Ivan I's Footblog

Keep a diary of what you're hitting, what's frustrating you, and your goals.
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Re: Ivan I's Footblog

Post by C-Fan » 02 Jun 2015 19:10

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Thomas Eakins. Love his portraits mostly, but I wanted something outdoorsy for you. Hope you like it.

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Re: Ivan I's Footblog

Post by isirc10 » 03 Jun 2015 22:24

Enjoy that painting, for some reason the bridge in the background looks so nice surrounded by nature.

So I played with Nick today, drove over during my extended lunch break to play some hacky. Played for about two and a half hours. I wasn't terribly tired or hurting in the end, but was mentally exhausted from trying new links and tricks. Got a bunch of new stuff, didn't bother filming though. Old habits, oh well.

:arrow: Drifter x3
:arrow: Drifter > Blur BSOS
:arrow: Drifter > Blizzard BS
:arrow: Drifter > Ripwalk BSOS
:arrow: Drifter > Dyno BS
:arrow: Drifter > DDD BS
:arrow: Atomsmasher > Drifter
:arrow: PDX Drifter BS (first time on flip!)
:arrow: Paradon > Blur BS
:arrow: String w/ Paradon BS, Barfly BS
:arrow: DDD BSOS
:arrow: Drifter > Blurriest (first try, called YOLO before the attempt)
:arrow: Dyno > PDX Mirage > SS Butterfly rpt
:arrow: Dyno x3
:arrow: PDX Whirl BSOS
:arrow: Toe Whirl > Blur rpt

Yeah, so that was a lot of stuff. Most of it came surprisingly easily, within a few tries. Nick's tips were mostly spot on and helped accelerate the learning process. Drifters and whirls are starting to feel like mirages and legovers, which makes me happy. Learning dyno was also surprisingly easy, even though I always thought that was a difficult trick for someone who has (below?) average crank. I'm really excited to be hitting DDD now. Even though my left side hits a mental roadblock every now and then, I think I should be hitting Drifter > DDD by the end of the month. Have a lot of bag orders all of a sudden, including a 120 panel bag... sigh, it must be summer time. Good night.
Last edited by isirc10 on 05 Jun 2015 21:44, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Ivan I's Footblog

Post by krustykrakk » 04 Jun 2015 06:02

That's going to have to be the last time I catch up to your blog for a while. Reading about how you were swarmed by "winged assholes" put a shitty image in my head.
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Re: Ivan I's Footblog

Post by Kylescook » 05 Jun 2015 20:05

isirc10 wrote:Have a lot of bag orders all of a sudden, including a 120 panel bag... sigh, it must be summer time. Good night.
I couldn't imagine the frustrations that come from stitching that many panels. Dig all the drifter and Double down work you put in that last session.
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Re: Ivan I's Footblog

Post by isirc10 » 05 Jun 2015 21:59

Had a mini session after work today, didn't play for long, but was completely soaked with sweat. I've been drinking a lot of water during sessions lately, and it's really helped my recovery times and soreness the day after.

:arrow: Paradon > Barfly BS
:arrow: Footed flip Blurriest

You may be thinking that footing flip blurriest isn't really a big deal, but it will be my first flipside 5. It wasn't that hard to do, and I think once I hit it, I should be able to B2B it soon after. That was my last goal before I got injured last summer, and I think I'm way closer (and better at my basics) now then I was back then.

Oh, and halfway through the session I completely forgot how to DD and my knee started cracking when I hit dyno, so I gave up and hit tennis balls back to my sister (She was practicing her serve). After that 5 minute reset, things went back to normal. I went from thinking I couldn't drop a DD, to not being able to hit one in a matter of two-three attempts... Looks like I'll be putting in a nice solo session tomorrow at Wentz. I'll see if I can film something.
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Re: Ivan I's Footblog

Post by isirc10 » 10 Jun 2015 16:28

Had a pretty lethargic session after work today. My legs felt fine, but I just couldn't bring myself to focus on anything. I would just lose track of the bag midstring... I guess I'm really tired. Still, I hit a milestone in my game, and was really excited. I even jumped around a bit after I hit it!

:arrow: Barfly > Barfly
:arrow: Whip > Whirl BSOS
:arrow: Paradon > SS Pickup (13 contacts)

I haven't really been aiming for Barfly B2B much, but now that I hit the link, it seems like a big thing. Oh, I also learned how to hit Whip today. Other than that, it was an average session.

