Jay's Blog.

Keep a diary of what you're hitting, what's frustrating you, and your goals.
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SlashC
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Re: Jay's Blog.

Post by SlashC » 16 Sep 2015 21:55

I got to try some bratwurst when I was in Berlin. It tasted exactly like this video. I was most impressed with the gravedigger combo.
Rory "Tophat" Dawson

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Re: Jay's Blog.

Post by acxel22 » 17 Sep 2015 01:12

Wow Jay, Guess I forgot how good you are, demolishing stuff
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Re: Jay's Blog.

Post by h0ag3yb3atZ » 17 Sep 2015 06:38

I think that may have been my favorite post worlds vid that's dropped so far. loved the cut, glitchy, multicolored sketchy tombstone>gravedigger drillz (that shit was off the hook)

i have really missed watching you play. we should set up a session next time your in canada.
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Re: Jay's Blog.

Post by jay7 » 07 Dec 2015 07:43

Hey Fizzied.

I thought it was about time to do a little update for my blog.

In a previous traveling life, Munich was designated as the "If I was a movie star or something, I would move to Munich". 2 Augusts ago, I joined a rapidly growing company based in Canada. I took the advice of a good sir David Clavens, and did not wait to be led, but, rather took the lead. After joining at literally the bottom of the company, I managed to do the right things enough times, that I got a large series of promotions very quickly. Eventually, I convinced the board and CEO to let me be their first Expat, and that I would make it worth their while to move to Germany... Namely, Munich.

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The company had recently partnered with the telecommunications giant Telefonica. Telefonica was originally the Spanish (Spain) telecommunications provider, which then just absorbed ate up and reprocessed a large amount of world wide telcos... As it turns out, they also took a bite out of O2 Germany, who happens to have the only skyscraper in Munich. The above is the view I now have from my office. Through badgering and decent arguments, my company argued that presence in their building would lead to the best success of our first big project - Sixt. Sixt is the largest rental company in Germany, and has a very strong, pompass, and recognized name here. The idea was that if I went to Munich, and won this deal I'd be set. Our chips were down, as Bosch was putting together very competitive offers on a similar product... However, after enough customization of our product, and office visits and presentations to Sixt on my side, we managed to win our company's biggest European project, officially putting us on the map.. Our German solution actually won 2nd place in our industry at the largest European awards show, ahead of our European born competition.
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So, why is this here in my blog? I felt like it might be due time to give an update on my life, and where footbag fits in.

First off, life for me now is mostly in German. Work is German, I speak to Michelle in German, and we eat/breath German. For example, this was my breakfast not long ago, prior to flying to Rome to go to that award ceremony.

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My goal is to really pick up all the life pieces that I left behind while heavily pursuing Footbag. Footbag is great, but, when you put 93% of your life energy into it, you can't help but miss out on other aspects. In July, I had to make an emergency trip to Texas. I had a call from my Grandfather, that my mother had been battling cancer round 2, and had declined from driving herself around town, to being in his house wheel-chaired in the matter of 2 weeks. She had forbid the family to worry her kids about it, because her decision was to not go through treatment twice... Something she knew wouldn't go over well. Coming to terms with this in the matter of minutes on a phone call, and booking tickets immediately suddenly really put my life in a weird focus. She did not know I was coming to Texas, and, I just showed up on the Wednesday. We had our last real conversation that day, covering marriage, future kids, life, etc. By the next day she was already unable to hold a real conversation, but was still herself. Friday morning I walked into the room to see her, and she was on the ground, and let me know she wanted me to bring my laundry downstairs and she'd make me some breakfast, in Canada (completely hallucinating). Previously she was refusing hospital treatment, and previously became vicious when the topic was brought up - including drawing a gun on my grandfather. At this point my sister and I decided she was finally unable to make her own decisions, called the ambulance, and a team arrived within minutes. When the paramedics asked "What is your name, what is the day" etc, she did let out a bit of her humour. "Who is the current president?" - "I'm not sure, but I know he is an asshole". As it turns out, the paramedics actually considered that a correct answer, but regardless she was deemed to not be of sound mind. 36 hours later, she was pronounced dead. 2 weeks prior I was on a balcony in the Austrian alps, phoning her, and discussing her possible future grand children, talking about her job. 6 days earlier I was on the phone, booking tickets. 1 day earlier I said my last, many, words, hoping she could recognize any of them at all.

As I flew back to Germany, it was time for me to make sure she'd continue to be proud of her son. I needed to make sure my wife was happy, and I was happy... But, somehow I felt it did not stop there. After what was apparently a ridiculously vicious, anger filled, and bitter second battle with cancer, it made me really want to live in a pure way. Living life to its fullest, as they say. This was my first journey to pick up the pieces I had left down, while pursuing footbag. I needed to round myself out more. I also needed to find my place, now that the person who gave me life, was no longer there to guide me. For better or for worse, this largely manifested in trying to do my job really well, my marriage, and my home life in general.

