Olav
hmm, that's a good question. there's a wide range of interpretaitions, basically blue symbolizies sky, sea or water in general, cleanliness and is often asociated with high technology or communication. might also be a color of inspiration and broadening our perspectives, and that suits to my current state best. of course, you can think 'bout 1000 more stupid meanings of it and unless u come out with some oranges, sun, grass, love or fire kinda things, it'd be hard to objectively deny it.
note: my avatar is not just BLUE... it's steel blue or air force blue washed-out a bit maybe. anyway, it's closer to modified's coloring, slightly stands out, but definitely not contrasts
as for something that should be simplified, a monocolor is not a bad idea when it comes to such complicated photos as human faces. it also gives you the possibility of changes without changing the picture itself, just modifying it's properties. after the break I thought it's not exactly the same me, and who knows if the avatar won't change its color somewhere soon... playing footbag again gives me some kind of stability but also concentration on every minute of my life, finally I learn how to reconcile all those things I do. but in the meanwhile I should make a green n red xmas one hehe.
***
decided to divide the architectural post into few shorter parts. part one. lets begin from an example from yesterday: I was walking with Rozo after the swimming pool passing by a newly build shopping centre and I started fussing over its form when he broke in saying "for me it's just a building, I don't understand too much of what you're saying". common attitude, I have nothing against it. but I thought it's not a bad idea to explain what actually is ARCHITECTURE.
going to an architectural faculty, I had no idea what it will be like. doubtfull that I knew much more than Rozo now. with time I learned it's not just about a building as a structure, where people live, study, work or do shopping... it's also something beyond that, but still has its bounds. at the 11th international architecture exhibition in Venice titled Out There: Architecture Beyond Building this year, its director Aaron Betsky tried to prove that architecture has nothing to do with buildings inself... can you imagine that music has nothing to do with sounds? props if so, although I can imagine what was his intention, one of the awards went to the worst work there was. anyway there were some really good points as well, showing that the reality is often totally diferent that the architect's idea and the building becomes something else than it was ment to (go HEEERE to see what I mean).
so of course, it is about buildings, its structure, form, function and all that, but in fact those issues are so wide, it is about everything around us, all processes, needs or a group of people, landscape with its context, requirements of particular times and places, culture, purse, environment and ecology, local history, construction law, mathematics, geometry, mechanics, engineering, physiology, acoustics, psychology, sociology and a lot of other things, it's even the way we speak 'bout the space around us. an architect has to think about everyhing and beside some obvious skills needs tremendous knowledge. of course I wouldn't say that every architect is a genius, as well as I wouldn't say that every building is notable. all this terrible architecture around makes me want to learn as much as I can.
lets say you wanna build just a simple house for a particular family. of course, as an investors they have some habits, interests, requirements, expectaitions n imaginations but usually know nothing about living in a different place than they're used to, about designing or even good taste and practical issues. so you have a lot with its shape, orientation, access road, topographical feature, exposition (umm, maybe that's a wrong word, I ment lighting), landscape, perhaps some history related, other buildings around (urban context) or place management (this one is a killer, you've got an imposed roof type, house height, area... and investors get around it making bigger buildings with mansard roofs and monotonous elevations cuz of economical advantages olny). all the things you've gotta consider before designing anything... and I still said nothing 'bout construction (that's connected with economy n ecology...), interior planning, materials and textures, furnishing, lighting, construction installation, landscape and garden architecture...
hope that gives some picture how complex architecture is, so even those who seeing a building don't have to know more than just a simple fact that it exists, will know its value.
wanted to post some pics today, but I have to wake up early tomorrow and it'd take too much time preparing them, will do that tomorrow.
***
oh yes, as I promised the old lady story, it's not that emotional anymore, whatever. basically there was this old lady, around 70 or 75 (but could be even 80 idk) and she started smoking a cigarette. inside a bus shelter full of people during the rain. enough to get me, to put it mildly, angry. especially, that an old man sitting next to her couldn't resist and went out to stand on the rain. that's when I finally made up my mind and gently explained her what does "respect" mean to me and how important this word is, living in a society... but she just snaped at me "yea, in a minute" and smoked till the bus arrived, sad.
it's not the first situation like this, but most of the time people disrespect me, and in all cases it's about old people. teenagers smoking among other people is a rare picture according to my observation, they rather walk away. considering the statistics, it should be just the other way about... but statistics say about number, not quality. I believe elderly people don't change, verify their point of view that easly. example from yesterday: when my friend's grandma heard she's going to see me and the others in the evening said "so you are not going to the church... your friend are more important for you that god, eh? but remember they won't help you like god would!". like I said once, please, ALWAYS KEEP YOUR MIND OPEN.
ps (torque). for all those "fascinated by the philosophy of the purest form of cycling" - check this out!
note: my avatar is not just BLUE... it's steel blue or air force blue washed-out a bit maybe. anyway, it's closer to modified's coloring, slightly stands out, but definitely not contrasts
as for something that should be simplified, a monocolor is not a bad idea when it comes to such complicated photos as human faces. it also gives you the possibility of changes without changing the picture itself, just modifying it's properties. after the break I thought it's not exactly the same me, and who knows if the avatar won't change its color somewhere soon... playing footbag again gives me some kind of stability but also concentration on every minute of my life, finally I learn how to reconcile all those things I do. but in the meanwhile I should make a green n red xmas one hehe.