Work... so for those wondering, I got last year's internship extended to this summer, and it's an actual job now. I work for a small software startup (8 people) based in center city Philadelphia. We make calculation engines for life insurance policies. Seems pretty boring to the uninitiated, but the challenges are quite engaging, considering we are solving problems HUGE insurance corporations couldn't stomach. Our stuff is cutting edge, but we kinda have to present it as... blunt edge to the bigger guys because they are nervous and don't trust technology that wasn't developed prior to 1990. Still, our products kick ass and I'm proud to be a part of the team, even though it means devoting most of my week to the cause. Due to the small number of people on the team, everyone has to do a little bit of everything. I've been handling setting up the automated QA testing and the occasional graphics work for our UI, along with the standard coding duties. Java, CSS, SQL, XML... you name it, I'm working with it.

I'm totally stealing this pic because I haven't cared enough to take my own... but my building is the square one dead center of the picture. To the left you can see City Hall, and across the street is Love park, where I have lunch every day. In terms of location, it's pretty dope. I intend to play hacky there sometime soon...
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Re: Ivan I's Footblog

Post by C-Fan » 11 Jun 2015 06:23

Props on barfly x2. Very satisfying trick to b2b. Have you tried the other direction yet?

Also neat to hear you work in the heart of Philly. I love that town. So much good art and food. Seems like it'd be a cool place to live after undergrad.

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Re: Ivan I's Footblog

Post by isirc10 » 11 Jun 2015 17:41

Ken, I'm really getting spoiled by the food. It's everywhere. Food carts, Market St, so much variety at decent prices. Riding the train to/from work isn't so bad either as it gives me 30 minutes of solid reading time each way. If anyone has any good books to read, throw some suggestions to me. I'm a fan of sci fi and mystery, with a bit of psychology mixed in.

Anyway, I had a spur of the moment session today with Ryan. We were both tired and the humidity (around 85%) didn't do us any favors. Whirls were feeling effortless, DDs were average, and drifters were pretty tough. I focused on some drills with tiltless runs in between.

:arrow: Whip x2 BS
:arrow: Whirl x10 BS
:arrow: SS Butterfly x8 BS
:arrow: Toe Whirl > PDX Mirage (12 contacts)
:arrow: Whip > Dyno BS
:arrow: Symp Mirage > Atomsmasher rpt
:arrow: Butterfly > Symp SS Mirage (10 contacts)

Those last two drills were my favorite, considering symp tricks on my left foot still make me nervous. Looks like I'm making headway, physically and (more importantly) mentally. I also did some DDD work as well. Progress was made, but nothing incredible to report. Footed a sloppy flip blurriest, wasn't impressed. Work tomorrow, then kick with people on Saturday. See if I can still walk on Sunday.
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Re: Ivan I's Footblog

Post by isirc10 » 14 Jun 2015 09:00

Oh Sinsock... I mean Inspock... er, Spinstock (yeah, that's the one)

It was really sweet to check out a gathering of highly talented individuals doing freestyle stuff that didn't involve juggling or hacky sack. The event had many parallels to a footbag tournament, so it was pretty easy to fit in and feel welcomed. Nick, Ryan, Zach and I arrived there around 1:30 and kicked in the street for some time. Turns out that "some time" was 4.5 hours before we noticed we were all incredibly tired. After that, we went to check out the fire hooping and poi, and were invited to put on a quick demo with our fire hack. This was pretty spur of the moment and had a lot of drops (we didn't practice and could hardly kick due to fatigue) but people seemed to enjoy it.
I got some decent highlights:
:arrow: Dbl Pickup BSOS (from clipper)
:arrow: Dbl Pickup BS (from toe)
:arrow: Whirling set BS
:arrow: Played for the entire time without killing myself
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Re: Ivan I's Footblog

Post by isirc10 » 15 Jun 2015 21:36

Okay, that last highlight might have been a bit inaccurate...
I could hardly walk Sunday morning, and nearly fell off my bike when I went for a ride that afternoon. It's been over 15 years since I've fallen off my bike that clumsily...

So July 1st is two weeks away, and I've come to the realization that I'm just not gonna be able to make a video for the Worlds Video Contest. This makes me very sad. There are a lot of factors going into this - I have a concept I think can be made into something fun and unique, but I haven't been able to throw myself at it with enough inspiration to turn it into something worth doing (and overdoing). I've fully immersed myself in the challenges at work, and am really enjoying it (it's amazing when you enjoy working), but it has left me feeling pretty indifferent toward my video idea. I think I'll let it sit in the back of my head for a while longer and wait till I have the urge to make a video. Sorry Asmus and everyone else waiting for a video.

