Wasabi: M(s)+J = BLAST

LEGOMAN · Post by **LEGOMAN** » 03 Feb 2008 10:55

i want to try gunits again for fun. do you have a pair of dead or almost dead 6.5 gunits i can buy or have from you?

Wasabi · Post by **Wasabi** » 09 Feb 2008 22:18

I've gotten a lot of footbag transactions coming in lately. I'm making a post so as to remind my idiot self to ship stuff to the following people:

-Kyle Hewitt
-Guydro F. Hydro
-Esoterik

My studies and life have been interfering with anything footbag related. Not that much, but I feel that I'm putting more effort in those than footbag progression (which is going comfortably, actually). Bs and Ps are doing nicely, just need to school more Os. I just have so much stuff to do at college, concerning graduation workshops and whatever. My books required for the classes I enrolled this semester finally arrived last week, and all I've been doing is reading what I missed out in the past 2 weeks or so. And then there's this cute girl I've met up with that I'm finding a lot of enjoyment hanging out with.

Basically, a lot of new stuff is coming into my life that I'm glad for (even the interferences). It's a bit refreshing to have these along with some footbag added into my schedule. I don't know, I just have a newer and brighter outlook in my life.

Hunter College is going to have a footbag club, and its club president is going to be... this kid named Antoine Benhini!

He's a Montrealer, taking his first year at Hunter College, and he has connections with Yves from prokicker.net. I've been in cahoots with him since last semester, and we're now into talks of forming a freestyle/net club here at Hunter. A budget sounds likely, and I've found a few sites that can offer affordable bags and such (Louis Rinowski comes to mind

). Starbury's "Cribs" shoes are also something we've considered for neophytes for footbag, compared to the typical Rod Laver. The only problem we have in our plans is where we can kick, so maybe we can rent a time in the gymnasium to school (there are a few spots to play at Hunter; the likelihood of human traffic is the concern for most of these places). Anyway, we're all excited. I'll be Treasurer for the time being, so I'm pretty stoked to handle everything budget-wise.

I've just got an invitation from Adrienne about her jam in DC. "Shred for Savvy" sounds like a wicked time, and I can't wait to make a trip down there in March. I haven't been down at College Park for more than a year (or did I attend East Coast Championships in '06? I forget). I should sew up a prize bag, and finish up on the bag I owe Ken Somolinos, seeing that he's also in the DC area.

So... anyway, I'm almost done with Guydro's bag at the moment. Like, only one pentagon remains. I'll edit this post and post it up here and at Bags & Equipment. I've also been hearing a lot of asalato on Youtube, and it's been driving me nuts. Literally. I'm so obsessed. Anyone going to Japan...

should seriously pick up a pair or two for good ol' Wasabi as a present.

I'm also mustering up some money to buy a pair online. Hopefully they won't steal my identity.

edit:

This is probably the hottest bag I've made to date. The stitching is a bit tight though. I guess I prefer my 32s to have a looser feel. I should fix that.

Colors: Active Green, Marmalade, Sable, Country Cream, Opal, Cameo. Steel shot mix, 55.5 grams. Should break in very nicely. Enjoy it Guydro, as I will send this out asap on Monday.

Wasabi · Post by **Wasabi** » 12 Feb 2008 22:51

Nothing much to add, to be honest. I'm taking some time off from schooling in footbag, as it seems that my left foot is having some cramps around the big toe/knuckle area. I tried bandaging around the area, as though I'm "bounding" it to relieve the pain, but it seems to come and reoccur whenever I put weight on my left foot. Just yesterday, I felt a slight, sharp pain all the way from my foot to the front of my shin as I was climbing up some stairs, and knew something was wrong.

So, in my time at home, I have my foot wrapped in this Neoprene brace. It's the tightest brace I have that is at the very least flexible. I don't know what to do about the pain on the knuckle on my foot, though. Massaging is all I can think of at the moment.

