Fanzine

[C-Fan]

Man, this cold just won't quit.

Still, I went to the local gym to use the steam room to clear my head, and so I figured I may as well play a little footbag first. I played in my swimtrunks (cause I was gonna use the steam room anyway), which surprisingly didn't get in the way too much. Like, stepping sets were fine.

My body felt much stronger and coordinated today. I still got tired faster than I would normally, but not nearly as bad as my last session. I could do strings in the teens without much problem, and could have pushed harder if I thought it wise.

Not much in the way of highlights, but it felt really great to have tricks flowing again and without as much effort.

Highlights:
*zooming dlo again.
*not super special, but this run felt great: legbeater-ducking butterfly-blur-paradon-pdx whirl-blur-atomsmasher-dimwalk-blur-parkwalk-ducking butterfly? Something like that.

Being at home has been nice, but there's definitely also a little stress being with the family too. I'm looking forward to getting over this cold and cruising up the California coast.

[C-Fan]

Last shred of 2006 today. This headcold is weird. Today I felt good enough that footbag was almost normal, but my throat felt worse than in past days. I even lost my voice! Annoying. But again, better now than during the school year.

I played in swim trunks again, so it wasn't a 100% serious session. Still, I felt close to being back, which was a great feeling. Even in baggy shorts I can make nuke sets happen, which I'm very happy about. I hit sumo-paradon on both sides with almost no effort (first try on each side, or maybe 2 tries on one side). But most of my session was dedicated to working on zoom sets.

Zoom sets are coming along, but I definitely still need to tinker with them. Sometimes they don't come up very straight, and other times it feels like my spin is slow. One thing that helped me was really trying to rotate as much as I could into the initial osis (without looking at it) before popping into the spin. I was happy to find that zooming osis was pretty consistent midstring.

I managed to hit the zooming equivalent of the following tricks today:

*gyro mirage
*gyro clipper
*spinning clipper
*spinning osis
*merkon
*GDLO, 3 times!

aaaaaaand...

*mobius! Sealed one perfect one with a run, and hand sealed another very strong one. That one's for you Pete.

The plan is to skool zooming until basic zoom triks are easy, and then start working on making the harder zoom tricks part of the repertoire. I mean, it's exciting to hit zooming dlo and torque now, but I think my time is better invested in getting zoom mirage and osis down pat, so those bigger tricks will be easier to pick up.

Oh yeah, my favorite combo of the day was: reverse swirl-dyno-dyno to start a string. Not your typical Ken combo, and definitely a lot of fun.

Happy new year to all my footbag friends, and all the people who will become footbag friends in 2007.

[C-Fan]

First shred of 2007 today. Objectively it was a pretty bad session, but I didn't lose it mentally, and I did have fun hitting certain stuff, so better than nothing for sure. No offense at all to Arizona, but this place doesn't offer lots of opportunities for fun aside from footbag. I mean, I like watching NBA games on a big TV, but it's not the best substitute for a social life.

So this cold of mine is still kicking my ass. Day 7. Starting to worry. I definitely felt it holding me back during my session. I spent about 80% of my session working on fearless, and it got frustrating. So here's the abbreviated session highlights:

*sumo-smoke for my first time.
*pdx flux very easily, using the other nuke set.
*footed darkwalk-dlo repeat.
*legbeater-blur-smear-atom smasher repeat
*11 contacts of Rubberman

I was happy to have rubberman feel so easy today. I should be able to get 2 consec rubbermans again. It feels really good while you're doing it.

[HG]

Ken, have you hit the rubberman extension drill? (Rubberman with taps and sidewalks in between every contact)


Its pretty fun, and i think may be easier than rubberman

[james_dean]

damn. that sounds like fun. i wanna try it. That's great you kept your attitude up.

[C-Fan]

If I had to sum up my last session in one sentence, it would be: tough session, but kept my mental game.

If I had to sum up today's session in three words, it would be:

BEST...SESSION....EVER!!!

