Muffinman

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 10 Apr 2005 19:38

I played with Konrad again today, but he hogged the bag :p
He wanted me to buy him candy, so I said I would if he hit something hard and new, so his challenges were either gyro mirage or spinning clipper both sides, or ripwalk > ripwalk. He gave up and bought himself candy. Actually I bought him icecream in the end, because I owed him money for bubble tea.

I set myself some challenges too, and hit them all

I hit spinning xbd rake first try! Then I caught the bag and hit it, instantly flipside. It was the first time I'd ever hit it either side! Then I hit toe same reverse whirl rake > hand catch > flipside. Then I hit toe set op version, but it took me two tries for each side. I didn't push myself at all, but I realized how fun rakes are!! I do them poorly, I think, though. I don't have my leg straight, so it's hard to tell if it's a mirage or a rake, I think...It's also hard to say without seeing myself on camera.

I also tried that butterfly toe stall thing...but I don't think I understood it, so I basically did butterfly rakes, which were also cool, but hard to do clean.

I completely re-organized my room today. I have a final on Tuesday I still haven't started studying for. My room looks SO nice, now, though!! I'm going to have a bath, because I had a crappy day and I am really sticky and gross.

Josh: what do you mean about my hours and hours of footage? When I am done school in a week I will come out and film you guys and make a video

hacksterbator · Post by **hacksterbator** » 10 Apr 2005 21:48

i think he might be refering to the hackrifice open 2004 tapes. what ever happened to them? and i'm sure you've filmed abunch of stuff that never even made it to the editing room...

J-Dub · Post by **J-Dub** » 11 Apr 2005 07:47

Yes! Thank You for finishing my thought. You dont have to bribe us with candy to play Erik.

max · Post by **max** » 11 Apr 2005 08:06

also tried that butterfly toe stall thing...but I don't think I understood it, so I basically did butterfly rakes, which were also cool, but hard to do clean.

It also took me a bit of time to get my head around that trick.
What I did that helped me hit this is to think about it as a butterfly and as soon as the dex is cleared think "gyro toe stall". There's actually very little movement with the leg that does the toe stall (as opposed to a xbd rake). There is quite a hip pivot and a lot of spin involved in that move.

Hope that helps.

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 12 Apr 2005 22:22

Here is a possible design for the Hackrifice 2004 tshirt (which we are finally getting around to making (for those who paid for one almost a year ago...)

I drew this, but it was completely Andrew's idea and he just told me what to draw and gave me a drawing that looks almost exactly identical. It looks super simple, but it was all freehand and took me, like, an hour >____< We're playing in the morning, in, like, 8 hours, so I have to go to bed now. (Oh yeah, my scanner isn't working, so this is with my webcam and it's all chunky and stuff.)

Oh, and I only have, like, 2 lame tapes from hackrifice 2004...I wasn't paying much attention because I was all injured and crap. I still have all my original footage from, like, all the other tournaments I've ever been to...I always back everything up, from tournaments, on VHS.

QuantumBalance · Post by **QuantumBalance** » 13 Apr 2005 01:17

can u take pictures of your room and show us?

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 14 Apr 2005 18:34

I want to take pictures soon

I am battling Ryan Seath right now. It's a BLAST!! So far we have battled with these drills (my scores in parenthesis):
-alternating clippers (87)
-consecutive legovers (69)
-mirage > ss mirage > legover > ss legover > pickup > ss pickup [repeat] (37 contacts)
-legover > butterfly > far legover [repeat] (haven't started yet...)

I may start a drill records list on my first blog page, like Ryan, to get me to push my basic kicks and stalls drills!

Brett · Post by **Brett** » 14 Apr 2005 21:43

Yo Erik,

If the Saskatoon guys can still get there shirts, we would be stoked!

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 15 Apr 2005 00:51

Hey Brett
Yeah, I think you guys all paid. Anyone who paid will get one. Joel still has the list. We are still working on it. Our (Joel's) bad ;p

Anyway...I think those legovers kind of...hurt my hip. I'm so dumb!!!!!! No dexes FOR REAL from now on...except butterflies 'cause they're easier than 2 adds.

I spent hours making tinfoil armour just now. It's, like, 4 in the morning. Someone threw out a WHOLE roll of tinfoil!!! And there were these big styrofoam thingies in our recycling bin. They have sweet arm straps (from my almond rocka box) and I developed this attack technique, which I call extendo-punch. I draw back my arm and then punch, releasing the furthest, hand, handle and grabbing the forearm handle as the gauntlet slides down my arm and punches my victim. It's then a simple matter of reversing the motion to retract the extendo-punch.
I also foiled my legs, but I am kind of sweating and I think I will take a shower. I still have a whole roll left!!!! I don't know what to do!! maybe I will put it all over my window and absorb solar energy to power my robot armour!!! (That's right, we spell it with an "O" and a "U" in Canada!)