I was able to think to myself, and say, "Well, what is better than Munich? What would I do if I was actually able to do whatever I want?"

I now live here. (View outside my living room/balcony).

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I also have a new family member coming.. A Suomenlapinkoira, or, Finnish Lapphund. I visited her yesterday, and will pick her up in 4 weeks. I love Finland, and felt I should have a piece of it in my home. Tempted to name her Moka, but we'll see when she is older.

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A quarter life crisis, one could say. Fortunately work is going really well. I have a German mentor now, and, am actively trying to be fucking awesome at my job. Weekly meetings discussing the week, planning, and reflecting with someone with a large amount of experience. It feels so bloody good to put in a ton of work into something, get awesome results, and be recognized for it. Being the sole German employee, any and all success, and very importantly, failures, are on my hands. After winning this last contract, getting this award, etc, it seems like the dominos are starting to fall in a really good direction. Last week we got to go to their vehicles lots, rip apart fancy cars and reverse engineer them. I hit my new top speed on the autobahn in a splendid BMW Convertible, 253 km/h. The speed governor kicks in just before 255 apparently. Constantly ripping apart luxury cars, driving them around Germany, and engineering is really, really satisfying. It also has not gotten old yet. We flew over two Canadians last week to help out, and showing them all the awesome parts of Munich, as well as putting in 80 hours over 5 days was exhausting.. Mäcrö told me it was actually legit illegal in terms of German law... It literally took me 3 days to recover, hence me sitting in the library right now and chatting to you guys.

Marriage is going well. I still wake up like a fucking 4 year old on Christmas morning when I see I have a wife. She usually isn't so excited at my level of energy, however, at least prior to 6:00 am...

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She currently is doing lots of little artsy things, continuously learning German and Germany, getting to know new places, and investing time into things she really enjoys. This new pup should be a demanding and new experience. Feeling solid enough in life to take care of another breathing being is in itself something to reflect on.

The last months have just been a series of making a goal, getting it, and feeling awesome about it. Lots, and lots of hard work, but my word does it feel good. Making things happen, goal making, targets, planning, prioritizing, etc, is just so great. Being part of (in my opinion) the best company in our industry, making changes, learning, growing, and conquering is awesome. In a nutshell, I want to make "corporate" BAP, and it feels so similar to Footbag, except I am now older and can draw on all the things you guys taught me over the years. Steve fucking Golberg, Anssi Sundberg, Johnny Suderman, Jorden Moir. How much I have learned. To all those reading: Be fucking awesome.

Heavily compensating for the lack of family in my life, is definitely a good motivator. Jorden and I once discussed how being uncomfortable is the best possible thing to drive you. It is really useful to move to a new location, force yourself to live in another language, and just constantly push yourself over your comfort limit. Eventually pushing your limits becomes routine, and just the natural thing to do, and then you fail and succeed a lot... However, I visualize those failures as rubble beneath my feet which I can then add onto a hill, and keep walking upwards. This probably sounds ridiculous, but I really want to convey that all the awesome of Footbag can be applied everywhere.
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Footbag.

Playing Footbag has been moved off of the burners for now. I can't stop myself from mentally inventing tricks, air shredding, or having it run through my veins. After not playing for a while, it is interesting to see how my legs feel. I do wonder if I have done permanent changes on my legs as a result of Footbag. I am not in any pain, or anything like that, but I do feel like my Footbag body is out of balance with a normal body, and, I must admit I'm on the side of worried that says that I might should not start again, simply for future investment. The last thing I hit, my last session in October, was enterrage to toe flurry repeat. Yay.

I was thinking it might make sense that I open up my years of experience to the younger generation, and, try to share the knowledge. I pop my head into conversations about Footbag at some points, and, it really seems like I could share my brain with others, and teach them how to invent tricks for example.. Something I was actually good at. I also sometimes wonder if I should pitch my opinion about hot topics, but, typically decide it is not worth the effort. After doing that survey and getting so much backlash from two handfuls of people, I looked at the scope of Footbag and my life, and decided it was not worth pursuing change for the sport when so many were so negative toward the ideas proposed. It is so easy to put that energy constructively in any other pillar of life, and have so much awesome success without anyone moaning about things. I decided to neither be led, or, lead... I figured the least I could do was compile results, such that if anyone moaned in the future at least some actual objective data could be used. Interesting to learn about people, though. It is nice operating in multiple communities. Previously it seemed like things were "Footbagger" tendencies, but, now it is easier to see when it is a Footbag thing, or, more of the time, just a people thing.

