west of philly - bob

[Outsider]

Everything that Ken Somolinos just said

+1
(except for the booze thing -- I quote our founding father and Philadelphia's favorite son -- "Beer is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy" - Ben Franklin - journalist, scientist, statesman, ladies'-man...)

[Ian Brill]

Good work on the no-smoking business.

I smoked for almost ten years before I was able to quit. I spent maybe 7 of those years trying before I quit. Now it's been about 7 years. Ask me if you want any advice on this one. I have a bunch of it.

My dad is a libertarian but strongly dislikes Obama because he is convinced that Obama is a socialist. I will never hear the end of it and it's quite tiring.

+1 on C-fan's blog-reading statement

Hope to shred EDIT: with you soon!

[Rieferman]

Nice, posts from friends!

Day 4 of re-quitting smoking. Shitttttttttttttttttttttttty, feeeeeling shittttttttttttttty. Seems like that should be an NWA song or something the way it sounds in my head.

Gonna kick tonight. Hoping to sweat out the toxins some more. I did do my situps etc. this morning as usual. That sucked. Pretty much everything sucks right now. That's my opinion on the state of my existence at this moment. It's all withdrawal talking, nothing has changed for the worse since last week other than that. But I'm feeling sorry for myself and there's nothing you can do to stop me. So there! ha ha

Side ntoe: This is nothing like quitting cigarettes. Quitting cigarettes was REALLY hard - I did that in 2004. This is cigars. Still hard, but you're only quitting nicotine, not the 100 zillion other chemicals that you have with cigarettes. So I guess I'm using that to prop up my spirits. Also, by end of week, I'll be fine again. Just need to take it hour by hour until then.

I once read someplace that smoking was as addictive as seriously hardcore drugs. I guess I can sort of see how that's true - but then again, I know a lot of people that quit smoking, whereas I think the success rate in quitting hardcore drugs is probably lower. Maybe what makes smoking so addictive is the "it won't kill you today, and you can go to work and be functional and have a normal life and still smoke" aspect of it. So it's physically addictive, and the urgency to quit isn't there because all the bad effects are years away.

Whatever, I'm just typing at this point. Hands/body feel detached from brain. Seeing little spots floating in the air, but I'm pretty sure they're not actually there....

Witty comments to make me laugh would be very welcomed at this stage

[Outsider]

Witty comments to make me laugh would be very welcomed at this stage

Hmm...

Bob,

If god had meant for man to smoke, he would have set him on fire.

(one of my all-time favorite witty remarks. Don't know where its from. Its obviously riffing on such old standards as "If god had meant for man to fly, he would have given him wings" -- a saying I haven't heard in a very long time, actually, but I swear I used to hear it more often when I was young. I guess its something to old-timers who didn't trust air-travel used to say, but, now that air-travel is more than a century old the phrase is well passed passe')

plus, week 1 of no alcohol is over too. Boy, I'm a fucking saint I guess. No vices left.

Surely you don't have to give up every guilty pleasure? I mean, you're married, and, given your growing familiy, we all know that Meg puts out. So, just remember what they say (uh-oh, I sense another one of Jon's favorite witty sayings is coming...):

Big cats can be dangerous, but a little pussy never hurt anyone.

Last one, not as interesting as the preceding two, but your hallucinatory spots reminded me of this one:

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that they're not really out to get you.

Good luck, RR.

[Ian Brill]

Philip K. Dick lost his mind, supposedly from too much LSD. He published a final book called the Valis Trilogy where he claimed to have found God in a pink phosphene. He sort of popularized the idea of phosphenes, which are a naturally occurring thing in nature, though they were probably not a commonly addressed part of life earlier than the 60's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphene

I believe it was Lou Reed though it may have been Keith Richards (hell, it could have been both!) that said they quit everything but that cigarrettes
were the hardest.

There is also a difference between drugs that create physical dependencies and mental addictions. Alcohol and heroin actually change your organs. Your organs adapt over time when you abuse these unnatural items, and when you quit cold-turkey, your body can't function properly. That is why the withdrawal period is so long and intense. Cocaine, speed, nicotine- these are predominantly mental.

I believe they say that any physical dependancy from nicotine is gone in three days. I think that's bs. I think cigarettes are all mental. Of course I can't be objective, because that is what I told myself to quit, and I have been telling myself this since 2002. I do believe it though. Nicotine dependancy is all mental. I suggest the pragmatic approach: distract yourself from nicotine by organizing low-impact, cardiovascular exercises that will develop long muscles and keep the post-nicotine fat away.

