Wasabi: M(s)+J = BLAST

[shredzilla]

Thanks for the bag yo. I'll get yours out when I can. I have a bunch of orders goin on now. Probably the best thing would be to try and get it to you at East Coast.

I think you should try to play an hour a day, 4 days a week. I'm saying this because I think you're a cool guy, and I want to see you improve your game. Work on all BASIC twos. No uptime man. Uptime is lame if you can't hit downtime consistantly. Next time I see you, I want to see legover>mirage>butterfly>clipper mirage, or at least something equivalent to that. Oh yeah, keep doing that toe>toe drill I showed you. Get to where you can do 15 of those at least. Heal up first of course, but I'd like to see you try harder.

-CMillz

[Wasabi]

Thanks for all of the good words guys. My ankle still feels pretty bad, but I can give some formidable crank to it at least. And stand on it for some time.

String of the day: legover bsos>mirage>butterfly>pdx mirage/clipper mirage>etc.

I'm working on string length now. There will be shred tonight, so I will update my blog on my results.

[Wasabi]

I intended to post on this blog the same day that I shredded, but I was too tired. Anyway, the results weren't so pleasing, as my ankle still felt really sore on my strings. I tried working on pdx mirage, but my crank still felt really lame from my injury at Jersey Spike. However, I've been playing a lot lately, even with some pain, so that's great. I'm going to school on legovers a lot tomorrow, and work on mirage bsos for a solid tiltless game.

Although my crank felt extremely bad going into a clipper/inside, the crank going outside didn't much pain at all. And that left me wondering about Tommy Gartland's style of play. I looked carefully on how he toe-delayed the bag when setting into fairy, and I tried it barefoot. I nailed fairy straight a couple of times! Amazing! That shows that looking at people playing works pretty well. However, this is also a bad habit as well, since I have to stick to Chris' golden words and work on downtime moves. It's still a good enlightening experience. Score for stealing lessons!

I played some hack with Rizz Wednesday evening, and agreed that I'll teach her some basics on stitching a 32-paneled bag. Really, I want to teach her how to make a 6-panel before she goes up to a 32. Maybe it'll be a learning lesson for her? I don't know. In any case, we're going shopping for materials on Sunday and whatever. I'll show her the ropes on making a "choice" bag.

I stitched up a couple of bags. I made a Moneybag for Cleaver, choice 6-paneled bag for Josh Raye in a trade, a floppy bag I made out of Haizely and some dark orange color (Saffron?) for myself, and I'll be working on bags for Griffin O'Hara and Pengpeng Du. It's going to be a busy summer for me, since I'm looking for a summer job right now. Barnes & Noble maybe? Ugh.

About that Haizely and Saffron bag:



The idea came from a discussion me and Chris Miller had in a car two weeks ago about how bags should be made to be "playable." The total consesus was that a very good bag is "firm yet floppy," like a Lonn bag (or his bags in retrospect). My decision to stitch this bag was becuase of my curiousity on the material "Haizely" and need for a floppy bag. Plus, in a way, I wanted to copy Mosher's choice Black Pony/Flash Red bag that I saw him use a lot in GRASS. It feels broken in already, and plays like a dream! I can't wait to show this bag at East Coast with all my shred buddies, and I hope it doesn't fall into pieces because of the softness that comes with printed colors.

My relationship is growing a lot more intimate with this girl I'm going out with. She seems like she's going through a bit of depression though, so I'm trying my best to comfort her whenever I can. Rizz tells me to bring her to a footbag event, but I'm not so sure. East Coast will be next weekend, but she has Summer Courses to worry about. I'm taking baby steps for her so that both her and footbag don't collide in one big disgusting explosion.

Note to self: I need some plastic pellets! Someone hook me up!!!

[Wasabi]

Bought $33 worth of facile at fieldsfabric. Seeing that Toray or the ultrasuede site wasn't giving me my free samples (I didn't sound professional enough?) I went ahead and bought colors that seemed to pique my interest. Willow, Storm, Petit Pois, Colonial Red, Animal Print, and Country Cream. Jesus, I feel stoked about this. I wish I bought some Dark Jade and some more Green Grape, Atlantis, Blue Hawaii, Princess Purple, etc. but I wanted to put a cap on my spending. Maybe when I have some more cash to splurge later on. I think those colors are pretty feasible, and I hope 1/8 yard of fabric is hefty enough to make some bags.