As I said, playing footbag is off the burners at the moment. Inventing another trick, hitting another 4 dex, making another video, or doing something I've done xyz times before is not emotionally rewarding enough to continue. Once I stop making huge leaps of experience point gains in all the other areas, perhaps it will emotionally seem more interesting to go back to Footbag. Footbag is in my veins, I still love it. The friends I have made, the generous people I have been graced to meet, and the places I've been are not forgotten nor under appreciated. Now is the time in my life to keep learning, keep conquering, and continue to live a life which would make my mother proud. I feel like getting 10% better at an aspect of Footbag would be, a matter of steps in a known direction... Getting 10% better at a career, getting 10% better at learning Bavarian German, figuring out how to have a puppy, are all really unknown steps in unknown directions. I know I've been whinging about the whole mother thing, but, seriously - losing that kind of rock in life, the thing which you learned to cling to before literally anything else, is disorienting. The last months, and continuing months, are time to prove to my emotions that I am of value to the world, not just in Footbag or Family, but, wherever I go. But, that is literally where I feel Footbag is in my life.. On the level of family. I can't thank you enough for the time we've shared. Time to keep stepping into the unknown, become a better person, be fucking awesome, and enjoy every step of the way.

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Jay Boychuk

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Re: Jay's Blog.

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic » 07 Dec 2015 08:09

You may have just changed my life to some extent. Thanks for that write-up. My condolences for your big loss. Glad to have met you and thanks for all the help along the way, in life and in footbag. You're a huge reason why I'm sitting in my own office right now.
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Re: Jay's Blog.

Post by isirc10 » 07 Dec 2015 10:56

Whoah. Thank you for sharing all of that, it truly is inspiring. As a side note, every time the Joulukalenteri rolls around, I always think - are we getting a new Jay video this year? This blog post was way better. Thank you for updating one of my favorite footblogs on Modified.
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Re: Jay's Blog.

Post by Tjuggles » 07 Dec 2015 11:36

Awesome stuff Jay, glad to hear you are alive and well.

I lost my dad in EDIT{2003} to cancer and know that disorientation that you speak of. Thanks for rekindling that fire that I also had/have to keep pushing.

Motivation station.
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Re: Jay's Blog.

Post by boyle » 08 Dec 2015 02:17

Good luck getting into business Bap...looks like you are well on your way.

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Re: Jay's Blog.

Post by max » 16 Dec 2015 19:55

Props Jay. That post rocked. I've expatriated myself to the other side of the world and when people tell me how lucky I am to be living in Sydney I smile and nod. But it has nothing to do with luck, it has everything to do with setting a goal, being determined and a putting in a lot of hard work. So Congrats. Congrats for making your dream come true. Congrats for landing that huge deal. Now I hope you enjoy the spoils of all that hard work. Sorry to hear about your family... that's a downside to living from family..

Props again.
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Re: Jay's Blog.

Post by jay7 » 21 Aug 2016 06:44

To my fair lady Modified, I answer the question:
Where is little boy Jay now?

Jay is still in Tegernsee, that little mountain town hovering the border of Austria and Bavaria. Broadly speaking, he has the same job, is still married, and he did eventually get that pup.

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And what a pup she is. Should anyone want to hear any of my rhetorical 6:00 am Hit Singles such as "Who is bitch fabulous?" or "Who is perfection? Who needs no correction?", or if you are feeling particularly daring, the explicit "You're worth it because you work it" simply bribe your friendly neighborhood Boychuk wife. One could say they make Thriller weep with jealousy. Such flawless majesty in canine form could only be bred from the pure Finnish soil from which Juho's bloodline picks blueberries to this very day.

So, where is Jay in his life today?

Work:
As one might recall, my previous goal was oriented in the direction of corporate BAP. To my fellow friends, I can admit that at least 95% of this goal has come in the form of people to people relations. While my technical engineer skills have indeed raised over the past months, it is shocking how much one can learn about working with people. As a wee 20 year old Jay once looked at the world, he thought "Seriously, things aren't that hard. Why does every job posting suggest you need 3-5 years experience?". Now I know why. Technically things might be reasonable, but getting groups of people to all work in exactly the direction that is needed is revealing itself to be a lifelong skill in itself. As you may have read, I maintain my relationship with a 55 year old mentor here in Germany, and it is obvious to me that even he is still learning.

I recently was of the opinion that our company group was not aligning itself with the sustainable practices required to reach the level of success that our product is capable of providing. Trying to work with multiple 50 year old people to realize a 25 year old might have a point was challenging. There were two tasks involved, one was proving to myself that I was actually correct despite older more experienced people than me doing otherwise, as well as coming up with ways to prove this to others. You might see movies where someone with a focus on success is brutal and just massacres his/her way to the top... This was not my intention, as I don't think this is sustainable either, so I had to figure out another route. In the end, I had all the necessary people in line with my train of thought, except my direct manager. In my position I have a lot of freedom to choose the work I do, and how I do it, but my manager's discrepancy was turning into a bottle neck, and I realized that I would not be able to motivate myself to do a 100% job let alone 56% job with this in the way. Having my company suffer on behalf of my potentially shit work was not in my to-do list, so I decided to go against my desired approach of having every one on board, and take the risk to go above my manager to solve the problem. I carefully made a "case", and shared it with HR and the Board Member responsible for the European team. I saw this as a 50/50 risk, as it could be seen as a "He does not respect the line of authority and can not work within reasonable means to accomplish goals during times of conflict", or "Shit, this kid is right".

