid, consistent defense all day and that got me the victories. Additional booyah. Gloat gloat gloat.

Then I decided not to jeopardize my perfect squares record for the day, and sat out the next game. It was really entertaining to watch Reile, Marty, Cuba, and Twitch play, but then Meinard and Abe were freestyling so I joined them. Abe's PLO>Ducking Butterfly is a really cool combo, I like it a lot. Reile joined us, Meinard had to take off, then Abe had to take off. I hit Paradox Symposium Mirage, no seal. Reile worked on Merlin and some other crazy 3-dex stuff, I wish I could've been more help telling him if all the dexes were clean, but I seriously don't even know what's going on with moves that are that advanced.

I tried flip datw some more, and actually just overdexed it several times, otherwise I've got it. That's encouraging, I know I can work on not overdexing it and improving control without beating my head against the wall and having no idea how to improve. So maybe I'll hit it in a couple weeks. That's been kind of a dream of mine - to hit DATW with both legs, both directions. So its exciting to be closer to that.

To recap:

:arrow: Flip Terrage (first time)
:arrow: PS Mirage (first time, not sealed)
:arrow: Smear> Dimwalk
:arrow: Won all 4 games of squares that I played.

A pretty satisfying day indeed. And today's Friday! Hells yeah.

EDIT: I really like how Iron Clad Ben keeps track of his time spent kicking, so I went back to see how many days I've kicked --

:arrow: Since May 28, after taking time off to fully heal, I've kicked on 18 days. That's 72%!
:arrow: In the first three weeks of june, I've kicked on 15 days. That's 71.4%! Holy shit.

See you rascals this weekend. Gimme a call, y'all.

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Post by CIC flurry » 23 Jun 2007 01:53

Wednesday
Footed flip terrage a couple times, hopefully I'll hit it by the end of this month.
Thursday
I drilled flip terrage until I hit it. Booyah.
:D Props.

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Post by Reid » 23 Jun 2007 07:24

props on phoenix!!!















Make sure to vote for jordan for round three on famecast.
"...You have to get, really, practice, like eight hours every day. Then you get good level and then you can compete....There is no money, so players are like big family and that is what I -like" -Vasek-

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Post by Zeke » 23 Jun 2007 10:25

Frank_Sinatra wrote:I think that lots of bogus calls and overly generous hack offs just mean that somebody who should have won probably got denied the win just because people were voting against them. I think Meinard probably should've won, but had to hack off like every other point, some of which were probably bullshit.
Man, you NEVER want to play at Lane. It's utter chaos. Shitty votes is their only defense agaisnt overwhelming skill. I'm not talking about one or two players. Almost all of them do it. I think if you can win there consistantly against such adverse conditions, than you can win anywhere. It will test your patience, believe you me.

Some of those overly generous hack-offs could have easily turned into some poor bastard being completely voted out on a questionable pass (vs. an obviously crappy pass. But in most cases that ends in that player voluntarily walking out of the square even before a vote happens). If it was a questionable pass I would rather let it be a hack off then vote the fucker out simply because he has a higher score or is a threat to win. I like the idea of letting skill (and a little luck) decide the outcome rather than crooked voting.

I don't know how to stop crooked voting. Some people are just sheisty. Sadly, it's all part of the game. Look on the bright side though, consider it an honor that other players could not stop you any other way and they've become so desperate that they have to resort to such lowly methods just to postpone the inevitable.

EDIT:I got it! We should all play with a strict samurai code of honor and cut off our own fingers when we dishonor ourselves. Losing in hack-off means the loser must commit seppuku (aka hara-kiri. Not to be confused with the late Harry Carrey).
Zeke

Funny movie titles if the movie were about poop:
Red
Fast & the Furious
The Green Mile
Children of the Corn
There Will be Blood

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Post by Frank_Sinatra » 25 Jun 2007 05:53

Zeke wrote:I got it! We should all play with a strict samurai code of honor and cut off our own fingers when we dishonor ourselves. Losing in hack-off means the loser must commit seppuku (aka hara-kiri. Not to be confused with the late Harry Carrey).
Yes! We need more shame in our game. Meanwhile, I'm gonna break it down; beg like James.

