Frank Sinatra Lives

HG · Post by HG » 04 May 2007 04:43

thats cool, ill give you my number or something. maybe. i dont really trust tom or kamil with my phone number

Frank_Sinatra · Post by **Frank_Sinatra** » 04 May 2007 05:46

Alright, here's the itinerary. I'll tin her ary!

Tonight - meeting at La Raza. Freddie, Tom, and I will be crashing there tonight so we can get an early start in the morning. Give Zeke or Reile a call before coming over as they both work a little late tonight.

People gots to bring:

Sleeping Bag

Pillow

Clothes - unless you just want to wear your shred clothes for two days... didn't think so.

Footbag Stuff

Money

Moustaches

There will be some shopping done tonight, but if you've already bought food or drinks for this then you should bring them.

Ponchos

What else do we need for the group that we don't already have or won't be picking up tonight? Utensils for grilling? Garbage bags? If anybody wants to put out a call for things people should bring, post it now before its too late!

EDIT - just thought of this - what about music for the ride? I don't know if the car will even have a tape deck. If it does have a tape deck, does anyone have a cd adapter thingy? Or we can just talk about our feelings the whole trip.

Tom is going to reserve the rental car today. After the shopping is done it might be a good idea to load the van, or partially load the van, tonight, just so there's less to do tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow morning, Reile will drive Tom to the rental place, Tom will pick up the car & they will both drive back. We should try to get this done before ten AM. Then whatever car/van loading remains will be done, and we'll be on our way.

People start showing up at Cinco around 3 PM, but people show up before that to set up. Its not cool to be there before [EDIT] NOON. If we're getting there too early I'll just call my friends & see what we should do - if we get there too early we might just cool our jets in Beloit for a half hour or something.

There's no kegs, but I'm planning on buying for people who want alcohol. When we get there we'll want to find a spot for the tent(s) right away, I'll check out the concrete & see whether any weeding needs to be done, and then after that its peanut butter jelly time.

Sunday morning people wake up whenever they wake up, everybody is expected to help clean up the litter and detritus of our debauchery, breakfast is made, tents are taken down, and we head out.

Have I left anything out? Let me know ASAP if you have questions.

I can't believe this is finally here! I'm so excited.

HG · Post by HG » 04 May 2007 12:42

i am not sleeping there (unfortunately). i may have my parents like.. drop me off and leave instead though. who knows.

i will give you guys a call around 11 or 11:30 to see where you're at, and leave accordingly. And ill leave around 10 pm

quadgun · Post by **quadgun** » 07 May 2007 12:07

Thanks for the invite to the good time!

"every day im hustlin'!"

CIC flurry · Post by **CIC flurry** » 07 May 2007 23:04

Thanks for bringing the mustache into our lives. Honestly - you bringing it up the first time and us talking about it for a month was half the beauty of this whole endeavor.

Frank_Sinatra · Post by **Frank_Sinatra** » 09 May 2007 06:06

I'm glad you guys came! I hope you all had a good time. I know I did. Obviously there were some things that could have been better footbag-wise. I hope nobody is disappointed by the amount of time/money/planning put into this just to have a Welles style jam, but I'd understand if people were/are disappointed. I'm a bit disappointed, honestly.

Anyway. I just got two new pairs of lavers, one green/white twill (so fresh) and one white/blue mesh (so clean). That's exciting. Just need to get a pair of fat laces for the casual wear of the twill, break in the mesh pair, and mod them.

My ankle feels way better. But I still can't run or jump on it, there's some pain and a tiny bit of limping occasionally, and still a wee bit of bruising. So birthday jam is still probably the target date for returning to freestyle. I've regained some range of motion, ankle crank, and toe point, but its still not as good as my left yet (and of course my right used to be better than my left). But now that I'm making progress in those areas I feel relieved.

And I got a new apartment! Elston & Irving Park (so long Red Line bullshit! No more plastic bags of poop at my feet, no more homeless men looking at porn), hard wood floors, ceiling fans, separate kitchen & an office (or tiny dining room), courtyard building... everything I was looking for, and comfortably in my price range. So I already put down the first month's rent & passed the credit check, all I have to do is sign the lease & then I can start moving in. I am so excited!

