Toolman

Keep a diary of what you're hitting, what's frustrating you, and your goals.
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mtoolan
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Re: Toolman

Post by mtoolan » 03 Sep 2013 08:02

I'm a glutton for punishment...and toe to toe triple dexes.
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Re: Toolman

Post by mtoolan » 04 Sep 2013 16:07

Definitely drilling a lot lately. Working on getting a legitimate training routine going but it's difficult with my chaotic work schedule. Luckily, there might be some changes on the horizon as far as that's concerned, but I don't want to get my hopes up just yet. More on that later if anything pans out.

Nick and myself went to Penn State Berks again today. We went last monday to recruit new players on the first day of classes and I had written a good bit about it but accidentally deleted it all, and had no desire to do it again. This resulted in the picture on the previous page. So for any info regarding that check Nick's blog. It was, however, one of the more memorable footbag days I've had in a good while.

Both times I was able to hit some new stuff, which doesn't happen often for me, at least before I began drilling seriously. I hit little apple for the first time last week as well as blurry merlin. Both were only on strong though I'm pretty confident I could clear both of them flip side if I could remember to try. Today, highlights included some decently dense runs, hit flip mobius for the first time. That felt amazing. I hit it about 4 or 5 times and I should be able to sauce it soon. All that gyro work is finally paying off. I also hit jughandle on strong side a few times. Ever since the first time I saw Ryan Thomas hit this years ago it's been a dream trick. I thought it would be out of reach for a good while, but when my legs began hurting I started messing around with it and ended up hitting it fairly quickly. So yeah. Cool.

Lately, I've been developing some minor shin splints when I play for more than 2 hours a couple days in a row. I can't remember the last time I played enough to make my legs hurt, which is kind of a cool feeling. I have definitely been playing more lately than I have for many years. Now I just need to find a way to solve this problem so I can keep on track with training and still be able to have regular shred sessions with Nick/Corey^3/whoever else.
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Re: Toolman

Post by krustykrakk » 05 Sep 2013 12:21

Holy poop, mango. Your last post is some shit. Like shitty shit, but in an awesome way. Can't wait to kick again at East Coasts!
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Re: Toolman

Post by mtoolan » 02 Oct 2013 08:16

edit : double post
Last edited by mtoolan on 02 Oct 2013 08:20, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Toolman

Post by mtoolan » 02 Oct 2013 08:17

Having a lot of footbag fun lately. And a lot has been going on in that category, so I'm not really sure where to start.

I guess I'll start with last week, it's pretty much as far back as I can remember. One of those days I went to Kutztown to kick with Corey. I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, worked the morning shift, and didn't really feel like sitting in traffic, but I also didn't want to bail on Corey again like I had the day before. So I bought a couple redbulls and sucked it up. The drive wasn't as bad as I had anticipated and when we got there we ended up at a spot neither of us had played at before. It started slow because my back felt weird. I didn't want to tweak it and be out of commission again. Luckily, that went away and we continued to play. Corey's getting fucking good, he's at a plateau and as soon as he finds his footing there's going to be a serious leveling up. I hit some stuff I was really happy with, but all I remember is whale tale bsos, dimwalk>blur>legbeater>blizzard rpt, pdx whirl>pdx whirl>barfly rpt, and rubberman. That was all before it got dark. We figured it was over after that but then we found out there were lit tennis courts on the other side of the park, so we proceeded there and played. Corey's buddies showed up and filmed us until we were too tired to do anything else. I hope something cool comes out of that.

I've been doing quite a bit of bike riding lately. Pushing between 25 and 35 miles on an every other day basis. On one of those days last week I decided to bike to the skatepark and kick casually over there. I parked my bike and decided to forgo shorts, I rolled up my pants (black cotton/polyester blend, comfortably stretchy and breathable) kind of going the Johnny at Worlds route (black, cutoff jean shorts). It worked surprisingly well and I went for a good 2.5 hours. More than double of what I expected to play. I think I hit twirl>gyro clip bsos, tomahawk b2b, and a lot of spinning and gyro stuff. I was working for a bit on rev up>fairy muted swirl rpt but wasn't focused enough and I was trying to put on a decent show. Not a lot of interest unfortunately. The skate park was scarily empty for such a beautiful day.

