Man, yesterday (April 21st, 2006) was one of the worst in a long time. I took the GREs in the morning, and it didn't go as well as I expected. I put a lot of time and effort preparing for them, and ended up scoring a good 100 points below my target range. I probably wouldn't find this as crushing if I had a job or future prospects, or even some friends to comfort me, but I have none of these. Almost everything else the rest of the day also went wrong. My folks took me to one of my favorite restaurants to cheer me up, and the pizza I ordered was too spicy; I couldn't even eat a single slice. We had to send it back. I went to the local arcade and learned that there was a concert going on inside, so I'd have to make a minimum purchase of $5 in tokens. Fuck that. That's so ridiculous, I don't want to think about it. I went home with the hopes of watching the only episode of The Sopranos that I had yet to see, but the DVD skipped and stuck so much, it was unwatchable. The only good part of my day was footbag, but in some ways even that wasn't enough to salvage my mental state.
Miki (floppy bag) highlights:
*pdx drifter-pdx egg bsos pretty easily.
*vortex-ducking butterfly. Or did I hit this with the Ilja?
*dimwalk-gyro mirage (no plant) repeat
*11 pixie ss mirages.
That last highlight was a surprise, since the Miki sets so badly. Maybe that forced me to do exaggerated pixie sets... in any case, it shattered my old record of 5 pixie ss mirages. I decided I should try it later with the Ilja to make it official. I worked on rubberman a bit, but that was hopeless with such a floppy bag, so I switched to Ilja.
Ilja highlights:
*Rubberman starting on blur, to duck bfly-dive bfly repeat, to duck butter x2. I was stoked on this, cause I normally start my rubberman with legbeater.
*dimwalk-gyro mirage (np) repeat.
*14 pixie ss mirages! Awesome, new record.
*Frenzy, both sides. One decent look at bsos, but no go.
*ewalk-pdx blender, then later in the run I bsosed the pdx blender and bsosed blurry whirl.
*ewalk-pdx blender on the other side, footed bsos in the same run.
On a total whim, I tried backside frantic set, and got it! It's a real weird feeling set... the only move/set I've ever hit which resembles it, is the floating set (wonton miraging). It's weird, cause if you try and do the pixie and symp mirage all at once, the pixie becomes "the" and you lose your balance. Instead, you have to do a regular pixie, and the SECOND you clear the dex, you jump the symp mirage. Actually, you jump a split second earlier, but mentally you must complete the first dex before doing the second. In that respect, its a lot like frantic. The footwork is actually a little easier, but it requires a lot more strength and balance. It's a real shin-killing set. I tried it flipside (weak pixie/strong wonton) and it's do-able, but it really hurt my (injured) ankle, so I layed off it. Even strong side, I had to take a few-minute break after doing a couple, just to get my strength back. Using this new set, I hit the following moves/combos cleanly, all for my first time.
*beta ewalk-blur
*beta frenzy! Real tricky balance.
*beta ewalk-blurry torque! I was real proud of this, cause 6-6 whirl-free combos are rare. Quick, off the top of your head, name two 6-6 whirl-free combos you have seen. Hard isn't it?
*bs frantic eclipse. So like, pixie wonton eclipse. I'm guessing this must be an invention of mine, cause how many people do symp frantic sets AND eclipses? In any case, getting three new 6-add tricks in a session felt good. I'd like to play around a bit more with this set in the future, but I have to be reeeeal careful, cause it's just the kind of hard-on-your-body set that I've been trying to avoid and phase out of my game.
Life has been hard lately, but I keep reminding myself of all the things I'm fortunate to have. Footbag is up around the top of that list. I just gotta tough it out, cause I know good times await me in the future.
Fanzine
April 22nd, 2006
Went for a swim today which really tired me out, but there was no doubt that I was gonna get in a shred too. Just mentally I need it, so I don't crack. My shins were kinda achey from yesterday's backside frantic stuff, so the plan was to stick to the Miki bag all session, and play lightly. For the most part I stuck to the plan. I only switched to the Ilja to hit a couple combos which were just too hard with a floppy bag. Today's highlights aren't spectacular, but that's good, cause I was trying to take it easy. I let the runs just flow and come to me; I didn't force the action too much. Went for a lot of cute, easy drills, which probably solidified my fundamentals a little, which is always good.
Miki-bag highlights:
*pdx drifter-whirl-pdx egg bsos, with bsos paradon and bsos barfly in the same run.
*dimwalk-whirl-blur repeat.
*reverse whirl double bsos.
*a run with drifter, dod, pdx drifter, and pdx egg all bsos.
*whirl-whirl-drifter-drifter-drifter repeat.
*gyro butterfly-blender. Cute rewind combo.
*reverse swirl-pdx drifter both sides.
*pdx egg-dod-barfly repeat, and in the same run I had ripwalk-ripwalk-blur-dimwalk repeat to a few more 4s.
Ilja bag highlights:
* "blurry" reverse whirl bsos.
*tapping blender for my first time ever. Hit pdx blender using the other blender during the seal. Kinda weird that I had hit atomic blender before tapping...I'm actually not 100% sure today was my first time, but probably was.
My mental game wasn't great, but given all the stress I've been under, I did OK. I understood why my mental game struggled, and I can't blame myself for it. My ankle still feels funny, especially during warm-up, but it feels fine once I'm warmed up. I got my exercise, I got some adds on the shoes, and I got some combos which felt stylish. I didn't push my body too far or hurt myself. Even so, I may take tomorrow off just to be safe.
Today was a little better than yesterday.
Went for a swim today which really tired me out, but there was no doubt that I was gonna get in a shred too. Just mentally I need it, so I don't crack. My shins were kinda achey from yesterday's backside frantic stuff, so the plan was to stick to the Miki bag all session, and play lightly. For the most part I stuck to the plan. I only switched to the Ilja to hit a couple combos which were just too hard with a floppy bag. Today's highlights aren't spectacular, but that's good, cause I was trying to take it easy. I let the runs just flow and come to me; I didn't force the action too much. Went for a lot of cute, easy drills, which probably solidified my fundamentals a little, which is always good.
Miki-bag highlights:
*pdx drifter-whirl-pdx egg bsos, with bsos paradon and bsos barfly in the same run.
*dimwalk-whirl-blur repeat.
*reverse whirl double bsos.
*a run with drifter, dod, pdx drifter, and pdx egg all bsos.
*whirl-whirl-drifter-drifter-drifter repeat.
*gyro butterfly-blender. Cute rewind combo.
*reverse swirl-pdx drifter both sides.
*pdx egg-dod-barfly repeat, and in the same run I had ripwalk-ripwalk-blur-dimwalk repeat to a few more 4s.
Ilja bag highlights:
* "blurry" reverse whirl bsos.
*tapping blender for my first time ever. Hit pdx blender using the other blender during the seal. Kinda weird that I had hit atomic blender before tapping...I'm actually not 100% sure today was my first time, but probably was.
My mental game wasn't great, but given all the stress I've been under, I did OK. I understood why my mental game struggled, and I can't blame myself for it. My ankle still feels funny, especially during warm-up, but it feels fine once I'm warmed up. I got my exercise, I got some adds on the shoes, and I got some combos which felt stylish. I didn't push my body too far or hurt myself. Even so, I may take tomorrow off just to be safe.
Today was a little better than yesterday.
April 24th, 2006
Today was my second day in a row without footbag, and I feel fine. I went swimming in the morning, and then went to intermediate yoga at night. I didn't find it nearly as physically grueling as last time. Not as much fun as footbag, but good overall body workout, and relaxing in its own way. I'm actually really happy I took a couple days off footbag. Physically, I feel better. I've been pushing my body a bit too hard in recent sessions (six add session, bs frantic session, lots of big tricks), and my body was definitely feeling it. But more than that, I think I was asking for too much from footbag. Not from a footbag standpoint, but from a life-satisfaction standpoint. I've been pretty down and unhappy and stressed lately, and I was going into my recent sessions completely banking (hoping) they would keep me afloat mentally. While footbag has definitely helped me out, I can't expect it to be the panacea to my problems. I need to be able to look forward to more than just footbag in my day-to-day.
I've decided I'm going to re-take the GREs, and continue applying to jobs. It's not fun, but at least it's a plan. In footbag, you gotta keep picking the bag off the floor, keep going for that trick, that combo, til you get it. I'm trying to apply that lesson to my current situation.