So Marengo & Sparha, do you guys live close by?

Zeke · Post by **Zeke** » 09 May 2007 07:18

Frank_Sinatra wrote:And I got a new apartment! Elston & Irving Park... I am so excited!

So Marengo & Sparha[wk], do you guys live close by?

You bastard! They're roughly 3 miles west of you but I believe you are closer to Freddy, Marty and Cuba

quadgun · Post by **quadgun** » 09 May 2007 15:00

Yea Elston and Irving isn't far at all.
But Freddy is much closer to you ... only 4 blocks north of you at Central Park and Montrose!
and i think marty lives somewhere in that area too!

so whens the "moving in" "party"?

CIC flurry · Post by **CIC flurry** » 09 May 2007 22:13

Oh hells yeah! Only 3.2 miles away.

Frank_Sinatra · Post by **Frank_Sinatra** » 10 May 2007 05:38

I'm moving in over Memorial Day weekend, probably on Memorial Day. Might start moving a few things before then or might do it all in one day. I don't have much stuff, but my brother & sister-in-law are helping me out (they owe me one for helping them move).

Party? Hmmm...

Frank_Sinatra · Post by **Frank_Sinatra** » 11 May 2007 13:56

Yah yah yah yah yah. Woohah.

I might try to kick a little this weekend. No expectations, no plan, just take it easy & see what I can do comfortably. My ankle won't fully recover until I start utilizing it, but I'm still going to be cautious at first.

And I need to stop posting on modified so much. I've just been so bored at work... whateva, sea cow.

xXLoss_of_ControlXx · Post by **xXLoss_of_ControlXx** » 11 May 2007 18:23

quadgun wrote:But Freddy is much closer to you ... only 4 blocks north of you at Central Park and Montrose!
and i think marty lives somewhere in that area too!

Marty's like 3 blocks away, he lives on Grace and Elston or something.

Frank_Sinatra · Post by **Frank_Sinatra** » 14 May 2007 06:55

Cool. I can get my ass handed to me in foursquare with greater convenience!

Did anybody else in the Rav5 get a message to change their sig? I know its the rule to have your full name, and if I have a problem with that to PM the admin back... whatever. Its not that I have a problem with putting my real name in the sig or that I even feel like arguing about it, its just that I don't appreciate being told what to do about something so inconsequential. Now I'll just sit back and wait for another PM about posting this message.

Between that and a stupid fucking email from my boss this morning, I'm in a pretty foul mood. So one of the things I do at my job is enter search inputs for our media monitoring clients. On Friday I entered a search that was like "Client Name" OR ("Client Name" AND (X OR Y OR Z)). So obviously just "Client Name" is sufficient, the second part of the search won't have any impact on the results.

I know this, and all the client services people (the group that sends us the tasks to enter certain terms) know this because during the training session I just lead I asked them to stop sending us tasks like that, because our time can be put to better use doing other things than entering redundant searches. But of course now they do it more than they did before the training. I don't understand how their minds work... its like if something involves logical or technical processes they just run away from it with their fingers in their ears.

Anyway, this morning my boss emails me and he's like "search XXXXX has "Client Name" OR ("Client Name" AND... WHY?" Because that was the fucking request! Because its not professional to constantly bicker with your coworkers about this shit. Its not professional to just ignore his email and sit here on modified, either, but that's what I'm doing...

Well, enough bitching. Now on to things I actually enjoy - the last four days of footbag related activities:

Thursday - tested my ankle. Just practiced swirl on both sides, at least thirty attempts each side - didn't hit swirl once on either.

Friday - more ankle testing. Schooled my pixie sets, two hundred attempts weakside, in four groups of fifty. In between each group of fifty I just fucked around with my strong side. And wouldn't you know it - Pixie Ducking Clipper. Hells yeah. Its like I've just climbed to the top of a mountain and I'm looking down into this valley full of new shit to school. Alpine indeed.

