Muffinman

mannampepo · Post by **mannampepo** » 07 Jun 2008 23:07

The session was suppppper dupppper wierd. i would think that the runs would get better and the shred would be more fun but then once i get my hopes up it wwould just get bad again.

****BUBBLE TEA REVIEW****

Muffinman bubble tea, what a classic!
Eriks Bubble tea is super good but alittle to sweet for me, maybe a touch to much of syrup on the peach, but still very good. better than the would i had in the Philipines on my vaction there. i had a different flavor which was Green apple, so Erik will have to let me try his Green apple just soo i can judge who was better with the same flavor. the peach one i had was a little to sweet ass i was saying but the mangooo just tops everything. The perfect amount of flavor and syrup all mixed in together was just perfect. Their was also the bubbles/jell in the drink which were really yummy, mixed with alittle bit of sweetnesss in the bubbles was really nice. who ever will be getting a taste of Eriks bubble tea at world is gonna be lucky beacause you might be missing out on a once in a life time thing.

HEY ERIK WHAT ARE THOSE BIG CD THINKYS?

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 14 Jun 2008 19:07

Shred Session: 20080614:
!
I just had one of the best sessions of my life. If not THE best. I was on fire. I would say that 95% of the time that I touched the bag I had a great run. It was a definite combination of two things that push me to play my best: 1) I have a new camcorder and we filmed! 2) People stopping to watch and being blown away (like, at least 10 times by different groups of people).
I hit so much awesome stuff that I can't even remember. I may be over-exaggerating too, though, since I haven't played hard in over half a year. I certainly did not take Ken's advice of taking it easy (to my long-term detriment to be sure). I will try to recap some highlights, but they will also all be on video too. HUZZAH!
Also, our one-shots were great. Mine was awesome. Like, it was an awesome run for me period, as opposed to my last one which was just kind of "finally good for a one-shot based on my failure to date".
Anyway, highlights:

-pixie ducking clipper > blurry ducking clipper (and then the other two moves separately in the run -- both flipside, so... neat)
-ducking symp mirage drill and blurry rev whirl > blur > pixie rev whirl (dropped on the last trick BSOSing that)
-blurry rev whirl > stepping rev whirl [repeat] > blurry rev whirl > blurry rev whirl
-consecutive blurry rev whirls a few times. Probably 6 was the most; not my best, but certainly way more than I've done since October (ie: more than just one here and there).
-stepping rev whirl > ducking ps mirage BSOS (prolly other neat stuff in that run)
-Lots of long-ish runs with very few bails.

I found myself doing my same old boring tricks, which I have been bored of forever. My links are so boring and I have such a small trick repertoire lately. I did mix it up a bit more unconsciously when people were watching for the last half of the session. There was a period where two guys sat and watched for like 20 minutes or so. I had been "done" for about half an hour or longer already by this point, but I just pushed and pushed and pushed and every run was awesome, but I was soooo exhausted. Then I was gonna just warm-down, but then some girls stopped and watched for a while too, and so repeat. Both groups voiced super praise after and during every single one of our runs. It was just like crazy nitro fueling my shred.
I kept raving about what an awesome session was, but Manna kept being, like, "For you yeah." So then I felt kinda bad that I kept saying it, since obviously he felt he didn't play too well. He said he had three runs that he liked. I thought he played well though. It was 4 hours total. Man alive. Just Manna and I (Andrew is at Montreal Jam right now). It was intense. We also kinda did a little tour to spice up the video. So we played at a few neat locations. It started out hand-filmed where we would each go a handful of runs while the other filmed, and then trade off... but that really ruined the flow of the "circle", and so we ended up "tripoding" it, which I'm disappointed with, but I wouldn't have played so well if I was always having to hold the camera. Plus I don't wanna force anyone to film if they don't want to and it ruins the vibe.