Then this past weekend was East Coasts. Man, that was a blast. I'm not really feeling a full write-up, just know that the entire event was fucking awesome. Props to NYFA. I got there around 2 on Saturday, expecting comps to have already started. I was wrong. Jon asked if I would compete, I said sure, I'll do circle. He said only 2 people were doing routines. I told him I didn't have anything prepared. 15 minutes later I told him I'd do it. I did it, improvised for two minutes. More or less met my expectations. Took third place out of three. I'm not ashamed, won my entry fees back and got a dope-ass Bruce Dole trophy. Didn't do so well in battle format but somehow made it past the first round despite being stupid nervous. I feel Boatz won, but the judges disagreed by one point. Then I lost to Hogan the next day. I don't like that such mild pressure to perform can make my game so shitty. I'm going to have to work on that somehow. Anyway, after comps I could finally play and ended up hitting some cool stuff. Predator first try, blurry whirling swirl (finally), and quantum whirl, which was unexpected. The last circle with Dave, Matt, John, Jon, and Cassy was probably my favorite, although I enjoyed the entire weekend immensely.

Huge thanks to Bruce Dole for the sick shirts, dope trophies, crash space, and navigating the public transit and making sure everyone got where they needed to be. Big thanks to Jon Schneider, he put a lot of work into this jam, more than I know about for sure, and pulled it off beautifully. Thanks to Ted for what it is that Ted does (it's not immediately evident to me what it is, but I know he does a lot). Thanks to Dave Beyers and Drew Martin for all the tournament/music directing. Props to Cassy and Hogan for being full on champs and everyone else who competed. Props to Dan Greer, tough break buddy, glad you're ok. Props to PSU for being huge and promising. Props to Bowler for not giving a fuck. Props to Matt Kemmer for recovering from his worlds injury in enough time to kill it at ECFC. Thanks to everybody who complemented the improvements in my game, it felt good. I will miss you all, sorry if I forgot anybody.

I tried to repeat the skate park session on Monday, which would have been good because the park was packed, but my shins wouldn't have it, so I enjoyed the rest of the beautiful day on my bike. Good things are on the horizon I feel. Here's to a bright footbag future! Peace!
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Re: Toolman

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic » 02 Oct 2013 14:07

Yo man, great kicking with you again ag ec. I'm stoker to see what your game will look like by the time worlds is going down. Kinda scared because youre gonna own. But looking forward to throwing down with you in more circles in the near future! Speaking of which.. lets do one of those circles madd soon! Keep it up dude.

Also thanks for offering to teach Nadiah sometimes at ktown. I appreciate that. Hopefully I can make it to some of those sessions too.

It sucks being so isolated in the middle of nowhere now :(
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Re: Toolman

Post by isirc10 » 12 Jan 2014 20:43

yo, your footblog is lonely... It told me last night.
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Re: Toolman

Post by krustykrakk » 21 Jan 2014 07:14

Ya been told.
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Re: Toolman

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic » 21 Jan 2014 12:31

TOLD!

This silence will break this weekend, unless Mike gets abducted or something.

Stoked to shred at PSU, dude!
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Re: Toolman

Post by mtoolan » 01 Dec 2020 11:35

Woo! Been a while. Hey all, hope you're well.

Since my last post above (2013), footbag and life have been all over the place, but each year was an improvement on the last.

Quick life update: Started experiencing significant career- and lifestyle- related existential anxiety in 2013, went back to college in 2014, studied environmental biology, loved it, met my future wife, worked on actual scientific research, finally moved out of my parent's house in 2016, pushed myself to get over some of my biggest fears and flaws, graduated with honors in 2018, really big stuff for me. Moved to the State College area of Pennsylvania, worked on a natural areas restoration project at an arboretum for two years, married my best friend in a surprise costume party ceremony, learned a lot more about myself and working in the real world, got accepted into a forest resources master's program at Penn State, started that two months ago, continuing to learn a lot about myself.

