Torch's blog

Torch · Post by **Torch** » 12 Jul 2005 11:43

Hey everybody, I'm starting a blog. Not really sure how to start off here. Hmmmm. Ok, I'll start at the beginning and fill in the blanks as time goes on.

My name is Ahren, I am 26 years old and have been kicking freestyle for about 11 years. I grew up in Washington state for most of my life (that's where I started footbag), but now I live in San Francisco, CA. I've been here for about 6 years now and plan to stay for at least 4 more. After that I still might stay, but life is an adventure and you just never know where it's going to lead you.

Footbag has been a huge factor in my life. It's given me more than I could list here. Even though I don't play as much any more, it's still a big part of me. Most of my best friends I've met through footbag, especially those here in the city, including Tu Vu, who has been an excelent roommate since I've been here. Tuan Vu (Tu's bro) and his wife Lisa Monti live in the apartment below us, and Sunil Jani lives below THEIR apartment. Sunil is moving to the east coast later this week and obviously we are all very sad to see him go. I've kicked with Sunil more than I have with any other shredder by far. Eric Wulff and Carol Wedemeyer also live here in SF, and are good friends, as does Tim Kelly, one of my greatest influences as far as freestyle is concerned. And outside of the city I've met great people and made great friends all over the world now, all thanks to footbag. It would take far too long to mention them all. In due time maybe.

I'm going to the Portland jam this weekend. I'm very excited. Thanks to Red for hooking it up. It's been a while since I got to hang out in P town, it's a great city. Seems like it's been a magnet for "hip" lately. Looking foward to shredding with my North American homies. I didn't play last year in Montreal and my last tourney was in Europe, so it will be good to catch up with some great people I don't get to see too often. I can't go to worlds, but this will make up for it.

As far as my shred goes I feel GREAT. I don't play a whole lot, but when I do I feel fine. Sometimes I feel like I'm even improving by not playing. It's fucking weird man. My endurance probably suffers a little, but as far as technique is concerned I seem to be improving, even if only slightly. Anyway, I know I would rather take it easy and kick for many years as opposed to burning myself out which I know would happen if I played to much.

Ok, that's it for now.

jon · Post by **jon** » 12 Jul 2005 11:52

good first blog entry, I look forward to reading more.

david · Post by **david** » 12 Jul 2005 12:03

hey do you know where sunil is moving on the east?

Post by **Allan** » 12 Jul 2005 13:16

Torch wrote: As far as my shred goes I feel GREAT. I don't play a whole lot, but when I do I feel fine. Sometimes I feel like I'm even improving by not playing. It's fucking weird man.

I know exactly what you mean! It is weird, but in a good way

I love that sweet spot right after the first 30 minutes or so of that first session when you haven't played in, like, a month. You just feel so strong and nothing hurts and man we must be gettin' old

I'm stoked to see you post, G

I'm hoping to see you in Portland next week, but I'm not sure if their going to let me in to your country as I can't find my passport and I only have an expired drivers license to go with my birth certificate ...

Jdigges · Post by **Jdigges** » 12 Jul 2005 14:15

im glad to see you've started a blog Ahren

i've always admired you as a shredder. now i'll get to find out what your like as a person

Torch · Post by **Torch** » 12 Jul 2005 15:13

Hey yo,

David asked...
"hey do you know where sunil is moving on the east?"

He is moving to New Jersey.

Allan H. wrote...
"I'm stoked to see you post, G I'm hoping to see you in Portland next week, but I'm not sure if their going to let me in to your country as I can't find my passport and I only have an expired drivers license to go with my birth certificate ..."

Dude, you better find that passport mother fucker. We haven't kicked together since CSS a couple years ago, when I kicked like shit cause my legs were done because we ARE getting old.

I just had to renew my I.D. (no license, I don't drive no mo') last week. I couldn't get that Primus song out of my head. "Been to hell I call it, call it the DMV, anyone who's been there knows exactly what I mean." So now I have both the ID AND my passport, which I don't even need, but if I did need it... Your a smart guy, backtrack or something. It's going to be FUN. Anyway, hope to see you there.