Placed a bid on poly pellets on ebay. I'm sort of pissed to be shopping for "poly pellets" online. People keep telling me to go to Walmart for plastic pellets, but there's no Walmart in NYC. There's a Walgreens, and there's a Kmart, but no Walmart! In fact, it's illegal to have a Walmart near NYC because of laws concerning the selling of firearms toward city limits. I always go to footbag events telling myself "I'll make a visit to Walmart if there's time for me." There's never time to go to a Walmart, and there's never the incentive to go and buy poly pellets at a Walmart. Thanks footbag and after-parties. Thanks a lot.

This bag I stitched up (with the Haizely) is getting choicer and choicer by the minute. It's practically putty in my hands! I feel like I have a child-like fascination towards this bag. It's so awesome! I really hope it doesn't get holey when I do some serious shred with it. When I get my country cream, i think I'm going to sew a bag with Haizely to mix things up a bit. Standard Blur pattern. That would be SICK.

Not much shredding due to rain. A lot of it. I hope Sunday proves to have some good weather, since the NYFA crew wants to play that day.

[Robert wojci]

dude props on the stitching, that haizely bag is sick!

[david]

f ebay. ill get you plastic pellets at east coasts. bring a few bucks.

david

[shredzilla]

MM...I wouldn't play on that ankle Wayway. As much as I encourage skooling, I'm very much against playing through pain. I have to worry about it more because I'm older, but you don't want a mild injury to get worse and ruin your chances of playing footbag later. I don't know how bad it is, but just some more unsolicited advice from the Zilz

I wouldn't take the girl to the tournament quite yet. She'll ask to come when she's ready. Take it slow dog. Slow and steady as she goes.

Lonn is a woman. She was Peter Irish's wife.

I've never been to a Wal-Mart that sells poly pellets. Not saying there aren't ones out there that do, I've just not seen them. Arts and Crafts stores sell poly pellets. ie. Michaels n stuff. Michaels.com maybe?

Good job on the bag, see you this weekend.

Zilz

[Wasabi]

Lonn is a woman. She was Peter Irish's wife.

I know that Shredz. Who do you think i was talking about? Lon Smith? When I meant by "his bags" I meant your bags, Chris.

Sunday's shred proved to be fulfilling. Ian Brill, a shred buddy of Caleb, came to visit NYFA for some shred. His style looked really sloppy, but it was consistent at the very least. Plus, it's always great to have visitors coming in to shred. My shred was decent, and I was schooling like Millzilla had intended me to do. It was all about toes with me today, and I really needed to school them. I tried Neo (inside fairy) a couple of times, and I have the set pretty down. Still, to do something like Neo Smasher is far from my comprehension. I tried it a few times, but I lack practice. And double dexes are way beyond me still. At least it'll be better than Blur I think. However, I'm still working on legovers and Drew's tips on a decent mirage/legover string: legover > mirage > clip mirage > op legover > op mirage > op clip mirage rpt.

My ankle seems like it's getting better. No noticeable pain whatsoever, imo. There's some stress and tension when i crank them, but not so much like in Jersey Spike. Still, I should find my ankle brace and wear it for a couple of days, and ice them for 48 hours to realign my blood flow.

In any case, I didn't do much shredding since I wanted to rest my ankle, and I had to teach Rizz how to stitch. However, I had some good criticism with NYFA on my recent bag with the Haizely material. Good reviews, but it seemed a bit heavy. I just switched the fill to something lighter and with more body so that it makes for better playability. The template was from the stitching pack that I got from Tom & Peng. It's a big bag, but I like her. Lewd Bag SPECIAL will be a floppy masterpiece.

I taught Rizz how to stitch her first bag. I wanted her to tackle a 6-panel first so that she knows how to do a proper running stitch, but this will be a learning lesson for her. Though there were some bumpy roads to her learning, she's gotten a good grasp on how to stitch her 32. I'm sure with practice her running stitch and needle placement will be much better. It is her first bag, after all. Still, I think I proved myself to be a good teacher. Her next lesson will be the blind stitch! Ouch.

Now stitching a bag for Pengpeng. Pics coming soon, hopefully with better lighting. Maybe I'll see her at East Coast so that I can save on shipping?

Note to self: I need a ride to East Coast!

edit: I feel like crap right now. Personal reasons, ie. Fall registration for classes, relationship, etc. I don't think I will be doing much shredding this week. Good way to recover, but I doubt my game will be substantial come East Coast.

