kevin regamey is incorrect... youre not the shit.
youre *The Shit*. capital letters completely necessary.
Jay's Blog.
I really enjoyed the last page, and first post of this one. I'm not exactly sure how to respond, other than tossing a thanks up in the air and hoping someone gnaws at it for a while.
I'm going to be honest, shit needs to hit the fan soon. I woke up this morning, and it just felt like it was going to be another great day. Wake up, make some awesome breakfast, do some homework, talk to some friends, do some more homework, shred, eat a mouth watering dinner, talk to some more friends, watch some shred, and then write on the Fizzied. Last weekend was much like this as well. Last weekend I spoke to Asmus, Olaf, Tuukka, Anssi, Goldberg, dreamt about Vasek, spoke to Zeb about how he should fondle Jim, went to an old friends birthday-get-together and made some creation of strawberry+apple crumble + home made whipped cream, did a bunch of studying and homework, and everything was good. This week, I had two midterms, did well on both, got my shit done, and played everyday for about two hours, one day three. Hell, last Sunday I even had breakfast with Johnny Suderman, who gets to do that? He ordered a club sandwich by the way.
I was talking to Father Cleaver today, and realized how simply awesome the state of things are at the moment. This is the moment when Gandalf pokes Frodo in the ribs and lets him know he has to almost die for a ring, or when Ford Prefect just happens to let Arthur Dent know his earth will be cleared for a highway, or when baby Simba finds out he needs to kick some ass because his deranged uncle found it clever to assassinate his father. Like, just when everything is going well, pleasant, no worries, kapow. Something has to screw up soon. I'm pretty content with just watching footage, eating, studying and talking footbag with the cool kids, but I'm pretty sure shit needs to hit the fan. I am doing some more working out, my back feels good because of it, I'm stretching and doing more ankle exercises than before, so again, I feel good. I'm eating healthily, taking care of myself and whatnot, so no injuries are really in the horizon. I'm going to be going on a footbag trip in 7 days, that will last for 7 days, so maybe I'll drink a bad milkshake or something and keel over.
But seriously, could life get any better? Heck yes it could. I still watch Dr. D in his 2006 videos, tearing it up, and know that I only get little glimpses of those moments in my sessions, let alone entire strings of it. Have you watched Three Shoes recently? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwpC4Ndujgs&NR=1 It is always his Jam. I recently watched Dinner, the Vasek video with the subway and the three-man superfly between the dictators. I was really happy when I thought to myself "There wasn't a thing I couldn't do in that video, link or otherwise" and then I remembered "oh wait, montage rake". Real buzzkill. That doesn't mean I'm going to go lace up my shoes and rape my knees trying it, I know I wont hit that trick for sometime, but it just irks me a little when things like that happen. It is also annoying, because I don't really hit things that anyone would want to copy yet. Since I've built my game solely on copying other people's strengths, I still don't really see myself buried anywhere within. When I'm playing I'll think "ok, Anssi style" and pop out some double dexes, or "Felix style" and do a rev swirl out of a blender, or maybe even Ianek style and do a flying toe from spinning clipper.. The thoughts that go through my head as I shred seem to be like that, and a part of me loves that, and a part of me wonders if I should break away. I feel like if I just copy everyone else, then it is kind of guaranteed that I'll have decent strings or links that people like, but if I just wander into Jay-land and do whatever comes to mind, like, is that cool? I know someone is thinking "You bo-tard, be creative and express yourself through shred", but what I dream about and envision is still a level of play far beyond what I'm capable of. I love daydreaming between classes about 90 contact strings, pure genuine and tons of cool links, but when was the last time that was reality?
Another part of me wonders if I should begin helping footbag more. It is kind of cool, because at any given moment I've got Homework, Studying, Real Shred, and then footbag projects. I read somewhere recently, that dopamine works at peak levels when you anticipate, and isn't actually pumped through your loins when you get the reward, so procrastinating a bit with footbag projects is almost fun, because you always have that little rush. I'm not sure if anyone feels the same way about that though. I do like helping other people in footbag when I can though, because footbag is more or less the closest thing I feel to, urm, love?. Just that unconditional bliss world where everyone is completely badass, you always have a friend to talk to, and you wake up in the morning with purpose, rather than dreading brushing your teeth and showing your face to the outside world. I think I'm going to try to do some more random acts of kindness / volunteering within the community, because I did one little act at the beginning of this week, and it has yet to surface from the recipient, but I again have that anticipation rush for when it actually happens. I find the coolest people I know in footbag are the people who selflessly do things... Run tournaments, make websites, help beginners, stitch, judge, make videos, and just make things happen. Like think of it, Tuukka, Mosher, Goldberg, Anssi, Ianek, Jorden, Dan Ednie, are all people who give back, and they all are fucking awesome.
I need to be better at footbag than I am. Again, parts of my ideal shred body are surfacing, hitting the weird links midstring, even the little stuff like twirl->rotor are just so much fun. However, I still haven't hit 5 fearless, still don't step out of fluxes, can't pop out furious with confidence, don't have the strength for hard pdx torque links, don't do hard quantum links,...The list goes on. So much work to do. Even when I get flashes of cool shred, I know that people like Penske hit that back in 2004, Vasek did it while nursing, Milan learned it at age 16, Jorden could do it with two bags, etc. It seems impossible to 'catch 'em all', but the more I feel it is impossible, the more I want it and train to get it. Something about the present state of freestyle irritates me, how there seem to be so few people outside Poland pushing the limits, and yet somehow the Jorden/Penske generation circa 2006 is still so far ahead of any of us, who train every day.
