Nice rasterbation bud. I'm currently mid-decision as far as what to put up in my new place. I've got this huge closet space in the main corridor, and there's three separate kinda...door-sections?...to deal with, so I want to either have some kind of image spanning them, or three separate but related images. At any rate, I think it should be sweet.
Maybe I'll export some HD frames?
Jay's Blog.
yo jay!
thanks a lot for coming to visit. I had a great time kicking with you (I wish I'd been in better shape, but I'm remotivated now) and it was lots of fun to hang and party with you and mosh. Thanks for driving us around, too!
I hope we can do it again soon, I'll have to come see you guys this time!
ah, PS, the main reason I'm writing is because I was hoping for one of your epic, personally analytical writeups of our little footbag trip, and I remember ribbing you a little about blogging your trips.
that was a shot at blogging in general, not at all at you. I was hoping at the time that I hadn't discouraged you from blogging, but maybe I have. I say, Blog, jay, Blog!!!
it's a bit ironic for me to make fun of blogging, as my blog is currently hundreds of posts longer than yours
thanks a lot for coming to visit. I had a great time kicking with you (I wish I'd been in better shape, but I'm remotivated now) and it was lots of fun to hang and party with you and mosh. Thanks for driving us around, too!
I hope we can do it again soon, I'll have to come see you guys this time!
ah, PS, the main reason I'm writing is because I was hoping for one of your epic, personally analytical writeups of our little footbag trip, and I remember ribbing you a little about blogging your trips.
that was a shot at blogging in general, not at all at you. I was hoping at the time that I hadn't discouraged you from blogging, but maybe I have. I say, Blog, jay, Blog!!!
it's a bit ironic for me to make fun of blogging, as my blog is currently hundreds of posts longer than yours
BRICK!
rfa::never give up::
nyfa
rfa::never give up::
nyfa
Hmm, where to start with this one.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Quantum Switch for Ken.
Quantum Switch, day 2. November 19th.
Initial Thoughts:
Well, I drilled some basics today and I was severely distracted by the lack of ability I had to stall. Toe stalls took effort, and clippers were shook. I hit things like infinity->ss butterfly*rpt, and to my dismay, dropped alot. Pdx mirage->ss butter->osis*rpt dropped before millions of contacts were hit. Things like pixie shuffle felt as if I was lucky, and double legovers were hard to keep on my toe.
Posture / Form Issues:
Well, I had to stay on my TOES, like, not just land on my toe and then graduate to heel, I mean land and STAY on my toes. This made me initially think of Vasek, which gave me some motivation. I have to sit down to clipper, which I think sucks hard though. I tried to keep my posture up so that sitting down wasn't so noticeable, and then I looked like I was on a toilet.
I also noticed that I don't catch my clippers low enough sometimes, because of a strange phenomina. I cushion sometimes and then start bringing my foot up too soon, which causes stepping sets and swirls to hit my leg. A simple correction is to catch the stall and hold it lower before setting, but, it isn't physically easy.
Double legovers, blenders and drifters all need to be executed faster to have time for the delay. This reminds me of all the things Jorden has ever told me.
What does my body say?:
Well, I hurt. That is the truth. the areas surrounding my knees, which are being exercised like never before in the act of cushioning clippers and toe stalls.
Final Thoughts:
I'm going to give Quantums one entire month to see if I can adapt to them with the standard of play I can uphold now with Gunits. At first I was very negative and skeptical of this transition and had fear of going back, but noticing how I must change my form to actually play just reminds me more and more of how Vasek plays. I really hope that my anti-crank itself is physically able to cooperate, as I haven't thought about not having crank since Gunits.
-Jay
Quantum Switch, day 3. November 20th.
Initial Thoughts:
Must switch out stock insoles with spencos, and see if that helps pain issue. Not that I was sore today, but I am not a firm believer in "no pain no gain" for footbag.
Posture / Form Issues:
Again my warm up was a long one, actually, I don't think I ever stopped warming up until my last drill section. starting out with toes, I noticed that I didn't have to work as hard as yesterday to do repeating toe stalls, and I could clipper without such concentration as well. I didn't pay attention to posture. Sadly, I noticed that I started being able to play more flat-footed and still stall the bag, so it is hard to concentrate on toe-only-landings-and-keeping-on-my-toes-forever.
What does my body say?:
Well, the muscles around my knee have definetly been worked out again. Cushioning feels really good, especially when I land and stay on my toes.
Final Thoughts:
Perhaps it wont take an entire month to get used to Quantums after all. I ended my session on pdx whirls, barflies and spinning whirls. Thanks to form tweaking, I can get pdx whirls far easier now, and [with hand catches] I got 9 flipside spinning whirls one after another.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Matt Cross Trip.
I would like you all to click on this link, to set the mood.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZKeSNZhm18
Now that it is playing, commence reading if you wish.
It was a friday. Fridays start at 10:30 according to my schools schedule, but according to life it starts with me waking up at 7:44. Typically under the beginning to glow blinds that divide me from the cold bitter world of a parking lot and busy life, I recollect why I was put on this earth. To slam my alarm clock before it starts shattering it's tears and moans into the fluid that runs through my spine, so that I can have an ounce of hope that today will be a good day. The worst sound, that has ever existed, comes from my wretched alarm clock of everlasting faith, and my job is to halt everything it was meant to do. My internal clock however, favours this action, and wakes me up before 7:45 when my soul would otherwise become tattered and torn.
The first thing on my mind, is Matt fucking Cross. Not in that way however, in the "I just had a Derek Vandall and Matt Cross is [are] chasing me!" dream, http://modified.in/footbag/viewtopic.ph ... 7&start=40. Yeah, this day is that day. Mere steps from my alarm-ing experience, I can gently caress my laptop keyboard with an elegant movement of my hand, which takes it out of it's own personal sleep mode. I load up my fizzied, check the emails I don't get, and wonder why that bottle of windex is still beside my computer. Vasek is to my left, all of him and his superfly power and it just makes me that much happier that this is the day before I get to play with Matt Cross. Matt Cross has been a large part of my footbag career, in respect to the rest of the individuals who have threaded their way into what some would call my progression. He was, infact, the ONLY reason I thought of getting a 32 footfighter from Kolo, and, he still holds the very first PM I sent on modified. As a mere noob, I nervously sent a "mod" a "PM" asking about some guy named "simon f. Koldenchuk" and his "footfighters" with all of their polish pride. He sent me a matt-cross (adjective) response, which changed my life forever. The community of footbag is a kickass one, lacking absolutely nothing.
I had my first apple cider from a certain math building on campus on this day, and for that I will never look at fruit the same way again. This cider had everything any drink would ever need, melted caramel inside, with a pinch of cinnamon and some frothy, saucy, ugh, lofty goodness upon it's liquid surface. Oh lordy me.
Tom Mosher is another good friend of mine in the community, he has played virtually every role there could be inside of it. He was at one time a footbag god, who I thought had acheived a level that I could never obtain. He was a tournament organizer and footbag-pimp and had everyone knowing his name, thus, he was somewhat of an Icon at that point. He later turned into a slight rival, as I had come closer to his level in shred, and finally, he is now still Tom Mosher, a person who I will never forget. He carry's some qualities that I know I will never have the confidence to have at my disposal, and I envy him for most of them. Mostly his ability to have confidence in what he does, and know it is the "bee's knees" of all else. Hell, he makes breakfast smoothies that toss mine to shame (if you wondered why your smoothie suddenly was a little more empty, I may or may not have taken a taste of freedom). So yeah, this Tomtom Friend of mine, has went through a slight bit of change in his life over the last few weeks/months, that I can respect and would love to help. I knew that this trip above all else would be good for him and his state of heart/mind, and I felt a little fuzzy inside thinking about that.
Saturday morning rings, and the fluid in my spine rushed straight into the hair on my chin and I jolted straight towards my alarm clock to stop to horrendous flash of excitement, and, BAM goes my head into the (head)board of my bed. Ugh, great, now my head is ringing AND THIS MONSTROSITY OF BLACK CHAOS is ringing beside me. I fumble, I sweat, my day will all go to shit, but not, in a frantic fear I accidently activate the "sleep" button of this reincarnation of satan that keeps me on time. I had just enough sense left to turn off the alarm clock, and begin my day to Fredonia NY. I had just done laundry, so I got to pick all the cool shirts that I wouldn't impress Americans with and slide them into my full sized tennis gym bag. That is right bitches, it was Tom and I travelling alone so I got the king treatment of bringing as much as I wanted. The minifridge which encases my smoothie awaited me, at 9:something AM. I knew that I had to fill it full of peanut butter so that I wouldn't have to stop after picking Tom up from the GO train station at 10:55 sharp, and, just for a little sauce I added some grape jelly. The carpet beneath my feet had some fibres flowing in the absent wind, and I then had to vacuum. when my smoothie had cooled to a temperature just right for my sensitive teeth, I opened up the lid of the blender and experienced the aroma of life, and watched David Clavens cd, and Feet on fire just for good measure. Did you know David Clavens is good at footbag? I think he might be onto something.
