Frank Sinatra Lives

[Zeke]

Caution, screenshots of 2 girls 1 cup below...

[Asmus]

[Frank_Sinatra]

Thanks for the pic Zeke. Asmus, that sundae is too reminiscent of... well you know. Although now I know that you read my blog, which is pretty cool. I read your blog too. Awwww.

Going down to Kansas again on Sunday. Not 100% sure but Sunday will probably just be a travel day, and then I'll be able to kick Monday Tuesday & Wednesday. Here's the rest of the year:

Saturday Dec. 8 - friend from Wisconsin visits Chicago
Sunday Dec. 9 - fly to Kansas, kick with DHS
Thursday Dec. 13 - fly back to Chicago
Saturday Dec. 15 - my best friend graduates from college - going up to Wisconsin for that weekend
Saturday Dec. 22 - start driving down to South Carolina
Wednesday Dec. 26 - drive to Knoxville TN, meet up with Cody B., then on to Nashville
Thursday Dec. 27 - drive to Chicago with Cody, Brian & Holly, and I think I read or heard something about another person coming with? Could be wrong.
Friday Dec. 28 - Sunday Dec. 30 - New Year's Jam! But also some friends from Wisconsin might be in Chicago at some point and I don't know how that will work.

That means January will be the right time to get a Y membership, and get back into footbag full-swing. My basic uptime game seems to be developing a little bit, I want to continue working on that. Also osis, fundamental three adds, & getting my weak side up to where my strong side is now. This winter will be all about the foundation for guiltlessness. And liveblogging my sessions. Like a douche.

[CIC flurry]

Props on the plo>symp mirage rpt. I remember you talking about wanting to hit it befo.

Ahh January, the post NYJ slump. i think you can beat it. And I'll try too.

[Rieferman]

Yo, I checked the vid that your friends posted in the x-mas calendar. It was good so see some of your play in that vid. My suggestions for you (even though you didn't ask yet ) would center around set placement and rhythm right now. The ball seems to drift out away from you a little on some moves - keeping nice straight sets will help you. And, I think if you try to keep a nice rhythm going (even if the rhythm involves linking some easier tricks back and forth a few times while you get ready for the next part of your run.. e.g. when I first started I'd link legovers back and forth while my brain was catching up with what I wanted to do next) you'll get into better and better grooves with linking tricks.

Overall, looking good!

[Frank_Sinatra]

Thanks Bob. I appreciate the tips. I hadn't picked out the set problem but you're absolutely right. There's so much hesitation between tricks, too. And then what the hell am I doing with my arm on flip clipper? I look like a waiter at a French restaurant.

I hadn't been playing much before that session, and wasn't really focusing on my strengths, but that video is still probably a good representation of my style.

I'd been kind of reluctant to try to get video of myself, because I was afraid I would just find a whole new valley of suck to rectify. I figured my style was pretty bad. You know how it is when you just suspect something, but you don't know for sure so you put off doing something about it. Then you find out your suspicions are true... I just didn't want to put the time into trying to fix my style. Which is kind of asinine because my goals are more about having a smooth style with some interesting tricks, rather than linking together lots of huge stuff.

The best thing would probably be to get a camera, and tape my solo sessions. Not sure when I'll get a camera... definitely not immediately. I have so much consumption in my future!

[Edit]Also I don't think the barrage in the video is clean. Oh woe is me.[/Edit]

There's a massive ice storm supposedly hitting Kansas City later this evening, so I'm not sure if I'm going to kick or not. Depends on how bad the roads are. Dammit. Maybe I can just get up a head of steam and then slide all the way to De Soto in my lavers. Or a dog sled?

[CIC flurry]

I read "There's an ice cream storm coming" for a second.

[Frank_Sinatra]

That is fantastic. And terrifying.

Well, tomorrow I start my trek down to South Carolina - I'll be off Modified until after NYJ probably. And there was much rejoicing. But I'll be back soon, writing way too long recaps of the event.