Today was my second day in a row without footbag, and I feel fine. I went swimming in the morning, and then went to intermediate yoga at night. I didn't find it nearly as physically grueling as last time. Not as much fun as footbag, but good overall body workout, and relaxing in its own way. I'm actually really happy I took a couple days off footbag. Physically, I feel better. I've been pushing my body a bit too hard in recent sessions (six add session, bs frantic session, lots of big tricks), and my body was definitely feeling it. But more than that, I think I was asking for too much from footbag. Not from a footbag standpoint, but from a life-satisfaction standpoint. I've been pretty down and unhappy and stressed lately, and I was going into my recent sessions completely banking (hoping) they would keep me afloat mentally. While footbag has definitely helped me out, I can't expect it to be the panacea to my problems. I need to be able to look forward to more than just footbag in my day-to-day.
I've decided I'm going to re-take the GREs, and continue applying to jobs. It's not fun, but at least it's a plan. In footbag, you gotta keep picking the bag off the floor, keep going for that trick, that combo, til you get it. I'm trying to apply that lesson to my current situation.
April 25th, 2006
After taking 2 days off, it felt good to shred today. Even so, I find the stress of my life creeping in on my shreds and tainting them a bit. Like, I'll hit good stuff, and afterwards when I read my highlights it objectively looks like a good shred, but I just don't enjoy myself during the session itself as much as I should. This has happened to me before, and it sucks, but there's not much I can do about it until my life does get back on track.
Physically I felt good, but my ankle still felt off during my warmup. Again, it felt fine once I warmed up, but it still concerns me a bit. Mentally I had my lapses (I kicked my waterbottle at one point) and got frustrated by stupid shit sometimes, but I was aware of why I was bothered, and that helped me control how I reacted. On the whole I stayed on my mental game, and I finished with a nice list of highlights.
Miki-bag highlights.
*{clipper DLO-drifter} repeat to {whirl-pdx whirl-pdx drifter} repeat.
*alpine legbeater to {blizzard-dimwalk} repeat to {barfly-pdx drifter} repeat.
*barfly-pdx egg-dod repeat to barfly.
*ripped warrior-tomahawk
*sailing butter-blurriest-ducking butterfly to a few more tripless, good run with both pixies and some spins.
Ilja bag highlights.
*ripped warrior-tomahawk
*flurry-paradon-barfly... BSOS! Real stoked about this. I should try and put them together.
*beta ewalk-pdlo.
*beta ewalk-blur-dimwalk-ducking butter-blizzard
*pixie wonton legover (like, crispy beta smog)
*Beta ewalk-blurry torque-butterfly. I hit BEW-bl. torque to handcatch a couple times, but I only felt real good about counting it once I sealed it guiltlessly. Very hard combo... I really felt I earned all the adds in that 6-6.
*sailing butterfly-blurriest-tomahawk.
*vortex and mobius in the same run, using diff spins, no plant on either.
*pdx egg-dod-barfly repeat, then darkwalk-pdx torque in the seal. About 20 contact run, I ended my session on it.
*FS legbeater-fog-darkwalk-blurrier-pdx torque
*alpine legbeater-fog-darkwalk-bedwetter-phoenix-tomahawk.
Looking at my highlights now, it seems like a great session, but I didn't come out of it feeling as good about it as I should. Still, adds are adds, and as long as I don't injure myself, it's progress. My ankle is good enough (when warm) that I'm thinking I may try for my first beast, or for 10 unique fearless (my current record is
. On the other hand, it might be a better idea to take it easy on the body... we'll see. Pretty tired now... thinking, hard. Can't wait til the CSS7 footage starts coming out...
After taking 2 days off, it felt good to shred today. Even so, I find the stress of my life creeping in on my shreds and tainting them a bit. Like, I'll hit good stuff, and afterwards when I read my highlights it objectively looks like a good shred, but I just don't enjoy myself during the session itself as much as I should. This has happened to me before, and it sucks, but there's not much I can do about it until my life does get back on track.
Physically I felt good, but my ankle still felt off during my warmup. Again, it felt fine once I warmed up, but it still concerns me a bit. Mentally I had my lapses (I kicked my waterbottle at one point) and got frustrated by stupid shit sometimes, but I was aware of why I was bothered, and that helped me control how I reacted. On the whole I stayed on my mental game, and I finished with a nice list of highlights.
Miki-bag highlights.
*{clipper DLO-drifter} repeat to {whirl-pdx whirl-pdx drifter} repeat.
*alpine legbeater to {blizzard-dimwalk} repeat to {barfly-pdx drifter} repeat.
*barfly-pdx egg-dod repeat to barfly.
*ripped warrior-tomahawk
*sailing butter-blurriest-ducking butterfly to a few more tripless, good run with both pixies and some spins.
Ilja bag highlights.
*ripped warrior-tomahawk
*flurry-paradon-barfly... BSOS! Real stoked about this. I should try and put them together.
*beta ewalk-pdlo.
*beta ewalk-blur-dimwalk-ducking butter-blizzard
*pixie wonton legover (like, crispy beta smog)
*Beta ewalk-blurry torque-butterfly. I hit BEW-bl. torque to handcatch a couple times, but I only felt real good about counting it once I sealed it guiltlessly. Very hard combo... I really felt I earned all the adds in that 6-6.
*sailing butterfly-blurriest-tomahawk.
*vortex and mobius in the same run, using diff spins, no plant on either.
*pdx egg-dod-barfly repeat, then darkwalk-pdx torque in the seal. About 20 contact run, I ended my session on it.
*FS legbeater-fog-darkwalk-blurrier-pdx torque
*alpine legbeater-fog-darkwalk-bedwetter-phoenix-tomahawk.
Looking at my highlights now, it seems like a great session, but I didn't come out of it feeling as good about it as I should. Still, adds are adds, and as long as I don't injure myself, it's progress. My ankle is good enough (when warm) that I'm thinking I may try for my first beast, or for 10 unique fearless (my current record is
. On the other hand, it might be a better idea to take it easy on the body... we'll see. Pretty tired now... thinking, hard. Can't wait til the CSS7 footage starts coming out...April 27th, 2006
Still feeling pretty down. I'm trying real hard to keep my mental game together, not let things get to me, but it's hard. Yesterday I forwent footbag for yoga and swimming. Taking days off footbag is probably a good thing. I played today, despite the strangely bad weather. There was a persistent, cold breeze, and I had to play in a long-sleeve shirt. My hands got clammy, and I never really broke a sweat or felt truly warmed up. This sort of weather in Tucson in late April was real surprising. The closest thing I could compare it to would be snow in May in NYC.
The main thing I worked on today was flip PDLO. Most of my 4s are pretty strong on both sides, but pdlo is a notable exception. Recently, I've started thinking about flip pdx egg differently, and I applied that theory to pdlo today with good results. The way I think about both tricks, is I start a pdx mirage (or pdx illusion) and halfway through the dex I change my mind and go for legover. In Street Fighter 2 terminology, it's like I supercancel my first move (hadoken/pdx mirage) with the second (shinkuu hadoken/legover). Whatever, it works for me.
I started off with the Miki-bag, but once I realized flip PDLO was "on" today, I switched to Ilja to make all my highlights legit.
Miki-bag highlights:
*pdx drifter-pdlo bsos
*legbeater-pdx whirl-pdlo repeat.
Ilja-bag highlights:
*pdx drifter-pdlo bsos
*legbeater-pdx whirl-pdlo repeat.
*bl. whirl-pdlo bsos.
*reverse swirl-pdlo, then I bsosed pdlo in the seal.
*bl. drifter double bsos
*pdlo double bsos, and nearly pdx egg double bsos in the same run.
*pdlo-parkwalk-ducking butterfly repeat
*paradon-pdlo repeat
*pdlo-drifter-drifter repeat.
*5 contacts of pdlo-dimwalk repeat. This run had pdlo double bsos, and was my first time pixie setting out of flip pdlo.
*5 contacts of fog-dimwalk repeat! This used weak fog twice, and was my first time pixie-ing out of flip fog.
*ducking pdlo, strong side only. Had some nice looks at flip, but I was having trouble staying warm.
And my new trick of the session was... Predator! The new style of flip dlo saves me so much time, that I flat out KNEW I would be able to get predator today. Sure enough, I nailed it on my second try, very controlled. Shout out to Keita in Japan, that one was for you. I should try bladerunner next session.
Lately my downtime four adds have been feeling real strong and dependable. It seems like these days shuffle 4s are much more common, so I'm happy I can mix things up with downtime 4s. Variety is always a good thing. I feel like I have a lot more variety in my game than people are aware of. I hope I'll like the footage of me from CSS7.
