Jay's Blog.

[Kyle Hewitt]

you should really look up all the felix zenger shit you can find. man he was so good. if he didnt hurt his back he would of been on top by now because him and vasek were always neck and neck with stuff

[jay7]

Flavio's visit was surely a pleasure, which had a duration of 6 days before he headed towards the city of Montreal once more. There was some shred to be had, but the biggest impact that I think can come from his stay is just his attitude towards everything. If you want to talk about someone enjoying the "small things", look no further than Flaver-Flav.

Since his departure, I've been drilling once again and it feels incredible. For three days before he arrived, I took a break from footbag, which just itched and shivered my entire body. I had two exams in 3 days, and luckily enough for some reason, when I bent my knee's to support a clipper I could feel them..No pain, but you shouldn't "feel" your knee's. I am curious if perhaps the reasoning behind it was that, since I was getting little sleep (long study hours) and more stress than usual, perhaps that affected my bodies regeneration after shred or something. Then again, the more likely answer is that when you play every day for weeks on end, your body probably needs breaks. Good news is, no pain for the entire week, none at GRASS, and now I'm peachy keen once again.

GRASS was low-er key than last year, but still very personal and a great jam for hanging out with the east coast. Most of the "Jay Special" Flavio did of me was during a two man of Bevier doing everything possible. Having a 'private' session with Bevier is fantastic, and I envy Dr.D and Mr.Pipenberg for having the opportunity, but not latching onto it like a starved hyena observing a lowly sloth. That was the highlight of the jam I suppose for me, in terms of shred. Hanging out with Jorden, Matt, Paul, Chris, Father Anello, Pipenberg, Jack, Brian + was neat. There were also some players there who have been playing for only a year, and it was interesting seeing their patterns relate so directly onto mine, at the same time of playing. I signed my first Laver, and got a picture with them, and I think one of them is now a youtube subscriber, which is interesting to say the least.

What I'm really excited about however, is Montreal, Green Cup, USO and Worlds. I'm also nervous as all hell, because this summer I'm going to be maintaining a full-time job, more than half of which entails me working with steel toe boots the entire time. Last year, part time, I dealt with it, and played everyday still, so I hope I can do that this summer too. Preferably, I'd like to do well at all these tournaments, especially because I'll be part of a small group of Canadians at Worlds / USO and it would be really awesome to "represent" the nation, instead of just being a Canadian.

The drills I have done in the last 2 sessions..

Pixie eggbeater->pixie ss eggbeater, 5 contacts.
Pixie dlo->pixie ss dlo, 7 contacts.
Ripwalk->blurry drifter*5 contacts, *5 to seal the last step* many times
Quantum mirage->quantum ss mirage*rpt->atomic mirage->atomic ss mirage*rpt, first try.
Fairy ss mirage*16
Atomic illusion->atomic ss illusion*rpt (never tried before... )
Atomic ss pickup->fairy ss mirage->fairy ss mirage->atomic ss pickup->fairy ss mirage->atomic ss pickup->atomic ss pickup->fairy ss mirage. Very, weird, hip twisting, frustrating drill.
Spinning ducking clipper->gyro diving clipper*rpt->ducking osis->diving osis*rpt->ducking butter->diving butter*rpt->spinning butter->gyro butter->bag into wall, me saying "god damnit".
Brian bear style "pendulous" ripstein and revstein bsos. There is only one full dex on each though, the "set" is really just twisting your foot, and rolling the bag off it, in the direction of either a swirl or reverse swirl, and it 'looks' like a rip / revstein.
Flipside 'pendulous' legover*10
Drifter->pdx drifter*12 first try.

While I was doing laundry, I took the 1 minute hike across my building to the machines, and noticed they had 6 minutes left. So, sock-foot, I attempted rakes...It took me all 6 minutes to barefoot xbody rake->toe*rpt. Great way to boost self esteem.

[C-Fan]

Damn dude, tough drills.

I can't believe how many tournies you are going to this summer. How do you get the time off and the money to do them all? The fact that USO is a week before Worlds made it so that I had to choose one or the other. What is your summer job?

[EoghanMcDowell]

You're so flippin' good kid. That atomic ss pickup and fairy ss mirage drill is so ridiculous. Looking forward to seeing your personage at Green Cup.

tata.

Eoghan

[Johnny]

Car: check.
Insurance: check.
Gas: check.

What's your schedule?