Seriously, today I think I had my best footbag session ever. It was like a religious experience. During my warmup I felt pretty good, and then I started playing and all these combos came to me with no problem. Stuff I had never hit before...bam. Add an extra add to it? Shazam. And then at the end of the session, when it had already been a great session... I hit something and turned it into an unforgettable one.

If anybody needs to use the bathroom before reading this post, I suggest you go now.

Back? Cool.

I warm up listening to New Order on my iPod while just doing basic kicks. I warm up my clippers slowly and do some tiltless. Pretty soon though, I'm toying around with zooming mirage. One of my first guiltless runs sees me getting zooming osis and zooming clipper easily, so I try to bsos the zoom mirage... and get it, and for laughs I try to bsos the zooming clipper in the same run... and get it! So zooming mirage bsos and zooming clipper bsos in the same run. Things looks to be off to a good start.

I think about zoom set, and realize there are a couple tricks I hadn't hit yet using this style. Within a couple tries I hit the following two tricks for my first time, zoom-style:

*spinning pdx mirage
*peeking osis.

I think about Pete's post, recommending I try zoom tricks out of harder stuff than just osis, so I mess around and a floodgate of first-time combos happens:

*torque-gyro clipper
*dyno-merkon
*blender-spinning osis-pdx blender
*torque-gyro mirage (This is a Tim Kelly combo from 1997, which I never thought I'd hit)
*osis-peeking osis-gyro clipper
*torque-spinning osis-torque.

Since torques and dynos feel so good today, I also hit:

*torque-dyno repeat
*dyno x4, new personal record.

Next, I decide to work on rubberman for a bit. Like yesterday, I find it pretty easy to get 7 or 8 contacts of rubberman without much trouble. But my goal is to hit rubberman x2 (12 contacts). I have one attempt which feels good for the first 10 contacts, and then I make a conscious effort not to get too excited and psyche myself out. It pays off as I hit 12 contacts.. and keep going. 17 contacts of rubberman! For a split second I think I've hit rubberman x3, and then I realize that I started on flip legbeater, and not on strong atom. Still, its only my second time ever getting rubberman x2, and to come within one toe stall of rubberman x3 is something I never thought I could do.

At this point in the session I'm already very happy. It always feels great to follow a bad session with a good one, and today is really a great one.
I try for osis-GDLO and osis-mobius on a whim, and hit them without much trouble at all. While these two zoom tricks would normally be bigtime highlights, today they were just bonuses I threw in for fun.

I'm half tempted to end the session right here, but I recall how I made 10 unique fearless a New Year's Footbag Resolution. Still, I'm a bit apprehensive to try: yesterday' session sucked largely because I fixated too much on 10 fearless, so do I really want to risk ending such a good session on a bad note?

Ultimately I decide to go for it, and make a point not to take it too seriously. After a couple false starts, I get an attempt going which feels good. I sneak in breaths throughout, and think the whole combo out one move at a time. I hit: alpine leg-bed-dark-fog-phx-tomahawk-bl. whirl-ps whirl-pdx torque.....


...infinity. The whole combo was perfect, but the pdx torque left the bag too close to my body to even try for pdx blender. Still, 9 unique fearless solid gives me hope for the future, and ties my record for fearless. I have lots of confidence that I'll hit it soon enough anyway.






But theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen. Then I remember Davey Clavens. I remember his "sucking with Dave Clavens vid," and I think about how he took multiple attempts to get to 20 unique, and so I decide I'll give it a few more tries before calling it a day. After all, my session had been so good that 10 minutes more of trying won't mar the session. So I give it a few more tries, and eventually hit:

Alpine legbeater-bedwetter-darkwalk-fog-phoenix-tomahawk-blurry whirl-ps whirl-pdx torque-pdx blender!

Whooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!! 10 unique fearless! Finally! I'm jumping up and down for a good 15 minutes, just flipping out with joy. One of my biggest footbag highs ever. This one's right up there with my dropless Shred30 at TSG2, and hitting my first cool quad in New Zealand.

Not bad, one New Year's Resolution out of the way already... and its only January 2nd!

