________
Ferrari 308 GTB
Fanzine
8/7/2006
Long time between sessions= long time between blog entries.
This last week has been pretty busy. I spent the weekend in Osaka, came back to Tokyo for a dentist appt and shred on Monday, hit my old stomping grounds up north (Iwate) on Tuesday and Wednesday, then I went to a semi-tropical island 45 minutes south of Tokyo with my girlfriend on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Good times were had (I really like snorkelling), and as all you math-majors out there (what up Mike!)realize, I didn`t touch a footbag for 5 days straight.
Yesterday though, I got in my last big session in Japan. Today is my last full day in the country, but only Takumi can play. "Only Takumi." Almost sounds like I`m complaining. Definitely one of the players I most enjoy playing with anywhere in the world. But that session hasn`t happened yet, so lets blog yesterday`s.
Once I got back from Osaka, I no longer needed/wanted to keep my presence in Japan a secret. Because of this, people posted about my last session in their blogs and on the forums, and thanks to this, we had a huge turnout. I was real touched and happy that a couple shredders came just to say hey. USK was injured, Haseken had a cold, and Ryota OBT had plans, but they all showed their faces in Yoyogi anyway to say hey. Tokyo really has a solid crew. Players who turned up and shredded included: Takumi, Morii (Molly), Hatsu, Kazu from Okinawa, Paul, Nari, Masa Shigeoka (!), Tosh, Tamura-kun (this kid is just finishing middle school, but already has stepping and fairy sets both sides. Lots of people just call him Takumi II), Matsuda, Yamatomo, and Makino-san.
It was sweltering hot when I got to Yoyogi, and the shade hadn`t reached the pier yet, so I proposed we warm up/kill time by playing foursquare. We ended up cooling down a few hours later with more foursquare, which I found super fun. Takumi won one game, Tosh another, and I also scored a rare victory.
Shred went well. There were some breakdancers near us who provided us with usable background music, and occasionally surprised me with real good tracks too, like some Hifana (my fav. Japanese band).
Takumi played good as usual. He flows well, which makes it hard to write highlights. Like, he`s more about the long string with good links than super-hard 2 trick combos. That said, he DID hit his first ever surging tomahawk (gyro stepping ducking pdx whirl). Some good looks at CheeseProcessor as well. His double spins are also much better now. Double spinning osis is pretty consistent, and he should hit spinning mobius within a few weeks. Did I see him hit bigwalk to janiwalker? I`m not sure, I`ll ask today. Other than that, stuff like spinning whirl-spinning swirl, whirlwind and scorp in the same string, whirlwind and gyro blender in the same string, spin whirl-mobius-pdx blender, etc.
Morii played especially well I thought. It`s a shame he gets so shy in front of a camera, cause when he`s just playing for himself, he can really throw it down. Atomic blender for his first time ever, food to ripwalk, infinity swirl to whirling swirl, midstring swifters, food both sides a bunch, and just real strong shuffle. Combo of the day: bl. whirl- bl. whirl- food processor.
I felt pretty good all session. There were a couple times when a crowd of tourists gathered, and that motivated me to lay down some of my better strings. Rubberman has gotten pretty standard (starting from one spot, blur), so yesterday I had fun playing around with rubberman variations.
Highlights:
*fog-atom-leg-fog-drop. I definitely want to hit fog rubberman again.
*DSOx4. Ties my record.
*smoke bsos, with a pixie grifter in there too.
*fog-dso bsos.
*rubberman, sealed with merkon bsos. This highlight is more notable for the merkon bsos part than the rubberman.
*Stepping ss swirl bsos, with a smoke in the seal.
*flurry-leg-blur. I will try for flurry-leg repeat the next time my flip flurry feels good.
*blizzard-toe blur-legbeater-blur-atom smasher-toe ripwalk. This was likely my favorite combo of the day.
In Japan, when people go on trips, they often buy "omiyage" for their friends and family. Omiyage is like, the sweets that a region is famous for. Since I went up North on Tuesday, I brought my favorite candy from that region and distributed it to everybody. I also gave out some Tootsie Roll pops I brought from the states. Tamura-kun gave people Okinawan omiyage, and Shige gave me some awesome honey-biscuit omiyage from Germany. Haseken gave me some CDs with this years Worlds finals, as well as footage of all the Japanese player`s shred30s and routines. Awesomeness, can`t wait to see it. USK gave me a Todexon t-shirt too, cause he`s buffed up too much to wear it. I thought that was sweet. I told him my goal was to buff up (the literal translation of the phrase he said was: "I`ve become too macho for this shirt") enough that I`d have to give the shirt to Takumi. We`ll see how it goes.
At the end of the shred we were all exhausted from the heat. After a little more foursquare, I made the rounds and said my goodbyes. It was a lot easier this time than when I left 7 months ago, for a lot of reasons. Maybe I`ll get into it later, but today is my last full day in Japan, so this is as much bloggage as you`re gonna get today.
PS- I had a dream last night, that Jorden Moir told me he`d give me his G-Units, just as soon as ...uh, something. I think it had to do with painting a stripe on them. In a separate dream, I played a weird variant of soccer/kickball with Mosher, Peng, and Matt Cross. There were obstacles, and different height levels you could kick from. Strange.
Long time between sessions= long time between blog entries.
This last week has been pretty busy. I spent the weekend in Osaka, came back to Tokyo for a dentist appt and shred on Monday, hit my old stomping grounds up north (Iwate) on Tuesday and Wednesday, then I went to a semi-tropical island 45 minutes south of Tokyo with my girlfriend on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Good times were had (I really like snorkelling), and as all you math-majors out there (what up Mike!)realize, I didn`t touch a footbag for 5 days straight.
Yesterday though, I got in my last big session in Japan. Today is my last full day in the country, but only Takumi can play. "Only Takumi." Almost sounds like I`m complaining. Definitely one of the players I most enjoy playing with anywhere in the world. But that session hasn`t happened yet, so lets blog yesterday`s.