Parallel footbag update: Went to Montreal worlds in 2013, had a blast, didn't kick much after, flaked out on a lot of people and events, (this is around the time the anxiety really kicked in), last jam I remember attending before school started was New Orleans in 2014, had a blast on the road trip there and back with Polini and Doug Tank, excellent tournament, from then until moving to State College in 2018 I played maybe twice a year, this was due to school but also I just had no interest, I think I really needed to figure my life out in this period, but I lost touch with a lot of special people and with one of the only activities I truly enjoyed. Upon arriving in State College, I finally had a new shred partner in Ben Babyak, had to force myself to play weekly for about a year, pretty discouraged about the ground I'd lost, but slowly redeveloped my love for the game, attended my first New Years Jams in 2018 and 2019, helped Ben host two Penn State Jams (never helped host a jam before), slowly redeveloped my love for the game, slowly changed the way I look at the game and where I fit in the community, spent a lot more time on foundation, improved creativity, started stitching footbags at the beginning of the pandemic and have made over 100 since, got involved in some really fun footbag projects, competed at virtual worlds, playing has slowed a little with the beginning of grad school but I'm very thankful to Ben for helping me stay motivated and interested.

All that being said, I see that the community has changed a lot since I've started, especially during my long intermission. While searching for my footblog, I found a post by Jay Boychuk from early 2007 listing all the players he knew of that have been playing between 6 and 18 months (attached), and it appears to be mostly North American, modified-active players, so I imagine in reality it would be longer. Anyway, I can think of maybe one person that's been playing for less than 18 months now, and that kinda hurts. I'd like to help footbag grow again. Sorry for ghosting the community for so long, but I like to think it allowed me to come back with a healthier perspective and appreciation for the game. Love you all! Be well.
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Re: Toolman

Post by Tjuggles » 02 Dec 2020 11:45

Welcome back! Great to see you are alive and well.

I enjoyed reading your updates. Does this mean you will perhaps be posting more here, including some shred updates?
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Re: Toolman

Post by boyle » 02 Dec 2020 12:35

Let's see some video too!

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Re: Toolman

Post by mtoolan » 18 Dec 2020 12:48

TJ, I'll be trying to update this somewhat regularly. It'll be tougher in the winter months. Danny, I'll certainly post video when I get the chance to record something meaningful again. All my best footage comes in the late summer/early fall, and by late December I feel like I'm rusty again.

Winter is tough for footbag related activities for a lot of people, and I am no exception. I rent a small, old house with not much to speak of as far as footbag space is concerned. Nearby gyms are on lockdown for the next 3 weeks at least, and even if they weren't I'd still be avoiding them. Ben and I have been unable to find a business (yoga studio or the like) that'll let us rent space by the hour. Mathieu Gauthier told me he was renting a climate controlled self-storage locker for the season, and this sounded like a great option until he mentioned he was getting a deal because he knew the owner. It turns out full price is a bit too rich for our blood. But we are not without hope! Ben has access to a two car garage at his place from time to time so we should be able to squeeze some sessions in there. It's unheated and the ground isn't very level, but it gets us indoors somewhat and I just try to be careful with tricks that put my ankles at risk.

I also have access to my attic, which is the only playable place in my house, but just barely. There's a single light bulb and just enough room for one if I don't move my arms or jump too much. There's no real ability to do tricks that pass behind me because of the lighting situation. Sounds pretty depressing, right? Well you're wrong! It's very depressing. BUT, I'm actually pretty excited to get up there again. I used it quite a bit last year and it really forced me to narrow my focus because I'm unable to practice many things. Last winter I focused on double switchovers and double atws/orbits, stall control (wraps, walkovers, consecutives, unusuals), toe tiltless (my goal was to hit 100 contacts, but fell short by 12 or so), and swirls (just basic regular and reverse). And thanks to this specific training I noticed significant improvement in my game over the following year.

I've got lots of ideas floating around for what to focus on this year, but nothing specific has been written down yet. I enjoyed the toe tiltless because it made my foundation stronger and acted as great cardio in a space that mostly limited me to single, low impact tricks. I will certainly get 100 contacts this year but I'm going to thing of ways to expand on this goal and maybe push it to 150 contacts. I believe ducking is an option, and it certainly needs work. Pixie everything has been a goal of mine since I started kicking again so I'll definitely be pushing that. Hopovers are something I plan to improve on my path to learning eclipse. Toe-toe double dexes (think dso/datw, not dlo/egg because they require too much jumping and arm movement) could certainly use more work. I'd like to advance on some swirl tricks like twirl and rotor. And of course, improving stall control, this year with an emphasis on those quick stall trade movements that people like Dusting Rhodes have been doing. I think that's gotta be great for improving overall control. I'll post my final list here if I ever make one, I'm trying to be more methodical/organized.