[james_dean]

Wow! Huge props!! That session sounds epic. 10 unique fearless is nasty. Ima try for four tonight haha. Or maybe I should try tripless.

[verena]

hello ken. big props on 10 fearless! wow! also, torque>dyno rpt sounds super stylish!

[max]

yeah Ken PROPS on making to the 10 unique fearless list!

And for that dyno > merkon and torque > gyro mirage link (along with the other coll zoom combos)

[slapdash21]

you're the man ken.

now:
pdx blender>mobius bs

[Ners]

Props Ken! Cool combo, not so standard

Szymon Kałwak (Ners)

[Zac Miley]

Ken, do this combo.

Gyro Barrage>Gyro Barfly (is this scorpion's tail?) rpt.

Props on 10 fearless.

[janis]

Alpine legbeater-bedwetter-darkwalk-fog-phoenix-tomahawk-blurry whirl-ps whirl-pdx torque-pdx blender!

props

[C-Fan]

Thanks for the props everybody.

I'm in California now. I've been here for 2 days, but it feels like a week. I've done so much fun stuff on this trip. Singing "temperature" by Sean Paul in Karaoke was a definite highlight. This morning I went on a nature walk in a redwood forest. It was really cool. I saw banana slugs and newts, and climbed up gorges using ropes. Redwoods are really impressive in person. I had fun hugging one, and walking into one which was hollowed out.

After my nature walk I made it to Santa Cruz and played footbag with the local crew. The freestyle session was Mirken, Funk, Emily and me, but as the session went on Jeremy left to play net, and then Emily sat out cause she was tired. But we all played enough to hit some good stuff. I was impressed to see Emily hit dyno x2, ripwalks both sides, fairy sets both sides, and legbeater. Fletch played real well too. Pdx drifter-pdlo, really good ducking and diving both sides, and some good atomic. Jeremy didn't seem to be having a great session, but he hit a few things which really blew me away. I think the best combo he hit was gravedigger to flux. He also hit whirring inside stall.

I showed up late to the shred, so I didn't even warm up. That meant my first few runs felt off timing-wise, but soon enough I felt fine.

Highlights:

*torque-gyro mirage, but I planted on the mirage.
*bladerunner first try, clean.
*fury to a good run, which had flurry with the other barrage.
*dyno-spinning osis.
*atomic drifter-pdx blender
*zooming dlo

And my best run of the day began with fog-atom smasher-legbeater repeat, and later in the run I hit rubberman x2! I was real stoked about that one, cause either of those alone would have been the high point of the session.

After freestyle, we played two games of 4square. I was good about keeping my new years resolution, and didn't debate any calls or politic at all. I managed to win the first game, and get to game point on the second game. It felt really good to play 4square again. I can't wait to play with the Cornell club again. I don't know if I'll get to freestyle again on this trip, but even if I don't, today was a good enough session that it justified me bringing my gear.

Tomorrow I go hiking with Dat, looking forward to that. 2007 has been really good to me so far shred-wise.

[james_dean]

I said it before, and I'll say it again. That rubberman string is ridiculous.


Been a good shred year for me so far too

[Moxie]

Thanks for visiting Santa Cruz. You're a wonderful house guest and welcome back any time.

[C-Fan]

January 13th, 2007

My trip to California was really excellent, if not completely exhausting. I got in a little footbag, a lot of hiking, tons of good food, and plenty of quality hang-out time with good friends. Couldn't ask for more.

I only got in one shred in California, which I blogged about in my last entry. Strangely enough, my usually photographic memory failed me (blame exhaustion?), so here are the highlights I left out:

*bs fog
*diving pdx whirl
*diving symp whirl (no plant)
*blurry whirling swirl on my first try, hand catch. Flip blurry whirling swirl 1st try on flip right afterwards.
*fairy same dyno, muted. I think I'd hit this trick before, but not muted. Fun.

After the shred we had some nice BBQ at Emily's house, and I got to play two games of Scrabble. It was nice playing real scrabble again, since I normally only play Literati, which is a little different. My main goal in any of these games is to use all my letters in a single turn ("bingo-ing"), and I was stoked to pull this off in both games. I played TRUDgING in the first game, and GREASIER in the second.

