Getting To Know The Community

[mosher]

I am working hard at taking the reigns in my life!!

I want to flex my fucking muscles and conquer!!

[CautionFragile]

My name is Chad.
I'm gonna change my username to SHRED NINJA, and I will destroy you !
I have been playing guitar for 11 yrs now, and switched to fingerstyle a few months ago .
My head can't make sense of my feelings, my fingers can .

My life has sucked.
When I was in elementary, grade 7 & 8 to be exact, I got my ass kicked 3 times a day by 7 guys all at once. They broke my nose, and beat my body senseless. They decided one day that I would make a good trampoline and jumped on my chest and broke my 2 floating ribs.
This still has an effect on me .
But I have them to thank for guitar. After that I got fed up and asked my parents to put me in drums cause I thought it would be a workout, and my uncle suggested I try out guitar. I will never put it down.

My parent's got divorced when I was 13, and they were my best friends.
I was a loser.
My dad became an alcoholic and my mom moved 8 hours away, leaving my 11 yr old sister and I to fend for ourselves.
I was severly depressed and my sister took care of me and I will be forever greatful.
I love my sister and mom more than anyone on the planet, and if anyone ever hurts them I will torture that person mercilessly.
I hate when I have violent thoughts.
On that note, I believe that ppl are not their thoughts.

I started smoking weed to fit in, and then it became an addiction.
I have been smoking weed all day every day for 9 yrs now, I'm not proud but I'm also not ashamed.

Every girl I have ever tried to get to love me has hurt me in tremendous ways, especially the last one . I still love her and think about her all the time. I will never get my chance .
I am 24 and I have only had one g/f, and she was my best friend and we ended up together by default. And she basically hated me and put me down all the time and made me feel stupid and we only slept together once every 4-5 months, sex being a tabboo subject in our relationship cause she doesnt like being touched. Because of this I am petrefied of sex. I believe in love but I don't feel that anyone will ever truly love me .

Even though I was severly depressed as a kid, I never cried......until....
One of the worst things that has happened in my family was the death of my 11 yr old cousin. At 8 yrs old she was diagnosed with Ovarian cancer, and by 9 had to live with the fact that she would never have children. She went into full remission, and was even on the show "Life's Little Miracles". Then one night we got the call. I thought I was fine and at her funeral I absolutely lost it. She had been learning how to play the fiddle for my grandfather, who has been playing his whole life. He built a big wooden fiddle for her for her funeral. I hope to learn to play someday and play for my grandfather and her mother.
Even just thinking of her made me cry just now .

I am not ashamed of my emotions. Without them I wouldn't be able to write music.

I have been homeless.
And I haven't lived in the same place for more that a yr since I was 19.
I have never lived anywhere for longer than 6 yrs, and that was once. I am a nomad.

I have been taken advantage of by almost every person who has come into my life, but I still put full trust in ppl right away.
I'm the type of person you have to piss off before I don't like you. Every one starts at the top.

I catch on to things really quickly.
Physical things anyway.
Tricks and whatnot.

I have been practicing Kung Fu for almost 5 yrs.
This isn't because I want to fight, EVER!
When I was 19 I was working at a gas station and I was robbed. The guy was my dad's ex-gf's son. I sent him to jail and started getting death threats, and so I decided to learn to protect myself. I found out that someone I worked with new Kung Fu, so I decided to ask him to teach me. I put all of my trust in this man, he was a genius and he was my mentor. He taught us some really dangerous stuff. ABSOLUTE DESTRUCTION . Basically the best ways to kill ppl using pressure points and leverage vs. body mechanics. He told me that I was learning the most effective style of martial arts in the world, and that I would be part of the Elite. I trained with him for a yr and a half and got really good.
One day I was going to train, and he and one of my training brothers were leaving to go get booze for "drunken boxing". This is an extremely long story, but to make it short, he tried to get my bro(Branigan) to do things. We found out that he was a lying petefile. This brought me to a new low in my life.
I have since been training in Wing Chun, with my real sifu who's list of credentials is very impressive, and real .

I don't think I'm tough, so pls don't try and prove my "martial abilites" to be false, because I don't practice to be a good fighter. I practice for the sheer apreciation of the art and history of Wing Chun.

I am also disappointed that I didn't find footbag when I found hacky sac.

When I was 19, until now, I have been quite poor and because of this have ended up technically anorexic. Just due to not the money for eating though, not because I wanted to be skinny. I would even get a full meal in front of me, but I couldn't even be bothered to bring it to my mouth. This went on for a long time. It is only recently that I have beaten this.
I am still too skinny.

I am working on putting my life back together, and the ppl I have met through footbag have played a big role in this.

I think the footbag comunity is the greatest group of ppl alive .

