Wasabi: M(s)+J = BLAST

[C-Fan]

Hey man, sorry to hear about the stress. On the other hand, a few days of hell and you're off to a footbag tourney with a lot of people you're friends with, so there's a light at the end of a short tunnel.

Btw, regarding all the drills etc. I came to the conclusion awhile back that the best mix is 80% shred, 20% drills. And that 20% drills usually takes the form of starting a run or practicing a link rather than repeatedly drumming one trick. Since 80% is shred and fun, I enjoy playing so much more. Oh, and I also move off a component before I get to the "throw the ball down and scream" stage. That's a key thing to remember. Not every day is meant to be your "on" day for every component.

At the end of my practices, I try to hit one new thing. Doesn't matter what it is as long as it's new. You'd be surprised how something seemingly impossible is actually somewhat hittable in most cases if you concentrate on it for a few minutes.

Between all these things that are fun to do, I can usually take something positive out of the session and keep my energy and mood up for my next session.

Do what you think is right (because ulimately, your own buy in for your sessions is the most important thing), but in my opinion, if you're having fun sessions your mind will be in a better place to improve and stay out of ruts.

Agrees 100% with everything Bob said.

[Wasabi]

The middle of page 2... I think this blog needs a small update from me.

Well, I have been playing footbag with more focus on control and function. I haven't worn an ankle brace for footbag for at least a month or more, so I've been very careful on my form. However, these days I have been playing for fun and less about drilling, and I've been truly enjoying myself. I hit my longest string in a long time this past Saturday. I think I made it up to 15-16 contacts, and I was pretty much bsosing legovers, mirages (same toe & same side), pdx. mirage and clippers. I think I had a butterfly in that string, but I think I dropped the bag as I tried to link into an infinity.

I really like doing fairies. I like challenging myself to hit moves with fairies. I wish i could say the same for flip fairy. I have a lot more confidence in using pixies anytime, especially mid-string, but I feel i should work on them more from pdx. mirage. I also want and should work on flip pixie for even consistency in strings. Atomics the same; I can't seem to set any other way other than just regular toe or legover.

GRASS was a great tournament, and I had a great time hanging out with a lot of great players (and a lot of great friends) at that tournament. It just sucked that I took most of my time stitching. I think everyone who did a write-up on it was spot-on, so I doubt it's necessary for me to write one up as well. Added that I don't update my blog too much these days, there's not much of a point in me to blog (unless something special happened to me at some tournament that I wanted to add here ).

Well... I did get a really cool "32 & Crossbones" sweater and t-shirt from Tom. I gave the t-shirt to the girl I fancy, and she totally digs it. She's a small girl, so it's actually one size too big for her, but it's okay. I told her it was either a small black or an extra small hot pink, so that shut her up. I think she's really getting into footbag!

Concerning stitching, I took a week off from doing that. I just wanted to enjoy my Spring Break, which was right after GRASS, in leisure. I'll pick up on orders sometime tomorrow or Thursday, as my arm feels a bit better now. If anyone wants to cancel their order, let me know. j/k

Really, I'm just enjoying what life has to offer. I'm currently dating the greatest girl in the world, and going crazy over her coupled with footbag and college. And stitching.

[Rieferman]

nice, was happy to come in here and see such a positive post enjoy the good times, and keep having fun with everything!

[C-Fan]

Glad life is looking up. Wanted to let you know that your bag is breaking in very nicely, and the last few sessions I've used it exclusively.

[Wasabi]

I took the opportunity to fill out an employment form to work at RadioShack. My friend works there, and she was looking for additional help. I'm sort of nervous about it, since I don't know if I'll get the job and whatever.

This beats stitching I guess.

The problem I have is getting a nice pair of black shoes. I was thinking of getting something shreddable just in case I want to hit something on a whim. Probably a Rod Laver clone (starbury "Cribs") or something more functional. Luckily, I saw Brian Cooper rocking a pair of CT 520s at GRASS, so I'm thinking of getting a pair of those for work. Of course, a pair of dress shoes is better, but I don't think my flat feet would agree to that. I will be standing at the store all day, so I need something comfortable.