FootbagginBum · Post by **FootbagginBum** » 12 Jul 2005 15:24

WELCOME TO THE LAND OF FOOTBLOGS TORCH!! I'm WAY excited to see you doing this... not only do I feel I have so much to learn from you, but it means that YOU will be continueing to learn too, which guarntees me someone better than me to play with in the area for a good while no matter how fast my game accelerates.

Look forward to reading you blog and seeing you around here more, and with both of you guys mentioning Portland...there's even a shot I'll take a whole chunk of my club up on a field trip of epic proportions.

Peace, and hope to see ya soon,
Bum

redshredz · Post by **redshredz** » 12 Jul 2005 16:28

Indeed,
Welcome Torch. I am pretty excited you are coming out this week, great to have you still shredding it up! For people who don't know, Torch was considered to be the first of our generation of freestylers (Ryan, Chad, Sunil, Elis, Dave Holton, Brian Mckenzie, myself) to name a few. Close to ten years ago, when we were just starting to get good, Ryan and I saw Raw Shred, with all the top players of the time, and one pale faced kid who was layin' down very new and scary types of combos we had not seen before. From there on out when he was kicking, Ahren was consistantly putting down the hardest/craziest/strangest links one could not even grasp. When I watch Vasek play, I see a little bit of Ahren in his game (especially the osis component step combos) along with a bit of Ryan, Pete, and Rick. Plus between the two of us, I don't know who has had more retirements and comebacks! Here's to you old buddy, glad you are still up in this bitch. See ya in a few days.
REd

HooD · Post by **HooD** » 12 Jul 2005 17:01

It's always great to see players with such experience and skill puttin up a blog to let others into their game/life. You prolly don't know me, but that's cool. We actually ran into each other in Worlds 2004 in Montreal. I remember it was in Le Foofs (electric ass)bar I believe. I was a bit drunk, and it was prolly the only time I'd have the balls to just talk to you. You were in the restroom, prolly pissin, as was I, and I prolly did all the talking

So to recap what I said then, and what I'm sayin now - I've always been a fan of your shred, so very strong and solid. When I was learning, I only knew of a couple vids, most of them of US BAP members, so your game was pretty inspirational. The torques, both sides everywhere, atomics, fairies, anything > blender > anything, ducking fusion ?, etc. etc. Alright, so it's out there now, haha. I'm glad to hear you still like kickin, to me that is the key to everything - enjoy what your time is put into.

Moxie · Post by **Moxie** » 29 Jul 2005 22:30

What are you doing? What about what tricks you're hitting these days? What about your AWESOME time hanging out with Nate, Tsang, and me? Are we not worth mentioning? Psh, I see how it is AHREN.

FINE AHREN.

FINE.

AHREN.

Either way, Bump.

QuantumBalance · Post by **QuantumBalance** » 02 Aug 2005 19:34

i heard u hit

bluriest>blur>legbeater>blurriest>blur>legbeater>blurry whirl>blurrywhirl>pdx torque> pdx torque

Torch · Post by **Torch** » 03 Aug 2005 11:21

Hey yo,

Been a while since my last entry. I guess I'm not on the computer all that much. The Portland jam/tourney was a lot of fun. Thanks again Red for hooking it all up. Lots of stories, but most of them were already told on the Journeys to Tourney thread. Allan you missed it you bastard. Oh well, next time. I really liked the city of Portland. I had only seen the downtown area as a teenager, this was the most I've seen the SE section, it was nice. And Powells book store was the BOMB! Maybe someday in another 5 or 10 years I might move up there. It's closer to my family and I really was impressed. Maybe not though either. It's hard to beat SF.

Went to shred in Oakland last week with Nate, Emily, and Cameron. That was a lot of fun. Thanks again to Emily for the ride.

