greg raymond

[abstract]

new video up in video forums.

read derrick ogden's blog!

HE IS CRZY.

[abstract]

hi time how's it going

oh you know, the usual

mafia gangsters?

played every day except 1 in the past 2 weeks. feelin strong.

things i need to remind myself about...

spinning ducking

moar spin tricks

dlo & swirl - can do DO MOre

4 -> 5 sinkage <- bagi terminology

edit: new 5s

sittin here watchin vids drunk thinkin hope i read this tomorrow

kalashnikov KEELS ME AHHHHHH

[abstract]

Things have been pretty quiet around these parts lately. Derrick has been out of the game with tendonitis ( get well soon broski ) for a few weeks & John is off gallavanting on the west coast, which has left me with plenty of solo shred time.

Yesterday I had the best session of my life. It lasted about 25 minutes with a few short breaks. Nothing bigger than 4 adds was hit, but I had a number of 30+ contact guiltless strings with minimal bops & some new tripless combos.

A big part of my recent inspiration has been watching the unique no-crank styles of players like Kalashnikov & Landes. I think even if you have very good crank, there is much to learn & appreciate from this style of play.

Catching the bag in a position that requires next to no crank enforces solid hip & support leg positioning that I have not had in the past due to having obscene ankle crank.

Less ankle crank means a deeper knee bend on the support leg. This bend also provides solid momentum & lift for the set to the next trick. This helped me tremendously with clipper to toe transfer tricks & actually my whole frontside game in general.

I move in 2 days! It'll be nice to have a shred space in my home for the winter months.

Peace & shred hard.

[abstract]

the learning continues. i am deeply influenced by the shred footage i watch before i play. recently i've been watching the "Heroes" vid before every session. i think that video is one of the highest quality web releases in the history of the game. amazing links & perfect form from every player. that 15 or so contact fearless run of honza's ( in B&W ) was probably the best string i've ever seen from him. not just because of the difficulty of the tricks, but the form of every trick / link is perfect.

yesterday's news:

inside stall > clipper > swirl > osis rpt x 15
osis > no plant ss clip > spinning clip rpt x 24
smear > toe whirl > dlo bsos
pheonix > tomahawk > spinning ducking butterfly
ducking clip > ripwalk > ducking clip > ducking clip > ripwalk > ducking clip rpt x 3

i am flat broke. sad face. i actually have had to cut back on my training due to not being able to afford proper kitchen supplies for my new apartment, thus i've been eating frozen burgers & pizza for a week now.

i needs the proper fuel if i'm gonna go 2+ hours per day! i'm also writing a nutrition article for a local magazine, so i'd better ensure that i practice what i preach.

this friday i hope to set things straight again. and by that i mean, buy a frying pan.

dearest footbag,

PLEASE DON'T DIE YET. i cannot afford to replace you! also, i care about you and stuff. who else but me would patch you up after you fall down? never mind that i kick the shit out of you day in and day out. it's nothing but love, baby.

sincerely, jerk.

[abstract]

gyro clip x 25.

gyro clip > weaving clip rpt > spinning clip > zulu clip rpt. wtb zenger's spinning zulus.

datw bsos.

paradon bsos.


I AM A BANANA.

[abstract]

RIP Jason Lee.

[mosher]

Wait, is that the old school kingston shredder Jason?

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yea tom. he passed away due to a swimming accident a few days ago. i wish i had taken greater efforts to touch base with him again.

[abstract]

been a while since i updated.

my body is recovering more rapidly these days. at the end of a particular session i sometimes feel like i'll need to take the following day off due to fatigue in my left leg, but the following day always has it feeling quite strong, especially after a good stretch.

as a result i've been able to keep up playing every day for an hour to an hour & a half.

slowly but surely i'm correcting the mistakes in form & posture inherited from my early days of shred, predominantly with my toe game & flip clipper / flip support leg.

clip to toe transfer tricks are still giving some difficulty. i have the components dialled, been working on placement.

my work on swirls has been paying off. i'm able to put them into guiltless strings now with decent consistency. stepping out of ducks is getting easier & spinning is getting to be effortless, but i need more diversity in spin tricks.