Well, me being the idiot and not warranting Pengpeng's warnings to me over on PM, I think it's the tight fit that the Women's size G-units are having on my left foot that's causing the problem. My feet feel fine in terms of foot to shoe fit (from heel to big toe), but it's the width that gives me some concern. It's a tad tight around the ball of my feet. However, I really like the snug fit I feel around the heel, which gives me a boost of confidence that I have very good support there. I think what I need is that utensil used in shoes to help widen and break-in the shoe for a more comfortable fit. My dad's helping me to find it.

So far, I'm just stitching stitching stitching. It's a love-hate relationship. Love in that I'm renewed with the feeling of wanting to stitch again and make some awesome bags (so that I can make people see the light of my craft), but I feel hate and dread in that whenever I sew, the ribstitch cord tends to catch often between panels from the knot on my needle, which stops my pace. I hate that, and it makes me put more energy in pulling the thread than necessary. Ribstitch cord is strong and can melt like floss, but knots tend to get undone and frayed on so many occasions; it pisses me off (especially when you single thread and the knot on your needle gets way too big to pass through holes). Should I go back to floss? Part of me says yes because of the stupid knot dilemma I have, and no because of all the wax that I have to deal with.

And to add even more hate into the fire of dread, I don't have much inspiration in terms of color combination and pattern design. I miss the feeling of wowing people with new designs. Now I'm complacent and assume people are either uninterested or expect the patterns/colors immediately. This leaves me with a very bad feeling as a stitcher. I need to find a muse somehow...

I guess maybe I'm a bit intimidated from what Hania and Jozef are pushing out in their bags. There's always a sense of randomness in what Hania puts into her 32s (which I love wholeheartedly), and in the case of Jozef he makes the most simplistic patterns seem almost perfect in terms of aesthetics (heck, it could be the lighting). Concerning myself, I mean, the patterns flow and surge throughout my consciousness, but it feels like I've gotten lazy. It's probably because I'm not inspired to stitch bags for people in terms of profit. People don't *need* my bags within a personal spectrum, per se. It's all business, and Wayway doesn't like to make it all "business."

In terms of facile, I'm also a bit conflicted with some colors. Sky Blue is weak, and Garnet/Cedar Berry/Henna look strangely alike under some lights. I just don't know what to do with them all. I have an idea on what to do with Sky Blue (which will take an hour of my time to prepare when using it on 32s), but the likeness on the three colors I've listed is too bizarre. Like, I get restless on what to do with them.

I'm also running out of useable steel shot, and I'm not excited about sifting through 10lb batches looking for rusted pellets. It's something I need to dedicate my time in doing.

I have to think of a prize bag for "Shred for Savvy" and GRASS. The former, at first I was thinking of something large and floppy so that beginners could use, but doing so would defeat the whole purpose of transitioning into proper freestyle form imo (I was thinking 3x the size of a golfball, btw). I was looking at my GRASS '06 t-shirt this morning, and thought that sewing a bag exactly like the logo would be something cool. I should probably look up that old Journies topic and check out the other cool color combos that the RFA was considering to make for a logo at that time.

This was a large rant. I can't sleep. Too much on my mind.

edit: I have to sew footbags for Chris Miller and Pat Thomsen. I also have to transfer... 40 Euros? to Alex Trenner sometime for a pair of planetfootbag shorts and shirt that I asked in reserve for more than a year now. I freakin' hate balancing my checkbook.

Wasabi · Post by **Wasabi** » 13 Feb 2008 11:51

I talked with my professor, and went to an Open House for instating an Asian American minor and program at Hunter College. Right now, I've discussed with her on trying to be an active coordinator for the Asian American Studies Program.

I feel very enthusiastic, very involved and very confident on what I'm choosing to do for Hunter College. First the Hunter footbag club, and now a coordinator for Asian American events at Hunter. I feel psyched!

I feel like I can start an Asian American footbag club. I need to talk to Ken Somolinos on some basic criterias that will help me in spreading the good word. I just feel like I can change the world; it's unbelievable.

Darkshredder · Post by **Darkshredder** » 13 Feb 2008 13:33

That's great news! What year are you?

Wasabi · Post by **Wasabi** » 13 Feb 2008 13:43

I'm on my fifth year, and doing my best to graduate by the end of this year. Whatever collateral I have to do, will probably be at my own expense early next year if it is necessary to get me graduated at Hunter College. My parents are paying for my tuition as we speak.