Once I got back from Osaka, I no longer needed/wanted to keep my presence in Japan a secret. Because of this, people posted about my last session in their blogs and on the forums, and thanks to this, we had a huge turnout. I was real touched and happy that a couple shredders came just to say hey. USK was injured, Haseken had a cold, and Ryota OBT had plans, but they all showed their faces in Yoyogi anyway to say hey. Tokyo really has a solid crew. Players who turned up and shredded included: Takumi, Morii (Molly), Hatsu, Kazu from Okinawa, Paul, Nari, Masa Shigeoka (!), Tosh, Tamura-kun (this kid is just finishing middle school, but already has stepping and fairy sets both sides. Lots of people just call him Takumi II), Matsuda, Yamatomo, and Makino-san.
It was sweltering hot when I got to Yoyogi, and the shade hadn`t reached the pier yet, so I proposed we warm up/kill time by playing foursquare. We ended up cooling down a few hours later with more foursquare, which I found super fun. Takumi won one game, Tosh another, and I also scored a rare victory.
Shred went well. There were some breakdancers near us who provided us with usable background music, and occasionally surprised me with real good tracks too, like some Hifana (my fav. Japanese band).
Takumi played good as usual. He flows well, which makes it hard to write highlights. Like, he`s more about the long string with good links than super-hard 2 trick combos. That said, he DID hit his first ever surging tomahawk (gyro stepping ducking pdx whirl). Some good looks at CheeseProcessor as well. His double spins are also much better now. Double spinning osis is pretty consistent, and he should hit spinning mobius within a few weeks. Did I see him hit bigwalk to janiwalker? I`m not sure, I`ll ask today. Other than that, stuff like spinning whirl-spinning swirl, whirlwind and scorp in the same string, whirlwind and gyro blender in the same string, spin whirl-mobius-pdx blender, etc.
Morii played especially well I thought. It`s a shame he gets so shy in front of a camera, cause when he`s just playing for himself, he can really throw it down. Atomic blender for his first time ever, food to ripwalk, infinity swirl to whirling swirl, midstring swifters, food both sides a bunch, and just real strong shuffle. Combo of the day: bl. whirl- bl. whirl- food processor.
I felt pretty good all session. There were a couple times when a crowd of tourists gathered, and that motivated me to lay down some of my better strings. Rubberman has gotten pretty standard (starting from one spot, blur), so yesterday I had fun playing around with rubberman variations.
Highlights:
*fog-atom-leg-fog-drop. I definitely want to hit fog rubberman again.
*DSOx4. Ties my record.
*smoke bsos, with a pixie grifter in there too.
*fog-dso bsos.
*rubberman, sealed with merkon bsos. This highlight is more notable for the merkon bsos part than the rubberman.
*Stepping ss swirl bsos, with a smoke in the seal.
*flurry-leg-blur. I will try for flurry-leg repeat the next time my flip flurry feels good.
*blizzard-toe blur-legbeater-blur-atom smasher-toe ripwalk. This was likely my favorite combo of the day.
In Japan, when people go on trips, they often buy "omiyage" for their friends and family. Omiyage is like, the sweets that a region is famous for. Since I went up North on Tuesday, I brought my favorite candy from that region and distributed it to everybody. I also gave out some Tootsie Roll pops I brought from the states. Tamura-kun gave people Okinawan omiyage, and Shige gave me some awesome honey-biscuit omiyage from Germany. Haseken gave me some CDs with this years Worlds finals, as well as footage of all the Japanese player`s shred30s and routines. Awesomeness, can`t wait to see it. USK gave me a Todexon t-shirt too, cause he`s buffed up too much to wear it. I thought that was sweet. I told him my goal was to buff up (the literal translation of the phrase he said was: "I`ve become too macho for this shirt") enough that I`d have to give the shirt to Takumi. We`ll see how it goes.
At the end of the shred we were all exhausted from the heat. After a little more foursquare, I made the rounds and said my goodbyes. It was a lot easier this time than when I left 7 months ago, for a lot of reasons. Maybe I`ll get into it later, but today is my last full day in Japan, so this is as much bloggage as you`re gonna get today.
PS- I had a dream last night, that Jorden Moir told me he`d give me his G-Units, just as soon as ...uh, something. I think it had to do with painting a stripe on them. In a separate dream, I played a weird variant of soccer/kickball with Mosher, Peng, and Matt Cross. There were obstacles, and different height levels you could kick from. Strange.
8/8/2006
Charging my iPod for the long trip home. Computer needs to be on to do this, so why not get in a quick blog entry?
Yesterday I got in my final Japan shred of the trip. Just me and Takumi, but that somehow felt like an appropriate way to close out the vacation. I had my doubts about how well I`d play, since the soles of my feet hurt from the previous session (probably due to playing on concrete for a bit), and it was real muggy out. As it turned out, we both played pretty well.
We started around 3:30, but the shade hadn`t reached the Yoyogi pier yet, and it was kinda stinky in the usual spot, so we decided to move. Not like we were meeting anybody, and if we weren`t gonna play on the wood of the pier, any flat surface in the shade is as good as any other. We relocated closer to Shibuya, which worked out well. It was cool, flat, and there were lots of people walking by, so we got some exposure for the sport too. I think the spectator traffic helped me out too, since I play better in front of crowds.
We took lots of breaks and drank lots of fluids, and overall the shred had a more casual feel than usual. I requested lots of combos and tricks, and Takumi asked me to hit some tricks so he could see how I do them. I also asked him about some combos, and whether he had hit certain tricks, etc.
Onto the highlights!
Ken Highlights:
*tapping DLOx2! I had never done atomic out of this trick, but I visualized it correctly, and hit this combo for my first time.
*blurry whirl to 4 contacts of rubberman, both sides.
*blurry whirl to 5 contacts of rubberman.
*pixie flapper stall to a string.
*bl. whirl-ps whirl-tomahawk, with the other bl. whirl-ps whirl in the seal. Didn`t bother trying for the tomahawk... I just wasn`t feeling it.
I also learned "FS" pixie set from Takumi. It`s not rooted pixie, or hyper (at least, I dont think). It`s like symple pixie set, if that makes any sense. Like, halfway through the pixie set, you lift your other leg, so that when the pixie foot hits the ground, the other leg is in the air. Its kinda like pogo set, but from toe. So like, with a regular smear, both legs are on the ground after the set, then you mirage. But with fs pixie (pogo pixie?), only one leg is on the ground at any given moment. Whatever. I don`t think its any harder than pixie, but its a stylish embellishment.