Exept Milan. How the fuck did that happen? I have the utmost respect for Milan, he drills hard, and is basically killing himself and Russian's to get godly at freestyle, and he's at the top because of it. I remember asking him at worlds how he trains, how often, what things he focuses on, what he eats, etc etc, and he has no secret (that he told me, anyway
). Somehow he just drilled a hole right through that awkward stage.. That stage where, sure you can hit some big stuff, some cool links, but the four fearless you're happy to hit simply isn't what it takes to be in BAP or win competitions. I mean, I've trained decently hard for 3.5 years, and I'm just hitting four fearless links now. Milan, playing for 4.5 years, is hitting 15+ fearless. I'd like to think in a year I'd be near his level, but, when he was playing 3.5 years he had made Routine Finals twice. At worlds this year I better be good at footbag. If I'm still not good enough to make semifinals in circle, baby bottles will be popped. Like, did you notice the USO footage recently uploaded? You'll see that Kyle Hewitt, who doesn't play footbag, made semifinals and I didn't. How is that possible? I need to somehow get drills for mental game, because clearly it isn't strong enough.
I suppose I should write a highlight I feel good about. A few months ago, I was working on double spinning clipper, and suddenly my mind imprinted wrong technique on it, and it was really hard. The more I tried, the harder it became. So, I gave up on it, to come back to it another day. Randomly, yesterday was that other day. I hit ripwalk->double spinning clipper->ripwalk*3->double spinning clipper->ripwalk. I find that when I do too much "hard" spinning, (really just scorpions tail, void, or marius) my ankle starts to hurt. So, since I did spinning whirl*5 both sides also that day, I decided I'd take the day off today and not do double spinning.
Rhubarb Rhubarb Rhubarb Rhubarb.
Here's a really old picture.
I'm going to be honest, shit needs to hit the fan soon. I woke up this morning, and it just felt like it was going to be another great day. Wake up, make some awesome breakfast, do some homework, talk to some friends, do some more homework, shred, eat a mouth watering dinner, talk to some more friends, watch some shred, and then write on the Fizzied. Last weekend was much like this as well. Last weekend I spoke to Asmus, Olaf, Tuukka, Anssi, Goldberg, dreamt about Vasek, spoke to Zeb about how he should fondle Jim, went to an old friends birthday-get-together and made some creation of strawberry+apple crumble + home made whipped cream, did a bunch of studying and homework, and everything was good. This week, I had two midterms, did well on both, got my shit done, and played everyday for about two hours, one day three. Hell, last Sunday I even had breakfast with Johnny Suderman, who gets to do that? He ordered a club sandwich by the way.
I was talking to Father Cleaver today, and realized how simply awesome the state of things are at the moment. This is the moment when Gandalf pokes Frodo in the ribs and lets him know he has to almost die for a ring, or when Ford Prefect just happens to let Arthur Dent know his earth will be cleared for a highway, or when baby Simba finds out he needs to kick some ass because his deranged uncle found it clever to assassinate his father. Like, just when everything is going well, pleasant, no worries, kapow. Something has to screw up soon. I'm pretty content with just watching footage, eating, studying and talking footbag with the cool kids, but I'm pretty sure shit needs to hit the fan. I am doing some more working out, my back feels good because of it, I'm stretching and doing more ankle exercises than before, so again, I feel good. I'm eating healthily, taking care of myself and whatnot, so no injuries are really in the horizon. I'm going to be going on a footbag trip in 7 days, that will last for 7 days, so maybe I'll drink a bad milkshake or something and keel over.
But seriously, could life get any better? Heck yes it could. I still watch Dr. D in his 2006 videos, tearing it up, and know that I only get little glimpses of those moments in my sessions, let alone entire strings of it. Have you watched Three Shoes recently? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwpC4Ndujgs&NR=1 It is always his Jam. I recently watched Dinner, the Vasek video with the subway and the three-man superfly between the dictators. I was really happy when I thought to myself "There wasn't a thing I couldn't do in that video, link or otherwise" and then I remembered "oh wait, montage rake". Real buzzkill. That doesn't mean I'm going to go lace up my shoes and rape my knees trying it, I know I wont hit that trick for sometime, but it just irks me a little when things like that happen. It is also annoying, because I don't really hit things that anyone would want to copy yet. Since I've built my game solely on copying other people's strengths, I still don't really see myself buried anywhere within. When I'm playing I'll think "ok, Anssi style" and pop out some double dexes, or "Felix style" and do a rev swirl out of a blender, or maybe even Ianek style and do a flying toe from spinning clipper.. The thoughts that go through my head as I shred seem to be like that, and a part of me loves that, and a part of me wonders if I should break away. I feel like if I just copy everyone else, then it is kind of guaranteed that I'll have decent strings or links that people like, but if I just wander into Jay-land and do whatever comes to mind, like, is that cool? I know someone is thinking "You bo-tard, be creative and express yourself through shred", but what I dream about and envision is still a level of play far beyond what I'm capable of. I love daydreaming between classes about 90 contact strings, pure genuine and tons of cool links, but when was the last time that was reality?
Another part of me wonders if I should begin helping footbag more. It is kind of cool, because at any given moment I've got Homework, Studying, Real Shred, and then footbag projects. I read somewhere recently, that dopamine works at peak levels when you anticipate, and isn't actually pumped through your loins when you get the reward, so procrastinating a bit with footbag projects is almost fun, because you always have that little rush. I'm not sure if anyone feels the same way about that though. I do like helping other people in footbag when I can though, because footbag is more or less the closest thing I feel to, urm, love?. Just that unconditional bliss world where everyone is completely badass, you always have a friend to talk to, and you wake up in the morning with purpose, rather than dreading brushing your teeth and showing your face to the outside world. I think I'm going to try to do some more random acts of kindness / volunteering within the community, because I did one little act at the beginning of this week, and it has yet to surface from the recipient, but I again have that anticipation rush for when it actually happens. I find the coolest people I know in footbag are the people who selflessly do things... Run tournaments, make websites, help beginners, stitch, judge, make videos, and just make things happen. Like think of it, Tuukka, Mosher, Goldberg, Anssi, Ianek, Jorden, Dan Ednie, are all people who give back, and they all are fucking awesome.