Still feeling pretty down. I'm trying real hard to keep my mental game together, not let things get to me, but it's hard. Yesterday I forwent footbag for yoga and swimming. Taking days off footbag is probably a good thing. I played today, despite the strangely bad weather. There was a persistent, cold breeze, and I had to play in a long-sleeve shirt. My hands got clammy, and I never really broke a sweat or felt truly warmed up. This sort of weather in Tucson in late April was real surprising. The closest thing I could compare it to would be snow in May in NYC.
The main thing I worked on today was flip PDLO. Most of my 4s are pretty strong on both sides, but pdlo is a notable exception. Recently, I've started thinking about flip pdx egg differently, and I applied that theory to pdlo today with good results. The way I think about both tricks, is I start a pdx mirage (or pdx illusion) and halfway through the dex I change my mind and go for legover. In Street Fighter 2 terminology, it's like I supercancel my first move (hadoken/pdx mirage) with the second (shinkuu hadoken/legover). Whatever, it works for me.
I started off with the Miki-bag, but once I realized flip PDLO was "on" today, I switched to Ilja to make all my highlights legit.
Miki-bag highlights:
*pdx drifter-pdlo bsos
*legbeater-pdx whirl-pdlo repeat.
Ilja-bag highlights:
*pdx drifter-pdlo bsos
*legbeater-pdx whirl-pdlo repeat.
*bl. whirl-pdlo bsos.
*reverse swirl-pdlo, then I bsosed pdlo in the seal.
*bl. drifter double bsos
*pdlo double bsos, and nearly pdx egg double bsos in the same run.
*pdlo-parkwalk-ducking butterfly repeat
*paradon-pdlo repeat
*pdlo-drifter-drifter repeat.
*5 contacts of pdlo-dimwalk repeat. This run had pdlo double bsos, and was my first time pixie setting out of flip pdlo.
*5 contacts of fog-dimwalk repeat! This used weak fog twice, and was my first time pixie-ing out of flip fog.
*ducking pdlo, strong side only. Had some nice looks at flip, but I was having trouble staying warm.
And my new trick of the session was... Predator! The new style of flip dlo saves me so much time, that I flat out KNEW I would be able to get predator today. Sure enough, I nailed it on my second try, very controlled. Shout out to Keita in Japan, that one was for you. I should try bladerunner next session.
Lately my downtime four adds have been feeling real strong and dependable. It seems like these days shuffle 4s are much more common, so I'm happy I can mix things up with downtime 4s. Variety is always a good thing. I feel like I have a lot more variety in my game than people are aware of. I hope I'll like the footage of me from CSS7.
April 29th, 2006
Still feeling pretty down. Can't really recall the last time I felt so down, probably when I was a high school freshman in Spain. Just gotta keep my head up, cause I know things will get on track in the future. I'm sure the next time I get lucky I'll feel like it was all worth it.
Played today, but I started the session a little later than planned, thanks to the Mavericks-Grizzlies game. I watched the first 3.5 quarters with detached boredom, but the last 3 minutes of regulation were incredible. I'm glad I'm not a Grizzlies fan, cause the game was heartbreaking. The Mavs literally ripped the still-beating heart out of the chest of the Griz, and stomped on it on the hardwood floor of the FedEx forum. As an impartial observer, it was entertaining to me, but for Grizz fan... that must have been beyond brutal.
I felt physically strong going into today's shred. My ankle didn't really bother me, just a bit on flip pdx grifters. I used the Miki-bag to warm up but switched over pretty quick. Today I mostly worked on the PDLO progress from last time; I'd like to make flip dlos a solid part of the repertoire.
Miki highlights:
*blurriest-pdlo bsos
*flip pdlo-dimwalk-blur-dimwalk-pdx egg to start a nice string which included blurrier and bsosed pdlo.
*vortex-dlo, then pdlo bsos.
Ilja highlights:
*pdx drifter-pdlo-dimwalk repeat, to ducking butterfly-sidewalk repeat.
*pdx grifter-pdx drifter
*other pdx grifter-pdlo
*pdx grifter bsos.
*paradon swirl-flip pdlo. bsosed the pdlo.
*predator again! Fog bsos and a pdx torque in the seal.
*tapping blender, with pdx blender (other blender) in the seal.
*atomic drifter-duck butterfly-fog-dimwalk-fog-pixie drop.
*atomic blender. Blurriest bsos, a pdx torque, a fog, and a pdx blender in the seal.
*beta ewalk-pdx torque. bsos pdlo in the seal.
*fog-dim repeat to pdx blender.
*sailing ss dlo, with a bl whirl and a no-plant gdlo in the seal.
*ducking pdlo. fog bsos in the seal.
*flipside ducking pdlo, my first ever. Nearly made it bsos.
And my best run of the day was:
* {pdx egg-dimwalk} repeat to {pdlo-dimwalk} repeat to {ducking butterfly-sidewalk} repeat to {diving butterfly-ducking clipper} repeat to spinning clipper. I never thought my flip pixies or flip dlo/eggs would ever get strong enough for me to hit something like this. Very happy about this.
Overall my mental game was better than it has been lately. The worst low-point was when I missed a trick and the bag landed in the base of a cactus, and I got a cactus needle in my finger while retrieving it. Had to go inside and get tweezers to get it out. But overall it was a good session. Hit one new trick, lots of new combos, and the flip pdx eggs, fogs, and pdlos all felt like they will soon become staples in my game.
Still feeling pretty down. Can't really recall the last time I felt so down, probably when I was a high school freshman in Spain. Just gotta keep my head up, cause I know things will get on track in the future. I'm sure the next time I get lucky I'll feel like it was all worth it.
Played today, but I started the session a little later than planned, thanks to the Mavericks-Grizzlies game. I watched the first 3.5 quarters with detached boredom, but the last 3 minutes of regulation were incredible. I'm glad I'm not a Grizzlies fan, cause the game was heartbreaking. The Mavs literally ripped the still-beating heart out of the chest of the Griz, and stomped on it on the hardwood floor of the FedEx forum. As an impartial observer, it was entertaining to me, but for Grizz fan... that must have been beyond brutal.
I felt physically strong going into today's shred. My ankle didn't really bother me, just a bit on flip pdx grifters. I used the Miki-bag to warm up but switched over pretty quick. Today I mostly worked on the PDLO progress from last time; I'd like to make flip dlos a solid part of the repertoire.
Miki highlights:
*blurriest-pdlo bsos
*flip pdlo-dimwalk-blur-dimwalk-pdx egg to start a nice string which included blurrier and bsosed pdlo.
*vortex-dlo, then pdlo bsos.
Ilja highlights:
*pdx drifter-pdlo-dimwalk repeat, to ducking butterfly-sidewalk repeat.
*pdx grifter-pdx drifter
*other pdx grifter-pdlo
*pdx grifter bsos.
*paradon swirl-flip pdlo. bsosed the pdlo.
*predator again! Fog bsos and a pdx torque in the seal.
*tapping blender, with pdx blender (other blender) in the seal.
*atomic drifter-duck butterfly-fog-dimwalk-fog-pixie drop.
*atomic blender. Blurriest bsos, a pdx torque, a fog, and a pdx blender in the seal.
*beta ewalk-pdx torque. bsos pdlo in the seal.
*fog-dim repeat to pdx blender.
*sailing ss dlo, with a bl whirl and a no-plant gdlo in the seal.
*ducking pdlo. fog bsos in the seal.
*flipside ducking pdlo, my first ever. Nearly made it bsos.
And my best run of the day was:
* {pdx egg-dimwalk} repeat to {pdlo-dimwalk} repeat to {ducking butterfly-sidewalk} repeat to {diving butterfly-ducking clipper} repeat to spinning clipper. I never thought my flip pixies or flip dlo/eggs would ever get strong enough for me to hit something like this. Very happy about this.
Overall my mental game was better than it has been lately. The worst low-point was when I missed a trick and the bag landed in the base of a cactus, and I got a cactus needle in my finger while retrieving it. Had to go inside and get tweezers to get it out. But overall it was a good session. Hit one new trick, lots of new combos, and the flip pdx eggs, fogs, and pdlos all felt like they will soon become staples in my game.
I already though I'm still too drunk to surf on net, but Mike explained me already.April 30th, 2006
Went to see the musical (performance?) STOMP tonight, which was really incredible. As with many other good shows, it made me realize that we don't present footbag as well as we could. I see street performers who only do one easy trick, but they are good at building crowds and getting people hyped. You don't need to play fearless to impress people. DATW and pendulum, along with some 2-bag juggling is more than enough if you are skilled at working crowds. Something to think about.