Within the same week I had a new manager and I was told they would be shifting my manager's focus within the company. I have also worked one 50+ hour week since, versus consistent 60 hour weeks.

It was also at this point that I had the first few corporate BAP building block realizations:

1.) The same learning of "My parents are not perfect" that one has in their childhood at home applies to very well paid people with lots of mutual respect too.
2.) I am not married to this job, and may change it at some point.
3.) One can never stop consciously reanalyzing things they have learned and viewpoints they had. People might give you advice which is literally wrong with good intentions.

Location:
Location is largely connected with my work, unsurprisingly. However, the other direct inputs are my family/wife and my own desires. There is something great about living in your dream world... Mountains, lakes, constant fresh air and hiking, small-town-customs, lovely pooch, extremely comfortable lifestyle all around. An issue I do have, is that this feels a bit boring. I'm not really challenged. Overall my employer is awesome, I constantly travel around Europe for free, bilingual living is enjoyable, and life inside the home is pleasing. I am aware this is a good problem to have, generally having a 75-90% full tank in all compartments of your life... But it just isn't fucking hard like Footbag. Things feel safe, everything feels within reach, if I give something 85% of myself or 100% there is no real change in result. Not being motivated to give 100% is just, boring. If I got a raise no part of my lifestyle would change, given the structure of our company in Europe I won't be changing position heavily as I did last year any time soon... Technically I am learning in the company, and in regards to working with people I am learning and am grateful to have the opportunity as I do... But I am not fulfilled. I want something to feel as difficult and rewarding as BAP did, but I realize corporate BAP is too easy. If I just maintained my trajectory for 10 years I'd get corporate BAP within my company by default, simply because so much of the competition is simply happy with showing up and doing the minimum. Even if I gave half a shit, that is still half a shit more than the 80%. As my company is indeed a market leader and pushing harder than most my suspicion is that this trend is simply prevalent within humanity.

So, where do I go now? Do I stay in my quaint mountain lakeside town occasionally getting fresh rolls from the baker in the morning? Do I start my own business in something? If so, what, where? Do I remain in my current position and challenge myself with something new? If so, what, where?
Do I say randomly say "fuck it, I'm moving to Switzerland because Switzerland is really hard to get into and I enjoy it there?", do I move to Canada and speak German with the two babies in my family and have a secret Boychuk language? Do I go to the Bay area with Steve and the crew like I always thought I might? Do I go to a German-Speaking community in Texas and enjoy life there? Do I go to Canada and start blacksmithing with Johnny? Do I start learning Italian in the German/Italian speaking area of Italy, and eventually buy some land and pick olives, grow basil and get fresh eggs in the morning? Do I move to England and understand what a Chav is and why people loiter as a national past time?

Currently all are options, and I just need to make one happen. Honestly, blacksmithing with Johnny is shockingly appealing, but fuck if I want to not live in some mountain filled paradiseland speaking German. I can't wait for winter and snow again.

Footbag:

I see three areas in Footbag which might not be boring to discuss:

1.) Worlds 2016

Worlds for me came nearly solely because Michelle was watching the live stream on facebook and I saw Steve talking about his shit hotel room. I missed Steve, and I figured he was only 5-6 hours away by car so why not make it happen. I have not played at all for months, before that I wasn't hardly playing, and I don't have the thirst to play either... So I knew that was not going to be a focus for me. I figured judging might be fun too if I could help out there, so why not.

So, on the Wednesday of worlds I decided I was going and booked a car for Thursday night, so I could leave my place at 03:00 and arrive in Trnava for 09:00 and do a work day, and then enjoy worlds right on time for finals. As it turns out I booked the same hotel as Steve did. Oh, oh boy. That hotel was a life experience. I will likely remember that hotel in my eighties far after I forget all of what happened in the worlds gym. So many stories. So many memories. So much disappointment in humanity. Everything you heard from Steve was true. For those who don't know, it was a "Four Star" hotel about 500m away from the event site, which was a near literal death trap. For the curious, you could pick out my German review and Steve's fiery hotel reviews here: http://bit.ly/2bn7Cd9 . Funny enough Steve and I's overall review scores were identical.

Anyway, for the side event, the Footbag World Championships:

My overall emotion during the event would probably be best summed up by: "I felt very strange". Having not been to any event, or basically hung out in any footbag setting for nearly 2 years I can say it was a bit jarring to simply show up at worlds with no more than a few days forethought. As someone who "quit" the scene relatively cold turkey it was strange to be in an environment when I used to give all the shits. Formerly knew everything all the people were up to, had previously made videos of the same people, participated in online discussions, and likely had a spankbank repository of trick inventions I wanted to show people. This time I had literally nothing to offer. I was not making videos, had no new tricks, had no idea how I might play or even if I would play, knew no new names of players, etc. Then coming face to face with people like Anssi who I had not spoken to in nearly 2 years and having nothing to go on... I felt a bit retarded. Imagine waking up out of a coma behind the wheel of your car but you did not know where to drive to nor were you confident you remembered how.

