http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYP9osY2dfg
Maybe it's the pressure of finals, but this made me laugh really hard.
Fanzine
-
Pyroman924
- Atomsmashasaurus Dex
- Posts: 944
- Joined: 03 Nov 2006 12:26
- Location: Raleigh, NC
Ouch. >_< Just be glad you weren't playing naked, for whatever reason.C-Fan wrote:Lowlights:
*kicking myself in the nuts a few times while trying for paradon swirl-barfly swirl.That's a really tough combo...
The "Nut Danger Factor" increases tenfold. Even with simple moves like Mirage.And thanks for the Atomic advice. Helped a LOT.
Alan Underhill
http://www.myspace.com/pyroman924
"The more you drop, the better you get." -Ben Rinowski
http://www.myspace.com/pyroman924
"The more you drop, the better you get." -Ben Rinowski
Man, school is tough. And I mean tough. 
It makes me wonder how people find the time to get so worked up about modified.
I come onto modified and I see all these pointless fight posts, all this drama, and sadly all this fallout as people stop coming here because of the idiocy. What have these recent fights even been about? Chris asserting that Europeans are more polite than Americans? Is that really the topic that is making so many people melt down? Maybe I'm not as invested in these forums as everybody else, but it just seems so pointless to fight about anything on modified. Drama on modified is like the last thing on my mind these days. Getting through finals alive, finding summer housing, finding housing for next year, sneaking in footbag when I can, and wondering what happened to my social life are all way WAY higher on my list of priorities. I'm not even angry at the turn that modified has taken; I just plain don't understand it. I'm utterly baffled why people spend their time this way when there's so many other things they could do.
As I alluded to earlier, school is beating me down. Yesterday was particularly terrible, so I went and did the only thing that really makes sense to me; I went and played footbag. In life I've often been in situations where I'm not 100% sure I'm doing the right thing. Should I go back to school? Should I break up with some girl? Should I leave Japan? Even in retrospect I'm not always sure I've made the right decision. But the one constant I can always rely on is footbag. Its the anchor I use to center myself; when I'm playing footbag, I know I'm doing the right thing. I know I'm using my time well, and I know it's what I should be doing. There's no doubt. On my way to footbag yesterday I snagged a camera to film the session, but the batteries died within 10 minutes. I almost feel like it was better that way, because it made the session that much more personal. I just played. Played for myself. And it made me feel better.
It's really hard for me to describe how I feel about footbag. It's probably the closest thing I have to religion, to breaking through to something bigger than myself on the other side. I recently found a skateboarding video on youtube which sort of captures this feeling. Maybe it can communicate my thoughts better than my words:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ctv57RkCYWE
It makes me wonder how people find the time to get so worked up about modified.I come onto modified and I see all these pointless fight posts, all this drama, and sadly all this fallout as people stop coming here because of the idiocy. What have these recent fights even been about? Chris asserting that Europeans are more polite than Americans? Is that really the topic that is making so many people melt down? Maybe I'm not as invested in these forums as everybody else, but it just seems so pointless to fight about anything on modified. Drama on modified is like the last thing on my mind these days. Getting through finals alive, finding summer housing, finding housing for next year, sneaking in footbag when I can, and wondering what happened to my social life are all way WAY higher on my list of priorities. I'm not even angry at the turn that modified has taken; I just plain don't understand it. I'm utterly baffled why people spend their time this way when there's so many other things they could do.
As I alluded to earlier, school is beating me down. Yesterday was particularly terrible, so I went and did the only thing that really makes sense to me; I went and played footbag. In life I've often been in situations where I'm not 100% sure I'm doing the right thing. Should I go back to school? Should I break up with some girl? Should I leave Japan? Even in retrospect I'm not always sure I've made the right decision. But the one constant I can always rely on is footbag. Its the anchor I use to center myself; when I'm playing footbag, I know I'm doing the right thing. I know I'm using my time well, and I know it's what I should be doing. There's no doubt. On my way to footbag yesterday I snagged a camera to film the session, but the batteries died within 10 minutes. I almost feel like it was better that way, because it made the session that much more personal. I just played. Played for myself. And it made me feel better.
It's really hard for me to describe how I feel about footbag. It's probably the closest thing I have to religion, to breaking through to something bigger than myself on the other side. I recently found a skateboarding video on youtube which sort of captures this feeling. Maybe it can communicate my thoughts better than my words:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ctv57RkCYWE
Had a study-break shred session with Luis last night. I timed it so I'd be able to play while keeping an eye on the Suns-Spurs game. As loyal blog remembers may recall, the Suns are my team, and I'm actively rooting for them to win the whole thing this year.