Saturday - solo practice session at Foster beach. Just did my 2-add drills. Right now my clipper drill is alternating clipper X 40 (20 starting from right foot, 20 starting from left foot). I've got the footwork down when starting from right foot, but not when starting from left. It'll get there with practice & when I start setting the bag with more control that will also help a lot.

Sunday - Welles park with Zeke, Freddie, & Ronnie. Tony showed up later on for a birthday party that was going on in the park. We hacked for a long time then started playing squares. Played three games, Freddie dominated the first two, Zeke won the third.

I played well on a couple points, but I played like shit on so many more. I hope I didn't sour the mood for everybody else. At first I tried to just breathe out the rage & not let it get to me, but I kept playing worse & worse, and just got so frustrated. I think I need the rage, I thrive on it. Insert Star Wars reference here.

Then I drilled some stuff solo while Freddie & Zeke played frisbee. Just my 2 add drills. Was gonna start the clipper drills but Freddie was like "you still want to freestyle?" and I was like "but of course." Hit my first terrage, plo & pixie pickup since the injury, hit another alpine clipper (which nobody saw - take my word for it!). Zeke & Ronnie & Tony joined us for a half hack/half freestyle circle. I footed double over down a couple times. Then I did maybe a six contact string & tweaked my ankle a little, so I stopped playing.

It was such a nice day that after we were all done kicking we just hung out in the park. Zeke & I talked about footbag - or rather, organized footbag. I talked a lot about how I don't even want to be involved with organized footbag in any form, how I just want to do my own thing and play and give organized footbag - including certain aspects of modified - the big fuck off.

On the other hand, I don't want to be a dick and put all the pressure for organizing things on the people who've been doing it for years and could use a break or some help. If people need help doing specific tasks (e.g. carry this cooler over to that bench) then I'll volunteer for that shit. But the planning side of things? No thanks.

Damn, there I go again with the bitching. Well, not gonna play today (got plans for after work), tomorrow its gonna rain, maybe I'll play Wednesday. Got some ideas for changing up my practice regimen but this post is long enough already so I'll post them next time.

CIC flurry · Post by **CIC flurry** » 14 May 2007 11:30

Booyeah, you heal fast.

for almost DOD.

Tips on swirls: http://modified.in/footbag/viewtopic.ph ... 747#156747

So, maybe I have better tips than from 2 years ago. Not really. Just make sure you have enough room for a swirl. Stick leg out further laterally, or further back from support leg. Out or back, then set lowish, and thrust.

I love it love it love it that u school freestyle. You're humanity's last hope. You and Freddy.

Frank_Sinatra · Post by **Frank_Sinatra** » 14 May 2007 12:18

Thanks Tom, I was thinking that exact thing this morning. Well OK, not really. I've been footing DOD for a couple weeks (maybe more than a month?) now. I also think I can hit Terraging Butterfly [what??? hahahahahaha] in the next couple months if I really work for it, and of course Phoenix will be coming soon if I keep schooling my pixies.

I just wish I could have played for these last three weeks.

For Swirl, I don't have enough dex speed on my weak side yet. But I won't get there by not practicing.

So it turns out that my plans for tonight aren't until nine-ish, so I'm playing. So here's how I'm changing up my practices. Part of my drills used to be:

ATW (both directions, both sides) X10
Pixie (alternating) X10
Pickup (alternating) X10
Mirage, Legover, repeat X10

I'm going to replace this with:

ATW (outward), Pixie, repeat X10
ATW (inward), Pickup, repeat X10
Mirage, Legover, repeat X10

And for this week at least I'm only working on 2 add stuff. So I'll also be doing the alternating clippers. If I get through all of this and still feel like I can play, I'll start over at the beginning. Or work Fairy. I just want to give up on Illusion, it makes my baboon heart sad. I'll probably come back to it at some point.

When I'm sure I'm fully healed I'll work the 3 add drills back in.