Because of the show, I could only get in a short session today. I played for a little over an hour, but it turned out well. The plan was to use the Miki bag and go easy, but the bag gave me so many problems, I had to switch out within a few minutes of playing. I really appreciate the gesture of friendship that went into making me a bag, but it really has a lot of faults. It's a tri-color bag, and one of the colors pilled for a long time, and now that color (and only that color) is...balding? Hard to explain. It also isn't properly stitched between panels, so lately it's been spitting out beads despite lacking any holes. I dunno, I should probably give it a 2nd retirement, but maybe I'll try and glue the gaps between panels. Anyway. Today's highlights were all with the ilja bag.
I began today's session by schooling whirligig on one side. I can't really say I have a strong or weak side, since one uses weak stepping and strong ps whirl, and the other is the opposite. The one that uses weak ps whirl is definitely clean throughout, but not real consistent (1 out of 3 or 4). I had never played out of it with anything other than infinity before today. Today I managed:
*whirligig-ducking butterfly-pdx torque.
*whirligig- (planting)pdx drifter-ducking butterfly-fog-dimwalk-fog-pixie drop.
*whirligig-tomahawk.
I decided I should continue skooling pdlo type stuff, and overall it felt pretty good. I should skool it every session though so it becomes second nature.
*fog-toe blur both sides.
*pdlo-toe ripwalk bsos.
*flurry-toe ripwalk both sides. Each time I bsosed the flurry, but couldn't pull off the combo bsos.
On a whim I decided to try for a sumo. My nuclear sets are pretty terrible, and I usually only ever hit matador or pdx tap using them. I hadn't hit a sumo (either side) in at least 2 years. So I was positively stunned when I hit one on my first try! A little more skooling yielded:
*sumo, sealed with a run. Both sides!
...and finally:
*sumo bsos!!! That's definitely a first for me.
I think the key for me was not focussing too much on the set. I think I normally think too hard about nuclear, and that messes me up. Today I just set it, then went for atom smasher. Amazingly (to me), there was enough time to get the dexes.
With time ticking on the session, I wanted to close out on something good. Earlier, I had hit flurry bsos a ton of times while going for the tripwalk combo, and since flip fogs have improved so much thanks to my recent pdlo skooling, I decided I'd try and get fog and flurry all bsos in a combo. I remember back on California Connection, one of the coolest Mulroney strings started with fog-ss butter-flurry. I thought that was so impressive that his fog and flurry ended on different toes. I didn't notice/care that he never did either trick flip. So it felt pretty cool today to try and do fogs and flurries ending on opp toes, on BOTH sides in the SAME combo. It took a few more tries than expected, but eventually it paid off with:
*fog, flurry, blurry whirl, and ducking butterfly all BS in OS, with a pdx torque in the seal for good measure. Score.
I was real happy with the day's session, mostly just cause my mental game held up so well. I hadn't been that level-headed in a shred in a while. I'm gonna try and start a streak, and really focus on keeping my cool and enjoying the moment when I play. Since footbag is my emotional anchor, I need to make sure it is as positive and fun as possible.
Went to see the musical (performance?) STOMP tonight, which was really incredible. As with many other good shows, it made me realize that we don't present footbag as well as we could. I see street performers who only do one easy trick, but they are good at building crowds and getting people hyped. You don't need to play fearless to impress people. DATW and pendulum, along with some 2-bag juggling is more than enough if you are skilled at working crowds. Something to think about.
Because of the show, I could only get in a short session today. I played for a little over an hour, but it turned out well. The plan was to use the Miki bag and go easy, but the bag gave me so many problems, I had to switch out within a few minutes of playing. I really appreciate the gesture of friendship that went into making me a bag, but it really has a lot of faults. It's a tri-color bag, and one of the colors pilled for a long time, and now that color (and only that color) is...balding? Hard to explain. It also isn't properly stitched between panels, so lately it's been spitting out beads despite lacking any holes. I dunno, I should probably give it a 2nd retirement, but maybe I'll try and glue the gaps between panels. Anyway. Today's highlights were all with the ilja bag.
I began today's session by schooling whirligig on one side. I can't really say I have a strong or weak side, since one uses weak stepping and strong ps whirl, and the other is the opposite. The one that uses weak ps whirl is definitely clean throughout, but not real consistent (1 out of 3 or 4). I had never played out of it with anything other than infinity before today. Today I managed:
*whirligig-ducking butterfly-pdx torque.
*whirligig- (planting)pdx drifter-ducking butterfly-fog-dimwalk-fog-pixie drop.
*whirligig-tomahawk.
I decided I should continue skooling pdlo type stuff, and overall it felt pretty good. I should skool it every session though so it becomes second nature.
*fog-toe blur both sides.
*pdlo-toe ripwalk bsos.
*flurry-toe ripwalk both sides. Each time I bsosed the flurry, but couldn't pull off the combo bsos.
On a whim I decided to try for a sumo. My nuclear sets are pretty terrible, and I usually only ever hit matador or pdx tap using them. I hadn't hit a sumo (either side) in at least 2 years. So I was positively stunned when I hit one on my first try! A little more skooling yielded:
*sumo, sealed with a run. Both sides!
...and finally:
*sumo bsos!!! That's definitely a first for me.
I think the key for me was not focussing too much on the set. I think I normally think too hard about nuclear, and that messes me up. Today I just set it, then went for atom smasher. Amazingly (to me), there was enough time to get the dexes.
With time ticking on the session, I wanted to close out on something good. Earlier, I had hit flurry bsos a ton of times while going for the tripwalk combo, and since flip fogs have improved so much thanks to my recent pdlo skooling, I decided I'd try and get fog and flurry all bsos in a combo. I remember back on California Connection, one of the coolest Mulroney strings started with fog-ss butter-flurry. I thought that was so impressive that his fog and flurry ended on different toes. I didn't notice/care that he never did either trick flip. So it felt pretty cool today to try and do fogs and flurries ending on opp toes, on BOTH sides in the SAME combo. It took a few more tries than expected, but eventually it paid off with:
*fog, flurry, blurry whirl, and ducking butterfly all BS in OS, with a pdx torque in the seal for good measure. Score.
I was real happy with the day's session, mostly just cause my mental game held up so well. I hadn't been that level-headed in a shred in a while. I'm gonna try and start a streak, and really focus on keeping my cool and enjoying the moment when I play. Since footbag is my emotional anchor, I need to make sure it is as positive and fun as possible.
May 2nd 2006
I went into today's session thinking that I could hit a new 7 add. I had air-shredded it, thought it out, and it seemed do-able. I played around with it some today, but it didn't work the way I thought it would, and I didn't hit it. Buuuuuut.....
Let's not get too far ahead.
I started the session off using my repaired Henmo bag. As I had hoped, the added weight really helped it out. Even so, the bag is so tightly stitched, that it's still a bit too rolly. I'm not sure if it will ever become a sweet bag, but at least now I can use it as a warm-up bag. Before I operated on it, it was too light and too rolly to even warm-up with.
My ankle felt pretty bad during my warmup, but it felt OK once it warmed up. Still, it makes me nervous that my ankle still isn't 100% after all this time. At least I can play without pain once I'm warm.
Highlights, all with the Ilja bag:
*sumo sealed with a small run. Both sides, but no bsos.
*Johnny quest.
*Fog-atom smasher both sides. I was surprised bsos eluded me, because on one side the combo uses strong fog AND strong atom.
*fog-hippy legbeater-ducking butterfly repeat to pdx whirl-pdx whirl, and then 5 or 6 contacts of osis-pdx drifter.
*spin clip-gyro clip-pdlo bsos. Had spin butterfly and duckbutter both bsos in the seal.
The big news of the session, was that I hit a new set (for me...at least, I think so. read on.)! Flashback 13 months: I was getting over the flu and was in Osaka on my birthday. Despite feeling dead tired, I hit Floatation for my first time (wonton ripwalk). I got it a bunch of times that day, and even hit a fog out of it, but never hit it after that day. I guess I focussed more on Worlds, and then I kinda forgot about it, and then I got this ankle injury. Since floating set uses my strong wonton set (weak ankle), I need to stay away from it. But my recent success with beta ewalk reminded me of floating set, so I decided to try it out flipside. My flip wonton doesn't come up real high, but in my experience with frantic/floating, you don't want a high set off the first dex anyway. I tried a couple flip floating sets without much success, but I realized that my strong leggy-atomic lines up with my weak wonton. So with a little tweaking, I managed...
