+1mc wrote:I request furious flailing doubleswitch.
your furious is awesome. I know you can do it.
I also request your presence in NYC. bring the shred!
edit: crap first post on a new page in jay's blog
Jay's Blog.
So, I have good, bad, ugly, and really ugly news.
First to address,
furious flailing doubleswitch.
That made me laugh. It isn't like backside clownface is hard enough
... While my furious has had a recent upswing, just being able to get a really high set wont make that trick easy.. I'm not going to say I'll never hit that, but, I certainly can't right now. -2.
In other news, I got three pairs of Gunits today. They are a tiny bit small, even though they appear to be the same tag size as other pairs I have, but I imagine after some break in they'll be perfect, since my current pairs are all a hair too big. The Govner got them for me, all the way from little England, so I'm honoured. Oh Canada. They are all pure white, so, I plan on some decoration. I think I'll give my first pair to some female, because they are usually more artistically inclined than I.
I suppose as a blog, I should probably document my youtube video. I wanted to make a Felix style footbag video for probably a month, and I talked with certain editors about going to their cities and filming it. After looking at costs, and reasoning that this video would get me no money in return, it just didn't make sense. So, my room mate and I woke up before Sunrise, went to a few nice locations, and filmed some footbag. At 7:00 am, when I got home, I looked at the footage and realized that none of it would be in my mind, acceptable for a "felix" like video. This made me, slightly discouraged, as the local videographers I contacted didn't really seem pay-worthy, so I had to figure out another solution. I then realized, through youtube views, that highspeed videos gained a lot of attention compared to non highspeed... So, I grabbed my tripod, and filmed a bit.
In the sun, I filmed many tricks from minimum 5 angles each, or a few drills from 5 angles each. I probably filmed for 3 hours, hitting a lot of combos and random tricks, and then saddled up, bought some coconut water, and headed to the editing machine. I asked Zeb for some help on adobe after effects, and once I realized how to make a title for footbag.org I was nearly done the video. After taking an hour to sort through the footage, it was really easy to see what looked good, and what didn't, so I scrapped many hours of highspeed tricks. The only weird decision was to have blurriest swirl, or nemesis as the final trick. The song came to me like it was my own child, and the entire thing was done quite quickly. Then, the whoring began.
I sent this video to at least 20 websites, 20 potential sponsors, and *every*one I knew on facebook. I sent the link to Kyle Hewitt, so much so, that facebook even blocked me from sending links for 2 days. Which, in hindsight, may have been a good thing, since that meant everyone *else* linked the video for me. Then, the video made it to the front page of reddit, and at-you.net. Reddit of course gets tons of views, and at-you.net gets ~700,000 a month, and then within 12 hours I got like 15,000 views. Right now it sits at 24,000 views, which was beyond my initial wildest dreams of 3000, overall. Many people asked me "how did you get so many views", and "I didn't know you could hit some of those tricks". To answer the first, 'whoring', and the second, thanks
. I found it slightly humourous that some people, were baffled that I could hit some of the tricks, and even sometimes two of the tricks in the video. Little did they know blurriest swirl is usually first try, I've hit whirring swirl bsos many times, and mobius screw was my first 6 add that I hit on my one year playing anniversary.
What else has happened since april.. Oh right, personal life business countdown. A few days ago I got a job interview for a position in Texas, which went very swimmingly. At the end of the interview, the employer basically said "I'll talk to HR about getting you here, but if that doesn't work would you be interested in Edmonton Alberta?". I took that as a good sign. So, this leads to some ugly,. If I get the job, going to worlds will be tricky, as I doubt a 3 month contract for an employer that I *really* want to impress would let me take a week to go kick in Finland. This makes me cry inside. Finland. Oh Suomi, how I wish you were my own. If I do get this job, it likely means that I lose the ability to call myself "Canadian Champion", because I simply wont be playing at worlds. This is like a nightmare. However, thinking about my future, and when I graduate, it is something I must do, so that I could ever be successful in the future. Thankfully, US Open is on a weekend, so that is more likely to be able to get to.
If I try to look at missing worlds, as some sort of a positive thing, simply for optimism... I guess that means I can really concentrate on getting good at footbag, rather than really good at worlds. Playing for competitions stints my abilities more than anything else, because it forces you to not be creative, and stop having as much pleasure from the game. Doing the same routine 1000 times is good for stamina though, so I'll likely still prepare one, but it simply doesn't warrant me flying out and begging Steve to help me choreograph. So I suppose there is some money saved.. BUT FUCK, it is STEVE GOLDBERG. THE PAPA G BERG, THE INCREDIBLE SCTHEVE, THE SCHLICKEST OF ALL SCHLICK, UNCLE GOLDBERG, STEVEN L GOLDBERG. If I get this job, I likely wont make Green Cup, and I even miss that! Madness! Curse you job security issues!