The plan was to warm up slowly, but after watching some mind-numbingly terrible officiating throughout the game, I got so pissed off I had to channel my anger through footbag, and ended up playing too hard too fast. I actually felt really strong, and had some very controlled fearless links and some solid combos, but I warmed up too fast and my knee started to bother me after about 20 minutes of playing. I'm not entirely sure what's most responsible for that either... I was doing a lot of enterrages, because I recently figured out the key to them, but I was also doing lots of pdx blenders, so its possible either of them was the cause of the knee pain. It's also possible that neither are responsible, and it was just the result of going too hard without warming up sufficiently.
Regardless, I managed to hit 2 combos I was very excited about , and then I had to sit out the rest of the session. Towards the very end though, I decided I would mess around with barefoot toe tricks, because the knee only hurt when I bent my leg into clipper position.
Highlights:
*fog-enterrage! Had flurry (ending on the other toe) in the seal, along with food, a bl. whirl, and some other tricks.
*flurry-enterrage, with a good sealing run.
Both of these came pretty easily, so I'll try and get them on film for my next vid.
At the end of the session I hit 2 new tricks barefoot:
*beta smog
*beta pig.
I'll try them in shoes next session.
The plan was to warm up slowly, but after watching some mind-numbingly terrible officiating throughout the game, I got so pissed off I had to channel my anger through footbag, and ended up playing too hard too fast. I actually felt really strong, and had some very controlled fearless links and some solid combos, but I warmed up too fast and my knee started to bother me after about 20 minutes of playing. I'm not entirely sure what's most responsible for that either... I was doing a lot of enterrages, because I recently figured out the key to them, but I was also doing lots of pdx blenders, so its possible either of them was the cause of the knee pain. It's also possible that neither are responsible, and it was just the result of going too hard without warming up sufficiently.
Regardless, I managed to hit 2 combos I was very excited about , and then I had to sit out the rest of the session. Towards the very end though, I decided I would mess around with barefoot toe tricks, because the knee only hurt when I bent my leg into clipper position.
Highlights:
*fog-enterrage! Had flurry (ending on the other toe) in the seal, along with food, a bl. whirl, and some other tricks.
*flurry-enterrage, with a good sealing run.
Both of these came pretty easily, so I'll try and get them on film for my next vid.
At the end of the session I hit 2 new tricks barefoot:
*beta smog
*beta pig.
I'll try them in shoes next session.
So much stress, so much work, so little footbag. 
Life's been really challenging lately, but I'm hammering through.
Got in a brief bit of footbag the other day with Luis. He hit ducking osis which was cool. I hit beta smog in shoes a few times, and was happy to find it pretty easy. I came close to beta pig in shoes, but it's definitely stranger. I hit flurry-enterrage again, as well as fog-enterrage. Everything was on video, but the equipment in the lab was so bad that I was only able to watch and capture the fog-enterrage string. I want to tighten up my enterrage, because the second dex isn't as deep as I want it to be. I also noticed that my flurries have gotten lazier, and I want to address that. But frankly, the fact that I found any time at all to play this week was nothing short of a miracle.
Another final in an hour and a half. I had a final yesterday too, and the day before that a 20 page paper. F*ing school
Oh yeah, and it doesn't help that the NBA is trying to make the Suns lose by handing out messed up patently unfair and nonsensical suspensions. Don't get me started.
Life's been really challenging lately, but I'm hammering through.Got in a brief bit of footbag the other day with Luis. He hit ducking osis which was cool. I hit beta smog in shoes a few times, and was happy to find it pretty easy. I came close to beta pig in shoes, but it's definitely stranger. I hit flurry-enterrage again, as well as fog-enterrage. Everything was on video, but the equipment in the lab was so bad that I was only able to watch and capture the fog-enterrage string. I want to tighten up my enterrage, because the second dex isn't as deep as I want it to be. I also noticed that my flurries have gotten lazier, and I want to address that. But frankly, the fact that I found any time at all to play this week was nothing short of a miracle.
Another final in an hour and a half. I had a final yesterday too, and the day before that a 20 page paper. F*ing school
Oh yeah, and it doesn't help that the NBA is trying to make the Suns lose by handing out messed up patently unfair and nonsensical suspensions. Don't get me started.
So tired...
Finals and papers are officially done. Now I have to redo one last project, and school will be done. I still need to find summer housing for my internship though... life is not that much fun these days.
On a happier note though, Pascal came back to school, so I got to hang with him and Luis for a little tonight. Felt like old times; we're definitely going to miss Pascal next year. Hopefully we can get a bunch of new recruits in fall semester, since the weather will be good and we'll have an official table at the club fair this year.