After dinner we watched some Eddie Murphy special, and I typed my last blog entry. I was getting kinda restless, so I proposed a midnight 4 square game. Happily, people were down for it, and we played on Emily's porch! It was kinda chilly out, so we all played in long pants and jackets, and Emily even wore mittens. We used a white sandman, and when Em held it in her mittens it looked like a snowball. We played 2 or 3 fun games, which were great because one edge of the court was the ledge, and you could also kick it off the ceiling. The dim light made it a good challenge. I was also good about keeping my new years resolution and not arguing any calls. The goal is to end up like Marc Giard Lariviere.

The next morning I went on a hike with Dat Phan. We went to Castle Rock park and hiked/rock climbed for over 4 hours. The weather was perfect, I took some nice photos, and we had really good conversation. Rock climbing looks like (yet another) thing I could get into. Dat's combo generator sounds like it would be a fun training tool for sessions.

That evening I went to San Francisco, and ended up going to a Lady Sovereign concert which was incredibly fun. By this point though, my body was already getting annoyed at me. Within 48 hours I had done two long/intense hikes, had a good hard shred, and went to a concert. And as I always like to point out, I'm getting old. But I knew I was on vacation and wanted to do as much fun stuff as possible, so I went full on.
The next day I walked SF with non-footbag friends for a while and tossed frisbee in Golden Gate Park. I managed to coordinate dinner with Tu and Ahren. I've met a lot of cool people through footbag, and one of the best compliments I can give to a footbagger, is to say that I'd be their friend even if they didn't footbag. Now that both Ahren and Tu are officially officially out of the game, that has come to pass. It was good sharing a meal and some beer with them, and having lots of non-footbag things to talk about. It looks like music has taken footbag's place in Ahren's life, and Tu has his girlfriend and work. I'm kinda curious as to what will take footbag's place in my life when I finally leave freestyle. I'm guessing I'll follow Riefer's path and play lots of pick up basketball, but who knows?

The rest of my trip was fun too. I did a very educational and tasty tour of a chocolate factory, played some good chess games, bought my first CD in over 7 years (Biggie Duets), and overall just enjoyed seeing friends. But nothing really footbag related. Still, I was glad I brought my shoes on the trip, because the Phx footbag crew picked me up for the airport when I got home (thanks guys) and whisked me off to another shred. But that's my next entry.

Big big thank yous to:

*Emily K. for the hospitality, foursquare, Goldmember, and a kind ear for my bitching about modified.
*Fletch Funk for playing with me til the end, after everybody else tired out.
*Mirk for playing some freestyle, and for Scrabbling.
*Dat Phan for the super-fun hike.
*Tu and Ahren for a nice dinner and good catching up.

I always have such a nice time in California.

Next entry: bigass shred in Tucson.

[C-Fan]

One more highlight from my Cali trip: Dat told me that somebody at New Year's Jam asked him if he was Ken Somolinos.

Wait, I mean:

Ah... who needs words when you have emoticons? Seriously though, its nice to take a break from writing papers and cover letters, and just churn out pages in here with no regard for grammar or spelling.

So as I mentioned in my last post, the Cali trip was sweet, but completely exhausting. Friday morning I woke up with a cold and was totally unsurprised. I had really pushed my body all week, and now that I was going home the adrenaline had left me, and I was wide open for colds. I had one last fish taco and then got on my plane. I stole a couple groggy hours of sleep, but when I finally made it to Tucson, I still felt really out of it. The phoenix crew met me in the airport, and it was good to see them again. I met Amber, the new shredita, and after talking to her and playing with her I'm very excited for her potential. She has a lot of things lined up in her favor: she's 16, lives near Josh Munstermann, and already has Lavers.

