Rob's Add Sum

[Mathochist]

Oh, man, way too long since my last post. My only excuse is that I really haven't been hitting anything new, only schooling weak side and string length. I've been through two comps to report on though.
2nd New Jersey SpikenShred: I met Sunil, who is quite the swell guy, even if a net heckler. He was keen to help me with my form on some tricks, most notably atomsmasher. On the comp side, I won the majority of my first pool of net games, but didn't advance much after that. I doubles partnered with Aric McIntosh, and I thought we made an apt team, even if CRIPPLING CRAMPS impeded my capacity to stand for almost an hour. I took almost the rest of the day to recouperate, and it wasn't until my singles last match against a tired Aric himself that I was fully back into it. So I beat him, in one of my best played net matches that I totally wish I had gotten taped. Oh yea! I got a video camera. A pretty nice one too. Footage forthcoming.

[sile]

go ahead! it was super fun playing net with ya!

[Mathochist]

Worlds rocked. So did Berlin.


Ok, now that we're finished with the understatements, here's what I've been up to lately:

I just started my career. I teach algebra, geometry, and soon advanced math at an inner city New Orleans high school. It's quite tough, since their background in math is about as strong as my background as a disciplinarian. But I'm making headway with them and learning more about my craft all the time. I mean ALL the time; I have very little free time now.

So on Fridays I tend to have at least a week's worth of pent up footbag energy in me. Last night I had quite a productive session. I'm pleased to say that I can hit my strong nucear set more than once in a session. Last night's firsts for me were sumo and aeon flux. (Is it still aeon flux if it's half uptime? What about regular flux?) Andrew was there to witness them, which was nice since I'd only hit my first nuke trick, matador, a few weeks ago, alone.

Drilling tiltless has finally paid off for me in terms of string length. Ten contact tiltless runs are now fairly common for me and of those ten, maybe half are twos, so I'm pleased.

Once I'm a stronger teacher on the academic side, I'm looking for opportunities to use my position to effect further awareness and involvement in footbag, both at my high school, and around the city. Wish me luck.

[Mathochist]

Yea, just when I was remarking to myself that all my sets are nearing both-sidedness, I go and find a new set. So far, I've only hit those three main nuke tricks, once each, and totally strong sided. Not that I'm complaining; I had no idea I'd be hitting those by now. Woot. And on the both sided front, at my last session, I hit a couple weak side atomsmashers. They take quite a bit of focus to hit, but maybe they'll have smoothed out by the time I'm putting them in runs.

I feel it worth mentioning here that I have to chuckle at the news now. It seems North Korea and I are advancing our nuclear capabilities at about the same time. I know. That's bad. I don't care.

[Mathochist]

Dude, I totally almost lost my LSU colored Brocka bag. I was playing Friday evening, and then Andrew joined me for some net. I'm glad to have a semiregular net partner now. We played until it got dark and then we finished our game anyway. I was collecting my stuf after taking down the net and I realized I was short a bag. We looked around for about 30 minutes, but had to give up since it was dark.

I returned first thing the next day and was about to give up again when I finally came across it. It's my smallest bag, damn near a needle in the haystack of that huge soccor field. Very relieved to have found it. I hit that matador with that bag. It's quite irreplaceable.

Well, heck, I got this Texas shindig coming up that I'm pleased as could be to be going to. I guess I'll start rehearsing my routine soon and maybe try to put together some kind of big three or something. Although even if the competition element is minimal, the jam is sure to be a blast. Plus I get to meet Tina Lewis, so I can add to my footbag celebrity name drop list.


Oh, oh, speaking of, it's hard not to get pretentious when talking to newbs now, and that frustrates me. I was just starting with Andrew like I said on Friday, when this girl comes up and asks to join us. We were quite glad to kick with her, so that was fun. I tried to talk her into joining my club listing on footbag.org. She seemed impressed that I had done some travelling for the sport and know all these technical terms and allegedly big names. (I was even wearing my Vaska tee shirt.) So she starts to tell me about her idea for a website: hackysnack.com. It would be a bunch of bluescreen hacky sack videos with a blue bag and you could edit in all sorts of hilarity with the kickers making all these spastic leg movements. People could link their own vids from youtube and what not and we'd make tshirts and other merch and it'd be a great time for everybody. I tried my damnedest not to convey how silly I thought the idea was, lest I adversely affect her interest in the sport. So I changed the subject with, "How many internet footbag videos have you seen? ...Cause I have like 10 gigs of them on my computer." (Then I went home and checked and it's actually more than 13.) I think I might of shooed her off with that. She left not too long after we started our net match, even though we tried to get her to try it out. Oh well.