Still, I wish to make the Hunter Footbag Club and the Asian American Studies program as my first priorities, even when I graduate, and hope to link the New York Footbag Association with the Hunter Footbag Club so that we can spread the good word of footbag!

Kind of makes me feel like I'm on a mission or a crusade.

So, really, I'm psyched to potentially be involved in getting active recruits. I've tried to make people be more involved in footbag, but said people were always lazy and apathetic in learning about the benefits of playing the sport. They were only interested in "hacking," which is normative in a college setting, but I hope to excel from that ideology and expand the interest much further. I suppose it was partly my fault within those times, since I was only centered in improving my own footbag form, but these days I feel that such a concept should be shared and not left to oneself.

edit: I changed the topic title, since I thought it looked a bit controversial from all of the excitement I've had concerning my future. By no means am I going to start a footbag club involving only "Asian Americans," but I felt that my eventual involvement in the Asian American Studies Program (AASP) as a coordinator at Hunter College, as well as the potential resurrection of a Hunter College Footbag club, would fuse into one very effective monstrosity. I just feel very excited, very dedicated to this cause.

I enjoy footbag A LOT.

I also enjoy Asian American Studies to a great deal.

Why not fuse them together?

I've been e-mailed so many referrals and potential internships involving Asian American Studies and community involvement to sort through. The trouble is which one I should choose to put all of my efforts into. I just believe that a very active voice is necessary to persuade the Hunter student body, that which feels very apathetic and passive to this issue of incorporating a very influential subject such as Asian American history. I also feel this would be a huge step in involving a community of transcontinental/transmigrant descent within NYC in general that have very little knowledge on the subject. I believe something like the AASP is necessary in a CUNY, since Hunter College is the only college willing to provide such a program, and this study program would be a great addition into the CUNY network.

I don't know. I'm just typing away from what I feel at the moment. In some odd way, I finally have a feeling of where I'm heading beyond college, but I'm also scared of where it might take me. I could become a radical fundamentalist!

j/k I just don't know.

Wasabi · Post by **Wasabi** » 16 Feb 2008 17:31

Good session today. I felt very relaxed, very focused. My flip clipper descended bit much as I began the session, thus resulting in 1) a drop, 2) a clipper kick or 3) a messy set. I managed to fix that as the session continued on, but I still felt that my strong side clipper was still the main clipper that I used. Still, I fought on and got my muscle memory to respond to both sides of my body, and I felt very good about it.

I'm getting much more comfortable in bsos-ing pdx. mirage. I still have to get used to the rotation with butterfly > pdx. mirage > opp butter > pdx. mirage > rpt, since I always seem to miss the second butterfly and just bail to a regular clipper and then do a pdx. mirage. Not cool for bsos rotations.

I managed to get 2, maybe 3 good osii on one side. I really need to spend some solo sessions dedicated to only using osis, back to back.

I tried to focus everything downtime in this session. I sneaked in a few uptime sets here and there, which was bad, but I had one good string with fairy smasher > butterfly - pdx. mirage rotation > osis drop. I have to use uptime sets in moderation, or cut them off completely, since my hip feels very strained from using them on one side. I could train uptime sets on my flipside, but I think doing so would be a waste of my time when focusing on the basic downtime guiltless drills (butterfly, osis, pdx. mirage) is really important to me.

I should stretch mid-session more often. I somewhow stopped stretching before and during sessions for some reason when winter came.

I need to review all the tips concerning diving and ducking (maybe weaving). I think they're cool and it would only be a benefit to my string repertoire.

Been going out with this girl at college. She's a fanatic for Adult Swim shows. I'm trying my best to get her into footbag, but she's eccentric and introverted in a way.

Also, I got a vintage pair of size 7 Blue Lavers in the mail from the UK this morning. I think they're hot. I traded them with a size 9 pair of white/navy Lavers that I had in my closet, already modded. Sweeeeeet.

Wasabi · Post by **Wasabi** » 18 Feb 2008 23:11

Footed Motion barefoot/slippers on my flip leg. Nothing serious, but I had 5 chances where the dex really cleared. Still need work on my osis technique and spotting the bag. I only footed once out of 9 attempts. Most of them either had the bag completely off or the bag was under my clipper foot.