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 16 Apr 2005 14:11

Spur of the moment possible trip to Toronto!
If all goes well I will buy a return bus ticket to Toronto tomorrow and leave in about a week!! I am NOT playing footbag (I can do basic kicks and stalls, and such) but I will be there for a week this time and would love to hang out with the Toronto crew at least a little bit, if i do make it out. It should be such a blast

This time we've decided I will just sleep in the lounge area of the (girls-only-after-11) residence, as we know of other boys who've done the same. I can't wait. What a rad way to spend my break between regular session and intersession

I'm a little scared to ask someone to fill in for me at work, though, as I've been avoiding calls from work lately, and I just turned down working tonight (but I have an essay and final exam!)...but it should be sooo rad

Stupid Jetsgo...I'm going to be reading a lot on this trip :p Or being sick and unable to sleep on a stupid bus :p

EDIT: I got my ticket

I leave next Saturday at 7:30am...and, like.....arrive on Sunday at 3:00pm... (for those of you who think Canada is really small, that's a 31-hour bus ride from one province to the next over!) Gee I can't wait! (not sarcastic!)

Camilleon · Post by **Camilleon** » 18 Apr 2005 07:11

I AM HAPPY!

Holy Shit! 31 hours!!!

Um.. ignore whatever I said about shredding together in that PM I sent you. I didn't realize that you won't be playing at all. We will all really love just chillin with you though!

It's gonna rock.

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 20 Apr 2005 00:14

Hey Camille. Yeah, it should be fun. I don't know if Johnny and Jon want to stay around that extra day -- I wouldn't want to put them out -- but I'd love to hang out for a while, after I'm settled with my Honey. I haven't really talked to anyone except you and Tom about coming out, but it should be great.

On a footbag-related note I hit 5 far osii both sides today. It sounds really lame, but osis is HARD!!!! (See Cod's latest video thread...) I hit 5 on my good side fairly easily, but my flip took a LONG time. I kind of felt like it was preparing me for paradox blenders. That's about all I did today. I also counted inside and outside kicks, but didn't try too hard. I just wanted some solid numbers to have an idea for what I have to beat next. I hit 42 inside kicks before I did a toe, and 10 outside kicks. The inside kicks are hard, but i think I can do a bunch more. The outsides are IMPOSSIBLE and I'll die happy at 10

I'm preparing for my trip -- I got an 850g bag of Doritos today. My mom also, maybe, bought me a box of, like, 40 granola bars...I'm not sure about that though -- one of my brothers told me. I did all my laundry, but I will do more on Friday. The only thing I have left to do is call my boss tomorrow and tell him I called EVERY SINGLE person at work to ask to either switch shifts or cover for me. Not one person can work for me this Sunday, so...I'm kind of stressed out. I got a POSSIBLE sub for the following Sunday, but if he's a no-go, I may have to end my trip 2 days early (which would make me very very sad)

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 20 Apr 2005 18:09

Here's a list of stuff I hit today:
-consecutive toe kicks (125)
-alternating outside kicks (15)
-alternating jesters (3)
-op inside > same foot clipper [repeat] (53 contacts)
-op clip > cloud kick [repeat] (12 contacts)
-same toe kick > op knee kick [repeat] (19 contacts)
-osos > far osis [repeat] (9 contacts)
-cloud-kick-set ducking clipper (both sides)
-FLIP PDX BLENDER (second try -- I never hit it before because I can't do flip whirls, as they're the cause of my injury, but I just HAD to!!!!

)

Good day. I made that list of my drills (on the first page of my blog), and I keep updating it with new records and new drills. It's sooo much fun and makes the basics SOOOO much more fun. I fooled around with heel stalls a bit today. Nothing noteworthy yet, but I had TONS of fun with clouds, as inspired by Jorden Moir. I may do some basic toe spinning and toe ducking next "session"

Osis is really starting to PISS ME OFF, though :p My record is 22, but my best attempt within the past month has been, like, 13...And that's a lot for me...22 was a fluke @_____@ Oh yeah, and outside kicks hurt my hip more than flip blenders...ha. Oh, and the 125 toe kicks was just....i was, like...."WHAT???". My consecutives record is in the thousands, but that's with a random combination of insides, outsides and toe kicks. I concentrated a lot on relaxing my wholed body when I did these. That was FUN and didn't take, like, ANY effort

Footbag is the BEST!!