*"fs" smoke
* "fs" smog
Oh, I also got whirling swirl bsos, which isn`t new, but I`ve only hit that like twice in my life, and the last time was like 2 years ago. This time I got it within only a couple tries, so I was real pleasantly surprised by it.
Onto the good stuff: Takumi`s highlights (all new for him):
*bigwalk-surging ss butterfly-bigwalk! (He hasn`t hit the whole drill yet).
*gyro grave digger.
*surge-atomic drifter! Bsosed the surge in his attempt to bsos the combo.
*symp surging pick up, midstring.
*fs venom
(is he the first?)
*bigwalk-janiwalker!
*spinning mobius!
Saying goodbye is always sad, but it went well. I gave him some goodbye gifts, told him to study hard (so he`ll eventually get a good job and get to go to Worlds more easily), and told him to use his left toe more in his shred.
Seriously though, I was glad I got to play with him a lot on this trip, and I feel confident we`ll play again sometime, be it at Worlds, or the next time I come to Japan, whenever that may be.
またね日本のフットバッグ！
Charging my iPod for the long trip home. Computer needs to be on to do this, so why not get in a quick blog entry?
Yesterday I got in my final Japan shred of the trip. Just me and Takumi, but that somehow felt like an appropriate way to close out the vacation. I had my doubts about how well I`d play, since the soles of my feet hurt from the previous session (probably due to playing on concrete for a bit), and it was real muggy out. As it turned out, we both played pretty well.
We started around 3:30, but the shade hadn`t reached the Yoyogi pier yet, and it was kinda stinky in the usual spot, so we decided to move. Not like we were meeting anybody, and if we weren`t gonna play on the wood of the pier, any flat surface in the shade is as good as any other. We relocated closer to Shibuya, which worked out well. It was cool, flat, and there were lots of people walking by, so we got some exposure for the sport too. I think the spectator traffic helped me out too, since I play better in front of crowds.
We took lots of breaks and drank lots of fluids, and overall the shred had a more casual feel than usual. I requested lots of combos and tricks, and Takumi asked me to hit some tricks so he could see how I do them. I also asked him about some combos, and whether he had hit certain tricks, etc.
Unfortunately, it turns out he didn`t; he just came close one time. Thats understandable though, as its a pretty ridiculous combo.C-Fan wrote: Did I see him hit bigwalk to janiwalker? I`m not sure, I`ll ask today. .
Onto the highlights!
Ken Highlights:
*tapping DLOx2! I had never done atomic out of this trick, but I visualized it correctly, and hit this combo for my first time.
*blurry whirl to 4 contacts of rubberman, both sides.
*blurry whirl to 5 contacts of rubberman.
*pixie flapper stall to a string.
*bl. whirl-ps whirl-tomahawk, with the other bl. whirl-ps whirl in the seal. Didn`t bother trying for the tomahawk... I just wasn`t feeling it.
I also learned "FS" pixie set from Takumi. It`s not rooted pixie, or hyper (at least, I dont think). It`s like symple pixie set, if that makes any sense. Like, halfway through the pixie set, you lift your other leg, so that when the pixie foot hits the ground, the other leg is in the air. Its kinda like pogo set, but from toe. So like, with a regular smear, both legs are on the ground after the set, then you mirage. But with fs pixie (pogo pixie?), only one leg is on the ground at any given moment. Whatever. I don`t think its any harder than pixie, but its a stylish embellishment.
*"fs" smoke
* "fs" smog
Oh, I also got whirling swirl bsos, which isn`t new, but I`ve only hit that like twice in my life, and the last time was like 2 years ago. This time I got it within only a couple tries, so I was real pleasantly surprised by it.
Onto the good stuff: Takumi`s highlights (all new for him):
*bigwalk-surging ss butterfly-bigwalk! (He hasn`t hit the whole drill yet).
*gyro grave digger.
*surge-atomic drifter! Bsosed the surge in his attempt to bsos the combo.
*symp surging pick up, midstring.
*fs venom
(is he the first?)*bigwalk-janiwalker!
*spinning mobius!
Saying goodbye is always sad, but it went well. I gave him some goodbye gifts, told him to study hard (so he`ll eventually get a good job and get to go to Worlds more easily), and told him to use his left toe more in his shred.
Seriously though, I was glad I got to play with him a lot on this trip, and I feel confident we`ll play again sometime, be it at Worlds, or the next time I come to Japan, whenever that may be. またね日本のフットバッグ！
Just a quickie to let everybody know I made it back home (Arizona) safely. Mad jet-lagged now, but I'm a fight it, and hopefully get in shred shape by the weekend, for a farewell kick with the Arizona scene.
While I'm here, I may as well mention two small highlights I forgot last time:
*fog-dim-fog-dim-bl. whirl- dropped the whirl part of the next bl. whirl.
*bl. whirl-blur-leg repeat.
While I'm here, I may as well mention two small highlights I forgot last time:
*fog-dim-fog-dim-bl. whirl- dropped the whirl part of the next bl. whirl.
*bl. whirl-blur-leg repeat.
Jet lag is still trying to pull me horizontal, but I'm doing my best to fight it. 2 nights ago, I forced myself not to go to bed before midnight, and I managed to sleep a full, uninterupted 8 hours. Yesterday, I resisted the urge to nap, got in a light shred (mostly for exercise), and resisted sleep until 10 pm. Got 7 hours sleep, then went for a walk. I still feel a bit fatigued today, but I think one more day fighting it, and I'll be pretty much reset to American time. Shoutout to Clavens for helping me stay up 2 nights ago by playing Literati with me. I'd like to play that with more footbaggers, so if you see me in chat, hop in and we'll set up a game.
So yesterday was my first shred in the states since getting back from Japan. It was my second jet-lagged shred in about a month. It's pretty weird and challenging to play with jet-lag, and this time I didn't have the advantage of adrenaline. My last jet-lag session, I had just flown into Tokyo, and I was so stoked to surprise everybody, that that alone had me pumped up. Playing in Yoyogi again, and playing with Takumi and USK and the crew got me even more excited, and of course, I had lots of stuff I wanted to show off. So that session was awesome.