I hop out of a shower that I probably had a little too hot, and a little too long because I just love the feeling of the hot shampoo flowing out of my scalp. I sit at my desk, awaiting the time to go pick up tom, and VOILA, my cell phone which was charging in anticipation for this adventure was, not ringing. Instead, it flashed the display that Tom was calling, and thought it was a good idea to not let me know about it. Perhaps it was to close to the vacinity of my alarm clock, and picked up some of it's negative energy towards all forms of life. Ugh, the perfect day for my alarm clock would be to ring as loud as it wanted in a cemetery. Oh glorious Jemima would that be it's greatest day. I picked up my phone in spite, and Tom notified me that he would have to miss this train, and catch the one for 12:00 due to, some unknown tom-plications. This was all and well, since I would then be able to finish some calculus homework just to feel dandy about the midterm I finished the night prior. Calculus is lovely, even Newton thought so. The time flew by, and the phone which I had unplugged actually vibrated to tell me that it would be best if I just picked up Tom from his humble abode and drive to Matt's from there.
Kind of like in the movie snatch, where the movie ends with the grey-haired-guy drinking a shot, stamping his passport and flying to some continent, I packed up my shit lunged into my driver's seat and missed the turn on a one way street to get to the highway. When I parked inbetween the purple-pt cruiser and grey sable, I knocked on the doors to find Tom and his hardwood floors. Now, there is something that anyone who is reading this blog already knows, and that is that Tom Mosher also has an odd case of ADD, and can either direct all of his energy to getting something done, or direct it towards getting nothing done at all. Everything he had ever done, including thinking about kissing little Susan in 3rd grade, led to him choosing to switch the "getting nothing done at all" button on in his head and take an additional 30 minutes to get ready for the trip ahead. I didn't mind the experience of course, because any time with a member of the footbag community is valuable time that need-not be forgotten. This is where I stole some of his smoothie, OH YEAH, you can freeze peeled orange slices, put them in your freezer and forget about them for a few days. What this will lead to, is me coming to your house to pick you up and then finding one of these biologically-sound freezies and having a great sensation from an all natural orange-cicle. Thanks Tom.
On the way to Suny Fredonia (soonie fred-oh-nee-ah) Tom and I had a nice chat, and the 2 hour drive seemed like .5. The world of internet dating was brought to my attention, and man does it seem like a logical progression for those who aren't Matt Cross. While I have no desire in this part of my life (ha, I should stop lying to myself) to have a girlfriend, I will keep in mind for when I do. The benefits are that both parties have gotten through all of the awkward stages of finding out whether the other is interested in "that way" and what they want to do about it. You also have not only the instantly attractive girls that you'd see in everyday life, you also get the girls who actually have, well, substance and would be interesting and result in a good relationship at your disposal too. Finding the perfect girl I can see would be easily obtained through such a site, as well as a two-ton D&D serial rapist, who calls herself the grinch offline. Sitting behind the wheel with Tom, the farmore experienced driver beside me also leant itself to some learning. Both in how to drive more effectively and how to not fuck up ROYALLY at the border...
Many of you lawful readers would know my confidence levels are usually somewhere under the soles of my feet hiding from all confrontation, and having a strangely attractive young security officer with a nice voice asking for your passports and other personal information doesn't mix. When she asks "Where are you going" and I reply "Uh, Suny, or wait, soonie [thinking of prenounciation] fredonia" it gives her PERFECT reason to think I am a drug smuggler. Oh it gets better, when she asks "How do you know your friend <matt>?" And I think "Uh, through foo- well, a sport" [thinking of how random it would be to explain what footbag is when she doesn't know what the hell it is] I am sure that she thinks there is a body under the car too. Perhaps this body could be a mexican immigrant who came all the way to canada to get over the border, well, there was only one way for her to know. She asked for my keys, and checked the trunk herself.
When she came back, without warning Tom took control and answered the questions so the strangely attractive border officer wouldn't have reason to think I was kidnapping him either. And, since we are good citizens we didn't have some filthy mexican under my car, and she let us drive all the rest of the way to Matt's place in peace. Ugh, if I ever walk down the street and see a strangely attractive security officer, I'll just burrow. The drive from the border was a single hour without stops, and while I was aching in pain and hunger from the single smoothie I had at 9:00 am, and Tom had to piss like a racehorse we finally drove down orchard drive and saw a yellowish house that had a Matt Cross inside of it. This house also has a large driveway, that could fit probably 16 cars in a square formation if the 4 cars in the middle had no intention of getting out. We broke/entered and called for Matt's name instead of knocking, and hugs were exchanged.
Tom turned back into normal Tom once he saw Matt, and even though the drive down he was still Tom, I could just tell the enthusiastic and optimistic Tom was back for the weekend and I felt pretty happy about that. I got to see Bill for the second time in my life, who is Matt's bird. I was happy about that, since it brought good memories back of the "Jampionships" earlier June. I would truly enjoy to plug in a certain topic that was discussed ALL weekend, but, to be polite/considerate I will leave it out. The secret will always lie on Tom's finger and about heart with a sweet taste...Matt Cross then answered his really, really stylish phone and we were off to get inside of my automobile, in which I requested Matt drive so that I wouldn't have to deal with the trauma of a woman who I will now call "border-girl". I have 3 "girls" who I call girls, one is "weird headed girl" the second is"good calf girl". There is also some douchebag in my chemistry class who, had brown hair, but I call him "blonde-haired kid". He is such a prick, you don't even know. The person who called Matt on his phone was Hacky-sack-Jack, who announced that he was 20 minutes away with a certain Dan in the passenger seat or so I would presume. Matt stopped at a gas station, and we got a few items of food for lunch, where I nourished myself with a peanut butter crunch bar. Something that I will never forget, was when I hoisted up my backpack on the counter to retrieve my wallet. The cashier I guess thought I was going to steal something, and Matt calmly said "Don't worry, he's not stealing anything. He's Canadian", and then I realized what they were talking about was me. When Iwas paying the chashier, the man said to me "You're in the land of the free now" really rustic-ly...It was eerie.
That was the first person Matt conversed with and knew.
Then we went to a parking lot where security cameras surveilled and parked my car, when I did something I will never forgive. Matt parked beside a red pickup truck, and I noticed that the doors wouldn't open fully wide, and without thinking said "Do you think you might have parked a little close to that car?". Then Matt replied in a matt way "Well, I'd be happy to re-ajust, the 10 seconds doesn't matter to me in the least". Ugh, my insides just tore in half while trying to get past my ribcage and strangle me to death. I didn't want to be "that guy" who would be that anal about parking, and then announce it to MATT CROSS. I fail. After we exit the re-parked vehicle, we meet up with the second person Matt knew, which was his old landlord. They chatted a bit, when my heart was pounding about whether or not Matt locked my car. I reallllly didn't want to be "that guy" who also asked Matt to lock my car, when locking a car is pretty much second nature when exiting a vehicle. We walked across a patch of grass and into the area of a large gym complex where we would meet Hacky sack Jack and Dan. When Matt took a call, I asked Tom what I should do about asking if Matt locked my car, in paranoia. Tom just said that he'd take the hit and ask if he locked the car, and sure enough, Matt did. Yeah second nature! My mind still couldn't get off of what a dick I must have sounded like.
When Hacky and Dan drove up, Matt had to show them wear to park and Tom and I were left alone. Tom showed me some stuff around that had to do with Engineering, and it made me feel really good about trying to become an engineer. He then showed me about the cool skate/bike/board spots that people grinded and why. He is really enthusiastic about his trackbike stuff, and I like that he can find pleasure in it. Anyhow, after the three men had parked their car, we entered the sports complex of mazes looking for a decent shred spot. As we passed a nacho stand which smelt "like heaven" we found a gym with a Basekball tournament in it...The girls playing were like machines, bam bam warmup shot after another. After a little questioning, we found out that the corner of the gym would be not available to us for play, so we had to find another, better gym so we could play our music. As the other gym came to life with footbag, I had to go to the washroom. Oh boy was this a treat. IN the nearest 30 meters of the gym, there were 2 girls washrooms, but NO mens. I had to twist and turn and find an office to ask people where there was one, and they just pointed me to another GIRLS one. UAHUFHASUDH that was frustrating. I finally went and found a changeroom that looked like the one from Texas Chainsaw Massacre. There was a bathroom inside of it, but I kept on looking over my shoulder as to not be impaled by a blunt object. As I returned 30 minutes later, I saw Matt already warmed up and going guiltless, and after a few circle rounds of kicking I thought it would be good practise to do guiltless as well.