But yeah, all in all, I had a blast. And I am going to be ridiculously sore. On another AWESOME note, I feel absolutely no pain! None in my knees, none in my shins. My hips are tight like crazy, but I am going to bathe for like...2 hours or something tonight to loosen up, and hopefully start biking again so I won't always be so rusty just playing once a week (oh, I biked to and from too, and that felt good. I'm really out of shape..). Yeah, so. Awesome.

EDIT: Since I'm posting anyway, and Ken requested it, here's a drawing I'm working on for my BFF for her birthday (it's just a bit smaller than life-sized):

zeroman13 · Post by **zeroman13** » 14 Jun 2008 19:24

Congrats on getting in what seems to be one of your best session Muffinman!

Can't wait to see the vid. One of my favorite vids to watch is the one you made with Johnny Suderman for the Christmas Calendar a couple years ago. One day I hope to kick with both of you guys in the same circle, it would truly be an honour!

Josh

P.S. How's that bag I sent you? Hope it's breaking in well! The bag I got from you is breaking in slowly but surely.

slapdash21 · Post by **slapdash21** » 15 Jun 2008 09:09

props erik!

never bothered to mention this because i feel like im just one of the many, but i really dig your style.

zeroman13 · Post by **zeroman13** » 19 Jun 2008 17:24

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F8k28-QS3c[/youtube]

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 19 Jun 2008 18:48

Pete: Thank you -- that's very kind

Josh: Unfortunately I do not have the luxury of being able to play frequently enough to break in other bags. If I were able to play freely whenever I wanted, and, like, at least 2-3 times a week, I would be able to tell you. As it stands it adds pulchritrude and variety to my meager collection.
Josh again: Thanks for the shout-out in the video -- you're a regular Erik Chan

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 21 Jun 2008 19:32

Shred Session: 20080621:
Well, there's good news and there's bad news.
The good news is that I had another pretty hardcore session with no shin pain -- though my hip was SUPER tight.
The bad news is that near the end of the session I got a weird pop in a tendon(?) in the inside of my foot and suddenly it hurt to do clippers. It didn't even happen on anything tough. I think I was doing a spinning ducking clipper.. It just popped, I could feel it, and then I got Andrew to assess me and sat out the rest of the time, though him assessing me kind of ended the session anyway, since it killed the circle; my bad. I'm icing at the moment. He said it's not serious and it doesn't feel serious. I should prolly be able to play next weekend... although maybe on the safe side I will take it off, since Manna and Andrew will be at ShrEdmonton. Yeah, I will probably do that. I think I will film them on Wednesday -- hopefully get some nice hand-held footage on the new wide angle.

So anyway, yeah, some pretty intense stuff for me. It started out a TERRIBLE session... but I guess something just clicked and I got in that same groove. There's something about playing for my own camcorder that makes me bust so hard. It's not the same with others' cameras for some reason... I'll try to recall some highlights, though hopefully I'll have another video out some time this week

-blurry ducking clipper > sidewalk [repeat]
-blurry ducking clipper > stepping rev whirl, and then dropped trying to BSOS, so did it on the other side
-diving symp mirage > diving symp mirage > pixie clipper [repeat]
-ducking PS mirage > pixie rev whirl [repeat] (and some other nice stuff in that run... like blurry rev > blurry rev > stepping rev > blurry rev > stepping r...
-blurry ducking rev whirl BSOS (to handcatch... haha)
-rev whirlygig x2, and then rev tomahawk x2
-footed double spinning clipper > rev whirlygig. Meh.
-an all symp run... symp mirages and pixies, ducking, PS.. dropped on a spinning PS attempt. Well.. not ALL.. but it was genuine anyway. I used some pixie clippers to get back to clipper.
-other stuff?...

Yeah, I dunno. It'll prolly make a juicier video than last time

And I seriously didn't expect such enthusiastic response in that thread! I hit 2 pages

:D SO HAPPY!! So do me a big favour and comment on my next one too pleeeaaasse

It made me super happy all week.

