Yo footbag. Since I play almost every day now, I guess it's time I pop in here and get all scene and whatnot. Plus today gave me a good story to share.
Check this out (anyone who reads this thread, which is probably just Ian and Jake, so I should probably just call and tell you guys, but fuck it). I was kicking today and decided I wanted to just drill some boring stuff for a while, so I left the park and went to this little alley right behind my apartment. After about ten minutes, some 17-18 year old guys go passed and start making some really awful, homophobic statements about me (due to my ultra-sexy short shorts and lack of shirt, no doubt.)
I just ignore it, but they don't really leave. They literally just stand there saying really nasty things about how I look/must be gay (and using the "n" word liberally despite all being caucasian), so I eventually stop kicking, look at them and say "Actually I am gay, like really. I like men." because the extent to which these gentleman obviously thought that "gay" was a massive insult began to really bother me.
This seemed to stop the insults, so I resumed kicking. Then one of them pushes me (mid-string, no less), and they all start telling me this is their space and I can't be in it. So I'm just like "Yo, this is public property and I'm not bothering anyone, just let me kick."
Kicking resumes until another shove. So I say, "I'm not going to fight, and I'm not going to leave, so let me be." One of the guys walks up and starts shoving me a bunch, and I'm like "Dude, chill out." Said dude then punches me (attempting for my face, but I moved, so actually hitting me in the ear).
Everyone stands there for a minute. No joke, all five of us just stand there. Then the other kids started laughing and doing the "oh shit!" type of thing. I'm just standing there looking at this guy, and I'm like, "I'm not leaving," so, apparently satisfied with the situation, they all leave, making the appropriate amount of congratulatory statements on their way out.
So, yeah, I doubt I'll head back there to kick any time soon. Which is ridiculous because it's literally right behind my apartment.
Steel City Freestyle
gah, I haven't been in one of those situations in a LONG time... I do not do well, personally. Sorry to hear that you had to go through that today.
my only advice to you is to keep skooling footbag until you've gotten to the point where no one could make fun of you without making themselves look stupid in front of their friends. The goal is, that if they start making fun of you, you make them say "oh shit" before they can finish the mocking sentence
better luck next time, pall. humans are a lame creature sometimes.
my only advice to you is to keep skooling footbag until you've gotten to the point where no one could make fun of you without making themselves look stupid in front of their friends. The goal is, that if they start making fun of you, you make them say "oh shit" before they can finish the mocking sentence
better luck next time, pall. humans are a lame creature sometimes.
BRICK!
rfa::never give up::
nyfa
rfa::never give up::
nyfa
I like the advice, though arguably Matt is already at that point.Matt Cross wrote:my only advice to you is to keep skooling footbag until you've gotten to the point where no one could make fun of you without making themselves look stupid in front of their friends. The goal is, that if they start making fun of you, you make them say "oh shit" before they can finish the mocking sentence
I am sorry that that had to happen Matt, but at least now you know where your G units hqve gone.
It is hard to type on a French keyboard!
Matt: sorry to hear you had such an unpleasant experience. It can be challenging to read situations as they develop. I think that your "but I am gay" defense would have worked well in a school environment or at a party, with people who would have realized it is an ineffective insult. In the situation you were in though, saying you were gay probably forced their leader to take some sort of action, otherwise he'd look soft. In situations like the one you were in, I usually find the best course to be to just get out of there. If they are homophobic, you aren't going to change their minds, so instead you can play it against them and tell them to stop staring at you, and make it seem like they are the gay ones. Regardless, it sounds like a shit situation, so sorry to hear you went through it.
Ian: Sacre Coeur. Glad to hear you are enjoying Europe.
Ian: Sacre Coeur. Glad to hear you are enjoying Europe.
Hi MC and Ken! Unfortunately, the situation was a lose/lose from the outset as I had a wall behind me, and these four dudes blocked my way to the street. I don't know if this makes sense, but the insults and body language were aggressive enough that I suspected it was not a good situation pretty quickly.
