Frank Sinatra Lives

CIC flurry · Post by **CIC flurry** » 21 Sep 2008 11:00

since we needed a pic quickly - i just had to get it on.

Frank_Sinatra · Post by **Frank_Sinatra** » 28 Sep 2008 17:09

Thanks for the comments, guys. That youtube link reminded me of power rangers, but less coherent. I really liked the (pointless) synchronized jumping. Post a pic next time Josh, it's fun and easy. And more importantly it's the law. Don't you think I know the law? I wrote the law!

(I did not write the law.)

Played seven of the last nine days. Way too much. Monday and Friday were the two days off, and I had two sessions today.

So lately I've been drilling this crap:

butterfly> osis> osis

butterfly> infinity> osis

ss butterfly> osis> pdx mirage

symp mirage> butterfly> pdx mirage

Repeat if I can but for now the goal is usually five sets each side. I'm trying to keep my approach to drilling BOPs more varied than when I drilled tiltless.

For instance, today I did like fifteen sets of butterfly> osis> osis on my strong butterfly side to work my flip osis more. When my osii are bad I just do clipper> osis and osis> osis until it starts to feel controlled again. When things feel good I try to work PLO or symp mirage into the mix. Want to get drifter and stepping legover and eventually more pixie tricks solid as well. Still taking it easy on double dexes and whirls. Stupid kneeholes.

Highlights:

terrage> butterfly> osis> pdx mirage> rpt

alternating osis x7 (record)

pixie muted clipper> muted diving clipper

muted magellan

muted parkwalk

dimwalk> barfly

DOD> dyno

weaving clipper BS (1st time I think, maybe hit weaving clipper strong side before)

diving clipper (1st time weak side)

osis> pdx illusion

Hit some ten contact guiltless strings, maybe even a little more, mostly BOPs plus symp mirage, PLO, and run starters. Otherwise my usual run is probably four or five contacts, but that'll improve with drilling.

Footed fairy butterfly & nuclear ss mirage. Nuclear was weird because it seemed very possible at first but not lately. Think I'm turning too fast.

Had a really unexpectedly good session last Sunday, and then felt pretty good again today. Fun session w/Tom at night on Tuesday. I have no memory of my session yesterday. Except they've turned the Independence Park slab into a parking lot, like that Joni Mitchell song, except that IP was already paved. What the hell did I do yesterday?? Hope I didn't kill a guy.

Linking flip osis is fun - that's still the biggest hole in my game that I want to fill as soon as possible. Just working on hitting BOPs out of it for now, though I have hit a few other things out of it. Definitely a hard trick to play out of. I've gone from having no flip osis to wanting more consistency and variety playing out of it. That's change we can believe in.

On a side note, I want to go Beyond Thunderdome on the ass jack motherfuckers that don't respect the Argyle bike lane. Like last Saturday I felt really good about a solo session at Welles, and then I thought "this won't last - I've still got to ride home." And then I laughed at my pessimistic joke. And then I looked around suspiciously. Sure enough, one dumbass was driving in the bike lane (like three feet away from the median), and then I *almost* got doored, then I got fucked over (cut off) by a bus. If I owned a gun I'd brandish that shit all the time.

Two men enter, one man leaves.

The days are only gonna keep getting shorter. I'd rather use 45 minutes of daylight after work to keep schooling osis than try to set up night time sessions with dubious light/conditions.

Here's another video from a band I like.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOEE_Yc6zZQ[/youtube]

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 03 Oct 2008 11:57

I like your writing style. I hope we get to meet one day. Good luck on flip osis, that's a fun trick.

Frank_Sinatra · Post by **Frank_Sinatra** » 13 Oct 2008 08:14

Hey Ken, thanks for writing. I'll definitely be at NYJ this year... eh? EH??? I read in your blog that you think its unlikely that you can make it. To that I say: EHHHHHH????????? I am confident that you are now fully convinced that you should attend.