***
decided to divide the architectural post into few shorter parts. part one. lets begin from an example from yesterday: I was walking with Rozo after the swimming pool passing by a newly build shopping centre and I started fussing over its form when he broke in saying "for me it's just a building, I don't understand too much of what you're saying". common attitude, I have nothing against it. but I thought it's not a bad idea to explain what actually is ARCHITECTURE.
going to an architectural faculty, I had no idea what it will be like. doubtfull that I knew much more than Rozo now. with time I learned it's not just about a building as a structure, where people live, study, work or do shopping... it's also something beyond that, but still has its bounds. at the 11th international architecture exhibition in Venice titled Out There: Architecture Beyond Building this year, its director Aaron Betsky tried to prove that architecture has nothing to do with buildings inself... can you imagine that music has nothing to do with sounds? props if so, although I can imagine what was his intention, one of the awards went to the worst work there was. anyway there were some really good points as well, showing that the reality is often totally diferent that the architect's idea and the building becomes something else than it was ment to (go HEEERE to see what I mean).
so of course, it is about buildings, its structure, form, function and all that, but in fact those issues are so wide, it is about everything around us, all processes, needs or a group of people, landscape with its context, requirements of particular times and places, culture, purse, environment and ecology, local history, construction law, mathematics, geometry, mechanics, engineering, physiology, acoustics, psychology, sociology and a lot of other things, it's even the way we speak 'bout the space around us. an architect has to think about everyhing and beside some obvious skills needs tremendous knowledge. of course I wouldn't say that every architect is a genius, as well as I wouldn't say that every building is notable. all this terrible architecture around makes me want to learn as much as I can.
lets say you wanna build just a simple house for a particular family. of course, as an investors they have some habits, interests, requirements, expectaitions n imaginations but usually know nothing about living in a different place than they're used to, about designing or even good taste and practical issues. so you have a lot with its shape, orientation, access road, topographical feature, exposition (umm, maybe that's a wrong word, I ment lighting), landscape, perhaps some history related, other buildings around (urban context) or place management (this one is a killer, you've got an imposed roof type, house height, area... and investors get around it making bigger buildings with mansard roofs and monotonous elevations cuz of economical advantages olny). all the things you've gotta consider before designing anything... and I still said nothing 'bout construction (that's connected with economy n ecology...), interior planning, materials and textures, furnishing, lighting, construction installation, landscape and garden architecture...
hope that gives some picture how complex architecture is, so even those who seeing a building don't have to know more than just a simple fact that it exists, will know its value.
wanted to post some pics today, but I have to wake up early tomorrow and it'd take too much time preparing them, will do that tomorrow.
***
oh yes, as I promised the old lady story, it's not that emotional anymore, whatever. basically there was this old lady, around 70 or 75 (but could be even 80 idk) and she started smoking a cigarette. inside a bus shelter full of people during the rain. enough to get me, to put it mildly, angry. especially, that an old man sitting next to her couldn't resist and went out to stand on the rain. that's when I finally made up my mind and gently explained her what does "respect" mean to me and how important this word is, living in a society... but she just snaped at me "yea, in a minute" and smoked till the bus arrived, sad.
it's not the first situation like this, but most of the time people disrespect me, and in all cases it's about old people. teenagers smoking among other people is a rare picture according to my observation, they rather walk away. considering the statistics, it should be just the other way about... but statistics say about number, not quality. I believe elderly people don't change, verify their point of view that easly. example from yesterday: when my friend's grandma heard she's going to see me and the others in the evening said "so you are not going to the church... your friend are more important for you that god, eh? but remember they won't help you like god would!". like I said once, please, ALWAYS KEEP YOUR MIND OPEN.
ps (torque). for all those "fascinated by the philosophy of the purest form of cycling" - check this out!
Olaf Piwowar, My Footblog
Nice post, Olav.
My sister and brother-in-law are both architects. I am also actively interested in architecture as well, though I stick to visual art and (architectual?) music. So, I can appreciate much of what you post regarding the subject.
I can also say that my first A+ at my University was in a history of architecture class. My mind opened up to a slew of new possibilities afterwards. I ended up receiving more A+'s afterwards, as it seems I developed a heightened appreciation for the number of levels of consideration things we generally take for granted can warrant.
I think it's important that people realize that before anyone took the time to create anything that could last any real amount of time, there was just nature. Nature in the form of an ominous tide. It has been essential through the evolution of civilization that we expanded our creations from basic shelter to monuments. Now we have site-specific, engineered polymers.
Architects need to know a considerable amount in order to carry out anything worthwhile. It's a good thing that you are able to use your time so effectively. You genuinely seem like a natural.
My sister and brother-in-law are both architects. I am also actively interested in architecture as well, though I stick to visual art and (architectual?) music. So, I can appreciate much of what you post regarding the subject.