Yesterday though, I was back to entertaining the cacti and lizards, which somehow didn't get me the same rush. I can't complain though; the fact that it was cool enough outside for me to get in any shred at all was pretty lucky. I came back in time for monsoon season, which is strikingly beautiful. The land is transformed: rivers appear and disappear overnight, looking up at 3 different parts of they sky can yield three completely different views (blue sky, a black thundercloud with horizontal lightning, and deep purple and crimson sunset), the cacti are noticably plumper, etc. It's really something.
I played out on my driveway, and only had about 45 minutes of usable light. You have to play at sunset, otherwise its just prohibitively hot. Luckily I didn't feel like I was racing against darkness, cause I knew this session wasn't meant to be anything more than just getting some exercise (to help beat the jetlag). It was nice playing without any pressure. It was also nice playing in one of my NBA jerseys I didn't bring to Japan.
Not much in the way of highlights. Even small strings tired me out, and throughout the session I kept feeling my eyelids get heavy. Still, I was out there for nearly an hour, I sweated, and I stretched out the shred muscles. I finished the shred with an easy 29 contact string, after which I was huffing and puffing. Ah whatever, here's highlights anyway:
*smear-dso repeat
*some very good janiwalkers, but I still have trouble stepping out of them.
*flip torque-pdx drifter, random and slyly.
*smog bsos!
I was happy with that last one, cause smog bsos is one of the hardest triple dex bsoses for me, despite smog being possibly the easiest triple in the world. My body feels good today, so I may get in another light shred. There's talk of a farewell shred tomorrow night, so I hope I beat this jetlag well enough to not embarass myself if it happens.
So yesterday was my first shred in the states since getting back from Japan. It was my second jet-lagged shred in about a month. It's pretty weird and challenging to play with jet-lag, and this time I didn't have the advantage of adrenaline. My last jet-lag session, I had just flown into Tokyo, and I was so stoked to surprise everybody, that that alone had me pumped up. Playing in Yoyogi again, and playing with Takumi and USK and the crew got me even more excited, and of course, I had lots of stuff I wanted to show off. So that session was awesome.
Yesterday though, I was back to entertaining the cacti and lizards, which somehow didn't get me the same rush. I can't complain though; the fact that it was cool enough outside for me to get in any shred at all was pretty lucky. I came back in time for monsoon season, which is strikingly beautiful. The land is transformed: rivers appear and disappear overnight, looking up at 3 different parts of they sky can yield three completely different views (blue sky, a black thundercloud with horizontal lightning, and deep purple and crimson sunset), the cacti are noticably plumper, etc. It's really something.
I played out on my driveway, and only had about 45 minutes of usable light. You have to play at sunset, otherwise its just prohibitively hot. Luckily I didn't feel like I was racing against darkness, cause I knew this session wasn't meant to be anything more than just getting some exercise (to help beat the jetlag). It was nice playing without any pressure. It was also nice playing in one of my NBA jerseys I didn't bring to Japan.
Not much in the way of highlights. Even small strings tired me out, and throughout the session I kept feeling my eyelids get heavy. Still, I was out there for nearly an hour, I sweated, and I stretched out the shred muscles. I finished the shred with an easy 29 contact string, after which I was huffing and puffing. Ah whatever, here's highlights anyway:
*smear-dso repeat
*some very good janiwalkers, but I still have trouble stepping out of them.
*flip torque-pdx drifter, random and slyly.
*smog bsos!
I was happy with that last one, cause smog bsos is one of the hardest triple dex bsoses for me, despite smog being possibly the easiest triple in the world. My body feels good today, so I may get in another light shred. There's talk of a farewell shred tomorrow night, so I hope I beat this jetlag well enough to not embarass myself if it happens.
-
zeroman13
- Post Master General
- Posts: 2385
- Joined: 17 Jan 2006 07:17
- Location: Somewhere in the desert!!!!!
- Contact:
Ken, if we do have this farewell shred tomorrow I know for a fact that there's no way in HELL you can embarrass yourself. Your too good for that to happen!C-Fan wrote:There's talk of a farewell shred tomorrow night, so I hope I beat this jetlag well enough to not embarass myself if it happens.
Hope to see ya tomorrow.
Josh
Josh M.Wasabi wrote:Footbag is not materialistic; it's about challenging yourself and having fun at the same time.
My Website
Pm me for details about Munster Bags!
I was going through my closet today, picking out clothes to bring to grad school. I leave in like 4 days! Ahhhhhhhhhh! So exciting and scary all at the same time. But I have high hopes. Anyway, as I rifled through my old clothes, I found a ton of old footbag shirts that I never wear anymore. Some of the shirts I actually never wore ever. Brought back lots of memories though. LOTS of memories. I remember when I got some of them, I thought I'd never throw them out, but time changes a lot of perspectives. In lots of cases, I find that I no longer need a physical reminder of a time or place. In other cases, I have better physical mementos, like footbags to bring back memories.
After going through the closet, I decided to keep a handful of shirts, because they still meant something to me. These included:
-My Philly Open 2 t-shirt. This was the first tourney where I competed Open, and I killed. First day I had a 1 drop routine, something that I wouldn't replicate until Worlds 2005 (PO2 was in 2000!). This tourney gave me the confidence to really push myself to play at my best.
-Worlds 2004 shirt. Some good memories, but more than anything, its a good looking shirt, and its good for shredding.
-NZ Fringe Festival shirt. Not really 100% a footbag shirt, but it looks cool, was a gift from Floyd, and is shreddable.
-NBA-style logo shred shirt. I bought this from Yacine, to help him pay his way to tournies. It looks good, and kinda combines my 2 sports passions.
-Japan Championships 1. Probably the tournament that's most special to me, for several reasons. The first Japanese footbag shirt ever. On that note, I also decided to keep...
-Pepsi Twist Footbag promo shirt. Same reasons as above.
In total, I decided to get rid of 8 footbag t-shirts. I was a bit surprised with myself, cause I never thought I'd get rid of some of them. Most notably, I decided I no longer want my Worlds 99 shirt (my first Worlds ever), or my 1999 Montreal Invitational (my first footbag tournament ever!) shirt. But realistically, I would no longer wear them ever again.