I probably should have said nothing, but I'm not easily intimidated and I was tired from kicking, plus I was frustrated because with 4 to 1 odds I couldn't do much of anything. So I guess my instictual reaction to all of this was obstinance, like, you obviously can do whatever you want to do, but I'm not going to be intimidated or leave.
Haha, still probably not the best way to handle things. I hit some good stuff back there after they left, so it's all good.
I probably should have said nothing, but I'm not easily intimidated and I was tired from kicking, plus I was frustrated because with 4 to 1 odds I couldn't do much of anything. So I guess my instictual reaction to all of this was obstinance, like, you obviously can do whatever you want to do, but I'm not going to be intimidated or leave.
Haha, still probably not the best way to handle things. I hit some good stuff back there after they left, so it's all good.
I just want to take a minute to write about how excited I am for footbag in Pittsburgh this summer. Things are lined up to be off the hook, we've got a great crew, SCF's goin' strong, and the future is bright.
To kick things off, I had the good fortune of joining up with the Zany Umbrella Circus last night where I got to play footbag at this party while the rest of the circus was floating around juggling, stilt walking, acro-balancing, poi spinning, and rolling in german wheels. It was a great time, and I got to have dialogue with a few of Pittsburgh's Hoyty Toyty crowd about footbag and how I'm not a soccer player. Score!
On top of that, we've got three gigs lined up with the Pgh Parks Conservancy to perform and teach kids at the Schenley Plaza Kids Day events they're hosting this summer. Ian and I did one of these events last summer and it was a fun time, so I'm looking forward to doing it again this summer for sure.
And as if that's not enough the Steel City Derby Demons, Pittsburgh's Roller Derby team, is interested in having us do a half time show at one of their bouts. Still workin on the details for that one, but if it goes down it'll be sweet!
Matt's skills are accelerating at a pace reminiscent of some of the better players I've seen, Ian's dialing some combos that are so styly I actually have a physical reaction to them, Caleb's back on the scene kickin' ass, and I'm doin' allright myself. Yeah, it's gonna be a good summer in the Steel City.
Word up
To kick things off, I had the good fortune of joining up with the Zany Umbrella Circus last night where I got to play footbag at this party while the rest of the circus was floating around juggling, stilt walking, acro-balancing, poi spinning, and rolling in german wheels. It was a great time, and I got to have dialogue with a few of Pittsburgh's Hoyty Toyty crowd about footbag and how I'm not a soccer player. Score!
On top of that, we've got three gigs lined up with the Pgh Parks Conservancy to perform and teach kids at the Schenley Plaza Kids Day events they're hosting this summer. Ian and I did one of these events last summer and it was a fun time, so I'm looking forward to doing it again this summer for sure.
And as if that's not enough the Steel City Derby Demons, Pittsburgh's Roller Derby team, is interested in having us do a half time show at one of their bouts. Still workin on the details for that one, but if it goes down it'll be sweet!
Matt's skills are accelerating at a pace reminiscent of some of the better players I've seen, Ian's dialing some combos that are so styly I actually have a physical reaction to them, Caleb's back on the scene kickin' ass, and I'm doin' allright myself. Yeah, it's gonna be a good summer in the Steel City.
Word up
Jake Milofsky
Steel City Freestyle [ex officio]
Steel City Freestyle [ex officio]
Nice work on the zanies and the hoities, Jake. Rad.
I miss footbag so much. I dreamt of some drills on the train last night from Madrid to Barcelona. Europe is really opening my eyes to new things. Coming back home from vacation with a new attitude will be even even more of a treat than leaving!
The roller derby business is going to be amazing, and the kids day is very rewarding.
OT: I just finished seeing the Gaudi church, Sagrada Familia. Not only was it incredible, but I was able to guess how he constructed some of his layout. Feeling smart and stuff
I miss footbag so much. I dreamt of some drills on the train last night from Madrid to Barcelona. Europe is really opening my eyes to new things. Coming back home from vacation with a new attitude will be even even more of a treat than leaving!
The roller derby business is going to be amazing, and the kids day is very rewarding.