Oh, and here's that finished drawing, though I've touched it up a bit since (particularly the highlight in the bandana):

EDIT: Oh yeah. Manna gave me a wad of cash again. Haha. Only this time it was over $300. Haha. That kid

There was something else I kept forgetting to say too, but I can't remember now. Oh, it may have been that our one-shots all were bad again

But the rule is you gotta post, so... rules are rules.

Oh no, I remember -- after I tweaked my foot, I was bent over looking at it, and I just let loose a giggle. It just hit me how ridiculously fucked my legs are. I dunno, I guess it's nice that I can laugh at it

And I also kind of giggled at bit at one of Manna's long shuffle runs, just, like, "Wow -- this is our student!" Flabbergasted is a good word.

LEGOMAN · Post by **LEGOMAN** » 22 Jun 2008 00:23

you should totally draw a picture of me

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 22 Jun 2008 05:15

Saw the new vid, and I think I can honestly say that's the hardest I've ever seen you bust. Congrats on getting that on tape. Just PLEASE be careful with your legs. I worry, ya know?

Erik Chan wrote: I also kind of giggled at bit at one of Manna's long shuffle runs, just, like, "Wow -- this is our student!" Flabbergasted is a good word.

Yeah, that happened to me with Takumi for a while... and then he just got better than me, which is cool in a different but similar sort of way.

Post by **Zac Miley** » 22 Jun 2008 08:38

that drawing is SICK, Erik.

I would totally buy that if I had lots of money.

Camilleon · Post by **Camilleon** » 22 Jun 2008 08:55

Erik! You're awesome!

That drawing is beautiful, great job!

I really hope your foot is alright, take it easy.

I can't wait for Hackrifice!!! You guys are my favourite! haha, you're everyone's.

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 26 Jun 2008 12:25

Some thoughts while at work.
I have a wicked job and I love it. I am automating an entire school library basically from scratch, and basically by myself. So it's like a switch from the old card system that they had when I was in elementary school to a digitized barcode system with a scanner. It's a lot more work than it sounds. So today I've entered almost 5000 call numbers and cutters for every book. It is so tedious.

So I was talking with Ken a bit, though he is at work too and seems more occupied than myself, and I realized that I have seen 3 generations of Hackrifice come and go, and from the very beginning. It's really great to be able to talk to Ken, because although we have very different footbag backgrounds, we have been playing for almost the same amount of time (I think he has been playing for a year longer?) and so we have seen the same things come to pass. I think the biggest difference is that he wasn't stuck in Central Canada away from all of the action -- he was a part of it! The generation thing really hit me when I regaled some of Manna's highlights. One of them was pixie ducking whirl second try. I remember this as one of the tricks that Derek Vandall hit right around the time that his game exploded and blew the world away (as much as one individual can from Central Canada...) -- http://www.footbag.org/gallery/show/12931 (This session, 6 years ago)
It's weird, but it also seems more satisfying; I am close to the end of my game for sure, but I outlasted my teachers, my peers, my students, and lived to see my grandstudents push the envelope. I remember coming back from CSS4 and meeting Andrew Grant for the first time. It was Derek and I shredding at The Forks regularly. This was around the time that Hackrifice started to die out in terms of numbers. My masters, Joel Dion and Mark Leeman, Karl Bohn, Scott Ellenberger (among others) for the most part stopped playing altogether. Andrew came out to I think what was my first session back home after the tournament (a week driving through the States) -- he was blown away, and I remember telling him over and over the importance of bothsidedness. I guess he had some basics down from playing on his own before meeting us? I don't remember -- that's, like, 4 years ago? ( http://www.footbag.org/gallery/show/12894 ) "The game's been in me a long time now." -Eli Piltz. That video really touches home for me. It is incredibly meaningful and expresses how I feel about footbag more than I could describe. It is doubley meaningful as Eli was always one of my favourite players.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lqKAA0w0Fg[/youtube]

This is turning out to be a lot longer than I intended. I feel sort of like Ken Somolinos/Andrew McCarger (I always seem to spell his name wrong?..) Suddenly I'm out of things to say. I could probably prise my memories, but that would ruin the vibe, assuming one came through. Oh, another cool fact is that there is probably more footage of me on the internet than almost any other, if not all footbaggers. I was thinking about that because I have been thinking of making a Best of Erik Chan DVD... like, just for fun for myself. I think my biggest contender would be Sam. Actually, yeah, he probably has me beat.
"I know it's just a game, but to me it's everything."