I can also say that my first A+ at my University was in a history of architecture class. My mind opened up to a slew of new possibilities afterwards. I ended up receiving more A+'s afterwards, as it seems I developed a heightened appreciation for the number of levels of consideration things we generally take for granted can warrant.
I think it's important that people realize that before anyone took the time to create anything that could last any real amount of time, there was just nature. Nature in the form of an ominous tide. It has been essential through the evolution of civilization that we expanded our creations from basic shelter to monuments. Now we have site-specific, engineered polymers.
Architects need to know a considerable amount in order to carry out anything worthwhile. It's a good thing that you are able to use your time so effectively. You genuinely seem like a natural.
happy new year modifriends. I don't believe numbers mean too much but I'm sure 2009 will be great!
was supposed to post some pictures on the 24th, but failed as usual. it's coz I didn't expect to work on my projects over 8-10h everyday (including xmass! that makes me proud of myself, even if most ppl will see that anomalous, or just stupid) and that made the pictures outdated. feeling guilty and justified at the same time, I'm posting them today!
you probably expected some drawings, eh? I haven't drawn in ages, at least any full sized, decent pencil works. these days we're making sculptures (clay), sadly I neither have their pics, will try to get some though. for now I can only post some renderings showing my latest projects...
at first, architectural engineering (hmm, so far I thought it's called civil engineering... but 've checked that on wikipedia and dunno, gotta think bout it. civil is more general I guess and that's more what we have since it's even called 'budownictwo ogólne' which is literally building enginee... rather "general 'buildineering'", whatever). so this semester we're workin' on a traditional wooden... (psssh, if anyone knows the english word for "więźba", I'm curious... btw, dear polish readers, who actually knows wtf is "więźba dachowa"? hmm, trusswork?) lets say, roofing structure.
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/fa.jpg[/img]
here you have a house I've chosen (one of the most complicated cos I wanted to make its maquette)...
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/fb.jpg[/img]
our task was to design its roofing structure.
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/fc.jpg[/img]
(from the other side)
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/fd.jpg[/img]
yesterday I started making the maquette, first phase took me less than 2 hours.
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/fe.jpg[/img]
(next step; posts and beams)
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/ff.jpg[/img]
that's how it looks today. nothing special but since I don't have any new ones (and the best ones were took) I decided to put some drawings underneath
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/fg.jpg[/img]
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/fh.jpg[/img]
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/fj.jpg[/img]
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/fi.jpg[/img]
the last four are my architectural design project's renderings. will describe it next time
***
for a change, time for some footbag advices.
how many of you thought of sounds as a key for upgrading your game? sounds, as well as many other issues form the whole structure, act of playing footbag. some time ago I heard a story about Lon evaluating tricks from their sounds only, hilarious isn't it? that's what I thought but now it make so much sense to me (even if that was just a joke)! delays n landings are an example of soundless action, at least that's how it should be. and butterflies, whirls, spinnings, all tricks have their rythm... it's a huge shortcut when you narrow tips down to a simple feeling which isn't even verbally described
lately 've been working on delays and spinnings again and I'm self-satisfied. you'll see the results on a video somewhere in the future I believe, so it'd be pointless to leave any description, but I thought it's not a bad idea to write down some obs. actually I'm writing them down on a peace of paper every time I come up with sth, while I'm playing... in english of course hehe. here's what I wrote today as a spinning set simplified description "spinnings (#gyro): soundless delay > sharp (big apple) spin (upper body fixed, arms close) ending in a 'pdx prepared position' (still uptime! time for preparations, balance etc.) > (midtime) start component (ended with a soundless delay)". first of all spinning pdx is totally different than gyro, especially arms make the difference. set is sharp and straight, spinning starts while you put your setting leg down, upperbody fixed. spinning ends in a correct possition, around 360 when the set at the beginning was straight (today after 15 spin clips each side I had even more than 15*360, but the old habits appears sometimes on one side higher add midrun spinning tricks, will fix that soon), so after the spinning u should see how the bag slows down, that's the time you cannot miss.
yeah, just wanted to post those pictures
was supposed to post some pictures on the 24th, but failed as usual. it's coz I didn't expect to work on my projects over 8-10h everyday (including xmass! that makes me proud of myself, even if most ppl will see that anomalous, or just stupid) and that made the pictures outdated. feeling guilty and justified at the same time, I'm posting them today!
you probably expected some drawings, eh? I haven't drawn in ages, at least any full sized, decent pencil works. these days we're making sculptures (clay), sadly I neither have their pics, will try to get some though. for now I can only post some renderings showing my latest projects...
at first, architectural engineering (hmm, so far I thought it's called civil engineering... but 've checked that on wikipedia and dunno, gotta think bout it. civil is more general I guess and that's more what we have since it's even called 'budownictwo ogólne' which is literally building enginee... rather "general 'buildineering'", whatever). so this semester we're workin' on a traditional wooden... (psssh, if anyone knows the english word for "więźba", I'm curious... btw, dear polish readers, who actually knows wtf is "więźba dachowa"? hmm, trusswork?) lets say, roofing structure.
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/fa.jpg[/img]
here you have a house I've chosen (one of the most complicated cos I wanted to make its maquette)...
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/fb.jpg[/img]
our task was to design its roofing structure.