I also feel pretty bad about not being able to release a Ken video I've had in the works for the bigger part of... shit, like 4 months... mostly just waiting. I never expected the making of UYET to have such an effect on me, but I guess when you put your all into a project, it's common to burn out for a time afterward.

So it's a mostly negative post from me, but hey, if this is the worst crisis I'm experiencing in my life at the moment, I can't complain. At least I'm playing footbag for 6-10 hours a week. Oh, I'm also starting that 120 panel bag :twisted:
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Re: Ivan I's Footblog

Post by Lycanthrope » 15 Jun 2015 22:03

ripwalk with a fire hack seems like a real sack burning trick! :|

It seems that you have too many projects and too little time, Ivan. Have you thought of taking on an apprentice or delegating some tasks, perhaps?
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Re: Ivan I's Footblog

Post by isirc10 » 16 Jun 2015 05:30

This response brought to you by Septa rail, car 422, which apparently has a busted suspension coil resulting in horrible jerks and noises whenever the train accelerates (negative and positive acceleration, mind you).
Evan, the question you posed was a very straightforward one, and seemingly a simple one. I’ll try to answer just as concisely: Yes, I’ve thought about getting an apprentice, or just having a friend do some things for me. The real answer to that question is complicated – it’s had me thinking hard this entire morning.
There is a very long answer that I’ve typed up, but I’m not sure if I want to share it. I guess it comes down to the observation that I’m selfish and prefer to work alone. I feel bad saying that, but that’s only because that’s what we are taught in school – team work trumps individual effort.
Also, I don’t think anyone would want to be my “apprentice”. There is no money to be made. I can’t pay the person to do the menial tasks because I don’t have the money to fund the project in the first place. And the tasks that aren’t menial are the ones I want to do, because hell, these are all personal interests and hobbies and I get my satisfaction out of the journey as much as the destination. I micromanage the things I do to make sure the level of work is to my standard across the board. The devil’s in the details. On personal projects, I don’t want to be worrying if this part is being made to spec, if that hole is drilled within tolerances, if this panel is cut on the outside of the lines, ect.
I guess I just haven’t met anyone I’m comfortable enough with (yet) to let into my projects and personal interests. That’s why I’m making a CNC machine. That’s why I have scripts that automate my video editing process. Robots don’t screw up. Operators do.
All of this probably seems horrible and makes me seem like one of those grumpy old dudes living in the basement of their parents home. Obviously I’m not that way and enjoy interacting with people. I just don’t think I’ve found someone willing to be a partner in creative crime who matches my eclectic work habits. Then again, I probably haven’t looked hard enough.
So yes, I’ve though about teaming up, but at the same time I haven’t put much effort into reaching out and finding that person. Good question Evan. I’m actually still a little bit unsettled by some of the thoughts it brought up, and some of the missed opportunities in the past.
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Re: Ivan I's Footblog

Post by isirc10 » 19 Jun 2015 18:23

Had a pretty shitty session today, but I'm okay with that, it was a long string of really fun sessions before this. Legs didn't feel great, groin felt like it was slightly pulled (doing what, I don't know). I practiced spins, ducks, and osis. Nothing notable, but I figure I'd still post. Serves as a good reminder that not every session will be the best session of your life, and that it's okay to suck every once in a while. Just don't make it a habit :)

Driving to a new place tomorrow to play with Zach Hoffa and possibly Nathan B. If I still suck, at least I'll have people to watch.
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Re: Ivan I's Footblog

Post by Add Block » 20 Jun 2015 00:16

There's usually an awesome session right after one where you just quit half way through. That's how you deal with them, just look forward to the next session that you know will be awesome 8)
I hate bad form and I'm a hypocrite.

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Re: Ivan I's Footblog

Post by isirc10 » 22 Jun 2015 17:19

That's pretty true. I had 3 pretty crappy sessions in a row, today I finally had a nice one. Since the start of the summer, I've been increasing my session length to kick longer and build up stamina, and at this point my body is pretty unhappy with that. Time to scale back a bit and just kick more often. Playing through some minor shin splints in my left leg (not a huge concern, I've slayed that beast before and don't mind doing it again) and a tweak in my left groin (doesn't like poor attempts at pdx whirls and sloppy barflies it seems).