I'm looking straight past Christmas (which is one of my least favorite times of the year) and on to NYJ. Also looking forward to the road trip - a couple people I've met before but haven't spent a ton of time getting to know, and a couple other people I haven't met before. It'd be awesome if the weather is kind of nice down in the SC/TN area & I could kick a little bit so I'm not terribly rusty at NYJ. Oh man, if I could get out of my parents house for like two hours each day I'm down there and just kick... that might keep me sane. Otherwise look for stories about a Christmas rampage on Headline News.

If anybody needs to get a hold of me, give me a call (PM me if you need my number). I'll see you at NYJ! Unless you're a square - and then you can eat shit and die! God bless us every one!

[PegLegHolly]

It'd be awesome if the weather is kind of nice down in the SC/TN area & I could kick a little bit so I'm not terribly rusty at NYJ.

i guess youre not going to read this before you get here, but we will definately kick in TN. the weather is splendid compared to chicago. hell, last week it was 76 degrees and now its about 50ish.

anyway... ill meet you in a few days!

[Frank_Sinatra]

It's gonna be a long one. Fair warning.

There's no way I can do justice to everyone and everything that happened. I'm not good enough of a writer to really capture how great of an experience this was, how awesome so many of you were, and how much fun the event was. My apologies in advance to anyone I forget.

I will bold people's names so you can just skip to the glowing words I write about you.

Pre-NYJ

I got a couple sessions in while I was in South Carolina. I wasn't expecting to be as rusty as I was... the first session was 40 minutes, and wasn't very good. I never got beyond warmups & basic drills, and my left toe sets were atrocious. The second session was about twice that long, and better, but still well below my average. It was cut short by a trip out to Kongaree National Monument, which was amazing. You should go. I never would have guessed that I could be so entertained by the height of a tree.

So the day after Christmas my dad and one of my brothers drove me up to Knoxville to meet Cody Beeler and Matt Ellison. I had never met either of those guys before, so I was really relieved that Cody was such a warm, outgoing, & affable guy, and that Matt had a lot of similar interests as I do (or did) & interesting things to say. Both those guys are awesome, but Cody has awesome sauce dripping from his pores. The drive to Nashville was so much fun. Just thinking of all this makes me wish I was wearing a Parka. You know what I mean. I mean it gives me a boner.

We got to Nashville & went to Holly & Brian's place. I had met them before, but like I said, I never really spent a lot of time with them & didn't really know them outside of Modified. They remembered me when we showed up. We pretty much immediately went to their usual shred spot (a free skatepark) and had a session. Highlights - the first two are tricks I hit for the first time:

pixie op whirl
backside pixie same mirage (freaking finally!)
Brian hit Atomic Barrage
Matt hit DATW for the first time in shoes

Cody is really smooth and has tiltless down better than I do. All his movements seem relaxed and natural. Holly seemed so much smoother and more confident with her strings than I remember. I feel like I can really relate to where she is with footbag, because it was only a couple months ago that I was in the same place. Then we went back and ate pizza, and Brian asked if I wanted to play some cards. Yea-yuh! Brian and Holly were so fun and friendly and hospitable. Like Tom said, very warm. I felt like all of our senses of humor really clicked. It was a great time, I'm so happy that I got to know them & hang out with such awesome people. I should have bought a Brinard or Holly bag while I had the chance - I can still look into ordering one I guess. The ride got kind of queefy after a while though - mucho ass pain.

We got to La Raza and said hi to a bunch of people. For the sake of keeping this to the point (Ha!) I've got to skip a lot that happened. Reile gave me a box of Magic cards. I was sincerely moved. It was great to see my CIC Broseidons again.

Day 1

I was happy to get an early start the next morning. I drove in Chicago for pretty much the first time - in the snow on Lake Shore Drive. But it was ok. See? Personal growth.

We got to the hotel and made it up to Zach Jahner's room, there were a bunch of other people there too. Then we walked over to the event site. Zach and I talked a bit - he seemed really happy and told me he had figured out what he wanted to do with his life, which made me happy. Count how many times I use the word happy in this post! As we walked into the event site I couldn't help but break into a big shit eating grin. I wanted to run the rest of the way.