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/fc.jpg[/img]
(from the other side)
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/fd.jpg[/img]
yesterday I started making the maquette, first phase took me less than 2 hours.
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/fe.jpg[/img]
(next step; posts and beams)
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/ff.jpg[/img]
that's how it looks today. nothing special but since I don't have any new ones (and the best ones were took) I decided to put some drawings underneath
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/fg.jpg[/img]
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/fh.jpg[/img]
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/fj.jpg[/img]
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/fi.jpg[/img]
the last four are my architectural design project's renderings. will describe it next time
***
for a change, time for some footbag advices.
how many of you thought of sounds as a key for upgrading your game? sounds, as well as many other issues form the whole structure, act of playing footbag. some time ago I heard a story about Lon evaluating tricks from their sounds only, hilarious isn't it? that's what I thought but now it make so much sense to me (even if that was just a joke)! delays n landings are an example of soundless action, at least that's how it should be. and butterflies, whirls, spinnings, all tricks have their rythm... it's a huge shortcut when you narrow tips down to a simple feeling which isn't even verbally described
lately 've been working on delays and spinnings again and I'm self-satisfied. you'll see the results on a video somewhere in the future I believe, so it'd be pointless to leave any description, but I thought it's not a bad idea to write down some obs. actually I'm writing them down on a peace of paper every time I come up with sth, while I'm playing... in english of course hehe. here's what I wrote today as a spinning set simplified description "spinnings (#gyro): soundless delay > sharp (big apple) spin (upper body fixed, arms close) ending in a 'pdx prepared position' (still uptime! time for preparations, balance etc.) > (midtime) start component (ended with a soundless delay)". first of all spinning pdx is totally different than gyro, especially arms make the difference. set is sharp and straight, spinning starts while you put your setting leg down, upperbody fixed. spinning ends in a correct possition, around 360 when the set at the beginning was straight (today after 15 spin clips each side I had even more than 15*360, but the old habits appears sometimes on one side higher add midrun spinning tricks, will fix that soon), so after the spinning u should see how the bag slows down, that's the time you cannot miss.
yeah, just wanted to post those pictures
Olaf Piwowar, My Footblog
some time ago I was thinking about different sleeping techniques, having 15 minutes naps every 2-3 hours. thanks to my beloved architecture faculty I had the opportunity to try out even more radical technique - sleeping 40 minutes on every 40 hours. and after the first phase I wasn't even sleepy! interesting experience
k, end of this sarcasm, speaking about my studies, I've finished all my projects and passed all my exams. and working systematicly thru all this (3rd) semester, I didn't have any problems with it. nevertheless, the last days were terribly upsetting, thanks to our lecturers, which decided to piss us off completely. idiots using their authority against students can be really annoying! have never experienced disrespect that much.
now I have nearly a 2 weeks period of eating, sleeping and training hard.
* * *
at least I can see the results of my work, so it reminds me how much satisfaction it brought me. the roofing structure was not a big deal, but model making was really fun - here you can see the final results. sorry for the bad quality.
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/DSC02575.jpg[/img]
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/DSC02578.jpg[/img]
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/DSC02579.jpg[/img]
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/DSC02580.jpg[/img]
and two from last year I've just found...
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/mA.jpg[/img]
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/mB.jpg[/img]
and cherry on the top...
[url=http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/d1.JPG][img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/e1.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/d2.JPG][img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/e2.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/d3.JPG][img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/e3.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/d4.JPG][img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/e4.jpg[/img][/url]
(click on a photo to enlarge)
something I'm really proud of, for two reasons. first, it took me lots of time and dedication, at the same time being a great source of knowledge, experience, ideas... second is that I didn't get the highest note for it. why? because I've chosen an extremely rare, risky but ambitious graphic method (but it also refers to the modern architecture of my project). as contrasted with several other architects who loved it, the old dinosaur, head of department didn't like it. he likes only the most typical solutionsas befits an old architect who thinks he's a genious. I'm proud of myself for NOT being his slave like most students!
* * *
if you haven't heard already, Wroclaw University of Technology wants me to lead a hacky sack/footbag courses. they organize sport activities for 40 000 students each semester (8000 obligatory) in over 60 disciplines, having over 50 trainers. most likely I'll be one of them. was supposed to be paid, but the first semester we'll just try it out and see how many interest we get, it's totally impredictable.
moreover, I got the highest sport scholarship for my championship. it's not only about cash, but the trust and appreciation my university gave me. note: footbag is not a sport in my country, and most people don't see the difference and incorrectly recognize it as "zośka".
north americans will probably understand it better, since hacky sack stereotypes affect the image of freestyle footbag being presented to a non footbag audience. less than a week ago my explanaition of footbag has met with an upsetting response of a girl my age sayin "eeeh, nothing ambitious!", which is a typical reaction that drives me crazy. would you compare Need For Speed game with real F1? I believe it's really THIS kind of difference. comparing a simple game, safe and available for everyone to a serious sport/work that requires thousand hours of trainings, full dedication, talent, strenght, stamina, knowledge, strong mindset, luck... REAL PASSION. I feel sorry for all those who don't know what am I writing about, but they would never read my blog anyway.
you can call me a dreamer, but I'm strongly willing to inspire people, maybe even build up their passions?
