Fanzine

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 13 Apr 2008 17:15

Pascal and his fiancee came to visit DC this weekend, and it was nice to see them. I even managed to get enough work done to earn a shred with Pascal today. We only played an hour, but it was a lot of fun.

Highlights:

*legbeater swirl
*pdlo-butterswirl bsos
*ducking pdx egg. Old, but still cool.
*Nuclear eclipse, inspired by Ian Brille.
*Whirling ss butterfly-fog, with tomahawk x2 in the seal.
*Bedwetter-toebius. First try.
*Nice 28 contact run.

The next couple weeks should be pretty ridiculous with work. I'm really gonna try my best to just barrell through them as best as I can. If I make it through OK, I won't have to worry about schoolwork (probably ever again), and there could be some sweet payoffs if I step up (or get a little lucky). Wish me luck!

sen · Post by **sen** » 13 Apr 2008 21:19

Good luck!! Means a ton coming froma guy who lives by Obi-Wan's quote, "In my experience, there's no such thing as luck."

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 14 Apr 2008 05:14

wow, nice seal run after the bed > toebius

edit: Btw, I really like any of your tricks ending in drifter. They look really good and fluid to me

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 17 Apr 2008 07:33

Random thoughts/highlights from my life these days:

1. Still really stressed out, but I keep telling myself it's good stress. Like, while I'm stressed about getting a job through my fellowship, at least I got the fellowship and am in a position to even try for these good jobs.

2. I turned 28 yesterday. I don't feel 28. It's still weird to me that I've been playing footbag for almost 11 years. Didn't really celebrate the birthday, but there'll be time for that in a couple weeks when things calm down (I hope). My girlfriend bought me a bottle of scotch, which was really nice. It's a kind I'd never had before, called "Glenkinchie," and I like it a lot. I missed having Scotch.

Please, no one line "happy birthday!" posts in my blog. I got 26 of them on Facebook yesterday, and that was more than enough.

3. The NBA regular season ended yesterday. My team, the Suns, will start the playoffs facing our worst enemy, the Spurs, on the road. I hope we kick their asses. I almost care more about beating the Spurs than I do about winning the championship. Speaking of basketball and winning the championship, I won my fantasy basketball league. It was my first time doing fantasy anything, and I had a lot of fun with it. I'm kinda sad that its over, but at least I did well.

4. I have no real idea what's going to happen this summer. I may stay in DC, I may travel a lot, I may be job hunting, or I may be setting up somewhere. Who knows. It'd be nice to go to Worlds or Japan, but maybe US Open is the most realistic option. I'm also going to do my absolute best to go to the NYC tournament, as that would mean a lot to me on a personal level (I first was exposed to footbag in the same park, exactly 11 years before).

5. Footbag highlights:

*Whirling infinity-WHAT?!, with 3 fearless in seal.
*Sumo and a toe barrage.
*Run with vortex, fog, bl. drifter and lots of whirl tricks
*11 tripless to start a nice run
*Blurriest-reaper
*Toe barrage x2. I think they are good on strongside, and the on flip. Hard to tell with my camera, but the timing looks OK on strong.
*Liked this run. Felt like there were fewer bails for me.
*Pixie shuffle

max · Post by **max** » 17 Apr 2008 08:12

Props on your highlights Ken, there's some nice stuff in there.
28 Kicks serious ass! Happy birthday!

I'm glad to hear you've got some GOOD STRESS. Good stress has the tendency to make things happen which is usually a good thing! I also think it' s a good sign that you're at least stressing out a bit for your job search, it's a sign that you take it seriously which usually means that you'll get the job

Anyway, I wish you all the best in terms of work / travels / studies / footbag / life for this coming year and hope to bump into you someplace sometime down the road

Ian Brill · Post by **Ian Brill** » 18 Apr 2008 22:32

Happy Belated Birthday.

It's great that there is so much footage of you online now.

I loved the run out of Nuclear eclipse. Oh, and I think there was an E at the end of my last name before my ancestors hit Ellis Island, but not after.

Hope to kick with you at the next NYFA jam.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 22 Apr 2008 16:42

Couldn't make it to GRASS because of school/job interviews/thesis. I can't even recall the last time I played. Over a week ago? Gah.
I should be preparing for tomorrow's interviews, but I figured that some physical exercise might help with the stress, and I've read that it also makes you mentally sharper. I hope that's true.