If anyone has any suggestions, let me know. My work attire will be all black...

[C-Fan]

Now you'll look even more emo!

[Zac Miley]

This beats stitching I guess.

God I hope so.

Fun talking again at grass, Waylon. Your bags looked really great, I didn't get to see you shred though. Next time!

[Wasabi]

I played for 1-2 hours yesterday. I forgot to wear my contact lenses, so shred was a bit difficult. I wasn't in the zone like I wanted to be. However, I think I still played pretty well. I didn't do much clipper runs as I had wanted to, though.

I played with Brian. Most of my time playing was in a two man circle, and that really tired me out. I had to sit down sometimes during Brian's runs. I'm really out of shape. Ken David came along some time later and we had three people, but the sun was about to get ready to come down then. We still had a lot of fun playing.

Aside from Ultimate Street Fighting and Christian Activists preaching Heaven and Hell, it was a fun time at Union Square. The three of us and Barrett went out to eat dinner and have a few drinks at the Asia Pub down at Cooper, near Astor Place in Manhattan. It was aight.

edit: I'm a huge (HUGE) fan of Flight of the Conchords thanks to Bruce Dole, and I think this would be perfect music to shred to. I wish I had the complete soundtrack: Bret's Angry Dance

[Wasabi]

I'm currently registering for classes for the Fall and am finishing the Spring semester here at Hunter College. Everything is going pretty well. I'm being pretty consistent with good stress, even though my chronic shoulder pain says otherwise.

Footbag stitching seems like a thing in the past for me. I don't mean what I say about that, since I still have orders pending, but it's a good feeling to not have to worry about sewing bags lately. I have more free time and I feel a little more open to people. Of course, all of my time is supplemented with work at school, and I have yet to formulate a good resume and set up an interview with the manager of the RadioShack store I want to work in. I do have everything organized in a way, both mentally and physically, so there's nothing much to worry about.

My left ankle is experiencing sharp pain whenever I walk sometimes, especially after playing footbag. I've been very bad to myself for not wearing an ankle brace during sessions, but I feel like I've improved much more consistency wise. My mental game isn't pessimistic anymore. I don't worry about drops when I can figure out the explicit problem(s) behind it. I enjoy challenging myself and extending my strings little by little. Now, I want to learn more tricks instead of learning more concepts of tricks, like adding uptime components.

I want to learn how to hit double legover and eggbeater. I should devote a small training session with Drew on what to look out for concerning these tricks.

I have to devote more attention on clipper runs. I want to hit whirl more and more, and I believe I'm reaching the point where I can hit it both sides.

I'm not sure if I should tread into single leg double dexes again. I haven't worked on paradon for awhile, but it would be interesting to put in some time for double downs and such. It would be a good idea to work on my flipside, so that I don't injure my left ankle upon impact to the ground after the dex.

As for other things, my friend finally bought the first season of "Flight of the Conchords"! I can't wait to watch it with her!

edit: I think I'm going to swear off all women now. Purposely leaving this shit out of my blog.

[Wasabi]

I've been working on finals and papers. A lot. I feel a little burnt out, so much so that I tend to blank out and procastinate on other matters other than school work. I've yet to set up an interview with my employer, and I've yet to type up a proper resume for the interview. I'm a bit lost on the entire issue, and I don't what to do about it (since I submitted my employment form to RadioShack about 2 to 3 weeks ago; got a request through e-mail for an interview last Saturday).

Added a couple of orders from people concerning footbags, but this is because they're returning customers requesting replacement bags. I've yet to start anything since I've zoned out on school.

I have a weird chronic shin splint on my right leg. It comes and goes. It's not very painful, but it feels like an itch that I can't scratch. I've been doing a lot of toe-tapping-against-the-floor-while-seated routine, but it's showing little or temporary results.

I guess this means I have to work everything on my flipside. I abuse pixies and fairies way too much on my strong side.