I toyed with the idea of selling them/giving them away to people on Modified, but then I decided the best course would be to send them to Japan, and have them given away as minor prizes at JFC4. Footbag shirts in Japan are rare, and old, one-of-a-kind shirts would probably go over well as minor prizes. I wonder how my East Coast Champs 2001 (2?) shirt will go over, the one that has "foot-bag" in chinese characters (足, then...nuts, my kanji program bites ass). Japanese people would definitely find that weird.
In good news, I finally feel like I'm over my jetlag. Perfect timing too, since I'm gonna have a farewell shred with the Phoenix players in a couple hours. Stoked for that.
Ahhhhhhhhhh! So exciting and scary all at the same time. But I have high hopes. Anyway, as I rifled through my old clothes, I found a ton of old footbag shirts that I never wear anymore. Some of the shirts I actually never wore ever. Brought back lots of memories though. LOTS of memories. I remember when I got some of them, I thought I'd never throw them out, but time changes a lot of perspectives. In lots of cases, I find that I no longer need a physical reminder of a time or place. In other cases, I have better physical mementos, like footbags to bring back memories. After going through the closet, I decided to keep a handful of shirts, because they still meant something to me. These included:
-My Philly Open 2 t-shirt. This was the first tourney where I competed Open, and I killed. First day I had a 1 drop routine, something that I wouldn't replicate until Worlds 2005 (PO2 was in 2000!). This tourney gave me the confidence to really push myself to play at my best.
-Worlds 2004 shirt. Some good memories, but more than anything, its a good looking shirt, and its good for shredding.
-NZ Fringe Festival shirt. Not really 100% a footbag shirt, but it looks cool, was a gift from Floyd, and is shreddable.
-NBA-style logo shred shirt. I bought this from Yacine, to help him pay his way to tournies. It looks good, and kinda combines my 2 sports passions.
-Japan Championships 1. Probably the tournament that's most special to me, for several reasons. The first Japanese footbag shirt ever. On that note, I also decided to keep...
-Pepsi Twist Footbag promo shirt. Same reasons as above.
In total, I decided to get rid of 8 footbag t-shirts. I was a bit surprised with myself, cause I never thought I'd get rid of some of them. Most notably, I decided I no longer want my Worlds 99 shirt (my first Worlds ever), or my 1999 Montreal Invitational (my first footbag tournament ever!) shirt. But realistically, I would no longer wear them ever again.
I toyed with the idea of selling them/giving them away to people on Modified, but then I decided the best course would be to send them to Japan, and have them given away as minor prizes at JFC4. Footbag shirts in Japan are rare, and old, one-of-a-kind shirts would probably go over well as minor prizes. I wonder how my East Coast Champs 2001 (2?) shirt will go over, the one that has "foot-bag" in chinese characters (足, then...nuts, my kanji program bites ass). Japanese people would definitely find that weird.
In good news, I finally feel like I'm over my jetlag. Perfect timing too, since I'm gonna have a farewell shred with the Phoenix players in a couple hours. Stoked for that.
Feel 90% over the jetlag, which is a relief. I went to the local gym today and swam. Man am I out of swimming shape. The laps seemed much longer, and I had to really push myself to make it to 28 laps. I brought my footbags with me, but only played 5 minutes. Probably less than 5 minutes. I mostly shot hoops.
Highlights from 5 minutes of playing:
*ripwalk-spinning butterfly rpt.
*8 contacts of pdx whirl-drifter repeat, both sides (its possible I only got 7 on flip, but I think it was 8 ).
*a 50 contact guiltless string, mostly bops, but with whirl bsos, duck clip bsos, symp mirage bsos, spin clip bsos, and possibly drifter bsos.
Yesterday I had a real nice farewell shred. I'll blog is later tonight probably.
Highlights from 5 minutes of playing:
*ripwalk-spinning butterfly rpt.
*8 contacts of pdx whirl-drifter repeat, both sides (its possible I only got 7 on flip, but I think it was 8 ).
*a 50 contact guiltless string, mostly bops, but with whirl bsos, duck clip bsos, symp mirage bsos, spin clip bsos, and possibly drifter bsos.
Yesterday I had a real nice farewell shred. I'll blog is later tonight probably.
8/13/2006
I leave Arizona in a couple days. My time here has been a strange one. I played lots of footbag, and I think I got better, but it was definitely one of the loneliest periods of my life. I essentially played solo this whole time; I think I played with other Arizonan shredders a total of 4 times in 9 months. I was touched and flattered though when the Phoenix crew set up a farewell session for me this weekend, and drove all the way down (3+ hours RT) just to play with me.
I was a bit nervous about the shred, cause we had arranged to meet at 3:30, which is right around when my jet lag hits hardest. I hoped that adrenaline and the excitement of playing with others would carry me through, and I was hopeful cause I felt much more awake than even the day before.
The Phoenix crew rolls around my place at 4, and we head out to "El Con," an 80% abandoned Mall which I had pegged as a potentially great shred spot. Air conditioned, covered, lit, and literally nobody around. The spot that I had my eye on was the "food court;" a big, closed off circular area which was designed to be surrounded by restaurants, which never opened. I had never driven out there, so at one point I ordered a last-second lane-change, which I would not live down for the rest of the day
We get to El Con, and right off the bat I'm wary, as I notice a couple security guards wandering about. Still, there's less than 15 people in the entire mall, since 8 of 10 stores are closed down (like, out of business). We hit the food court and Josh (Munsterman) and I start warming up, while Mike (Jauss) and Conrad (Rustad, AKA as Billman_C) try and find a bathroom. I warm up pretty quick, but I feel tired after easy warm-up runs. Things get better once we start a 4 man circle.
Conrad impresses me with his bothsided pixies. He also impresses me with his long-ass phone call, which means we play 3-man for a good 30 minutes.
That wears me down a lot. Josh is playing well; he's really made a lot of progress since we first met. Real solid stepping, even from osis. Alpine legbeater a few times, bl. symp rev. whirl, gybas, and even some nice spins. I thought Josh's best combo was ps rev. whirl-dyno-bl. rev. whirl.Mike played well too. Saw him get 25+ infinities, some good dlos, dynos, and some good progress on stepping and atomic sets.