Spontaneous solo session tonight. I brought the camera down only to find it mysteriously out of power? Whatever, probably made for a freer session, plus less time wasted uploading it and putting it in my blog.

Highlights.

*Spinning butter-blur-atom-legbeater repeat
*pdx egg-toe torque repeat, as requested by Erik Chan.
*symp whirling muted legover bsos!
*fog-"the" toe barrage bsos.
*pixie muted ss swirl-pdx torque
*fog-drifter-pdx whirl repeat

My flip symp whirling legover mysteriously became my strongside today. It's a bit more uptime than strong side, in the sense that both dexes feel sort of uptime, as opposed to only the first dex being uptime. I kinda understand now how Ners hit it as a set.

Wish me luck at the job fair. If things work out, hopefully I'll be able to attend a lot more footbag tournies in the next few years. I'd really like that, considering how much footbag I've had to sacrifice for school/work.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 25 Apr 2008 14:07

EDIT: didn't express my thoughts as well as I'd like on the question of career/family/school vs. footbag. I took em out for now, but maybe I'll come back to the topic in the future when I have time to organize my thoughts and words better.

Feel like I've been holding my breath and running at the same time, for at least 3 weeks now. I'm not out of the woods yet either.

Job fair went pretty well. I feel like I had some good interviews, but worry that I needed GREAT interviews to get the positions. Competition was very stiff. I have 2 more interviews next week, so hopefully if I nail those I'll come out of this with at least one offer. I only need one. Please?

Got in another impromptu solo session today, and filmed. I'll upload highlights later.

On one hand it felt good to play, but on the other hand I couldn't let go of the stress completely, and I felt its miasma polluting my shred. Like, I was losing my temper more easily than I should have. Its definitely frustrating that I don't have enough time to maintain the level of play that I want.

Hm, this turned out to be a bit of a down entry. Let's finish with some good news: I scored free housing through July, so I won't have to move or look for housing while I'm finishing my thesis/final projects/job hunt. That's a definite weight off my back.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 26 Apr 2008 10:27

I think I'm starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel. If/once I get my first job offer, I'll really feel there is a light.

Played some footbag yesterday, and got some highlights on film.

Highlights:

*Spin PDLO-pixie torque
*Blurrier-barfly repeat
*Blurry whirl-fog bsos

*Ducking pdx torque
*Whirling infinity-blurriest. 4 fearless bonus.
*Symp whirling LO
*Pdx egg-torque repeat. Erik Chan challenge.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 30 Apr 2008 10:16

Updates.

1. Played footbag 2 days in a row. Filmed too, so I'll put up some highlights later.

2. My Waylon bag from Shred for Savvy is breaking in now, and is real nice. I hope it lasts.

3. Summer housing and summer job look sewn up, which is a big relief.

4. Still waiting on job offers. Really scared I won't get any. Trying not to worry too much, but it can be tough.

5. Suns lost last night, so I pretty much only have passing interest in sports until Halloween. That might be a good thing.

6. It's looking increasingly likely that the only footbag tournies I go to this summer are US Open, New York Jam, and ECC if I help Vince throw it. US Open may be contingent on finding cheap tickets, but I think its a lot more likely than Worlds.

7. Here's a run, just for looking at my blog.
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=g_U06kK1HPs[/youtube]

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 30 Apr 2008 11:27

I haven't seen symp whirling legover before, I'm a big fan of it now. Linked with the right trick, I'd love it even more. Maybe something quantum? I'm not exactly sure, it just has a cool rhythm to it, so something else with a unique rhythm immediately afterwards would be cool. Maybe something symposium and atomic?

Good luck on the job stuff. I'm also looking. Ain't fun.

Post by **Zac Miley** » 30 Apr 2008 12:53

Rieferman wrote:I haven't seen symp whirling legover before, I'm a big fan of it now. Linked with the right trick, I'd love it even more. Maybe something quantum? I'm not exactly sure, it just has a cool rhythm to it, so something else with a unique rhythm immediately afterwards would be cool. Maybe something symposium and atomic?

Good luck on the job stuff. I'm also looking. Ain't fun.

Good idea! I think FS Toe Blur would look sweet.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 30 Apr 2008 15:52

Rough day. Maybe I'll play some footbag tonight to feel better.