I bought the bag from Cody Carter that I had reserved, and then I got into a circle. Grant has a really unusual but kind of shockingly impressive style - and David Clavens came over and kicked and introduced himself. If I were in his position, would I have done that? I guess I'll never find out.

Old friends (and people I'd never met in real life before, but knew from Modified) kept showing up, and I caught up with a lot of them. I watched the first round of circle comp, then Reid, Freddie, Henry and I started kicking. That was my favorite circle of the jam - great, fun energy from everybody. Three of my favorite people. I hit some stuff for Henry and Reid that they hadn't seen from me - DLO, Whirls, Barrages. Actually my Barrages are still iffy. And flip DATW was off pretty much the whole jam.

I talked to Emily a little bit when she arrived - probably the first time I'd really talked to her. We have so many mutual friends, I'm glad we became friends at the jam. And that Emily made the effort, because I am really bad at approaching people and making friends with them. Friends friends happy happy happy friends friends happy.

I guess another mention I want to make now is Andre - this was his first event, and I was really interested to find out what he thought of it. He never really seemed discouraged, he just seemed to be taking it all in. He also mentioned that he wanted to get some lavers - I was wondering if/when he'd make the switch. So all in all it seemed like he got a lot out of the event and had a great attitude.

I didn't get to finals in foursquare this year either. Oh well. I had more fun than last year, and anyway Jeremy Mirken and Reile both outplayed me, so there you go. I hope next year we use judges for the tournament to keep it honest and fun - I don't know if I'd like to make it to finals if they're going to be as tense as they were this year.

Anyway - big props to Ben Skaggs for going to finals and being a force in a game he doesn't really play. And to the rest of CIC, who all finished top 2 in their pools. And hey can't leave out Steve Goldberg, who is very nice and fun to be around, and helped out big time with the shred room. But the friendliness stops in the squares court. Where it is replaced by whining.

Then international sex symbol Vernon English kicked us out. Arguments and hilarity ensued. I just went back to the suite and more or less went to bed right away.

Day 2

I got into a circle with Cody B. and Cale McCoy where I had probably my best shred of the jam. I was playing really hard, alternately working on long strings and shakier new concepts. Highlights:

flip paste
flip smear
flip dimwalk
flip pixie same mirage (first time)

I broke out of that circle to demonstrate some things for some kids who were watching and talk to them about I freestyle. I demoed toe stall> op toe stall> inside stall> op inside stall> clipper> ss clipper> op clipper> ss clipper... it felt so smooth and controlled. It was also really fun & rewarding talking to those kids.

I also kicked with Zach, Mathieu, and some others that came in and out of the circle. Didn't feel great, but again got a chance to show a friend how much progress I've made. And I played some foursquare, won the game with a crotch and release into Alex's square, and sat down to watch the rest of sick 3. I did catch Eric's TATW, though.

I ducked out to meet up with some of my old (non-footbag) friends. Ummm... kinda disappointing. They went to a museum, I stayed at NYJ. We ate pizza (third time in four days) with a bunch of people that I didn't really know or relate to. They went to some probably lame-ass concert & I returned to the hotel to sleep. Kinda depressing & I feel guilty. Next.

Day 3

This was the most eventful day of the... um... event... for me. Slept great. Woke up, Tom Zeke and I attempted a stealth pig operation on Reile, but we were thwarted. There are some incriminating pictures of the whole thing. We got the rooms cleaned out, and plotted a practical joke that I can only hope was carried out. It involved the pig, contraband, carry ons, and international flights.

Walked over to the event site with Freddie. We agreed that the event had gone by too fast. We thought someone may have swiped Cale's footbags, but they were found, so that was a big relief. Then I bought a bag from Pengpeng. Its so soft. It will be my new girlfriend. In the bighouse.

Well that doesn't make sense but I'll go with it.

I played with Andre for a while, and helped him out with his flip clipper and suggested clipper> ss mirage - which he hit. Also this fat kid tried to toe serve one of my bags - twice - which didn't make me too happy. It had just gotten perfectly broken in by the Steve's foursquare pool, I think Evan was enjoying freestyling with it for a while on the first night, and that made me really happy. Who can you share the joys of choice bags with, if not freestylers? I'm pretty excited to play with it more. Anyway.

