Lauri J's diar...footblog

sniikeri · Post by **sniikeri** » 24 Mar 2006 13:27

3/24/2006

I've hit some challenges during the past week, today one too. They aren't/weren't that hard - or weren't supposed to be

- but it's always nice to hit something new.
Nah, I'm too bored to write them down, go to check my challegor if you are that interested to know what they were.

The sport lessons in the finnish senior high-school are going back to square one. We went sledging today, haha.

That was superb.
What isn't - my tailbone hurts like hell now, and it "kind of" affected my game today. Id est no steppings, no atomics, etc.

Yep, Battlestar Galactica starts in 15 minutes. And my dad leaves to Chicago tomorrow morning, too bad he apparantly can't bring me any mesh Lavers from there.

Anz · Post by **Anz** » 24 Mar 2006 13:33

sniikeri · Post by **sniikeri** » 29 Mar 2006 10:41

*** The exam week starts tomorrow...yes, on Thursday ***

I've been "grilling my brain cells" with chemistry today, tomorrow's the test and I've always had to study some extra for the mathematical subjects. No shred today, I'm pretty tired so I guess I'll just go to bed now. It's 9.40pm.

I've had some sessions this week and they've been good but I'll write a bit more about them (...und über das Leben überhaupt...) on Friday...or on Saturday, don't know.

Kuitti.

sniikeri · Post by **sniikeri** » 02 Apr 2006 10:05

4/2/2006

Chemistry and Swedish down. Swedish was really easy; chemistry - well, not that simple. I hesitated to do the "mathematical" parts so instead I concentrated on the essay answers and for that I spent 2.5 hours of my life in that classroom.
The calculations weren't even that hard, we had had examples of them but I had read those poorly. That really would have saved time and energy, now I almost couldn't write because my hand started to shake after 2 hours.
Well at least learned something about learning.

Tomorrow's maths, thumbs up.

On Friday we had first 'snow football' at school and after that I had 1.5 hours of footbag. I'm a member of the youth council of Mouhijärvi (:D) and we had a volleyball match against the regime (?) of Mouhijärvi, i.e. adults. The match was at one other school so I went there by bus to spend the time between the end of school and the match.

I hit some good guiltless strings and Pdx Whirl bsos for the first time.
(The match didn't go that well - although only four of the adults showed up they won the game.

We had 8 players, about half of us could play better than well but the other half couldn't play at all and all the adults could play okay.
*Seliseli*

Until next year then.)

It's 9pm right now and I'm fed up with reading for tomorrow's exam. (And because it's maths the reading doesn't even help that much; besides, we can have a book there with all the formulas we need.)
I may go to shred.
But because I'm a bit tired and I don't want to break my record (a new challenge hit in 8 sessions in a row now), I'll probably have a barefoot session.

My clippers need a lot of skooling.

sniikeri · Post by **sniikeri** » 05 Apr 2006 10:16

4/4/2006

NOOOOOO, my challenge magic stopped working! I practised especially Drifters, hope I can put them solid to my runs soon. Next time I'll keep on doing the normal ones and if that goes well, start to practise pdx drifter, smoke and catacomb hard.

My bad footbag habit is that my game lacks improvising. Maybe that's because I haven't got that many tricks yet, I don't know. Another, maybe even worse habit is that after I hit a challenge, I don't practise the moves very much after that and the tricks don't become solid. But that's going to change. I'll start now to make my game manysided and try to add more improvising and solidness to it too.

My right wrist hurt. No, not because of "too much that", you sick bastards!
Too much writing, I'm sooo glad when the exams are over.
Still two exams left, history tomorrow and French on Friday. After that the shred will begin - my next school period looks easy and I haven't even got that much lessons.

I've contacted some footbag players from Nokia. I didn't really know there were players and still I don't know how active they are. It'd be cool though to have more shred sessions with more people.

I'll go watch C.S.I.N.Y. and do some excercises.

Anz · Post by **Anz** » 05 Apr 2006 23:15

Shredders in Nokia? I doubt they're any pros, but you'll make them pros.

for those who didn't know: yes, there's a city called Nokia, which the cell phone brand is named after.

sniikeri · Post by **sniikeri** » 06 Apr 2006 09:31

ana_ali wrote:Shredders in Nokia? I doubt they're any pros, but you'll make them pros.

There are two guys, they were 2nd and 3rd in intermediate at the FFO'04. I don't know how active they really are but I hear they can play guitless (if they're in shape).

The other one has hit Superfly and both(?) symposium tomahawk, so they've been better than me at some point.

I'm trying to organize a shred with them sometime.

for those who didn't know: yes, there's a city called Nokia, which the cell phone brand is named after.

You've probably heard about these "kuntaliitokset", id est municipalities/small towns are being combined together?
There are plans that Mouhijärvi would become a part of Nokia*.

It's about 400 meters to the Nokia border from where I live. I wouldn't call it a "city" though, there are only 20,000 inhabitants.