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 22 Apr 2005 23:05

I'm leaving for Toronto in 4 hours!!!!!!! I should maybe get some sleep. I have soooo many goodies packed in my bag! Those granola bars were for me, so I stuffed as many as I could into my bag and threw the rest in my suitcase (my other bag wasn't big enough for some sketchbooks of Marita's I'm bringing her.) The suitcase gave me extra room for lots of other stuff too, which is exciting and I could stop worrying about packing light, 'cause I only had the one bag. I'm all set with my copy of Mal's "Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life", which FINALLY came in the mail this morning!!! I've been waiting months for this and it was so hard for me to not read it right away, but I have a treat when I get on the bus now. I also got my brother's gameboy advance and Advance Wars 2, which I've never played before (plus my Pokemon Red, which is a boredom backup). I have a couple Narnia books and I have my sketchbook and pencils, pens and brushes. It should be fun!!!..........for the first 2 hours.....................

I also bought 10 rolls of film today. I'm gonna take sooo many pictures

Last summer I took 20 rolls of Marita in a month. Oh! Which reminds me, I found this picture of, like, Tom Mosher and Jon Haber shredding and Caro and Marita sitting together in the background. I got them to pose together for me before, but that picture was, like, at the end of a roll, or something and never turned out

I realize I should have taken more pictures last trip. I don't have pictures of barely anyone from brantford

Anyway......I'm going to maybe sleep soon.. I can't wait to read Scott Pilgrim. Actually it was supposed to be Rey's Sharknife that arrived today, and the two Scott Pilgrim books later...now I have to wait even longer for Sharknife

I find it sooo inspiring to watch Mal, Rey and FSC publish there first books when I've been a fan for so long

(Any other fans out there???). I don't know what's up with L0cke -- he's fallen off the face of the planet, or something. And that Joe Madureira punk is still trying to make video games and not drawing any comics

Going for real now.

hacksterbator · Post by **hacksterbator** » 01 May 2005 05:38

hey erik. i hope had fun in toronto. japan is off the hook. we had phat combo, shred 30 and rippen run at the tournament. i was happy with my first phat combo, i had blurry whirl> blurry whirl and ripped warrior>ripped warrior. finals i wasn`t as good. i managed blurry whirl> food processor on my 5th try. i think ken will win shred 30 because i had 3 drops and he had 2, but i had all uniques and repeated a few tricks but also wasted time after my drops by going to clipper or toe. BOTH ken and i went out first round in rippen run. ken was going big though. i think he dropped on fog! we made our selves feel better by doing rippen runs against each other when others were going. when the people we lost to finnaly met in semi finals ken and i went off on each other around 20 contacts of mostly tripless shred. takumi, ken`s protoge won the rippen run. the best rippen run was in quarter finals. TJ from pennsylvania vs takumi was like 50 contacts and they were both going really hard. takumi hit phoenix on his 30th trick and tj was doing really hard links! ken was slightly less surly about going out first round when takumi won. either way this has been so much fun. how is marita. if you are still there tell her i say hi!

i should probably have written this in my blog...

oh by the way, you are a legend in japan!

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 05 May 2005 09:16

Sweet!
It sounds like Japan is really fun!

Toronto was THE BEST. Japan would probably be cool too, but Japan doesn't have my girlfriend. We ate Japanese food almost every day, though. I'd never had Japanese food before. We both had the same dish every time. It was, umm...3 california rolls, tempura (shrimp, sweet potato, eggplant and...something else), teriyaki chicken (sooo good) with rice, and this REALLY good salad -- and an orange. The tempura shrimp was so good! Yummy! I also got addicted to bubble tea. We had it every day, also, and often combined the two. We discovered that pineapple green tea is probably our favourite flavour. I'd only had the milk tea and milkshake in Winnipeg before, but the green tea is the best!

I also got to see Camille, Andrew and Paul briefly a couple times. We went to a musical at Camille's old highschool called "Seussical the Musical" (a doctor Seuss musical!) and the second day we sat in on a photo shoot Camille was doing for a girls footbag article in some magazine.

The busride wasn't as bad as I expected, which was GOOD. I basically slept non-stop for the two days each way, and played a bit of Advance Wars 2.