Missing worlds will probably break every heart I have. All 4 of them. I really hope my employer see's me as the lowly intern, and says "yeah yeah, go try to compete", and maybe even with a smile on their face. But, doubtful?
So, I've hit some tricks recently, but the most important thing I've been focusing on is not sucking at clipper. I'm really trying to figure out how to get my clipper to just "work", so that things like infinties are undroppable like Vasek. It is sad at this stage in my game, I'm still doing clippers like it is the first day I've done them, but as Ianek told me once long ago, "Your downs are weird,". Fixing downs, can be, a downer. However, today I hit probably my most successful combo ever.
Starting on flip,
Ripwalk->sidewalk->blur->legbeater->stepping near switch->parkwalk->stepping far switch->dimwalk->stepping near mirage->tapdown->stepping far pickup->shut down->stepping near pickup->shut near down->blizzard->tripwalk->stepping near illusion->quantum near down->hand->other side.
I feel like with that, I'm nearly on my way to owning clipper. But it still isn't good enough. I need to be more like Cleaver, where, you can just fucking grundle your way through that stepping near drifter, like it was Mom force feeding you grits on a tuesday morning. He just has so much, "Hey bag, I see what you are doing there, but you are my bitch" in his steps. I want that to be mine.
Yesterday it was a bit wet in my shred room, since we are getting *a lot* of rain recently, so I played on another surface which gets slippery quick. So I worked atomics, which I can't remember doing in many moons. I got atomic everything->bop cool down->open everything, minus two illusions. I had migrated near a bike stand, and it just wasn't worth flailing out to get that one open near illusion, but had I been in a gym there is a good chance I could have gotten it. Today atomic near anything on my one side, felt anti-fancy. Trying to have Ales Posture during atomics really helps getting the illusions, and you also have to be Ales. My name is Jay,
----oh, oh, oh, oh---
Just got an email. Texas wont be happening, due to green card business being tricky. So Edmonton might work out now. WORLDS is that much closer. I now feel like washing my car, with lots of sunshine. Apparently it is raining though, and has been for what seems like 2 years. Oh Canada. Best job
--oh, oh. oh-.
Outside of random clipper training, I've been working on many things...Too many to write down, but the neat part of working on said things, is the random highlights of creativity that burst through the drilling. I've invented a few more sets recently, as Jorden has confirmed, Some of them are just out right outrageous, and some of them are just "Why hasn't someone done that before"? I plan on tossing some of them out at a tournament near you...
However, there is one that I'd like to share, because it allowed what I think is my first 8 add. I grabbed my camera after I hit it, and it still had the red blinking light from after I filmed all the high speed stuff, so I only got one clip in. After looking at the clip, where I didn't hit the trick, I can thankfully say that it was probably clean.
Shut near symp twisting whirling gyro osis. I think that is 8? I remember on badassery I counted shut symp twisting blender as a 7, so, add a component, and, 8?
*shrugs* . I showed my room mate, a toe stall, and atw, a down, a ripwalk, a blurry whirl, a stepping superfly, and a montage all first try with hand catches, and then footed the "8" for him, and realized that is the first time I've done 1 through 7 adds like they were my bitch. So that is kind of cool.
I also got some nice nuclear / osis / stepping drills, which is fun. No one does enough osis->nuclear. One stupid one I got was spinning osis->nuclear same osis*rpt. But just to demonstrate what I was kind of trying. My former flip nuke is now my strong again, thank moses. *wipes forhead*. I got a new link, out of the former flip, cold fusion->stepping hand. I hear that is called bochucking or something, but, I was just really surprised I got the step so naturally, and first try. I also dexed quasi near swirl, on film. That set is such a pain in the ass
Oh, some other stuff I hit recently. Why not. For the kids and the white picket fence.
Necked a frantic set
Frantic near torque one flip, frantic flail strong.
Frantic Gyro toe, bs.
Spinning gyro mirage (so, spinning mobius without being cool), bsos. Now it is easy, but, a few days ago when I hit it the first time I felt really cool, so I figured I'd jot it down. I've also practiced a lot of other spinning / toe spinning / inspinning / set->spinning recently. It is all so fun, and under used. That reminds me of a few sets I should jot down before I forget them, actually. So many sets...