It is no surprise that I am not someone who enjoyed late nights and partying, and it was really socially interesting. All these people drinking and enjoying themselves, and I was rather content to go back to the hotel with Steve and catch up. This would mark the first event where I did not do anything I did not want to do for anyone. It felt like shit but also ideal. Aleksi asked me to join them at the poolside, but I did not have swimming gear and I just did not feel like it, so I did not go. I knew there would be 100 people there all wanting to socialize and pressure me to open parts of my brain which I was uncomfortable reopening so quickly. I love Aleksi and really should have spent more time with him as this is a rarity, but something in my gut just said "You really do not want to go swimming in that environment", so I did not. Swimming/water is also probably one of my most feared or uncomfortable social activities regardless of who is there. Probably the reminiscent result of a childhood phobia and a family all too eager to continuously pressure a crying child into the deep end to man up and learn....

The competition at worlds was interesting. It really marked a "My time and place in Footbag has moved on". Johnny and Jorden were not even contestants to bother coming, Anssi and Aleksi were not even playing let alone dominating, Honza/Milan/Vasek were not dominating, etc. Now there were all the Czech and Polish up and comers who were probably at the point in their careers similar to whenI felt the most alive in Footbag, 2011. I could even see in Evan's soul that he was not in the same spirit as he used to be. That Footbag Eurotour was probably the last hoorah of the crew of gentlemen I loved so much. Man I miss Finland (Cue petting non coincidental Finnish dog.)

That being said, regardless of which generation was playing, the level this year was quite low. Sideline shred was virtually non existent, and when it was there was no passion. The "Finals night shred" was abysmal and cancelled as soon as it got started by Dexter anyway (the only worlds highlight I was expecting)... Circle finals felt like a poorly seeded semifinals, Routines felt like a Todexon. I also realized early on there wouldn't even need to be a formal BAP meeting, another reason I thought about going to worlds. In an afterthought, it was good that the hotel was so damn eventful and raised my expectations on what humanity could put together if they collectively gave decimal values of shits and called it four stars. Really it was good I got to have some good conversations with old friends one on one outside the social group pressures too. Despite my inhibited demeanor, there is definitely a piece of me which loves the sport and the group in it and it was probably good to be thrown into the fire and see my past life in all its glory.

2.) BAP Thread on Facebook

Another occurrence brought on by Michelle, was reading the now infamous BAP thread on Facebook. Directly on comparison to my business life this thread just wafted the smell of disorganization and lack of focus like the smell of shit through a fan. It is unfortunate that so many people care so much but yet our system does not give back the same way, leading to so many unmet and completely different expectations. I hesitate to even put any input into the thread, because I feel regardless of how potentially valid it is, it would amount to nothing and not serve any purpose. Fortunately in my blog, it is a reflection of my opinion and more meant as a journal versus anything productive.

I feel someone deserving of BAP is the following:

"Someone who can enter any circle filled with any combination of other BAP (or non BAP) players, and consistently make them fear that they could not reproduce what they are doing".

Every BAP player has sunk in thousands of hours of practice and consistently guided themselves toward their own goal of being the best they can be. With this comes knowing exactly what their weakest and strongest points are with little to no delusion. If anyone is capable of walking up to any circle of BAP players and the result is that all the players agree "Holy shit, none of us can do what this person is doing and they are pushing the limits of our sport" that fits my mental image of a BAP worthy member.

I just took a bit and went back in time and watched some videos of previous BAP inductees, and none of them did not fit this description. Some of the mentions on facebook may be great players but I do not see them as pushing the fabric of our sport technically. After being at worlds, honestly that recent video of Peter Bowler consistently making me say "What the hell just happened" and rewinding while hitting some decent stuff made me feel more "BAP honourable mention" feelings than most others.
For a while I seriously doubted that I belonged in BAP, but then I thought about the inventions I've hit and couldn't convince myself that they were undeserving. I would be very interested to hear if players actually agree I should have gotten in at all given that my actual shred was never considered close to the greatness compared to the likes of Anssi or Dave. Every time I read "I disagree that some unmentioned players should have gotten into BAP" I always worry about being in that group, but at the same time I am eager to know the truth.

It is unfortunate that BAP is very, very loosely organized and often does not meet the expectations of those who respect it. As I stated earlier, it is the exact opposite of how I feel many things at work are. It is tempting to try and start a discussion and agree on a set of principles that guide the decision making in a very explicit way such as the statement I made above. I agree that the "feeling" of a possible member is subjective, but at least if there was a fundamental "principle" to strive toward it could make it easier to fulfill expectations.