[Wasabi]

Stop the rain! Please! It's been raining for the whole week, along with very crappy cold weather in NYC. I have no access for an indoor shred spot either! Well, now that I think about it: if I sign up for a gym membership at my college, I might be able to play. And if the basketball court under my college is open, I might be able to play there. I don't know. It's one of those "mysterious places" I haven't given much thought about looking into.

Well, if it's times like this that I need a shred spot, then getting a physical is well worth it.

I'm going to work on a 12-paneled bag. I'm putting all of my colors into the mix, and I hope it looks awesome.

Me and Rizz are considering taking the train from Penn Station to go to ECFC. Chris Miller tells us to take it to Union Station. Hopefully the ride isn't costly. Since we're both crashing at Chris Millah's humble abode, it's going to be a stitching frenzy. Dave Clavens is likely to be there I think. John Mahood can go ahead and mock our parade.

[Wasabi]

I haven't posted here in a long while.

East Coast was awesome. I won't cover much, seeing that Chris Miller, John Mahood and maybe Dave Clavens already did a write-up on the happenings to that event, so I'll digress from that. However, I'll say this: that is probably the single most event that I've felt so pumped up in so long. New Year's Jam at Rochester and Funtastiks didn't seem to compete with the amount of energy and drive I've felt that weekend. Although in the last event day I felt really hungover and tired, there were a few string sessions that I felt were on the mark and trance-like.

My ankle still feels kind of stiff since Jersey Spike, but from East Coast and on it seems to be going well. The swelling is minimal now. I'm starting to wear my ankle break much more, and I'm going to try to put some more ice on it (I really didn't practice the 48 hour icing that I saw in Ken's blog). Hopefully that'll be good.

Some highlights:

• I stitched up two bags for John Mahood. #8 & 9. No pics have been taken yet, so it's going to be a surprise for anyone who has yet to see them. They're HAWT. I read in his blog that he's enjoying the one I stitched up for him. I think I still owe him $8-10 worth of drinks from that night in Wonderland (East Coast PAR-TAY!). I'm sure to buy him some when Funtastiks comes along.
• Stitched up #10 and it looks awesome. Really a tribute to the Raye brothers on this bag. Lately, I haven't seen anyone stitch up this pattern in some time, and I'm glad I was the one to jump on the chance. It plays really well, and with the way I stitched it it's going to have a long life-span. It has yet to break-in fully from hand-kneading, but that was my goal from the very start.
• #11 will be going to Ben Rea. It looks really awesome and I'm happy on how my stitching is going along. I was "inspired" on something that I happened onto recently, and I'm sure he'll like it. Clues: It's *green,* and Benjamin Marquart knows what I'm talking about.
• My shred is looking to be much more consistant. Drew is telling me to slow down, and yeah, it works! My flip clipper is doing pretty well, and I'm sure to make that solid (with my strong clipper still tweaked, I'm sure I'll bsos both sides frequently). Flip legover is giving some trouble, but I guess I just need to time my delays and sets so that I can keep them close. Smear, especially pixie, is starting to be much more understandable for me.

That's it. Hopefully everything will turn out for the better next blog post.

[Wasabi]

I feel somewhat depressed lately. One factor could be my poor nutrition, as I haven't been the healthiest person for the past few weeks. I've tried to turn the other cheek when I physically felt like crap inside and out, but it seems like it feels unbearable to sutain now. I've read in at the Kicking Circle about fasting, and since I haven't done that in awhile I'm going to give it a shot. Another factor to my depression is that I haven't heard from the girl I'm going out for awhile. Sure, summer courses are intense and she's a tropper when it comes to studies, but it would make me less worrisome if I could keep in contact with her sometime. I just feel our connection is lacking lately. I hope she hasn't faced any trouble in her education, or her daily life.

Onto less depressing issues: I stitched up #12 today from scrapped panels I had laying around. I used a smaller template on them, with smaller bleed holes, and I think i just found something for a good mini. I'm not posting any pictures, but I can say that for the hexes I did something similar to Pengpeng's method for Dada bags in that I put them in a small black pouch and randomly took and stitched in one at a time. The pents are all Storm, so it's not a true Dada. It's very spherical, and personally, I think it resembles to a smaller Hania mini (definitely smaller than a golfball). The hexes are just in proportion to hers in terms of stitching! I won't be selling the bag, because it'll have irregular break-in, has one hex that's Paizely, and I think one of the hexes is on the wrong side. In any case, however, it's a very styley bag on my collection, and I'm very happy with this template.