Tiltless runs have been going pretty well lately. My last session, on Saturday, felt a bit exhausting. I should prepare myself better for shred, such as getting a good night's sleep before going out to play footbag. I need all of the stamina and focus I can get if I'm to progress comfortably.

I've been thinking about downtime furious a lot lately. It's weird. Just seeing/doing it during a string looks exciting to me. Butterfly reverse swirl is another move that's been stuck on my mind (well, symple reverse swirl and What!? are other relatable tricks that I've been thinking of). I feel I should make some small attempts in trying to hit the components of What!?, such as butterfly reverse swirl or even symple ss reverse swirl, to get my spirits up for footbag.

Oh, and I'm getting closer and closer to twenty tiltless. Shred has been going well.

Who knows - the day will come when I get to experiment more/further into footbag beyond 2-3 adds. I'm just posting that I'm a bit bored with just generic clippers and typical clipper moves (clipper ss mirage, pdx. mirage). This is not to say that I won't do clip ss mirage and pdx. mirage; I'm still dedicated to my regimen. It's nothing serious.

[Wasabi]

Today's footbag session was okay. David Suscillo (sp?) and Daryl Kasper recommended a pretty good concept in a 5 man circle: no drops, no bullshit. If you drop the bag, pass. If you catch the bag after a trick or two, pass. Anything considered bullshit, pass. I had a tough time at first, but I managed to push myself later in the session in hitting some pretty good strings.

Still haven't reached 20 tiltless contacts, but I always seem to get closer and closer. Today's session didn't come to that point though. My stamina was really low today. I had a tough time catching my breath at first, but after drinking a yellow Vitamin Water my energy level boosted a bit.

Drew got me into thinking about my clippers lately. I have this weird thing where my clipper foot (on both sides) is way too close to my body, so today I tried to challenge myself to get consecutive clipper sets further from my body, as straight as possible. It was really tough, but I guess you can say that I should take some time just to concentrate on my clipper sets. I just need the proper time and devotion to do this.

David also gave me some props and tips on my form. He also gave a good tip somewhere mid-session: do a lot of butterflies. More specifically: infinity > ss butter > rpt. Concentrating on tiltless is one thing, but I should focus some more time on my butterflies. I don't like the fact that some sets off of my butterflies tend to roll in the air, and that psyches me out.

I'm getting a little close to whirling on my strong side. I say this because I don't exactly like how my whirls look. The dex and delay seem a bit too low to the ground, as are my clippers. I don't think I want to devote much time on hitting whirls in general.

Okay, about my epic bag loss: the bag I lost was my Rinowski 20-panel. I was busy doing some after-shred solo kicking in the Union Square subway line, and I toe kicked the bag out of the platform and right-smack-dab onto the subway track. The pit was more than 5 feet high, I was sore from shred, and I was afraid of getting electrocuted (the bag was filled with steel), so I just slowly watched it until my train arrived and literally crushed it. It was a pretty cool bag, and I didn't get to fully break it in. It's a sad loss, but nothing big I guess. I have a lot of other bags to break-in anyway.

Still, the thought of a train literally running over a footbag right on the metal track is a cool, yet depressing, image in my head. I'll have to see if there are remnants of the bag there the next time I'm at the station.

I might ask Louis to make me another 20-panel, but maybe it would be best if I, whenever I have any free time for myself and from footbag orders, to make an all red 32 or 12-panel. I have a lot of Flash Red available to stitch with.

[Wasabi]

Today's session was somewhat okay. We played at Washington Square Park. The day was cloudy and slightly breezy. Louis Lipchak came to play this Saturday, but something - the mood maybe - felt off today. Usually I would feel ecstatic for a fellow footbagger to come and play in NYC. Long story short, some lazy pedestrian had to explain to Luis and me, as we were beginning to do a kicking session, to move aside so that they can sit on their bench and watch a juggler/street performer perform. It ticked me off in a bad way; the nerve for him to say "move aside" when you can just get off your lazy ass and walk 2 meters from where you were sitting to watch the performance. Heck, I think it took more energy for the guy to stand up, complain, and then sit back down to watch the show.