Some highlights from 2 sessions ago:

Highlights:

*Ripwalk-flurry bsos, plus 12 dexless
*Seven unique fearless
*Unexpected midstring ducking pdx torque
*Fog-dso-leg almost repeat
*Pdx drifter-fog on flip. Hit it on strong too, but the seal sucked.
*Cool whirl drill

I also came up with a plan to improve Team Japan's chances at Worlds.

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

It looks like I'll be able to get off the weekend of US Open and NY Jam in July (I'm an RA in my building, so some weeks I have to be here even on weekends). This is good news.

Here's another run, just for looking at my blog.
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=8Rh8RCHGRuA[/youtube]

Wasabi · Post by **Wasabi** » 01 May 2008 10:44

Ken, feel free to leave me a line on what colors you want on your next bag from me so that I can be prepared. I'm always open to making you a 32 whenever, even if I don't like to stitch much these days.

I really like your recent strings/footage. They're my main resource and inspiration to play!

slapdash21 · Post by **slapdash21** » 01 May 2008 12:02

C-Fan wrote:Here's another run, just for looking at my blog.

variety, thy name is ken!

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 02 May 2008 12:30

Thanks for the kind words on the videos everybody. I'm glad people are watching them.

Waylon: your bag is great now. I hope it lasts. No rush on a new bag, but maybe I'll start thinking about it. I think my next visit to NYC will be for Barrett's tourney, but that's at the end of July.

I've been pretty stressed about the job search lately. I played footbag last night and my mental game was awful. I hit a few highlights, but overall it felt like a rough session.

Highlights:

*Stepping swirl bsos.
*2 bag barfly
*Run with some quantums

Bonus from previous session:

*Paradox barrage
*Merkon-dimwalk repeat to PSW x2
*Paradox drifter-sumo

Ian Brill · Post by **Ian Brill** » 06 May 2008 14:02

C-Fan wrote:I've been pretty stressed about the job search lately. I played footbag last night and my mental game was awful. I hit a few highlights, but overall it felt like a rough session.

This is how my game and life has been recently too. Keep your head up, and good luck.

C-Fan wrote:*Run with some quantums

Sick run. I don't have time to watch all the others right now. I did, however watch the 35 move string (and several scattered others). Your style wins.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 06 May 2008 14:20

Thanks for the note Ian. Things are actually looking up now. I want to go sneak in a session (when's the last time I even played?) now, so maybe I'll post new developments later tonight.

EDIT: Lots of fun. I had good consistency today, so I expected a good SB one take, but that was my worst run on film all session. I hit a real nice genuine run for Anz though, so i'm stoked on that. No new tricks today, but I was on Gmail chat with Erik Chan, and he came up with some creative requests that I had fun trying.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 08 May 2008 07:22

Life's been eventful lately. I'm still stressed out a lot, but the end of the tunnel is squarely in view now. The next 4 days will be my final push in school, probably ever. 2 final papers and a thesis. Yikes! On the professional front, I locked down my summer job, which will be full time and pay me like 3 times as much as I did as an intern. On the flip of that, I'll probably have to work 3 times harder, but it should be more interesting work. Finally, the biggest news is that I got a job offer I will probably take. It's at the Department of the Interior, so it's very possible I will make some trips out to Montana or other western offices in the next year. I'll let you know what happens.

Got in a shred 2 nights ago. I finally felt like I had a flowing, free good session. Lots of long runs with stuff that surprised me. I was therefore real surprised when my Stephen Barnes attempt was so bad. I feel like I more than made up for it though with some long genuine runs. In the middle of the session I saw Erik Chan on gmail chat, and I got him to give me footbag challenges. Had fun hitting a few of them.

Erik Chan challenges:

*Gyro pickup-ss drifter bsos.
*Dragon set barfly.
*Same side eggbeater-DSO-DSO-ss egg
*pixie clip-bubbabeater-gyro osis-pdx torque. Flurry in the beginning is "the," but the rest of the combo is styly.

Last night I went to an Apocalyptica concert with/for my girlfriend. I ended up having a really good time. They're like a Finnish metal band, but it's 4 dudes playing cello plus a drummer. Lots of hair spinning and guitar solos on cello. They played 2 encores, and when they came on stage for their second one, I yelled "Kiiiiiitos!" Nobody can say footbag hasn't taught me anything.