[footjam_heger]

Jay, sorry for the late reply. But I just discovered your beautiful entry.
Thanks a lot for having me! It was great fun.
- Corafood hmm.. I thought about it on the way to Montreal and was looking everywhere for them. Guess what, I found some in Montreal
- weirdowatching haha
- hit finally double spinning clipper, flipside, even midrun
- jayspecial has good reputation in Boston
- people really love your game
- going crazy with RAKES myself
- I found some cool tim hortons here in montreal.. theyre somewhat hidden
- going to vancouver tomorrow.

so many more things tell, I am afraid theres not enough space here + it would take me forever.

Anyways, keep it up and stay in touch.

[mc]

hey buddy, I am super psyched that you and me and anssi make three! Worlds is gonna be great! and, it just occurred to me yesterday that you speak the language!!!! that is so huge to me.

I can't wait. You rule. we are gonna have a lot of fun hanging with everyone and shredding it up.

[Muffinman]

Sick, sick stuff Jay!!!

[jay7]

I'm not entirely sure what to think at the moment. This has been my first week of work, and so far from 6 days I've only played 4 of them, and two were less than enjoyable sessions, one from today with Mike Faille and Jorden. I really wish that my "bad" days would be a higher standard of play, as I think that is more or less what defines you as a shredder. When infinities feel "off", I think it may be a sign of not being in the best state for footbag, but it would be nice to have the mental resources to beat that.

I guess the only notable thing I hit today was bladerunner bs, and vortex*3, but both were groggy and didn't feel good. My average string length was, I believe, 3 contacts.

Well, looks like I'm going to go play with Johnny. I am going to muster up some strong shoulders, happy thoughts, and hit easy stuff and have a good time. I owe it to footbag to not end a day on a bad session, footbag means to much to me to get frustrated over. Nothing like footbag to pick up my spirits, about, footbag I guess

..............
Edit

So, I played with Johnny, and I played at a good, average level I suppose. I hit some runs with harder 4's and easy 5's, and I even got a run with two six's (blurry torque / torch-r-rack) and a run ending on maelstrom, which was swell. What made me most happy was that Johnny was making that bag his bitch, and he didn't even know it. Sooo many dense, hard, grinding, aunt jemima seal of approval links all over the place I can't remember them all. One that stood out to me, because it was random was ducking pdx drifter->ps whirl, out of, nowhere. Johnny is the man. After our session, I believe that we tied each other in pool, but I think he completely threw the last game or two, because he slaughtered me in the second one. Yeah, for those of you who are wondering, he has his own cue. It has flames, and it goes bump in the night; Be afraid.

[jay7]

I just had one of those sessions where, most of the stuff I had been working on previously just, came together far more quickly than the days before. It felt great, pleasing, and pretty much great all over.

However, I also know of a common disease in footbag, and that is thinking you are better than you really are. I come down from my session today, and say to myself "Moses! Look at all the highlights! I must be half as cool as that bear on the front of those peanut butter jars! Hell, Aunt Jemima would even giggle if she knew what the quantums on my feet allowed me to do"... But, then reality comes in and I say "But wait, I took 10+ tries to hit that drill, that came "easier" than the days before. And hey, that bsos was bails and more bails!"

To overcome this disease, I think the cure is more practise, and more reality checks while playing with other players. Recently I played with Jorden, I believe the last blog post, and as you know I thought I played poorly, and was completely unsatisfied with my performance. The fact is, when I go to Green Cup and have Steve Goldberg watching me, Mulroney, Irish, Smith, Clavens, and Bevier busting out, I wont be able to hang in any of their circles, without getting all negative nancy on how I'm not playing as well as I should be.

So, here is a mental note, and somewhat public announcement that I will put my best efforts into not grumbling to myself mid-circle, and whatnot. I can name at least, 320 people who have said to me "Man, you really have to stop grumbling in circles, it's creepy"...I'd rather not have the god's and complete legends of footbag think of me as the lawn-gnome gone wild.

I've hit probably half of the challenges in my challenge thread, so soon I plan on doing a challenge video for it. It will feel good to knock off a good portion of them, with video and ease. Go feet go.

[Zac Miley]

So, here is a mental note, and somewhat public announcement that I will put my best efforts into not grumbling to myself mid-circle, and whatnot. I can name at least, 320 people who have said to me "Man, you really have to stop grumbling in circles, it's creepy"...I'd rather not have the god's and complete legends of footbag think of me as the lawn-gnome gone wild.
.

Not creepy, unnecessary.

[mc]

Jay,

I like how crazy and grumbling you get in circles. It's like how you hop around when people are busting, it's just a sign of your intense love of footbag.

I also grumble and act weird in circles. Don't worry about it. You are seriously the most passionate footbagger I know, and you shouldn't be ashamed of it. I think it's awesome.