I got up with CIC to present the prizes, which really made me feel like my contributions to the event, though nothing compared to Zeke's or Reile's or Tom's or Scott's, were valued. Also, I almost ripped one into the microphone.

Then there was Zeke's foursquare challenge. I got two aces fairly quickly, then I got iced Mike-Shanahan-style by all you jealous haters. Just kidding. Or am I? AM I??? Well whatever it was still fun and I was happy I played well. Then there was another comp for a bodybag shirt, which I wanted way more than the Mirken bag, but I lost. I learned a lot about foursquare this event - who you can and can't trust (French Canadians) as far as voting goes, and how to play certain shots. I went right after Goldberg with my serves, rather than avoiding him, and discovered he isn't totally unbeatable, just several levels beyond me.

Then it was off to Penang for dinner. I walked over and shot the shit with Henry, which is always a blast. At dinner I was seated by David, Henry, The Davidsons, and Colin. Man, I can't believe I've gone this far into this writeup (neither can you) without mentioning Colin (oh). He was one of my favorite new people from the event. So just sitting there, near David and Scott, I gleaned a lot of advice about cross-training, and practicing, and what it takes to really progress at footbag. A lot of experience there to learn from. Although I may have put my foot in my mouth by talking about how I thought I was too old to get that good at freestyle. I still stand by the statement, even though Scott is a living counter-example.

I walked back with Henry, Dat, Zac, and Holly. Henry told me the 'dangly' story, which is pretty funny. Then we tried to start a snowball fight, but a McCormick place security guard replaced our despondent games with the warm light of encouragement. Keep going. Thank you, security guard. Thank you.

When we got back to the shred room, Colin, Henry and I kept the shit-talking going. Hilarious. I started practicing some basics. Dat noticed some things I could improve on. I kept asking for more advice, and Dat gave it to me. He gave me a tip on mirages that I immediately put to use to improve my form - now I just have to make it automatic. He and Henry helped with my osis, clippers, infinities, and paradox mirages. Colin, solo player that he is, was pretty excited to hear us discussing freestyle, so he got sucked in. I also had some things pointed out to me with rhythm, and sets, and posture. Probably the best thing Dat told me was "write things down" - because now I've got like two pages of notes to refer back to, that I probably would have forgotten by now.

Strange, a couple weeks ago the thought of relearning delays and mirages made me think about giving up freestyle. Now it seems like a natural part of the process. I know I'll need to spend a couple weeks getting my tiltless game back to where it was at the end of the season, so I guess I feel comfortable with making some changes at the same time. And then BOPs are next my progress point to work on, so the advice couldn't have come at a better time.

Eventually we got out of there, regrouped at La Raza, and I said my goodbyes to my friends. Colin crashed at my place, and NYJ was officially at an end.

Post-NYJ

Colin and I hung out for the next couple days. It was awesome to spend so much time getting to know him, talking about freestyle for hours on end, and doing each other's nails.

On New Year's we met up with Tom, Reile, Marianne, Fletcher, Emily, Jeremy, and Mathieu. Like I said - I've never enjoyed. I should stop trying to force myself into social events with lots of unfamiliar people (and drinking). Its too hard for me. I've never been good at that stuff, but I used to drink away the inhibitions (lots of inhibitions - lots of blackouts). But I don't want to just sit around by myself while everyone else is out, possibly getting laid. So what can I do? Next year - prostitute? Prostitutes? Two options right there.

I made some New Year's resolutions. Rather than giving up coffee, I'm trying to give up soda. Made it two days so far. I also made some shred-related resolutions, one of which is to find an indoor spot. So yesterday I went to the Irving Park YMCA, and took a tour. Its pretty small - it might be tough to find room to freestyle undisturbed. I called a program director about it, I guess whenever she gets back to me I'll know more.

NYJ was awesome - best thing I've ever been a part of. I don't mean to inject myself into it, like it even matters if I was a part of it or not. I just mean that maybe there have been better things somewhere in the world at some point in history, but I wasn't there. So they don't count. Take that, polio vaccine!

