I touched down in the US on Tuesday, and only now do I feel like I'm getting somewhat adjusted. After three and a half years of living in Japan, coming back to the US was definitely a shock to the system. The transition was even bigger than expected, since I didn't return to my hometown, NYC, but rather I landed in Arizona. During my time in Japan, my folks retired and moved to the desert, so not only am I getting readjusted to lots of fat people, driving on the right side of the road again, and chatty store clerks; but I am also getting used to stepping in cactus needles, hearing coyotes at night, and listening to country music at fast food joints.
Thankfully though, I have footbag, the great constant, the constant joy, the sport of the Gods. Going back at least 8 years, I've leaned on footbag several times to re-center myself, to remind me who I am, to settle down and at least get in the right frame to make sense of things. When I've broken up with girlfriends, moved to foreign countries, been pissed about something, whatever, playing footbag has calmed me down and made it all seem OK. So getting in a proper shred yesterday (
November 26th, 05) was just what I needed to help me get used to being "back" stateside, at a stage where I figure out what's next.
It really was a bit weird to think that I hadn't played footbag in the US since July 2002. Most of my basic equipment hadn't even been invented back then! But as I warmed up yesterday, kicking my mini-Abshire bag with my G-Units, I felt the same peace, the same drive, the same adrenaline that I did back in Union Square all those sessions before heading to Japan. Coming back to the States is definitely a rebirth (I flew into Phoenix!), but having footbag makes it easier.
When I bought my tickets to come to Arizona, I was a bit apprehensive that I wouldn't have anybody to play with, but thankfully there are 2 really dedicated shredders relatively near me. I e-mailed with them for a while, and we set up a shred for yesterday. I was so excited about the shred, that I kept waking up the night before with dreams that they'd have trouble finding my house. When the big shred day rolled around, my worries proved groundless, as Johnny dropped by my house with no problems.
I'd actually met Johnny (Baldwin) at Worlds 2004, but never had the chance to shred with him. Even though we live in Tucson, we organized the shred in Casa Grande, which was a good one hour drive away. I'm still adjusting to the Arizonan concepts of "near" and "far." On the car ride to Casa Grande, Johnny mentioned that a 4th shredder would be joining us. To my surprise, shredder #4 was none other than..... wait for it..... Nathan Oates aka Highdemonslayer!!!
This revelation triggered 5 minutes of me jumping up and down in my seat laughing and repeatedly saying: "oh my god, this is too good! I can't wait to meet him! Modified won't believe this! You need to get video of us hugging and giving each other props! This is too good!"
Unfortunately, Nate didn't show, but there's still the possibility of me shredding with my online nemesis, which really tickles me.
We get into Casa Grande a little late, and Mike Jauss is there waiting for us. Both Mike and Johnny are in their 30s, but they are more hardcore and enthusiastic about footbag than most teenagers I have met. This is good news for me, since it means they are willing to drive ridiculous distances and juggle difficult schedules just to kick the old beanbag with me. We set up shop by a skatepark, and warm up a little bit. They give me props on my 43 BOP warm up, which bodes well for my ego. Mike brought a booming sound system, and for the next 4+ hours I got "rocked like a hurricane" by bands and songs I'd not heard since High School. Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Metallica, you name it. I'd never shredded to Heavy Metal before, but there's a first time for everything. I remember back in the day, maybe 2002, seeing Sebastien Duschesne do a routine to "The Hurricane" by Bob Dylan. For some reason, the thought of him doing a routine to "Rock You Like a Hurricane" really cracked me up.
Mike and Johnny impressed me. They both have pretty solid guiltless fundamental games, with a sprinkling of sets and downtime components. Mike really surprised me, since his style is uncannily like Richie Abshires. The way he holds his arms, the posture, the way his BOPs and dlos look, everything. Good dedication to his flipside too. Johnny has good variety in his game, and is working on his linking ability. He can hit blurs, dynos, torques, etc, but is still mastering putting them all together. I think they both have a good enough foundation, that hopefully they can make some major breakthroughs real soon, possibly with the help of some of my advice.
Yesterday's shred was pretty draining. We played over 4 hours, quite easily, but figuring in average string length, I got exhausted towards gthe end, while they were still good for a couple more hours. We did play a game of 3-square somewhere in the middle, which was fun, but we really could use a 4th. I think playing with Nate Oates would really motivate me. Throughout the shred there were a bunch of young kids who watched, and at one point they asked to borrow a bag, and we lent them a sandman and I gave them some tips for a bit. I was glad to see people show interest, but they weren't really the age bracket I'd like to target. Hopefully we can get a session or two at the university, cause I think that'd be a good place to find potential shredders. Worst case scenario, at least I'd get to look at pretty girls.
The shred itself was good, and we filmed for a bit, but I don't recall too much standing out. I did have a string with tripwalk, toe sidewalk, and toe blur all both sides in the same run, which was a pleasant surprise. My flip pixies also felt good throughout, which led to one of two notable new combos of the day: pixie ss dlo to toebius. Overall though, I mostly went for long strings over hard combos, and had several 30+ runs and a couple 40+ as well. Towards the end I was pretty out of ideas, so I'd ask Mike to name a 5 add trick, and Johnny to name one, and then I'd try and link them. That led to me getting tomahawk to mobius for my first time, but I planted on the mobius. At the very end of the day, I asked for a string of 3s and 4s, and after a few tries, I hit the request: legbeater-blur-dimwalk-barfly-far swirl-torque-drifter-drifter. Lucky for me that was almost entirely strong side tricks.
It was warm out, but due to the dry air, I never really sweated. Kind of a weird feeling, being hot but not sweating. Made a point to drink lots of water, and in the end I think I balanced out things well. After the shred, we hit a fast food Mexican place for lunch. Del Taco. To my surprise, it was really really good, and cheap to boot. I got a fish taco, and a spicy jack quesadilla, both which were better than any Mexican food I could find in 3 years of searching in Japan. That plus a drink was $5.51. I could get used to non-Tokyo prices for food...
Overall an excellent day of shred. It's always a thrill to play with new shredders, it just pumps me up. Everybody felt satisfied with how they played, and I think we all just generally hit it off. Hopefully we'll end up getting 2 sessions a week, which should be enough to keep my game from deteriorating too much. Go footbag.