I'm onto stitching another bag that I think I'll randomly sell, two tester bags that I'll make for my East Coast buddies, and I think two orders for people in the NYFA group. Stitching is dope.

I haven't posted anything involving shred because I feel that I haven't progressed much in those fields lately. I'm going to try and download some shred videos to get me inspired, and maybe watch Fourkast sometime next week.

Finally registered for my Fall semester of classes. Hopefully my college won't give me any bull for sending me my bill. I'm tempted to do a FAFSA form, but don't feel inclined to pay off the loans after I graduate college. $2000+ per semester seems a bit much out of my budget, though. Ugh. And I have to take the CPE eventually. i think i have one forfeit under my record. It's kind of stupid when they attempt to push me into taking the exam when I clearly don't have time for it (both studying for it and actually taking it). I should do something about it.

[Wasabi]

Day one of fasting:

It's Sunday, and the only things I consumed today were water, Naked Juice's Green Machine and Strawberry Kiwi Kick, and some orange juice. I'm not sure if I'm violating anything with the Green Machine in my water/juice pseudo fast, but if it's alright I just plan ahead: I bought a 64 fluid oz. worth of the stuff I love. It was a hard road for me to start eating, but I think I overcame my obstacles on day one. Day two should be extremely fun.

I gave myself a long walk over southern Manhattan in the rain. It felt refreshing for my grimy body. I didn't feel any adverse effects from an empty stomach, so that felt very good especially for a good 30+ minute walk. For some reason, I had a craving for a laaarge salmon steak with a potato sidedish, but it was pretty minute at best. I guess from what I heard about the problems with fasting isn't the issue with hunger, but it's really the lack of any lasting "taste" in your mouth. I also think it's the lack of "chewing" that applies as well, because I'm sure anyone who hasn't lost all of their teeth love to chew their food. Pretty much, in my observation, is that it's all psychological at best and that I have a good chance to accomplish my three day fast.

Although there is one side of me that wants Tuesday (12AM) to come by REALLY fast.

I doubt I'll be doing any shred in these few days because 1) I'm fasting, 2) it's been raining like crazy in the east coast, and 3) I'm still not over the whole "depression" issue. I'm trying to see the good in things now, and I have to say that modified is helping me through these troubles (keeping me entertained in some way at least). Hopefully come Wednesday I'll be healthy and fit enough to bust out, and that it won't rain sometime in the evening.

Footbag-related highlights:

• I found an old pack of precut panels I made from an old batch of facile a few months ago. Before I thought the color combo was awesome (blue hawaii hexes and sunny sienna/saffron pents, I think), but now it's just.... gawdy. My solution? I'm using the blue hawaii with colonial red pents, and the sunny sienna/saffron with willow hexes. I think that's going to look pretty SICK! They'll both be mini bags, and I'll post them up on modified when I make them. However...
• ... I won't be stitching those bags just yet. After I do #13 (animal print hexes and country cream pents), I'm doing #14 for Matt Cross. The design for the bag will be a surprise, but I can let out two clues: 1) I'm going to wait for a new batch of facile I bought from Field's to arrive so that I can begin stitching it and 2) the idea came from Matt's New Year's Jam when we were with Tom and Peng in the corner of his house. I wonder if he remembers? I'll just enlighten him when I design the bag.
• I'm thinking of stitching up two/three more tester bags for people in the east coast. I was pondering what design to do for these people: Aric McIntosh, Paul Agostinelli, Chris Dean, the Digges brothers, Pascal Tomecek, hell, Ken Somolinos maybe? It's not official when I'll stop doing tester bags and stop refining my current stitching style, but it'll have to stop at #17 at least. I want to make some money out of this hobby of mine. I was thinking of stitching a bag for someone at the West Coast too. Maybe the one and only Nasty Nate, Stephen Barnes or Lon Smith. Jon Nagela? (nah, he's not in the west coast! ). The list goes on...

Goodnight footblog. I'll be sure to update you tomorrow night.

edit: Change of plans for Matt's bag. I just got word from John Mahood that the bag i made for him has started to break and retire. I'm settling a way in making him a new bag and whatever.

[Wasabi]

Day two of fasting:

The hunger pains are getting to me, i think. I'm starting to feel very disoriented and without energy for most of today. The lack of tasting and chewing actual food is digging deep into my consciousness. However, I think it's starting to work for the better actually. I don't feel like an unhealthy piece of flesh anymore, and I never knew liquids would be so filling. It's a pretty weird feeling.