And something I called Jorden about, right after, because I felt like a boss,
Genesis->random->gangster party->random->gangster party.
They were also the first gangsters of the day.
I also got genesis->spinning clipper*rpt, which, Anssi wouldn't call a drill, but, I'm still happy about.
I also figured out today, that my legs are now strong enough for ps whirls. I did a few whirligigs today, out of sheer curiousity, and man..They are *so* easy now . I guess that means I'll get my first beast soon. Maybe a combination of torch r rack, gig, wind, mind bender, backside bed, open motion, spin/step motion, food, spender, dolomite swirl, blurriest swirl, nemesis, alpine blurry whirl, ducking/blurry torque.. All are pretty easy.
Now I'm just rambling. Either way, footbag kicks ass. I really hope I get a job, but, if I don't, I'll likely just try and busk in Europe. I've applied to 62 jobs, ranging from grocery store to high end Engineering firms, and I've gotten 2 call backs. One from that Texas thing, which seemed to love me, and one from a pyramid scheme. Recessions make me want to strangle a goat.
First to address,
furious flailing doubleswitch.
That made me laugh. It isn't like backside clownface is hard enough
... While my furious has had a recent upswing, just being able to get a really high set wont make that trick easy.. I'm not going to say I'll never hit that, but, I certainly can't right now. -2.In other news, I got three pairs of Gunits today. They are a tiny bit small, even though they appear to be the same tag size as other pairs I have, but I imagine after some break in they'll be perfect, since my current pairs are all a hair too big. The Govner got them for me, all the way from little England, so I'm honoured. Oh Canada. They are all pure white, so, I plan on some decoration. I think I'll give my first pair to some female, because they are usually more artistically inclined than I.
I suppose as a blog, I should probably document my youtube video. I wanted to make a Felix style footbag video for probably a month, and I talked with certain editors about going to their cities and filming it. After looking at costs, and reasoning that this video would get me no money in return, it just didn't make sense. So, my room mate and I woke up before Sunrise, went to a few nice locations, and filmed some footbag. At 7:00 am, when I got home, I looked at the footage and realized that none of it would be in my mind, acceptable for a "felix" like video. This made me, slightly discouraged, as the local videographers I contacted didn't really seem pay-worthy, so I had to figure out another solution. I then realized, through youtube views, that highspeed videos gained a lot of attention compared to non highspeed... So, I grabbed my tripod, and filmed a bit.
In the sun, I filmed many tricks from minimum 5 angles each, or a few drills from 5 angles each. I probably filmed for 3 hours, hitting a lot of combos and random tricks, and then saddled up, bought some coconut water, and headed to the editing machine. I asked Zeb for some help on adobe after effects, and once I realized how to make a title for footbag.org I was nearly done the video. After taking an hour to sort through the footage, it was really easy to see what looked good, and what didn't, so I scrapped many hours of highspeed tricks. The only weird decision was to have blurriest swirl, or nemesis as the final trick. The song came to me like it was my own child, and the entire thing was done quite quickly. Then, the whoring began.
I sent this video to at least 20 websites, 20 potential sponsors, and *every*one I knew on facebook. I sent the link to Kyle Hewitt, so much so, that facebook even blocked me from sending links for 2 days. Which, in hindsight, may have been a good thing, since that meant everyone *else* linked the video for me. Then, the video made it to the front page of reddit, and at-you.net. Reddit of course gets tons of views, and at-you.net gets ~700,000 a month, and then within 12 hours I got like 15,000 views. Right now it sits at 24,000 views, which was beyond my initial wildest dreams of 3000, overall. Many people asked me "how did you get so many views", and "I didn't know you could hit some of those tricks". To answer the first, 'whoring', and the second, thanks
. I found it slightly humourous that some people, were baffled that I could hit some of the tricks, and even sometimes two of the tricks in the video. Little did they know blurriest swirl is usually first try, I've hit whirring swirl bsos many times, and mobius screw was my first 6 add that I hit on my one year playing anniversary. What else has happened since april.. Oh right, personal life business countdown. A few days ago I got a job interview for a position in Texas, which went very swimmingly. At the end of the interview, the employer basically said "I'll talk to HR about getting you here, but if that doesn't work would you be interested in Edmonton Alberta?". I took that as a good sign. So, this leads to some ugly,. If I get the job, going to worlds will be tricky, as I doubt a 3 month contract for an employer that I *really* want to impress would let me take a week to go kick in Finland. This makes me cry inside. Finland. Oh Suomi, how I wish you were my own. If I do get this job, it likely means that I lose the ability to call myself "Canadian Champion", because I simply wont be playing at worlds. This is like a nightmare. However, thinking about my future, and when I graduate, it is something I must do, so that I could ever be successful in the future. Thankfully, US Open is on a weekend, so that is more likely to be able to get to.
