the Pfootblog

[mc]

it's not a cramp?

try drinking a lot lot lot more water before you play and while you play, that might help. sounds like a bad cramp. probably just the hot weather.

[century264]

May be the hot weather, but I think it my be what Doug suggested in a canal session last week, that I'm learning a whole slew of new moves and I have to learn to land them without breaking myself off and I need more strength for them if I'm going to do them constantly, so I've decided to kind of ease into my BOP and guiltless world by not playing too much more than an hour a day and making sure the whole time that I am prepared to stop if i feel the craziness coming back. It may be some cramp from my legs not being used to holding me up like they are now. Oh well. Had a few sessions mostly pain free in the past few days. They've been alright.

Highlights:
toe set ss butter>osis>pdx mir>rpt for 11 contacts, hit the 12th. That's my proudest one, because I have had such a hard time getting over 6 and this one string it finally started clicking. That was a challenge long ago in my challenge thread too, so I'll be able to live that one down.
new record infinities: 11. Not terrible. Been trying to get over 10 forever and only ever got 8. Now I'm getting over it.
butter>pdx Mir>rpt is coming along, getting pretty consistently over 6 contacts of that

That's pretty much all right now. I mean it's taken me a lot of effort to get this far into BOPS, and I think I'm progressing somewhat quickly, but I have a new strategy for getting them. My goal for the end of June was 30 BOPS in a string, so What I'm thinking of doing is starting to mix my tiltless and BOPS together, like 10 BOPS, 20 tiltless string, then 15 and 15 and slowly work it up so I'm hitting almost all BOPS by... oh crap I only have a week and a half to get there. I've only hit 20 BOPS so far and they were just butter>pdx mir rpt X20 contacts. Here's hoping then haha.

[century264]

so i had an alright session today with pat, ben, and doug. It was really good to play with them again and I always forget how crazy it is to see footbag played in person instead of playing it yourself or watching it on video. anyways, we went to syracuse and doug and i talked about pretty much anything and nothing the whole way there. A lot about footbag. A lot about how the RFA has insanely good form. Like every member. A discussion on why. I really don't know but still it was a fun time. Then we got there and the session was pretty good. we thought we were gonna get rained on the whole time but that didn't happen, so we just kept playing for about 5 hours. I started like an hour long One Up Fest using Bent. For those who care and are reading the blog, bent is a move that Paul Agostinelli introduced me to. It technically involves no dexes, but looks much like a butterfly. Like a clipper but you go over it with your leg out>in with your knee bent and don't actually dex it. Whatever. It looks like a trick. So I can do like bent and far bent. woohoo. Ben and Doug and Pat went crazy with bent. Doug hit quantum bent, Ben hit atomic bent, stepping far bent, a few others, Pat got crazy variations. it was all a really odd time just because all these moves we were struggling with were practically worthless in real footbag. Practically, but still Fun! But yeah the session went really well. I ended up getting a bunch of higher contact count strings involving BOPS, starting mixing my tiltless and guiltless together a bit. It felt good, if a bit randomized and disorganised for me. Good day in all though haha. Peace out

EDIT: forgot to talk about the injury. Ok so I have a condition called flexible flat foot. It means that my achilles' tendon is too long and doesn't hold my foot like normal people's. Therefore, my arch collapses, and my left foot swerves left. I'm pretty sure that I've been holding it straight when I play footbag and it's actually making my muscles really tired because I don't use them that way normally. So I stretch my leg pretty much constantly and I can play nowadays and that's a good thing! Also cool that my footbag is helping my real foot problems.

[Darkshredder]

I was the first to hit stepping far . And I also got infibent b2b and ps bent and ducking ps bent. . . . though it doesn't get a paradox or a symposium .

Good to play with you and Doug as always. I'll try to make it out for a legit RFA session next week perhaps.

[century264]

my mistake haha. I just knew you hit a ton of variations and couldn't remember them. Props!