I need to be better at footbag than I am. Again, parts of my ideal shred body are surfacing, hitting the weird links midstring, even the little stuff like twirl->rotor are just so much fun. However, I still haven't hit 5 fearless, still don't step out of fluxes, can't pop out furious with confidence, don't have the strength for hard pdx torque links, don't do hard quantum links,...The list goes on. So much work to do. Even when I get flashes of cool shred, I know that people like Penske hit that back in 2004, Vasek did it while nursing, Milan learned it at age 16, Jorden could do it with two bags, etc. It seems impossible to 'catch 'em all', but the more I feel it is impossible, the more I want it and train to get it. Something about the present state of freestyle irritates me, how there seem to be so few people outside Poland pushing the limits, and yet somehow the Jorden/Penske generation circa 2006 is still so far ahead of any of us, who train every day.
Exept Milan. How the fuck did that happen? I have the utmost respect for Milan, he drills hard, and is basically killing himself and Russian's to get godly at freestyle, and he's at the top because of it. I remember asking him at worlds how he trains, how often, what things he focuses on, what he eats, etc etc, and he has no secret (that he told me, anyway
). Somehow he just drilled a hole right through that awkward stage.. That stage where, sure you can hit some big stuff, some cool links, but the four fearless you're happy to hit simply isn't what it takes to be in BAP or win competitions. I mean, I've trained decently hard for 3.5 years, and I'm just hitting four fearless links now. Milan, playing for 4.5 years, is hitting 15+ fearless. I'd like to think in a year I'd be near his level, but, when he was playing 3.5 years he had made Routine Finals twice. At worlds this year I better be good at footbag. If I'm still not good enough to make semifinals in circle, baby bottles will be popped. Like, did you notice the USO footage recently uploaded? You'll see that Kyle Hewitt, who doesn't play footbag, made semifinals and I didn't. How is that possible? I need to somehow get drills for mental game, because clearly it isn't strong enough. I suppose I should write a highlight I feel good about. A few months ago, I was working on double spinning clipper, and suddenly my mind imprinted wrong technique on it, and it was really hard. The more I tried, the harder it became. So, I gave up on it, to come back to it another day. Randomly, yesterday was that other day. I hit ripwalk->double spinning clipper->ripwalk*3->double spinning clipper->ripwalk. I find that when I do too much "hard" spinning, (really just scorpions tail, void, or marius) my ankle starts to hurt. So, since I did spinning whirl*5 both sides also that day, I decided I'd take the day off today and not do double spinning.
Rhubarb Rhubarb Rhubarb Rhubarb.
Here's a really old picture.
Jay Boychuk
You and me both Jay. It takes more than those things to be a great freestyler, and you have what it takes with tricks. I think you're right though when you said you need to develop your "mental" game. I've been developing a theory about the "Shred Ego", if you want my thoughts on it PM me and I'd be happy to give you some feedback.jay7 wrote:... still don't step out of fluxes, can't pop out furious with confidence, don't have the strength for hard pdx torque links, don't do hard quantum links,...
Other than that, good on you for training so much. It can be rough on your body, but it seems like you're doing a lot of maintenance on your body at the same time to balance out the damage.
I miss you man, maybe we'll see each other soon
Nick Landes
Proudly Representing Fourkast Footbag Co.
http://www.fourkast.com
Portland Blog
All the ladies love Matt Cross because Johnny Depp + Footbag = Matt Cross
Mastery is the combination of knowledge and practical experience
Proudly Representing Fourkast Footbag Co.
http://www.fourkast.com
Portland Blog
All the ladies love Matt Cross because Johnny Depp + Footbag = Matt Cross
Mastery is the combination of knowledge and practical experience
-
mahhkohh
- Flower Child
- Posts: 1944
- Joined: 22 Feb 2005 08:36
- Location: near stuttgart,germany
- Contact:
if you find a good way to do so (i guess there is no masterplan since we all work differently) tell me. i have that same problem, like in berlin a few eeks ago, i was in a real good mood, shred hard all day, do some of those links and tricks i only dreamt of before, and then i went to play circle comp and... complete failure. not one decent string.jay7 wrote: I need to somehow get drills for mental game, because clearly it isn't strong enough.
i hope i make it to worlds, would be wicked to see your breakthrou worlds live
come get your mÃcrÖ¶ bag today
buy one of my bags and help finance my guitar lessons
mäcrö hartig
buy one of my bags and help finance my guitar lessons
mäcrö hartig
Sorry for the wait: http://modified.in/footbag/viewtopic.php?t=21076jay7 wrote: because I did one little act at the beginning of this week, and it has yet to surface from the recipient
John Goode
Hey Fizzied,
I just went through a whirlwind week on the west coast, for my 'reading week' / spring break. I had fun at Goldberg's, and then went to Vegas Jam and I don't regret any part of it, what-so-ever. Footbag is awesome, and the more I get, the more legendary it becomes.
For some reason I decided to post some pictures of my footbag collection, for that reason. I didn't include shirts socks or shorts, because there are simply wayyy to many. Here are bags and shoes though. I doubt people care for "high res", so I just shrunk them to not annoy Anssi's browser window when he opens this blog next.
I'm assuming most of you can tell what shoes are what. My "pride and joy" shoes are the black lavers, black gunits (modded), black Clima's, and new-to-me Lavers directly beside the climas, which are Boon Penske's->Jim Penske's lavers, at 13+ years old. They are ripped to shit, have no soles, and just wreak of nemesis.
I love this bag, more than any other, and I can't play with it. Johnny Suderman made this as a present to me, which has a slight bit of history to it. He needs virgins, stat.
So yeah, here is a collection picture. Reads like a book (i.e top left -> accross and then down a line)
Black / Black+white sandbags, first bags I ever got. Green / Black on top was ordered about a year ago. Very first 32, a footfighter. Two Pengpeng bags, Mosher Bag, Dorsh Bag, Brian Bear bag, Brian Dennis Bag, Marco bag, {new line} marco bag, alf Bag, Cale McCoy Bag, Fourkast Chainmail, fourkast 4 panel, sergey Kozlov, 4 David Clavens bags {through next line}, Two Matt Cross bags, 15 Johnny Bags.