In other footbag news, I'm planning to learn how to recreate the Mr. Sandman footbag for quick and cheap production. It'd be good to have them to give away and sell for cheap. I want to change my 14 panel patter because it currently comes out mini sized with small squares. I love the 26 panel bags that Marco has been stitching so maybe I'll give those a go as well. Otherwise I want to think of some some different footbag themes and how best to showcase them on social media this upcoming year. I've got 3 themes that I think are important so far, and maybe I'll revisit some from this past year.

In my non-footbag life, I've finished my first semester as a master's student and made it through relatively unscathed. I've finally got some nearly concrete plans for my thesis research, which is a huge load off my shoulders. I'm applying for a fellowship that could potentially cover some research-related travel expenses (southcentral Utah) for this summer. Otherwise, I'm happy to be on some kind of break from relentless class work, and though normal work never stops, I'm excited to be focusing on the research that will end up being the main focus of this degree. I got really into indoor rock climbing last winter and I miss that a lot. What's the point of being a student at a huge university (with all the athletic facilities that come with it), when I can't even go climbing at the rock wall or play footbag in the yoga room?
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Schrodinger's Life

Post by C-Fan » 29 Dec 2020 10:37

What a fantastic, unexpected update. As I get older I seem to increasingly lose track of where my friends are. Somebody I'd see at a tournament every few months suddenly becomes somebody I haven't seen in several years. I'll sometimes read an old diary entry or watch an old video and be struck by their name; "oh yeah, I wonder how Brad Nelson is doing?" In those instances my mind will often imagine a spectrum of possible life outcomes. Maybe they got married, picked up a new hobby, and now live happily in Cleveland. Maybe they got hit by a bus or suffered some other life tragedy. In that instant I think of them they are simultaneously happy and fulfilled, and also tragically sad. And until you hear from them they are both, and also neither. I try and be optimistic, hoping that every old friend I haven't seen in years is doing fantastic. So it's always such a nice surprise when you do get that years-overdue update, and they are.

Can't wait to see what you have in store for 2021, both in life and in footbag. Welcome back man.

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Re: Toolman

Post by mtoolan » 12 Jan 2021 11:53

Yeah man. When I came back I was glad to see you were still posting regularly. I can't even remember the last time we were in the same place. Check your PMs when you get a chance.

So it's a new year. I made some progress on personal goals in 2020, but not as much as I'd have liked. However, overall it was probably my best year so far for personal growth. Moving into this year I've started a new rhythm. I've made a pretty radical, very specific lifestyle change that's been a long time coming, and I'm excited to see where it takes me.

I've begun playing for a bit most weekday mornings. My wife works out with her sister at 630 every morning via videochat and has been doing so for over a year now. She's in incredible shape. I am not, so this is my version of that. So far I'm having a lot of fun with it despite being confined to a dark, cramped attic. I've been meaning to start a journal of what I've been up to in those sessions, but keep forgetting. Maybe I'll get that going after I finish this post.

Last Thursday I had my first session outside since the beginning of the new year. Since it got cold enough to move inside, I've mostly been playing in my attic or Ben's garage (also cramped and dark), so being outside felt great. I needed to get outside to film something for NYJ, so picked the warmest (38 F), sunniest day and met Ben in the park in the early afternoon. Definitely felt rusty, but overall was happy with what I had filmed for the comp. They haven't released the results yet, but since only 2 or 3 people will see it here I'm going to post my Shred Off entry. I'm not really sure how many other people entered, but I'd love to win one of those Marco 26 panels. The two prize bags I'm donating look awesome so I'm excited to send those out. Anyway, here it is:

[youtube]https://youtu.be/ZxO-POcXU3g[/youtube]