* * *
instead of writing more usefull tips, wanna make a response to the least usefull thread here (have you ever wondered "in how many years will a 6 dex move will be hit??"). I sign up under Andrew's note and his opinion that a physical possibility implicates real possibility. although the question of WHEN is totally useless, and first we'd have to ask WHY, I believe it's a good question to ask HOW. same way as some current basis were considered impossible even a few years back, we can expect the sport to evolve to a level we cannot even imagine right now.
for an example lets focus on the beginners. the level of the best players from 1990s is reached after a couple of months +/- by an average player. in the next years I'm sure more players will start using programs to train more seriously, playing shuffle using quads in it should be a matter of playing 2 years. such a player will be closer than we after over 10 years of playing. and I'm only talking about some near future! imagine 30, 50 years and further... humans physical possibilities are far beyond our imagination.
* * *
olav's footbag news: I'm having the toughest footbag trainings ever, but my stamina still sucks. might not be ready for big shredding for todexon, but I don't care. last year I realized it's a huuuge footbag meeting/party rather than a serious competition, which is still great. especially considering oversea guests, this year JM, again. I'm so happy.
planning a big surprise to y'all b4 the mentioned competition, and even though I might not make it, it's my number one priority. that said, please don't beg me for a new video. it's a different story, but lately I've bought a new cam, veeery simple one. it's for footbag use and I want to have it always with me.
peace out
k, end of this sarcasm, speaking about my studies, I've finished all my projects and passed all my exams. and working systematicly thru all this (3rd) semester, I didn't have any problems with it. nevertheless, the last days were terribly upsetting, thanks to our lecturers, which decided to piss us off completely. idiots using their authority against students can be really annoying! have never experienced disrespect that much.
now I have nearly a 2 weeks period of eating, sleeping and training hard.
* * *
at least I can see the results of my work, so it reminds me how much satisfaction it brought me. the roofing structure was not a big deal, but model making was really fun - here you can see the final results. sorry for the bad quality.
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/DSC02575.jpg[/img]
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/DSC02578.jpg[/img]
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/DSC02579.jpg[/img]
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/DSC02580.jpg[/img]
and two from last year I've just found...
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/mA.jpg[/img]
[img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/mB.jpg[/img]
and cherry on the top...
[url=http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/d1.JPG][img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/e1.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/d2.JPG][img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/e2.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/d3.JPG][img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/e3.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/d4.JPG][img]http://olaf_piwowar.w.interii.pl/e4.jpg[/img][/url]
(click on a photo to enlarge)
something I'm really proud of, for two reasons. first, it took me lots of time and dedication, at the same time being a great source of knowledge, experience, ideas... second is that I didn't get the highest note for it. why? because I've chosen an extremely rare, risky but ambitious graphic method (but it also refers to the modern architecture of my project). as contrasted with several other architects who loved it, the old dinosaur, head of department didn't like it. he likes only the most typical solutionsas befits an old architect who thinks he's a genious. I'm proud of myself for NOT being his slave like most students!
* * *
if you haven't heard already, Wroclaw University of Technology wants me to lead a hacky sack/footbag courses. they organize sport activities for 40 000 students each semester (8000 obligatory) in over 60 disciplines, having over 50 trainers. most likely I'll be one of them. was supposed to be paid, but the first semester we'll just try it out and see how many interest we get, it's totally impredictable.
moreover, I got the highest sport scholarship for my championship. it's not only about cash, but the trust and appreciation my university gave me. note: footbag is not a sport in my country, and most people don't see the difference and incorrectly recognize it as "zośka".
north americans will probably understand it better, since hacky sack stereotypes affect the image of freestyle footbag being presented to a non footbag audience. less than a week ago my explanaition of footbag has met with an upsetting response of a girl my age sayin "eeeh, nothing ambitious!", which is a typical reaction that drives me crazy. would you compare Need For Speed game with real F1? I believe it's really THIS kind of difference. comparing a simple game, safe and available for everyone to a serious sport/work that requires thousand hours of trainings, full dedication, talent, strenght, stamina, knowledge, strong mindset, luck... REAL PASSION. I feel sorry for all those who don't know what am I writing about, but they would never read my blog anyway.
you can call me a dreamer, but I'm strongly willing to inspire people, maybe even build up their passions?
* * *
instead of writing more usefull tips, wanna make a response to the least usefull thread here (have you ever wondered "in how many years will a 6 dex move will be hit??"). I sign up under Andrew's note and his opinion that a physical possibility implicates real possibility. although the question of WHEN is totally useless, and first we'd have to ask WHY, I believe it's a good question to ask HOW. same way as some current basis were considered impossible even a few years back, we can expect the sport to evolve to a level we cannot even imagine right now.
for an example lets focus on the beginners. the level of the best players from 1990s is reached after a couple of months +/- by an average player. in the next years I'm sure more players will start using programs to train more seriously, playing shuffle using quads in it should be a matter of playing 2 years. such a player will be closer than we after over 10 years of playing. and I'm only talking about some near future! imagine 30, 50 years and further... humans physical possibilities are far beyond our imagination.