Starting to stitch my bags seems like a hassle during this fast. i can't concentrate at all. And now that I trimmed my long finger nails early today, it's a bit hard to manage my gathering. I'm not sure if I can complete John Mahood's bag anytime soon, or my #13, but I'll have to see about my condition on Wednesday. I'm really stoked about making Matt's bag, but I have to finish with these obstacles before anything happens yet.

I'm sure day 3 won't be a hassle because by then I'll get to have some morsel of food at 12 AM of that day. Oh the tantalizing feeling of actual food! lol

It seems like I'm missing all of the calls this girl is trying to make to me, and visa versa. Depressing as usual. I'm not going to delve down into the specifics of the matter. This is supposed to be a footblog, damn it! It needs more manly sweat and grime in these posts! But I digress. This is how I'm currently feeling right now, and it's just a bunch of emotional crap that's not worth typing.

Again, I'll have to wait until Wednesday on my shred progress and stitching (there's sweating in stitching, right?). I think that'll be good, and it'll definitely change this footblog's current mood now. Until next blog post.

[Wasabi]

I've had a bit of good progress for footbag lately. Highlights:

• Hit pretty close to smear and neo smasher on Saturday! More progress on neo smasher than smear though. Pixies are still feeling very weird for me.
• Infinity... almost. I've hit it countless times before, but I need to work on consistency. Need more work on my left clipper.
• I didn't hit it clean (of course), but I attempted ripwalk. The only problem I found was the stepping set, and butterflying into it seems pretty easy if I put some dedication on it.
• Flying toe is getting very consistent for me. I love doing this move! I need to incorporate this move mid-string. Maybe I'll talk to Tom Mosher about Quantum Leap? Nahhh...

I've also been stitching a lot of bags. I just made myself a mini from Willow and Saffron, weighing at 46.8g. I call her Dusky, and she's numba 15. Besides one pent, the stitching looks extremely consistent. I made one for Matt Cross (#16), too, and sent that bag in early today. I hope he posts a pic up at Bag & Equipment. For his pattern, i need to be more consistant (clue for the curious, it's made from the bipolar pattern). I'm going to stitch the same bag with the same colors to see how well I do. I just hate how inconsistent the print is on Leopard Print. Animal Print is consistent, but it seems like everyone who stitches uses that facile.

I have two orders to do I think. One for Drew Martin, and one bag for grabs. I think Ted Fritcsch wants a bag and a new NYFA member (I forgot his name). Maybe I'll send a bag to Chris Dean? I was thinking of a really durable color combo that he would love to use, and he always trashes his bags like crazy.

With all of that said, I'm going to have to wait. It just seems that I lost my hard stencils for my regular bag size! I just sent a pm to Peng about the measurements, as I use the size template from her and Tom's stitching pack. Hopefully she'll reply.

[Wasabi]

Made #17 out of Blue Hawaii hexes and Amatista pents. It's an extraminimini, weighing at exactly 20 grams. Not good for freestyle, but a good bag to train with kicks. It's breaking in... well? I have no clue. I might need to make a larger template to make it work. I wish i had some Amaretto suede to work with, but I doubt I'll be doing a lot of extraminiminis in the future anyway. I'm just asking way too much for a small project. Although, I do want to make an extramini footbagthat would be shred worthy, weighing at 30g at least.

I'm doing a money bag right now. Just about done. I think I used a pretty good template for this, although the conventions to it is a bit awkward. Before I had trouble with a bleed hole length that was way too big, and now I have something way too small. 31% I think. I should have stuck with 33-35%, but I don't know. I'll see when I complete this bag. This one is going to Brian Dennis, as he had requested in my trade proposal.

I'm behind in orders. I have a bag I need to stitch up for Drew Martin by this weekend, and 3 6-panels for Josh Raye. Then there's a couple of templates I plan on stitching to sell to people.

Not much footbag news other than that. I was planning on playing last Saturday, until my father slapped me with some news about a barbecue celebrating my nephews first birthday. I just couldn't pass that up. Plus, for the shred that NYFA was doing that Saturday, there was some sort of NYU documentary that some guy wanted to do on us. Maybe it's a win-win situation, because I'm sure Stan wouldn't appreciate my C+ game. "Bring your A game!"