Sadly, I took the initial cross shred the wrong way, and I guess Tom and Matt weren't warmed up yet. They commented on how it sucks to not be warmed up when other circle players are already shredding, and well, I couldn't revert to still warming up, so I kept on shredding. That was uncomfortable as well, but Hacky Sack Jack tore shit up. He can stall and do all tiltless moves, and I had some serious respect for that. Dan was also someone that, I don't think I had ever seen before in a circle. He has basically Evan Gatesman's knees, which gives him cool style all over the place.
I hit a run with jani+sunil bsos, which I was happy about. It was first try too
To bad that was in Gunits. Playing in Gunits is so easy...
Tom started to get bored of shred and played basketball, while an Irish (COMPLETELY BADASS,) friend of Matt's tried to film us playing. The one peanut butter crunch bar just wasn't cutting it for me after not having a lunch and 6 hours no food, and Matt wasn't feeling it either. No good footage really....That was a pity. So, once we were brutally worn out, we packed up our stuff and left the large gym which had attracted a few basketball players through our time there. We passed the Nacho stand, and head home. I was icky with sweat, so in 0 degree weather I went shirtless to have the sweat evaporate. Apparently, Canadians and Americans don't share the same views on what is common practise to wear after shred, when you don't have immediate access to a shower. Should you wear dirty shit, and then get your car seats smelly? Or should you waste new clothes for 10 minutes of after-sweat-stench and have a nice car...You decide. Tom walked straight under a stream of water from the rooftop. Tee hee hee. We walked back and discussed how selling bags to non-footbaggers sucks. We all mutually agreed that it wasn't just about the money for stitching, rather for the enjoyment of who receives it, and how random people don't appreciate the time and effort it takes to make a bag. As we almost entered my car, I apologized to Matt about the parking thing, and he just replied in the most mature manner possible. He gave me an example of stupid shit he had once said at a tournament, and how he stressed over it. Months later he spoke to the man involved, and he had completely forgotten that Matt said one dumb thing, and life did infact go on. I thought that was nice of him, and that almost eased my troubled mind.
We got back to Matt's place, and watched some videos of footbag while we ate dinner. Dinner was Totellini, which Matt made to perfection. Man, the shredders in aggressive grounds were so cool! It made me realize how possibly the slowing down of modified is a good thing. See, modified IS amazing, (was?) but it almost can make things too open and global. It seemed like at those tournaments, people were just BURSTING to show everyone what they were hitting, and it made it just that much more special. I figure if modified slows down with the good content, perhaps tournament, real-life experiences will be that much cooler. After, we watched some SNL. I had never seen SNL before, and really didn't catch onto the name "Saturday night LIVE". When the skit was poorly done, I asked "Why didn't they just re-do that shot?" and Tom blatantly said "uh, Live?"...I then crawled back into my hole.
A commercial we were forced to watch really made me want some cold cake, and Matt was up for the adventure, as well as an non-Vocal Tom. Matt and I announced that we were leaving to get cake, and Tom simply didn't hear us and we left. The wal-mart cake buying experience was a pleasant one, because Matt is just that cool. We talked a bit of safe driving, again a coy-way of Matt easing my constantly nervous-state and some stories that he had with friends and unsafe driving. He got a little emotional about it, (little, ) and I thought that was really cool of him. Like, normal guys you meet in everyday life don't share any emotion that leave them looking vulnerable, and Matt simply commented on his state. He earned yet again a few respect points from my side of the table. Upon re-arrival at Matt's house, Tom let us know that he DID want to come get cake and that he didn't know that we were leaving. It was kind of funny leaving Tom with matt's room mates though The cake was awesome, I got turtle cake which involved sugar, sugar, and a few pieces of nut. It was SO good, the caremel dripping through it's center with a hint of ice cream suppplied throughout. Exsquisite.
After cake and videos, we decided to head to a girls party and hang out for a bit. It felt cool to go to a party with Tom and Matt who are actualy, partiers, and not feel overly awkward. In highschool, I never went to a single party just because of nervousness, and my general awkward behaviour when doing anything other than shred alone in a basement. Then, being with two masters it was just nice to know that standing there just talking in a nice atmosphere can be fun. This is where Tom the "abbrasive" Canadian came in, when we kicked some wasted people's ass in foosball. Tom would always go "Yeah go Canada" After he scored, and other such things that I thought would leave a nice instillation of Canada in the drunk's eyes. Many, many more jokes about the "unpolite thing" were mentioned at this party, and it was like "comic relief" in a shakespear play, which someone makes it just that more manageable. The party had good people who didn't seem to be nasty, and the live band added a nice touch as well. I had never seen a drummer in action before, and it was pretty intense.
We casually left the party and passed some drunk girl half-fetal on the porch, we went back to Matt's for some "Meat-Roll ups"...Meat-roll ups are a play on a popular childrens snack here in Canada-land, which involves sugar wrapping around paper in a circular fashion. For a Meat-Roll up, you simply get meat, roll it up, and eat it. It hit the spot if I do say so myself. Matt played with some Devil Sticks, which, were actually *?* flower sticks due to their grippy nature. He was actually pretty innovative and impressive with them.
Sleep. I got the fouton in Matt's room, and completely un-alike my half awake state of dozing off at this moment, I DIED on that fouton and slept until the next morning.
We woke up and had to leave pretty early to get back to Oakville so that Tom could get to Toronto for a parade. So, there was no after-shred but I don't think that any of us regret it. Matt made Tom and I some eggs, and after watching "The Replacements" on Peach TV, Tom and I said our final goodbyes to Matt (sadly) and ended our short trip by getting into my car and driving in the direction of southern Ontario. This drive was far more quiet, as all end-of-tournament-or-jam drives are. The excitement dwindles, and the reality that LIFE starts tomorrow kicks in. All of that excitement about waking up and getting ready to play with Matt Cross had been expelled. This part of jams/whatevers is always the worst, because it makes me think about how much I actually love footbag and footbaggers. I guess if you are reading this, you probably know that most of my life revolves around footbag and without it, I wouldn't even be a one-trick pony at all anymore. So, when we got to the border without border-girl, I answered with confidence and the Canadian citizen let us through the gate, so that we could be stopped by another employee in another gate to take our money. It seemed kind of like a nice car ride home however, because the atmosphere was light due to the christmas music that was playing on the Radio. Everything kind of came full circle, because as the christmas music played and Tom and I thought, the snow came down like in a movie and all was well; for, we had just played footbag with Matt Cross.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Quantum Switch for Ken.
Quantum Switch, day 2. November 19th.
Initial Thoughts:
Well, I drilled some basics today and I was severely distracted by the lack of ability I had to stall. Toe stalls took effort, and clippers were shook. I hit things like infinity->ss butterfly*rpt, and to my dismay, dropped alot. Pdx mirage->ss butter->osis*rpt dropped before millions of contacts were hit. Things like pixie shuffle felt as if I was lucky, and double legovers were hard to keep on my toe.
Posture / Form Issues:
Well, I had to stay on my TOES, like, not just land on my toe and then graduate to heel, I mean land and STAY on my toes. This made me initially think of Vasek, which gave me some motivation. I have to sit down to clipper, which I think sucks hard though. I tried to keep my posture up so that sitting down wasn't so noticeable, and then I looked like I was on a toilet.
I also noticed that I don't catch my clippers low enough sometimes, because of a strange phenomina. I cushion sometimes and then start bringing my foot up too soon, which causes stepping sets and swirls to hit my leg. A simple correction is to catch the stall and hold it lower before setting, but, it isn't physically easy.
Double legovers, blenders and drifters all need to be executed faster to have time for the delay. This reminds me of all the things Jorden has ever told me.
What does my body say?:
Well, I hurt. That is the truth. the areas surrounding my knees, which are being exercised like never before in the act of cushioning clippers and toe stalls.
Final Thoughts:
I'm going to give Quantums one entire month to see if I can adapt to them with the standard of play I can uphold now with Gunits. At first I was very negative and skeptical of this transition and had fear of going back, but noticing how I must change my form to actually play just reminds me more and more of how Vasek plays. I really hope that my anti-crank itself is physically able to cooperate, as I haven't thought about not having crank since Gunits.
-Jay
Quantum Switch, day 3. November 20th.
Initial Thoughts:
Must switch out stock insoles with spencos, and see if that helps pain issue. Not that I was sore today, but I am not a firm believer in "no pain no gain" for footbag.