[century264]

had a not too great session at the canal yesterday. i wasn't playing particularly off, but i wasn't near on either. I couldn't hit my warm up 30 tiltless. the closest i got was somewhere around 26. that was frustrating. The good things about the session was that i was with doug, someone really liked the way i did clippers (this nursing student i think), I tied my infinity record (11) and this time it was bail-less. finally i was on with a few strings of over 15 or more BOPs with no particular pattern, and they were getting easier. 30 here we come! as well I set a new record for ssbutter>infinity>rpt, around 10 i think. that was good.

Now the bad news. I'm taking myself out for the day today and maybe tomorrow because my left shin is hurting from some symp stuff I did a few days ago. I really just need to toughen up that leg constantly. Oh well, soon enough, it will be good to go and I will be exploding, as doug puts it haha. alright I'm gonna go get some coffee while my girlfriend's working. I won't see her til after eleven and I haven't been able to see her in a while anyway. alrighty modified. Peace out

[century264]

a bunch of footbag related things went on yesterday, not the least of which was a session with Doug. I finished another footbag, although the colors consist of pink, pink and pink, so it is not very creative. However! I followed Matt Cross's advice about expanding the panels and I made my bite smaller, giving me a bag that is about the size of my Johnny Suderman, but it feels emptier and the best thing about the bag was that Doug thought it felt choice as soon as he got in the car. Both of us agreed it should be heavier though.

So since I am ashamed to make only pink bags, I decided to order NEW FACILE. Yes that's right, the first time I've ever had to actually pay for facile, no exchanges, no excuses. But that is fine, I am pumped. I got Flash Red, Atlantis, Petit Pois, Tulip, and a lot of Country Cream. I'm psyched for them to come. I can't wait for new colors.

Finally I had a sesh with doug around 6. It would have been better for me if I hadn't had so much dairy based product earlier in the day. It gave me a badly upset stomach. But I made it through all my warmup goals, and then focused on drifters, because I had just watched the Clavens video on it. I have now landed drifter BSOS and footed Drifter b2b like 6 times but I had to stop because the creamy cheese was turning into curdled brick in my stomach. On the upside, I think I've been able to spot a few errors in my form while playing yesterday that will help me in the future and right now for my left leg to stop hurting after every session. It might take a while to implement but I have hope. and with that, I will probably session today, so look forward to another update

[century264]

played today for about 45 minutes and it's the worst my leg has hurt ever as a result of footbag. Only one other time has it hurt worse, but that was just when I bruised my heelbone. I wonder if this has anything to do with that?

I don't know what's wrong but I was on the point of tears because all I wanted to do was play for another two hours without pain, but I could barely limp to the shower. Today was a very dark day for a very long time. I got out of the shower and was somehow still sweating,

I didn't hit what I wanted today, I'm behind where I really want to be in my game and I can't catch up because as soon as i try to start on a schedule, My leg is taken from me. I'm going to go to a doctor about it soon I think. I just need to know what's wrong, or if it's just my muscles finally getting into shape after 19 years of atrophy under flexible flat foot's reign. God Damnit.

Of all the things wrong with me, The Foot has been the longest lasting and worst thing that I wish would go away. I would take all my other problems if I could fix my foot. hands down. haha hands. yeah. I Might actually be good at footbag by now. But instead I can't play, can't improve without causing myself pain and footbag is slowly becoming the focus of my life and now I have to step away for a while until I have a clue what's wrong. I can't wait 'til the fabric comes and I can just stitch the pain away.

I didn't mean to write this much. It's just that I had high hopes for the day and it turned out well but I have a dark, stormy, leg-painful cloud hanging over the future I worry about. alright. Pfeiffer out. good night

[century264]

So I decided that instead of playing today, i would be crafty, because I didn't want my leg to get more destroyed if I knew any more about it. Obviously, the front of the hoodie is an Homage to Tom Mosher, and the back is a mirrored copy of Ebo's avatar that I copied from the action shots thread. It was a lot of work but it came out alright. haha i watched four movies to finish this thing. It was a time consuming process.

pfeiffer out. Can't wait for the facile

[DTank126]

I already told you this but Im gonna say it again, I am mad jealous of that design on the back, tis sweet. Ive actually been thinking about a footbag shirt myself, but its a secret, shhhh.