Wednesday evening seems like a rain out. Bummer. I want to shred so bad with some of the NYFA crew. Maybe I'll just do some solo shredding at home, and break some porcelain figurines again. Not noted in the blog! Saturday sounds promising, since the Siren Festival is happening at Coney Island. Maybe Jon Schneider will show up (or not, with his foot injury). I hear of a Mike from Cornell busting stuff with NYFA last Saturday, so that's a maybe too.

Also, I'm so glad that PeeWee's Playhouse is back on the bootube. I don't watch much tv to begin with, but seeing that show again brings back a lot of memories. I grew up with that show! PeeWee Herman touches a special place in my heart (and not anywhere else on my body, that perv). Ah well.

edit: While I was finished stitching up the money bag, #18, I was watching the movie Dirty Love with Jenny McCarthy late at night. It was practically the most random movie I've seen to date. It feels like the perfect date movie to go and watch, after you go and eat some mushies, drink some LSD, and smoke up a batch of Salvia. I'm surprised this woman didn't die from bleeding so much from her own period (Ladies...). j/k. Or not. Title change!

[Wasabi]

I seem to be doing more trades with bags than selling them. Maybe I should put myself out there on the stitchers contact page. I just don't like the idea of stitching publicly and get infested with so many orders. That bites. But I would like to make some money out of the bags I make 4 dizzle. I guess I should consult Matt about this and maybe make myself a page with some updated pics of my bags on the "For Sale" forum. When I reach my quota of #23, I guess that'll start in no time flat I guess.

I had a really touching chat with this girl last night, and a friend I called up on Virginia. Y'know those talks, where that girl wants to know about your "past relationships." I was cornered, nervous, and didn't know how to answer a question like that clearly. I think I might have freaked her out on the people I mentioned (psycho bitches!), but maybe our commitment to each other may have risen a bit. She's a weird one, but I like her for her curiousity. And in the end, I basically phoned in this friend in Virginia for some comfort talk. Hello!

Basically, the plan I'm trying to work in this Saturday: Siren Festival, hot sweaty shred on the boardwalk, fix up Ken David with some bags he has, give Drew Martin his 32, and walk with this girl along the beach. The place is going to be flooded with people, so I doubt I'm going to like that idea. Still, the forecast said it would a great day to go to the beach.

[Wasabi]

I'm starting up my #20 with Leopard print hexes and Petit Pois pents. I really like the idea of this bag, and I'm sure I'll be able to stitch it well if I keep up my consistency. I think this bag will be a true hallmark for my obsession with the color "green" Lately. It definitely does make my fizzied username that much more appealing. Like, I went on a summer shopping spree over the weekend. I got two green sandals that have a papyrus-like backing from H&M (one of them is a duller Petit Pois-like green, the other a really stupified white, brown and green camo design), a green camo bucket hat, and some some white/green/black bracelet I got off the street. I also got a Sable-colored pair of short pants, but that's not green. Maybe I'll get green laces for my G-units, but I think that's going a bit far.

I've been having this thought for more than a month now. To tell you the truth, if I can customize my own jersey, I would totally make a green jersey that says "Wasabi" as my name. With black and white highlights on the trim of the jersey. Maybe a stupid number like 32 to keep up with the 32 panel running fad, or 23 for my birthday (February 3rd). 69? I can't hit a Nuke drifter unless I get as good as Chris Dean or Nathan Pipenburg. Man, for hot days like this, I could totally use a jersey to go shred in.

I just toed Neo Smasher over the weekend during the Siren Festival. I got some good tips from Bruce Dole and Alex Sagalovskiy. I also think I'm getting a bit closer to Jack Keller's Sole Stealer, but I don't know if I should be doing it on same foot or not to make it a "true" Sole Stealer. Basically, I would stall the bag on my shin and go to blind sole with the other foot. Comfortable as it may be, I doubt it would be the proper method for the move. I guess I should go make a visit with the Ministry of Silly Walks sometime in one of those Friday evenings.

The walk on the beach with this girl was a bit boring. I'm starting to have my doubts in starting a relationship with her. Plus, she was maybe heavy on the make-up? I don't know. I guess I'm looking for something much more conservative in girls. Really, though, I think the main focus for my depression is my desire to commit to a relationship, and I don't think it's the right time or the right person for me to get serious. I really should concentrate on footba[n]g much more.