When did that happen? I'm missing about 3 32s, and my first pair of Lavers from that picture.
I figure, looking at my closet, I probably have about 30 footbag t shirts, 6 sweaters, and 15 pairs of shorts. I think about 8 DVD's, and 3 VHS's too.
I love looking at all of it, and remembering exactly how I got it, and how cool it was to use all of it. *fuzzy feeling*.
I don't think anything good I hit in California/Vegas was on film, which kind of sucks. We'll see though.
-Jay
I just went through a whirlwind week on the west coast, for my 'reading week' / spring break. I had fun at Goldberg's, and then went to Vegas Jam and I don't regret any part of it, what-so-ever. Footbag is awesome, and the more I get, the more legendary it becomes.
For some reason I decided to post some pictures of my footbag collection, for that reason. I didn't include shirts socks or shorts, because there are simply wayyy to many. Here are bags and shoes though. I doubt people care for "high res", so I just shrunk them to not annoy Anssi's browser window when he opens this blog next.
I'm assuming most of you can tell what shoes are what. My "pride and joy" shoes are the black lavers, black gunits (modded), black Clima's, and new-to-me Lavers directly beside the climas, which are Boon Penske's->Jim Penske's lavers, at 13+ years old. They are ripped to shit, have no soles, and just wreak of nemesis.
I love this bag, more than any other, and I can't play with it. Johnny Suderman made this as a present to me, which has a slight bit of history to it. He needs virgins, stat.
So yeah, here is a collection picture. Reads like a book (i.e top left -> accross and then down a line)
Black / Black+white sandbags, first bags I ever got. Green / Black on top was ordered about a year ago. Very first 32, a footfighter. Two Pengpeng bags, Mosher Bag, Dorsh Bag, Brian Bear bag, Brian Dennis Bag, Marco bag, {new line} marco bag, alf Bag, Cale McCoy Bag, Fourkast Chainmail, fourkast 4 panel, sergey Kozlov, 4 David Clavens bags {through next line}, Two Matt Cross bags, 15 Johnny Bags.
When did that happen? I'm missing about 3 32s, and my first pair of Lavers from that picture.
I figure, looking at my closet, I probably have about 30 footbag t shirts, 6 sweaters, and 15 pairs of shorts. I think about 8 DVD's, and 3 VHS's too.
I love looking at all of it, and remembering exactly how I got it, and how cool it was to use all of it. *fuzzy feeling*.
I don't think anything good I hit in California/Vegas was on film, which kind of sucks. We'll see though.
-Jay
Jay Boychuk
-
zeroman13
- Post Master General
- Posts: 2385
- Joined: 17 Jan 2006 07:17
- Location: Somewhere in the desert!!!!!
- Contact:
Holy crap that bag is GREAT!! What material did Sr. Suderman use for the pents? I would really like to know! Also, do you think it's playable, like at all?jay7 wrote:
I love this bag, more than any other, and I can't play with it. Johnny Suderman made this as a present to me, which has a slight bit of history to it. He needs virgins, stat.
-Jay
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!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbJyaO97QPY[/youtube]
Erik Chan wrote:I just realized something yesterday, Jay Boychuk.
If they needed someone to play the role of Michael Cera in a movie about the life of Michael Cera... you would play Michael Cera. The similarity is uncanny.
I suppose that is the first celebrity comparison I have ever had. You win that achievement Mr. Chan. So, I've been doing some thinking recently, and decided to make a post about it.
Part A: Grad School. If you don't care about US citizenship, and my schooling issues, skip to part B.
I like San Francisco. I like Goldberg's pizza, and living in such an opportunistic area would be cool, especially because Papa Cleaver would be living in San Francisco in 2 years time, anyhow. So, when the thought of going to Stanford for Grad School came around, it just made perfect sense. One of the greatest schools in the US of A for Engineering, Footbag hotspot, weather, etc. Looking into the prices however, it costs $60,000 /year to attend. I talked around, and apparently no one pays full price, and scholarships / whatever else are usually received to attend, but still, if I got half off, I'd still be paying $30,000*2 for the two years. Ridiculous. So, I thought "well, if I got US citizenship, it might make more sense because it would be less money, etc etc". I looked into that. Here is what the ultimate country in the world does to people, like me, looking to get citizenship...
1.) Take taxes on income, MADE IN CANADA,
2.) When I die, they take HALF of my savings. So, when I'm 90 if I have 4 million dollars in the bank, they take 2 million, and say "Hey Jay, not only did I tax you for your entire life, but now as Uncle Sam I am officially inserting myself into your beloved wife".
3.) If you try to renounce your citizenship, there are 5-6 meetings scheduled 2-3 months apart, tons of paperwork, and if they deem that you are renouncing because of taxes, they rape you.
So, unless somehow Stanford gives me a full ride, or I pay the equivalent price I would to get the same degree in Canada, I don't think that will work out. In Canadialand, if I stayed at my undergraduate school I could get my masters in one year and pay well under $10,000, which, seems to make more sense than to live my footbag life to it's fullest.
Part B: The way I see it, my footbag life kind of has an expiry date. I know that I have two more years to "give 'er shit" and play everyday feasible, and try to get to the best that I possibly can. If I can get into grad school, that lifetime then increases by one year, or two if I happen to get into a school other than the one I am currently attending. Either way, I imagine that once I get a full time job, working as an engineer, I will likely just have far less time for footbag. Quitting would probably not make sense, but I imagine my footbag peak would be the day before I start my full time career job, simply because working 40->50 hours a week in a stressful environment, as a real life adult, would not allow for top-notch footbag training. I also recognize, that up until this point, I have always put passion before, female passion. I do envision myself with a wife, perhaps a Jay 2.0 in the future. If I'm going to be getting a full time career, and settle outside of passions like footbag, it only makes sense in my head that, that is the path I take... People always say to me "ah, you have tons of time for girls", but, I feel like between the ages of 20 and 30, should be a time to get my shit together in that department.