There were some hiccups, but I thought the event went very smoothly, particularly compared to some things in past years (like getting food) that were chaotic. It seems like every time I read recaps of events, people criticize them for not being on time, or not providing information to the attendees. I haven't heard anyone complain about this, so yay CIC.

The people were great the whole time. It was what a family reunion would be like, if I could tell dirty jokes with my family and play hackysack all day.

Higher than any other praise I could give the event - I've never felt more enthusiastic about kicking.

I can think of some things to improve for next year, though. More varied music would be great. And I hope we can find David some competition...

Well, that's all I got. Happy New Year, Modified!

[CIC flurry]

Props on pixie whirl . I just learned what paste is. Good nickname.

It was what a family reunion would be like, if I could tell dirty jokes with my family and play hackysack all day.

That's the best family.

[Moxie]

I will bold people's names so you can just skip to the glowing words I write about you.

Finally someone figured out how to write an entry in the format I prefer.





You made that awesome NY Eve even more awesome for me, so prostitute(s) or not you should come out again next year.

[CIC flurry]

I was going to write in here that I'll call you tomorrow morning, but I don't think you'll read this by then. So I'm just writing this instead of closing this window. 4 posts away from 2000. I wonder if I'll still be Flower Child. Yes and the bolding is good. I like doing that in blog writeups (though using light blue instead of bold, which emphasizes but allows me to reserve bold for heading) for important categories as my paragraph separation is hindered by stream of consciousness at times. This is quite a long and useless post. Would a picture make it better? Perhas one from hotchickswithdouchebags.com:

[Frank_Sinatra]

Thanks for the comments.

You made that awesome NY Eve even more awesome for me, so prostitute(s) or not you should come out again next year.

I don't understand your definition of awesome. Why do you want me to suffer?

Ummm, I also kicked yesterday - I prefer to wait until I've done a few sessions to post highlights/write-ups, but I don't know when I'll kick again so whatever. The session was large and warm, we got kicked out of places twice.

I spent the whole session really focusing on my movements, and not letting myself go into 'automatic tiltless mode' for the following reasons: 1: New lavers (mesh rather than twill = more slippery on clippers); 2: putting Dat's advice to use; 3: trying new moves.

The new lavers feel heavy & clunky because the sole isn't worn down to a thin sheet of foam. But the toe box isn't falling apart. I'll get used to it (or if I don't I've got two more pairs of twill lavers, I guess I could use those).

Mostly worked on improving Mirage - smaller, tighter dex. Its coming along, better on strong side of course. Also worked on BOPs a tiny bit.

Highlights:

Blur (first time - both sides)
footed flip ripwalk
stepping legovers again both sides
osiiiiiii mid-string
around 10 contacts tiltless with ducking clipper midstring - not just Frankensteining drills together for a change

Well, I need to get to work. My laptop's screen is not displaying anything after it boots, and its hot as hell in the office. Yay.

[Frank_Sinatra]

Ok. Three sessions since my last post. First two were at the Y, third was with the Rav5 at the Pier.

Mission: make use of the tips & advice I got at NYJ. I've actually been itching to put them to use. I just want to learn & improve as efficiently as possible - I've always been a slow learner at physical skills in general. You are shocked.

Friday, Jan 11 - one hour
2nd session in new lavers. Warmed up with kicks & stalls, then moved to alternating clippers. Got maybe five. Worked on magic hop. Then decided to try infinities. Spent the next half hour on flip butterfly - hit less than 30 flip butterflies & only 3 infinities in half an hour. Should I be lauded for my dedication, or mocked for my shitty butterflies? You decide America.

Remainder of session was just for mirage - working on a tighter dex, 'dexing with my abs' if you will. Came up with & hit the following drills:

mirage> mirage> legover> repeat
mirage> mirage> pixie> repeat
mirage> mirage> pickup> repeat
mirage> mirage> pixie> ss butterfly> pickup> repeat

Did not hit this drill:

butterfly> pdx. mirage> repeat

Guess I got rusty. My flip toe sets were excruciatingly bad all session - the bag is pushing out away from me & I have to chase after it... all downhill after that. Also tried a couple fairy sets just for shits - had decent looks at fairy ss mirage & fairy dlo, but I don't think I'll work on that much (yet). Hit a few whirls each side.