Fixed my anchor stitch for stitching. Pretty pleased with how even my pentagons look now. I always had some weird case where the first side of the pents that I stitch loosen up on me whenever I finish them. I took the idea from Josiah Digges' anchor that he showed me in Spike 'n' Shred '06, played around with it, and made it my own. It's kind of weird that I remember these small things.

Going to a club workshop tomorrow afternoon. Kind of nervous for the Hunter Footbag club, and how I should get into details about the whole thing.

I have so many things to do at college, it's making me feel antsy. I just need to organize. Though this may be the case, I really need to finish up on some orders for footbaggers expecting bags from me. I guess I won't be sleeping well this week.

I took the liberty of re-sewing some panels on a brinard bag that I got from Worlds. Some panels just seemed a bit uneven, even after some rigorous break-in. Then I got the funny idea of re-sewing some pentagons over to other places, making an entirely new design. At first, it was a weird looking dada, but now I sewed the panels to form three random blotches of colors (it was a green/white/grey bag) over the 32. I think it looks nifty. However, in doing all this, I feel as though I've gone into the darker side of stitching, since I messed around and restitched another person's bag. I don't know, just some random thought I'm having.

3-4 things I have to do concerning stitching:

1 32 for Chris Miller
1 spikey 32 for Drew Martin
1 32 for Andrew Kownirk-Dunford
1 32 for Ken Somolinos
1 prize 32 for "Shred for Savvy"

I'm dedicated to doing the latter two by the end of this month. Currently working on Chris' and Drew's bags this week. As I'm finished with those, I'm starting on Andrews.

edit: Had a weird dream on Sunday night that I think I'll post here. I was playing "air-asalato" in my dream, and I was in some sort of footbag jam, where I was sitting in a huge white room. Matt Cross was playing guitar in the corner, as Chad Landry was sitting beside him to back him up on tunes. Then Ken Somolinos walks in and skillfully hands me an actual pair of asalatos as I'm air shredding. The funny thing is, is that the asalatos weren't made with gourds but orange, fuzzy soft spikey 32s.

If I had some really strong and thick leather, I think I would diy some footbag-asalatos. It could work, but it would really put a strain on my hands and concentration. Anyway, this was a weird edit.

colefieldhouse22 · Post by **colefieldhouse22** » 21 Feb 2008 20:22

Aw, so you are going to make a prize bag for Shred for Savvy?! You are amazing, Waylon! *hug*

Wasabi · Post by **Wasabi** » 24 Feb 2008 14:48

I feel really good about my footbag progression. I'm enjoying on how I'm really concentrating about my downtime game. Although, in yesterday's session, I did some stupid mistakes on my links that I shouldn't be doing. Like, say with fairy ss legover, I always get a super clean set with fairy, but my foot or toe never makes contact with the bag at the toe. I always seem to kick it down or to the side. The same thing can be said with sloppy pixie sets, where you just smack the bag down onto the floor. I guess I have troubles with focus, though I have no clue on how to approach this problem...

Maybe I need to warm-up more and more, but the problems here at NYFA is that we only have time to play for 2 hours at a dance studio, and we're paying by the hour. So, I guess there's the tendency to bust out strong in the beginning, and coax with much more comfortable links as the time comes close to an end. Also, lately, getting a good timeslot for the space we need is becoming more of a hassle, since it seems like a new crew of people is coming in and booking the hours, that we want, before us. It's a small pain in the neck, but it's not something that Bruce and the club can't handle. Of course, i found it weird since we usually get the leisure and luxury of playing however long we want to, and pay the difference. I guess these absurdities is just as freakish as warm winter days in NYC. It's random.

Maybe I should drink a few hits of an energy drink before and during footbag, mixing in water as the container reaches half-full. Just like how you would do with Gatorade and whatever. I don't know - it's worth a shot.

Stitching is rewarding, but a pain, like I've mentioned in a few posts above. I'm getting the drive that I enjoy in sewing great footbags time after time. I just feel like I could spend the time I use for sewing to play more footbag. I just feel motivated to getting better and better at playing, that I feel a bit anxious just sitting down and stitching. It's complicated.