Kicked Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Highlights in no particular order:

:arrow: Phoenix
:arrow: Flip DATW (outward)
:arrow: Sealed PS Mirage for the first time
:arrow: really clean Illusions both sides (first time weak side, probably first time hitting it that clean on my strong side)
:arrow: ducking heel both sides
:arrow: cross-body heel (from hand-self-serve - not sure if this 'counts')
:arrow: pixie muted cross-body heel
:arrow: ducking mirage> dimwalk
:arrow: some more flip terrages
:arrow: strong butterfly> weak osis (my weak osis is for shit)
:arrow: various tiltless strings in the 12 - 16 contact range

Friday was awesome. Like a constant highlight - check out Fred's blog if you haven't already to see some of the shit he hit. In a way Saturday was going to be a letdown no matter what, but I didn't play very well for the first hour. Then we switched to Fred's bag & I think we both played better. Same thing on Sunday. I guess that puts me in the heavier bag camp.

Hitting Phoenix felt amazing. You know in X-Men Legends, when the characters level up, and a shaft of light beams out of them and there's some kind of badass sound? It was kinda like that. :roll: Flip DATW also felt good. Now I've just gotta school it, and hit flip DATW inward, and my family of DATWs will be complete.

So yesterday we were kicking, and I was alternating tiltless strings with DATW attempts. I dropped a pixie or something and was like "well, might as well try something I know I'll fuck up" while I attempted flip DATW. And I footed it. So I thought "maybe I just have to swear while I'm doing the move". Sure enough, "Christ on Crutches" did the trick. Reile thought I said "try on crutches." :lol: So that's the secret to hitting new tricks.

Lemme ride that donkey donkey, lemme ride that donkey donkey.

EDIT: I went back and found all the new tricks I've hit so far this month, just as a way of declaring my awesomeness. :roll: Seriously its been a good month and I just want to get some perspective on it. So here it is:

:arrow: Double Legover (June 1st)
:arrow: Fairy same side Osis (June 3rd)
:arrow: Magellan (June 4th)
:arrow: Illusion (June 4th)
:arrow: Pixie same side Clipper (June 5th)
:arrow: Pixie same side Osis (June 5th)
:arrow: Symposium Pixie (June 9th)
:arrow: Parkwalk (June 9th)
:arrow: Flip Terrage (June 21st)
:arrow: PS Mirage (June 21st)
:arrow: Phoenix (June 22nd)
:arrow: Flip Illusion (June 22nd)
:arrow: Ducking heel - both sides (June 23rd)
:arrow: Cross-body heel (June 24th)
:arrow: Pixie muted cross-body heel (June 24th)
:arrow: Flip DATW - outward (June 24th)
:arrow: Flip Symposium Pixie (June 29th)


That's really satisfying.

So I can't help but notice the gap in hitting new moves, from June 10th through June 20th. Interesting. And there's still time left in June, so if I hit anything new I'll have to revisit this. EDIT: And I did.
Last edited by Frank_Sinatra on 06 Jul 2007 05:50, edited 2 times in total.

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Post by xXLoss_of_ControlXx » 25 Jun 2007 10:37

Frank_Sinatra wrote: Hitting Phoenix felt amazing. You know in X-Men Legends, when the characters level up, and a shaft of light beams out of them and there's some kind of badass sound? It was kinda like that. :roll:
LMAO
So yesterday we were kicking, and I was alternating tiltless strings with DATW attempts. I dropped a pixie or something and was like "well, might as well try something I know I'll fuck up" while I attempted flip DATW. And I footed it. So I thought "maybe I just have to swear while I'm doing the move". Sure enough, "Christ on Crutches" did the trick. Reile thought I said "try on crutches." :lol: So that's the secret to hitting new tricks.
I heard "tricycle lunches" :lol:
Freddy Noinaj of the CIC?

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"Sweet" Simon

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Post by Frank_Sinatra » 25 Jun 2007 13:47

LMAO. Now that is dirty. Even I don't use that kind of language.

So I just checked out the lineup for Taste of Chicago. Friday the 6th has the Black Crowes (and Umphree's McGee :? ) & Saturday the 7th has Cracker (Cheap Trick & Soul Asylum :( ), other than that I'm not interested in any of the music. But, based entirely on my stereotypes of the people who listen to the various bands, I think Friday will have lots of hackers and Saturday will have lots of drunks. I don't really hate on Cheap Trick, I don't think they're great, either. But I do know that "I want you to want me" is going to be one giant drunken singalong. Skanks ahoy!

Just thinking about strategy for Taste. If there are planned shred days I want to go for those, and I'd also like to go and crash some hack circles some days, but I don't want to do too much more than that -- I don't want to wreck myself, therefore I'm preemptively checking myself. I'll also probably try to squeeze in the regular 60618 drill/shred sessions in addition to Taste. Of course this can (and will) be thrown out the window depending on what other people want to do.

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