[CautionFragile]

Sorry that was so long .
And that's the short version .

[C-Fan]

Wow, that was really intense. Thanks for sharing. I hope things turn up for you.

[mosher]

He's found his way to the best community in the world so things are going to keep looking up.

I am glad to have you in my club Chad.

[CautionFragile]

And I'm glad you accepted me !
You have no idea the impact you and Skippy have had on my life. The same goes for footbaggers in general, by far the most accepting and down to earth group of ppl I have ever come accross.
I finally feel at home .

[Muffinman]

If there's ever, like, a footbag book, that should be the introduction, and like big emphasis on

I finally feel at home

I hope I can be your friend one day.
Maybe if I get back to Toronto in the near future.

I want to write stuff too, but I don't really know what.
-I'm jobless right now, and I have no motivation to find a job. This is mostly because I want to move back to Toronto really soon, and I don't really want to get into something, or find an awesome job that I will want to give up in a few months.
-I'm pretty lazy, and probably suffer from depression, but I'm still pretty happy in general.
-The smallest things make me really happy.
-Music is really important to me, and I feel that I am really musical, like, deep inside, but I haven't really harnessed it yet. I played cello when I was, like, 6ish; I was first clarinet all through highschool; I tried to pick up saxophone too, at the same time, and played for a year or so (but the ombosure(?) change was too weird). I've been meaning to pick up my clarinet again and learn to play from my head.
-My favourite song is "Ready or Not" by The Fugees (hip hop), but my favourite band is Nightwish (orchestral metal)... my favourite song by Nightwish is the orchestral version of "Nemo". I'll never get to see them in concert, because the lead singer got the boot (though their new singer is good too).
-I like to wear tight clothes, but don't really like my body very much (though I am a lot less self conscious about it than I used to be).
-I'm really insecure, and things like that.
-Drawing is, like, my #2 hobby, but I have to force myself to do it, so most of the time it isn't really very fun. And so I've never really progressed much.
-I'm 24 and live with my parents. And on Sunday, I will be the only one of me and my 3 brothers left at home.
-I can't tell if I actually love footbag for myself, because my legs are so beat-up that I can't play on my own to double-check if I enjoy just doing it alone for fun... I spent a lot of time thinking about that today.
-All of the nice things people say about me in footbag have gone to my head, and I feel kind of high and mighty sometimes, even if I don't show it.
-I don't really have friends, and I'm really lonely 80% of the time.
-My girlfriend lives in a different city
-I don't like TV, but I completely love "The Office". The only other show that I've really liked and watched was "Friends", which I must have watched 3 times through completely. Before I watched any other episode [of The Office], I watched the first one that I saw -- Season 3, Episode 3 -- seven times.
-I have a really, really good life, but I don't really take advantage of it, or probably appreciate it enough.
-And there are lots of other things that I feel like saying, but don't feel as open as Kevin Regamey about sharing on the internet (although I really liked reading his really in-depth list thingy).

[Matt K]

My name is Matthew Edward Kemmer. I am 16 years old. I turn 17 on September 21st.

-I have never been drunk
-My favorite kind of alcohol is red wine
-I have never done any drugs
-I want to have the experience of being high someday
-I have never had a girlfriend
-I look at porn way too much
-My grandfather died on my 12th birthday
-I miss him a lot
-I only have 1 really good friend
-Sometimes he annoys me, but I can deal with it
-I lost my past best friend in the process of getting my new best friend
-I love arguing about things that don't require arguing
-I haven't done that in a while
-Some people think I'm an asshole for doing so; sometimes they're right
-I ask a lot of questions in life because I hate not knowing what I'm doing
-I do pretty well in school
-I have the potential to do much better
-I spent 5/7 days indoors, alone this summer
-I don't know if I enjoy that or not
-I used to ride BMX
-I stopped when I started to play footbag
-Videogames used to be my favorite thing to do
-I still love them
-I started to drift away from a friend whom I have known since I was born
-We didn't hang out or talk for 2 years
-This is my biggest regret, since we'll probably never be as good of friends as we could be
-This is making me cry right now
-He was one of the few people I could really talk to
-He explained things to me when I had no clue what was going on
-He never laughed at me when I was trying to be serious
-He is secretly my best friend, and probably always will be
-I have never told him any of that; I plan to.

[Zeb Jackson]

but its cool people are willing to tell information so willingly, its nice to know were comfortable with each other, in person and on the internet.

wo0 footbag!