Now I am taking summer classes at university. It's my fourth day of class and I've already missed 2 classes and only read 2 chapters in a book I was supposed to have finished yesterday!! The first missed class wasn't my fault -- for some reason I was sure classes started on Tuesday... And today I jtus....didn't feel like it. Blah. It's a super intense literature course, where everyone sounds like they know exactly what they're talking about. I got an A in my english course last session, but this just seems completely over my head. My professor speaks like Shakespeare -- really intense! I have to read 8 classics in 6 weeks. I am not a fast reader. I gave up after the first day, with Oscar Wilde's, "Picture of Dorian Gray", after 3 chapterss, and read a summary on the internet. Not that I didn't understand it, or anything, I have just never had to read so fast before. Now we're diong Yeats, and I missed the first class and have no idea what to expect or tomorrow. (Oh yeah -- I have class at 8:30 every single morning... That means I have to wake up at 6:30 and go to bed at, like, 9. I have sleeping problems though and Haven't been able to sleep until, like, after 2 every night. So bad.)

I'm really craving that teriyaki chicken right now. I am also bloated -- apparently you're supposed to drink water when you're bloated. I don't think I am actually this rotund, but this class is making it hard to find time to exercise (even though I didn't read much -- thinking about the class stresses me out!). I am going to go play footbag now (SWEET!) and then hopefully do some stationary biking and some other stuff. I also have to call and make some appointments (dentist and find out more about accupuncture, 'cause i keep putting that off), buy those 7 other novels I need to read (with money I don't really have -- don't know how I will pay for next year's tuition) and get my 5 rolls of film developed from Toronto (can't wait!!!!).

One of the highlights of Toronto was meeting Marita's friends -- they're soooo nice and I love them. We did lots of stuff, and I wrote everything down, but those are the things that come to mind right now. It's always so hard to say goodbye when we're apart for so long. What a crappy situation. Now I want my girlfriend to call so she can distract me from feeling crappy about this stupid class that I constantly dread.

Oh yeah -- Scott Pilgrim was so sweet. My other books haven't come yet, but it's FREE COMIC BOOK DAY on Saturday! No purchase necessary! Go to any comicbook store and ask for COREY LEWIS' "SHARKNIFE BRUNCHTIME BASH" BY ONI PRESS (doubled with another Oni book, "Hysteria")! It should be good! I can't wait! Oh yeah, and I have a plan for footbag, I have a training list, kind of. I have that list of drills on the first page of my blog (which I haven't recently updated) and I make sure to beat a few records every time I play, so that's good and makes practicing the basics a lot more fun. So I'm going to go do that now.

EDIT: Results from my session. Records I broke:
-332 alternating inside kicks
-41 alternating knee kicks
-5 alternating jesters!

-19 contacts of same outside kick > same inside kick > op inside kick [repeat]
-10 contacts of op inside stall > wrap > same clipper > rev wrap [repeat]
-far clipper > osis [repeat] (right foot: 28 contacts, left foot: 29 contacts)
-66 contacts of alternating 10 sameside clippers

Plus:
-spinning jester (both sides)
-reverse swirling sameside pickup (both sides)
-STEPPING BLENDER (first try EVER, midstring)

The stepping blender was pretty cool! I was going to try for food processor, but after testing my flip stepping, I decided my leg is too weak to get a good enough set, and didn't want to push. I guess I could have tried flip food, with my good stepping, but I don't want to push my flip blender, so I guess it's good I didn't. Blenders are awesome

PS: And I made 2 coffee cakes and a double recipe of rice crispy cake

They're cooling now. Yummy!

hacksterbator · Post by **hacksterbator** » 08 May 2005 18:05

hey erik, i doubt you know, but derek got his appendix removed in an emergency surgery yesterday afternoon. he won't be playing for 4-6 weeks. send him wishes of good health!

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 11 May 2005 13:30

I had my first acupuncture appointment today. I've never had acupuncture before and I know very little about it, but at this point I am pretty much up for trying anything and lots of people have told me really good things about it. The doctor is Marita's sister's best friend's mom. I said before the relation is a lot closer than it sounds -- but not TOO close. They're a really traditional Chinese family, which is why I chose her over a certified, government-licensed acupunction practioner, with whom I would have 80% coverage!

So basically I lay on my side propped up by pillows and she told me to relax completely and not move. She prodded my hip and asked where it hurt and then swabbed the few places she was going to needle me (about 5). For each needle she pressed pretty hard with one finger and with the other hand pressed a needle up to my leg and then tapped it in really promptly. The needles didn't hurt, except the last two, which were just small pricks; she compared the "pain" to the bite of a mosquito, which was pretty accurate. She told me that if I felt any discomfort whatsoever to tell her.

She put three needles in my hip and two in my knee. One of the needles in my knee was kind of uncomfortable so I had her move it. She said it was because my lower leg was really tense. I tried to relax, but the thought of slight feeling of a needle in my KNEE was really disconcerting.