Maybe I'm wrong, when I work in the summers I do work the 40 hours a week, on my feet in steel toe boots, and I can still train for worlds as I want to, even if it does take a few weeks of adjustment. Maybe as someone who sits in a chair for half the day and thinks of how to solve problems, footbag would be a perfect outlet to get exercise, and use the energy I don't expend thinking all day. However, if that was the case, I would further isolate any quest for reproducing. I just feel like, if there is any sly chance that in 2 or 3 years time, that I can see something like a "World Title" at the end of the tunnel, it would be retarded not to "go" for it. So, if I could still hack and have a full time career, I should still go for it, over something like female interests. Ramble Ramble Rhubarb Rhubarb.
Part C: As for footbag, I'm just plugging along trying to get good. I really like the times when like, I come home from waking up early, studying, going to classes, studying, writing a midterm, getting home at 10:00 pm, and standing in my door. My inner monologue reads something like this "*eyes shift to computer* I could waste time on the computer, watch a show and go to bed. *Eyes shift to fridge* "I could eat, since I skipped dinner for the test, and go to bed... *Eyes shift to shoes* Or I could play footbag, and try to actually get good one day" and then as if I was cool enough to put sunglasses on, I grab my shoes and go play for two hours.
I'm still very unsure as to where my potential lies, but I don't want to do too much thinking about it because I don't want any subconscious thoughts to limit me. However, on the contrary, perhaps I should think about it, because it is an important aspect of a career... I remember hearing one time that Yax wanted to beat Vasek, and trained really hard for that, and even though Yacine was incredible, especially for 2003, when you watch his 2003 finals routine versus Vasek, you can just see that he fell short of being at that top tier of world champion-ness. A blurry whirl, some atomic, and a completely isolated ps whirl were his highlights, and Vasek had blurry/normal/ps/spinning whirls, pdx torques, and about 3x the variety as him, dropless, and he did it without even choreographing beforehand. Maybe you, the reader are looking at this post and saying "Jay is like Yax, I can see he simply isn't world champion material, he will never beat Milan, etc", but in that weird way, I feel like I almost don't want to hear that. I remember hearing that the Ontario crew said I might get as good as Johnny one day, but probably not Jorden, and that just made me want to become Jorden even more, but maybe they were right. Any of you who feel experienced in footbag, it would be nice to hear your opinion on the matter. This isn't pleading for blog posts, like, I sincerely would like to know what you think I should have as a mindset, and pm's / emails / blog posts / whatever would be appreciated.
Perhaps I'll wake up tomorrow and my mind will run through more simplistic topics, and I wont care anymore, and will just pick up a footbag and play because I love how it makes me feel. Maybe I'll feel like thinking about this more, and ultimately do myself more harm than good. Maybe it is worth thinking about? I'm going in circles...
Some shred-points,
1.) I can see spanishfly*4 in the near future. I got spanishfly b2b 'bsos' today.
2.) I can see a beast in the near future, without whirls and without symposium, heavily utilizing osis and dexes. Many good 2.5 contacts on both sides for a few combos.
3.) I'm really working on symple swirl/rev swirl type stuff, as I feel prefix->rev/normal symp swirls are under used in my game. Fairy ss symple rev swirl->janiwalker would be my afternoon delight.
4.) My toe game is starting to slip I suppose, I haven't concentrated on Quantum or atomic really recently. While I am annoyed at that, "the next step" in my toe game is just really symposium, and more dexes.. But with those concepts, which are hard on the body, I think they should be worked on over time. Continuing to do pixie/atomic/fairy/quantum drills as warmup will suffice I suppose.
5.) I'm close to thinking that paradox blender is a "staple" component in my game, which is beaauuutiful. I've always envied Vasek 2004, just ripping those blenders, and after about 2 months of warming up with paradox blenders, they are close to being muscle memory, which is awesome.
6.) I need to figure out paradox torques, because my technique now isn't great. Like, for example, I was trying blurry torque->locomotion->food processor, and most of the time my locomotion was really rushed and I couldn't concentrate on delaying the bag. I think if I could, somehow figure out how to crank my body harder and faster, I could get stepping ducking and whatnot out of them. I just, over 2 sessions, can't yet figure it out.
7.) My spinning is getting tighter, but perhaps closer to slurry. I've been figuring out how to get scorpion's tails in a row again, with more control and more like Vasek than before.. However, my one side just can't seem to get as tight as the other, but again, at the expense of being cleaner maybe that is a good thing. I've video'd, and I'm not frogging it as they say, but it isn't set->spin either. *shrugs*.
8.) I could go on for days. Sorry.
I think a lot about footbag, I *think*.
Last edited by jay7 on 08 Mar 2010 06:05, edited 1 time in total.
Jay Boychuk
-
hrdcorethndr1
- Shredaholic
- Posts: 153
- Joined: 02 Jun 2009 05:08
- Location: Rome, New York
We are only the ultimate country because we extort fine people like yourself Jay, goodluck on your endevoursHere is what the ultimate country in the world does to people, like me, looking to get citizenship...
1.) Take taxes on income, MADE IN CANADA,
2.) When I die, they take HALF of my savings. So, when I'm 90 if I have 4 million dollars in the bank, they take 2 million, and say "Hey Jay, not only did I tax you for your entire life, but now as Uncle Sam I am officially inserting myself into your beloved wife".
3.) If you try to renounce your citizenship, there are 5-6 meetings scheduled 2-3 months apart, tons of paperwork, and if they deem that you are renouncing because of taxes, they rape you.
Zachary Morgan
OMG don't get U.S.A. citizenship. You will die inside 
Engineering makes lots of money, yes?
Take out student loans and go for the California option. Why compromise your life with two of the best options available to you in life and your passions because of MONEY?? Don't let money fuck your life and dreams.
Money is nothing.
Rich people are miserable.
Engineering makes lots of money, yes?
Take out student loans and go for the California option. Why compromise your life with two of the best options available to you in life and your passions because of MONEY?? Don't let money fuck your life and dreams.
Money is nothing.
Rich people are miserable.
Enjoyed the introspective post, Jay. Thanks for sharing.