Also, I used that red and white bag you made during my session today to try and break it in a little, check my blog to see what I did with it.

[BenRea]

I cleared a few surfing sets today...lol.


that set is secretly quite easy fo' sheezy. yea. challenging. but surprisingly easier than once thought. And it looks fuckin sweet. just need it a little higher to hit surfing osis.

[century264]

so i've still been playing, but not alot because of my legs. However, I think my legs are getting stronger because of the toe taps I've been doing. Good times. Had a pretty sweet session with doug today. Warmed up pretty quickly. ddd sorry i 've just decided to type however it comes up. It was a good session though. My leg isn't too incredibly beat either.

HIIIIIIGHHHLIIIIIGHTS:
drifters have been feeling better and better. I think they're coming along, and doug was impressed with my stepping
landed whirl BSOS
pdx whirl! that was pretty sweet, but not as sweet as....
LEGEATER. I have been trying this moove for like six months now and now that I've been practising drifters, i sealed it, and well. Soo thrilled
some good work on my ripwalks
while I was at camp I hit drifter B2B, paradon and Blur BSOS. All of those have been pretty thrilling. I'm getting better, I can feel it.

other than that, I was at church camp for the last week and it was actually really sad to leave because they aren't going to be hosting it again. The dream that was Silver Bay is dead . But in the end all things have to. Basically I was a wreck because I kept thinking to myself, 95 percent probability that I will not see any of these people ever again. It was like members of my family were dying. A bad couple of last days but it was a crazy time.

I've stitched six new bags and I've gotten really positive reviews of them by now so hopefully I will be able to make it to NYFA or at least my bags will and I will be able to start selling bags. I've already told you about all of the new facile I got. Thriiillliing!

In other news, my life feels weird right now. Certain frowned upon substances seem to be clouding my mind even after their effects are supposed to be wearing off. It's been three weeks or so since the last time I had something less legal than alcohol in my system and I am still having some problems following my own train of thought, things like that. It's worrying not being able to remember what happened yesterday and what I did earlier today. Really worrying. I feel like Guy Pierce in Memento. Every five minutes feels like waking up. For a day I kind of couldn't figure out why things were funny. I'd laugh and then think to myself, now why did I do that? These kinds of things are not what I want to think about. I want to think about what I will do when I am studying abroad or when I finally get off my ass and start travelling around this country of mine. Not about the nature of hilarity.

In conlusion, I really like Jay Boychuk's blog because it is honest and I feel that what I've used mine for is something more like a log of the drills I've hit. I'd rather it be a grand account of a life dexing, revolving around footbag, rather than slices of footbag in a life that people know nothing more about than what I've hit. God bless and be with you as you go. You are welcome here.

EDIT: PS I had a dream I was playing footbag with Waylon Lew. I hope he doesn't read this blog because I have never met the guy nor exchanged words in any way. But in the dream he liked my stitching hahaha I thought that was rich. the end

[century264]

so i went for a run yesterday and decided i need to do more of that. Or bike. You know why? Because I always wake up really sore even though it feels like my muscles aren't holding me back when I run. The biggest issue is endurance. I only ever really stop because I don't want to keep breathing so hard. I think once that gets taken care of, everyting gwan be Aairee.

Today I decided to play some footamuhbag with douglas and it was a pretty fun time. I got my clippers and tiltless out of the way pretty quickly, so I could start working on other things. I'm getting better again. I'm really psyched on that, I always end the day only because my left leg is still giving me guff, although much much less now that I have my new insoles. Hopefully I can hold out until I decide about G units or Q3's. Any opinions, anyone? I just need something a little less harsh on my shins than lavers.