*wonton leggy legbeater!!! Whoo! I hit it 3 times today, and I'm almost positive they were all clean. The way the windows work, you either get tight dexes, or you miss the second dex completely. I was especially stoked because the final butterfly felt legit. Oftentimes huge moves ending in butterfly end up jay, but I don't think this trick was. The first two times I hit it I sealed with controlled handcatches, but my third time I had enough strength and composure to seal it with a decent run, which included both leggy legbeaters and both hippy legbeaters. Very very stoked about this. I think I've hit more non-whirling 7 adders than I have whirling 7 adders. I was also happy that this trick starts and ends on the right foot, while my floatation starts and ends on left foot.
I skooled the set a lot, mostly cause it didn't hurt my shins at all. After the session however, my knee felt very weird, so I should probably cool it a bit with this set. My knee feels OK now, but I won't breathe easily til tomorrow.
My question is: is Juantomic done hippy or leggy? I've only heard about this set second-hand. Does anybody have any video of it? Has anybody seen it firsthand? I can imagine it being hippy-leggy, hippy-hippy, leggyish-leggy. The way I do it, the second dex resembles the way people do the third dex of symp furious-nuclear set. It's kind of midtimey. I'm NOT doing wonton downtime legbeater. Downtime legbeaters have iffy butterflies. Anyway, enough words about this move. If anybody has any firsthand info on Juantomic, I'd like to learn more. I want to know if I'm doing Juantomic, or something else entirely.
I think I'll take tomorrow off and just go swim and do yoga. But I'm definitely excited to work some more hard and weird tricks again next session.
I went into today's session thinking that I could hit a new 7 add. I had air-shredded it, thought it out, and it seemed do-able. I played around with it some today, but it didn't work the way I thought it would, and I didn't hit it. Buuuuuut.....
Let's not get too far ahead.
I started the session off using my repaired Henmo bag. As I had hoped, the added weight really helped it out. Even so, the bag is so tightly stitched, that it's still a bit too rolly. I'm not sure if it will ever become a sweet bag, but at least now I can use it as a warm-up bag. Before I operated on it, it was too light and too rolly to even warm-up with.
My ankle felt pretty bad during my warmup, but it felt OK once it warmed up. Still, it makes me nervous that my ankle still isn't 100% after all this time. At least I can play without pain once I'm warm.
Highlights, all with the Ilja bag:
*sumo sealed with a small run. Both sides, but no bsos.
*Johnny quest.
*Fog-atom smasher both sides. I was surprised bsos eluded me, because on one side the combo uses strong fog AND strong atom.
*fog-hippy legbeater-ducking butterfly repeat to pdx whirl-pdx whirl, and then 5 or 6 contacts of osis-pdx drifter.
*spin clip-gyro clip-pdlo bsos. Had spin butterfly and duckbutter both bsos in the seal.
The big news of the session, was that I hit a new set (for me...at least, I think so. read on.)! Flashback 13 months: I was getting over the flu and was in Osaka on my birthday. Despite feeling dead tired, I hit Floatation for my first time (wonton ripwalk). I got it a bunch of times that day, and even hit a fog out of it, but never hit it after that day. I guess I focussed more on Worlds, and then I kinda forgot about it, and then I got this ankle injury. Since floating set uses my strong wonton set (weak ankle), I need to stay away from it. But my recent success with beta ewalk reminded me of floating set, so I decided to try it out flipside. My flip wonton doesn't come up real high, but in my experience with frantic/floating, you don't want a high set off the first dex anyway. I tried a couple flip floating sets without much success, but I realized that my strong leggy-atomic lines up with my weak wonton. So with a little tweaking, I managed...
*wonton leggy legbeater!!! Whoo! I hit it 3 times today, and I'm almost positive they were all clean. The way the windows work, you either get tight dexes, or you miss the second dex completely. I was especially stoked because the final butterfly felt legit. Oftentimes huge moves ending in butterfly end up jay, but I don't think this trick was. The first two times I hit it I sealed with controlled handcatches, but my third time I had enough strength and composure to seal it with a decent run, which included both leggy legbeaters and both hippy legbeaters. Very very stoked about this. I think I've hit more non-whirling 7 adders than I have whirling 7 adders. I was also happy that this trick starts and ends on the right foot, while my floatation starts and ends on left foot.
I skooled the set a lot, mostly cause it didn't hurt my shins at all. After the session however, my knee felt very weird, so I should probably cool it a bit with this set. My knee feels OK now, but I won't breathe easily til tomorrow.
My question is: is Juantomic done hippy or leggy? I've only heard about this set second-hand. Does anybody have any video of it? Has anybody seen it firsthand? I can imagine it being hippy-leggy, hippy-hippy, leggyish-leggy. The way I do it, the second dex resembles the way people do the third dex of symp furious-nuclear set. It's kind of midtimey. I'm NOT doing wonton downtime legbeater. Downtime legbeaters have iffy butterflies. Anyway, enough words about this move. If anybody has any firsthand info on Juantomic, I'd like to learn more. I want to know if I'm doing Juantomic, or something else entirely.
I think I'll take tomorrow off and just go swim and do yoga. But I'm definitely excited to work some more hard and weird tricks again next session.
May 3rd, 2006
Life continues to be extremely trying. This is definitely one of the worst periods of my life.
Played a little footbag today. Hard to focus, thanks to the stress in the rest of my life. I used the Henmo bag for the first third or so of the shred. It's definitely rolly, but that could be beneficial for my game. I hit a few of my highlights with it, but the Ilja is definitely the money bag now. I won't distinguish what bag I used for which highlights, because both bags are definitely legit.
Highlights:
*hippy legbeater-matador. Both sides.
*dimwalk-matador. Both sides. Hit it BSOS too, but no seal. Still was legit.
*sumo to a small run. Both sides.
*inspinning clipper bsos.
*inspinning clipper-spinning osis, very nearly bsos.
*barfly-pdlo-dod repeat.
*pdx blender-flip pdlo. On the other side the best I could manage was pdx blender-pdx mirage, but that's the side I have hit food-pdlo, so I should be able to get it both sides.
*torque-pdlo bsos.
*torque-pdx egg bsos.
*Blurry whirl-Matador BSOS!!!
My nuke sets are pretty awful, but lately I've found I can hit sumos, matadors, and pdx taps much better if I do them midtimey. Before today, I had only hit matador out of butterflies (I think), so getting it out of blurry whirl bsos felt like a huge achievement. I'm still getting used to doing nukes in this new style, but hopefully I can get the hang of them. The fact that I am getting them on both sides seems like a good sign.
Life continues to be extremely trying. This is definitely one of the worst periods of my life.
Played a little footbag today. Hard to focus, thanks to the stress in the rest of my life. I used the Henmo bag for the first third or so of the shred. It's definitely rolly, but that could be beneficial for my game. I hit a few of my highlights with it, but the Ilja is definitely the money bag now. I won't distinguish what bag I used for which highlights, because both bags are definitely legit.
Highlights:
*hippy legbeater-matador. Both sides.
*dimwalk-matador. Both sides. Hit it BSOS too, but no seal. Still was legit.
*sumo to a small run. Both sides.
*inspinning clipper bsos.
*inspinning clipper-spinning osis, very nearly bsos.
*barfly-pdlo-dod repeat.
*pdx blender-flip pdlo. On the other side the best I could manage was pdx blender-pdx mirage, but that's the side I have hit food-pdlo, so I should be able to get it both sides.
*torque-pdlo bsos.
*torque-pdx egg bsos.
*Blurry whirl-Matador BSOS!!!
My nuke sets are pretty awful, but lately I've found I can hit sumos, matadors, and pdx taps much better if I do them midtimey. Before today, I had only hit matador out of butterflies (I think), so getting it out of blurry whirl bsos felt like a huge achievement. I'm still getting used to doing nukes in this new style, but hopefully I can get the hang of them. The fact that I am getting them on both sides seems like a good sign.
Cinco de Mayo!
Took yesterday off from shred, but I went swimming. I think I swam about 1 kilometer, which isn't bad (1.6 miles). Steve Goldberg sent me this article about a guy who runs to raise money for heart disease, and he mentions as his inspiration...the Japanese Footbag Team!!! Whoa, randomness. Very cool though: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanlui ... 487748.htm
There was a constant cool wind today, which was annoying, and I never broke a sweat. I was real happy though, because my mental game was on-point. Didn't lose my cool or get too frustrated at any point; I recognized I had subpar conditions and still pulled out some nice highlights.
Highlights:
*a run with whirligig, pdlo, and diving butterfly all bsos.
*PLOx13
*pdx blender to pdlo, both sides.
*matador-pdlo both sides.
*food-pdlo both sides.
*torque-pdx torque bsos.
*ps whirl-pdlo bsos.