After about an hour of playing, a security guard ambles over, and tells us that "rules are rules" and that we can't play there. I try and sweet-talk him a bit, and the best I can do is get him to call his supervisor over. That works for me. It never hurts to talk. The supervisor comes over, I show him how soft the footbag is, and assure him we'll be quiet. Not good enough. In the past I'd probably get in a snide remark on my way out, but I've matured enough to not make things needlessly unpleasant. Truth be told, I kinda felt bad for the guy. He looked an old 65 years, and working in a mall that was obviously going out of business, you had to figure he was wondering how much longer he'd be employed. As if to prove my point, he starts talking to us about his job, and the loneliness on his face makes me want to get out of there even faster.
As we vacate the mall, I'm already mentally calculating if it's cool enough to play outside, and if so, where. We decide to look for a park, and after less than a block of driving, we find... a recreation center? Cooooool. I pop in to find out who can use the center, and for how much. I like every answer I hear: we can use the place, entry fee is $1 per person, they close at 11 pm (!), and I can get a basketball by giving my drivers license as collateral. Oooh yeah! 
The only bad things about the center are that we can't drink inside the gym, and we aren't allowed to film at all. But hey, it's airconditioned and lit (and by this hour, its getting dark outside already), so its a small price to pay. We warm up by shooting around a basketball, but after a few minutes, I'm thinking we should shred. Conrad nails an impressive, improbable 3, halfway between the line and midcourt. On that note, we decide to go back to footbag, since we aren't likely to do anything better the rest of the shred.
Shredding inside a gym always reminds me of the early videos I learned from. Those 96 tapes with Tuan, Ahren, Steve Kramer and Tu playing to Rage's first album. Gym-shred also reminds me of those old vids of Hackrifice tournies too. Jauss and I are in G-Units, so we don't notice the slipperiness at all, Josh is in Climas and he's fine, but Conrad is playing in worn-down Lavers, and you can see the sliding sometimes. Overall though, I thought we all played well in the gym.
Highlights:
*rubberman starting on legbeater (I normally start on blur)
*DATW (i-o)-DSO-DSO-DATW (o-i)- DSO?
*baaaarely missed getting smoke-ducking butter-fog repeat. Last legover of fog was so close
*DLO-DSO repeat
*flip whirling swirl
There was also lots of fun silliness. I got sleepy a couple times during playing, and once commented: "there should be a trick called 'sleepwalk.'" The others suggested I hit a ripwalk with my eyes closed, so I did, but I missed BSOS. I battled my bouts of tiredness by taking basketball breaks, where I'd go shoot some hoops to re-focus. One time, I returned to the shred circle while still holding the ball. When the bag was passed to me, I did an easy guiltless run while holding the basketball with both hands. As I played, I heard Josh say: "he should hit a 3-pointer when he drops." Sure enough, the second I drop, I let fly and... *swish* Whoooo! You have to remember, I'm a sealing fan, and it isn't sealed if you don't "hit a three" afterwards 
After shred we are all completely drained. We must have played at least 4 hours, but more likely 5. It's dark out, but we still manage to find my favorite pizza place without getting too lost. Dinner is good, but sooner than expected, I'm home already, saying goodbyes in the driveway. I bought return tickets to grad school, so I can guarantee I will be back in Arizona the last week of December. Should be nice, 70 degree outdoors shred. Looking forward to seeing the whole crew then. Thanks again guys!
I leave Arizona in a couple days. My time here has been a strange one. I played lots of footbag, and I think I got better, but it was definitely one of the loneliest periods of my life. I essentially played solo this whole time; I think I played with other Arizonan shredders a total of 4 times in 9 months. I was touched and flattered though when the Phoenix crew set up a farewell session for me this weekend, and drove all the way down (3+ hours RT) just to play with me.
I was a bit nervous about the shred, cause we had arranged to meet at 3:30, which is right around when my jet lag hits hardest. I hoped that adrenaline and the excitement of playing with others would carry me through, and I was hopeful cause I felt much more awake than even the day before.
The Phoenix crew rolls around my place at 4, and we head out to "El Con," an 80% abandoned Mall which I had pegged as a potentially great shred spot. Air conditioned, covered, lit, and literally nobody around. The spot that I had my eye on was the "food court;" a big, closed off circular area which was designed to be surrounded by restaurants, which never opened. I had never driven out there, so at one point I ordered a last-second lane-change, which I would not live down for the rest of the day
We get to El Con, and right off the bat I'm wary, as I notice a couple security guards wandering about. Still, there's less than 15 people in the entire mall, since 8 of 10 stores are closed down (like, out of business). We hit the food court and Josh (Munsterman) and I start warming up, while Mike (Jauss) and Conrad (Rustad, AKA as Billman_C) try and find a bathroom. I warm up pretty quick, but I feel tired after easy warm-up runs. Things get better once we start a 4 man circle.
Conrad impresses me with his bothsided pixies. He also impresses me with his long-ass phone call, which means we play 3-man for a good 30 minutes.
That wears me down a lot. Josh is playing well; he's really made a lot of progress since we first met. Real solid stepping, even from osis. Alpine legbeater a few times, bl. symp rev. whirl, gybas, and even some nice spins. I thought Josh's best combo was ps rev. whirl-dyno-bl. rev. whirl.Mike played well too. Saw him get 25+ infinities, some good dlos, dynos, and some good progress on stepping and atomic sets. After about an hour of playing, a security guard ambles over, and tells us that "rules are rules" and that we can't play there. I try and sweet-talk him a bit, and the best I can do is get him to call his supervisor over. That works for me. It never hurts to talk. The supervisor comes over, I show him how soft the footbag is, and assure him we'll be quiet. Not good enough. In the past I'd probably get in a snide remark on my way out, but I've matured enough to not make things needlessly unpleasant. Truth be told, I kinda felt bad for the guy. He looked an old 65 years, and working in a mall that was obviously going out of business, you had to figure he was wondering how much longer he'd be employed. As if to prove my point, he starts talking to us about his job, and the loneliness on his face makes me want to get out of there even faster.