Posture / Form Issues:
Again my warm up was a long one, actually, I don't think I ever stopped warming up until my last drill section. starting out with toes, I noticed that I didn't have to work as hard as yesterday to do repeating toe stalls, and I could clipper without such concentration as well. I didn't pay attention to posture. Sadly, I noticed that I started being able to play more flat-footed and still stall the bag, so it is hard to concentrate on toe-only-landings-and-keeping-on-my-toes-forever.
What does my body say?:
Well, the muscles around my knee have definetly been worked out again. Cushioning feels really good, especially when I land and stay on my toes.
Final Thoughts:
Perhaps it wont take an entire month to get used to Quantums after all. I ended my session on pdx whirls, barflies and spinning whirls. Thanks to form tweaking, I can get pdx whirls far easier now, and [with hand catches] I got 9 flipside spinning whirls one after another.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Matt Cross Trip.
I would like you all to click on this link, to set the mood.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZKeSNZhm18
Now that it is playing, commence reading if you wish.
It was a friday. Fridays start at 10:30 according to my schools schedule, but according to life it starts with me waking up at 7:44. Typically under the beginning to glow blinds that divide me from the cold bitter world of a parking lot and busy life, I recollect why I was put on this earth. To slam my alarm clock before it starts shattering it's tears and moans into the fluid that runs through my spine, so that I can have an ounce of hope that today will be a good day. The worst sound, that has ever existed, comes from my wretched alarm clock of everlasting faith, and my job is to halt everything it was meant to do. My internal clock however, favours this action, and wakes me up before 7:45 when my soul would otherwise become tattered and torn.
The first thing on my mind, is Matt fucking Cross. Not in that way however, in the "I just had a Derek Vandall and Matt Cross is [are] chasing me!" dream, http://modified.in/footbag/viewtopic.ph ... 7&start=40. Yeah, this day is that day. Mere steps from my alarm-ing experience, I can gently caress my laptop keyboard with an elegant movement of my hand, which takes it out of it's own personal sleep mode. I load up my fizzied, check the emails I don't get, and wonder why that bottle of windex is still beside my computer. Vasek is to my left, all of him and his superfly power and it just makes me that much happier that this is the day before I get to play with Matt Cross. Matt Cross has been a large part of my footbag career, in respect to the rest of the individuals who have threaded their way into what some would call my progression. He was, infact, the ONLY reason I thought of getting a 32 footfighter from Kolo, and, he still holds the very first PM I sent on modified. As a mere noob, I nervously sent a "mod" a "PM" asking about some guy named "simon f. Koldenchuk" and his "footfighters" with all of their polish pride. He sent me a matt-cross (adjective) response, which changed my life forever. The community of footbag is a kickass one, lacking absolutely nothing.
I had my first apple cider from a certain math building on campus on this day, and for that I will never look at fruit the same way again. This cider had everything any drink would ever need, melted caramel inside, with a pinch of cinnamon and some frothy, saucy, ugh, lofty goodness upon it's liquid surface. Oh lordy me.
Tom Mosher is another good friend of mine in the community, he has played virtually every role there could be inside of it. He was at one time a footbag god, who I thought had acheived a level that I could never obtain. He was a tournament organizer and footbag-pimp and had everyone knowing his name, thus, he was somewhat of an Icon at that point. He later turned into a slight rival, as I had come closer to his level in shred, and finally, he is now still Tom Mosher, a person who I will never forget. He carry's some qualities that I know I will never have the confidence to have at my disposal, and I envy him for most of them. Mostly his ability to have confidence in what he does, and know it is the "bee's knees" of all else. Hell, he makes breakfast smoothies that toss mine to shame (if you wondered why your smoothie suddenly was a little more empty, I may or may not have taken a taste of freedom). So yeah, this Tomtom Friend of mine, has went through a slight bit of change in his life over the last few weeks/months, that I can respect and would love to help. I knew that this trip above all else would be good for him and his state of heart/mind, and I felt a little fuzzy inside thinking about that.
Saturday morning rings, and the fluid in my spine rushed straight into the hair on my chin and I jolted straight towards my alarm clock to stop to horrendous flash of excitement, and, BAM goes my head into the (head)board of my bed. Ugh, great, now my head is ringing AND THIS MONSTROSITY OF BLACK CHAOS is ringing beside me. I fumble, I sweat, my day will all go to shit, but not, in a frantic fear I accidently activate the "sleep" button of this reincarnation of satan that keeps me on time. I had just enough sense left to turn off the alarm clock, and begin my day to Fredonia NY. I had just done laundry, so I got to pick all the cool shirts that I wouldn't impress Americans with and slide them into my full sized tennis gym bag. That is right bitches, it was Tom and I travelling alone so I got the king treatment of bringing as much as I wanted. The minifridge which encases my smoothie awaited me, at 9:something AM. I knew that I had to fill it full of peanut butter so that I wouldn't have to stop after picking Tom up from the GO train station at 10:55 sharp, and, just for a little sauce I added some grape jelly. The carpet beneath my feet had some fibres flowing in the absent wind, and I then had to vacuum. when my smoothie had cooled to a temperature just right for my sensitive teeth, I opened up the lid of the blender and experienced the aroma of life, and watched David Clavens cd, and Feet on fire just for good measure. Did you know David Clavens is good at footbag? I think he might be onto something.
I hop out of a shower that I probably had a little too hot, and a little too long because I just love the feeling of the hot shampoo flowing out of my scalp. I sit at my desk, awaiting the time to go pick up tom, and VOILA, my cell phone which was charging in anticipation for this adventure was, not ringing. Instead, it flashed the display that Tom was calling, and thought it was a good idea to not let me know about it. Perhaps it was to close to the vacinity of my alarm clock, and picked up some of it's negative energy towards all forms of life. Ugh, the perfect day for my alarm clock would be to ring as loud as it wanted in a cemetery. Oh glorious Jemima would that be it's greatest day. I picked up my phone in spite, and Tom notified me that he would have to miss this train, and catch the one for 12:00 due to, some unknown tom-plications. This was all and well, since I would then be able to finish some calculus homework just to feel dandy about the midterm I finished the night prior. Calculus is lovely, even Newton thought so. The time flew by, and the phone which I had unplugged actually vibrated to tell me that it would be best if I just picked up Tom from his humble abode and drive to Matt's from there.
Kind of like in the movie snatch, where the movie ends with the grey-haired-guy drinking a shot, stamping his passport and flying to some continent, I packed up my shit lunged into my driver's seat and missed the turn on a one way street to get to the highway. When I parked inbetween the purple-pt cruiser and grey sable, I knocked on the doors to find Tom and his hardwood floors. Now, there is something that anyone who is reading this blog already knows, and that is that Tom Mosher also has an odd case of ADD, and can either direct all of his energy to getting something done, or direct it towards getting nothing done at all. Everything he had ever done, including thinking about kissing little Susan in 3rd grade, led to him choosing to switch the "getting nothing done at all" button on in his head and take an additional 30 minutes to get ready for the trip ahead. I didn't mind the experience of course, because any time with a member of the footbag community is valuable time that need-not be forgotten. This is where I stole some of his smoothie, OH YEAH, you can freeze peeled orange slices, put them in your freezer and forget about them for a few days. What this will lead to, is me coming to your house to pick you up and then finding one of these biologically-sound freezies and having a great sensation from an all natural orange-cicle. Thanks Tom.
On the way to Suny Fredonia (soonie fred-oh-nee-ah) Tom and I had a nice chat, and the 2 hour drive seemed like .5. The world of internet dating was brought to my attention, and man does it seem like a logical progression for those who aren't Matt Cross. While I have no desire in this part of my life (ha, I should stop lying to myself) to have a girlfriend, I will keep in mind for when I do. The benefits are that both parties have gotten through all of the awkward stages of finding out whether the other is interested in "that way" and what they want to do about it. You also have not only the instantly attractive girls that you'd see in everyday life, you also get the girls who actually have, well, substance and would be interesting and result in a good relationship at your disposal too. Finding the perfect girl I can see would be easily obtained through such a site, as well as a two-ton D&D serial rapist, who calls herself the grinch offline. Sitting behind the wheel with Tom, the farmore experienced driver beside me also leant itself to some learning. Both in how to drive more effectively and how to not fuck up ROYALLY at the border...
Many of you lawful readers would know my confidence levels are usually somewhere under the soles of my feet hiding from all confrontation, and having a strangely attractive young security officer with a nice voice asking for your passports and other personal information doesn't mix. When she asks "Where are you going" and I reply "Uh, Suny, or wait, soonie [thinking of prenounciation] fredonia" it gives her PERFECT reason to think I am a drug smuggler. Oh it gets better, when she asks "How do you know your friend <matt>?" And I think "Uh, through foo- well, a sport" [thinking of how random it would be to explain what footbag is when she doesn't know what the hell it is] I am sure that she thinks there is a body under the car too. Perhaps this body could be a mexican immigrant who came all the way to canada to get over the border, well, there was only one way for her to know. She asked for my keys, and checked the trunk herself.