If nothing else, Austin HO!

[Iron Clad Ben]

I tried to talk her into joining my club listing on footbag.org. She seemed impressed that I had done some travelling for the sport and know all these technical terms and allegedly big names... .... ....So I changed the subject with, "How many internet footbag videos have you seen? ...Cause I have like 10 gigs of them on my computer."

Pickup line of the year. Hey babe, wanna come back to my place and watch Champions League? LOL.

See you in a few days!

Ben

[Mathochist]

So day one of the Austin gig was a great time, of course. I hate to admit, but one of my favorite aspects of this event is the fact that there are no Kloudas or Clavenses or Beviers or Moirs around, which boosts my relative ego. I'm not going to claim to be the top dog, hell, the results from yesterday aren't even announced yet, but it is nice to have gotten props on my pixies and nukes and stuff.

Day two is today: net excitement to come. I get to plat the other intermediete fellow in the intermediete finals match, and then some pro-am fun with Tina and JR.

Oh, speaking of JR, golf yesterday was great too. It was tremendously refreshing to play a real game of footbag golf with someone who knows how the game is played. I meant to say this before but I wasn't posting as much around worlds and after, so here goes. Golf at worlds was terrible. No uniformity to the holes and the rediculous requirement that the groups be 10 or more to play made the 15 hole course an excercise in absurdity. My only exposure to golf before had been on Jamie Lepley's course at NJ SpikenShred. As someone who knows regulation footbag golf, Jamie would have had a fit at worlds. JR's course lived up to intelligent expectations much better, and at a much smaller event I might add. Plus I bought a midrange/putter bag from him which will serve me well in the future.

Ok, net time.

[Mathochist]

So the producers of Jazz Fest put on a one day free blues fest at Lafayette Square downtown, and it was quite a day for our proud local footbaggers. Dan "that guy that used to have cornrows" Shedd was out pushing his own envelope. His form is progressively getting better and his links are becoming more natural. Props to him for that ducking clipper and that far butterfly. Keep up that pace.

"Hurricane" Andrew Grieshaber was out with his almost undescribable style. He's all of the times doing these trick that don't seem to fit our modern freestyle format, but they're still big and addsome. Lots of pixie ducking/pixie diving. Pixie diving refraction was a highlight for me. And he just refuses to drop. I hope he doesn't kill himself one day diving for the bag. Umm... literaly diving.

And lastly, Rob "they call me Daddy Longlegs" Creel hit some fun stuff too. Matador and Sumo were notable crowd pleasers. I've had a penchant for near legovers and bubbas lately too. Once I get my eggbeaters more downtime, I mean to hit bubbabeater. We played until it got dark at 5:freakin' 30. Then I rested my shredweary legs and chilled to Walter "Wolfman" Washington. Beautiful day.

[bigdirtyfoot]

Hey Rob nice to hear you're still shredding. I *may* be in New Orleans for a bowl game with my university, but don't hold your breath because I'm not completely sure if I'm going.

[Wasabi]

Matador and Sumo? Good stuff Rob! I've been working on nukes lately (even on a slightly recovered ankle), and have come close to sumo a couple of times. Matador I footed very unclean the last time I remember.

Can't wait to see you again sometime in the future!

[Mathochist]

Last session highlight: that barfry I've been stabbing at.

Today's session:
drills: butterfly>near legover> legover> rpt
butterfly> far legover> legover> rpt
butterfly>pdx mirage>rpt

a respectable three: smear>magellan> flying butterfly kick

on the horizon:
effin' voodoo. I footed that twice. I'll be damn sure to do it on camera when I do it; I want to know it's clean.

I'm getting close to slicing butterfly too.

Session closed with a phoenix that hit me in the nose when it came back up.

(edit: I meant sailing butterfly above. I guess my game's moving faster than my lingo awareness.)

[footjam_heger]

je! shoot a video! nice drills, by the way.