In response, here are my assorted thoughts:
Stanford: Beyond the financial and citizenship issues, are your grades good enough to get in? Stanford is one of the best schools in the US, and also pretty darn hard to get into. I'm not sure how selective their engineering grad program is, but before you get hung up on their tuition, I'd do some research first to see how likely it is that you can get in (ie, how you match up academically with their current student body in terms of GPA, GRE, etc.). There are other schools in the bay area which are likely cheaper and easier to get into than Stanford, so don't let the crazy price at Stanford dissuade you from pursuing footbag in that area.
If footbag is that important to you, could you maybe get a one year deferral/sabbatical from grad school? Like, take off a year, live in the bay area, and then go back to Canada for your masters? That way you get one full year of footbag during this (self-identified) important window in your playing career.
I found this interesting. It sounds like from your perspective, you think you'll have more time to play footbag while you're a grad student than when you have a job in the real world. In my experience, I had way less time for footbag in grad school than I did when I held jobs in Japan and the US. Maybe it's different if you're an engineer, but I work 40 hour weeks now and have plenty of time for footbag. With my jobs, once work ended it was over, and the rest of the day was mine. So now, once 4 pm hits, the rest of the day is free. Back in grad school, when classes ended I still had to do homework, and of course there is never any real end to studying. So if you wanted to do well academically, it was harder to find the time for other things like footbag.
Also keep in mind that if you take care of your health, you can still play footbag at a pretty high level well into your thirties.
Again, my experiences have been different. I definitely feel like I've improved more since I left grad school, despite the fact that I work a real (sometimes stressful) job 40+ hours a week.
Keep in mind, that being in school is an ideal time to develop the social skills required of dating. Once you've graduated, and are in a job (especially engineering), you won't be surrounded by young women your age, or have such easy access to social situations where you can develop your confidence talking to women. Not only will it be harder to find a date when you leave college, you'll also be less prepared to go on those rare dates if you don't take advantage of the social scene automatically available to you as a student. If you feel your decision to not date really is a choice between actualizing your footbag potential or just settling on being a good player, that's one thing. Just be sure you aren't avoiding dating for the wrong reasons (e.g. it's scary, it's tough on the ego, you can get hurt, etc.).
I think you're assuming that having a girlfriend and playing footbag at a high level are mutually exclusive, and I'm not sure why. I'm not saying it's always easy to balance a relationship and footbag, but it's not like it's necessarily a black and white choice between one or the other.
I had this conversation with Yax AFTER Worlds 2K3. My recollection is that after he took 3rd in Prague, Yax realized it was possible to beat Vasek, and that was his goal for 2004 Worlds. The way Yax explained it, was that the judging card is split evenly between difficulty and choreo. So if he could sweep the choreo card, all he'd have to do is get one judge to put him ahead of Vasek on the difficulty card (which, if Yax went dropless and Vasek didn't, was possible), then he'd win.
Didn't he hit rubberman in this routine? That stands out to me more than blw or psw, but anyway, my point is that (according to my possibly faulty memory) Yax tried to beat Vasek in 04, not in 03. And frankly, if in 2004 Yax had hit his finals routine as well as he did his semis routine, and Vasek had dropped in Finals, things could have turned out very differently.
That last part is the most important part. Vasek's lack of choreo back then is what made Yax realize Vasek was beat-able, since that's half the card.
Again, not to sound like I'm being defensive on Yax's behalf, but dude took 3rd place in both freestyle events in 2003. He also finished top 7 in routines three years in a row. I think that's pretty world champion material. You also have to remember that in order to be world champion, you don't have to be the best every single day...you just have to be the best that day. So even if Milan can beat you 9 times out of 10, if you meet in finals one day and you happen to have a better day (that one time out of ten), then you're world champion.
Or you could be lazy, just learn mullet-mullet, and then milk it for all it's worth...
In all seriousness though, good luck... slay that beast!
In response, here are my assorted thoughts:
Stanford: Beyond the financial and citizenship issues, are your grades good enough to get in? Stanford is one of the best schools in the US, and also pretty darn hard to get into. I'm not sure how selective their engineering grad program is, but before you get hung up on their tuition, I'd do some research first to see how likely it is that you can get in (ie, how you match up academically with their current student body in terms of GPA, GRE, etc.). There are other schools in the bay area which are likely cheaper and easier to get into than Stanford, so don't let the crazy price at Stanford dissuade you from pursuing footbag in that area.
jay7 wrote:if I stayed at my undergraduate school I could get my masters in one year and pay well under $10,000, which, seems to make more sense than to live my footbag life to it's fullest.
If footbag is that important to you, could you maybe get a one year deferral/sabbatical from grad school? Like, take off a year, live in the bay area, and then go back to Canada for your masters? That way you get one full year of footbag during this (self-identified) important window in your playing career.
jay7 wrote:: The way I see it, my footbag life kind of has an expiry date. I know that I have two more years to "give 'er shit" and play everyday feasible, and try to get to the best that I possibly can. If I can get into grad school, that lifetime then increases by one year, or two if I happen to get into a school other than the one I am currently attending.
I found this interesting. It sounds like from your perspective, you think you'll have more time to play footbag while you're a grad student than when you have a job in the real world. In my experience, I had way less time for footbag in grad school than I did when I held jobs in Japan and the US. Maybe it's different if you're an engineer, but I work 40 hour weeks now and have plenty of time for footbag. With my jobs, once work ended it was over, and the rest of the day was mine. So now, once 4 pm hits, the rest of the day is free. Back in grad school, when classes ended I still had to do homework, and of course there is never any real end to studying. So if you wanted to do well academically, it was harder to find the time for other things like footbag.
Also keep in mind that if you take care of your health, you can still play footbag at a pretty high level well into your thirties.
jay7 wrote:working 40->50 hours a week in a stressful environment, as a real life adult, would not allow for top-notch footbag training.