**How do you embed youtube videos on here?**
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Re: Toolman

Post by Tjuggles » 12 Jan 2021 18:02

mtoolan wrote:
12 Jan 2021 11:53
I've begun playing for a bit most weekday mornings. My wife works out with her sister at 630 every morning via videochat and has been doing so for over a year now. She's in incredible shape. I am not, so this is my version of that.
That is great you have a set time to kick. I think that will help develop the tradition, and then you will get to a point where it is a no-brainer to kick at that time.
mtoolan wrote:
12 Jan 2021 11:53
I've been meaning to start a journal of what I've been up to in those sessions, but keep forgetting. Maybe I'll get that going after I finish this post.
I think this is a great habit to get into. I always make sure that I have my journal. Even if I don't do anything crazy during a kick, it is rewarding to be able to write things down and know that I at least did SOMETHING.
mtoolan wrote:
12 Jan 2021 11:53
[youtube]https://youtu.be/ZxO-POcXU3g[/youtube]

**How do you embed youtube videos on here?**

I think the link format you used is incorrect. I went to that link, then copied this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxO-POcXU3g. This link should work. Let's find out, below:

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Re: Toolman

Post by boyle » 12 Jan 2021 21:00

yeah, that default youtube shortened link doesn't work properly in the embedding, you have to have the full youtube link. I'm looking forward to seeing the NYJ entries. Also hopefully not too many people entered and maybe I can get a bag somewhere along the way! I like how you are seeing the progress your wife is making and putting that into footbag, I think that's a great idea.

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Re: Toolman

Post by cammel » 13 Jan 2021 22:51

mtoolan wrote:
18 Dec 2020 12:48
I also have access to my attic, which is the only playable place in my house, but just barely. There's a single light bulb and just enough room for one if I don't move my arms or jump too much. There's no real ability to do tricks that pass behind me because of the lighting situation. Sounds pretty depressing, right? Well you're wrong! It's very depressing. BUT, I'm actually pretty excited to get up there again. I used it quite a bit last year and it really forced me to narrow my focus because I'm unable to practice many things. Last winter I focused on double switchovers and double atws/orbits, stall control (wraps, walkovers, consecutives, unusuals), toe tiltless (my goal was to hit 100 contacts, but fell short by 12 or so), and swirls (just basic regular and reverse). And thanks to this specific training I noticed significant improvement in my game over the following year.
Oof, sorry to hear the attic is so depressing. I was feeling pretty annoyed at the little space in my apartment when I move my bed, but at least the lighting is ok. My landlord lives above me and is not so excited about me jumping too much, so I had almost the exact same thoughts about things to practice! Trying to get flip datws, dso and swirls I still feel so awkward about. Cant do reverse even on my strong side. Also been trying inside to inside atw and datw. For me its more to the side, almost like a swirl/ripstein in front of your plant leg instead of behind it. Another good thing to practice with limited space :lol:

I guess I don't really have an excuse living in California, I certainly could find an outdoor area to play, I just don't really like footbagging in public, especially right now when I'm getting back into it and feel like I spend 90% of my time just picking it up off the ground..
mtoolan wrote:
18 Dec 2020 12:48
In my non-footbag life, I've finished my first semester as a master's student and made it through relatively unscathed. I've finally got some nearly concrete plans for my thesis research, which is a huge load off my shoulders. I'm applying for a fellowship that could potentially cover some research-related travel expenses (southcentral Utah) for this summer. Otherwise, I'm happy to be on some kind of break from relentless class work, and though normal work never stops, I'm excited to be focusing on the research that will end up being the main focus of this degree.
Glad to hear your thesis plan is coming together. Do you mostly do fieldwork? Working in Utah sounds great! I used to do more fieldwork, mostly oceanography and a little stuff around California, but my postdoc work is all lab-based now.

Nice video for the NYJ!

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Re: Toolman

Post by mtoolan » 22 Jan 2021 12:57

cammel wrote:
13 Jan 2021 22:51
Glad to hear your thesis plan is coming together. Do you mostly do fieldwork? Working in Utah sounds great! I used to do more fieldwork, mostly oceanography and a little stuff around California, but my postdoc work is all lab-based now.
Yeah, I'm entirely field-based at the moment with a substantial data management (which I have zero experience with) project coming my way soon. I'm really excited for the rest of my field stuff in Utah. I haven't been out west really at all so spending part of my summer there is exciting. My thesis will be seeing how different measures of fire severity and intensity affect clonal regeneration in quaking aspen communities. I did a lot more lab work when I did undergraduate research a few years ago, and I do miss spending time in the lab, but when those mountains call I must answer.