Saturday, Jan 12 - one hour
My left knee hurt. Right below the kneecap, inward towards the calf, above the shin, whenever my foot was cranked to an inside stall & I lifted my leg up to set the bag. Once again, I did warmups then spent roughly half the remaining time on flip butterfly & the other half on mirages. Did manage to hit:

butterfly> pdx. mirage> repeat

Then I finished with pixie op & ss: mirage, legover, pickup, butterfly - only on my strong side of course. All the pixie stuff felt pretty good actually, & I really improved my Parkwalk by swinging my hip out more. Also barrage both sides, terrage & both datws strong side. But my knee hurt too much to do flip DATW or terrage.

Sunday, Jan 13 - around three hours
My neck/upper back hurt. Slept wrong, maybe. Or combo footbag/slept wrong - I always get bad shrheadache at the start of the season, but this was something else. But my knee felt fine.

I hit a couple flip butterflies right away, didn't really come back to them very much. I'll keep the intense flip butter practice to my solo sessions I think. Had some tiltless strings in the 15-20 contact range, some relatively spontaneous, some just collections of drills.

Had a hard time with strong pixie, I hit all the basic strong pixie stuff & all my continous double dexes, it just took more attempts than I think it should. Also hit strong dlo & stepping legovers. Footed flip ripwalk some more - my bad flip butterfly is the root of the problem. Tried flip DLO - pretty close. Tried the one variation (flipside, inward dex) of DATW I haven't hit yet - not close but its gotta start somewhere. Tried a couple sailing sets - for the shits. My pixie op whirl = no good. Wondering if it was clean the one time I hit it? Well I'm removing it from my list of moves.

Hit one new move: whirling heel

Then played squares. Worked on snaking, to everyone's disgust.

So to recap my first three sessions back:

I'm trying to improve my posture. At the end of each longer string I realize how much I'm hunching over. More focus, more drilling... I don't really know what the answer is. Advice is welcome.
Footwork on alternating clippers/clipper in general is becoming a little more natural.
Flip toe sets gradually getting better from each session to the next. These are a huge flaw in my game that I must fix.
improved Mirage form is becoming more natural/automatic - but I have to have a good toe set or else its a drop. Hoping the new technique will force me to improve my flip toe sets. Pdx mirage - still no improvement.
realized my strong butterfly is 3 years ahead of my flip. It makes me sad.

All in all I'm not really happy with how I played. Combo of rust + new shoes is frustrating. I'll just have to wait a few weeks to come to a judgement about where I'm at, no point in getting discouraged yet.

I also need to remember how to write a short blog update.

[Senor Grommet]

lucky for you butterfly is an easy move to master. By mastery I mean to be able to hit it on command after or before any/every combo. that's why butterfly is a bail. Rest assured, all you need to improve your technique is in your own head, the meta-cognitive ability to think critically about your own movements.

Anyway, butterfly is all about leg strength, timing of the stall, and excellent balance. Do you have any way of accessing Tom's camera to post some clips of yourself?

[Colin]

We're at such a similar place now. It's too bad that we didn't happen to shred together at NYJ. Post at length, I'm reading with interest.

hotchickswithdouchebags.com

That's about the best use of the internet that I've seen yet.

[Frank_Sinatra]

Gracias, Senor, that tip was very true and encouraging. It really helped keep my attitude positive. Colin, I'm also watching your blog closely, I hope you can get back in the game with a vengeance when you feel recovered enough.

So I played five times since my last post. Time for the lightning round!

Tuesday Jan 15 - one hour solo at the Y. 20 minute warmup.