*ripwalk-matador both sides. Footed bsos, but it hurt my knee.
*pdlo-dimwalk-pdx drifter repeat.
*toe gyro mirage x4 (all the same direction spin). I should try for the world record, whatever it is.
*whirling swirl-pdlo.
*flipside blurry flux for my first time!
*flipside predator, first ever.
I was happy to get those last two, cause they're cool tricks and it only took a few tries to get them both, which was a nice surprise. I was also happy to see my pdlos and pdx eggs getting more consistent. But more than anything, I was just glad to have my mental game back. These past few days haven't been fun, but I've been pretty productive with job apps and grad school preparation, which has eased my mind a little.
Took yesterday off from shred, but I went swimming. I think I swam about 1 kilometer, which isn't bad (1.6 miles). Steve Goldberg sent me this article about a guy who runs to raise money for heart disease, and he mentions as his inspiration...the Japanese Footbag Team!!! Whoa, randomness. Very cool though: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanlui ... 487748.htm
There was a constant cool wind today, which was annoying, and I never broke a sweat. I was real happy though, because my mental game was on-point. Didn't lose my cool or get too frustrated at any point; I recognized I had subpar conditions and still pulled out some nice highlights.
Highlights:
*a run with whirligig, pdlo, and diving butterfly all bsos.
*PLOx13
*pdx blender to pdlo, both sides.
*matador-pdlo both sides.
*food-pdlo both sides.
*torque-pdx torque bsos.
*ps whirl-pdlo bsos.
*ripwalk-matador both sides. Footed bsos, but it hurt my knee.
*pdlo-dimwalk-pdx drifter repeat.
*toe gyro mirage x4 (all the same direction spin). I should try for the world record, whatever it is.
*whirling swirl-pdlo.
*flipside blurry flux for my first time!
*flipside predator, first ever.
I was happy to get those last two, cause they're cool tricks and it only took a few tries to get them both, which was a nice surprise. I was also happy to see my pdlos and pdx eggs getting more consistent. But more than anything, I was just glad to have my mental game back. These past few days haven't been fun, but I've been pretty productive with job apps and grad school preparation, which has eased my mind a little.
Non-footbag entry.
May 6th, 2006
Went to the gym today planning on playing some light footbag, then swimming the rest of the time. But when I got there, I was surprised to find the basketball courts nearly deserted...and one of the 4 hoops was lowered to children's height. I did some basic kicks, but I couldn't resist: I picked up a basketball and tried my hand at dunking on the lowered hoop. Staying on my feet and extending my right arm as far as I could, my fingers touched the top knots of the net. So, I figure the rim must have been at 7 feet, as opposed to the normal 10 feet. I had always wanted to be able to dunk, but at 5'7 it seemed a rank impossibility. But today I got as close as I probably ever will to my dream.
Despite the hoop being significantly lower than regulation, dunking still wasn't as easy as you'd think. The ball wasn't any smaller, nor were my hands any bigger, so I still had trouble keeping the ball under control while jumping up. I had also never dunked before, so I had to teach myself the timing of the jump and everything. Teaching myself to dunk had so many parallells with footbag. The gradual, slight modifications to how I moved my body, the rush of endorphins whenever I made progress, and that feeling of accomplishment when I saw the ball go where I wanted it to. It was beautiful. I can't recall the last time I had that much fun doing anything, it was spooky and wonderful at the same time. I was smiling throughout, I couldn't help myself. I had this feeling that I should be slightly embarassed, dunking on a lowered hoop, but I couldn't feel embarassed. At my height, this was my only chance, and it felt GREAT to finally dunk. I couldn't manage to dunk lefty, cause it kept flying out of my hand. But I was dunking right handed without much trouble. My best one-hander was jumping under the hoop and and tomahawking it. Dunking definitely is rough on your hands, I had read articles about that, but now I know firsthand (no pun intended). People also say its harder to dunk with 2 hands than one, but I didn't really find that to be the case. In general I couldn't do much fancy stuff (360s, etc), but I did get one nice dunk a few times. Running along the baseline, I was able to do a 2-handed reverse jam, jumping up from under the hoop and slamming it from the other side. I managed it 3 times, and the timing was rough. But that made it all the sweeter when I got it; again, just like footbag.
I can safely say I had more fun today "dunking" than I usually do playing footbag. But I'm not going to quit footag or anything like that. Unless of course, I find some way to play in the childrens' league, in which case I am going to practice my dunks and dominate the shit out of 7 year olds.
Dunking was great, but my body definitely wasn't used to it. I felt pretty exhausted the rest of the day, and my right shin muscle feels weird. Like, i can't lift my left toes off the ground as far as my right toes. Weird. Hopefully it will go away soon though. I think it would be smart to take a day off shred tomorrow and just swim, let the body get back to normal.
In other euphoric basketball news, the Suns came back from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Lakers in Game 7 tonight. The Suns are my team, so of course I was rooting for them. But beyond that, I hate the Lakers, so this series was real wild emotionally for me. Every time the Suns lost, it hurt on 2 fronts: my team lost, and the f*ing Lakers won. But then, victories were also doubly sweet, for the same reasons. So in a way, having the series go 7 games, and having the Lakers (Kobe) lose after being so dominantly up... well, that's almost sweeter than if we had swept them. I don't even care if the Clippers sweep us, at least we made it to the second round, and we showed a ton of grit and character in making it that far. Next year we'll be incredible with Amare back. Believe it.
May 6th, 2006
Went to the gym today planning on playing some light footbag, then swimming the rest of the time. But when I got there, I was surprised to find the basketball courts nearly deserted...and one of the 4 hoops was lowered to children's height. I did some basic kicks, but I couldn't resist: I picked up a basketball and tried my hand at dunking on the lowered hoop. Staying on my feet and extending my right arm as far as I could, my fingers touched the top knots of the net. So, I figure the rim must have been at 7 feet, as opposed to the normal 10 feet. I had always wanted to be able to dunk, but at 5'7 it seemed a rank impossibility. But today I got as close as I probably ever will to my dream.
Despite the hoop being significantly lower than regulation, dunking still wasn't as easy as you'd think. The ball wasn't any smaller, nor were my hands any bigger, so I still had trouble keeping the ball under control while jumping up. I had also never dunked before, so I had to teach myself the timing of the jump and everything. Teaching myself to dunk had so many parallells with footbag. The gradual, slight modifications to how I moved my body, the rush of endorphins whenever I made progress, and that feeling of accomplishment when I saw the ball go where I wanted it to. It was beautiful. I can't recall the last time I had that much fun doing anything, it was spooky and wonderful at the same time. I was smiling throughout, I couldn't help myself. I had this feeling that I should be slightly embarassed, dunking on a lowered hoop, but I couldn't feel embarassed. At my height, this was my only chance, and it felt GREAT to finally dunk. I couldn't manage to dunk lefty, cause it kept flying out of my hand. But I was dunking right handed without much trouble. My best one-hander was jumping under the hoop and and tomahawking it. Dunking definitely is rough on your hands, I had read articles about that, but now I know firsthand (no pun intended). People also say its harder to dunk with 2 hands than one, but I didn't really find that to be the case. In general I couldn't do much fancy stuff (360s, etc), but I did get one nice dunk a few times. Running along the baseline, I was able to do a 2-handed reverse jam, jumping up from under the hoop and slamming it from the other side. I managed it 3 times, and the timing was rough. But that made it all the sweeter when I got it; again, just like footbag.
I can safely say I had more fun today "dunking" than I usually do playing footbag. But I'm not going to quit footag or anything like that. Unless of course, I find some way to play in the childrens' league, in which case I am going to practice my dunks and dominate the shit out of 7 year olds.
Dunking was great, but my body definitely wasn't used to it. I felt pretty exhausted the rest of the day, and my right shin muscle feels weird. Like, i can't lift my left toes off the ground as far as my right toes. Weird. Hopefully it will go away soon though. I think it would be smart to take a day off shred tomorrow and just swim, let the body get back to normal.
In other euphoric basketball news, the Suns came back from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Lakers in Game 7 tonight. The Suns are my team, so of course I was rooting for them. But beyond that, I hate the Lakers, so this series was real wild emotionally for me. Every time the Suns lost, it hurt on 2 fronts: my team lost, and the f*ing Lakers won. But then, victories were also doubly sweet, for the same reasons. So in a way, having the series go 7 games, and having the Lakers (Kobe) lose after being so dominantly up... well, that's almost sweeter than if we had swept them. I don't even care if the Clippers sweep us, at least we made it to the second round, and we showed a ton of grit and character in making it that far. Next year we'll be incredible with Amare back. Believe it.