Sewing orders/deadlines:

1 spikey 32 for Drew Martin - by the end of this week, or earlier.
1 32 for Andrew Kownirk-Dunford - by the end of this week, or earlier
1 32 for Sergey
1 32 for Ken Somolinos - "Shred for Savvy"
1 prize 32 for "Shred for Savvy"
1 mini 32 for Pat Thomsen - by GRASS.
1 prize 32 for GRASS

If there are any orders that I've neglected from anyone, please keep me informed through PM or e-mail. Well, there is one that I know of, but we'll see how it goes.

edit: I made a challenge topic. Just another step for me to go guiltless this year: http://modified.in/footbag/viewtopic.php?t=18218

From the amount of posts I've made today, I'll be doing a ton of solo shred this week and such.

Wasabi · Post by **Wasabi** » 25 Feb 2008 19:33

Revised sewing orders/deadlines:

1 spikey 32 for Drew Martin - by the end of this week, or earlier.
1 32 for Andrew Kownirk-Dunford - by the end of this week, or earlier
1 32 for Sergey
1 32 for JSACK (or Kickin' Wing).
1 32 for Julien Cote
1 32 for Richard/Esoterik (from England; $10 discount for Blue Lavers trade)
3 32s for Lotus (whenever I have any spare time

)
1 32 for Ken Somolinos - "Shred for Savvy"
1 prize 32 for "Shred for Savvy"
1 mini 32 for Pat Thomsen - by GRASS.
1 prize 32 for GRASS

My fingers hurt.

edit: Well, I'll specify this post a bit more. I Brocka modded my Quantums. Some people will say it's unnecessary, some will say "go for it." This was one of those "go for it" moments. Also, since I've been using G-units for indoor shred, the extra added crank would be something I can be more accustomed to in transition, and it would make my crank a bit more comfortable. After doing the mod, my right hand is completely sore. I'm actually using my middle finger on my right hand to type the keys, without the use of my index and thumb. The blisters and aches are that mind-numbing (though I did take some aspirin, so the pain should subside just a bit).

In other news, my ankle has been behaving a bit weird lately. I went to bed last night only to feel an extremely sharp pain running from the outside of my left ankle up to my shin. It was sort of weird. I wore an ankle brace for the entire day of Monday with additional bandage to keep it constricted. Hopefully it's just a case in which I pinched a nerve.

Got up to 8 clippers on my strong side and 5 on flip. Needs work, and I intend to get more training done on this.

Schooling more on the basic stalls. I remember back then that I got up to 47 toe stalls or something. I just didn't feel it was necessary then, but with my lack of focus I should get these delays ingrained into my mentality.

Wasabi · Post by **Wasabi** » 27 Feb 2008 00:44

Talked with my mom tonight about going to see a doctor about my ankle and having it x-rayed. It's pretty weird, to say the least. For awhile the condition on my ankle felt just fine, but then at times it would just relapse and have a funny pain somewhere, and it wouldn't be in the same place. It would be around my left ankle, somewhere, and the pain would be in random places (sometimes on my Achilles tendon, above the ankle bone, or just recently the side of my shin/outer calf muscle). It has been a huge crutch on me lately, to the point that I feel a slight but painful feeling as I go up and down stairs nowadays.

I mean, I walk pretty fine and dandy on straight roads and such, it's just whenever I play footbag and walk up and down stairs do I feel some slight discomfort. In the past, it was a bit hard to stomach when people tell me that I need to descend more on my support with this ankle when my body tells me I can't descend any further, because of the pain and the constriction of ligaments just restricting my descension any further. Like, I can descend much better with my other support leg, and that ankle is perfectly healthy and uninjured. Weird.

Kind of makes me wish I had gone to a doctor a year ago about this, when I had the initial accident that disabled me in this way, but I held my confidence and learned many lessons in footbag, and experimented in many disciplines in the sport concerning wellness, stretching and playing style. Of course, the last tournament that people have seen me play, the NYFA Invitational, I wasn't playing so strong. In fact, I played very poorly, and only showed signs of improvement just the beginning of this year with my dedication to my New Year's Resolutions (of going guiltless).