Not to be a dick or anything (I respect jugglers a lot), but I didn't find the person performing to be that impressive. I think his name was Joey Joey. I guess you can say that the juggling show at this year's GRASS blew me away to some extent. Joey Joey did juggle 3 flaming torches, so I'll give him credit for that. Swallowing a sword, on the other hand, is not my cup of tea.

I had a bad start. Partly because of my poor mood from that guy, and partly due to the change in location at the park. Joey Joey took the prime location, and I wore my "32 and crossbones" red sleeveless shirt to shred (I got it from Tom during Worlds) so my chances to play directly under the sun was somewhat limited due to our place in the shade. My coordination and focus was shot in most of my strings. I felt slightly discouraged.

As the session continued, I felt a little bit more at ease and felt more relaxed. I dropped on a lot of stupid stuff, like Magellan, Fear and clippers and general. But, I do have one highlight: I footed Blur twice today, out of five or six attempts! I can't wait to get Blur dialed!

I seriously can't wait to play footbag during the summer. I have a feeling it's going to be a blast. I also want to try to make it to Montreal Spring Jam III with Drew. It will be two years since I've last stepped on Canadian soil, that is if I make the trip.

[Ian Brill]

I just wanted to let you know that the bag you made me in November is still in excellent condition, and it has seen a lot of dust, dirt, concrete, as well as helped me through learning very wear-and-tear-to-learn moves like swirls, twirls and whirls. So thank you. And if you ever feel like making me another, I am very much interested. This good luck can't last forever.

[Wasabi]

Sealed Blur today, after challenging Barrett to see who will hit it first. I hit it first after 15-21 tries, I think.

Footed Ripwalk. I feel really excited.

Now I need to hit everything both sides now. It's a great time for footbag for me.

Had a few good runs today, but I've yet to reach 20 tiltless. I almost hit osis > butterfly in a run, and felt a bit surprised, but I footed the butterfly and it dropped.

I think my mental game is reaching a peak in my performance. I'm not rushing anything and everything, and I'm playing very comfortably these days. I'm using less effort to do tiltless, and I'm learning new concepts every day which is very exciting. However, I have to start playing more than just one session per week. My breathing rate has dropped considerably since last week, I believe.

Me, Barrett, Ari and Drew played some footbag on the Subway N-line as we were going to Barrett's house to watch the the NYFS 2007 documentary he made. It felt fun and challenging, but I didn't do too much since I was already exhausted and sweaty from shred. I was also a bit scared, since I didn't want to fall and sprain my ankle (having sprained it a couple of times in the past, on the same ankle, my worries about it have never left me). I think we scared/impressed a couple of passengers as they were sitting close by.

I jumped a turnstile. I feel really bad, since I haven't done something that rebellious since highschool. I was forced into it, but it was my decision to jump so whatever. I don't know, I think worrying about it is kind of retarded in a way.

My one summer course begins tomorrow morning. I need some sleep.

[Wasabi]

Been watching some Ryan Mulroney clips on Youtube. I feel so pumped to play just from watching his strings; I'm so inspired.

[Wasabi]

Small 45 minute session today.

Highlights:

-3 reverse whirls footed; one with an unclean dex.
-one clean Blur mid-string.
-mid-time atomic bsos.
-a couple of mid-time ss wonton sets cleared, either bailed to setting toe or ss clipper. Not yet ready to add a move component to the set yet.

Is it just me, or does wonton feel a little easier than quantum? I'm just speculating since it feels a little bit like how you would set and dex like atomic - one fluid motion. I don't know, with quantum it just feels weird for me to do a set and plant at the same time off the same foot, dexing with the other foot out to in (I think I described the dex correctly).

I think having hit Blur and footed ripwalk a couple of times, my confidence in footbag has increased immensely. I want to hit more concepts, and I want my consistency and strings to be stronger and longer.

I'm also happy that I'm now starting to understand flip atomic. It took me awhile to understand what made my flip atomic so different, until I fully analyzed how I would usually set atomic on my strong side.