I also think it is unfortunate that people can not rely on other more defined mediums to reach their goals. I see how effective things at work go, whether it is development, support, marketing, etc... Having each of these groups aligned with a clear goal makes it really easy to say "Something does not feel good enough. Where do I turn to?" and then identify a group of people dedicated to giving a shit. There are few people in Footbag who give a shit enough to spend their non playing time to provide these tools.. And of the small amount that do, they would neither have the resources to execute what they are capable of, nor is the community organized enough to follow.

3.) My future in Footbag

Tied into the discussion of "location" above, a theoretical place I could go is Steve's in California. Footbag has many people trying to push and grow the sport, but I see a big lack in the infrastructure and organization component. A key factor in success is the continuous learning and continuous improvement, and I think that in order to keep this type of momentum one needs some form of infrastructure to support it. A saying Steve had at Worlds this year was "I've watched this movie before". When something went wrong or things weren't ideal, he could recite the last 4 Worlds where the exact same thing happened, and yet the problem persists. Things like "There was no water for the players". It is in the rule book, one has to sign off on it to host worlds.. Yet players could not actually get water to drink at the site. I also saw that movie before at 2008 worlds, with the same core tournament organization. There was nothing to enforce that continuous improvement.

Each year the host of worlds is given a recipe book for worlds, and some semi constant variables like a Steve or Wiktor who offer their help. At least in my time in Footbag, there was so little focus on continuous learning and improvement. Imagine if there was a group of people who truly gave a shit and were good at it, who could learn from mistakes and improve year after year. It is a shame having seen "This movie before" at this worlds in so many ways. Part of me wonders if it is partially due to a new group of people who are usually inexperienced doing worlds each year. Asmus for example did a great job and wrote a lot of what was learned from the Danes from their worlds, but... imagine if he did worlds again the next year. Instead of focusing on "how the fuck do I get a venue or water for players" it would already be figured out, and then he and the team could focus on "How do we get xxx or yyy"?

Of course this is unrealistic unless someone ponies up and actually does something.

So, should little Boy Jaychuk go to Steve's, absorb his powers and carry on the legacy and keep improving? If there was anyone who was a constant and who would have a lot to offer in terms of not repeating the same god damn movie, it would be Steve. I like Steve, he can tolerate me, and it would be a nice activity that is fucking hard, demanding and endless for me to sink my teeth into. The opposite of work, where everything is easy, and guaranteed.

Am I maybe kind of a dick, still young and delusional on how things work, and maybe not really in the greatest position to fill that role? Perhaps.... But I don't see any other willing contenders. The sport gave me a lot, and it is tempting to give back, even if I have little desire hurting myself to try and be the very best player there ever was. I still have the hunger.

Happy to hear your thoughts on this one too. Perhaps you could be one of the forces which persuades me into this. Which goes onto the next topic:

Next Goals:

I've determined that in some fashion I am eager to do something harder, riskier and more demanding than solely work for someone else. Working for other people is awesome, comfy, guaranteed, and will give me relatively guaranteed gains for some amount of time... So, perhaps I should abuse this luxury and focus on something like Footbag in the spare time which is difficult. Perhaps one day if I was good enough at it and things went well, Footbag may be able to sustain doing it full time.

Or perhaps I should move back to Canada, raise some chickens and blacksmith with Johnny in the confines of my family members.

I believe in the goal making process you can absorb variables for a while, consider options and look through a lens on what you truly want to accomplish and do. Obviously the first point of making a goal is a single point to decide you want one, and then the options grow from there. However, at some point the options fade away, and you close in on the goal you want. I'm at least over the 50% mark, and am actively trying to identify the real goal(s), and then eventually hone in on the thing to sink my time into. Feedback from others is vital for this with me, as it helps me see things from more angles, so your opinion in whatever form is valued.

Ciao fizzied.

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Jay Boychuk

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Re: Jay's Blog.

Post by boyle » 21 Aug 2016 15:31

Interesting post, lots of thoughts from giving it a read, so to break it down.

- interesting situation to be in with regards to your work. Sounds like you've been "climbing the ladder". Good job in cutting out that direct manager. I think sometimes the problem you anticipated -hey you need to respect the line of command" but if you can prove the point that they are not doing things the proper way, then the company can move that person out of the way of progress, that's good.

Seems like a good place to live at the moment. As for challenging yourself and starting something up - is there something that your company is not doing, which you think could be done? You seem to have risen up a bit in that company so have probably experienced a few different parts of the company. Even if they are a market leader, maybe there is something missing.

On Worlds, the level was quite low, that's what I thought from watching the live streams. The fire wasn't there for some players. I'm not sure if you were there in the "future of footbag" meeting, but a couple of comments from Evan just sounded like he is over it. You could also see that in his performance, particularly opening up the shred 30 with two drops.