When she came back, without warning Tom took control and answered the questions so the strangely attractive border officer wouldn't have reason to think I was kidnapping him either. And, since we are good citizens we didn't have some filthy mexican under my car, and she let us drive all the rest of the way to Matt's place in peace. Ugh, if I ever walk down the street and see a strangely attractive security officer, I'll just burrow. The drive from the border was a single hour without stops, and while I was aching in pain and hunger from the single smoothie I had at 9:00 am, and Tom had to piss like a racehorse we finally drove down orchard drive and saw a yellowish house that had a Matt Cross inside of it. This house also has a large driveway, that could fit probably 16 cars in a square formation if the 4 cars in the middle had no intention of getting out. We broke/entered and called for Matt's name instead of knocking, and hugs were exchanged.
Tom turned back into normal Tom once he saw Matt, and even though the drive down he was still Tom, I could just tell the enthusiastic and optimistic Tom was back for the weekend and I felt pretty happy about that. I got to see Bill for the second time in my life, who is Matt's bird. I was happy about that, since it brought good memories back of the "Jampionships" earlier June. I would truly enjoy to plug in a certain topic that was discussed ALL weekend, but, to be polite/considerate I will leave it out. The secret will always lie on Tom's finger and about heart with a sweet taste...Matt Cross then answered his really, really stylish phone and we were off to get inside of my automobile, in which I requested Matt drive so that I wouldn't have to deal with the trauma of a woman who I will now call "border-girl". I have 3 "girls" who I call girls, one is "weird headed girl" the second is"good calf girl". There is also some douchebag in my chemistry class who, had brown hair, but I call him "blonde-haired kid". He is such a prick, you don't even know. The person who called Matt on his phone was Hacky-sack-Jack, who announced that he was 20 minutes away with a certain Dan in the passenger seat or so I would presume. Matt stopped at a gas station, and we got a few items of food for lunch, where I nourished myself with a peanut butter crunch bar. Something that I will never forget, was when I hoisted up my backpack on the counter to retrieve my wallet. The cashier I guess thought I was going to steal something, and Matt calmly said "Don't worry, he's not stealing anything. He's Canadian", and then I realized what they were talking about was me. When Iwas paying the chashier, the man said to me "You're in the land of the free now" really rustic-ly...It was eerie.
That was the first person Matt conversed with and knew.
Then we went to a parking lot where security cameras surveilled and parked my car, when I did something I will never forgive. Matt parked beside a red pickup truck, and I noticed that the doors wouldn't open fully wide, and without thinking said "Do you think you might have parked a little close to that car?". Then Matt replied in a matt way "Well, I'd be happy to re-ajust, the 10 seconds doesn't matter to me in the least". Ugh, my insides just tore in half while trying to get past my ribcage and strangle me to death. I didn't want to be "that guy" who would be that anal about parking, and then announce it to MATT CROSS. I fail. After we exit the re-parked vehicle, we meet up with the second person Matt knew, which was his old landlord. They chatted a bit, when my heart was pounding about whether or not Matt locked my car. I reallllly didn't want to be "that guy" who also asked Matt to lock my car, when locking a car is pretty much second nature when exiting a vehicle. We walked across a patch of grass and into the area of a large gym complex where we would meet Hacky sack Jack and Dan. When Matt took a call, I asked Tom what I should do about asking if Matt locked my car, in paranoia. Tom just said that he'd take the hit and ask if he locked the car, and sure enough, Matt did. Yeah second nature! My mind still couldn't get off of what a dick I must have sounded like.
When Hacky and Dan drove up, Matt had to show them wear to park and Tom and I were left alone. Tom showed me some stuff around that had to do with Engineering, and it made me feel really good about trying to become an engineer. He then showed me about the cool skate/bike/board spots that people grinded and why. He is really enthusiastic about his trackbike stuff, and I like that he can find pleasure in it. Anyhow, after the three men had parked their car, we entered the sports complex of mazes looking for a decent shred spot. As we passed a nacho stand which smelt "like heaven" we found a gym with a Basekball tournament in it...The girls playing were like machines, bam bam warmup shot after another. After a little questioning, we found out that the corner of the gym would be not available to us for play, so we had to find another, better gym so we could play our music. As the other gym came to life with footbag, I had to go to the washroom. Oh boy was this a treat. IN the nearest 30 meters of the gym, there were 2 girls washrooms, but NO mens. I had to twist and turn and find an office to ask people where there was one, and they just pointed me to another GIRLS one. UAHUFHASUDH that was frustrating. I finally went and found a changeroom that looked like the one from Texas Chainsaw Massacre. There was a bathroom inside of it, but I kept on looking over my shoulder as to not be impaled by a blunt object. As I returned 30 minutes later, I saw Matt already warmed up and going guiltless, and after a few circle rounds of kicking I thought it would be good practise to do guiltless as well.
Sadly, I took the initial cross shred the wrong way, and I guess Tom and Matt weren't warmed up yet. They commented on how it sucks to not be warmed up when other circle players are already shredding, and well, I couldn't revert to still warming up, so I kept on shredding. That was uncomfortable as well, but Hacky Sack Jack tore shit up. He can stall and do all tiltless moves, and I had some serious respect for that. Dan was also someone that, I don't think I had ever seen before in a circle. He has basically Evan Gatesman's knees, which gives him cool style all over the place.
I hit a run with jani+sunil bsos, which I was happy about. It was first try too
To bad that was in Gunits. Playing in Gunits is so easy...Tom started to get bored of shred and played basketball, while an Irish (COMPLETELY BADASS,) friend of Matt's tried to film us playing. The one peanut butter crunch bar just wasn't cutting it for me after not having a lunch and 6 hours no food, and Matt wasn't feeling it either. No good footage really....That was a pity. So, once we were brutally worn out, we packed up our stuff and left the large gym which had attracted a few basketball players through our time there. We passed the Nacho stand, and head home. I was icky with sweat, so in 0 degree weather I went shirtless to have the sweat evaporate. Apparently, Canadians and Americans don't share the same views on what is common practise to wear after shred, when you don't have immediate access to a shower. Should you wear dirty shit, and then get your car seats smelly? Or should you waste new clothes for 10 minutes of after-sweat-stench and have a nice car...You decide. Tom walked straight under a stream of water from the rooftop. Tee hee hee. We walked back and discussed how selling bags to non-footbaggers sucks. We all mutually agreed that it wasn't just about the money for stitching, rather for the enjoyment of who receives it, and how random people don't appreciate the time and effort it takes to make a bag. As we almost entered my car, I apologized to Matt about the parking thing, and he just replied in the most mature manner possible. He gave me an example of stupid shit he had once said at a tournament, and how he stressed over it. Months later he spoke to the man involved, and he had completely forgotten that Matt said one dumb thing, and life did infact go on. I thought that was nice of him, and that almost eased my troubled mind.
We got back to Matt's place, and watched some videos of footbag while we ate dinner. Dinner was Totellini, which Matt made to perfection. Man, the shredders in aggressive grounds were so cool! It made me realize how possibly the slowing down of modified is a good thing. See, modified IS amazing, (was?) but it almost can make things too open and global. It seemed like at those tournaments, people were just BURSTING to show everyone what they were hitting, and it made it just that much more special. I figure if modified slows down with the good content, perhaps tournament, real-life experiences will be that much cooler. After, we watched some SNL. I had never seen SNL before, and really didn't catch onto the name "Saturday night LIVE". When the skit was poorly done, I asked "Why didn't they just re-do that shot?" and Tom blatantly said "uh, Live?"...I then crawled back into my hole.