Still French to go, fortunately there's not that reading for it. I'll go to shred soon, didn't play yesterday.

*on of the other options is Vammala.

That would probably be the worst case scenario if you think only about the name; gosh, even Mouhijärvi is a 100x better name than that!

sniikeri · Post by **sniikeri** » 06 Apr 2006 10:29

Oh crap. There's a hole in my Virppabag!
I tried to shred but noticed that it leaks - and found the reason why:

The stitches have been torn apart, there were the red-brown pentagon and the yellow and the red hexagons meet.
Another pic:

I'll try to contact Virppa on msn, hope he happens to be online. The bag is great, in fact I could buy a new one from him now too.

sniikeri · Post by **sniikeri** » 11 Apr 2006 10:55

April the 11th, 2006

I've had two sessions with the method "BOP till you drop", all inspired by Anssi's genuine video.
(ss butterfly > osis > pdx mirage > rpt) > (ss butterfly > osis > infinity >infinity > pdx mirage > rpt) > ss butterfly > osis > infinity > drop on whirl.
This may be the longest guiltless run I've ever hit, haha. Man, I suck.

More practice, that's it.
I sent the bag back to Virppa today, the run was hit with a Mr. Sandman.

Hmm, I don't know if I've already written this, but what the heck.
It seems that I'm making two trips to Germany this year. First to the Worlds, after that I'll come back home for a month or so. When the school starts I'll fly to Germany again to spend the 6 months before Christmas there "broadening horizons and enriching my sould".

This means that financing the trip to the Worlds is mostly on me and I presume that my parents will pay the most for the other trip. I made some calculations and estimates about my financial status and what I've got to do.
1) I've got 158.xx€ on my account. After I've bought a new footbag (~25€) and new Lavers (~85€ ???) I've got about fifty euros. In cash I've got about 10€.
2) I need at least 350-400€, 500€ would be the best, for the trip to Worlds. The price depends on the airline. With Finnair there and back would cost me 217€, including the taxes. Ryanair would be cheaper of course but the prices there don't include taxes. So that's unsure.
3) I've got to start working for the money. A LOT. At home there's usually a lot to do so I don't at least have to go to a supermarket. And it'll be cheaper for my dad to employ me because he doesn't have to pay "double" for my living - if he employed someone else, he would still have to feed me and the employee.
4) What I'll do is try to get the new footbag gear soon so I can start saving for the trips, of course I'll start working as soon as possible.

---
5) I should write some e-mails in German to the school and "my family". And I should do it soon.

I'll keep on shredding with the sandbag, I've also thought about starting to do some other exercises that would make me play better.

sniikeri · Post by **sniikeri** » 15 Apr 2006 10:24

4/15/2006

First day out!

In the morning I digged The Laatta up. There was a lot of snow and I thought that it wouldn't melt completely till afternoon but it did.
The Laatta is concrete, which eats the shoes quickly.
That's why I searched a shred mat for me - a piece of an old wall-to-wall carpet. It's ideal, the other side is rubber and the other side is, well, carpet. It doesn't slip and it's soft.

Back to the topic: I hit some nice stuff.
- drifter > drifter both sides
- pixie ss whirl both sides
- 20+ guiltless runs, mostly BOP

I hope I can shred outside tomorrow too.
Too bad it's the holidays and mail doesn't run (I guess). My shuffle needs a 32.

sniikeri · Post by **sniikeri** » 16 Apr 2006 10:31

4/16/2006

Another outdoor session.
I even vacuumed my shred mat, there was dust in it from over a decade.

I hit a 30-contact guiltless run (again mostly BOP). I also hit Blur > Dimwalk > Ripwalk > Ripwalk > Blur > Dimwalk > drop at least twice, I somehow ran out of tricks.

I could try something like Blizzard, Sidewalk or Pdx Whirl out of it. I even tried those today but my muscle memory didn't recognize the tricks.

It's sooo good to shred outside again. It feels like my shred evolved in some way this weekend, haha.

sniikeri · Post by **sniikeri** » 22 Apr 2006 03:58

4/22/2006

Some outdoor sessions this week. I've also played more in The Navetta, because although it has mostly been a sunny weather, it has been too windy to shred on The Laatta.
I've hit some nice links, I just hope I can do them with a 32 too.

Virppa hasn't sent the bag yet although I hear it's already fixed, I guess he'll make the new 32 ready too and send them at the same time (?).
Although I think that I may have to ask him to send me the red/yellow/brown one, I can't wait much longer.

It's a nice weather out there, I'll definitely go to shred today. I'm just thinking if I'd go running a bit before that...
My brother asks me to come to kick football with him. I'll go do that.

(I also think that he and one his friends might start to play footbag now, maybe both freestyle and net.)

sniikeri · Post by **sniikeri** » 23 Apr 2006 06:46

4/23/2006

Today has probably been the warmest day so far in 2006.

Drifter > whirl > repeat

downtime swirl both sides, set from toe

Torque > hand catch many times, still no trick seal

I usually try Torques at the end of my sessions and that's why I haven't got enough energy for many tries. Maybe I've got to 'sanctify' one or two sessions just for Torques and Blenders.