Shred was light but fun today. Luis hit ducking osis again, as well as his first ever spinning osis! Very cool. Pascal hit stepping same osis for his first time. I had some fun messing around with inside stalls, but I really took it easy this session.
Highlights:
*blur ending on inside-legbeater
*ps whirl-mullet
*playing with the old crew again
In pseudo big news, there's now an 80% chance I go to NYC this weekend. If I do, I'll try to play Sat. afternoon, and maybe Sunday too.
Finals and papers are officially done. Now I have to redo one last project, and school will be done. I still need to find summer housing for my internship though... life is not that much fun these days.
On a happier note though, Pascal came back to school, so I got to hang with him and Luis for a little tonight. Felt like old times; we're definitely going to miss Pascal next year. Hopefully we can get a bunch of new recruits in fall semester, since the weather will be good and we'll have an official table at the club fair this year.
Shred was light but fun today. Luis hit ducking osis again, as well as his first ever spinning osis! Very cool. Pascal hit stepping same osis for his first time. I had some fun messing around with inside stalls, but I really took it easy this session.
Highlights:
*blur ending on inside-legbeater
*ps whirl-mullet
*playing with the old crew again
In pseudo big news, there's now an 80% chance I go to NYC this weekend. If I do, I'll try to play Sat. afternoon, and maybe Sunday too.
At my sister's place in Jersey now. Tonight I check out possible summer housing which is exciting. I haven't made plans to go to Worlds yet, though it is a possibility. I think I'm putting the odds at 50-50. A big part of my decision will be made based on how much practice I can get in during the summer, what with my internship and everything. Given that most of my Japanese friends won't be going to Worlds, I don't think it's really that worth it for me to go if I'm not in top freestyle shape. If I can really drill a good routine over the summer, it might be fun for me to go down and try and make finals (I've never made finals in routines). Given the list of people who have committed to worlds though, I think this year could be really hard for somebody like me to sneak into routine finals. Look at this list and tell me any of these guys aren't making routine finals:
1. Vasek
2. Clavens
3. Jorden
4. Felix
5. Honza
6. Jim Penske
7. Juho
That's pretty much 7/10 spots guaranteed, and even if one person chokes, they might still slide in if nobody else steps up. And of course, you never know when somebody might randomly step up and hit well, like Viktor Debski or Dexter. Still, it could be a good challenge to skool routines. I've never done a dropless routine anywhere, and if I could do one at worlds, that would be an accomplishment I'd be very proud of.
I didn't bring my footbag gear on this trip because i thought the weather would suck, but it's actually been real nice these last couple days. Go figure. Not too mad about not playing footbag, because hopefully I'll get some chances over the summer to play, what with me being in the area and all. I hope this is a good footbag summer.
Random highlight from last session with Luis:
*twirl-spinning clipper.
1. Vasek
2. Clavens
3. Jorden
4. Felix
5. Honza
6. Jim Penske
7. Juho
That's pretty much 7/10 spots guaranteed, and even if one person chokes, they might still slide in if nobody else steps up. And of course, you never know when somebody might randomly step up and hit well, like Viktor Debski or Dexter. Still, it could be a good challenge to skool routines. I've never done a dropless routine anywhere, and if I could do one at worlds, that would be an accomplishment I'd be very proud of.
I didn't bring my footbag gear on this trip because i thought the weather would suck, but it's actually been real nice these last couple days. Go figure. Not too mad about not playing footbag, because hopefully I'll get some chances over the summer to play, what with me being in the area and all. I hope this is a good footbag summer.
Random highlight from last session with Luis:
*twirl-spinning clipper.
I'm gonna try the zoom out of it today! You should come to Worlds -- it's going to be mine and Johnny Suderman's first!
Hm, they're both close. Hairwise he's definitely closer to Anssi, but the face is closer to Jere V.
The big news is I moved to Newark. My place is really nice and has a patio I can use after 5 pm. Can you say daily footbag practice? In other good footbag news, I'm a 15 minute walk from Newark Penn Station, which means I'm a $2 PATH train ride from Union Square and more footbag on weekends.
I'm now leaning 65% towards going to Worlds. We'll see how things develop.
The big news is I moved to Newark. My place is really nice and has a patio I can use after 5 pm. Can you say daily footbag practice? In other good footbag news, I'm a 15 minute walk from Newark Penn Station, which means I'm a $2 PATH train ride from Union Square and more footbag on weekends.
I'm now leaning 65% towards going to Worlds. We'll see how things develop.