On the BAP thread, I actually started writing up a post the other day looking at why each of the players since Berlin got in to BAP. In 2009 you had Nick Landes at USO (even though he was at Worlds anyway), Milan and Anssi go in. All of those players were kind of pushing new-ish areas in the game and have all had a string of strong results over the years since. Over the course of the following years, many of the players were just really demanding to be put in. There are some players now who are probably close, but they don't strike fear into other players (in general circle or in competition). They are also not hitting insane tricks generally, it is more a good level of consistent tricks, with lots of blurry whirls, spinning whirls, PS whirls, ducking/diving stuff.

Anyway, I don't see a positive in bringing the bar down, players need to jump over the bar, taking more risks and doing different things.

As for doing something for the sport. I don't think it's sustainable to do over a long term, because there is not the financial reward. However, for Portland, it is the first time in a long time (ever?) that a city has had a full two years of preparation for the event. So hopefully there will be water for the players.

If you were thinking of doing something along the lines of pushing the sport along, maybe you could just take some leave from your job (2-3 months, I imagine you get 3 or 4 weeks off per year anyway), head over to the Bay Area and get things rolling.

Let's say you give up your time from mid May - mid August, these are things that could be done

- oversee that Euros, USO and Worlds are run to expected conditions
- Make sure good players turn up (give some confidence that it's going to be worthwhile going)
- Get a good panel of judges (you could even be the head judge and source the pool of judges, making sure everything is up to scratch)
- Promote the events ahead of time (whether that's you or the local organising committee, there needs to be workshops in schools and that kind of thing)
- Assist the event organisers in getting funding for the events (whether it's grants or sponsorships or just a free meal from the local bakery, there are a lot of ways to bring down costs and have some kind of prizes)
- Get footbag in the news (like the one above, this seems to be a lower priority when it's a struggle just to get the venue going, get the players there, etc)
- Oversee the bid process for the following year (it would be good if that could be announced at Worlds)
- Review the organising process of each event and get feedback on what could be done better next year.

I imagine a position like that would meet your challenge/reward ratio quite well, with a successful campaign being that you have all of the best players in the world competing for some kind of reasonably significant prize pool with interest from the local media, then you can think, that was pretty good and go back to your mountain town getting ready for the following winter.

The sport could really do with someone in that position, even if it is just for a couple of months.

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Re: Jay's Blog.

Post by Kylescook » 23 Aug 2016 12:30

I don't have any original thoughts on your post, but I'd agree with pretty much all of what Daniel said.
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Re: Jay's Blog.

Post by Add Block » 24 Aug 2016 11:12

jay7 wrote:
I feel someone deserving of BAP is the following:

"Someone who can enter any circle filled with any combination of other BAP (or non BAP) players, and consistently make them fear that they could not reproduce what they are doing".
That's the best description of Nick Polini I've ever heard. Oh wait....
I hate bad form and I'm a hypocrite.

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Re: Jay's Blog.

Post by zulu » 24 Aug 2016 13:33

after learning how to raise this puppie you two should start raising some kiddies. there's nothing more challenging and rewarding :)

what about running your own bakery?

we should go for walk with our dogs sometime.
matthias thier

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Re: Jay's Blog.

Post by jay7 » 07 Jan 2017 02:29

Greetings once again, dear Modified, for it is a new year.

So, updates:

1.) Corporate BAP goals
While corporate BAP really only can be verified once a sufficient amount of wrinkles are gained, or hair is lost, I received as part of my yearly review many official honourable mentions from the elders in my company. Enjoyable raise, very large bonus, and very good meetings with multiple board members. From an anonymous company survey, apparently a few people wrote my name in for the question "Which employee is indispensable for the company's future success?". T'was a very good feeling overall, and honestly a bit overwhelming. Really high expectations for 2017, which I intend on crushing... But, it is admittedly a bit nerve shaking to know that performing really well is now my baseline, and to impress people at a similar level I need to get even better. I've started a few projects, and began releasing already in 2017, and I hope to accomplish a year worth praise/recognition once again.

2.) Living Situation
As I have been hoarding money like a dragon continuously, (don't own a couch... Or real bed... or even a desk chair... Mäcrö is the closest thing to me I could call a friend, and he is hours away and I never see him, etc...), and have been getting increasingly good amounts of money from my company. I did the math recently and realized I could extremely easily own a house. If I was aggressive, but did not change my lifestyle at all, I could pay off a house in my ideal size/location/etc in about 2 years... If I did something like a 10 year Mortgage, assuming I made no extra money, I could get two houses and just rent one out, etc. Comparing to paying a landlord, and given that interest rates in Germany are like 1%ish, it is crazy to not buy. I need to be realistic, but having done the math as a year end review, I'm quite excited to buy something and start investing in something. The question is now not really when, but where?