Zeke · Post by **Zeke** » 14 May 2007 15:38

CIC flurry wrote:I love it love it love it that u school freestyle. You're humanity's last hope. You and Freddy.

Ronnie has fallen back within my clutches!!!!!!! Soon, The Shat and Sweet Simon will surrender themselves to the darkness as well...

There will be no hope for Freestyle.

Oh, you guys can have Al
HAHAHAAHAAHAHAAHAAHAHAHAAHAHAAHAHAA

Frank_Sinatra · Post by **Frank_Sinatra** » 15 May 2007 06:14

LOL. EDIT: Thanks for inserting the star wars joke. It took me several minutes for that all to come together in my brain. END OF EDIT. I don't know man, foursquare puts more stress on my right hip than anything else... it seems I'm being pulled more towards the light of freestyle right now.

Drilled last night. Didn't get to the spot until like 7:15, wish I had my schedule figured out earlier. Oh well. I stretched very briefly and jumped right into my drills - was doing the atw>pixie>rpt drill (felt very smooth & easy) when a couple random hackers asked if they could join me. I kinda wanted to say no because I only had so much time, but I don't have a big enough ego for that. They hadn't played in a while and they said they really appreciated the chance to play, so I knew I'd made the right decision.

So we played for like 20 minutes, and I got the instant ego boost of playing with hackers. Always nice to wow people with atw.

Then they left, and I kept doing my drills. Only got through the atw(outward)>pixie>rpt. & the atw(inward)>pickup>rpt. drills before it got dark. Atw(inward)>pickup is such an unusual series of motions for me right now. I'd been doing pickup>op pickup, so my instinct after the pickup is to set it for another pickup, not set it for atw. I'll get used to it. I can tell these drills will be better for my game than the old drills.

And the stitching on the toe wall on the inside of my left shoe ripped away from the toecap, so I had to fix that when I got home. I stitched the toe wall to the toe with nylon thread - damn that was difficult, awkward stitching. Then I went and bought some shoe goo to make that junction of surfaces stronger. I'm also using the shoe goo to kind of resurface the worn parts of my soles. So my twill lavers have officially entered the shoe goo phase of their lifespan.

Also, I gave my bike away to a friend, and she finally came & got it from me. I carried that 40 pound monster from the Belmont train station to Belmont & Broadway. Ouch. I'm a pussy.

Frank_Sinatra · Post by **Frank_Sinatra** » 18 May 2007 19:44

Last two days of freestyle:

Thursday - got to Millennium park around 5, played until like 8:30, Zeke, Tom, Freddie, Josh & Reid. Its always cool to play with Reid, he's so nice to & patient with random people and he's super helpful to other players, without shoving a bunch of unsolicited advice down your throat.

I Got some ideas from Reid about what to school in my solo sessions - like focussing on two moves each session, and no more. He also gave me some pointers on the alternating clipper technique. But of course the hard part is putting the advice to use.

Anyway, I thought I played like shit. I dropped so many things that I shouldn't have dropped. On the one hand, I took three weeks off to recover & still am not 100%, so of course there will be some difficulties. On the other hand, that's a bullshit excuse for dropping some of that shit. I should not have been dropping ducking clipper, for instance.

I know I shouldn't compare myself to other players, and should just focus on my own progress, or else I'll get discouraged. But its tough... sometimes I'm in a circle at a jam and I'm like "damn, I'm the worst player here... again." And then I try for bigger moves than I can link together, or I start thinking about how much better I want to play & I force it and end up playing worse than normal.

Friday - got to Millennium park around 5:30, played until 7:40, solo session. As always, I've changed up my drills. Here's what I drilled:

atw(inwd.)>pickup>rpt, x10
atw(outwd.)>pixie>rpt, x10
mirage>legover>rpt, x10
alternating clippers x40
DATW(inwd., Ss) x5
DATW(outwd., Ss) x5
DATW(inwd., Ws) 20 attempts or more
DATW(outwd., Ws) 20 attempts or more
Terrage (Ss) x5
Terrage (Ws) 20 attempts or more
Smear (Ss) x5
Pixie Pickup (Ss) x5
PLO (Ss) x5
PLO (Ws) x5
Pixie Butterfly (Ss) x5

Fuck Dada Curve. Yeah I said it. Fuck his grandmama too! Oh I did. Ummm hmmm. Comin up in here talkin that yin yang... shit...