I've had five or six sessions this week, it's definitely spring time.

Playing hard in the winter really pays off, I see now. Now it's time to hit new stuff!

I hate the wind though.

sniikeri · Post by **sniikeri** » 25 Apr 2006 06:59

4/25/2006

Nice session yesterday.
I would have liked to play more footbag though.

The weather was unbelievebly great; warm, clear and no wind because I went to kick after 8 pm.
First I got interrupted when my grandparents came back from Lapland. They live right next to us. Grandpa came to chat about their trip.
Then there was a spectacular show at the sky by altogether 10(!) F/A-18 Hornet fighters, which really doesn't happen every day.

Ten was more than I had ever seen before at once. I don't now what moves the Air Force was training. It looked cool though.

The clock was around 9 pm when they flew back to their base and I decided it was time to go and take a shower.
I hit nothing new or great (footed 7 contacts of unique tripless) and didn't even play that much, but it was a nice session.

Oh, and earlier yesterday I bought my fifth juggling ball. This is where hitting the head to the wall starts...

sniikeri · Post by **sniikeri** » 28 Apr 2006 06:13

4/28/2006

Yesterday's session:
- 7 contacts unique tripless (the same old blur > dimwalk > ripwalk > ripwalk > blur > dimwalk but with a sidewalk before the string.

Pdx Whirl, the 8th contact - again off the the foot...

?
- 30+ contacts guiltless

I guess I could still do a parkwalk before the sidewalk > blur > ..., I just need that pdx whirl down!

My knees hurt a bit because The Slab is concrete and I play a lot these days.

sniikeri · Post by **sniikeri** » 30 Apr 2006 03:01

4/30/2006

Yesterday I runned/jogged for 30 minutes and later that day I had a 90-minute shred session.
Running felt nice - I'm in a good shape thanks to footbag, breathing wasn't a problem. The only problem was that footbag and running use different muscles and the fronts of my legs (below the knees) hurt a bit now. I should probably do more running too.
I don't know if footbag and distance running support each other that much because the time you need endurance for is different. Anyways, I think it's good to do something else than footbag too, just to keep myself manysided.

The session was okay. First I thought the session would be awesome because I was very close to a lot of things, but then couldn't really hit anything new.
- Torque > hand catch three times in a row both sides, still no trick seal

- average length guiltless strings, not just BOP
- osis > ripwalk bs

I PMed Virppa yesterday. I think I'll start filming when I'll get a 32, although it may first take some time to get used to it after 3 weeks using only mr. sandman.

sniikeri · Post by **sniikeri** » 01 May 2006 00:56

Vapunaatto Shred Mouhijärvi 2006

I think I can finally start calling myself a shredder.

Yesterday, after only a couple of years of trying, I hit
Torque > infinity both freaking sides.

So that's my trick seal.
The story is, that when I started kicking footbag in 2003 and after I had watched some trick videos at footbag.fi, I decided to have three goal tricks: ripwalk, whirl and torque.
Now at last I've hit them both sides and sealed them, although I still need to bee-sauce torque. I'm relieved.

My session last 90 minutes again and my legs were very, very tired after that. There was an article about different running surfaces in a runners' magazine and it said that concrete is a lot harder than asphalt.
The Laatta is concrete.

Although I'm using pieces of carpet as my shred mat there, I don't think it absorbs the shock that much.
I think I'll just need to take it easier - if I'll shred today I'll probably just concentrate on skooling torques.

But now I'll go to juggle in the sunshine.

edit: it would be really cool to have a shred jam at vappu...

sniikeri · Post by **sniikeri** » 02 May 2006 06:55

Yesterday's shred session, 5/1/2006

Haha, we started playing net with Aapo, my brother.
I shouldn't really say 'net' because:
a) we didn't use a net (just a jump rope on the ground)
b) we don't have a net bag. (We used my old pro32 -sandbag)

Actually we had two net sessions yesterday. The second one was remarkably better than the first one but we both suck - a lot.
In my opinion net is an okay pastime (:P), it's good especially when your legs are too tired for shredding but you just need to kick something. And you need four players to 4-square.
Maybe net is different in the "professional" level.

Shredded a bit too. I had an only-Torques session and got more trick seals. Someday torques will be the flagship of my game, haha.

---

I was already running today, I'm not sure if I can shred today - the weather doesn't look that good...
> school work > juggling.

sniikeri · Post by **sniikeri** » 03 May 2006 21:12

5/3/2006

Perfect footbag day.
First 2+ hours of easy net kicking with my brother and his friend (they played as a double team, I as single). It was totally different from the first sessions.

Then I had a 40-minute easy shred session and I hit

Torque bsos
Barrage (only the other side and only once; I think my both sides are equal)

Summer.

Lauri · Post by **Lauri** » 06 May 2006 01:18

nice stuff lauri, you're progressing insanely fast, man

btw, do you like my signature?