As we vacate the mall, I'm already mentally calculating if it's cool enough to play outside, and if so, where. We decide to look for a park, and after less than a block of driving, we find... a recreation center?
Cooooool. I pop in to find out who can use the center, and for how much. I like every answer I hear: we can use the place, entry fee is $1 per person, they close at 11 pm (!), and I can get a basketball by giving my drivers license as collateral. Oooh yeah! The only bad things about the center are that we can't drink inside the gym, and we aren't allowed to film at all. But hey, it's airconditioned and lit (and by this hour, its getting dark outside already), so its a small price to pay. We warm up by shooting around a basketball, but after a few minutes, I'm thinking we should shred. Conrad nails an impressive, improbable 3, halfway between the line and midcourt. On that note, we decide to go back to footbag, since we aren't likely to do anything better the rest of the shred.
Shredding inside a gym always reminds me of the early videos I learned from. Those 96 tapes with Tuan, Ahren, Steve Kramer and Tu playing to Rage's first album. Gym-shred also reminds me of those old vids of Hackrifice tournies too. Jauss and I are in G-Units, so we don't notice the slipperiness at all, Josh is in Climas and he's fine, but Conrad is playing in worn-down Lavers, and you can see the sliding sometimes. Overall though, I thought we all played well in the gym.
Highlights:
*rubberman starting on legbeater (I normally start on blur)
*DATW (i-o)-DSO-DSO-DATW (o-i)- DSO?
*baaaarely missed getting smoke-ducking butter-fog repeat. Last legover of fog was so close
*DLO-DSO repeat
*flip whirling swirl
There was also lots of fun silliness. I got sleepy a couple times during playing, and once commented: "there should be a trick called 'sleepwalk.'" The others suggested I hit a ripwalk with my eyes closed, so I did, but I missed BSOS.
I battled my bouts of tiredness by taking basketball breaks, where I'd go shoot some hoops to re-focus. One time, I returned to the shred circle while still holding the ball. When the bag was passed to me, I did an easy guiltless run while holding the basketball with both hands. As I played, I heard Josh say: "he should hit a 3-pointer when he drops." Sure enough, the second I drop, I let fly and... *swish* Whoooo! You have to remember, I'm a sealing fan, and it isn't sealed if you don't "hit a three" afterwards After shred we are all completely drained. We must have played at least 4 hours, but more likely 5. It's dark out, but we still manage to find my favorite pizza place without getting too lost. Dinner is good, but sooner than expected, I'm home already, saying goodbyes in the driveway. I bought return tickets to grad school, so I can guarantee I will be back in Arizona the last week of December. Should be nice, 70 degree outdoors shred. Looking forward to seeing the whole crew then. Thanks again guys!
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hacksterbator
- Washed-Up Child Star
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zeroman13
- Post Master General
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Ken, awesome shred on Fri. Here's the first part of the vid; http://fizzied.phasing.org/Farewell%20S ... t.%201.wmv .
Here's the 2nd part; http://fizzied.phasing.org/Farewell%20S ... t.%202.wmv .
Good luck at grad school, and have a good time!
Josh
Here's the 2nd part; http://fizzied.phasing.org/Farewell%20S ... t.%202.wmv .
Good luck at grad school, and have a good time!
Josh
Josh M.Wasabi wrote:Footbag is not materialistic; it's about challenging yourself and having fun at the same time.
My Website
Pm me for details about Munster Bags!
Whoa, that was fast! While I appreciate how quick you got the footage up, 100 mb is pretty huge for 16 minutes of unedited footage. There's literally maybe 3 minutes of usable footage on there (I only have 1 run thats passable), and a lot of it is talking/dropping. Still, I found it constructive to watch my own form on certain tricks like GDLO and flip torque. I'll watch part 2 later.
Oh yeah, what happened to the camera when I hit nemesis? It looks like it glitched up in the middle there...
Oh yeah, what happened to the camera when I hit nemesis? It looks like it glitched up in the middle there...
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zeroman13
- Post Master General
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About the whole nemesis, I don't know what happened. I was uploading it and I noticed it too.
About the size, I thought it was a little extreme too. I don't have the right kind of software (if there is any) that would allow me to reduce the size of them.
Part 3 will probably be done later tonight and be up tomorrow. Have fun at grad school!
About the size, I thought it was a little extreme too. I don't have the right kind of software (if there is any) that would allow me to reduce the size of them.
Part 3 will probably be done later tonight and be up tomorrow. Have fun at grad school!
Josh M.Wasabi wrote:Footbag is not materialistic; it's about challenging yourself and having fun at the same time.
My Website
Pm me for details about Munster Bags!
August 15th, 2006
I really enjoyed today's session. I didn't play fantastically, but I played well... I dunno, I just was real into it today. I didn't have that invincible, pumped-up feeling, but I was just having a ton of fun. I dug it. Today was likely my last shred in Arizona, so I'm glad I ended on such a nice note.
I played at the local gym, and wore my Rasheed Wallace TrailBlazers jersey. It's the jersey I wrote about before, that has stripes on the front that get in the way a bit. I think though, that when I get on a roll, I'm able to ignore little things like that.
The shred could really be divided into 2 sections; the first third or so, when I just messed around, and the latter 2/3rds when I pretty much exclusively worked on rubberman.
First 3rd highlights:
*whirling swirl bsos
*toe blur and reverse swirl, all BSOS.
*torque x2, bsos
*blur-smear-DSO bsos, with tomahawk bsos in the seal.
Today my atomics felt good, and I was controlling my breathing well, so I decided to work on rubberman. I had a breakout session with the drill.
Rubberman highlights:
*rubberman starting on atom smasher, both sides (both first time!)
*rubberman starting on legbeater, both sides (one was new)
*rubberman starting on blur, both sides (one new)
*9 contacts of rubberman, starting on atom smasher.
*blurry whirl-rubberman. In the seal, I hit the other blurry whirl to blur-legbeater-blur...d'oh! the second bl. whirl-blur was fine, I just mentally hiccuped the rubberman, and got the order wrong.
*otherside blurry whirl-rubberman.
Continuing the rubberman theme, I went to Yoga after my shred. I found it easy to relax myself, partially cause my body was exhausted after the shred, but mostly because I felt satisfied with my progress on rubberman.