Another plus about my place in Newark: I have internet access at home! This is a really key, good development because now I don't have to worry about walking to and from the library in the evening to use the net. For those who don't know, Newark is one of the most dangerous cities in America. I consider myself pretty street-smart, but Newark intimidates me for sure. I think I'll be fine as long as I'm smart and I'm not outside after sundown. That's another reason I'm so stoked about my shred-patio. Now I can shred without having to keep an eye on my stuff or surroundings, and I don't have to worry about people hassling me. I can also shred without a shirt, which should help my laundry situation, especially if I play everyday. Plus its nice to have access to a bathroom whenever.
The last week has been a blur of work, travel, and stress. Looking back on it now, I can't believe how much I got done. I'm so thankful its all over. I feel like I can take a breath for the first time in ages. Finals was a crush; in a 4 day span (Tuesday-Friday) I had to turn in a 20 page paper, take 2 finals, and redo a final project. Once that was all over, I had to find housing for my summer internship which starts on the 29th. I spent most of Saturday combing listings and working the phone, and I set up a few apt views. On Sunday I got a ride to Newark. It's about a 5 hour drive, and I ended up doing it twice more in the next three days (!). I checked out places on Monday, found one really great one, paid the security deposit, came back to Ithaca Tuesday, packed all of my stuff and cleaned out my room, and came back to Newark Wednesday (today). Three 5 hour trips in a 4 day span is rough in and of itself, but throw in the stress of apartment hunting, packing, and saying goodbye to Ithaca (pascal and Luis) and it was really rough. Thankfully I didn't have enough time to think about it all, I just charged right through it.
Now that I'm in Newark I've got a few days to settle in, unpack, buy essentials, and get used to the neighborhood. I'm going to try to go into the city on Sunday to footbag. Footbag is such a calming thing for me. I knew that I wouldn't feel at home here until I played footbag, so I got in a one hour session on my patio. It felt like a long time since I had last played, and in fact that may be the case. I took my time warming up, and went into the session with the goal of just putting some adds on the shoes and familiarizing myself with my new shred spot. I didn't hit anything remarkable for the first 35 minutes or so, which I was cool with. The main thing was I got to play footbag, and I was happy to find that the spot worked out well. It's big enough, gets good light, and the surface grips OK.
The plan for the summer is to play everyday if I can, and to really skool a routine. I've never really done a routine that I've been completely proud of, so I think this could be a good goal. I'll keep track of my progress in my blog. The way I'm going to approach my routine is to practice the key elements of it (fliers, juggling, etc) repeatedly, so they are individually easy and familiar to me. Then I will work on keeping it up for 2 minutes and pacing myself. Then I'll start to put those together and hope it turns into a routine. I'm a little bit torn in that part of me wants to be very diligent in my practice (really focus on routines), but part of me is afraid that doing so will make footbag less fun for me, and therefore hinder my development. I think the best bet would be to devote half of each session to routines (and a bit to Shred30) and the other half to just playing.
Onto highlights:
*good juggling practice. I'm getting more confident about putting some in my routine, since it's good variety and it buys you time to get energy back.
*a few good Shred30 run throughs. Mostly improvised, but had decent variety and a high add ratio. One runthrough was definitely 30+ seconds without a drop.
*ps whirl-ps whirl-ps egg first try. In the seal I had a phoenix, a pdx torque, and fog bsos roll off.
*I wanted to get mobius bsos, so I started a run with flip mobius, and 5 or 6 tricks later I hit it strong side...but with a plant. Since I played out of it, I kept going, and a few tricks later I hit strong mobius without the plant! So I got mobius bsos with a planting mobius thrown in as well. Felt very cool.
*gyro illusion-atom.
I kept trying for tomahawk-rubberman-tomahawk, but kept messing it up at unexpected sections.
Long post, but I had a lot on my mind. Mostly I'm just relieved to have moved in, and that it looks like my place will be conducive to playing footbag.
The last week has been a blur of work, travel, and stress. Looking back on it now, I can't believe how much I got done. I'm so thankful its all over. I feel like I can take a breath for the first time in ages. Finals was a crush; in a 4 day span (Tuesday-Friday) I had to turn in a 20 page paper, take 2 finals, and redo a final project. Once that was all over, I had to find housing for my summer internship which starts on the 29th. I spent most of Saturday combing listings and working the phone, and I set up a few apt views. On Sunday I got a ride to Newark. It's about a 5 hour drive, and I ended up doing it twice more in the next three days (!). I checked out places on Monday, found one really great one, paid the security deposit, came back to Ithaca Tuesday, packed all of my stuff and cleaned out my room, and came back to Newark Wednesday (today). Three 5 hour trips in a 4 day span is rough in and of itself, but throw in the stress of apartment hunting, packing, and saying goodbye to Ithaca (pascal and Luis) and it was really rough. Thankfully I didn't have enough time to think about it all, I just charged right through it.