Highlights Include:
a little more work on drifters and although it was a bad day for them, I feel like the work I did on them today will help me on a day when they're on. You know what I mean? I got close to b2b a few times but not as many as I'd like.
I'm starting to be able to mix BOPS and 3 adds in with my tiltless game as I go, which is a great feeling, although I'm sad because I worked so hard on my tiltless moves they're like old friends that I don't want to say goodbye to. I like my legovers and mirages. they feel like part of me on days when they cooperate. oh well, onto bigger and better things.
worked on whirls and Actually cleaned them up alot. I was watching the USO footage from C-Fan and it really inspired me to work whirls. I was watching the videos and all the whirls I liked shared similar characteristics and as soon as i did a whirl today, Doug actually noticed the improvement. Just from watching videos. Ain't this a great world?
worked Fairy flipside and came up with a few things to work on for it. It wasn't a great day for them either but I whipped out a nice comfy Fear and a few nallegams.
symple swirl. That was fun
footed fairy ss rev whirl like 10 times. I love the way that trick feels.

Not too much else to report on the footbag front. In other news, after my run yesterday I really busted my ass learning some spanish. I watched Dodgeball with spanish subtitles on and wrote down all the words I didn't know and their meanings, and just to get an ear for the language I watched with spanish subs and spanish dub. It was funny. I walked upstairs to get a drink and my parents were watching tv and it was weird to hear English for a second. I thought that was funny, that even though I can barely conjugate a verb in the present yet, I am already making some progress.

For those that don't know (pretty much everyone on modified except Doug) I am learning Spanish because I have to take a fourth semester spanish class this fall at UVM if I want to study abroad in Spain this Spring. I do want to study abroad this Spring, so I am trying to get a good basis for everything before I start class. I want to at least have some vocab under my belt.

I'm really hungry now and I don't know why because I have been for like three days straight and no matter how much i eat I am still hungry. Maybe a growth spurt or something. that would be boss because then I would have an excuse for these shin things. Growing pains! Ok I'm done here. Talk to y'all soon

[century264]

So for reasons beyond my wishes I'll be freer to play footbag now, however, I didn't get fired so I can't go to NYFA. Which is ass but I make promises and have to stick with them unless I can get someone to cover me at work on sunday. We'll see.

Went down to the Jersey Shore with Douglas Tank recently and played footbag at Seaside Heights. Now there was nothing spectacular about the day because we had like no water and it was balls hot and humid and so on, so really no highlights except that I was really on top of my game in terms of things I had down. I could string for a really long time and that was thrilling because I was playing in front of people instead of soloing like most every other session I've ever had.

One highlight:
ducking mirage bs. hadn't hit it flip yet. I almost had it bsos but it rolled off and then I started playing like crap. being hungover didn't help anything but I felt afterwards like I has sweated most of the crap out of me so it was a good time.

Other than that, I've been stitching up a storm and can't wait to show Cross when I go to Thursday in the square later on.

[century264]

played again today. Not too much to report about it. Got my ten infinities in a row though. That was thrilling. Anything else? Drifter BSOS, but not great, I think it was something like drifter>osis>toe>clipper>drifter>hand. Whatever. I wanted this session to be good because I wanted to be ready to play with RFA and Cross and Moir tomorrow. I suppose I will just have to say, "hey, Sorry I am not as good as I should be." I have more time to play now, or will soon. It came at the worst price. God damnit I wish things were easier and that it hadn't happened so fast. And we waited longer to end it. And I could actually feel some emotion right now.

In conclusion I would rather feel like total shit 24/7 than void of emotion constantly when I know what I should be feeling. I don't know why this is happening and I want it to stop.

I don't think I ever made the connection before that wanting something isn't an emotion. It's an urge. Very different. Nothing feels right and I can't tell if it's been because of her or the weed or if this is what depression feels like or if something is really wrong with me. I have enough doctor's appointments as it is already. My foot, my skin, my stomach, my life. I don't want my effing head examined too. I just want to go back into my life and feel things in my own skin without analysing it all constantly and not getting it. You ever say a word enough that you foget what it means? Well that's what this is with feelings. I think about happiness enough that I have no clue what it means anymore. same with sadness. I feel very little.