illusions have "clicked". i'm able to drill them now with all the other 2s, but cannot yet incorporate them into the guiltless game. double dexes are in the same boat. i hit paradon bsos & am getting a feel for the barfly motion. i feel like drilling pdx illusion will help greatly with barfly & my illusions need work anyhow so i suppose that's the next thing to drill.

datws are far from being consistent, which i feel stems from my overall weakness in toe game atm. i think they will become more natural as i get more toe shuffle under my belt.

started working whirl > ss mirage > ss clip rpt as a precursor to barrage. separating the components like that helped me realize where my body needs to move between clip & toe.

end of summer goals:

- have non-pdx mir transitions between toe shuffle & clipper game in guiltless strings

- have double dexes reliable enough for guiltless ( barrage, paradon, datw )

- strengthen swirl / learn rev swirl

- diversify spins

- increase 4 add repertoire

[abstract]

blender > gyro clip > swirl bsos

[mosher]

Too sexy!!

[abstract]

thanks tom

BUSKERS FESTIVAL IS THIS WEEKEND.

how did i miss the memo?

i just checked the admissions schedule & it looks like the deadline for admissions was january 28th!

i have e-mailed them, hopefully there is a way for late admissions to get in. if i hear something positive back i'll make a post in the journeys to tourneys thread for any ontario folks that are free this weekend.

payce.

[mosher]

I had the exact same problem many years running in kingston. Apparently buskers are incredibly organized.

[jon]

I had the exact same problem many years running in kingston. Apparently buskers are incredibly organized.

Or footbaggers are disorganized

[abstract]

Or footbaggers are disorganized

the truth hurts! hehe

i prefer 'impulsive' & 'lazily opportunistic'.

i was going to pull the "let me in on virtue of being awesome", but it looks like buskers has a pretty superb lineup already this year.

i sent them the link to my vancouver footbag vid. i wonder if i can get derrick in on this weekend?

at the very least i will be cruising the town with boombox in hand, ready to book it to a new locale when the BUSKER GUSTAPO comes a knockin'.

[abstract]

just found the city by-laws for street performers & am looking for a workaround so i don't get harassed this weekend due to not being an official performance.

heading down to city hall shortly to get started on my busking application.

secondary income here we come.

[abstract]

in the immortal words of roberto,

"the first time was just to case the joint & rob it a little."

DAY 1 BUSKER'S FESTIVAL

these are probably the best 4 days of the year to be in kingston! beautiful weather, beautiful women, amazing live music, freestyling as far as the eye can see ( juggling, unicycling, sword eating, playing with fire ), TAKING BACK THE STREETS, as it were. ( late addition: this must be what TAMTAM is like every week...damn. ok, i must visit montreal. )

by the time i cashed my cheque & made my way down to city hall, it was closed for the day, thus depriving me of my sweet, sweet busking license. so i decided to just scope out the busker's scene & set up shop without throwing down a hat.

i found a wide expanse of sidewalk with relatively low traffic & set up the boombox. i felt a little uninspired despite the phatness of my beats, "Edit - Certified Area Material".

but what ho, what is this i hear?

BAGPIPES. DRUMS. FLUTE. ACOUSTIC.

i felt the rhythm immediately. these gents from halifax had a huge crowd within moments. i juiced their tunes for my rhythmic needs & played really well, rarely dropping during a song & just practicing solo tricks during breaks.

speaking of breaks, i must take a break from this tale to state a confession unbeknownst to this blog. i have been smoking pot again since february.

also, i just hit a huge pipe.

it's intense love / hate. very dramatic, but i digress...THE DRUMS.

very good drummer, perfect rhythm for shred. i love shredding to the beat; slowing down tricks to make sure i keep pace & changing up trick combinations when other instruments come in & out.

good crowd. the busker's festival is the perfect time to be a street performer...you just do what you do where you like to do it, & the passersby are there with the purpose of enjoying street performance. plenty of feedback & contact with people.

i did 2 adds for the most part just to keep the bag in the air, freezing tricks often to conserve energy & took the time to work the form. 2 adds are awesome. i played guiltless when i felt it.