* * *
olav's footbag news: I'm having the toughest footbag trainings ever, but my stamina still sucks. might not be ready for big shredding for todexon, but I don't care. last year I realized it's a huuuge footbag meeting/party rather than a serious competition, which is still great. especially considering oversea guests, this year JM, again. I'm so happy.
planning a big surprise to y'all b4 the mentioned competition, and even though I might not make it, it's my number one priority. that said, please don't beg me for a new video. it's a different story, but lately I've bought a new cam, veeery simple one. it's for footbag use and I want to have it always with me.
peace out
Olaf Piwowar, My Footblog
I'm unreliable.
reffering to my note about time management, many people thought it's a stupid theory nobody would ever follow, simply because humans ain't robots. perhaps I'm not entirely a human, but after a few more months I can assure you IT WORKS. not gonna say it's a peace of cake though, sometimes also wondering if it's really worth the struggle.
reminding once again the main idea of my time management strategy, is to simply never laze around, give all your energy into an effectivily done job, whatever it is, and at the same time reserve enough time for a rest, regeneration. really that simple, but imagine you're obligated to keep it this way for a few months without break. now here's what I found hard to deal with:
having the same amount of time, I'm planning 3x more than usual and complete 2/3 of it. although I still manage to do twice as many tasks as I would normally, there's one I fail. it's a bit depressing at the beginning, but humans easly adapt to such situation, especially having an excuse such as other priorities.
the truth is, footbag is not my only passion, but there's only one stronger and it's architecture. I believe it's stronger also cuz it's my future. I've gotta be the best if I wanna do what I like for an occupation. it's my priority. but it's also something I love. very often I've got ambitious plans for footbag that take me muuuuch much longer than intended. sometimes I fail. was working on a new difficulty rating system, built a base and... changed priorities. same with the video I mentioned. it became 'the 3rd task' - the one I fail (at least at this time).
just wanted to say it's not that I don't care or sth. also hope my 'unreliability' won't make my words shallow. life is just too short, we have to make choices even if we don't want to. if I only could fulfill myself in every aspect that's importnat to me... ahh
* * *
few pages back David wrote me that
last month I decided to take training programs more seriously and had some promising results. mostly working with Fairy, Atomic and Nuclear sets. first few days I was trying to set some good records, what took me a lot of tries. every next day I needed less and less tries to come close or even beat the previous records. I guess it was when I wrote my last post... after 10 days of probably my toughest footbag trainings ever I suffered from shin splints and could hardly stand even a short session. so at the end I had very short sessions in comparsion to the first ones, I was drilling like a machine, but was just enormously exhausted. some memorable achievements would be over 30 of Rubberman, around 20 of Rubberman II, 24 contacts of Matador > Barfry drill. also remember hitting my 4th quint. pfff, I almost forgot 25 Fearless (beginning of the week)
ya know, at worlds I'd still have some secrets and wouldn't share all my experiences. it's probably an another sign of my mindset change. I don't care that much... having fun is something I'm more interested in. but what can be more fun than having satisfaction from a hardly earned achievement? heh
you can expect me on todexon with this positive attitude. will try to be more social than usual, but I'm not sure if I'm gonna take part in the competition... if so, just for fun. prepared routines, but haven't practiced n my stamina is not in a good condition. hope nobody will reproach it if I'll play on a low level
* * *
now I own you an explanaition. my recent break in footbag was caused by a phase of building up another of my passions - DRAWING. about a month ago I started drawing and painting just for my own pleasure. believe or not, I didn't like it too much before, now I love it. on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday we have blocks of dr House, CSI, Dexter etc. - wouldn't draw without watching, wouldn't watch without drawing. you can see all of my recently drawn works at
http://olavart.digart.pl/
but this time I'll advertise them by just pasting them here directly. most of them on A4, presenting Wroclaw. hand-made, obviously.
[edit: deleted.]
last one is A3. wroclaw ain't vienna, but still it's a beautiful example of our art-noveau. unfortunatelly modernists rebuilt it in 1929 so the original glow of the building was irretrievably lost. will be more, hope you like it
reffering to my note about time management, many people thought it's a stupid theory nobody would ever follow, simply because humans ain't robots. perhaps I'm not entirely a human, but after a few more months I can assure you IT WORKS. not gonna say it's a peace of cake though, sometimes also wondering if it's really worth the struggle.
reminding once again the main idea of my time management strategy, is to simply never laze around, give all your energy into an effectivily done job, whatever it is, and at the same time reserve enough time for a rest, regeneration. really that simple, but imagine you're obligated to keep it this way for a few months without break. now here's what I found hard to deal with:
having the same amount of time, I'm planning 3x more than usual and complete 2/3 of it. although I still manage to do twice as many tasks as I would normally, there's one I fail. it's a bit depressing at the beginning, but humans easly adapt to such situation, especially having an excuse such as other priorities.