Sometimes a voice pops up saying something like, "maybe this is how everyone else has felt always and you're just becoming one of them." All I want is to Live in Love again, like I did for maybe a year two years ago. It meant so much to me.

This post got long quick. I'm ending it. Don't read this far down. Too late. I'm sorry to have brought you down

[century264]

Please excuse that last rant. i refuse to edit it because I meant it but I also had some more thoughts and maybe some inspirations.

It occurs to me that maybe I feel numb because I have no particular emotions to feel much of the time. Think of it like this. I am a person just plain existing. If average things happen constantly, then I really have no recourse but to pretty much have my emotions run steady, neutral, and practically numb. No good, no bad. It may be that I watch too many movies and I think of all the emotions the characters go through in a certain amount of time but I have to look at life differently. Nothing exceptional happens to 90 percent of the people in the world that is movie worthy. However, the little things can get me by. Like a call from a friend, a post in the blog haha, or pretty much anything that keeps the emotions wavering just a bit more around the numbar.

Where am I going with this you ask? Well, pretty much just that I think my life is very very ordinary. I am not exceptional at footbag or any other sport in any way. The things I'm good at I don't respect and the things I want are forever out of my reach. However, footbag as a community has welcomed me more than skateboarding, snowboarding, juggling, rubik's cube, yoyo, guitar, and drawing pretty much combined and I have to thank all the people I've met at tournaments for really being the people I look up to and hope to keep up with in the years ahead.

So while things are crappy right now, I know I will turn a corner, and I plan on having a life that I can tell stories about later on. The good kind of stories, not the kind where great things happened, but the kind where little things and late nights made me friends and helped me keep on keeping on.

God I'm bi polar haha

[century264]

So I went to an RFA session yesterday that turned out pretty good for me. No incredible highlights at all, really, but that's because I was with people who are more impressed by the things you can do a lot than the things you can do once. Aka, a circle. So I was focusing on string length.
People in attendance:
Matt Cross, Mike Anello, Chris Dean, Pat Thomsen, Paul Agostinelli, Doug Tank, Jorden Moir and me.

Really effing big turnout.
I worked BOPS pretty much all day, and got the six contact all BOP drill eventually, but it took furreverr. I played alright though, and it was cool because Cross said he noticed I had stepped up. Funny thing is that I was kinda shitty at the last sessions I played near him so who knows if I have gotten better or not.

He gave my bags a good review. That was a good time. Other than that, I'm here and might make it to the session sunday if I can get out of work on time. Good luck to the RFA members at NYFA. Godspeed

[BenRea]

why wasnt i told about this session...


nah it's okay, i had work anyway. moir was there...why wouldnt pat call me...


i wish you would do more saturday sessions.

[century264]

we were wondering where you were, too, Ben. And you missed it, update from last post: I personally saw a five dex move get struck. Not delayed or hand caught, but Jorden Moir hit a nemesis swirling gyro inside kick and almost caught it. It was ridiculous and gives me hope. On another note, we missed you ben.

[century264]

so i just had a really really good session with Paul, Mike and Chris. Like really good. We actually all did. Paul actually gave me props on multiple occasions which was funny because it's normally criticism he throws my way. He liked that I came even when Doug didn't. Said my BOPS were really getting solid, and while they are, flip osis is still really elusive.

Highliiiights:
actually completed ssbutter>osis>pdx mir rpt and it only took me a few tries. It's still a really hard drill for me, but mike gave me props and i strung afterwards
Blur BSOS again. That took way too long to seal a second time through and I'm so glad I did it in a position that people saw and noticed.
First ever sealed atomsmasher to start off a dees string.
Just generally feeling good.

NEW DRILL IDEA. sorry my one key is broken so I can't press exclamation mark. BUT the drill is
butter>butter>osis rpt. That way when I get good at it, I can switch a few butterflies for drifters and start working those in.

One big drawback. I missed going to the Airshow with my dad and I feel like crap about that. I didn't want to abandon him, I just forgot and now I feel like a bad son. We'll see how that goes.