Not so much witt but words. Anyway!

[Rieferman]

jon wrote:

Big cats can be dangerous, but a little pussy never hurt anyone.

True true. That's all I can say.

Ian wrote:

I believe they say that any physical dependancy from nicotine is gone in three days.

Well, I'm on day 5 now, and physically still feel it. So either it's longer than 3 days (which is also what I read, so I'm not disagreeing with you) or (like you note) the mental impact is so strong that you convince yourself it's a physical symptom.

I've gained 4 fucking pounds according to the scale this morning. Which is total crap because I've continued to eat well (no changes in diet) haven't had a drop of booze in 10 days, and have continued to exercise as normal. What the fuck?!?!

Kicked last night. Whatever. I'm going to kick every night for the next bunch of nights. It was frustrating to play, but I didn't play poorly. It's just that my patience is really low right now.

My fucking company is too cheap to have the cleaning people come after hours... So for the past 3 days, they've been using and industrial carpet shampoo machine right outside my office. The smell is horrible, the noise is unbearable, and my team literally can't make their phone calls to vendors because you can't hear. Cheap cheap cheap.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

[mattbeall]

We need to devise a method of harnessing Riefer's nicotine rage into a crime fighting tool.

And, just so you know, my favorite reason to read any message board on the internets is when you vent post about something. I'm always waiting for the "FREAKING....etc." to get busted out. Haha, I always picture you yelling it and start giggling.

Also, don't be a such a wimp. Personally, I've quit smoking over 70 times. It's so easy.

Kidding! Don't kill me!

[Rieferman]

matt wrote:

Personally, I've quit smoking over 70 times. It's so easy.

Yeah, that's how it went for me when I quit smoking cigarettes back in the day. Then, I stayed quit for a good while, and that was chill. Then, Keegan was born, and I bought "it's a boy" cigars. At like 4 in the morning, the hospital kicked me out so that Meg could rest (and so that I would rest) and I went home and was wired. So I had one of my cigars, and some beers on the porch. It was a warm summer night, I was as content and as happy as could be (I had a healthy baby boy!), and I had the realization that this was probably one of the last times I'd ever have to be relatively free of responsibilities since my wife and new son would be home the next day. And it was one of the best moments of my life. Just chilling, reflecting, smiling to myself... and sipping a cold one while having a cigar. And boy did I fucking earn that cold one and cigar. Anyhow, I still smile when thinking of the moment.

But, that's what started me on the road of cigars. It took awhile for it to ramp up to a steady, every-day habit. But it did.

Almost at the 1-week-quit mark. This morning was a little easier than the previous bunch of mornings. Still totally wiped out, but my head isn't spinning anymore, and I'm not seeing as many little floating black spots.

Kicked last night and felt good and normal for the most part. My chest is still clearing out (partially a chest cold, partially the quitting smoking) but as long as I kept runs shorter it didn't hurt me.

I most just did whirl over and over and over and over again. Interestingly, swirl practice has made whirl better. Whatever, I've always been able to do a whirl, but they were forced and ugly and felt wrong. But last night it felt so right baby, yeahhhhhhhhhhh.

Gonna kick tonight, and tomorrow, and Sunday, and Monday - Friday

[Rieferman]

Still haven't smoked. Today is day 10. Feeling pretty much normal these last couple days. At times, I'm grumpy as hell... at others, I still get the 'seeing spots' syndrome (usually at a time that is strongly associated with having a smoke). But overall, pretty normal.

Still doing good on the drinking front as well. Interestingly, I feel like a total fat ass right now, but my belt keeps getting tighter. So mind is playing tricks on me.

Shredded Friday night in the barn. I forget what I worked on.

Shredded with Brian on Saturday. I played very well. Brian was really really impressed, which is cool because if you read back about a year, he was kicking my ass at that time. It was a personal "goal" to get back to playing at his level, so I'm happy that I've attained (exceeded) that.

Overall, I was just very consistent and smooth, nicely both sided, and very low bops. Run length was very good by my standards. Consistently around 12-15 tricks, and every few runs, going much longer. Had one run that went about 35-40 tricks or so, and barely any bops. Pixie shuffle is finally "there" (example, I can hit as many b2b pixie legovers as I want now... or I can hit varied tricks back and forth with 90% success rate etc.), stepping set is very good. Ducks/dives are basically bops. Spins are normally successful, though they annoy me and will be worked on.