Now that I'm in Newark I've got a few days to settle in, unpack, buy essentials, and get used to the neighborhood. I'm going to try to go into the city on Sunday to footbag. Footbag is such a calming thing for me. I knew that I wouldn't feel at home here until I played footbag, so I got in a one hour session on my patio. It felt like a long time since I had last played, and in fact that may be the case. I took my time warming up, and went into the session with the goal of just putting some adds on the shoes and familiarizing myself with my new shred spot. I didn't hit anything remarkable for the first 35 minutes or so, which I was cool with. The main thing was I got to play footbag, and I was happy to find that the spot worked out well. It's big enough, gets good light, and the surface grips OK.
The plan for the summer is to play everyday if I can, and to really skool a routine. I've never really done a routine that I've been completely proud of, so I think this could be a good goal. I'll keep track of my progress in my blog. The way I'm going to approach my routine is to practice the key elements of it (fliers, juggling, etc) repeatedly, so they are individually easy and familiar to me. Then I will work on keeping it up for 2 minutes and pacing myself. Then I'll start to put those together and hope it turns into a routine. I'm a little bit torn in that part of me wants to be very diligent in my practice (really focus on routines), but part of me is afraid that doing so will make footbag less fun for me, and therefore hinder my development. I think the best bet would be to devote half of each session to routines (and a bit to Shred30) and the other half to just playing.
Onto highlights:
*good juggling practice. I'm getting more confident about putting some in my routine, since it's good variety and it buys you time to get energy back.
*a few good Shred30 run throughs. Mostly improvised, but had decent variety and a high add ratio. One runthrough was definitely 30+ seconds without a drop.
*ps whirl-ps whirl-ps egg first try. In the seal I had a phoenix, a pdx torque, and fog bsos roll off.
*I wanted to get mobius bsos, so I started a run with flip mobius, and 5 or 6 tricks later I hit it strong side...but with a plant. Since I played out of it, I kept going, and a few tricks later I hit strong mobius without the plant! So I got mobius bsos with a planting mobius thrown in as well. Felt very cool.
*gyro illusion-atom.
I kept trying for tomahawk-rubberman-tomahawk, but kept messing it up at unexpected sections.
Long post, but I had a lot on my mind. Mostly I'm just relieved to have moved in, and that it looks like my place will be conducive to playing footbag.
It's so nice to finally have some real downtime to enjoy. This last semester if I wasn't doing work, I was worrying about getting an internship, finding housing for next year, etc. But now I've got an internship lined up, a place to live, and next year set up. I can finally do things like read books for fun, watch NBA games without checking the clock, and of course shred.
The shred patio really is a boon. Yesterday I had a nice long session out there, because I figured (rightly) that footbag would be the highlight of my day. Because of this, I took my time warming up. This is really important for preventing injury, but I think it also helps me play better too.
Warmup highlights:
*osis x 23
*48 or 49 contacts of butterfly-pdx mirage-osis repeat. I kept going after that, I just got confused and messed up the drill at one point.
Shred highlights:
*ripwalk-ripwalk-matador bsos, with PSW x2 in the seal.
*atomic drifter-{blur-atom-leg} repeat. My first time ever stepping out of atomic drifter.
*pdx drifter-fog, using the other drifter-step.
*tomahawk-rubberman-tomahawk.
*bl. whirl-bl. whirl-PSW-PSW
*HPD and flurry in the same run using different barrages.
*Vertigo bsos! Finally! Had bl. whirl bsos in the seal. The best part for me was that I hit all the cool stuff midstring; oftentimes when I try to BSOS a hard trick, I'll make it the first trick of the string. This time though, the vertigos just happened in the middle.
*flux-matador
*reactor-psw-psw, with bl. whirl-rip-rip-bl. whirl in the seal.
*a run with alpine atom, ripped warrior, darkwalk, and I think phx.
*sumo-dod, with matador bsos in the seal.
*alpine leg-spike hammer-dimwalk-to like 10 more tripless including bl. whirl and ending on PSW.
I also got in some good Shred30 improv practice, and some more 2 bag juggling practice. My iPod recently died, so I need to get my routine song again. Does anybody have "Manta Ray" by the Pixies from their Live at the BBC album?