If I try to look at missing worlds, as some sort of a positive thing, simply for optimism... I guess that means I can really concentrate on getting good at footbag, rather than really good at worlds. Playing for competitions stints my abilities more than anything else, because it forces you to not be creative, and stop having as much pleasure from the game. Doing the same routine 1000 times is good for stamina though, so I'll likely still prepare one, but it simply doesn't warrant me flying out and begging Steve to help me choreograph. So I suppose there is some money saved.. BUT FUCK, it is STEVE GOLDBERG. THE PAPA G BERG, THE INCREDIBLE SCTHEVE, THE SCHLICKEST OF ALL SCHLICK, UNCLE GOLDBERG, STEVEN L GOLDBERG. If I get this job, I likely wont make Green Cup, and I even miss that! Madness! Curse you job security issues!
Missing worlds will probably break every heart I have. All 4 of them. I really hope my employer see's me as the lowly intern, and says "yeah yeah, go try to compete", and maybe even with a smile on their face. But, doubtful?
So, I've hit some tricks recently, but the most important thing I've been focusing on is not sucking at clipper. I'm really trying to figure out how to get my clipper to just "work", so that things like infinties are undroppable like Vasek. It is sad at this stage in my game, I'm still doing clippers like it is the first day I've done them, but as Ianek told me once long ago, "Your downs are weird,". Fixing downs, can be, a downer. However, today I hit probably my most successful combo ever.
Starting on flip,
Ripwalk->sidewalk->blur->legbeater->stepping near switch->parkwalk->stepping far switch->dimwalk->stepping near mirage->tapdown->stepping far pickup->shut down->stepping near pickup->shut near down->blizzard->tripwalk->stepping near illusion->quantum near down->hand->other side.
I feel like with that, I'm nearly on my way to owning clipper. But it still isn't good enough. I need to be more like Cleaver, where, you can just fucking grundle your way through that stepping near drifter, like it was Mom force feeding you grits on a tuesday morning. He just has so much, "Hey bag, I see what you are doing there, but you are my bitch" in his steps. I want that to be mine.
Yesterday it was a bit wet in my shred room, since we are getting *a lot* of rain recently, so I played on another surface which gets slippery quick. So I worked atomics, which I can't remember doing in many moons. I got atomic everything->bop cool down->open everything, minus two illusions. I had migrated near a bike stand, and it just wasn't worth flailing out to get that one open near illusion, but had I been in a gym there is a good chance I could have gotten it. Today atomic near anything on my one side, felt anti-fancy. Trying to have Ales Posture during atomics really helps getting the illusions, and you also have to be Ales. My name is Jay,
----oh, oh, oh, oh---
Just got an email. Texas wont be happening, due to green card business being tricky. So Edmonton might work out now. WORLDS is that much closer. I now feel like washing my car, with lots of sunshine. Apparently it is raining though, and has been for what seems like 2 years. Oh Canada. Best job
--oh, oh. oh-.
Outside of random clipper training, I've been working on many things...Too many to write down, but the neat part of working on said things, is the random highlights of creativity that burst through the drilling. I've invented a few more sets recently, as Jorden has confirmed, Some of them are just out right outrageous, and some of them are just "Why hasn't someone done that before"? I plan on tossing some of them out at a tournament near you...
However, there is one that I'd like to share, because it allowed what I think is my first 8 add. I grabbed my camera after I hit it, and it still had the red blinking light from after I filmed all the high speed stuff, so I only got one clip in. After looking at the clip, where I didn't hit the trick, I can thankfully say that it was probably clean.
Shut near symp twisting whirling gyro osis. I think that is 8? I remember on badassery I counted shut symp twisting blender as a 7, so, add a component, and, 8?
*shrugs* . I showed my room mate, a toe stall, and atw, a down, a ripwalk, a blurry whirl, a stepping superfly, and a montage all first try with hand catches, and then footed the "8" for him, and realized that is the first time I've done 1 through 7 adds like they were my bitch. So that is kind of cool.
I also got some nice nuclear / osis / stepping drills, which is fun. No one does enough osis->nuclear. One stupid one I got was spinning osis->nuclear same osis*rpt. But just to demonstrate what I was kind of trying. My former flip nuke is now my strong again, thank moses. *wipes forhead*. I got a new link, out of the former flip, cold fusion->stepping hand. I hear that is called bochucking or something, but, I was just really surprised I got the step so naturally, and first try. I also dexed quasi near swirl, on film. That set is such a pain in the ass
Oh, some other stuff I hit recently. Why not. For the kids and the white picket fence.