Tomorrow is my last day of work for the summer

I'm gonna play me some video games!!!

hacksterbator · Post by **hacksterbator** » 26 Jun 2008 14:56

Erik Chan wrote:I don't remember -- that's, like, 4 years ago?

5 years this july, my friend.

mosher · Post by **mosher** » 26 Jun 2008 18:24

This page was a great read!

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 26 Jun 2008 18:39

Thanks Tom

I felt like quoting the whole video, but in addition to what I did, this line is important to me: "Feeling a rhythm, I create a space where nothing else exists. I'm not really conscious of what my body's doing, but it's not mindless flailing -- rather, a world of confidence; total freedom." This is so important, and it was refreshed in my mind a few months back when my best friend (as seen in the drawing) came to watch a shred session and noticed this of me and told me afterwards. That I seemed to be somewhere else and "in a zone", I think she said. It's such a great feeling, and being such an introverted person, it's something I have never found anywhere else.

Iron Clad Ben · Post by **Iron Clad Ben** » 28 Jun 2008 19:50

I would pay money for a Best of Erik Chan DVD. For sure.

Matt K · Post by **Matt K** » 28 Jun 2008 19:58

That's really weird, I watched Undefeated 3 times today for the first time in like a year.

Sporatical_Distractions · Post by **Sporatical_Distractions** » 29 Jun 2008 16:10

This might be my favorite muffinman blog page to date. Props on all the hilights, finding motivation, and that awesome artwork. Take care of your body Erik!! let's hack-off sometime in the future

zeroman13 · Post by **zeroman13** » 29 Jun 2008 17:26

Nice reflection post up there! Hope you get to break in my bag soon!

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 01 Jul 2008 21:04

Pretty weird Canada Day session on my end.
My ankle is still messed, but I thought I would play a bit, and then realized that maybe I would be able to play just toes. I started out as a toe player, so it's not like it's super foreign.

I ended up playing the majority of the time that Andrew and Manna were playing. I kept sitting out saying that's it, but just couldn't I also got really bored since it was basically pixie shuffle, and a bit of stepping on one side (no clipper on one side) and toe ducking and DLOs. And symp. Much shorter runs and very aggressive, which is kinda weird... playing more aggressive because I'm injured.

The average run was something like, pixie legover > smear [repeat] > ducking mirage > ducking mirage [repeat] > ducking mirage > ducking legover [repeat] > symp mirage > symp pixie [repeat]... in a nutshell. It frustrated me that I couldn't do spinning and ducking and just play laid back... Oh lots of DLOs stuff. I did DLO x3 > ss DLO x3 [repeat]... ducking symp stuff. I dunno what the ducking symp mirage record is, but I could prolly beat it, unless it's like 50. I often would unconsciously do tricks that end on my bad clipper and just be, like, "Oh no!" as it was happening... basically my ankle is too weak to support the... how do you say.. support the foot staying cranked in that position to hold or set the bag, so 60% I could recover from it, but the other 40% it just kinda flopped onto the ground.

Anyway. That was boring. Manna was going off. And like he said, he is the audience pleaser for sure these days. Everyone claps for him. Multiple people have asked specifically if they could film just him, or like today, one woman saw Andrew shredding and it was my turn up, but she was, like, "I want to see him play!" Pointing to Manna. Haha. That kid is gonna be such a superstar. Both of them were playing well.

As for me, I'm gonna sit it out completely until my ankle is 100%. Tomorrow is may film, though.