We get lost on our way to our shred spot (Sean's house), and I feel kinda bad I can't help with the navigation. Yeah, I lived in Tucson for a good 6 months, but I never drove anywhere, and still feel like a tourist in this town. Eventually we make it to Sean's place, and soon enough we're warming up in the garage. Real nice rubber mat floors, pretty excellent shred space.

All told there were 6 of us, which combined with the generous self-serve policy made for long stretches between turns. We also listened to some really terrible techno music for the first hour, and the combination made it hard for me to find a rhythm. I looked at it as a good test of my mental game, and I think I held up pretty well. After a couple hours I switched in my Notorious BIG duets CD, and I played really really well to that. I think superfast beats makes me play too fast, and I can't figure out where to breathe. Hip hop has an easier beat for me to flow with (OK, maybe not Twista, but in general you know what I'm saying).

Conrad seemed to be having an off session, and Sean hadn't played in a few months. Mike was looking very consistent with long BOP strings. He had a few nice standout tricks, like a very clean terrage and a great toe blur, but I think the consistent BOP strings will help him develop more in the long run. I was happy to see the consistency. I thought Josh played well. Kind of the opposite of Mike though, in that he had some very nice tricks and links, but not as much consistency in string length. I was most impressed with blurry dyno-spin clip, as well as one awesome nuke far dyno (like, crispy motion). Very good zooming.

I thought I played alright. I guess I was just happiest I didn't give in to all the potential excuses and have a bad session (plane legs, headcold, cold room, techno music, big circle, age, PMS, etc). I feel like my mental game has developed enough that I can play through a lot of stuff that used to trip me up.

Highlights:

*fog-atom-legbeater repeat to tomahawk. Weird how fog rubberman used to be so hard for me, but the last 2 sessions I've hit it first or second try.
*tapdown swirl for my first time, first try.
*osis-matador
*zooming dlo, zooming torque. Good zooms in general. I feel they are getting more consistent.
*sumo bsos, with dark-pdx torque-pdx blender to end the string.
*a cool 7 unique fearless string with links I never do, but consequently, I can't remember it I think it may have been legbreaker-fog-dark-bl. whirl-bl. whirl-bed-phx?
*fs legbeater swirl for my first time, sealed with a run where I hit ripwalk swirl using the other swirl.

After the shred we hit a Chili's and I treated everybody to dinner, cause it was sweet of them to come all the way from Phoenix to play with me. Good joking vibe throughout, but by this point I was ready to pass out. Went home and slept for something like 12 hours.

[HG]

Hmmm.... fs legbeater swirl. Give it back




Nice work Kenneth, i know some people have probably already asked you, but are you going to worlds?


If not, howabout NYJ?

[C-Fan]

Hmmm.... fs legbeater swirl. Give it back

Sure, next time I see Liam Johnston I'll give it back to him.

Had a really good session today at the local gym. I went in with no expectations, took my time warming up, and just did whatever came to mind. When I was feeling one component, I worked it and let the highlights come. When it cooled off, I never forced it, I just moved on to whatever came to me next. Made for a real peaceful, flowing session.

Highlights:

*torque-merkon
*osis-sumo
*smear-smear-dimwalk-blur repeat
*tapdown swirl again
*jani-bl. whirl-bl. whirl-ps whirl rolled off my foot. But the exciting part for me was that I could get jani-bl. whirl-stepping 5. Cause that could open up some longer fearless combos for me.
*jani-blurriest-pdx torque-pdx blender

But the highlight that got me the most amped of all was:

*janiwalker-flurry! I even hit it twice, just to prove it wasn't a fluke. Oh man, I've wanted this link for so long, but my janis weren't legit enough until recently to try for it, and anything-flurry is usually tricky. Jani-flurry was one of a handful of things I wanted to hit before retiring (so was fog rubberman and 10 fearless), so it was a big rush to hit this milestone so soon after 10 fearless. Other things remaining on the list? Finals in routines at worlds, TATW, and nemesis. And I suppose mobius-mobius has always been a fantasy, but I never took it that seriously. But then, if I've learned anything from footbag, it's that anything is possible and I should never underestimate myself.

2007 is really shaping up to be a great shred year so far.