Necked a frantic set
Frantic near torque one flip, frantic flail strong.
Frantic Gyro toe, bs.
Spinning gyro mirage (so, spinning mobius without being cool), bsos. Now it is easy, but, a few days ago when I hit it the first time I felt really cool, so I figured I'd jot it down. I've also practiced a lot of other spinning / toe spinning / inspinning / set->spinning recently. It is all so fun, and under used. That reminds me of a few sets I should jot down before I forget them, actually. So many sets...
And something I called Jorden about, right after, because I felt like a boss,
Genesis->random->gangster party->random->gangster party.
They were also the first gangsters of the day.
I also got genesis->spinning clipper*rpt, which, Anssi wouldn't call a drill, but, I'm still happy about.
I also figured out today, that my legs are now strong enough for ps whirls. I did a few whirligigs today, out of sheer curiousity, and man..They are *so* easy now
. I guess that means I'll get my first beast soon. Maybe a combination of torch r rack, gig, wind, mind bender, backside bed, open motion, spin/step motion, food, spender, dolomite swirl, blurriest swirl, nemesis, alpine blurry whirl, ducking/blurry torque.. All are pretty easy. Now I'm just rambling. Either way, footbag kicks ass. I really hope I get a job, but, if I don't, I'll likely just try and busk in Europe. I've applied to 62 jobs, ranging from grocery store to high end Engineering firms, and I've gotten 2 call backs. One from that Texas thing, which seemed to love me, and one from a pyramid scheme. Recessions make me want to strangle a goat.
Jay Boychuk
Was nice to read.
You are crazy Jay. You'll be the best (with Jorden) in canada at some point if you keep working that hard .
For Worlds, don't worry, if you can't make it, Dante will represent for Canada hahaha. I'll be the cheerleader!
For Beast... you haven'T hit any beast because you have ever tried. Just do stepping far PS whirl - ducking PS whirl - mobius screw next session...
you can hit that shit like nothing for sure...
Hope to shred with you asap!
Mat
You are crazy Jay. You'll be the best (with Jorden
) in canada at some point if you keep working that hard .For Worlds, don't worry, if you can't make it, Dante will represent for Canada hahaha. I'll be the cheerleader!
For Beast... you haven'T hit any beast because you have ever tried. Just do stepping far PS whirl - ducking PS whirl - mobius screw next session...
you can hit that shit like nothing for sure...
Hope to shred with you asap!
Mat
I was thinking about you and your video when I read this:
http://blog.involver.com/2011/05/17/you ... -get-seen/
If you make a similiar project maybe it will be useful.
You got my favorite footblog.
And since you are hitting so crazy stuff at the moment I have to requests:
Surging Refraction * 2
(Should come pretty easily, would like to see it on video)
Nuclear Gyro Barroque
(I know it's crazy, but hell, you are pushing the limits lately)
http://blog.involver.com/2011/05/17/you ... -get-seen/
If you make a similiar project maybe it will be useful.
You got my favorite footblog.
And since you are hitting so crazy stuff at the moment I have to requests:
Surging Refraction * 2
(Should come pretty easily, would like to see it on video)
Nuclear Gyro Barroque
(I know it's crazy, but hell, you are pushing the limits lately)
So Edmonton might work out now
If you move to Edmonton we should train together for the US Open:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf8oZGHDTt4[/youtube]
Rory "Tophat" Dawson
---
"You can ask a stranger, my legs is fast and danger!"
---
"You can ask a stranger, my legs is fast and danger!"
Well then, it turns out Mathieu was right.
TODAY MARKS THE DAY OF MY FIRST BEAST(s)
Dolomite swirl->Torch-r-rack->backside bedwetter, being my first.
And then, after that,
Genesis->torch-r-rack->torch-r-rack, both sides.
//
In other news, I had a good session prior to the last 30 minutes of beast stuff. I suppose it was a 2 hour 45 minute session then.
Jani*4 first try.
Stepping ss drifter*4 4th try. I've wanted this for like, a month.
Long ass same sided stepping drill from last post, much easier, today.
Toe spinning toe (alternating foot)*10.
Swirling gyro torque, bs. Torquescrew is close, Mark.
Nuclear ss osis*5 bs.
Muted Barfry->muted stepping ss drifter bs.
Good looks at Nuclear Gyro Barrage, due to Asmus.