I have gotten in the groove of playing most weekday mornings. At the moment it consists of footbag from ~7 to ~7:30 with a primary focus (at least at the moment) of increasing stamina through toe tiltless drills. Last year around this time I was getting pretty close to 100 contacts of toe tiltless, but I've lost a lot of that since school began in August. Now I'm working on being able to hit 50 contacts of each of the 4 basic toe tiltless drills (mirage>ss mirage rpt and the like). Mirages and legovers are already there, but work needs to be done with illusion and pickup. Once I hit the 50 mark I'll move on to 100. When I'm not drilling those I'm working on DATW/DOrb (to co-opt a Derek abbreviation). Seeing Danny do those tricks in the scavenger hunt made me realize mine are even more erratic than I thought. I still have yet to start a journal...

After I'm done with footbag in the mornings I move to yoga/stretching and some basic exercises until about 8 am. I could use some expert yoga training as I mostly make it up as I go with poses I learned years ago. The basic exercises consist mostly of core stuff and pushups. I had a goal last year to do 10,000 pushups because a friend had done it the year before. I only made it to about 4,200, but I know that was way more than I would have done without the goal so I was pretty happy (my friend broke 20,000 8O ). I'm shooting for 10,000 again this year so we'll see what happens. On Fridays I skip footbag and work out with my wife and her sister because they have more diversity in their workouts and it keeps me interested (and they usually only go for a half hour whereas I try to do an hour total most days).

No luck in the online NYJ tournament. I was very excited to see the turnout they got, but I was selfishly hoping to be one of very few entrants so I could get ahold of one of those Marco 26 panel bags. Still though, I loved how everything turned out. The online scavenger hunt was well-received with many telling me it was a cool idea, however, turnout was low. I expected this seeing as it's winter for a lot of us and because NYJ was a more exciting format with more enticing prizes. That being said, I plan to do it again once the weather is more playable in the spring.

We're moving to a new place in April and I'm very excited about it. At the moment we live in a really old two bedroom house. It has a yard and it's nice to not share any walls but there's no good spot for footbag other than the attic. This new place is going to be great. It's an apartment above a garage out in the woods. There shred space, no nearby neighbors, we'll be just a 15 minute walk from a state park with trails and a swimming area, close proximity to a number of other parks, and no increase in commute to work or groceries. There's no cell service (T-mobile) and we're not sure what the internet is going to be like, but I don't even care. I wish we could move in now.

I'm also very excited about some recent lifestyle changes I've made recently. Specifically, over the past year I've quit both drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes. I consider cigarettes one of the bigger mistakes I've made in my life. My dad has been smoking since he was a teenager and I always hated it, but somehow fell into it thinking there wasn't any way I would turn out the same. Then 10 years went by. I'm very glad to be rid of it. Drinking has also plagued me for a while. I had issues with it in my late teens/early 20s (effectively ending what could've been a really great footbag career), and ever since I've been working to keep it under control. Over the last 5 or so years I've kept it together (comparatively), but still drank basically every day. I've been thinking of quitting for a long time but didn't have the confidence and motivation until recently. The difference is seriously night and day. The number of things in my life that have improved since is staggering. I never met Rippin', but I always meant to ask him about his sobriety. His passing is partially what spurred me to do some serious research and make the final decision to give it up entirely, and for that I'll be forever grateful. It's always been something I've been pretty ashamed of and kept quiet, but when I think of how Rippin's simple yearly sobriety facebook post really got me thinking about my own habit, I think that it must be better to be open about it so that maybe my decision will help someone else who quietly suffers with it.

This post got a bit heavier than I anticipated. Anyway, I'm glad I stumbled my way back to modified. It's a small group but it's been great reading everyone's updates.
Mike Toolan
Penn State Footbag Club

boyle
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Re: Toolman

Post by boyle » 22 Jan 2021 19:37

Great having you on here. Sounds like the new place will be an improvement for your lifestyle too. Good job on kicking the various habits. Ken had a long streak off the booze. Sounds good that you'll have trails and a swimming hole nearby. Do you have a bike?

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