A commercial we were forced to watch really made me want some cold cake, and Matt was up for the adventure, as well as an non-Vocal Tom. Matt and I announced that we were leaving to get cake, and Tom simply didn't hear us and we left. The wal-mart cake buying experience was a pleasant one, because Matt is just that cool. We talked a bit of safe driving, again a coy-way of Matt easing my constantly nervous-state and some stories that he had with friends and unsafe driving. He got a little emotional about it, (little, ) and I thought that was really cool of him. Like, normal guys you meet in everyday life don't share any emotion that leave them looking vulnerable, and Matt simply commented on his state. He earned yet again a few respect points from my side of the table. Upon re-arrival at Matt's house, Tom let us know that he DID want to come get cake and that he didn't know that we were leaving. It was kind of funny leaving Tom with matt's room mates though
The cake was awesome, I got turtle cake which involved sugar, sugar, and a few pieces of nut. It was SO good, the caremel dripping through it's center with a hint of ice cream suppplied throughout. Exsquisite. After cake and videos, we decided to head to a girls party and hang out for a bit. It felt cool to go to a party with Tom and Matt who are actualy, partiers, and not feel overly awkward. In highschool, I never went to a single party just because of nervousness, and my general awkward behaviour when doing anything other than shred alone in a basement. Then, being with two masters it was just nice to know that standing there just talking in a nice atmosphere can be fun. This is where Tom the "abbrasive" Canadian came in, when we kicked some wasted people's ass in foosball. Tom would always go "Yeah go Canada" After he scored, and other such things that I thought would leave a nice instillation of Canada in the drunk's eyes. Many, many more jokes about the "unpolite thing" were mentioned at this party, and it was like "comic relief" in a shakespear play, which someone makes it just that more manageable. The party had good people who didn't seem to be nasty, and the live band added a nice touch as well. I had never seen a drummer in action before, and it was pretty intense.
We casually left the party and passed some drunk girl half-fetal on the porch, we went back to Matt's for some "Meat-Roll ups"...Meat-roll ups are a play on a popular childrens snack here in Canada-land, which involves sugar wrapping around paper in a circular fashion. For a Meat-Roll up, you simply get meat, roll it up, and eat it. It hit the spot if I do say so myself. Matt played with some Devil Sticks, which, were actually *?* flower sticks due to their grippy nature. He was actually pretty innovative and impressive with them.
Sleep. I got the fouton in Matt's room, and completely un-alike my half awake state of dozing off at this moment, I DIED on that fouton and slept until the next morning.
We woke up and had to leave pretty early to get back to Oakville so that Tom could get to Toronto for a parade. So, there was no after-shred but I don't think that any of us regret it. Matt made Tom and I some eggs, and after watching "The Replacements" on Peach TV, Tom and I said our final goodbyes to Matt (sadly) and ended our short trip by getting into my car and driving in the direction of southern Ontario. This drive was far more quiet, as all end-of-tournament-or-jam drives are. The excitement dwindles, and the reality that LIFE starts tomorrow kicks in. All of that excitement about waking up and getting ready to play with Matt Cross had been expelled. This part of jams/whatevers is always the worst, because it makes me think about how much I actually love footbag and footbaggers. I guess if you are reading this, you probably know that most of my life revolves around footbag and without it, I wouldn't even be a one-trick pony at all anymore. So, when we got to the border without border-girl, I answered with confidence and the Canadian citizen let us through the gate, so that we could be stopped by another employee in another gate to take our money. It seemed kind of like a nice car ride home however, because the atmosphere was light due to the christmas music that was playing on the Radio. Everything kind of came full circle, because as the christmas music played and Tom and I thought, the snow came down like in a movie and all was well; for, we had just played footbag with Matt Cross.
Jay Boychuk
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Yeah, I wouldn't bother either. That post was 5000 words, and my longest was 9700+ for my two year anniversary write up...
So, Quantum thinking.
I played some footbag over the last few days, and have come to the conclusion that Quantums are bad for your body. I think the root cause of it, is because they are too light, and my body isn't used to it. I'm going to use the analogy of a blender, or perhaps, boat motor.
If you use the boat motor for it's intended purpose, i.e., in water, it will run fine. Just like I have been conditioning my leg muscles and bones to become ajusted to the Gunit shoes, which are fairly heavy.
Then, you have the boat motor out of water, which when it runs will overheat and spin too fast because of the lack of resistance. Imagine now doing a barefoot barfly, and a barfly with Gunits on, and you can see how your feet would move differently.
So, I'm not sure if sticking with the Quantums is a good thing, to become ajusted to the lightness or just to switch back to Gunits. Gunits do allow my uncranky ankles to catch things, and my body doesn't hurt. After a session or two I find that my back hurts, my knees (inside) are grindy, and that the area just under my knee that takes most of the impact on moves also is very tender. All of this NEVER happened with Gunits, or even Lavers, and both are heavier than the Quantum.
I think that I'm going to attempt a day of really light shred in Gunits, and then the next day go again at full steam. I figure, with a teen-age body my small aches and pains will go away with a day of light shred, and then I'll be able to judge if my pains go away with the Gunits. As much as I would enjoy having a tiny bit of style, I'd rather be able to play footbag without dropping on 10 contact runs. Playing with Gunits, the shoe I've learned in (probably a first mistake) allows me to just hit 50 contact runs any time I want. That is a good feeling. Dropping on a smear because my foot was just a little un-parallel to the ground annoys me.
I feel guilty and ashamed to want to switch back to Gunits, but, since my body literally is in pain I think it might be a good idea.
-Jay
Oh yeah. Vasek's section in Natural Born Kickers is perhaps the MOST inspirational thing I have ever seen.
So, Quantum thinking.
I played some footbag over the last few days, and have come to the conclusion that Quantums are bad for your body. I think the root cause of it, is because they are too light, and my body isn't used to it. I'm going to use the analogy of a blender, or perhaps, boat motor.
If you use the boat motor for it's intended purpose, i.e., in water, it will run fine. Just like I have been conditioning my leg muscles and bones to become ajusted to the Gunit shoes, which are fairly heavy.
Then, you have the boat motor out of water, which when it runs will overheat and spin too fast because of the lack of resistance. Imagine now doing a barefoot barfly, and a barfly with Gunits on, and you can see how your feet would move differently.
So, I'm not sure if sticking with the Quantums is a good thing, to become ajusted to the lightness or just to switch back to Gunits. Gunits do allow my uncranky ankles to catch things, and my body doesn't hurt. After a session or two I find that my back hurts, my knees (inside) are grindy, and that the area just under my knee that takes most of the impact on moves also is very tender. All of this NEVER happened with Gunits, or even Lavers, and both are heavier than the Quantum.
I think that I'm going to attempt a day of really light shred in Gunits, and then the next day go again at full steam. I figure, with a teen-age body my small aches and pains will go away with a day of light shred, and then I'll be able to judge if my pains go away with the Gunits. As much as I would enjoy having a tiny bit of style, I'd rather be able to play footbag without dropping on 10 contact runs. Playing with Gunits, the shoe I've learned in (probably a first mistake) allows me to just hit 50 contact runs any time I want. That is a good feeling. Dropping on a smear because my foot was just a little un-parallel to the ground annoys me.
I feel guilty and ashamed to want to switch back to Gunits, but, since my body literally is in pain I think it might be a good idea.
-Jay
Oh yeah. Vasek's section in Natural Born Kickers is perhaps the MOST inspirational thing I have ever seen.
Jay Boychuk
I guess the reason I have been writing more frequently inside this blog of mine, is because of the sudden burst of footbag events around me. Anyway, another entry in the Quantum Switch...
So, today I walked down the concrete steps to my underground garage, which feels cozier every day. I set my things ontop of my trunk, took off my shirt and started kicking a Kozlov that, suddenly looked much brighter. My intent was to warm up with Quantums, then switch to Gunits and see what happened. I kicked a few kicks, dropped a few stalls and hit enough drills to switch the spencos from my Q's into my Gunits. I suddenly felt like stuff had come full circle, and that I belonged in my Gunits. I was happy inside, and felt like I got revenge on my Quantums. I did 2 repeats of butterfly->pdx mirage->osis*rpt, did a string and unlaced my shoes and put my spencos back in my Quantums.
The only way I can describe the feeling of an osis in Gunits now, is filthy. Like, utter filth and ugly canned armpits just rolling around in a puddle on a steamy day. There was nothing pleasant about not having to do any work to play footbag, and all I wanted was my Q's back.
That was a surprise. I then proceeded to have a decent session, that lasted 2.5 hours. Tomorrow Johnny and I are filming, and I don't have any high hopes for good strings coming from myself, but what I notice more and more when I play with Quantums is that I instinctively play genuine, or close to it. The one string I did with Gunits was some really anti-slick bails and I just realized why my strings used to be so much longer, and it was because the trick density was probably cut in half. It took me until I was walking up the concrete steps back into my room and past the weird look I got as I crossed the path of some girl sweaty and shirtless, to realize that I was near genuine the entire time.
Vasek is such a god. So is Jorden.
So, today I walked down the concrete steps to my underground garage, which feels cozier every day. I set my things ontop of my trunk, took off my shirt and started kicking a Kozlov that, suddenly looked much brighter. My intent was to warm up with Quantums, then switch to Gunits and see what happened. I kicked a few kicks, dropped a few stalls and hit enough drills to switch the spencos from my Q's into my Gunits. I suddenly felt like stuff had come full circle, and that I belonged in my Gunits. I was happy inside, and felt like I got revenge on my Quantums. I did 2 repeats of butterfly->pdx mirage->osis*rpt, did a string and unlaced my shoes and put my spencos back in my Quantums.