May 8th, 2006
I'm glad I enjoyed dunking so much the other day, because I've had to pay a price for it physically. My body wasn't used to those motions at all, and hardcore swimming the next day only seems to have exacerbated a slightly pulled hamstring. This means I haven't played in a few days, and probably have to take a little more time off. Suckiness, especially since lately I'm stressed over grad-school applications.
The Japanese footbag forums have been hacked for a while now, so people seem to post less frequently. I was checking it out the other day, and here are the interesting things I found:
*I peeked on modified briefly to see if Tencho posted his new takumi vid on the site, and apparently he has. But, I found this other video on the Japanese forums which I don't think was posted on modified, but I may be wrong: http://www36.tok2.com/home2/footbagmani ... ession.mpg It's Jorden and Taishi footage.
* http://www.footbag.org/gallery/showset/tsg4 Kim recently added some new footage here. The "phat combo" stuff is pretty new. Not sure if Adam or somebody posted the TSG4 footage already, but there's definitely new stuff here.
*Takumi apparently has hit gyro blurry torque, as well as flipside ripstein.
I was thinking about footbag today while I swam. Recently, I've hit two new sets (beta frantic, and juantomic) which use the same strong side elements. So naturally, I'm a little curious whether it would be possible to combine them. I think some kid in Auckland said he was trying pixie juantomic, but who knows how close he came. I was a bit skeptical of some of his claims, because he only put out a couple videos, and the tricks (double helix, that sort of difficulty) were thin. When relatively easy tricks like that aren't clean, I'm automatically skeptical about bigger stuff. But you never know. Personally, I don't think I could combine beta frantic and juantomic, due to timing reasons. I do beta frantic with an almost midtimey wonton (I wait, then go, but due to my body falling, the bag still rises a little), whereas I do juantomic with an uptime wonton and a pseudo midtimey leggy legbeater. Still, I should probably still give a few tries at pixie juantomic when my body heals up, just because I've never done a triple dex set before.
Looking at the vids section I was a little bummed to see that no CSS7 footage has come out yet. But then, I realize that a LOT of footage was shot, and these things take time. Since I'm still jobless, out of school, and without any clear future, my summer footbag plans are also in limbo. Ideally I'd like to go to Worlds, but if I had to choose between worlds and Japanese champs, I honestly don't know which one I'd go for. But this is all just fantasy daydreaming, as it's entirely possible I won't be able to go anywhere this summer.
I'm glad I enjoyed dunking so much the other day, because I've had to pay a price for it physically. My body wasn't used to those motions at all, and hardcore swimming the next day only seems to have exacerbated a slightly pulled hamstring. This means I haven't played in a few days, and probably have to take a little more time off. Suckiness, especially since lately I'm stressed over grad-school applications.
The Japanese footbag forums have been hacked for a while now, so people seem to post less frequently. I was checking it out the other day, and here are the interesting things I found:
*I peeked on modified briefly to see if Tencho posted his new takumi vid on the site, and apparently he has. But, I found this other video on the Japanese forums which I don't think was posted on modified, but I may be wrong: http://www36.tok2.com/home2/footbagmani ... ession.mpg It's Jorden and Taishi footage.
* http://www.footbag.org/gallery/showset/tsg4 Kim recently added some new footage here. The "phat combo" stuff is pretty new. Not sure if Adam or somebody posted the TSG4 footage already, but there's definitely new stuff here.
*Takumi apparently has hit gyro blurry torque, as well as flipside ripstein.
I was thinking about footbag today while I swam. Recently, I've hit two new sets (beta frantic, and juantomic) which use the same strong side elements. So naturally, I'm a little curious whether it would be possible to combine them. I think some kid in Auckland said he was trying pixie juantomic, but who knows how close he came. I was a bit skeptical of some of his claims, because he only put out a couple videos, and the tricks (double helix, that sort of difficulty) were thin. When relatively easy tricks like that aren't clean, I'm automatically skeptical about bigger stuff. But you never know. Personally, I don't think I could combine beta frantic and juantomic, due to timing reasons. I do beta frantic with an almost midtimey wonton (I wait, then go, but due to my body falling, the bag still rises a little), whereas I do juantomic with an uptime wonton and a pseudo midtimey leggy legbeater. Still, I should probably still give a few tries at pixie juantomic when my body heals up, just because I've never done a triple dex set before.
Looking at the vids section I was a little bummed to see that no CSS7 footage has come out yet. But then, I realize that a LOT of footage was shot, and these things take time. Since I'm still jobless, out of school, and without any clear future, my summer footbag plans are also in limbo. Ideally I'd like to go to Worlds, but if I had to choose between worlds and Japanese champs, I honestly don't know which one I'd go for. But this is all just fantasy daydreaming, as it's entirely possible I won't be able to go anywhere this summer.
-
Senor Grommet
- Post Master General
- Posts: 3394
- Joined: 18 Oct 2002 20:25
- Location: Greater Santa Cruz, CA
Im not trying to sway your mind or anything, but two short days (in Santa Cruz 
) does not a university/career hunt dismantle.
If you've not found a job by June 10th-11th, jobs don't interview on the weekends, nor would it do you much good to visit a university campus on the weekend (no students) so you might as well be playing the waiting game here, while you play some other game. Just food for thought.
) does not a university/career hunt dismantle. If you've not found a job by June 10th-11th, jobs don't interview on the weekends, nor would it do you much good to visit a university campus on the weekend (no students) so you might as well be playing the waiting game here, while you play some other game. Just food for thought.
My name: Jeremy Mirken, AKA Chocolatey Shatner, AKA jerk enemy rim.
I kick it with trunk chef elf and liz luck key my.
I kick it with trunk chef elf and liz luck key my.
May 9th.
Hamstring is still bothering me, but I ended up playing a little footbag today anyway. I used my floppy Carol bag to make sure I didn't overdo it. My hamstring didn't bother me at all, but I still thought it smart not to go too hard. I didn't expect any highlights, and the fact that I didn't get many is a good sign that I stuck to my gameplan.
Highlights:
*symp whirling legover
*wonton butterfly one side.
*pdx whirl-far symp swirl bsos
*pdx tap bsos
Overall though I was happy cause my strings just flowed well. I had lots of runs I was happy with, which just flowed nicely. Definitely easier than my normal stuff, but I was really just happy to play. I made a point to throw in more spins than usual too. It felt like ages since I last played. Depending how my leg feels tomorrow, I may try and get in another light shred the day after tomorrow.
A funny thing happened when I went to the gym today. I go swim at the pool nearly everyday, and I have to swipe my membercard to get in. Last month I wore my HackySack tm t-shirt, and the card-guy asked me (jokingly): "are you a hacky sack champion?" I responded: "Actually, yeah." I kinda dismissed the whole incident as small-talk, if anything I was a bit annoyed because you know he has no idea what footbag is. But I ran into that guy again tonight when he was off-duty, and he asked (jokingly again I think) if I wanted to hack. As it so happened, I had my Carol on me, so I hacked with him a bit and then showed him some tricks. His friend made some comment about hack and Fredonia, so I asked: "SUNY Fredonia?" and they said yeah. So I asked if they knew Matt Cross (they didn't) but they thought it was funny that I would know the hackers at SUNY Fredonia. So yeah, if anybody approaches the Fredonia shredders and mentions some guy in AZ, that was me.
In other exciting news, it looks like I will be in the LA area in mid-late May for a job interview. I've already talked to Mike Hansen, and hopefully the other LA players can come out for a shred, but I thought I'd mention my trip here on the off chance that some of the other Cali players might make it out to play.
Hamstring is still bothering me, but I ended up playing a little footbag today anyway. I used my floppy Carol bag to make sure I didn't overdo it. My hamstring didn't bother me at all, but I still thought it smart not to go too hard. I didn't expect any highlights, and the fact that I didn't get many is a good sign that I stuck to my gameplan.
Highlights:
*symp whirling legover
*wonton butterfly one side.
*pdx whirl-far symp swirl bsos
*pdx tap bsos
Overall though I was happy cause my strings just flowed well. I had lots of runs I was happy with, which just flowed nicely. Definitely easier than my normal stuff, but I was really just happy to play. I made a point to throw in more spins than usual too. It felt like ages since I last played. Depending how my leg feels tomorrow, I may try and get in another light shred the day after tomorrow.