Played with Ryan for an hour and a half today, had fun. Held on to stalls for a split second longer, raised my knees higher, landed cleaner. That's really all it takes to go from hating footbag to enjoying it.
:arrow: Osis > Whirl (14 contacts)
:arrow: 6 spinning toes in a run (from clipper)
:arrow: Diving clipper BSOS (started doing them a lot cleaner with a better set)
:arrow: Infinity > SS Butter (26 contacts)
:arrow: Sidewalk > Infinity RPT
:arrow: Progress made on flip pixie and blurriest. No discernible progress with flip quantum, but I'm content with what I got.

For those of you who haven't been to Philly, this is where I eat lunch every day.. pretty girls and selfie sticks galore:
Image

And this is across the street from where I work. Pretty ballin. I just have to figure out how to kick there and not make people pass out from my stench on the train ride home...
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Re: Ivan I's Footblog

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic » 23 Jun 2015 07:39

The one thing that caught my eye was 14 contacts of Osis> Whirl drill. When I read that, I thought, "oof, he's getting good".

My back is getting better, so I'm hoping we can kick by the end of this week.

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Re: Ivan I's Footblog

Post by isirc10 » 24 Jun 2015 17:41

Was in the office today, which is unusual considering Wednesdays are when I work from home. We got two new clients at work this week, one small company and a huge player in the life insurance business. Looks like we'll be reworking the infrastructure of our main product to be able to handle millions of requests per minute. This is exciting because we're gonna be making bank, and I get to learn more stuff.

Decent session number 2. Ryan got Whirl BSOS I believe, which is massive. I continued my run of improving form on whirls, drifters and butterflies and it has been paying off.
:arrow: Toe Whirl > PDX Mirage RPT (12 contacts)
:arrow: Toe Whirl > PDX Illusion RPT ( 8 contacts)
:arrow: Footed reactor, like 8 times :evil:
:arrow: Whirl > Ripwalk RPT (5 contacts)
:arrow: Blur > SS Butterfly > Blizzard > Butterfly RPT
:arrow: Toe SS Drifter > PDX Illusion RPT
:arrow: Midstring Whips BSOS, like I'm Ben Babyak
:arrow: Spinning Mirage BS
:arrow: Spinning Clipper BS
:arrow: Fusion. Looked easy. Felt easy.

The past few sessions have been solid, mostly because I've started cutting some of the sloppiness out of my BOPs and basic tricks. Much of this is mental, as I started coming back into the game before I was 100% physically and mentally, but now I'm starting to dex whirls with authority and I'm finally landing on my toes. That was one of the things that I really enjoyed about my game before I got injured, was how quiet I could be during runs and that kinda slipped a bit in the past year. Still, it's coming back and I'm remembering how awesome the feeling is.

In other news, I've been on a trance music binge the past week. A lot of people don't really care for it, and I understand that it's pretty simple music (lyrically, structurally, ect) but I enjoy it. A lot of it is probably attributed to nostalgia, as I listened to it a lot in middle school. Off to shower and then eat things. All the things.
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Re: Ivan I's Footblog

Post by Add Block » 25 Jun 2015 00:28

isirc10 wrote: :arrow: Blur > SS Butterfly > Blizzard > Butterfly RPT
I'll give you an upgraded version, my goal every session is to hit it twice in a row
:arrow: Butterfly > Ripwalk > Blur > SS Butterfly > Ripwalk > Blur > Repeat x2 (24 contacts)

Not a big fan of Ripwalks, so I might actually copy your version :)

Good highlights, I thought Reactor would be easier than Fusion, I'm guessing your Paradons must be really good
I hate bad form and I'm a hypocrite.

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Re: Ivan I's Footblog

Post by isirc10 » 25 Jun 2015 04:46

Thanks for the drill, Vojta. Definitely something to aim for.

Whirls are relatively new, I've only started feeling comfortable with them in the past month. Paradons have been in my game for about a year. I've also been going for blurriest and fusion as "reward tricks" at the end of sessions (where I'll throw in 3-6 attempts at them because they just feel cool) while blurry whirl and reactor have only recently become accessible.

Thanks for the post, I enjoy having people write stuff in here. That way it feels less like I'm just one sweaty dude jumping around alone on a basketball court :)
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Re: Ivan I's Footblog

Post by Kylescook » 26 Jun 2015 08:14

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic wrote:The one thing that caught my eye was 14 contacts of Osis> Whirl drill. When I read that, I thought, "oof, he's getting good".
I'm several posts behind but that one caught my eye too. Such a fun drill.
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