My first string with both nuclear, both furious, both whirling, both swirling, and both ~surging. My surging is...Incompetent, at best. The one side I did just a surging oh shit osis, and the other was a bigwalk, where the ripwalk portion was more just downtime
. Open mixier->open near mixer*rpt->massive genuine run. It would have made Anssi proud. It ended on far mixer->near double down swirl.
What a session. I also played with some new ideas, and I'm sure if I pushed some a little bit I'd be getting back into invention land, but I don't think I invented anything today actually. I swear, I did 'invent' something, and I remember telling myself not to forget what it was, because it was cool. Friggen 'eh. Oh right, just remembered. Must write down... *grabs sheet*.
Later fizzied.
Jay Boychuk
!-
h0ag3yb3atZ
- Egyptian Footgod
- Posts: 1161
- Joined: 03 Jul 2008 09:05
- Location: Shaolin
teach me.jay7 wrote: Maybe a combination of torch r rack, gig, wind, mind bender, backside bed, open motion, spin/step motion, food, spender, dolomite swirl, blurriest swirl, nemesis, alpine blurry whirl, ducking/blurry torque.. All are pretty easy.
Props on such insane first beasts. Stepping out of torch r rake is so legit.
Kevin Hogan
BSC
BSC
Well then, it has been a while.
Things that happened since last post:
a.) Green Cup
b.) NYFA 5.
Green Cup.
So, two days before the event, I get a text from Steve: "Are you coming to Green Cup?". At that point, I had written it off entirely, as, two days before, tickets to California... Seemed like a low realm of possibility. Steve encouraged to look for tickets, because you never know. As I sat stitching, on my sister's couch, I viewed on my phone what seemed to be ridiculously cheap tickets. Half bag done, and 20 texts to Steve later, I was going to California.
The song "rocketman", re-done by William Shatner in the 1970's came into my mind. Flying places just feels nice, and doing it two days advance notice feels reasonable frothy. In the days before the event, I notice that 90% of the competition is injured, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. My own back had been giving me grief, since, I had not been doing tricks preparing for a jam, rather, whirligigs. It seemed like anyone could win it, and that scared me. Young Evan had fallen onto a tile, directly with his knee, Ken had net-raped his own knee, Justin had a back problem, and Chris is too styley to function most of the time. Combined with the fact that I had not planned a routine, for an event judged by Goldberg, this was scary.
I arrived in California, chatted with a nomadic-friendly-cool female at the Millbrae station, and found myself later in Mountainview for my session with Brian/Steve/Alex, eye-watched by David Clavens. Airplane shred always sucks, so I wasn't planning on anything victorious. Just like a few months ago, my flip clipper was taking a shit, and this seriously, deep down, worried me. Wtf, I fly all the way to California, after playing godly for the last few weeks, and my left clipper reverted to three months ago. No sir. Nu-uh. I wouldn't have any of that. After talking to Dave about it, we settled on the fact that it was probably just a "nervous" problem, and if I could get over my mental issues I'd probably be alright.
Turns out, Dave couldn't have been more correct. The next few sessions I had, I had with confidence, and that nasty clipper was A-Ok. +2 pimp points for Cleavar.
Ken did a fantastic job covering any video, or significant event recapping of the rest of the tournament, until the Golden Gate Park. The most significant highlights for me were...
a.) Justin Dale, being such a boss. Most consistent long strings of pretty much anyone. Routine length strings in casual circle are normal.
b.) Ken, just having such a large amount of experience in the game. It is like, a teenager looking at a 50 year old parent. You think you know things about life, (footbag), but then you realize that your parent has went through what you have went through, and thought about it for 30 years, and dealt with their shit.
c.) Seeing Chris Dean's first beast. That is a feeling of pure joy, I imagine. When I watched him hit it, just, the grin on his chin. Makes me smile right now. 69->food->spender is also a pretty tall order.
d.) David Clavens is fucking good at magic. Like, it is really easy to know how his tricks done, because it is just genuine fucking magic.
e.) 2 dropless routines in a row. Because I hadn't prepared, picked my music the day before, and...Wasn't prepared... Getting those two dropless really was neat. It will help my mental game immensely for worlds, since I realize that I am fully capable of dropless, it will just be my nerves I have to conquer. Frigging worlds.
f.) Winning circle.