I'm going to spend this entire week on spins, swirl, osis, dyno. That's it. Just those tricks.

Next week, I think atomic and weak stepping tricks (the weakside switches back and forth depending on the side).

edit: oh yeah, and I think my tiredness from quitting smoking is almost over. For one thing, when I shredded with Brian on Saturday, I was a mad man in terms of high energy level. I also slept like 10-13 hours per night this weekend. Then, today, I was able to wake up like I usually do so that I could exercise before work. So I'm pretty much back on schedule.


edit 2: I'm starting my own personal hall of fame/shame right here in my safe little blog. Mainly because, if trying to 'keep it real' (ha ha, I feel like after that phrase you should add the word "yo!" to the end complete with sideways baseball cap and hand gestures) in the rest of the forum causes flaming, but as I've said before, no flaming allowed in here!! So I can say what I really think I guess. Today's entry for FAME:

Ted wrote:

I imagine Jeremy is a nice fellow in person and I know Sam is cool but the internets just make you both look like pricks.

[C-Fan]

Glad to hear it sounds like you are over the hump in terms of substance withdrawal. And props on getting your game to a point where you are proud of it. That can be hard to do.

[slapdash21]

Mainly because, if trying to 'keep it real' (ha ha, I feel like after that phrase you should add the word "yo!" to the end complete with sideways baseball cap and hand gestures)

i wont turn my cap sideways but i'll give ya a solid "yo"


gjob quitting.

try that drill (step ss butt>step ss legover>pixie ss butt>step far butt>rpt) yet? lemme know how it goes. dont let me pretend for one second it was a walk in the park for me.

[Rieferman]

yo!




ha ha

Good sesh last night. Lots of swirls followed by lots of osis, then lots of whirls, then lots of dynos, then lots of spins. Which is approximately what I said I was going to work on, so that's good. All went well. Will do that same practice all week. I plan to play every day this week.

morning workout again today. totally back on schedule. actually, I usually don't work out on mondays, but I did yesterday, so that's better than schedule.

the entire pittsburgh crew, is unavailable for when I'm out there for thanksgiving. which is disappointing because I'm a LOT better than I was when I played with them this summer, and I would have enjoyed showing my new game and seeing their games too. Oh well.


edit: So, Anz was ranting in the video section on that Russian footbag vid. Talking trash about "don't you care about the future of the sport?!?!?" and "form was all horrible... do DLO's with good form instead of fluke tricks way above your level" blah blah blah. And "it's so easy to get props on modified".

I'm so freaking sick of players that are "good" at hacky sack suddenly feeling as though their view on what the sport should be is THE ONLY way to think. God, these Russian guys were just having some fucking fun and putting up a vid they were pumped about. Give it a rest!?!? It was fun for them to do, fun for us to watch. Future of the sport?? God! Get over yourself!

[Frank_Sinatra]

Your blog is awesome.

Another thing that was annoying about that thread was like - hey, consider the audience. A video on modified is only gonna be seen by other freestylers, how do a few unclean tricks 'hold the sport back'? Another thing - nobody knows what it'll take to push this sport closer to the mainstream (as debatable as the merits of pushing to the mainstream are in the first place) because nobody has successfully made it into the mainstream. So its just people invoking the Grand Cause of Footbag Acceptance to back up whatever pet peeve they choose to gripe about.

[Rieferman]

Hi Nathan! Thanks! Glad you like it in here

And, everything you wrote.. Yes, I agree!


Today's hall of FAME (by Ken S.):

Jorden: I made this thread because I was curious about what Quads have been hit, and how many. I also thought it would be cool to collect video of as many quads as possible in one place. Has this thread been "useful" to me? Well, since I've started it I would say all the following are true:

1. I have a better sense of how many quads have been hit.
2. I've enjoyed watching a ton of footbag video of quad dexes (and hopefully others have too)
3. There is now a place where people can where people can easily watch a bunch of quads, and learn about quads that have been hit.

Is that "useful?" I don't know. But it's been fun, and I don't think it ever hurts for people to be curious about their sport, and to try and learn more about it.