Shredded with Nate yesterday at my house, and he helped me pick out a Fender Strat at the music store. I'm so excited to enter in to the world of the electric guitar. I've schooled my acoustic a little bit over the years, but hardly mastered it. This will inspire me to practice lots and lots. Nate gave me a lesson as well. Very helpful. Hopefully next time he comes to shred I will have some skills. Ok. Gotta go play some guitar before work. Later y'all.

QuantumBalance · Post by **QuantumBalance** » 03 Aug 2005 12:33

Nice a Strat! What color.. and what country was it made in? American are nice but expensive.

Torch · Post by **Torch** » 09 Aug 2005 11:19

It is three tone sunburst w/ gold plated hardware. It's Mexican made but is some sort of limited edition model. I also bought a Boss DS-1 distortion pedal and am using my Roland keyboard amp at the moment. I need a nice new amp. I hear you have lots of equipment. Any suggestions?

Laroche · Post by **Laroche** » 09 Aug 2005 14:01

If you want a really warm sound Id go with some nice vintage tube amp, but I have no brand names to shout out

Otherwise, a nice little Marshall amp is always nice and warm-sounding, especially with a strat to get some really nice clean sounds, with just a TOUCH of distortion to give a thicker lead sound

QuantumBalance · Post by **QuantumBalance** » 09 Aug 2005 14:04

yeah .. stick with your roland.

dont buy more gear.. it takes away from your playing.. im finally selling all my ish so

!:):!):!):!):!)

NATE IS SO GOOD! did you hear the solo he played over the song?

mc · Post by mc » 09 Aug 2005 14:14

yo ahren... Glad to hear you're delving into the world of music. It is on par with footbag as the most important thing in my life, just in a totally different way, and the combination of the two is really the best, like when I can jam out at a tournament with my friends.

You're going to love it. Rock guitar is a lot of fun, girls really, really, really like it, and, just like footbag, it will bring you together with some totally amazing people and allow you to relate to them in a very meaningful way.

haha, as you can see, I'm happy for you. Good luck.

as for the amp, it all really depends how much you have to spend. I got a roland BC-30 when I was 19 or something, and I've had it since. You can find those really cheap on Ebay. They've got a really versatile sound for electric and electrified acoustic guitars, as well as nice built-in distortion that you can turn on and off with a footswitch. Unfortunately, I'm pretty inexperienced with amps, so that's all I can speak on. I recommend having nate take you and your guitar to the local guitar emporium / mom and pop shop so you can test out some amps with it, and discuss what you want from an amp, and what you like and dislike about various amps. It's really key to have an experienced player come with you to help.

Good luck on that, too.

Torch · Post by **Torch** » 09 Aug 2005 15:33

Cool, thanks for the input guys. Sam, I did hear Nates solo. It's pretty good, but I've heard better from him. He's been coming to my place to shred every other week or so, so I get to hear him play now and then. Yeah, he's the man. Matt, I agree, Nate should come help me pick out an amp. But he's only in town till the end of August, so hopefully I've got the cash by then.
Thanks for the encouragement by the way. I don't really have any chops at all yet so I need all the support I can get. It's going to be a long hard road, but it should be worth it. Ok, gotta stop talking and go skool the axe.

ericksonj · Post by **ericksonj** » 09 Aug 2005 16:50

That's right, he'll be mine again!

Glad you got a blog going Ahren. Keep shredding hard, it was good to see you again up in portland.

Torch · Post by **Torch** » 16 Aug 2005 10:56

Yeah, it's going to suck with Nate gone. He's like the only person to shred with these days. Except Carol sometimes. Actually, I'm kicking with them both in just a few short hours. And it looks like the sun might come out for us, which is rare in this part of SF in the summer. And later tonight he will school me on some jazz voicings for the guitar, which I'm really looking foward to. Looks like I will wait on getting a new amp. Proably wait at least until I upgrade my pick ups.

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