The only way I can describe the feeling of an osis in Gunits now, is filthy. Like, utter filth and ugly canned armpits just rolling around in a puddle on a steamy day. There was nothing pleasant about not having to do any work to play footbag, and all I wanted was my Q's back.
That was a surprise. I then proceeded to have a decent session, that lasted 2.5 hours. Tomorrow Johnny and I are filming, and I don't have any high hopes for good strings coming from myself, but what I notice more and more when I play with Quantums is that I instinctively play genuine, or close to it. The one string I did with Gunits was some really anti-slick bails and I just realized why my strings used to be so much longer, and it was because the trick density was probably cut in half. It took me until I was walking up the concrete steps back into my room and past the weird look I got as I crossed the path of some girl sweaty and shirtless, to realize that I was near genuine the entire time.
Vasek is such a god. So is Jorden.Jay Boychuk
I actually have been doing this recently, with exceptional results.Jay wrote:I cushion sometimes and then start bringing my foot up too soon, which causes stepping sets and swirls to hit my leg. A simple correction is to catch the stall and hold it lower before setting, but, it isn't physically easy.
Crazy write up.....maybe I'll be able to gety through some of it when its not midnight and I'm not a bit sleepy.
Man, footbag is the best thing ever. I don't care what arguments you can think about in favour of sliced bread, you're wrong. Footbag is still cooler.
Johnny and I are filming today, and for that yesterday's session I went through pretty much every concept I could do and drilled them. While there are things I want to hit for this calendar, and I know I can hit because I drill them every day, I just hope that some magic turns on and after I hit what I want, I can get a good string with some surprises here and there afterward.
I think that with the limiting factor of osis, I am progressing farther than what I could do with Gunits, especially with toe tricks, which is surprising because Gunits have the best toe ever. It is likely because my legs finally adapted to the decrease in weight, and now have the ability to control themselves at higher speeds without ripping my knees apart.
Dear Osis: Fuck you. Don't hide from me, I will drill you until you wont run off my foot anymore. You know that torque that you slid off of yesterday? I wanted to do a stepping set out of that. You ruined it. You will only dream of doing such a thing in the future. You know that zooming drill I punished you through yesterday? Get used to it. Suck it up, and actually stick for once. I thought we could be more than just friends.
Johnny and I are filming today, and for that yesterday's session I went through pretty much every concept I could do and drilled them. While there are things I want to hit for this calendar, and I know I can hit because I drill them every day, I just hope that some magic turns on and after I hit what I want, I can get a good string with some surprises here and there afterward.
I think that with the limiting factor of osis, I am progressing farther than what I could do with Gunits, especially with toe tricks, which is surprising because Gunits have the best toe ever. It is likely because my legs finally adapted to the decrease in weight, and now have the ability to control themselves at higher speeds without ripping my knees apart.
Dear Osis: Fuck you. Don't hide from me, I will drill you until you wont run off my foot anymore. You know that torque that you slid off of yesterday? I wanted to do a stepping set out of that. You ruined it. You will only dream of doing such a thing in the future. You know that zooming drill I punished you through yesterday? Get used to it. Suck it up, and actually stick for once. I thought we could be more than just friends.
Jay Boychuk
I feel this way about flip osis. Good-side osis is the girl I've been with since high-school, and that I've grown bored and accustom to, and flip osis is her hot friend that almost made out with me that one time at some house party. I want her, but can't quite make her mine. Hmmm.....here hoping for some threesomes in both of our futures....and no.....not together...jay wrote:Dear Osis: Fuck you. Don't hide from me, I will drill you until you wont run off my foot anymore. You know that torque that you slid off of yesterday? I wanted to do a stepping set out of that. You ruined it. You will only dream of doing such a thing in the future. You know that zooming drill I punished you through yesterday? Get used to it. Suck it up, and actually stick for once. I thought we could be more than just friends.
That was a brilliant response Sn.Greenwood.
Well, it is that time again, exam season. I am still getting my daily dose of footbag, but with having a mind on other things I am finding that I need to concentrate more on pushing all of that out of my head, and then going to shred for success.
I played with Jorden today, and since I play with him infrequently I can usually pick up on stuff I remember what I was or wasn't hitting the last time. What this is leading to, is the good news that I have indeed gotten better in the last 2 weeks, especially with my abilities in Quantums.
I am getting to push my limits again, on certain occasions which feels MUCH more rewarding, in contrast to thinking about every stall and trick with Quantums. I'm starting to drill things a bit more defined as well, so I am sticking with limited concepts per session. For the concepts that are harder on my body, I improve them when I go play with Johnny. Nukes, flails in particular. Man Johnny is the best thing to ever happen to footbag. In a nutshell, having Johnny to play with every week is really motivating and inspiring, since every shred he does things that I know no human has tried or done before in the same way. I am extremely excited to see where Johnny and I are at with footbag next september, assuming that we are still having weekly sessions until then.
I urge those who read this blog to think about something with their game that they are not content with, and reverse it completely. Like, I think about 2 months ago when everytime I tried an eggbeater or quantum set, it took too much effort and I dropped too often. While they aren't my strongest points, just hitting a toe blur mid run is more satisfying than anything else. Linking eggbeaters from whatever you please? Not there yet, but I imagine the day I am. It is an inspirational delusional world, but it makes life worth living.
A new link I did today: Jani->nuke muted ss clipper->ss flail. Two months ago, I couldn't furious, nuke, or flail to save my life, let alone link them. Drilling everyday and thinking about footbag constantly has let me get one step closer to flying. I really want to fly.
Well, it is that time again, exam season. I am still getting my daily dose of footbag, but with having a mind on other things I am finding that I need to concentrate more on pushing all of that out of my head, and then going to shred for success.
I played with Jorden today, and since I play with him infrequently I can usually pick up on stuff I remember what I was or wasn't hitting the last time. What this is leading to, is the good news that I have indeed gotten better in the last 2 weeks, especially with my abilities in Quantums.
I am getting to push my limits again, on certain occasions which feels MUCH more rewarding, in contrast to thinking about every stall and trick with Quantums. I'm starting to drill things a bit more defined as well, so I am sticking with limited concepts per session. For the concepts that are harder on my body, I improve them when I go play with Johnny. Nukes, flails in particular. Man Johnny is the best thing to ever happen to footbag. In a nutshell, having Johnny to play with every week is really motivating and inspiring, since every shred he does things that I know no human has tried or done before in the same way. I am extremely excited to see where Johnny and I are at with footbag next september, assuming that we are still having weekly sessions until then.
I urge those who read this blog to think about something with their game that they are not content with, and reverse it completely. Like, I think about 2 months ago when everytime I tried an eggbeater or quantum set, it took too much effort and I dropped too often. While they aren't my strongest points, just hitting a toe blur mid run is more satisfying than anything else. Linking eggbeaters from whatever you please? Not there yet, but I imagine the day I am. It is an inspirational delusional world, but it makes life worth living.
A new link I did today: Jani->nuke muted ss clipper->ss flail. Two months ago, I couldn't furious, nuke, or flail to save my life, let alone link them. Drilling everyday and thinking about footbag constantly has let me get one step closer to flying. I really want to fly.
Jay Boychuk
Today I had a session with a freedom 4 panel, because to play with those, in my opinion, you need more control than with a 32 panel. Why people recommend them to beginners, aside from their price is beyond me. Anyway, I did zooms with it because I find that you HAVE to stall the bag, and you can't cheat in any way. I got some better length drills with it, and then it clicked "Wow, it's been a month since I've used Quantums"...
So, I got my insoles and re-laced my camo Gunits just to see what would happen. I didn't feel ugly like last time I tried gunits, but I can't say I felt different really. Somehow I dropped just as many osis, and I screwed up just as many stepping sets, and my torques still weren't Vasek. I did notice that a few times I did a trick that I shouldn't have, such as a spinning clipper when I clearly didn't watch it hit my clipper properly. I guess that this means I'll stick to Quantums, because they support footbag and typically it makes the users style more clean and impressive I find.
Looks like I need to keep drilling along...
You win Zac Miley.
???????????
Edit..
I did some one shots with a sandman and a 32 for zooming, They'll be up sometime in the next 450 hours.
I'm also capturing footage for the Christmas Calendar, which is why it might take so long.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Second edit.
I was cutting my nails, and was somewhat annoyed that I haven't had an oreo milkshake since Cornell Jam with Matt Cross. I think I even blogged about that milkshake. Well, after google search, it turns out that I blogged about an oreo milkshake at the Jampionships too, but that is not the point. I have not had a MEMORABLE oreo milkshake, since Cornell with Matt Cross.