This is the first "real" event, that I won. I won Request in Paris, but Milan was off satisfying some girl, so, that didn't feel victorious. I won rippin run in Vegas, against Evan/Bear, but, that is really a one time luck thing, so, that didn't feel great. Neither did winning this circle, because I really don't think I did. I did some open shuffle, and maybe a step or two... I just don't feel like I played to the level that I should have, in order to beat Evan. When Justin and Ken realized that was the first time I won something, I saw Justin's eyes lighten up, and he gave me sincere props, and that was the first time I actually felt good about winning. So, I'll keep that image in my head, referencing to this event.
g.) Hot Tub with Ken/Justin. We talked about Footbag, of course, and I asked them what I should be doing with my life. Speaking to two really experienced players/people, it was just what I needed to hear. I'll probably remember that Hot-Tub conversation as long as I remember footbag.
Golden Gate:
Steve/Bear/Alex/I showed up at Golden Gate Park, set up a speaker system and played on the closed-off street. It was super casual, and everyone knew they were moments away from saying their goodbyes. The most noteworthy event of the day for me was, When Steve said the net players wouldn't mind a short freestyle demo between matches, and that they wanted me to do it. I was already dressed in a red Planet Footbag shirt, and red planet footbag shorts, so I didn't feel like I was under-dressed for the occasion, and I wasn't too sore, so I obviously said yes. I guess I went out there for about 2 minutes, played to some dubstep while Eric Wulff was telling the crowd what I was doing. This felt a lot like my routines I've done, where I sort of dream through it, and don't remember what I did. Apparently I did pretty well, and all I recall was being glad to hit my flip ripstein in the middle of it. I also remember doing a hand catch, after a dropless minute or so, and just looking at the crowd, feeling very confident.
Overall, it was another fucking solid week spent in San Carlos, California. Hanging out with Steve+Crew, taking care of Dave/Erin's Cat, and the rest of the attendance just gives me great feelings about Footbag. It was probably the 6th time or so I went to Steve's, and it is ridiculous feeling like you go there more than you do your own Grandparent's, or, parents for that matter. It does feel like a version of home, and I love it. Footbag sort of is my life now, and I can't find a reason to regret that.
---------
So, here I am, sitting at my computer, the Wednesday before NYFA. I have written this event off as well, as I just dropped a bunch of money on California, and am still sore from the event. I get a message from John Goode, telling me of some interesting circumstances, and decide that I better start looking into this event. A day passes, and Matt Kemmer asks me if I am coming to the event, and taking everything into consideration, I have tickets to NYC 20 minutes later. I would be staying with Matt Cross, the *very* first person I talked to in Footbag, and good friend. The level of competition compared to Green Cup would be a bit lower, but I had extreme nervous-ness due to my unpreparedness, and still good quality shredder at the event.
After some serious delays, amounting to about 9 hours in an airport for a 55 minute flight, I find myself in a cab to Matt's apartment in Brooklyn NY. Matt, with his luscious curly locks and sweet NYFA jersey greets me at the door, and we walk to the store and buy some liquids, and 2 bananas for me. Turns out Matt enjoys Coconut water like I do, and this would set the trend for me pretty much exclusively drinking coconut water throughout the event. I make my way to the roof of Matt's place, see some Gangster looking fellows in a Hot-Tub, and footbaggers all over. I walk about half-way through everyone, and the first "Jay Boychuk!" Cry comes from within the crowd. Some initial hello's were said, and I was with another group of family, on the opposite side of the united states. It honestly feels like Each Coast, Finland, and the rest of Europe, are all like parents to me, and I just go there and see the rest of my family. I chat with John Goode and Matt Kemmer, about footbag, what I've hit, what I should hit, what everyone else has hit, and will hit... Just girly footbag gossip in general. Eventually I make my way to the hot tub, and am the single person in there. Some people come around, eventually Way-Way joins me, and just more inevitable footbag thrilled-ness is everywhere around me. This feels good. A very different scene from the west coast, as, the west coast bases most of their talk about the demise of footbag, and the East Coast is optimistic, lots of new players, and it just seems alive. I'm happy at this point, to almost be a member of the East Coast, instead.
The following Day, Matt Kemmer, Matt Cross, Will Digges (such a gentleman) went to a breakfast Joint called "Bills", ordered some shred fuel and made our way to Central Park. Turns out that day was raining, but under some tree cover it proves to be dry enough for a few hours of shred.