She then attached some wires to three of the needles -- two in my hip and one in my knee. I didn't watch because I didn't want to see the needles sticking out of me (I was in a position where I couldn't really see past my arm anyway. The wires carried electrical shock impulses or something?? They made the pins vibrate. One pin at a time she turned up the frequency of the vibrations to my comfort level until all three were vibrating. Then she left me for about half an hour to lay with the pins vibrating. She came back close to the end and turned up the vibrations -- I think they either decrease in frequency or my body gets used to them over time.

After the half hour she came back and took the pins out and massaged for a while. None of this hurt or felt good at all, to my recollection. The only thnig I remember was trying to relax with the pins in me for half an hour. Every time I would breathe I could feel the pins move, and that made me remember what she said about trying to stay still, so at one point I was trying to breathe as slow as possible, which was probably silly. I was also scared of moving any part of my body, and later realized I was cramping up in my arm and neck.

In conclusion she said that it should have loosened my muscle and that within five appointments I should be completely healed. She said that my muscle is tight, but not very badly so and that the fact that it's been a year doesn't really affect anything. She said it wouldn't have healed on its own. At one point she asked what I called the muscle -- I said, "hip flexor". I took this as a good sign, though it could easily be really bad -- haha. But, no, she has a really thick accent which is kind of hard to understand and all the diagrams in the room were completely in Chinese.

That's basically it. I just REALLY want to heal already. My next appointment is on Friday. I may need something done with mt knees after this, too, though

Old age sucks...

On another note I've been to all my classes this week so far! Woo! i got really worked up about missing those 3 of 5 classes in my first week, but he's super nice and doesn't take attendance or anything, even though the class is only, like, 15 people. It's good. I gotta read a bunch and write an essay now. I'm not going to play footbag or exercise (maybe stretch) until after these appointments...I have plans for better health though! (Like not eating a LOT before bed every night and never eating breakfast..................... -- I think this is why I'm bloating, though I think I've stopped bloating...)

ninja · Post by **ninja** » 11 May 2005 14:49

I didnt have the accupuncture done (he does it too) but I went to this chinese doctor who did this pressure point shit. He basically pressed really hard on certain points and even used his elbow to press in really hard. He uses these wooden cup things and puts a flame under it so it sucks onto your back - supposed to relieve pressure I think. Didnt have anything done to my knees, though I should have (I have bad knees). There was one point where he pressed really hard on the back of my knee (knee pit or wateva). You could try getting that done for your knees if you wanted. Im sure that woman who did the accupuncture does this stuff too. Try this stuff if you want but I dont know if it truely helps much. I only went cause my mum made me. Didnt really have any pain though some points surprised me. Felt no different after. Really probably only good if you have actual pain and go regularly. Could be good for some footbaggers.

I have asthma so he got this electric circuit thing (might be similar to what you had attatched to the needles) and attatched a wire to my hand and throat. He pressed really hard on my throat b4 putting it on. Stinged at first but got used to it and then he kept turning it up every now and then. One time it kept making my thumb twitch and if I tried to hold it still, it stung. Went several times but he wanted me to go 30 times but im not going again. I dont think it does shit. But damn asthma sucks. Someone invent a fuckin cure. Sorry probably shouldnt have posted this in your blog. Feel free to delete it.

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 11 May 2005 20:48

I'll take as many posts in my blog as I can

Thanks for the reply, Clayton! I have asthma too. It hasn't bothered me since I was little (I was hospitalized once, due an attack in the middle of the night) -- but I definately lack the stamina that I would have if I could breathe properly

My nasal issues don't help that either (I can only ever breathe out of one nostril at a time -- though my medication might be working...I should see my doctor again...)

I think I may have had acumassage too? Or maybe it was just regular massage -- I don't know the difference. She pressed super hard too (definately the most painful part of the whole ordeal -- which wasn't too painful, but I think she had to push super super hard because my legs are really dense from footbag)

Well...that's about it. I took a break from this post after the first paragraph because Marita called, in that time I've watched Ashley Danowski's and Jorden Moir's new videos -- the GRASS video was so cool -- alpine big apple and green eggs and ham! Sweet! Anyway...I'm going to have some warm milk before bed. Goodnight.

PS: People are sooooo imrpessed when I tell them I'm sponsoring a tournament in Japan

Hehehehe I wouldn't even call it that If Ken hadn't (I capitalized my "if"...).

EDIT: Oh yeah -- the needle in the throat made me feel queezy. Then Marita told me about some operation where they slice a hole in the jugular to allow you to breathe...I took the phone away from my ear during the part where she described most of it, so I don't even know what I'm talking about, but I will feel sick every time I picture a needle in the throat. (Similarly I twitched a few times during my acupuncture too!)