Again, my experiences have been different. I definitely feel like I've improved more since I left grad school, despite the fact that I work a real (sometimes stressful) job 40+ hours a week.
jay7 wrote:>I also recognize, that up until this point, I have always put passion before, female passion. I do envision myself with a wife, ...People always say to me "ah, you have tons of time for girls", but, I feel like between the ages of 20 and 30, should be a time to get my shit together in that department.
Keep in mind, that being in school is an ideal time to develop the social skills required of dating. Once you've graduated, and are in a job (especially engineering), you won't be surrounded by young women your age, or have such easy access to social situations where you can develop your confidence talking to women. Not only will it be harder to find a date when you leave college, you'll also be less prepared to go on those rare dates if you don't take advantage of the social scene automatically available to you as a student. If you feel your decision to not date really is a choice between actualizing your footbag potential or just settling on being a good player, that's one thing. Just be sure you aren't avoiding dating for the wrong reasons (e.g. it's scary, it's tough on the ego, you can get hurt, etc.).
jay7 wrote:So, if I could still hack and have a full time career, I should still go for it, over something like female interests.
I think you're assuming that having a girlfriend and playing footbag at a high level are mutually exclusive, and I'm not sure why. I'm not saying it's always easy to balance a relationship and footbag, but it's not like it's necessarily a black and white choice between one or the other.
jay7 wrote: >... I remember hearing one time that Yax wanted to beat Vasek, and trained really hard for that,
I had this conversation with Yax AFTER Worlds 2K3. My recollection is that after he took 3rd in Prague, Yax realized it was possible to beat Vasek, and that was his goal for 2004 Worlds. The way Yax explained it, was that the judging card is split evenly between difficulty and choreo. So if he could sweep the choreo card, all he'd have to do is get one judge to put him ahead of Vasek on the difficulty card (which, if Yax went dropless and Vasek didn't, was possible), then he'd win.
jay7 wrote: >when you watch his 2003 finals routine versus Vasek, you can just see that he fell short of being at that top tier of world champion-ness. A blurry whirl, some atomic, and a completely isolated ps whirl were his highlights,
Didn't he hit rubberman in this routine? That stands out to me more than blw or psw, but anyway, my point is that (according to my possibly faulty memory) Yax tried to beat Vasek in 04, not in 03. And frankly, if in 2004 Yax had hit his finals routine as well as he did his semis routine, and Vasek had dropped in Finals, things could have turned out very differently.
jay7 wrote: >Vasek had blurry/normal/ps/spinning whirls, pdx torques, and about 3x the variety as him, dropless, and he did it without even choreographing beforehand.
That last part is the most important part. Vasek's lack of choreo back then is what made Yax realize Vasek was beat-able, since that's half the card.
jay7 wrote:>Maybe you, the reader are looking at this post and saying "Jay is like Yax, I can see he simply isn't world champion material, he will never beat Milan, etc",
Again, not to sound like I'm being defensive on Yax's behalf, but dude took 3rd place in both freestyle events in 2003. He also finished top 7 in routines three years in a row. I think that's pretty world champion material. You also have to remember that in order to be world champion, you don't have to be the best every single day...you just have to be the best that day. So even if Milan can beat you 9 times out of 10, if you meet in finals one day and you happen to have a better day (that one time out of ten), then you're world champion.
jay7 wrote: 2.) I can see a beast in the near future, without whirls and without symposium,
Or you could be lazy, just learn mullet-mullet, and then milk it for all it's worth...
In all seriousness though, good luck... slay that beast!
Wow Ken, that was the best response I could have ever hoped for. The main points that piqued my interest were..
/.........
So, I've been sick for the last 3 days I guess. Johnny emailed me inquiring about a session, but I had tons of work to do (still have it...Just that time of year) and I had to decline. I gave him my tungsten anyway, and then after that I started feeling uneasy, and for some gory details, my mouth was literally frothy. Woke up the next morning at 5:00 am, felt like I was going to puke, wandered through classes and my day feeling weak, etc, no footbag for two days then. Did my school work, woke up today and felt better, but not 100%. Went through classes, went home, slept some more, woke up, did more school work, ate fruit, then decided "Fuck this, I'm shredding". I'm sure spinning whirls will cure whatever stomach virus I have.
So, I went up to the 8th floor, new Johnny bag in hand, and began.
-Spinning clipper->spinning butterfly->spinning whirl*3 each side.
-Mobius->blurry drifter bs. *new link*
-Barfry->stepping ss drifter bs *new link*
-Blurry drifter->mobius bsos. *new link*
-Scorpion's Tail->spanishfly bs *new link*
-Pdx Torques were easier, since I've started drilling them
-Blurrier's were easier too, and got blurrier->blurriest bs *new?*
-Quantums felt like butter
-32 fairy legovers b2b.
-Fairy gyro mirage*2 bs *new link*
-Blurrier->ripwalk*rpt *new drill?*
As you can see, I didn't try for runs at all, because after each link attempt I had to put my hands on my knees, and regain stomach-ability to go again.
Also, the other day before I was sick, I got drifter->vortex*24 contacts, or was it 20 contacts? I forget. I told Ben, so he'd know.
As for beasts, I have a long while yet before I should try them again. I need to get better at so many concepts before I could get to the point of hitting multiple per session or something. Torques, motions, blenders, double downs, here I come...
-Jay
I guess my view of what full-time job life is like is passed down from my father / grandfather, both business owners who always seemed to have 'homework', but the kind of homework that made sure their employees could feed their kids or not. I suppose I've grown up with that kind of, stress as an indication for a full time job. Now that you mention it from your perspective, it does make sense that life isn't always that way. Thanks for sharing that especially Ken.Again, my experiences have been different. I definitely feel like I've improved more since I left grad school, despite the fact that I work a real (sometimes stressful) job 40+ hours a week.
I also liked this, and the points previous. You explained them well, and with far more background information than I had, so again it makes sense. Thanks for enlightening.Again, not to sound like I'm being defensive on Yax's behalf, but dude took 3rd place in both freestyle events in 2003. He also finished top 7 in routines three years in a row. I think that's pretty world champion material. You also have to remember that in order to be world champion, you don't have to be the best every single day...you just have to be the best that day. So even if Milan can beat you 9 times out of 10, if you meet in finals one day and you happen to have a better day (that one time out of ten), then you're world champion.