[justy1590]

-ive been told im too nice by ex girlfriends more times than i can count
-never have and never will drink, smoke, or do pot
-still got the old v card
-i have a wonderful girlfriend
-i love footbag
-i hate the smell of tuna, that shits just sick
-ive never met another footbag player aside from my friend who played for a whole of...2 days
-i had a really shitty child hood i suppose
-my family kicks ass
-my friends kick ass
-i dont know you guys but you all kick ass

[Matt K]

My favorite passage from a book:

“Imagine that an asteroid lands on Earth and brings
with it an exotic bacteria that kills all organic matter on
Earth and then dissolves without a trace. A million years
later, intelligent aliens discover Earth and study our bones
and our possessions, trying to piece together our history.
They might notice that all of our cookware—the pots and
pans and plates and bowls—all seemed to be related somehow.
And the older ones were quite different from the
newer ones. The earliest among them were crude bowls, all
somewhat similar, generally made of clay or stone. Over
time, the bowls evolved into plates and coffee cups and
stainless-steel frying pans.

“The aliens would create compelling charts showing
how the dishes evolved. The teacup family would look like
its own species, related closely to the beer mug and the
water glass. An observer who looked at the charts would
clearly see a pattern that could not be coincidence. The
cause of this dishware evolution would be debated, just as
we debate the underlying cause of human evolution, but the
observed fact of dishware evolution would not be challenged
by the alien scientists. The facts would be clear.
Some scientists would be bothered by the lack of intermediate
dishware species—say, a frying pan with a beer mug
handle—but they would assume it to exist somewhere
undiscovered.â€

[Grade Zero]

-I am the only footbagger in Southern California under 31

Not true.

[Iron Clad Ben]

Always an interesting read.

Tony- did not know that stuff about you. Sorry you had to choose footbag over friends. It was cool hanging out with you at worlds, if only for a little bit. Did you leave early or something? I didn't see you the last few days. Wish we coulda hung out more.

Chad- wow what would have happened if I had never sent Skippy! that PM. That's so awesome. I feel very similar about the effects footbag has had on my life. Sorry you had to go through all that crappy stuff.

The bad experiences people wrote made think the other day about bad stuff that's happened in my life. I used to think of it a lot and feel pretty crappy about it rather often, I rarely do now. In fact I kind of had to force back the memories. I found a way to make bad memories surface less often so now it takes effort to conjure them back (PM me if you want info on how to do that). Anyways there's this Don Henley song where he's like "You gotta put that all behind you baby, cuz life goes on". I know it sounds really trite but it's true. The past is the past, you can't change it, you gotta move on, and you can't let it determine or even limit the future.

It's funny how many people say they don't have friends outside of footbag. I'm basically in the same boat. I have my girlfriend and then her friends are my friends sort of by default. Then I have some people I've known from other places that I've kept in touch with but that's about it. Then I have work people I talk to (or the occasional happy hour) most of whom are in their 30s so we never actually hangout outside of work. Maybe it just has to do with being in your 20's, social life is bizzare, people are really flaky and distant, it's hard to find people that you can really consider a friend. Maybe I'm just still awkward, who knows.

I realized I'm gonna be 26 in 2 months. In footbag freestyle terms that's sooooo old. I have to remind myself that's looking at it in a bubble, in real life I'm still super young.

2B

[Burrin]

Did you leave early or something? I didn't see you the last few days. Wish we coulda hung out more.

Yeah I had to leave early wish I could of stayed :[

[HG]

--I was born singing in a Laosian military base (my dad was stationed there) . My parents say it sounded like an early Beegees song.
-I use to have a crush on this girl in 3rd grade, until weeks later, i found that it was in fact a boy that looked like a girl. His name was Keshia
-I haven't talked to my dad's side of the family for years because they are drunken yahoos.
-I have never drank a yahoo (a chocolate drink?)
-We used to live in the country, and I made a "sculpture" out of dead animals and pond scum when i was 11
-I ate a whole jar of pickles in one sitting and had burning shit for a week.
-I ate 6 bananas in one sitting and couldnt shit for a week.
-Other things i have eaten in one sitting: A whole chocolate pie, 2 quarts of ice cream, 13 plate size pancakes, 28 pieces of toast. I like to see how much i can eat.
-If I were gay, i would want to marry French Stewart.
-One of my best friends may have gotten his girlfriend pregnant. I hate this girl. I am seriously considering drop kicking her in the stomach so his life isn't ruined.

[LEGOMAN]

I am a sandbagger



Henry: Falcon Punches work better

[The Actual Sized E]

-I have never drank a yahoo (a chocolate drink?)

Close, it's Yoo-Hoo. I've never drank one either.

[Frank_Sinatra]

--I was born singing in a Laosian military base

Now I've got the first line for "The Ballad of Greslie McNamara."

[CIC flurry]

Yo mama so fat, she tripped, cut her knee and bled yoohoo.

[Matt K]

The only facial hair I get grows on the right half of my face.