OT: I just finished seeing the Gaudi church, Sagrada Familia. Not only was it incredible, but I was able to guess how he constructed some of his layout. Feeling smart and stuff
I can add another bullet to your list J Money. Ben hit me up last night about kicking today. Oh yeah, the scene is growing....who knows, maybe one day we will shred 5 people deep, son!
Some middle aged guy stopped by Friendship the other day when I was kicking and asked footbag questions for twenty or thirty minutes. He was massively entertained by the community's appropriation of 50 Cent's gangsta shoes. Haha.
Some middle aged guy stopped by Friendship the other day when I was kicking and asked footbag questions for twenty or thirty minutes. He was massively entertained by the community's appropriation of 50 Cent's gangsta shoes. Haha.
Here are some footbag stories because my boss called in sick today and I have nothing to do:
Here's one for MC. It was rainy a few days ago, so I went to kick under the Bloomfield bridge. There is also a basketball court under this bridge, and a bunch of teenagers were playing there, in their gigantic, baggy b-ball shorts (which if you ask me look way more ridiculous than short shorts). So I walk in, put my bag next to the basketball court fence and take my pants off. Haha, I'm positive the whole lot of them were bewildered by this.
Anyways, I put on my shoes and start kicking. A few minutes in and I hear some chuckles and whatnot. So after warming up, I decide to move closer to the court and just shred long strings with lots of double dexing toe stuff and osis/ducking. It takes about ten minutes until most of the kids effectively stop playing basketball because they're watching. A couple of them walked out and stood like a foot away and asked me to do stuff so they could see it up close. I got some daps, and later when some other kids showed up to the court, the first group was like, "Yo, go look at this guy over here, he's sick with it."
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I was kicking by myself yesterday in Oakland, and a friend of mine happened to be walking through with her mandolin, so she sat down and played for an hour or so while I kicked. It was pretty great. Some pedestrians gave a round of applause at one point, haha.
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This morning at like 7:30, I'm headed to the bus stop to go to work and the guy mentioned in my last post pops out behind me as I round the corner of West Penn Hospital. I wouldn't have recognized him, but he greeted me as follows, "Hey brother, I watched some videos of that vasek guy. You're right, he's amazing."
He also said that he walked through Friendship park yesterday with the same woman he was with on the day I met him, and she was hoping I would be there kicking again so they could watch. Haha. I think he works at the hospital, which means I can probably add him to the list of regulars that will come and chat with me when I play in Friendship.
Here's one for MC. It was rainy a few days ago, so I went to kick under the Bloomfield bridge. There is also a basketball court under this bridge, and a bunch of teenagers were playing there, in their gigantic, baggy b-ball shorts (which if you ask me look way more ridiculous than short shorts). So I walk in, put my bag next to the basketball court fence and take my pants off. Haha, I'm positive the whole lot of them were bewildered by this.
Anyways, I put on my shoes and start kicking. A few minutes in and I hear some chuckles and whatnot. So after warming up, I decide to move closer to the court and just shred long strings with lots of double dexing toe stuff and osis/ducking. It takes about ten minutes until most of the kids effectively stop playing basketball because they're watching. A couple of them walked out and stood like a foot away and asked me to do stuff so they could see it up close. I got some daps, and later when some other kids showed up to the court, the first group was like, "Yo, go look at this guy over here, he's sick with it."
----------------
I was kicking by myself yesterday in Oakland, and a friend of mine happened to be walking through with her mandolin, so she sat down and played for an hour or so while I kicked. It was pretty great. Some pedestrians gave a round of applause at one point, haha.
----------------
This morning at like 7:30, I'm headed to the bus stop to go to work and the guy mentioned in my last post pops out behind me as I round the corner of West Penn Hospital. I wouldn't have recognized him, but he greeted me as follows, "Hey brother, I watched some videos of that vasek guy. You're right, he's amazing."
He also said that he walked through Friendship park yesterday with the same woman he was with on the day I met him, and she was hoping I would be there kicking again so they could watch. Haha. I think he works at the hospital, which means I can probably add him to the list of regulars that will come and chat with me when I play in Friendship.
Well shit, if it's gonna be like that...