143 alternating toe stalls (new record)
50 flip butterflies in 13 minutes
10 infinities in 7 minutes (starting from weakside)
4 contacts infinities
30+ mirage> legover> rpt w/improved form
mirage x3> pixie> ss butterfly> ss mirage> pixie (both sides, but didn't repeat)

After about 25 minutes on mirage I was feeling unwell & stopped. Posture felt better. Left toe sets were straighter & placed better, but I noticed sometimes I was setting & pulling my knee inward. I remember this was a stage my right toe sets went through, hopefully I can bypass this stage & progress more efficiently. Butterflies were better.

Thursday Jan 17 - one hour solo at the Y.

103 alternating toe stalls
flip clipper x5
50 flip butterflies again
20 infinities starting from weakside
butterfly> pdx. mirage> rpt
5 alternating clippers starting from flip
mirage x2> legover> repeat> mirage x3> pickup> repeat
mirage x2> pixie> ss butterfly> pickup> repeat

Posture felt great the whole session. Wish I could have kicked for another half an hour...

Friday Jan 18 - two hours, w/Fred at the Y.

12 alternating clippers (new record)
mirage x3> pixie> ss butterfly> ss mirage> pixie> repeat
butterfly> pdx. mirage> repeat to 11 contacts
Smear BSOS (first time)
Drifter - both sides (first time)
Backside Smear
Flip Paste & Dimwalk

Worked all my double dexes, which I don't have time to get to in one hour. Footed flip DLO. Flip Whirl was really bad - setting too high. Fred was killing it. (It = families). Really good session. It was good to have such a strenuous session & push myself to try new stuff after some shorter sessions where I only had time for the basics.

Drifter is such a cool move, I'm glad I finally hit it/figured it out.

Saturday Jan 19 - 1 hour 45 minutes solo at the Y.

57 alternating inside kicks (new record)
flip clipper x8 (new record)
50 flip butterflies
22 infinities starting from flip
infinity to 5 contacts
flip mirage x 12 (w/ good form)
double pickup strong side
flip Paste, Smear
Pixie ss Osis
flip Pixie op Osis (first time)
Whirling Inside (both sides - first time)
Pixie muted ss Mirage (first time)
flip Pixie muted Clipper (first time)

Holy shit five new moves. Or four depending on how you count. Always nice to string two good sessions together. Also got my flip whirls back, and spent some time on osii & pdx mirages. The nice thing about this cold weather is nobody comes out to the Y, so nobody bugs me about using the court, so I can have a longer, more satisfying session.

My epiphany from this session was that my right leg isn't very good at its support leg responsibilities. Particularly pivoting - I tend to pivot on my heel on that side. I will punish it severely.

Sunday Jan 20 - 90 minutes w/Fred & Tom at the Y.

DATW BSOS (I'M NOT SHOUTING I'M JUST USING ACRONYMS)
Terrage midstring (w/o the usual hesitation)
Dimwalk> Whirl
Barrage BSOS
Drifters again, just for you Tom.
DOD again
two or three 20+ contact tiltless runs
flip Paste
footed flip DLO again

Posture didn't feel as good this session - I kept having to remind myself to focus on it. Also my flip mirages weren't great - they are improving but when I'm in the middle of a string they tend to go back to the old way.

My flip butterflies only feel about a year or year & a half behind my strongside now. Flip clipper in general is really coming along. Posture is improving. Flip toe sets are generally better although still have a lot of room for improvement. For solo sessions I'm gonna stick with 1/3 warmup, 1/3 flip butterfly/infinity, 1/3 mirages. For sessions w/other people I still spend time on the basics but just not as intensely or not for 50 rounds in a row.

I'm glad Tom & Fred got to check out the Y for an indoor spot, and also pool, etc. Although I'm sorry that they had to experience that weird sauna situation. Some people are just way too comfortable with their nudity. On the other hand, I keep getting strange looks for wearing daisy dukes in the shower.

[Rieferman]

I've been meaning to check in on you and your progress. Your practices look really well-setup in my opinion. I think it's good that you're focusing on the foundation stuff a lot, both sidedness, and good form and posture. Keep up the good work!

[Asmus]

Some good stuff in here I am going to try.

Thanks for the inspiration..

Also a good write-up of nyj that I finally read.
I gotta go one day.

(I know you check my blog. So please comment when you feel like it.)