I remember talking to Emily Kulcyzk and Fletcher Funk at Worlds in Florida last year, and how this injury will stick with me for the entirety of my life. Or rather, there's very little treatment that I can do to relieve myself of this pain. I forget how the conversation went, but it wasn't anything good if my memory is correct.

I don't know. I've spent the past few hours contemplating and thinking about this eventual doctor's appointment as I was sewing a spikey 32 for Drew Martin. My life could be changed with this diagnosis. Would I go under the needle if it's just fluid trapped between my joints (really painful and bad, I guess) or go under the knife (really really bad)? Or will I just be diagnosed with this chronic pain, and be told not to pursue footbag anymore (worst case scenario). I don't know what to feel; it's become a bit complicated. I've had these random, occasional pains for a year now, and I plan on doing something about it. I've been thinking a lot as I was stitching, and all of these erratic emotions are taking a toll on my mentality. I am still keeping up with my optomism, though, and upholding the outlook I wish to achieve this year. There's just a voice in my head that's really annoying me, telling me that I may not be able to reach guiltless this year.

I wonder if this was what Tuan Vu went through when he had problems with his ankles during his pursuit of freestyle many years ago. I wonder how he got through with the pain?

Whatever. Mind over the body.

Wasabi · Post by **Wasabi** » 01 Mar 2008 15:38

Okay, so I feel that I exaggerated way too much in my last post. I went to the foot coctor yesterday evening, and she gave me an okay rundown about my left ankle. So, the injury I got a year ago in October tore/stretched my ligaments around the outside of my ankle, since she asked me if that area had any large amount of bruising then (it did). She also told me that I was flat-footed, so how I would stand up on my feet actually is causing more injury to my ankle. I'm also getting bunyons (sp?) on both of my feet.

So, I'm wearing orthotics. I feel I have more bounce on my feet. I also bought Spenco orthotics; they only fit in my Quantums. I might have to wear Quantums/Lavers more often and wear my G-units on occasion (though I did stuff and fit my Spenco arched cushions in them). Maybe I'll give these G-units to Adrienne if she can fit into a size 7 Women's G-unit. *hint hint*

I mean, I'm young and whatever, so I'm not incurring any serious injury. In a decade, yes, this is going to be pretty serious, but I'm still playing very carefully as is. I just have a small question for people using orthotics, does anyone feel that that inside is a bit awkward? The plastic arch is jutting against the inside surface of my footbag shoes just a bit. It could make sets a bit awkward.

I don't know. I'm analyzing this a bit much. I remember John Mahood wears orthotic insoles, so I doubt there's anything bad.

Anyway, concerning today's footbag session: I started out pretty strong I guess. It was the first time in a month since I've worn Quantums in an indoor session, so it felt weird at first. I wasn't feeling the large toebox (and small toe walls) that Quantums have, but the clipper felt pretty good. I Brocka modded them, so I was a bit worried about arch support. I did wear my ankle brace, so I felt somewhat safe.

I didn't keep to any specific goals concerning my challenges other than 20 tiltless that Ken wanted me to do. I didn't even hit 10. I kept on dropping on paradox mirage, which really pissed me off today (because it's something I would usually hit pretty well both sides). I felt pixie-intensive today, so I tried linking strings that involved pixie. Magellan, smear and parkwalk were moves that I abused today. It wasn't a very pleasant session, and I had hoped that I didn't drop so much.

Doug Tank from Boston visited us for today's session. Man is he good. I wish I had his legs.

It was like seeing a style similar to Will Digges. He was killing it with such a smooth style.

Drew hit smog after Doug had hit it (really cool). I chimed in saying "Cool, since you hit smog, you should be able to hit flog (fairy DLO). You have a pretty strong fairy set." He said flog is much harder than smog, and then he hit it on the spot. Freakin' asshole.