So right now I'm blogging just to take a break from work. I've been really busy the last couple weeks with security administration. Ugh. Its tedious like my last job and I'm kind of hating it. Plus my boss (the only person who knows security on one of these products) still hasn't given me a full training on security, but I was expected to go train a client on it, so that was nearly a disaster. My boss is hard to work with sometimes, and this is one of those times. The good news is I got a raise a couple weeks ago, and I should be thankful that I'm as financially secure as I am considering what's happening with a lot of other people right now. I've worked hard to get where I am, but I've also gotten lucky. Others with just as much talent as me (or more) or just as strong of a work ethic (or even stronger) haven't been so lucky.

Anyway, I've played eight times since my last post. More of the same as my last couple posts, with slight but steady improvement. Here are some things I've been drilling in addition to the drills in my last post:

PLO> butter> osis> pdx mirage

symp mirage> PLO> butter> osis> pdx mirage

PLO> butter> infinity> osis> pdx mirage

drifter> drifter

And here are some things I'm happy with:

PLO> butter> osis> pdx mirage> rpt

PLO> butter> osis> pdx mirage> rpt> symp mirage> butter> drifter> osis

PLO x10

symp mirage> PLO> butter> osis> pdx mirage> rpt

symp mirage> butter> pdx mirage> rpt to 16 contacts

dimwalk> drifter bs

dimwalk> drifter> drifter

stepping legover BSOS in a decent guiltless run (until I bailed to far legover and passed)

muted pixie same osis

10 contacts guiltless a couple times every session

So, yeah. Just slightly different combinations on the same six moves basically. Plus run starters. I'm not great at guiltless, but I'm guiltless, and that feels good. Keep in mind - I have a lot of guilt. Or should I say, had a lot of guilt?

Still need to get better at linking flip osis. I think I need to step up my flip osis practice. Like hit something out of flip osis 50 times a session for a week, then 100 times a session for a week. Then osis> osis to ten contacts ten times in a session & once I can do that I should have a rock solid flip osis.

My knees are feeling better. I'm keeping my sessions pretty short and continuing to stay away from whirl and double dexes for the most part. I did let myself try a few barrages & double downs yesterday when I kicked with Tom, but felt it later. I hope after some time off I'll be able to return to that stuff, but I won't be crying over it if I can't. A few terrages each session doesn't seem to hurt for some reason so maybe I can do more of those. Ok, now I'm just rambling. Enough.

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 13 Oct 2008 09:28

On weak osis, and concept of high reps.. I'm personally of the mindset that moderate reps on multiple concepts is the way to go. Less frustrating, more things move in a positive direction, and less chance of doing tons of reps of wrong form (which is counter productive).

Also, specifically on that trick on weakside, here are my tips because I also had to struggle. I really concentrate on a few things which are:
- Set placement - can't let it go off to the side or behind you etc. like you can get away with on strong side. Keep that set perfect.
- Support leg - while teaching my weakside osis not to be so dumb, I exagerated the cushion motion / deep bend of my support leg a bit.
- Catch foot - although osis often looks scoopy, think of it as: set, partial body spin, catch foot in flat/horizontal to the ground position. If foot is flat, and you rotate your body, ball will land on it like landing on a book shelf.
- Knee of catch leg - mine always wanted to splay outward for some reason. Keep it all nice and compact. Minimal motion overall on this trick.
- Head - You don't want this trick to be "blind" for long, so get that head around.

----
Hey, and you told me a lonnnnnnnnng time ago you'd get some new vid. Did I miss it? Is it coming soon?

Frank_Sinatra · Post by **Frank_Sinatra** » 22 Oct 2008 06:06

Hey Bob! You are so right with your tips for osis - the one part that's holding me back on my flipside is bending the support leg. I think I'm doing pretty well at the other stuff. On the subject of increased reps - I'm leaning towards that approach because it worked for clipper & butterfly. As far as video, Tom did shoot some a couple weeks back so I guess I'll see what comes of that.

I've only kicked three times since my last post. One 'link 50 flip osii' session, which took me almost an hour & a half to do

, some hack with my friends in Wisconsin, and then a really good session at Daley Plaza with Tom & Alejandro. Everything but the first highlight are from the Daley sesh:

osis > dyno

pixie same dyno (no seal)

21 contacts guiltless

pixie same osis > ps mirage

backside smear midstring

backside smear > dimwalk > ps mirage

drifter > diving clipper > drifter

I think I'll be able to do 20 contacts of BOPs every string as soon as my flip osis catches up to my strong. But the season is over, except for whatever freakish nice days we might get, so I need to shift out of the progress mindset for now.