I'll have to create a pseudonym to release some raw footage under,
then someday in the future when i'm not spending all my time organizing historical bikerides around pittsburgh or trying to figure out how to convert invasive plants into biofuels, I'll create another video by Jake Milofsky.
keep an eye out, cause J$'s got some raw footage lined up
I'll have to create a pseudonym to release some raw footage under,
then someday in the future when i'm not spending all my time organizing historical bikerides around pittsburgh or trying to figure out how to convert invasive plants into biofuels, I'll create another video by Jake Milofsky.
keep an eye out, cause J$'s got some raw footage lined up
Jake Milofsky
Steel City Freestyle [ex officio]
Steel City Freestyle [ex officio]
I finally got a new bag from the MC, bag #150 no less. Ian, Ben and I kicked with it yesterday for the first time. Here are my two cents:
I have two other Matt Cross bags right now, and aside from weak fabric on one, they are amazing. Perfect weight, both were immediately broken in, etc. The new one is sick beyond reason. Ian and Ben both had nothing but good things to say about it as well.
Honestly, this isn't some sycophantic bullshit either. We kick with a number of stitchers' bags in Pittsburgh, and at this point I have to give props where they are due because out of all those bags, the best three (in my opinion) are all MC bags, no contest. I'd post a picture, but I'm at work (and don't have a camera anyways, haha).
edit: I guess I should add something about my game here, although I can't imagine anyone really cares, haha.
At the new mc bag's first session, I was able to finally hit a spinning clipper in a string for the first time. I also hit a gyro legover in a string, which is great seeing as it was the first time I've ever hit a gyro trick at all (I've just started trying to learn this whole spinning around nonsense). I also got my feet around some nuclear stuff mid string, nuc. legover, mirage, and pickup.
Hmmm, what else. I hit bedwetter out of dimwalk for the first time, which was nice.
I don't know, I'm just trying to not drop the damn bag right now. I think I'm actually starting to approach decent string length, which is much more of a goal for me right now than hitting bigger tricks.
I have two other Matt Cross bags right now, and aside from weak fabric on one, they are amazing. Perfect weight, both were immediately broken in, etc. The new one is sick beyond reason. Ian and Ben both had nothing but good things to say about it as well.
Honestly, this isn't some sycophantic bullshit either. We kick with a number of stitchers' bags in Pittsburgh, and at this point I have to give props where they are due because out of all those bags, the best three (in my opinion) are all MC bags, no contest. I'd post a picture, but I'm at work (and don't have a camera anyways, haha).
edit: I guess I should add something about my game here, although I can't imagine anyone really cares, haha.
At the new mc bag's first session, I was able to finally hit a spinning clipper in a string for the first time. I also hit a gyro legover in a string, which is great seeing as it was the first time I've ever hit a gyro trick at all (I've just started trying to learn this whole spinning around nonsense). I also got my feet around some nuclear stuff mid string, nuc. legover, mirage, and pickup.
Hmmm, what else. I hit bedwetter out of dimwalk for the first time, which was nice.
I don't know, I'm just trying to not drop the damn bag right now. I think I'm actually starting to approach decent string length, which is much more of a goal for me right now than hitting bigger tricks.
I thought I should jump in and add my two cents on this bag business. The new MC bag is beyond butter. It is easily the best of the bags of his bags that our crew has had access to, imo, and I hope to kick with it some more tonight.
My right knee is limiting me. I feel a lot better after taking two weeks off, and my legs are strong from traveling. Game is very inconsistent. I'm dropping on dumb stuff and hitting some different strings.
Swirl is making sense on both sides now. I hope my right knee can get used to the proper clipper form after all these years.
Oh, and the new Girl Talk album slays. Just let it stream on Myspace and thank me later.
My right knee is limiting me. I feel a lot better after taking two weeks off, and my legs are strong from traveling. Game is very inconsistent. I'm dropping on dumb stuff and hitting some different strings.
Swirl is making sense on both sides now. I hope my right knee can get used to the proper clipper form after all these years.
Oh, and the new Girl Talk album slays. Just let it stream on Myspace and thank me later.