Ideas:

A.) Northern Italy: Well, Italy is warm, I could grow my own food, I could enjoy the lifestyle, etc. I've been learning Italian for a few months, and the language is not exactly Finnish... Given how many German tourists there are, I could also rent it out and have an advantage, etc. Biggest disadvantage is my Arctic Dog might not appreciate the summers, so I might buy in a mountain area or something to offset that. Houses and land are also crazy cheap, and since their economy is shit I could probably get an even better deal than normal... And since I work internationally, the terrible economy with German style income would be like cheating at life.

B.) Germany itself: The easiest option indeed. I know it, I speak it, and in 2 months I can apply for permanent residence. Unfortunately the houses in the mountains are expensive, so I'd have to head toward other pretty areas... Possibly the Rhein, Blackforest... something. The biggest issue I see, is that the conditions here are a-changing. More and more terrorist attacks, unprecedented immigration, etc, all build up to an uncertainty in how Germany will look in the future. It is not the highest risk, but it definitely comes to mind when thinking about investing large sums of money for a long term. Arguably this holds true for the majority of Europe at the moment, so I need to do some homework and prioritization.

C.) Finland, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland, etc:
These are all tier three options, and more unlikely... However, I love the nordics for obvious reasons, and especially thinking about future children that is an environment I would like them to grow up in. The other German speaking countries are also nice, and may be somewhat sheltered from the German changes I spoke of above. Switzerland is especially appealing because of the small and very diverse country with high standards, but obviously the hardest to accomplish. I see them as unlikely, but never the less am price shopping, and comparing such that I at least have a perspective on what I am missing out on should I choose Italy or Germany.

It is fun thinking about a house. Building another Sauna, buying the style of toilet I prefer, raising the kitchen counters to the height I want, crafting each room into a unique style (one room Italian, one room Finnish, one room German... whatever), all in all I think there would be a lot of cool opportunities if I actually owned a house. Having everything the way you like it and to own it just sounds great. I've researched and catalogued ideas for years and putting it to good use would be a great learning experience. My assumption as well, is that the more time I spend investing into one area, the more likely it is for me to make friends, etc, with the mindset of "I'm not leaving in 6 months".

Footbag:
Not to anyone's surprise, Footbag has not changed in my life. I never play, sometimes speak to old friends, and keep an eye out on things like the Joulukalenteri here and there. I am basically 100% not going to worlds in Portland, as most of my travel this year is going to be geared towards "where do I buy a house" type activities, and Portland is definitely burdensome-ly far away. That being said, it is still in my blood. I've been caught air-shredding while on business calls, I still dex my dog, and I still can't stand to buy a shoe which has an instep sloping the wrong direction, or has a toe box which would be impossible to work with.

I also still dream of Footbag regularly. Quite often I'll have a dream with Goldberg in it, and just last night, oddly enough, I dreamed Aleksi and Scarlette Johannson had a relationship which hit the news. I foresee some amount of Footbag involvement still to come, likely in some organisational capacity, but at the moment I'm still getting my life basics in order. Applying what I now know from work to Footbag would be nice, as theoretically I could make some positive changes.

Canada:
I went to Canada over the holidays. The last time Michelle went, in October, she had not been in 9 or so months. She was overwhelmed with family and fun, and was questioning our European settling. I knew Christmas would only be two months away, and worried it would also be unrealistically magical due to the Santa effect. Fortunately she came back and concluded that her last trip was more hype, and she is indeed happy we live, and have the life quality which Europe has to offer. This was the biggest motivation to consider buying a house. Me, personally... I am also quite happy to keep Canada in my back pocket, but not live there. Now when I visit, I am just constantly reminded why I fought so hard to get to Germany in the first place. The biggest mind changer I see here is the potential of having kids, since nothing can substitute having your entirely family helping and giving a shit, in comparison to being soul crushingly alone across and ocean... But having a bi, or trilingual kid and other European possibilities would be really awesome. We shall see.

Somewhat obligatory Dog picture:
Image

All in all, things are quite nice. I feel in control and in charge of my life, and am consciously deciding most steps along the way. I really feel like Footbag transformed and enabled me to be this way, and I still feel so privileged to have that.

Ciao Fizzied.
Jay Boychuk

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Re: Jay's Blog.

Post by boyle » 07 Jan 2017 03:03

Nice to seean update, sounds like you're really smashing things on the work front. Sounds like you are primed to get into the house market as well.

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Re: Jay's Blog.

Post by Tjuggles » 07 Jan 2017 15:36

Great post homie, glad to hear things are good. You have some really big plans in that post, and you have even gotten me excited for them.
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Re: Jay's Blog

Post by sidekick » 29 Mar 2017 23:17

I don't feel like we ever became super close, but I have to say you are one of the most inspirational footbag players of my time. I love all your videos, I really enjoyed hanging with you at the few tournaments we both attended, and I appreciate you updating your blog even though modified kinda went downhill. You will be missed in Portland this year, but I understand your position. Much love, keep us in your mind and we will always be there for you
Nick Landes

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