[Mathochist]

So, ummm, I'm a stitcher now. I mean, I'm a shitty stitcher now, but I'm doing it anyway. I made three tshirt bags of 8, 14, and 12 panels. I liked the dodecas because the vertices only join three faces instead of four like the 8 and 14 panelers. I found I like a mixture of BBs and aquarium rocks for filler. I got some facile and made a tiny dodeca. The stitching is almost decent, but I filled it with my new filler, the tiniest leadshot I could get online. I love that filler even more but I got it smaller than I needed and it leaks pretty badly. We'll see which filler I go with more in the future. My next project is a grey on dark grey 31 panel that I'll use as a shifter cover in my car. Totally custom!

So I'm totally going to Montreal for Windchill. I can't wait. I've been training net just a tiny bit, so I won't seem a total ass among that crowd. Really, I'm going as much for fanship and spectating as much as for my own game. Plus I'll post a thing in Journeys to Tourneys to see what freestyle I can wedge in there that weekend as well. I'm compelled to do Memphis too. We'll see.

Yesterday evening I engaged in some consistency training for my freestyle game. My left ankle is still feeling an old twisting, which only affects my form when I lose focus, which is too often. I was dying to get just 10 damn infinities in a row but had to settle for 8. I did some osis drills for a while and then threw in some legovers to keep it varied. I plan to continue to make use of this extra daylight, so let's see if my actually shredding more often then watching vids will pay off.

On the new trick front I hit my first paradox drifter, quite cleanly. Also I'm pleased to report a weakside torque, almost two years after I first hit it strongside, back at the afterparty of my first SpikenShred.

[Mathochist]

I hate putting off a blog post until so far after the session that it's not as fresh in my head, but I do it anyway because I'm lazy.

Ok, so, ummm, what did I hit, what did I hit? Oh yea, weakside matador. First weakside 5add. Although I must keep myself honest and admit that when the delay happened the bag was directly under my leg rather than totally crossbody. So it ended half butterfly and half refraction. Close enough to be excited about, but I'll get it cleaner soon.

Oh, I remember a while back I also hit strong side nuclear same clipper, with no plant. I don't know if you'd still call it royale being completely uptime and all, but I did hit that before I hit paradox drifter.

On that note, one of my ongoing projects is geting my illusions more downtime, the goal being to get a handle on a fully downtime eggbeater. Anz's vids have been helpful with that. More practice will be more helpful.

[Mathochist]

Dammit, david, no one's going to read my blog with yours to read, what with its epic length and its epicer philosophical implications. I'm sorry your parents stress a lot about things they can't control. Soon enough you'll be less dependant on them, although they'll likely still stress. I guess I just really enjoyed my advent to independence. Anyways, I'll go shred now.
Cheers.

[Iron Clad Ben]

Rob,
I read your blog broseph Props on the flip matador. I remember when you came to Austin and you had just hit it once strongside, then hit it a couple more times that weekend. So props.

Oh btw, Texas States 07 may end up being in Houston this fall. I am working a sweet deal with this health expo to get us a good venue, sponsors, publicity and babes Seriously. See www.jabpro.com Well, the part about it being in H-town would make it easier for you to make it again.

I too have been working on downtime illusions in order to hit downtime eggs. There is a qphox video that has been very helpful for me on downtime illusions. Check it out if you haven't yet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt1BQZ-UMyo

I like the Anz video too Happy Spring!

Ben

[Mathochist]

It's pretty fitting that I'm doing this update on the night before my trip to Montreal, since it's mostly about my latest net exploits. Big thanks to Tina Lewis and James Hartley of Texas for pointing me to Townsend, and old school net kicker from back in the day. We've gotten together twice in the last 7 days and it's looking to be a very regular occurrance.

Session 1: Townsend met me at the fly and helped me set up the net. We chatted, shared backgrounds; I showed off my new ipod and speakers (which are awesome). We played two full games with matches to 15. I won both, but it became clear that Townsend and I are very well matched. For halftime we kicked some basic freestyle; not his thing, but I showed off some basic flyers for fun. Never forget how to kick it old school.

After he left, I quenched my thirst for more freestyle. Nothing really big happened with my tired legs, but I did have some success drilling my weakside atomic sets. I hit two or three really clean weakside atomsmashers. I was pleased enough with those to make some very decent attempts at atomic drifter. Expect that within a month.