Don't know what I'll do for an indoor spot this winter, if anything. Looking back at last year's experience, it was beneficial to my game. But it also drained the fun out of footbag for a while, and footbag became something I had to do. Had to schedule an appointment, work my evening around it, brace myself for the cold ass walk and the assholes I'd clash with, had to be finished at a certain time. Had to inhale ball sweat.

Guess I could hang some overhead lighting in my building's laundry room & try playing there - if it sucks or somebody complains then I'll just have a surplus of lamps.

Excited for New Year's Jam. Actually, that's the one good reason I have to keep my skills sharp for the next couple months. Want all my friends to see how I've improved and bask in their adulation.

Frank_Sinatra · Post by **Frank_Sinatra** » 27 Oct 2008 12:14

Kicked this weekend with Zach Jahner

Had a great time kicking and hanging out with Zach & the rest of the guys. Kind of like a teaser for how much fun NYJ is gonna be.

The sessions were a lot more intense than what I'd been doing lately, and now I am crippled for life. But seriously, my back is sore in a way that it has never been sore before. Like I had my first glimpse into what Reile might be experiencing... there's a muscle in the middle of my back, on the left side of my spine, and it is buzzing with pain. Also my hips are still tight, but I don't really notice it as much. If only there was something I could have done before I wrecked myself. So, special intensity highlights, mingled with comments:

terrage > paradon

drifter > (no plant) > barfly

dimwalk > ps mirage > paradon

backside smear > DOD

Nobody called the on any of the double downs, but except for the first combo I think they were probably thin. That last combo was most likely to be thin/the, I couldn't get a good straight set out of backside smear, it kept traveling back towards me. I'll hit it again clean sooner or later.

pdx mirage > backside smear again

grab your balls and squeeze (1st time)

osis > barrage

symp mirage > plo > butterfly > osis > pdx mirage > rpt

toe diving heel

Spent a lot of time fantasizing about osis > barrage > paradon > rpt. Its the sort of thing that I might have in me, on a good day. Or in another year. Anyway, they were the kind of sessions where you let yourself get carried away with the kind of tricks you want to try or think you'll be able to hit, because you're playing well and you're seeing other people hit ridiculous shit, and it is fun.

My knees feel fine considering all the double dexes I was trying. So I don't know what that really means, but at least they aren't hurting now. Had decent bop strings but was generally putting more effort into pushing myself for hard links or tricks I hadn't done before or new concepts. And like I said before, I haven't really done a lot of that lately - even when I tried new tricks this year it was kind of like playing connect the dots - oh, I can pixie, and now I can do flip osis, so let me do pixie osis variations, that sort of thing.

Sessions were so much fun though. Zach, Tom, Josh, Jake & I kicked on the first night at Loyola, with Tom getting some footage & Zeke hanging out. Zach, Tom, Reile, Josh, Alejandro, & I kicked on the second night at Northwestern, with Zeke hanging out & filming. We haven't had that many people freestyling in one place in Chicago since the birthday jam. I was pretty beat before the second session even started, and just totally wrecked by the end of it. Anyway, there's footage from the weekend, so hopefully everybody will get to see the good shit that Zach was throwing down.

Sunday I just crashed out. Was maybe awake for like seven or eight hours. Probably gonna crash out again tonight. Awesome weekend.

Frank_Sinatra · Post by **Frank_Sinatra** » 05 Nov 2008 09:37

I've been kicking some. Had five straight days of "study break" sessions last week. I took a lot of study breaks, and they were all awesome. Even the study break to clean the bathroom was great - that is how much love I have for the material at hand.

Anyway, I just took the test (Microsoft GP 10 Installation & Configuration) & passed with 95%. Test took me less than 20 minutes. About halfway through the test I started shooting for a perfect score just to keep myself interested.