I think my future rubberman goals will be:
#bl. whirl-rubberman repeat
# rubberman x2
# fog rubberman again.
Next entry and next shred will be in upstate New York. Scary, but exciting. I may not be on for a while, so I guess that means I should go into Kicking Circle and make a topic about that, then check back every day to see if anybody missed me.
I really enjoyed today's session. I didn't play fantastically, but I played well... I dunno, I just was real into it today. I didn't have that invincible, pumped-up feeling, but I was just having a ton of fun. I dug it. Today was likely my last shred in Arizona, so I'm glad I ended on such a nice note.
I played at the local gym, and wore my Rasheed Wallace TrailBlazers jersey. It's the jersey I wrote about before, that has stripes on the front that get in the way a bit. I think though, that when I get on a roll, I'm able to ignore little things like that.
The shred could really be divided into 2 sections; the first third or so, when I just messed around, and the latter 2/3rds when I pretty much exclusively worked on rubberman.
First 3rd highlights:
*whirling swirl bsos
*toe blur and reverse swirl, all BSOS.
*torque x2, bsos
*blur-smear-DSO bsos, with tomahawk bsos in the seal.
Jamieson wrote this over 2 weeks ago, but it kinda burned in the back of my mind. Yes, rubberman has become much easier for me in the last couple months, but I almost always did it starting from the same move (flip blur). Being able to hit the combo on one side, always starting from the same side, hardly felt like I was "pimping" it. Up until today, I had only hit rubberman starting from 2 (3 by some counts) different moves. Flip blur was my most solid starting point, flip legbeater a few times, and leggy legbeater (for leggy rubberman, as well as half-leggy, half-hippy rubberman).james_dean wrote:
Props on pimping rubberman
Today my atomics felt good, and I was controlling my breathing well, so I decided to work on rubberman. I had a breakout session with the drill.
Rubberman highlights:
*rubberman starting on atom smasher, both sides (both first time!)
*rubberman starting on legbeater, both sides (one was new)
*rubberman starting on blur, both sides (one new)
*9 contacts of rubberman, starting on atom smasher.
*blurry whirl-rubberman. In the seal, I hit the other blurry whirl to blur-legbeater-blur...d'oh!
the second bl. whirl-blur was fine, I just mentally hiccuped the rubberman, and got the order wrong.*otherside blurry whirl-rubberman.
Continuing the rubberman theme, I went to Yoga after my shred. I found it easy to relax myself, partially cause my body was exhausted after the shred, but mostly because I felt satisfied with my progress on rubberman.
I think my future rubberman goals will be:
#bl. whirl-rubberman repeat
# rubberman x2
# fog rubberman again.
Next entry and next shred will be in upstate New York. Scary, but exciting. I may not be on for a while, so I guess that means I should go into Kicking Circle and make a topic about that, then check back every day to see if anybody missed me.
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james_dean
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james_dean
- space cowboy
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zeroman13
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How did that nickname come about Ken? I like it!
Josh M.Wasabi wrote:Footbag is not materialistic; it's about challenging yourself and having fun at the same time.
My Website
Pm me for details about Munster Bags!
Explanation of my nickname is probably in the first few pages of my blog.
Anyway, just posting to say I arrived in upstate New York yesterday, and though I haven't had time to shred yet, its exciting to be back East, and hopefully I can start playing once I get all my basics set up (I'm still buying stuff like razors and trashcans).
I want to go to Kickass2, but it looks like the schedule may be a bit rough. I have my sisters wedding in Jersey the weekend before, and the monday after kickass I have some professional development trip in DC with my graduate program. Money and time may be tight. Whatever, just gotta cross your fingers and deal with it when the time comes.
Anyway, just posting to say I arrived in upstate New York yesterday, and though I haven't had time to shred yet, its exciting to be back East, and hopefully I can start playing once I get all my basics set up (I'm still buying stuff like razors and trashcans).
I want to go to Kickass2, but it looks like the schedule may be a bit rough. I have my sisters wedding in Jersey the weekend before, and the monday after kickass I have some professional development trip in DC with my graduate program. Money and time may be tight. Whatever, just gotta cross your fingers and deal with it when the time comes.
8/22/2006
Had my first proper shred in over a week today. My first shred at Cornell! Historic. The weather is still nice, so we played outside today. That`s right: we. I got an email from Luis Lipchak, who is a sophomore here. He has only been playing 3 months, but already has a solid foundation thanks to the Austin Texas crew. Im so glad he contacted me. 2 japanese friends joined us, and they were real into just kicking it. I have high hopes for our creating a scene.
Playing footbag was... how do I put it? Footbag is so integral to me, that playing was like singing at the top of my lungs. I feel like I had been unconsciously holding my breath for the last week, and I finally was able to breathe again. It was wonderful.
Luis highlights:
*butterfly
*clipper mirage and toe mirage ending on diff toes, same string
*some pickups.
My highlights:
*7 contacts of rubberman, first try.
*Uh... a lot of my usual stuff. But maaaaaaaaaaaaan it felt good to play.
School looks to be pretty busy and challenging, and internet access is still spotty, so I may slip a bit with the Fanzine updates.
Love you all.
Had my first proper shred in over a week today. My first shred at Cornell! Historic. The weather is still nice, so we played outside today. That`s right: we. I got an email from Luis Lipchak, who is a sophomore here. He has only been playing 3 months, but already has a solid foundation thanks to the Austin Texas crew. Im so glad he contacted me. 2 japanese friends joined us, and they were real into just kicking it. I have high hopes for our creating a scene.
Playing footbag was... how do I put it? Footbag is so integral to me, that playing was like singing at the top of my lungs. I feel like I had been unconsciously holding my breath for the last week, and I finally was able to breathe again. It was wonderful.
Luis highlights:
*butterfly
*clipper mirage and toe mirage ending on diff toes, same string
*some pickups.
My highlights:
*7 contacts of rubberman, first try.
*Uh... a lot of my usual stuff. But maaaaaaaaaaaaan it felt good to play.
School looks to be pretty busy and challenging, and internet access is still spotty, so I may slip a bit with the Fanzine updates.
Love you all.