Not much footbag lately, and things don't look promising on the horizon neither. Somehow though, I'm strangely OK with that.
Played on Monday and Wednesday last week, then I didn't get in a session again until this Monday. This was largely due to a combination of work kicking my butt and the sun going down too soon after work. I had Monday off from work so I went up to Maryland to play with Vince. I had time to kill before Vince could pick me up, so I warmed up outside the metro while listening to Girl Talk on my ipod. I had just bought new earbud headphones the day before, and they stay in my ears a lot better than past earbuds, which makes it easier to warm up while using them. As part of my warm-up I did infinities, and counted them. When I got to about 50, I figured I might as well try for my record (111), so I kept going. Around 100, one of my earbuds popped out, and began swinging in an annoying way. I tuned it out and focused on the butterflies, and managed to get up to around 160 before the swinging earbud annoyed me enough that I handcaught the bag and stopped. I definitely could have done more, but I was still pleased to set a new record. The reason I'm saying I hit "160-ish" and not a more precise number, is that I know my counting wasn't precise, since the odd-numbered clipper foot switched at some point to being even. That said, I can't imagine my count being off by more than 5 in either direction, so new record no matter what.
Vince and I played in a driveway, which in retrospect was a pretty bad spot. The sun was good and the surface was mostly level, but towards the end of the driveway it started to slope downwards. Over the course of the session the sun moved more and more towards the slope-y end, where spins became really hard and footwork in general kind of dangerous. Perhaps not coincidentally, Vince and I started off well and then sucked really bad towards the end.
I spent a good 50% of the session just trying one move over and over, which is usually a bad idea. Given the uneven surface, it was definitely a bad idea. While no single attempt at the trick hurt me, the repetitive stress of doing the same set over and over on a non-flat surface ended up hurting my pinkie toe on my left foot. At first I thought my shoe was just pinching me a bit, and that night I thought I may have bruised it, but in the 2 days following that I have come to the conclusion that I either got a bone-bruise or I fractured my toe. Either way, there's nothing I can do except keep weight off of it and rest it. Translation: I am done for the winter.
Normally, I would be really bummed about an injury that will keep me out of footbag for any period of time, much less the month or two I anticipate this injury will keep me out. That said, I already feel like the footbag season is coming to a close for me, and a couple months away from the sport to recover physically and refresh myself mentally is probably a good thing. The fact that NBA season starts in less than a week, and that I have a cool girlfriend to hang out with on weekends makes it easier for me to embark on this break from footbag.
Anyway, back to blogging Monday. Here's one of my better runs:
[youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpLsOuQT5hA[/youtube]
After the shred I got dinner with Vince, then went to his house to Wii bowl on Age's Wii, which she left there after East Coasts. I finally made a Mii, which I'm excited about because now I can track my stats. In bowling I was in the zone for some reason, and set a new personal record for strikes in a row: 6! I think I was prouder of that than I was of my new infinity record. I ended up scoring 245 in that game, just two points off my all-time high. We played a few more games, and I got my rating up from 0 to around 800. I just want to get the shiny pro-ball next time I play. Age joined us after her class got out, and we all played "samba de amigo," which is like the maraca version of DDR. I'll post vids of that later.
When I got home my foot started to feel a bit worse. It feels better today, but I'm unable to walk normally, so I don't see footbag happening for a while. I'm hoping for a relaxing recovery with lots of beer, NBA, and maybe some drawing or juggling. Maybe I'll get back into Scrabble again. We'll see. Anyway, if you don't see me at any tournies or even in my own blog very much over the next couple months, now you know why.
But maybe Wii bowling has helped me out. In one game I bowled 2 strikes in a row, and finished with a new personal best score: 141! 
And also about seeing that I've achieved big goals that I'd semi-aimed for a while back without even realizing it.