Session 2: Same scenario, met at the fly. I decided to switch out my leather lavers for my new balance sneakers. My inside and outside kicks in those are cushy but steady, very nice, but toe kicks often go awry. I seldom use toe kicks mid-play, but I rely heavily on my toe serves. As such, I am training inside serves, which I hope to improve heavily in the presence of the masters this weekend. So I lost both games the second time around. Just for fun though, after the games we drilled spikes. It took a bit of doing for Townsend to get a good one in, but he finally closed the session on a damn nice sole push. I had a couple of spikes that I was very proud of, mostly because the were sideswiping inside kicks. My only two spikes before that had been sole pushes, one flying and one standing, so yay variety As in freestyle, my weakside is progressing steadily, which was evident in both sessions.


Ben, it's great to hear about a Houston event. I mentioned it to Townsend, and if all goes well, we'll be there as a doubles pair.

I promise not to neglect my freestyle, y'all.
I mean, what would Kenny do?

[Mathochist]

Errr, I'm gonna go ahead and call it a good thing that I've been playing more than posting lately.

Highlights from Montreal: It was hilly. Yves has a great location for his apartment. I got to meet Manu and watch him up close (you pure freestylers don't know what you're missing). I got to watch and shoot pool with Chaos #4 and Chaos #5. I got to taint the Montreal net youth with some freestyle and even some (gasp!) golf. I got to sit between Yves and Eric Wulff at a bar and listen to them compliment each others' careers and rave about their younger days. I got some coaching on my form from Yves. I won intermediete singles.

Highlights from Memphis: Cory from Chicago really dug my iPod (which I finally have all my footbag vids and more on). Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Alston offer the finest southern hospitality footbag has to offer. Playing in cold wet rainy mud turnsout not to be too fun. The miniature model Mississippi river and neighboring cities were cool to stomp over and were remarkably accurate. I got form and stretching advice from Cory and John Leys (who won, in fact). I met, kicked with, even shredded with, and observed the toe serving form of Jeremy Merkin. Huzzah. Chris and I won intermediete doubles.

Highlights from Jazz Fest (so far): The NOCCA Jazz Ensemble, the Congo Square tshirt, the Rebirth Brass Band, and Ludacris. Further, I hit my first motion, set from the toe, and also demonstrated voodoo to Mark.

A note on voodoo: I'd hit it for the first time a few weeks ago in front of Andrew, who was quite impressed, but not quite knowledgable enough to verify the trick's cleanliness. In Memphis I hit it a second time and Jeremy assured me it was clean, much to my delight. I can now hit it once or twice a session, though only strong side (from right clipper).

I have begun stitching two panel crushed panne bags. I have had some success with #12 lead shot freestyle bags, one if which is my new choice bag, after my Brocka but before my Lon. I am now making larger aquarium rock bags to sell to circle kickers next weekend at Jazz Fest.

This post was brought to you by the colon and the letter 'F'.

[Mathochist]

Jazz Fest was great. Three days of music, food, and kicking for me. I kicked kind of poorly my first day, but the second weekend was much awesomer. Friday I was out with Andrew, his only day there I was there too, so he wasn't about to let the TORRENTIAL RAIN slow down our session. There he was hitting his usual madness, and I'm sorry, the rain screws my form a little, but I did have some lengthy strings in there. ZZ Top made the whole day worth it. The next day I distributed some bags some other kids out there, and it turned out they were locals, so yay local scene. One even joined the Soul and I expect I'll be seeing more of them over the summer. Also, I kicked some decent strings in a rather confined space during Allman Brothers Band. Long enough strings that those around me seemed not to mind. So yay that.

Personally, I haven't done a ton of freestyle lately, although I am keeping up enough not to lose my game or anything. I guess I'm just concentrating more on strings and links of basics than the big tricks I've usually worked on. New for me is infinity> whirl repeat.

I have been playing healthy amounts of net. I'm starting to consider not competing in freestyle, just doing circles, and focusing the competitive aspect of my game on net and golf. So if anyone has any input on whether you want to see another routine out of me or no, it's cool do your net thing, I'd love to hear it. Umm, or read it.

Cheers!

[Outsider]

So if anyone has any input on whether you want to see another routine out of me or no

You're a great freestyle performer. Don't stop competing in freestyle, you're too fun to watch.

Take a break if you must, but don't give up for too long.

Oh, and congratulations on your recent net victories.