Excited to shred this weekend in NYC. I think I'm going to play with Bruce Dole and Ian Brill tomorrow, which feels like I'm coming full circle. When I first started going into the city and playing footbag 10 years ago, they were 2 of the regulars, and Ian was like my hero. I'm really happy that 10 years later we're all still playing.
The shred patio really is a boon. Yesterday I had a nice long session out there, because I figured (rightly) that footbag would be the highlight of my day. Because of this, I took my time warming up. This is really important for preventing injury, but I think it also helps me play better too.
Warmup highlights:
*osis x 23
*48 or 49 contacts of butterfly-pdx mirage-osis repeat. I kept going after that, I just got confused and messed up the drill at one point.
Shred highlights:
*ripwalk-ripwalk-matador bsos, with PSW x2 in the seal.
*atomic drifter-{blur-atom-leg} repeat. My first time ever stepping out of atomic drifter.
*pdx drifter-fog, using the other drifter-step.
*tomahawk-rubberman-tomahawk.
*bl. whirl-bl. whirl-PSW-PSW
*HPD and flurry in the same run using different barrages.
*Vertigo bsos! Finally! Had bl. whirl bsos in the seal. The best part for me was that I hit all the cool stuff midstring; oftentimes when I try to BSOS a hard trick, I'll make it the first trick of the string. This time though, the vertigos just happened in the middle.
*flux-matador
*reactor-psw-psw, with bl. whirl-rip-rip-bl. whirl in the seal.
*a run with alpine atom, ripped warrior, darkwalk, and I think phx.
*sumo-dod, with matador bsos in the seal.
*alpine leg-spike hammer-dimwalk-to like 10 more tripless including bl. whirl and ending on PSW.
I also got in some good Shred30 improv practice, and some more 2 bag juggling practice. My iPod recently died, so I need to get my routine song again. Does anybody have "Manta Ray" by the Pixies from their Live at the BBC album?
Excited to shred this weekend in NYC. I think I'm going to play with Bruce Dole and Ian Brill tomorrow, which feels like I'm coming full circle. When I first started going into the city and playing footbag 10 years ago, they were 2 of the regulars, and Ian was like my hero. I'm really happy that 10 years later we're all still playing.
Looks like I may have celebrated my Internet access too soon. I went to the city over the weekend, and when I came back I found I could no longer access the wireless networks in my house. Very strange. I'm going to do more research to see if I can fix this situation, but its been a bit of a pain, and it would definitely suck if I can't get internet at home for the rest of the summer.
In better news, I've been playing a ton of footbag since moving to Newark. I played in NYC on Saturday and Sunday, and I've played almost every day at home too. Not a lot of highlights to report, but that's kind of good too, since I'm working more on stamina than on big combos. I'm thinking I'm now 80% likely to attend worlds, but I still need to find a place to stay. Word on the street is that Takumi has changed his plans and is going to attend!
I wrote blog entries for my NYC weekend shreds, but this computer at work doesn't appear to have a USB port?!? I'll likely upload from the library later on, or hopefully my own house if I figure out something clever.
In other good news, my internship is going well. My hours aren't bad, and I don't work on Fridays! Gonna try and shred in the city every weekend. I hope Pascal and Strassman can start making it to sessions.
In better news, I've been playing a ton of footbag since moving to Newark. I played in NYC on Saturday and Sunday, and I've played almost every day at home too. Not a lot of highlights to report, but that's kind of good too, since I'm working more on stamina than on big combos. I'm thinking I'm now 80% likely to attend worlds, but I still need to find a place to stay. Word on the street is that Takumi has changed his plans and is going to attend!
I wrote blog entries for my NYC weekend shreds, but this computer at work doesn't appear to have a USB port?!? I'll likely upload from the library later on, or hopefully my own house if I figure out something clever.
In other good news, my internship is going well. My hours aren't bad, and I don't work on Fridays! Gonna try and shred in the city every weekend. I hope Pascal and Strassman can start making it to sessions.
-
QuantumBalance
- 100-Watt Warlock
- Posts: 5092
- Joined: 22 Apr 2002 14:24
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- Contact:
Wow, big thank you Sam! My sister also got me the song, but this buys me a few extra days of practice. Awesome.
I found the USB port on the computer, so here's my entry for my weekend shred:
Fun but exhausting weekend. Got in my first NYC shred of the summer. I hadn’t played there since winter break, which really feels like years ago. I’m looking forward to having regular sessions in the city during the summer. Brings back memories of when I was first learning footbag all those years ago. I can get from my place to Union Square in about 40 minutes, and for $3 RT. Awesome. The only catch is that my neighborhood (Newark) is bad enough that I can’t come home after dark. Still, if I sleep over at a footbagger’s plance on Saturday nights, I get 2 shred days for really cheap. Very cool.