The atw>pickup drill felt really awkward again. Took almost an hour to get through those two-add combos. The alternating clippers were OK, did five consec. a couple times. Tried to implement Reid's advice, but ultimately failed. I see what he's saying, though, about planting the support leg as late as possible, rather than holding it one place and doing all the work with your clippering foot.

It was good to get into the double dex drills again. I'll bump up the number of required hits soon, but not right away. Also good to start working the flipside on datw & terrage. Need to work my flip pixie set.

So get this - four random people joined me to hack throughout the day. There was a girl who played for like 60 seconds (she just started kicking), then two guys from Utah. The guys from Utah (Curt & some other guy) could do stalls, one attempted atw. I could see that look of heartbreak in their eyes, that realization that they aren't the best hackers in the world. Had some good strings (if you like tilts & guilts!). When I just relax & think about keeping the string going I play so much better than when I plan out a completely bsosed unique tiltless string. Anyway, I told the Utah people about footbag.org & lavers & shit, and showed them mirage.

Fourth person who joined me was named Rick, we played for about 20 minutes, he was just a hacker basically. When he left, he was like "here's my phone number for like hack stuff or church" or something like that. I forget the exact phrasing, but he did the turn your head away & mumble thing when he said "or church."

He gave me a bible verse with a phone number on it. Goddammit.

I don't think he was trying to be disrespectful, I just wish people wouldn't inject religion into religiously neutral settings. And of course the dilemma is that in most situations its hard to make your feelings about religious neutrality known without violating that religious neutrality at the same time. And a lot of christians, I would say particularly evangelicals, are stuck in this persecution complex... so just asking to not talk about god gets turned around on you as an assault on their religious expression (total bullshit!). Christians might be persecuted in some places in the world, but in the West, its been about 1700 years since all that lions vs. christians shit went down (which was also the last time the Lions had a winning season - hey-oh!). What I'm saying is, I'll give them something to cry "persecution" about.

Whateva, I told him about how there's lots of hack circles at the Chicago fests (he just moved to Chitown), so maybe he'll be at one of them. Probably won't call him. That makes six random hackers I've played with during my last two solo sessions. I should get some CIC flyers so I have something easy to give to them, if they are interested.

That solo session was exactly what I needed to get out of the "everybody's guiltless" Eeyore mindset I was in. But still... there's so much improvement to be made, and so little time to practice.

CIC flurry · Post by **CIC flurry** » 19 May 2007 04:42

I can hear "The eye of the tiger" music right now. Too bad montages are short and easy in movies and practice is a lot longer in real life. But yeah, you'll be freestyling like nobody's business if you keep it up, and have very good health and great abs from all the practice. Such a win-win-win situation.

I know I shouldn't compare myself to other players, and should just focus on my own progress, or else I'll get discouraged. But its tough... sometimes I'm in a circle at a jam and I'm like "damn, I'm the worst player here... again." And then I try for bigger moves than I can link together, or I start thinking about how much better I want to play & I force it and end up playing worse than normal.

You stole the thoughts right out of my head. I've felt that way completely before. It's a good thing my back hurt and restricted my trick vocabulary on thursday otherwise I'd try and step up for Reid, and prolly drop and fuck up lots. Instead I busted stepping sets a lot cuz I can do em easier and had longer strings.

Zeke · Post by **Zeke** » 19 May 2007 09:25

Frank_Sinatra wrote:without shoving a bunch of unsolicited advice down your throat.

Hehe, I tend to do that. If it ever gets overbearing feel free to let me know, I won't hold it against you. I feel if I can help someone out with something in hopes of more efficient progress, I'll go ahead and say it. I can respect people who want to work it out themselves too.

Just don't ask about whirl... FUCK that move