Josh Penney came to play today for a little bit. It was a very worthy surprise, to see him playing again. I always loved Josh's style of play. He gave me a few pre-session warm-up tips (1000 kicks, 500 toe stalls, 500 inside stalls, 50 clippers per side). He also gave me the basics on how to hit flail, which I'm pretty excited about. Heck, I'm excited to see Josh still playing pretty well after all these years since transitioning to Footbag Net. It was comforting to have him heckle us again; it's been too long.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 01 Mar 2008 16:10

Pascal also wears orthotics, and it does stick out a bit on his instep. If you have good clipper form, you should be able to ignore/get used to it pretty easily.

Wasabi wrote: 20 tiltless that Ken wanted me to do. I didn't even hit 10. I kept on dropping on paradox mirage, )

Tiltless means tiltless. Don't f* around with 3s, just do the challenge. That's the whole point of the challenge; get your 2s down so you master them, and THEN move on to 3s.

You've got 3 weeks to Age's tourney. My challenge should be a very do-able goal for you. Show it to me when you get here. I know you can do it.

Wasabi · Post by **Wasabi** » 01 Mar 2008 17:33

I'm an idiot. I keep forgetting that paradox mirage is a 3 add move. Probably because the dex is miraging, and I associate that as 2 adds. Forgot that paradox counts as an add.

Solid tiltless is extremely doable.

shredzilla · Post by **shredzilla** » 01 Mar 2008 17:48

Haha yeah and a lot of purists probably still call it a 2

Yeah way, 20's not super easy. You sorta have to have enough little drills and moves that are super-solid to even get there.

Like clipper>ss pickup>op clipper>ss pickup>op clipper>ss legover>op clipper ss legover, there's 8, it's not unique because of the clipper repeats but it's kinda tough to go all unique if you're simply trying to get the contacts for the first time.

Then there's legover>mirage>illusion>butter>clipper ss mirage>rpt that IS unique, and it's edit: 10 contacts.

Another REALLY helpful one is legover>mirage>rpt. I still do that, it helps tremendously with control and string length.

Anyway, try to get that those drills down by themselves. Then maybe push em together, and repeat them if need be to get the 20. That first drill I gave you is how Chrissy got her contacts up, it's how I got my contacts up, and it's pretty much the basis of my entire game. Hope this helps bud. See ya in a few weeks!

-Chris

Wasabi · Post by **Wasabi** » 05 Mar 2008 15:21

I had a small 20 minute session yesterday doing tiltless runs. I rushed a bit too much and tweaked my ankle just a bit. I didn't fall or land in a funny way - it just sort of came as I landed on the ball of my feet. I was playing on concrete and was stomping just a bit, so I guess that was the case. I'm still adjusting to Quantums (which I wore to play then). I'm also adjusting to the orthotic Spencos that I bought. I don't know if I should heat them in boiling watter and adjust them manually.

Really, I don't know what to do in this case. Kind of funny, to not know how to properly balance your footing in general.

About my slight tweak, some stretching relieved the pain, and I wrapped it in an elastic brace. Learning the technique of spelling the alphabet with your foot helped quite a bit.

I've just been doing a lot of stitching lately. I'm covering Lotus' order. So far, I have 2 out of the 3 bags done, and will be starting his 3rd bag tonight. I'm pretty excited, but kind of worried because it's interfering with my studies. I have a Psychology exam on Friday, in the afternoon, and I haven't read any of the material yet.

I'll manage, I suppose. It seems pretty easy.

My relationship is sort of complicated. I don't even know why I type these things in my footblog. I don't want to put it anywhere else, and Facebook seems too publicized. I'm currently [semi-]going out with a girl that's 4 years younger than I am, and she's having some complications with her boyfriend and whatever. She has a long break on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and I'm pretty much chilling with her and such. She's the one I gave a Valentine's day bag - I should post a picture of that sometime, with us in the picture.

Then there's this other girl, who's my colleague in Creative Writing, and she just broke up with her boyfriend. She also started work on an Asian American publishing organization at Hunter College, and I've helped her out in several ways in advertising it out there. I've pretty much did the whole "friend thing" whenever she's down and such. Weird thing is, her birthday is just the day before mine, and she's just one day older than I am. We have a weird connection and such, I guess.