had a long run with pixie clipper > gyro whirl, then in the next string on flipside i hit fairy clipper > gyro whirl. fairy whirl > tomahawk. swirl > blender bsos. mostly spinning / gyro clippers, ducking variants, butterflies, whirls & osis. not much frontside outside of 2s now that i think of it. for shame.

i can't believe i almost forgot this:!:

there was this awesome ( and intensely hyperactive ) chinese lad of 4 or 5 watching me for most of the time. when he first approached with his parents, i passed it to him after a drop. he kicked it, dropped & retried a few times, laughing loudly & racing back for the bag.

at times he would simply sprint in a circle around me, like 20 laps, no exaggeration & laugh like crazy whenever i looked in his direction. he would take a break & when i didn't pass it to him after the next drop he would continue sprinting. i gave the bag to him again so he could take a break!

at another point he was trying to grab the bag in midair during a string, kinda hovering just out of range of my legs & reaching over with his arms. clever lad. he would just miss it every time, at one point during a 20 something contact string, haha. he never ran out of energy.

i packed up to leave as the band finished their set & talked a bit with a unicyclist & saw a sword swallower examining his implements. i left market square & headed for home by bike. about a block away from market square at a red light, this little boy of 7 or 8 pulls up on his bike & said, "are you the hacky sack juggler?" i nodded to him. he held out his hand & dropped 4 quarters into my palm. "thanks dude, that means a lot." he biked off & i saw his dad & 2 other kids on bikes heading down the street. that made my day.

ok i just realized i need to amp up my protein if i'm gonna play this weekend, off to make dinner. good day! and it's not even the weekend yet. this turned out much longer than i had originally anticipated.

in the words of 2 time winner of the philadelphia regional grammies, 'maple syrup',

"oh my, it's wondiferissical."

[abstract]

so my mother has begun practicing naturopathic medicine again lately & today i was helping her configure her iridology equipment, netting an analysis at the same time.

it helped to confirm a lot about my current physical weaknesses & also gave me some uplifting news about things i was worried about.

firstly, there's very little weakness in either of my legs. i was worried about my left leg showing up as being much weaker than my right, but it only showed up as having a history of weakness, with both legs being pretty much equal & strong.

my #1 issue is in the bronchial / lung area. us raymonds have a history of improper breathing. compounded with my minor substance abuses, it is apparent that my breathing is not as healthy as it could be.

my #2 issue is tension in my neck & shoulders. i have always known of my stress in this area, but it was interesting to see that i have an imbalance between my left & right shoulders, in that my left shoulder is perfectly healthy, & my right shoulder is very tense.

my shred prep routine at the moment consists of crunches, leg lifts, push ups & stretches ( 20 minute stretch routine ). i will now be supplementing this with a 10 minute breathing focus & putting more attention to stretching / rotating shoulders in the stretch routine.

Coenzyme Q10 will also be added to my supplements to help with my bronchials ( increases oxygen flow ).

i will get an update analysis in 1 month to see if progress has been made.

[abstract]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

FOOTBAG IS GOOD.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Thanks for the crazy shred sessions Mr Bagi. For barely playing in 4 months, your strings wee pretty rock solid. Particularly that string where that guy was filming you. Hugeness!

There were also a few strings where 10 or so contacts in, something triggers in my brain and goes, "Hey jerk, this dude's busting guiltless." Props!

SINK SHIT.

I had some highlights, but the problem with footbag, is that as soon as you hit something, you're already thinking of something else to hit! Or maybe I just have A.D.D. Some stuff I can remember...

Blurry Whirl, Pdx Blender & Tomahawk in a string ( Blurry Whirl being the irregularity there...the other 2 are feeling decently consistent ).

Blender -> Gyro Whirl bsos.
Footed Pdx Blender -> Spinning Whirl.
Spinning Ducking Clip bsos.
Spinning Weaving Clipper.
Fairy Ducking Clipper -> Spinning Ducking Clipper.
Smear -> Paradon -> Pdx Whirl -> Spinning Clip -> Drifter -> string.
Swirl bsos all over the place.
30ish contact string w/ drifter bsos, swirl bsos, blender bsos, spinning clip bsos, gyro clip bsos & ducking variants bsos.

So I guess I need to find a camera. Bagi is demanding footage.

[abstract]

weaving whirl > ducking clip > diving whirl > gyro whirl