/.........
So, I've been sick for the last 3 days I guess. Johnny emailed me inquiring about a session, but I had tons of work to do (still have it...Just that time of year) and I had to decline. I gave him my tungsten anyway, and then after that I started feeling uneasy, and for some gory details, my mouth was literally frothy. Woke up the next morning at 5:00 am, felt like I was going to puke, wandered through classes and my day feeling weak, etc, no footbag for two days then. Did my school work, woke up today and felt better, but not 100%. Went through classes, went home, slept some more, woke up, did more school work, ate fruit, then decided "Fuck this, I'm shredding". I'm sure spinning whirls will cure whatever stomach virus I have.
So, I went up to the 8th floor, new Johnny bag in hand, and began.
-Spinning clipper->spinning butterfly->spinning whirl*3 each side.
-Mobius->blurry drifter bs. *new link*
-Barfry->stepping ss drifter bs *new link*
-Blurry drifter->mobius bsos. *new link*
-Scorpion's Tail->spanishfly bs *new link*
-Pdx Torques were easier, since I've started drilling them
-Blurrier's were easier too, and got blurrier->blurriest bs *new?*
-Quantums felt like butter
-32 fairy legovers b2b.
-Fairy gyro mirage*2 bs *new link*
-Blurrier->ripwalk*rpt *new drill?*
As you can see, I didn't try for runs at all, because after each link attempt I had to put my hands on my knees, and regain stomach-ability to go again.
Also, the other day before I was sick, I got drifter->vortex*24 contacts, or was it 20 contacts? I forget. I told Ben, so he'd know.
As for beasts, I have a long while yet before I should try them again. I need to get better at so many concepts before I could get to the point of hitting multiple per session or something. Torques, motions, blenders, double downs, here I come...
-Jay
Jay Boychuk
DEFINITELY more time for hack during work than during school. Mental fatigue is bitter. Also, on the socializing at school note, I was considering graduate school, like, 80% to practice social skills rather than whatever it was for which I was going to attend school. As it is I lucked out with an awesome girlfriend so don't care as much about socializing, even though I never got any better.
Also.. nice tricks >_____<
Also.. nice tricks >_____<
Hey blog. Here is a video, or two, for you to digest.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0SEN0EOuMU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf2vbeiGPBg
So yeah. I'm kicking regularly, and all is well. The only "injury" I have, that has been nagging since Finland, is my one ankle wont let me do "difficult" zooms without aching. Because of that, there are like, 3400 links I can't do in good conscience, which bothers me a bit. Good news is, every other link that doesn't involve really hard torque->zoom is fine, including blender->spin or whatever. I don't think never zooming is the right answer, but, if the injury hasn't gone away after this long, I wonder how long it will take. Whatever, it doesn't limit me at all, seeing as I shouldn't be doing mobius->mobius anyway..
When I hung out with Jorden that day we filmed a bit, it was super fun. He's going to be in Isreal-land within a couple hours, and that is crazy cool. It is so badass to go grocery shopping with footbaggers, after a session. Buying pineapples (2!), like, 4 litres of fluids, entire package of pita bread, hummus, and eating lasagna at 1:00 am after a session just feels rewarding. Four hour sessions rock too.
This makes me sad however, because I haven't done that with Johnny in over 4 months. Footbag without Johnny just isn't the same. It isn't that he represents his own continent or anything (suderland, 100% nuclear power), but, just, I don't know. Apparently he was injured, then was getting better, then raped himself on a unicycle, so, he'll be out for a while longer. Such a pity.
Aside from that, I've come to realize I am far to repetitive in freestyle. Each string I do pretty much has the same patterns, rhythm, and, just, isn't interesting enough. I'm sure once I get more tricks, and more confidence within the ones I own, I'll be able to paint the pictures I want to, much more vividly.
As much as I love pineapple, the fact that I just ate half of one is making my tongue sting again. Curses.
Worlds 2007 was the last big thing to happen to NA, so, I feel like 2010 will also pump some energy into the scene. I can't wait.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0SEN0EOuMU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf2vbeiGPBg
So yeah. I'm kicking regularly, and all is well. The only "injury" I have, that has been nagging since Finland, is my one ankle wont let me do "difficult" zooms without aching. Because of that, there are like, 3400 links I can't do in good conscience, which bothers me a bit. Good news is, every other link that doesn't involve really hard torque->zoom is fine, including blender->spin or whatever. I don't think never zooming is the right answer, but, if the injury hasn't gone away after this long, I wonder how long it will take. Whatever, it doesn't limit me at all, seeing as I shouldn't be doing mobius->mobius anyway..
When I hung out with Jorden that day we filmed a bit, it was super fun. He's going to be in Isreal-land within a couple hours, and that is crazy cool. It is so badass to go grocery shopping with footbaggers, after a session. Buying pineapples (2!), like, 4 litres of fluids, entire package of pita bread, hummus, and eating lasagna at 1:00 am after a session just feels rewarding. Four hour sessions rock too.
This makes me sad however, because I haven't done that with Johnny in over 4 months. Footbag without Johnny just isn't the same. It isn't that he represents his own continent or anything (suderland, 100% nuclear power), but, just, I don't know. Apparently he was injured, then was getting better, then raped himself on a unicycle, so, he'll be out for a while longer. Such a pity.
Aside from that, I've come to realize I am far to repetitive in freestyle. Each string I do pretty much has the same patterns, rhythm, and, just, isn't interesting enough. I'm sure once I get more tricks, and more confidence within the ones I own, I'll be able to paint the pictures I want to, much more vividly.
As much as I love pineapple, the fact that I just ate half of one is making my tongue sting again. Curses.
Worlds 2007 was the last big thing to happen to NA, so, I feel like 2010 will also pump some energy into the scene. I can't wait.
Jay Boychuk