A funny thing happened when I went to the gym today. I go swim at the pool nearly everyday, and I have to swipe my membercard to get in. Last month I wore my HackySack tm t-shirt, and the card-guy asked me (jokingly): "are you a hacky sack champion?" I responded: "Actually, yeah." I kinda dismissed the whole incident as small-talk, if anything I was a bit annoyed because you know he has no idea what footbag is. But I ran into that guy again tonight when he was off-duty, and he asked (jokingly again I think) if I wanted to hack. As it so happened, I had my Carol on me, so I hacked with him a bit and then showed him some tricks. His friend made some comment about hack and Fredonia, so I asked: "SUNY Fredonia?" and they said yeah. So I asked if they knew Matt Cross (they didn't) but they thought it was funny that I would know the hackers at SUNY Fredonia. So yeah, if anybody approaches the Fredonia shredders and mentions some guy in AZ, that was me.
In other exciting news, it looks like I will be in the LA area in mid-late May for a job interview. I've already talked to Mike Hansen, and hopefully the other LA players can come out for a shred, but I thought I'd mention my trip here on the off chance that some of the other Cali players might make it out to play.
Hey Ken!
If you're not sure about coming to worlds this year, check this out: http://www.fcfootstar.de/footbagsummer/
that should really give u a reason to come.
cheers, paul
If you're not sure about coming to worlds this year, check this out: http://www.fcfootstar.de/footbagsummer/
that should really give u a reason to come.
cheers, paul
Paul Cronjaeger
84 * fcfootstar berlin
84 * fcfootstar berlin
May 11th, 2006
Today was my first real good day in...a long time. Things seem to finally be looking up, at least I hope so; the last couple months have been one of the hardest periods of my life. I'm not even sure things are turning around, but perspective counts for more than anything. In the last week two jobs have gotten back to me, meaning I've made it to the next round of selection. I may not get either position, but getting a positive response at least helps my confidence some. I also completed and sent off my first application to Graduate School. The one I applied to today is in Chicago, but I'm making a point not to fantasize about where I will be this fall. Yeah, playing with CIC would be really sweet, but who knows if I get accepted, or I get accepted someplace better, or I get a job somewhere. Just gotta play things by ear and not get my hopes up too high for any given outcome.
I worked real hard all day, but by five I was all done so I got in a shred. My hamstring feels completely normal again, and today my ankle felt better than it has at any point since I sprained it. Recently I had begun to resign myself to the possibility that I would never make a full recovery, but today gave me hope that maybe I will. It was blazing hot out; I drank over 70 ounces of water/gatorade. But I almost didn't notice. It just felt so good to play. My body felt better than it had in a couple months, I sent off a grad school app, I had at least 2 hours of sun, and overall I felt more optimistic for the future. I knew it would be a good shred.
Highlights, in rough ascending order of how stoked I was:
*footed flip barfly swirl. Real frustratingly close a ton of times.
*footed juantomic butterfly. Still figuring out this set.
*beta ewalk once.
*my first wauxpins ever. I read somewhere the tip: "think butterfly reverse swirl" and that was the key. Otherwise, I would just do butterfly rakes.
*ripwauxpin.
*spike hammer bsos. Not 100% sure flip stepping was clean, but whatever.
*whirligig-ps whirl.
*predator, after spending like 30 minutes trying to get it. Super frustrating, but at least I finally got it.
*legbeater-pdlo-dimwalk-blur repeat.
*atomic drifer-mullet. Bed and bl. whirl in the seal.
*flurry-dimwalk-fog bsos. Pdx blender in the seal.
*my first ever tapping ducking dlo. Surprisingly not that hard.
*whirligig-mullet on my first try! Real surprised, since I hardly ever hit 6-6 combos, and it came so easily. I should probably skool this link, as it could be the key to an easy beast.
*matador-fog! My first time ever stepping out of matador. In the seal, I was real stoked to bsos both the matador and the fog, but not the combo.
*a run that started with atomic torque, then had bl. torque using the other torque, a food processor, and a mullet.
and the crowning highlight:
*spinning pdx blender!
When I first started playing (nearly 9 years ago!) I remember seeing my first spinning pdx blender ever. It was Kenny Shults at 96 Worlds, on the Vu bros video. Back then it was just "spinning blender" because spinning pdx didn't exist. Kenny busted it midstring at the Tam Tams, and it was "like whoa." I've always been crap at spins, so I never felt bad about not hitting it, cause after all, I grew up thinking it was "a hard spinning trick." But in recent years, spinning pdx blender has lost a lot of prestige in my eyes. It seems like everybody and their mom can do it; at last year's CSS it won sick trick...intermediate sick trick. I've also seen it as the "bail link" at the end of lots of Beast combos, so much so that it began to annoy me that I had never hit it. So today I put in 10 minutes of practice, and hit it twice. Booyah. I don't know if I'll ever make it consistent, but it doesn't matter much to me. I think next session I'll try it from toe, since my toe spins are stronger than my clipper spins. Could be some nice combo possibilities there.
There were rough patches in the session, but overall it was real good. 4 new tricks, some good new links, and a bit of a milestone with that last trick. I felt like I played with a light heart, and that made for a good shred. Here's hoping life keeps getting better.
Today was my first real good day in...a long time. Things seem to finally be looking up, at least I hope so; the last couple months have been one of the hardest periods of my life. I'm not even sure things are turning around, but perspective counts for more than anything. In the last week two jobs have gotten back to me, meaning I've made it to the next round of selection. I may not get either position, but getting a positive response at least helps my confidence some. I also completed and sent off my first application to Graduate School. The one I applied to today is in Chicago, but I'm making a point not to fantasize about where I will be this fall. Yeah, playing with CIC would be really sweet, but who knows if I get accepted, or I get accepted someplace better, or I get a job somewhere. Just gotta play things by ear and not get my hopes up too high for any given outcome.
I worked real hard all day, but by five I was all done so I got in a shred. My hamstring feels completely normal again, and today my ankle felt better than it has at any point since I sprained it. Recently I had begun to resign myself to the possibility that I would never make a full recovery, but today gave me hope that maybe I will. It was blazing hot out; I drank over 70 ounces of water/gatorade. But I almost didn't notice. It just felt so good to play. My body felt better than it had in a couple months, I sent off a grad school app, I had at least 2 hours of sun, and overall I felt more optimistic for the future. I knew it would be a good shred.
Highlights, in rough ascending order of how stoked I was:
*footed flip barfly swirl. Real frustratingly close a ton of times.
*footed juantomic butterfly. Still figuring out this set.
*beta ewalk once.
*my first wauxpins ever. I read somewhere the tip: "think butterfly reverse swirl" and that was the key. Otherwise, I would just do butterfly rakes.
*ripwauxpin.
*spike hammer bsos. Not 100% sure flip stepping was clean, but whatever.
*whirligig-ps whirl.
*predator, after spending like 30 minutes trying to get it. Super frustrating, but at least I finally got it.
*legbeater-pdlo-dimwalk-blur repeat.
*atomic drifer-mullet. Bed and bl. whirl in the seal.
*flurry-dimwalk-fog bsos. Pdx blender in the seal.
*my first ever tapping ducking dlo. Surprisingly not that hard.
*whirligig-mullet on my first try! Real surprised, since I hardly ever hit 6-6 combos, and it came so easily. I should probably skool this link, as it could be the key to an easy beast.
*matador-fog! My first time ever stepping out of matador. In the seal, I was real stoked to bsos both the matador and the fog, but not the combo.
*a run that started with atomic torque, then had bl. torque using the other torque, a food processor, and a mullet.
and the crowning highlight:
*spinning pdx blender!
When I first started playing (nearly 9 years ago!) I remember seeing my first spinning pdx blender ever. It was Kenny Shults at 96 Worlds, on the Vu bros video. Back then it was just "spinning blender" because spinning pdx didn't exist. Kenny busted it midstring at the Tam Tams, and it was "like whoa." I've always been crap at spins, so I never felt bad about not hitting it, cause after all, I grew up thinking it was "a hard spinning trick." But in recent years, spinning pdx blender has lost a lot of prestige in my eyes. It seems like everybody and their mom can do it; at last year's CSS it won sick trick...intermediate sick trick. I've also seen it as the "bail link" at the end of lots of Beast combos, so much so that it began to annoy me that I had never hit it. So today I put in 10 minutes of practice, and hit it twice. Booyah. I don't know if I'll ever make it consistent, but it doesn't matter much to me. I think next session I'll try it from toe, since my toe spins are stronger than my clipper spins. Could be some nice combo possibilities there.
There were rough patches in the session, but overall it was real good. 4 new tricks, some good new links, and a bit of a milestone with that last trick. I felt like I played with a light heart, and that made for a good shred. Here's hoping life keeps getting better.