Reverse whirls are getting there. I'm also excited about this. I seem to getting the knack for whirl-like dexes.

Some middle aged woman from my American Prose 1871-1914 class keeps looking at my Quantums. She sits right in front of me. Yes, I'm one of those people that wear their shred shoes wherever they go; I think she's fascinated by the look of the toewalls, lacing and Brocka mod; I think she's offended by the smell of them.

In a way, I feel incredibly lonely. Maybe it's the turn-off from taking a summer class and all, but I just have the urge to play with footbaggers right now. The last jam I went to was GRASS. I'm planning on showing up to Bevier's jam down at Penn State, but I should also look for ticket prices on United for my trip to the US Open. I really want to go to the latter - I've just been too busy the past two weeks studying and balancing my budget. I think I have enough air miles to pay for the trip, so hopefully I can find a good price online.

[Wasabi]

Played with Ken and Adrienne last Saturday. It was a blistering 95 degree F that day I think. I played for 5 hours with some occasional breaks. I played in my red 32 & crossbones sleeveless shirt that I bought from Mosher at Worlds '07; I have some wicked sunburns on both of my shoulders. They're really pink but it doesn't hurt... much.

I think I played pretty well on Saturday. I started playing an hour and twenty minutes before everyone else showed up, so I was pretty warmed up for shred. I think the most contacts I've made consistently downtime were 8-9. I felt that my form was good, and what I messed up on was due to exhaustion and mild dehydration. I was drenched in sweat.

Drew spotted me on my Quantum set. I had a slight confusion on my form, because I thought they were Wanton-ly, but I asserted myself to stick with planting for a proper Quantum set. I had several good ones.

Hit two pretty good atomsmashers. I need to be more calm on the mirage, however, as I still seem to make it rakey. I was a bit disappointed with my butterflies. Adrienne tells me that I hit up to three, but I wanted to hit up to 5 at least (which was my past record when I used G-units). This sort of made me feel like I should revert back to Rod Lavers, and fix my form with those, but the insides on Quantums are said to be better and my current kicks (Qm02s) are still breathing with life. Footed Blur twice that day - Ken gave me some tips on my stepping set which I think can really help me in the long run.

Ken came to NYC for the weekend, and Adrienne stayed for the day. It was so good to see them again. I was longing to play with other footbaggers. Barrett had a going-away party afterwards, where he'll be going on tour for a month or so doing a documentary I think. It was a really good time. Had some good beer with some footbaggers and played a game of pool. My hand was a bit shaky then, so I didn't play so well.

Saw Brian McKenzie again. It seemed like forever since I last saw him. He looks as cheerful and charismatic as ever. It's a shame he didn't kick, but I doubt pushing him to put his Lavers back on again in such hot weather would be good enough motivation for him to shred. I think it's amazing that we've played for so long in such hot conditions - it felt unbearable sometimes. Well, I did have my mental game up for that day, and I felt that I could be the first person to play and the last person to leave.

As for today, I footed toe blur 3 times today, out of 5-6 tries. I also used a brand new pair of Quantums with stiff orthotic insoles. They feel a bit painful to shred in, but it felt really good to play a small bit today. I really want to seal toe blur and tripwalk. I feel that I can eventually master Quantums in a week or so. Stepping set is my next goal.

It's been awhile, but I think I'll revive my Challenge topic within a week or so. Zac Miley's challenge for pickup x10 is stuck on my mind, and I want to achieve that goal.

[Zac Miley]

Zac Miley's challenge for pickup x10 is stuck on my mind, and I want to achieve that goal.

You got that, Waylon.

[Wasabi]

Been reading a couple of topics on modified. A few that are noteworthy are future footbag hall of fame," "No Shred30 at Worlds - Poll," and "Quitting Footbag." I guess the historical accounts within the topics themselves have something that interest me. It's a joy to read some cool factoids about players in the past in all of these topics; who/what is eligible for a place in the Hall of Fame; how Shred30 began; what made players quit for a time / officially quit. All of these topics sort of made me think about my history in footbag - what I enjoy about the sport, the memories I've had in each of the competitions I've gone to, the times in my life where I almost quit playing altogether.