the truth is, footbag is not my only passion, but there's only one stronger and it's architecture. I believe it's stronger also cuz it's my future. I've gotta be the best if I wanna do what I like for an occupation. it's my priority. but it's also something I love. very often I've got ambitious plans for footbag that take me muuuuch much longer than intended. sometimes I fail. was working on a new difficulty rating system, built a base and... changed priorities. same with the video I mentioned. it became 'the 3rd task' - the one I fail (at least at this time).
just wanted to say it's not that I don't care or sth. also hope my 'unreliability' won't make my words shallow. life is just too short, we have to make choices even if we don't want to. if I only could fulfill myself in every aspect that's importnat to me... ahh
* * *
few pages back David wrote me that
back then I'd never take a break longer than a few days thus it took me some time to fully understand this simple sentence. after worlds I had a few months break, and I've just had a few weeks long one. I believe this time it might be a breakthrough. I don't think I'll be shredding from now on, firstly I need to build a solid form. that's why I'm doing stretching and strenghtening exercises regularly. also shredding with 1.2 kg weights (it's 2.65 lbs) on each ankle, I can even play this way a few minutes tiltless doing some basic dexes, Osis, Spinning or Ducking tricks. actually I first tried it today and it does wonders; right after taking them off Ducked a Nuclear set FAAAR over my head (wasn't good at them recently). then hit Nuclear Mobius. also Nemesis Swirl footed. I wish I can get this set naturally after a few weeks/months practicing this way...david wrote:Passion for shred goes in phases. Focus on school, come back when it feels right.
last month I decided to take training programs more seriously and had some promising results. mostly working with Fairy, Atomic and Nuclear sets. first few days I was trying to set some good records, what took me a lot of tries. every next day I needed less and less tries to come close or even beat the previous records. I guess it was when I wrote my last post... after 10 days of probably my toughest footbag trainings ever I suffered from shin splints and could hardly stand even a short session. so at the end I had very short sessions in comparsion to the first ones, I was drilling like a machine, but was just enormously exhausted. some memorable achievements would be over 30 of Rubberman, around 20 of Rubberman II, 24 contacts of Matador > Barfry drill. also remember hitting my 4th quint. pfff, I almost forgot 25 Fearless (beginning of the week)
ya know, at worlds I'd still have some secrets and wouldn't share all my experiences. it's probably an another sign of my mindset change. I don't care that much... having fun is something I'm more interested in. but what can be more fun than having satisfaction from a hardly earned achievement? heh
you can expect me on todexon with this positive attitude. will try to be more social than usual, but I'm not sure if I'm gonna take part in the competition... if so, just for fun. prepared routines, but haven't practiced n my stamina is not in a good condition. hope nobody will reproach it if I'll play on a low level
* * *
now I own you an explanaition. my recent break in footbag was caused by a phase of building up another of my passions - DRAWING. about a month ago I started drawing and painting just for my own pleasure. believe or not, I didn't like it too much before, now I love it. on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday we have blocks of dr House, CSI, Dexter etc. - wouldn't draw without watching, wouldn't watch without drawing. you can see all of my recently drawn works at
http://olavart.digart.pl/
but this time I'll advertise them by just pasting them here directly. most of them on A4, presenting Wroclaw. hand-made, obviously.
[edit: deleted.]
last one is A3. wroclaw ain't vienna, but still it's a beautiful example of our art-noveau. unfortunatelly modernists rebuilt it in 1929 so the original glow of the building was irretrievably lost. will be more, hope you like it
Last edited by Olav on 06 Jan 2010 12:29, edited 2 times in total.
Olaf Piwowar, My Footblog
It's really good to read your blog. Good luck to teaching footbag at your university, I hope it will be successful.
About your bumptious teachers: I also don't like this kind of people. If I speak to one of them, I think "oh you are so fucking proud, but you can't even hit an easy atw". So I'm also proud of my footbag-level, which is not good at all- I can hit some 5 add moves, but that's all. So I think you could be more proud of yourself than I do; and not be angry about this kind of persons, because you deserve much more respect than them.
About inspiration: It's probably hard to inspirate yourself if you are one of the bests on the whole world. If I want to inspirate myself, I just see some footbag videos- like the compromise for example
Belive me, your game gives power and inspiration for the weaker players like me. There are always people who just say "can you do this with a soccer ball" and go away without any interests - but you just musn't care about them.
About your bumptious teachers: I also don't like this kind of people. If I speak to one of them, I think "oh you are so fucking proud, but you can't even hit an easy atw". So I'm also proud of my footbag-level, which is not good at all- I can hit some 5 add moves, but that's all. So I think you could be more proud of yourself than I do; and not be angry about this kind of persons, because you deserve much more respect than them.
About inspiration: It's probably hard to inspirate yourself if you are one of the bests on the whole world. If I want to inspirate myself, I just see some footbag videos- like the compromise for example
Belive me, your game gives power and inspiration for the weaker players like me. There are always people who just say "can you do this with a soccer ball" and go away without any interests - but you just musn't care about them.Tilly Tamás
"The mistake is not to drop it. The mistake is not to pick it up."
"The mistake is not to drop it. The mistake is not to pick it up."
I feel like a jackass for not responding to some positive comments on my game I got after worlds. thank you, and sorry. in fact I wanted to say something more than just "thanks", but I was so busy I didn't even write a worlds report I was going to make, totally stopped checking my mail, comunicators or facebook, stopped writing my...