Saturday, 5/26
Despite packing my bags early, I still somehow managed to forget to pack shred shorts for the weekend. Hadn’t made that mistake in several years. I lucked out and managed to find a pair of shorts on sale on my way from the station to the shred spot. Not the greatest shorts, but they worked OK for both sessions. Weather was blazing; 90+ weather and humid. I used my excitement to play in the city to get me through, and for the most part it worked. It helped that Stan Sagalovskiy and Ian Brill were there; its a rare opportunity to get to play with either of them in the city. They’re both solid NYFA crew, which means I always have a good time playing with them. Ian played the best I’d ever seen him play. Diving dyno, dyno-far symp rev. whirl, leggy muted tapdowns. But more than the tricks themselves, he just brought that style that got me into footbag all those years ago. Stan was fighting a cold, but still had some nice stuff. I thought Bruce played particularly well.
I was good about warming up slowly, and it paid off. I spent most of the session going for longer, showboat-y type runs to play to the crowds. Probably good practice for my stamina, should I choose to do a routine this summer. I did manage to hit one highlight I was very proud of. I set a new record for PS Whirls: eight! My old record was 5, so I was surprised to break it so decisively.
I drank a lot of Hawaiian punch throughout the session, which didn’t mix well with the heat. My stomach was NOT happy about this, and my first trip to the bathroom after the session had me wondering for a moment if I’d finally become a woman… oy.
Had fun hanging with Ian and Bruce. We watched Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang which is one of my favorite movies. I also got to play with a Wii for my first time. I really liked the bowling game a lot, and golf was fun too, but much harder.
Sunday, 5/27
Bruce didn’t come out the shred because he’s an old fart, but we still had a good turnout. Jon S. came into the city to play in Central Park, and that also brought back lots of good memories. Feel like I hadn’t played with Jon in a long time. I was really happy to see he’s still playing real well. I’m always so envious of his style. He’s got such good trick selection and is so both-sided, his strings just flow. I wonder what’s harder to develop, style or consistency? I think either of those is harder to develop than difficulty. I like Central Park as a shred spot. There’s more shade than Union Square, and the crowds are more diverse and more supportive. Today we had a reggae concert in the background which (for the most part) was really good accompaniment. I was pleasantly surprised to find I could play pretty hard two days in a row. My stamina is better than I thought it was. Again, I mostly showboated (especially when there were crowds), but I also had a few strings that I was proud of. I’m not sure if I’d ever stepped out of reactor before, but I managed reactor-fog-phx-mullet, which I thought was a hot combo.
I found the USB port on the computer, so here's my entry for my weekend shred:
Fun but exhausting weekend. Got in my first NYC shred of the summer. I hadn’t played there since winter break, which really feels like years ago. I’m looking forward to having regular sessions in the city during the summer. Brings back memories of when I was first learning footbag all those years ago. I can get from my place to Union Square in about 40 minutes, and for $3 RT. Awesome. The only catch is that my neighborhood (Newark) is bad enough that I can’t come home after dark. Still, if I sleep over at a footbagger’s plance on Saturday nights, I get 2 shred days for really cheap. Very cool.
Saturday, 5/26
Despite packing my bags early, I still somehow managed to forget to pack shred shorts for the weekend. Hadn’t made that mistake in several years. I lucked out and managed to find a pair of shorts on sale on my way from the station to the shred spot. Not the greatest shorts, but they worked OK for both sessions. Weather was blazing; 90+ weather and humid. I used my excitement to play in the city to get me through, and for the most part it worked. It helped that Stan Sagalovskiy and Ian Brill were there; its a rare opportunity to get to play with either of them in the city. They’re both solid NYFA crew, which means I always have a good time playing with them. Ian played the best I’d ever seen him play. Diving dyno, dyno-far symp rev. whirl, leggy muted tapdowns. But more than the tricks themselves, he just brought that style that got me into footbag all those years ago. Stan was fighting a cold, but still had some nice stuff. I thought Bruce played particularly well.
I was good about warming up slowly, and it paid off. I spent most of the session going for longer, showboat-y type runs to play to the crowds. Probably good practice for my stamina, should I choose to do a routine this summer. I did manage to hit one highlight I was very proud of. I set a new record for PS Whirls: eight!
My old record was 5, so I was surprised to break it so decisively. I drank a lot of Hawaiian punch throughout the session, which didn’t mix well with the heat. My stomach was NOT happy about this, and my first trip to the bathroom after the session had me wondering for a moment if I’d finally become a woman… oy.