[Muffinman]

I like how crazy and grumbling you get in circles. It's like how you hop around when people are busting, it's just a sign of your intense love of footbag.

Haha. I love when Jay does that too.

[Anz]

Sometimes I'm a bit scared. Just a bit though.

It's funny to see on videos

[Senor Grommet]

Since the point of shredding in a circle is to collectively lend "energy" to each other, when a player is so self-absorbed that all he does is think about himself even when he doesn't have the bag, it is a sign to other players of selfishness and self-absorbedness. It is a courtesy to watch other players, to enjoy their runs, rather to think about what you did wrong or why you aren't playing well.

I can understand why players might not like the grumbling.

I think players often play the best when they feel that they have nothing to prove, and just allow themselves to have fun.

[acxel22]

I like your reactions the best, it's fun to see and it proves how motivated you are.

That's the way I take it.

[jay7]

Well, it has now been one week since I was in California, and the idea was that, in one week, my back would have recovered enough to drill basics, and whatnot. Apparently, this is not the case. I just sessioned for about, 6 minutes, doing kicks to start, then some toes, then some clippers, then some ss mirages, and my back definitely doesn't need to be playing footbag. Left foot clippers put stress on the area, so I figured "well, I'll just do small, easy slow ones to warm the area up", but, after about 10 of those it started feeling crampy again. Then after that, toe stalls made it ache a bit, and then, here I am writing to you folks.

It is also, very odd, now that I seem to have developed a new "symptom" for the back pain. Initially, the muscle around the area hurt. So, I figured "sweet, some ice and avoiding tricks and I'll be dancing", but then once the muscle was good, I noticed it was bone.. So, I went to a chiropractor, and then it was "a week from now, you'll be good enough to do some light stuff"..So, that was dandy. However, now my back cracks. Not like "Hey, you just cracked your back by cranking it in some direction after a weird sleeping position", but rather, when I stretch in a few ways, there is a sharp cracking sound, but I feel no crack.

Perhaps I should also mention how this all happened. It isn't very special, and that is the annoying part. I was warming up with Cale, Eoghan, and Jeff and I was not really doing so hot. One of those times when the bag just doesn't feel right, you've got a headache, but it's the first session of the tournament. About 20 minutes into warmup, I finally was feeling well enough to do some runs, instead of links and warmup-drills. So, I had my first good string. I recall putting some variety into it, and then I said "Hey, this feels like a good time for a symp. dlo", so, I look at my right toe, set the bag, symp mirage and legover the bag, and then set for the butterfly (dimwalk?) and then handcatch. My back just grumbled, very quickly and said "VERY LOCALIZED CHARLIE HORSE" feeling. With that, was the reason that I thought it was merely muscle pain. It was just really odd, because it was on a normal trick, I landed it fine and on my toes, and played out of it, but for some reason the lower left spot on my back just gave me a big anti-round of applause for my efforts.

So yeah. Montreal is in a week or so, which isn't super encouraging. The plan is to not do any sideline shred, but just do routines, stitch, maybe film, and socialize with awesome people. Best case scenario, my back feels good, I do well in routines, and can compete in circle.

Oh, and the kicker to all of this is, that I have to use Gunits from now on. I wouldn't call the last, 6 months of quantums a complete waste, because I definitely corrected some bad habits... Thank you reebok for having good support built within your shoes.

Because I can't really use my stability for any real working out, I guess I'll just ride the stationary-bike for exercise. This last week has been a real drag, going from 2 hours of shred everyday, to working on a computer modeling car parts. But hey, I've modeled 70 so far, and finished my first box of them. I suppose that, for the next few months I will also only shred 4 days a week, which leaves me for some extra-curricular activity time. I spoke with Jorden about some stuff he does, and I might pick it up. For the 10 minutes I spoke to him the other day, I was really glad I could. He's great.

[C-Fan]

I'm no doctor, but after reading:

toe stalls made it ache a bit

but then once the muscle was good, I noticed it was bone..

when I stretch in a few ways, there is a sharp cracking sound, but I feel no crack.

...I was really worried to read:

The plan is to not do any sideline shred, but just do routines,

... I do well in routines, and can compete in circle.

for the next few months I will also only shred 4 days a week,

Honestly, it sounds like you got hurt pretty bad, and it doesn't sound like you're taking enough time off to heal. Competing when it hurts to do toe stalls? "Only" playing 4 times a week? I'm worried... be careful Jay.

[Lycanthrope]

agreed, ken.

when its more constructive to sit on your ass, that's what you should be doing.

[Jorden]

Yah, seriously Jay.

4 times a week is great if you're at 100%, but clearly this is not the case.

Your own body is not something you want to be taking chances with!