Whatever. I'm going to see my professor and talk to him about resolving my failed incomplete, even though I did complete whatever assignments I owe. The system at Hunter College made a mistake, or he didn't submit anything to the department's administration in time to replace my grade. Anyway, he's pretty lazy and unmotivated in some respects, so I have to wake him up about my situation.

Can't wait to play with Ian Pfeiffer this weekend.

Darkshredder · Post by **Darkshredder** » 05 Mar 2008 17:49

Ian's a cool dude. I hope to be in the same circle as both of you come GRASS time. And about those Q's. I had some serious shock/knee problems when I hacked in Quantums. For some reason the soles wore out really fast in them and I did the same thing - got a pair of insoles and everything was AOK.

Wasabi · Post by **Wasabi** » 08 Mar 2008 19:10

Today's session felt very fulfilling, but somewhat unsatisfying at the same time. Well, very good for the most part. I didn't feel pessimistic like I would usually feel in a bad session. But hey, let's not make this a depressing blog post, 'kay?

I did a pre-session warm-up with my newly arrived Aaron Shepard bag that I got on Friday. The colors were wild, and it felt very good. Pretty nice low-gathered bag. Anyway, I hit 273 kicks (to be honest, i sort of lost count when it came to 200-something), 100 toe stalls, 100 inside stalls, and 6-10 clippers. I got a bit tired when it came to clippers, and with the warm up I was wearing G-units. Oh man, I felt unbelievably painful foot cramps in my G-units that I had to stop early (from exhaustion and from the pain). I guess I won't be playing in women's G-units ever.

When I was playing with my Pengbag, I felt very controlled and satisfied with how my sets were going. I was feeling very confident as to how and where my clippers were setting (STRAIGHT!) both sides, and had a pleasant feeling as the session began. I started to wear out a bit about 40 minutes in, and I started to suck. Most of my turns had me dropping around the 3rd or 4th contact, which pissed me off. It didn't help when I transitioned into a much floppier bag midway into the session, as it screwed with my sets and stalling surfaces.

However, as the session came to an end, my tiltless runs got much better (probably because I came back to the circle with my Pengbag

). One of my best runs included legovers, clip mirages, toe set ss mirages, butterflies and one paradox mirage (I cheated just a bit at the last two tricks - 3 adds). I think I came up to 13 contacts, but I'll be sure to fix that sometime in the middle of next week.

Oddly enough, I never got a call or a response from Ian Pfeiffer. I really wanted to kick with him today.

I doubt I'll have enough energy to kick with him on Sunday.

I can't wait for "Shred for Savvy"! Oh man! AGGGGHHHH!!! I haven't been in Maryland or DC since '06!

I'm trying to hitch a ride with Benny Kellman, since he's leaving sometime in the afternoon of Friday, March 21.

I'm currently finishing up Lotus' order. I can't wait to ship them out on Monday afternoon. Then I can work on bags for Shred for Savvy, and whatever player orders I have.

I never got the birthday bag that Pengpeng mentioned in my blog. I sent her a PM, but I've checked it and it doesn't seem to have reached her? Or she hasn't seen it yet? She wanted my address and all. Whatever. I have too many footbags as it is, and I doubt I would need to make a collection dedicated to Peng bags.

But oh man, the two 32s I bought from her are becoming sooooo choice right now, it's... awesome.

Wasabi · Post by **Wasabi** » 09 Mar 2008 18:25

I don't usually post pictures up in my blog about footbags that I've stitched up, and I don't plan on making it a habit, but DAMN! was the spikey bag so fun to make! This was the one bag that I was truly excited to make in a long time. Black facile and white ultrasuede soft spikes. What a winning combo!

Lotus is going to be one lucky customer. I can't wait for him to receive these bags. I'm going to make certain that he gets these bags safely on time. It kind of makes me wonder if he still wears red Lavers anymore.

Really, I don't know how well this bag will look visibly in terms of busking, performing in demos, or just general freestyle, but from just kicking with this bag for a few minutes, the white and black truly mingled together into a wonderful visual experience.

I don't know. I suppose I like making weird patterns on bags, and I absolutely love making strong bags that are functional and long-lasting. I just needed to dedicate a blog post about this bag.