Here is this milkshake
So, I got my insoles and re-laced my camo Gunits just to see what would happen. I didn't feel ugly like last time I tried gunits, but I can't say I felt different really. Somehow I dropped just as many osis, and I screwed up just as many stepping sets, and my torques still weren't Vasek. I did notice that a few times I did a trick that I shouldn't have, such as a spinning clipper when I clearly didn't watch it hit my clipper properly. I guess that this means I'll stick to Quantums, because they support footbag and typically it makes the users style more clean and impressive I find.
Looks like I need to keep drilling along...
You win Zac Miley.
???????????
Edit..
I did some one shots with a sandman and a 32 for zooming, They'll be up sometime in the next 450 hours.
I'm also capturing footage for the Christmas Calendar, which is why it might take so long.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Second edit.
I was cutting my nails, and was somewhat annoyed that I haven't had an oreo milkshake since Cornell Jam with Matt Cross. I think I even blogged about that milkshake. Well, after google search, it turns out that I blogged about an oreo milkshake at the Jampionships too, but that is not the point. I have not had a MEMORABLE oreo milkshake, since Cornell with Matt Cross.
Here is this milkshake
Ok, so, that was over a year and whatever ago. I now live alone, in my own apartment with a blender that Johnny and Rishell gave me because they are awesome. Why the hell haven't I boughten a tub of icecream, oreos, and just made them to perfection? Can anyone understand this madness? I'm getting a damn oreo milkshake. Farewell.The food was something I couldn't pass up on, seeing as American Food>Canadian Food ANY day of the week. Milkshakes, cornbeef hash, buttersweet. Anyway, Matt Cross was the center of attention at my Table, because he is just such a confident guy.
Jay Boychuk
-
Eric Chang
- Fearless
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- Joined: 29 May 2006 23:16
- Location: San Jose, California
Vasek advised me not to use QuantumsZac Miley wrote:jay7 wrote:
You win Zac Miley.
I was standing around and he looked at me a went"You use Quantum?" and I was like "Yeah I wanted to try them out" he shook his head and hand and said "Never again"
So lavers it has been.
COME BACK TO LAVERS JAY! The Darkside beckons you!
Look a BLOG! That I never update
http://modified.in/footbag/viewtopic.php?t=16244
http://modified.in/footbag/viewtopic.php?t=16244
Ha, I will come back to Lavers once I get the super special spectacular splendid stupendous significantly saucy black pair from David at NYJ. Maybe. Depends if they live up to the hype, and how much I'll have to change my game AGAIN to Lavers. I imagine that I wouldn't have to work half as hard as to switch to Q's.
My Q's are dying by the way, I could probably rip off the sole by now. Just means I'll have to use my pink pair I guess.
So, Johnny and I ustreamed today, and I hit one or two tricks I'd like to mention here,
Barflyswirl. I drilled them yesterday, so I didn't worry about the flipside.
69. I footed flip a few times, how frustrating.
ERIK CHAN made a highlight video of the session. At the very beginning you can see the 69's.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U13JENiU ... hp?t=19733
Some ps whirls, what?
Run with spinning whirl (bs), some nukes, and ending on nova.
Nuke ducking clipper bs.
Both halves of Rubberman II.
Pdx whirl->whirling swirl*rpt->pdx whirl->symp whirl*rpt,
A toeblur*4 that felt, stupendous. I still have to work at getting consecutive toe blurs, but the *4 just felt more buttery than usual,
I can't say I hit anything cool with torques today, but I am happy I didn't drop a huge amount. I think I got 6 bs one run, and I got mobius bsos on command first try with no hesitation.
Stuff I need desperately to work on,
-> Rev Swirls. I think my best was 5 in a row flipside? Disgraceful. I only got far rev swirl both sides, maybe once in the session.
-> Nukes. So inconsistent,
-> Whirls. They don't feel like butter yet. I think I want to get 25 pdx whirls more than 4 times a session until NYJ.
-> Barflies / dd's. They are begging to be deeper and more controlled.
-> Stepping ducking. Where did it go? Probably with my units.
-> Furious. Again, I lack so hard in this department. I got sunil/jani bsos*2 with Gunits. [should clarify, that should be read "I hit that twice". ]Until I can break that record with Quantums I suck.
-> All toe components, outisde of pixie. I think I got a 20->40 contact pixie run with just about everything in it today, and that was fine. Quantum, Atomic and Fairy are just SO lacking. Like, Toeblur*4 is a highlight? Really? I dropped on flipside tap*2? That shouldn't happen. I mean, sure I can hit rubberman, but that isn't atomic. That is just like a bastardized version of what people think is toe play. I want to walk up and actually be able to hit atomic everything with Johnny, and not have a max of 1 quantum per string.....
I love footbag. So much room to just improve yourself, with no end in sight. Makes me wonder why I feel burnt out with school, and other life challenges after too much.
My Q's are dying by the way, I could probably rip off the sole by now. Just means I'll have to use my pink pair I guess.
So, Johnny and I ustreamed today, and I hit one or two tricks I'd like to mention here,
Barflyswirl. I drilled them yesterday, so I didn't worry about the flipside.
69. I footed flip a few times, how frustrating.
ERIK CHAN made a highlight video of the session. At the very beginning you can see the 69's.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U13JENiU ... hp?t=19733
Some ps whirls, what?
Run with spinning whirl (bs), some nukes, and ending on nova.
Nuke ducking clipper bs.
Both halves of Rubberman II.
Pdx whirl->whirling swirl*rpt->pdx whirl->symp whirl*rpt,
A toeblur*4 that felt, stupendous. I still have to work at getting consecutive toe blurs, but the *4 just felt more buttery than usual,
I can't say I hit anything cool with torques today, but I am happy I didn't drop a huge amount. I think I got 6 bs one run, and I got mobius bsos on command first try with no hesitation.
Stuff I need desperately to work on,
-> Rev Swirls. I think my best was 5 in a row flipside? Disgraceful. I only got far rev swirl both sides, maybe once in the session.
-> Nukes. So inconsistent,
-> Whirls. They don't feel like butter yet. I think I want to get 25 pdx whirls more than 4 times a session until NYJ.
-> Barflies / dd's. They are begging to be deeper and more controlled.
-> Stepping ducking. Where did it go? Probably with my units.
-> Furious. Again, I lack so hard in this department. I got sunil/jani bsos*2 with Gunits. [should clarify, that should be read "I hit that twice". ]Until I can break that record with Quantums I suck.
-> All toe components, outisde of pixie. I think I got a 20->40 contact pixie run with just about everything in it today, and that was fine. Quantum, Atomic and Fairy are just SO lacking. Like, Toeblur*4 is a highlight? Really? I dropped on flipside tap*2? That shouldn't happen. I mean, sure I can hit rubberman, but that isn't atomic. That is just like a bastardized version of what people think is toe play. I want to walk up and actually be able to hit atomic everything with Johnny, and not have a max of 1 quantum per string.....
I love footbag. So much room to just improve yourself, with no end in sight. Makes me wonder why I feel burnt out with school, and other life challenges after too much.
Jay Boychuk
-
zeroman13
- Post Master General
- Posts: 2385
- Joined: 17 Jan 2006 07:17
- Location: Somewhere in the desert!!!!!
- Contact:
It was fun watching you and Johnny today. Props on all the highlight's. I hope I get the chance to shred with you 2 one of these days.
Josh M.Wasabi wrote:Footbag is not materialistic; it's about challenging yourself and having fun at the same time.
My Website
Pm me for details about Munster Bags!
So yeah.... I already broke my pink Quantums...
I laced up my lavers with the weird insteps, and realized they were a half size too big...
Back to Gunits until I get some new shoes at NYJ.
This Really? Did BOTH of my pairs of quantums have to die as soon as I got used to them?
Dave's black Lavers better be good.
I laced up my lavers with the weird insteps, and realized they were a half size too big...
Back to Gunits until I get some new shoes at NYJ.
This Really? Did BOTH of my pairs of quantums have to die as soon as I got used to them?
Dave's black Lavers better be good.
Jay Boychuk
-
zeroman13
- Post Master General
- Posts: 2385
- Joined: 17 Jan 2006 07:17
- Location: Somewhere in the desert!!!!!
- Contact:
You should be able to get replacement shoes since they had defects. Talk with whoever you bought them from.
I'm still waiting for mine
I'm still waiting for mine
Josh M.Wasabi wrote:Footbag is not materialistic; it's about challenging yourself and having fun at the same time.
My Website
Pm me for details about Munster Bags!