In the discussion of who gets to be in the Hall of Fame, I've been reminded about Ted Fristch's reasons for why Jack Lentz should be indicted into the Hall of Fame. He has every reason to be in it - it's a shame that I didn't submit my vote. I should definitely do so next year, since Jack deserves that honor.

I read Ken's rant about the Mike Marshall Award, and I felt a lot of displeasure in reading this. It's not that I'm sympathetic in Ken and Team Japan not given an honorary mention or nomination, but it's discomforting to think that the spread of footbag in Japan is invisible in a way. Hopefully the award has a time-based criteria to it, so I'll just have to about this in the results of this year's Worlds.

The thread about quitting footbag had me thinking about myself. I'm so glad that I'm drilling the basics whenever I have the time, and just now I'm venturing into unfamiliar territory (quantum and stepping sets) that I'm confident that I can overcome. I feel really confident in my game, and if I work hard enough I will only get better. Just two days ago I footed tripwalk and quantum ss butter twice consecutively, and toe blur footed 3 times consecutively. And, my niece was watching me play for a small bit (she's 6). It had me wondering (and my niece actually questioned me about this as I was playing): Will I continue to play footbag, wel past my 30s? Will I still harbor the same excitement that I have now about footbag stitching / playing footbag? Will I be able teach my niece (and nephew) about footbag?

The answer to all of these questions is "yes," and I made a promise to my niece that I will teach her about footbag stitching and playing this wonderful sport. That's why now I feel it's important for me to play carefully and treat my body well, so that I can keep this promise until they are at a ripe age to play (10-14 years?). Achieving guiltless is important to me in this respect, so that I can impress them with my form. I'm not in any rush to going guiltless, but it's important that I see this sport as a great stress reliever and as something I love to do for fun. I want to keep this sentiment with me for the years to come, and I want to continue to play and play well even past the 30-year mark.

Man, I feel like playing kicky bag right now, but it's too dark to play outside. I think I'll have a small solo session tomorrow, and I think the NYFA crew will have a session on Saturday or Sunday. Saturday has some expectancy for rain, which could cancel the session but will cool the NYC weather just a bit. Regardless, I'm excited to play soon.

Which reminds me... I have to get my tickets to the US Open soon!!!!

[Wasabi]

I don't think I can go to the US Open this year. It sucks, but whatever. I guess I didn't keep track on my air miles and such. Here's the situation: I have 32,144 air miles under my account, in which last year I transferred 17,000 air miles from my cousin's account into mine since she didn't need them. Under United Airlines, or any airlines in general, you're only allowed one account transfer per year. In my trip to China in 2004, my grandma, aunt, cousin and myself earned 17,144 air miles each for that trip. So, really, I didn't keep track on these accounts for a good 3 years and failed to notice them now.

I think it takes 50,000 air miles to be qualified for the Standard Saver flights. Ehh...

Well, the air miles under my aunt and gram's name are well past their redeemable dates, and there's no Super Saver flight on the dates for July 11-13. I missed my chance, but I can't say that I regret it. I'm really happy with my performance in footbag lately, and it's only the 2008 US Open. I really should plan ahead for next year's US Open competition, or any solid Midwestern comptetion in the next year.

I might check Kayak dot com for better flight options, but I don't know if I can budget accordingly this late.

There are a few East Coast tournaments that I'll be excited about, though. Bevier's EC Jampionship, ECFC and Funtastiks are a couple that I'm really interested in, and these are tournaments that I consistently try to show up at. The only worst case scenario there is is that I don't show, but it'll be good to focus on my footbag training more with myself and the NYFA crew.

The only disappointment I feel is the fact that I might disappoint other players expecting me to come to _______ tournament this year. I know I'll be disappointing at least 2 people with my absence at the US Open, but there will be other fun footbag events in the future. It's no real concern for me.