...my book. yes, I've started writing a book, right after reading Vasek's manual. don't get me wrong, I totally love it and recomend to anyone who has ever got into footbag - great read. there's also a few interesting thoughts, but generally it's not a good manual to learn the proper way to practice this sport. and better forget about killing yourself by starving for a week, there are more creative suicide methods.
so I'm comparing other sports explored better at the medical point to everything I ever learned practicing footbag considering all possible aspects simplified to three main chapters of the book; mind, body, skills. due to lack of time I stopped working on it and dunno when it will be released, there's still a lot of work ahead.
***
"Passion for shred goes in phases. Focus on school, come back when it feels right."
and so I did. after worlds 2008 in Prague I had an injury and used it as a perfect excuse to stop playing. in fact it was not as serious as it seemed, but I needed to hide the true reason for a break. Prague brought me such a disappointed, I had to find something new... it simply did not work out and I lost a year to understand why I love footbag.
worlds 2009 in Berlin turned everything upside down, I promised myself to see how far I can still get and... after few very promising weeks changed my mind. this time however, I believe it was a good decision. worlds will most likely be in the states, that means I'll have a year break I need, save money for my eurotrip, start painting seriously and care more about my arch/art/graph/design related future.
so officially, I'm out of footbag for some time. in the meanwhile I can play as I like and let my passion grow again. with no doubt one day I will manage to reach the imagination of a player I always dreamed to be, I never lost the determination...
***
btw, I've finally learned to paint watercolors, which I love (search for Alvaro Castagnet, Joseph Zbukvic or David Curtis), now my biggest inspiration is havana/cuba - would love to go there when it's still such a beautiful place. to see my latest works, mostly watercolor paintings see my facebook account or simply visit: http://olavart.digart.pl/digarty/
also, some videos came out since my last appearence here. you can see me hitting a 5 dex on Mads' video from worlds (I don't care whether it was clean or not, the same way as some people seem not to care how many tries I had in front of the cam). Ners' made one too, few things from End of Winter Jam (June?), bad stamina but technically fine, last combo was after worlds - typical stamina training I enjoy a lot, org link (sessions3): http://www.footbag.org/gallery/show/17333
all for now, hope you're not mad at me for still being alive.
...my book. yes, I've started writing a book, right after reading Vasek's manual. don't get me wrong, I totally love it and recomend to anyone who has ever got into footbag - great read. there's also a few interesting thoughts, but generally it's not a good manual to learn the proper way to practice this sport. and better forget about killing yourself by starving for a week, there are more creative suicide methods.
so I'm comparing other sports explored better at the medical point to everything I ever learned practicing footbag considering all possible aspects simplified to three main chapters of the book; mind, body, skills. due to lack of time I stopped working on it and dunno when it will be released, there's still a lot of work ahead.
***
"Passion for shred goes in phases. Focus on school, come back when it feels right."
and so I did. after worlds 2008 in Prague I had an injury and used it as a perfect excuse to stop playing. in fact it was not as serious as it seemed, but I needed to hide the true reason for a break. Prague brought me such a disappointed, I had to find something new... it simply did not work out and I lost a year to understand why I love footbag.
worlds 2009 in Berlin turned everything upside down, I promised myself to see how far I can still get and... after few very promising weeks changed my mind. this time however, I believe it was a good decision. worlds will most likely be in the states, that means I'll have a year break I need, save money for my eurotrip, start painting seriously and care more about my arch/art/graph/design related future.
so officially, I'm out of footbag for some time. in the meanwhile I can play as I like and let my passion grow again. with no doubt one day I will manage to reach the imagination of a player I always dreamed to be, I never lost the determination...
***
btw, I've finally learned to paint watercolors, which I love (search for Alvaro Castagnet, Joseph Zbukvic or David Curtis), now my biggest inspiration is havana/cuba - would love to go there when it's still such a beautiful place. to see my latest works, mostly watercolor paintings see my facebook account or simply visit: http://olavart.digart.pl/digarty/
also, some videos came out since my last appearence here. you can see me hitting a 5 dex on Mads' video from worlds (I don't care whether it was clean or not, the same way as some people seem not to care how many tries I had in front of the cam). Ners' made one too, few things from End of Winter Jam (June?), bad stamina but technically fine, last combo was after worlds - typical stamina training I enjoy a lot, org link (sessions3): http://www.footbag.org/gallery/show/17333
all for now, hope you're not mad at me for still being alive.
Olaf Piwowar, My Footblog
-
matt_bailey
- Multidex Master
- Posts: 206
- Joined: 04 Apr 2009 05:13
- Location: Cambridge/Leicester, England, UK
Re: Olav
Well fuck meeee. This place still exists. Facebook sucks so badly. Finding anything in there is impossible. I feel like everything that's been posted there is basically lost. What's the current main channel, discord? Does it do the job of allowing a meaningful conversation, or is it more of a fancy chat with your typical message of 4 words in length average? I miss coming to this place every single day to see what's new.
Been a while.
Been a while.
Olaf Piwowar, My Footblog