Had fun hanging with Ian and Bruce. We watched Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang which is one of my favorite movies. I also got to play with a Wii for my first time. I really liked the bowling game a lot, and golf was fun too, but much harder.
Sunday, 5/27
Bruce didn’t come out the shred because he’s an old fart, but we still had a good turnout. Jon S. came into the city to play in Central Park, and that also brought back lots of good memories. Feel like I hadn’t played with Jon in a long time. I was really happy to see he’s still playing real well. I’m always so envious of his style. He’s got such good trick selection and is so both-sided, his strings just flow. I wonder what’s harder to develop, style or consistency? I think either of those is harder to develop than difficulty. I like Central Park as a shred spot. There’s more shade than Union Square, and the crowds are more diverse and more supportive. Today we had a reggae concert in the background which (for the most part) was really good accompaniment. I was pleasantly surprised to find I could play pretty hard two days in a row. My stamina is better than I thought it was. Again, I mostly showboated (especially when there were crowds), but I also had a few strings that I was proud of. I’m not sure if I’d ever stepped out of reactor before, but I managed reactor-fog-phx-mullet, which I thought was a hot combo.
Bit of a rough patch in my recent life. Hopefully footbag this weekend can help get my spirits back up.
I met my downstairs neighbor on Friday, which proved to be extremely (and needlessly) unpleasant. Long story short, he owns the shred patio and the wireless network I was tapping into, and he doesn't want me using either. This explains why I lost internet access, which I don't mind much, but in bad news, it also looks like I'm banished from shredding on the shred patio too. This means I won't be able to play footbag everyday, which not only will hurt me in terms of training for worlds, but it also cuts off my best stress-reliever too.
I'm thinking my best bet will be to ask for Wednesdays off (I currently have Fridays off), and go into NYC and shred solo. This way I can hopefully play Every Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday, and it spreads out the sessions so I'll never get too rusty. We'll see how this plays out in practice.
I spent today at my sister's place, which helped calm me down a good bit. I watched X-Men 3 and thought it was pretty good, especially if you grew up reading the comics like I did.
In good news (which seems to be increasingly rare these days), Luis called me and said his summer job starts later than he thought, so he'll come up to NY this weekend to shred. I'm looking forward to hanging out with him.
I met my downstairs neighbor on Friday, which proved to be extremely (and needlessly) unpleasant. Long story short, he owns the shred patio and the wireless network I was tapping into, and he doesn't want me using either. This explains why I lost internet access, which I don't mind much, but in bad news, it also looks like I'm banished from shredding on the shred patio too. This means I won't be able to play footbag everyday, which not only will hurt me in terms of training for worlds, but it also cuts off my best stress-reliever too.
I'm thinking my best bet will be to ask for Wednesdays off (I currently have Fridays off), and go into NYC and shred solo. This way I can hopefully play Every Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday, and it spreads out the sessions so I'll never get too rusty. We'll see how this plays out in practice.
I spent today at my sister's place, which helped calm me down a good bit. I watched X-Men 3 and thought it was pretty good, especially if you grew up reading the comics like I did.
In good news (which seems to be increasingly rare these days), Luis called me and said his summer job starts later than he thought, so he'll come up to NY this weekend to shred. I'm looking forward to hanging out with him.
That's sucky about the patio, especially 
Your neighbour kind of sounds like a jerk?? (Man, this spelling corrector keeps highlighting my Canadian spelling!!)
I remember people saying that X-Men 3 was lame, but I loved it (maybe expecting it to be really bad helped?) But I agree about KNOWING the X-Men making it more enjoyable...I kept pointing out all of the characters to my brothers -- there were so many, and I felt cool
I recently watched Fantastic Four and The Hulk. I went into them expecting really bad, and that made them really good!! (Hulk has some INCREDIBLE editing!!) I also know those comics pretty well, so that obviously made them fun to watch Have you seen Punisher? It was quite good, if I remember.
Sorry for rambling in your blog.
Come to Worlds.
Your neighbour kind of sounds like a jerk?? (Man, this spelling corrector keeps highlighting my Canadian spelling!!)
I remember people saying that X-Men 3 was lame, but I loved it (maybe expecting it to be really bad helped?) But I agree about KNOWING the X-Men making it more enjoyable...I kept pointing out all of the characters to my brothers -- there were so many, and I felt cool
I recently watched Fantastic Four and The Hulk. I went into them expecting really bad, and that made them really good!! (Hulk has some INCREDIBLE editing!!) I also know those comics pretty well, so that obviously made them fun to watch
Have you seen Punisher? It was quite good, if I remember.Sorry for rambling in your blog.
Come to Worlds.