On that note, props on making a list of your 40+ quad dexes. I've got 3 questions for you about it:
1. What's the most helpful (or "useful") thing you could do with that list?
2. What's the least helpful (or "useful") thing you could do with that list?
3. Which have you done so far?

YES! This is so great in so many ways.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
edit: oh, shit, two FAME entries in the same day!!!!!

Chris miller wrote:

Haha I love how this guy's ONLY post is this:
dominic wrote:

Ever notice that nearly every time Ellis posts on any forum
he sounds bitter or pissed off?

He literally registered to post this, and never returned

Bob (from West VA) then replied:

psh that guy is so wrong! ellis also makes posts apologizing to people for not getting them dvd's within like a year of when they were supposed to be finished!

That literally had me rolling!

----------------------------------------------------------
edit2: well, when we're on a roll, we're on a roll. Jeremy got dissed in hall of FAME quote above... but has redeemed himself in my eyes with this comment. They are replying to Jorden's comment in the "what makes you sad" thread (Jorden's reply... written on Modified... was that modified is what makes him sad).

quadgun wrote:
Im still puzzled as to why you still post here. It's been a year or two where you've thought this place sucks and you keep on coming back, its a time like this that makes me happy that we have an ignore button on this forum.

It's pretty masochist isn't it. Or maybe the things Jorden would be doing if he weren't posting on modified make him even more sad than posting on modified. Either way, thinking about it makes me sad

[Sporatical_Distractions]

Great Post! How's everything over East?

I completely agree with your Russian post as well

[Drew]

I'm not wearing a hat to turn sideways, but I can always give ya a 'word to yo momma' if that's thug enough for ya.
HAHA I like the personal hall of fame/shame! what a great idea!

Sounds like your game keeps getting better, great for you meng, I know personally your game's improved during the intervals between when we've shred, keep it up (harhar )!

Going to be free perhaps this weekend to shred? I might be back around town, not sure yet, but figured I'd ask.

keep up the quitting smoking!

[Rieferman]

crowley wrote:

How's everything over East?

hey hey, I've been watching your blog, but have been too shy to post for some reason. Some sick stuff you've hit recently. btw, You should come to Boston jam in April. A) it's peeeeeeeete bowllllllllllllerrrrrrrrrrr B) Boston is the shit C) we're playing hacky sack there D) then you'll see how everything East is doing first hand

-----
Drew, what's up? Yeah I think I can shred this weekend, like 2 p.m. either day I think. Barn session! yeah!

----
Quit smoking day 12 is underway. Took this morning off from lifting etc. because I'm really sore all over. Really sore. (which reminds me of my love affair with advil)

---
Shredded in the barn last night. It was COLD out. 30 degrees F when I got out there. I started the heater too late and was kicking in that temperature for like 1/2 my practice. Which made it very hard to do well. I have to start the heater 20-30 minutes ahead of sessions from now on. The good news is that it ultimately was 50 degrees in there, which is plenty warm enough for shredding (and warm enough that I can shred without a long sleeve shirt and without running tights under my shorts... because A) both those things are hard to shred in, and B) running tights look really really foo foo)

Same practice as night before. Only notable thing came at end of practice. Lately, I've been doing mega bops runs as cool downs, or just randomly when I hear a song that's fun to bop to. I read awhile back when Erik Chan posted something about being able to do 100 bops, and I was blown away by that. So the other day, I was bopping for cool down, and I just played and played and played and played. So last night, I decided to count. I got to about 77 tricks before I stopped. About 80% bops, 10 % flowy 2 adds, 10% simple pixie, stepping, spinning and ducking diving (though not many combos, just single tricks). And I stopped, didn't drop - the song ended and I got bored. That's pretty damn good I think. I dunno, maybe everyone can do that.

Oh, and I can hit bubba style eggbeater and pdx eggbeater on my strong side now, so that's cool.

Footed whirling cross body rake on strong side. I've always liked that trick so that will be fun to have.

[slapdash21]

nah, thats actually really good bob. id be shocked if i could hit 50 bops in 3 tries.

props on that shiz.


and k-crow, its not that you SHOULD come to the boston jam, its that you HAVE to come to the boston jam.

[Rieferman]

FAME:

Dan F. (Brainbridge) wrote

For the record I dunno many people who would spend time with Jeremy over Sam unless you needed a science credit or something.

[slapdash21]

ziiiiiiing