[Wasabi]

I just finished #20 two nights ago. Oh my god! It looks so good!. It's a bit stiff, but with break-in I'm sure it'll be choice. It just feels soft already! The Petit Pois could get some work, but with so much Leopard Print, it's awesome. I think I'll call it "Black Ops" because it looks like it's ready for some covert action. Great bag to use for these sunny hot days, I'd say. For now, though, I'm still working around the fill for this bag.

I'm going to stitch up 3 6-panels for Josh Raye for the rest of this week, and make a bag for Pengpeng since Tom took all of her good bags to World's. I can't wait, though I would seriously like to make some money with my stitching. I'll just stitch bags for Kickass 2.

Man, last night's shred with some of the NYFA crew felt amazing. I was pretty close to Neo Smasher and Smear on all counts. Bruce tells me not to use insides so much, and I agree. I just hate how muscle memory works sometimes in my shred, and I basically improvise what is comfortable for me. I have to stop that. Plus, my clippers need some serious work, since with all of the Neos I'm doing I can't coordinate my clippers properly. I don't know, but I'm really looking forward to Saturday's shred. I need to prepare myself for Kickass 2!

I need some help with Sole Stealer. The only person i know that has hit that move is Jack Keller, and I can't look to him for help. He wants me to learn that move by Funtastiks, and I just want to surprise the man and his sweet shins. I think I should do the blind flapper stall from in-spinning (since I use my right shin, I would turn right) instead of turning left. The set is just too small for my to turn left to complete the move. It's a weird move, but I'm slowly getting a grasp on the blind flapper.

I need to check out the prices for my trip to Kingston. I need the cheapest travel I can afford (which isn't saying much). I seriously hope that i don't miss a lot of classes in my trip, as I can't afford to be excused just because of footbag. I need to get my grades up, and I seriously think I have a solid schedule this fall. I think I'm going to enjoy these classes! However, Kickass 2 would be even sweeter, and it will be my first step on Canada solely for footbag. I miss my RFA and Canadian friends. Plus, I want a rematch against Ryan Seath on beer pong. Bring it!

[brinard]

your bleed holes on 18 are perfect. not too big, and just big enough for a straw.


sorry, but i changed the fill. lead plays better, what can i say.

i look forward to another trade someday... if we both dont have mountains of orders.

[Wasabi]

I went to look for my passport, and I found out that it just expired early last year. At most I was pretty astonished. Was it Summer '04 that I last went traveling? That was Hong Kong, and I wasn't much of a freestyler back then. It's just so surprising, and I'm a bit pissed as well, that my passport expired. I really need to get it updated so that I can travel to Canada. I have about a month to process it, so I'm doing it immediately this weekend. Good thing I checked my status until now, or I would have been screwed over for missing out on another Kickass event.

I began using Ocelot. This facile is pretty thin and super supple! It has the same consistency as Green Mist, I think. It goes well for 6 paneled bags, since the print is super huge. Still, with the right amount of cut-outs, it would make for a nice brown facile color. Still, I doubt I want to use this material too much, as there are many people who play pretty aggressively with their bags.

I've recently caught a cold. Maybe it was from Wednesday evening's hard shred and the intense chilly air conditioning from the NYC Subway system. Or maybe the computer labs in my college campus (again, air conditioning). In any case, I feel like crap, have a headache, and my nose is all stuffed up. Did I say that I'm still trying to recover from a cough? Fuck. In any case, though, I shouldn't complain so much. Ken Somolinos and other freestylers seem to be getting pretty sick this summer, and I wish them all the best inn their health. I should be fortunate enough to just cough phlem and blow my nose every few 100 times my nose clogs up.

Starting up on Josh Raye's orders. I don't know if I want to begin stitching today because of my illness. I'm just beginning to write-up strong color combos he might enjoy. He's going to be a lucky camper with these 6-panels, definitely. I like the contrast of colors I'm using. After his order, Pengpeng Du is up next. After that, I'm taking a few days off to stitch up bags for Funtastiks and/or Kickass 2.

edit: I just got a bag from Brian Dennis out of Tulip hexes and Petit Pois pents. I like it a lot, and the fill is pretty new to me. Copper plated lead shot? Looks like size 9. My size 8 zinc plated steel shot is nice, but I find it not very effective for my fill nowadays. Brian's bag just proved that to me. It seems very effective, and I think I might invest on some lead shot as well. I don't know... maybe I should consult Matt Cross, Tom Mosher and Pengpeng Du about the exact specifications I should look into, since they're lead users (or past lead users). I definitely want to try a dense fill for my bags.