Not a lot of highlights from the sessions. I wasn't really drilling or keeping track for the first four. A couple cool things though -

met & hung out w/Max from Munich on Halloween. Got to see awesome costumes at Daley Plaza & then at the parade. Max is a cool dude, I'm glad Tom & I could provide some human company at the end of his stay. Then we got Giordano's. Sweetness. Worlds is in Berlin next year...

I hit symp mirage > ducking clipper > drifter > osis > pdx mirage> symp mirage > ducking clipper > drifter (might have dropped on the drifter, but pretty sure I dropped on the osis which was to follow) my first time trying that drill.

on Monday night at IP I spent some time drilling flip osis. Two cop cars pulled up onto the sidewalk I was playing on in front of the field house, with their headlights illuminating my playing surface. Which was pretty great. And then I hit repeating osii x10 contacts - new record. I also tried to hit GYBAS again in front of the Po-Po. Kind of like getting frisked, if that makes sense. Anyway no dice on GYBAS & I wonder if I pulled the set when I hit it before?

Other than that the sessions were pretty meh. I think I have to drill to remain interested in solo sessions. Regardless, it was just nice to be outside. These are bonus days.

I don't know how to describe my reaction to Obama winning. Happy, relieved, still some disbelief, not overjoyed - my happiness for the victory is probably not equal to my sadness if he had lost.

I really didn't have anything to say when I started writing this post, but look at all those words up there!

CIC flurry · Post by **CIC flurry** » 05 Nov 2008 10:40

It's so true as you said that all of our "adult" life has been with Bush. SO profound when you think of it that way. I could hear the cheering from Grant Park several miles away.

I went through the footage I got when Zach was here, and didn't really get anything good for the 30 minutes b4 the battery died.

That combo symp mirage > ducking clipper > drifter > osis > pdx mirage> symp mirage > ducking clipper > drifter is so bomb.

CIC flurry · Post by **CIC flurry** » 17 Nov 2008 01:10

Frank_Sinatra · Post by **Frank_Sinatra** » 17 Nov 2008 07:14

AH HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

That place is pure class. Who's down for another Wisconsin road trip?

Kicked twice in the last couple weeks. Once at Northeastern with Tom, I ate a big ol shit sessionwich. Think I did a pretty good job of managing my frustration. It was necessary though, I needed to work some of the rust off before the big Saturday shoot.

Then on Saturday Barb & her friend Kim were shooting b-roll & some other shots for their documentary. Zeke, Reile, Tom, myself, Grant & Alejandro all came out & the girls brought snacks. Which was fantastic. Kicked for three+ hours. Highlights? Highlights?

symp mirage > symp pixie > rpt > run

osis b2b x8

ten guiltless once or twice (fee times a mady)

terrage > paradon a couple times (wanted terrage > paradon > dyno oh well)

pixie ss rev guay

bluruguay

flip DOD

Chim-Chim · Post by **Chim-Chim** » 17 Nov 2008 10:35

Next time you guys are going to be playing A MILE FROM MY HOUSE it'd be super if you let me know so that I can make it out.

edit: props on osis x8

Frank_Sinatra · Post by **Frank_Sinatra** » 24 Nov 2008 10:09

I sprained my ankle again playing football on Saturday. Landed on some uneven terrain & fell (into the endzone at least). Its minor, I've just got it wrapped & there's very little pain or swelling. Still depressing. Feel like I'm entering a "you've really fucked yourself over, now what are you gonna do?" stage.

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 24 Nov 2008 10:31

if ankle isn't that bad, and since your reports lately have been pretty positive, why would you feel like you're entering a stage like that?

btw, you need a new witty title to your blog. you can doooooooo it

Moxie · Post by **Moxie** » 24 Nov 2008 12:22

Or a fittingly depressing title.

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 24 Nov 2008 12:29

shit, I just went to the link in Emily's signature and now I'm going to hell. Ah well, what's done is done

Reid · Post by **Reid** » 24 Nov 2008 12:55

Sorry to hear about the ankle. Rest it up for me.

CIC flurry · Post by **CIC flurry** » 25 Nov 2008 00:10

Sorry to hear mah fren. I've'nt been playing, so we can have some of these thangs together:

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 25 Nov 2008 17:32

excellent pic above

excellent new blog title, now this day feels like a success afterall