This was sort of the "premiere" shred of the weekend I suppose, because everyone was fresh and excited. I knew Circle was going on, so I held back, but still hit some noteworthy stuff that people seemed to like. The most obvious of which, was linking Nemesis->nemesis on my flipside, which felt retardedly clean. Like, it felt cleaner than most of my normal nemesii, and some people saw. I guess it has been a long while *funtastik?* since the east coast crew has actually seem me play footbag, so in hindsight that might make people's reactions to my shred a little more understandable. I was literally warming up, just going through a bunch of concepts, and getting props. I remember my first double dex run, maybe, 12 contacts, got props... My atomic warmup (2 contacts shy of atomic everything) got props.. Just, basic stuff. This kind of woke me up to I guess what I take for granted in my basement.
Circle was about to start in the bandshell (sp?) but that would be full of circle shredders, so, Matt Kemmer and I decided to keep on playing under the tree cover to stay warm. Maybe 30 minutes later when it was time for us to play, the rain was sort of stopping and we carried onto the competition, and it begun. I warmed up just randomly outside, and I had some photographer ask if he could shoot some, so, I played and he seemed to like it..Then another photographer...Then a group of people...Oh New York City, you tourists . Once I was called up, it was Nick Pollini, John Goode and I. Nick obviously has good variety, so I was a bit worried for that, and who knows, John is really solid so he could have taken density. Turns out I played pretty well, and didn't have to worry, and may have had my longest strings of the weekend. I hit blurriest swirl, pixie dolomite swirl, whirlwind, among other things, and I sealed my spot for finals. In the middle shred between competition, I recall hitting a pretty cool run, starting with flip furious blender (first try), and ending on the other side gangster party. It hasn't really hit me until now, but I guess that is kind of a huge run in terms of footbag. I got props for it then, but, I guess I just accepted them now.
In Finals, it was me, Doug Tank, Petar Sweets, and Ben Cooke. I have *never* shredded with Ben Cooke, and all I know was his vacation video, so I was quite worried. He can hit some hard shit. John Goode was the official contact counter of the weekend, and apparently one of my strings was 50 something contacts, and my shortest was ~20, so I guess I really didn't have that bad of runs. The only highlight from me, within this circle round, was the final run. I get passed the bag, the sun is now peeking out from the rain clouds, I see passer-byers looking into the bandshell (maybe, 100 people?) and all eyes are on me. I am in the middle of the shell. I think Pete was actually sitting down, just waiting for my string. I do my toe flicks, thinking about what to do... Do I just do something normal, do an ok string, and please people, do I do something easy and make sure I don't drop, or do I fucking crush dreams? I remember muttering under my own breathe "Please don't drop this", and go for Super-dee-duper-fly. The bag comes up, I look at it, see Juho's face and bail to osis. I hear the footbag crowd go wild, I hear the audience go wild because the footbaggers went wild, and I continue my string. I'm in auto-shuffle-drive at this point, thinking "ok, I got away with that murder, what next?", I do some shuffle, and I realize "I should totally try for nemesis->nemesis, because even if I don't get it, it'll look badass". I do some more bail tricks, waiting for my body to feel right, and I hear from the crowd "Do it BSOS!". This utterly distracts me, I drop, and want to fucking murder someone. This is now the third time Matt Kemmer has shouted from the crowd, and fucked with my concentration during a pivotal time in competition. This is highly annoying, but, I then quickly realize that "Well, I did well in competition, probably won it, and the eyes of New York are upon me. Smile you retard, you just did well".
Everyone commences their own playing, finals is over, all pressure is off, and the sun is sort of out. I lay down, kind of exhausted, and have to stretch. Sweet deal. Thank you circumstances for letting me come to New York City this weekend.
Next is Sushi, where I was dead tired, and don't remember anything notable, other than Matt C /Barrett making dollar bill hearts with a quarter encapsulated, and a dandy looking waitress for which to give them to. Turns out she charged us $5 for lemon wedges, so, she got no tip. We went back to Ben Cooke's place, I fell in love with a pillow, we watched some youtube, and eventually started playing some footbag. I tried to teach young Hogan about the ways of drilling basics, and he seemed to be receptive, and I sold my first bags in years. I hope their owners do enjoy them, the way I hope they do. I drank the rest of my coconut water, and went back to Matt's apartment, and called it a night.
Waking up with Bill's in my stomach, Matt Kemmer and I have a farewell session in Matt's gym. There was no time for warmup, so we just sort of got into it. I had one good twist string, with some both sided symp twirls, twitches, and ducking twists, and I also hit spender b2b for the first time, within probably 3 tries. It was pretty easy, and I felt good about that. After a train ride, we said our good byes and Matt Cross and I headed to Times Square.
Talk about screens and surplus of everything. Hundreds of thousands of people, lots of starbucks and Bubba-Gump shrimp right in the centre of everything. The highlight of this for me was that Brian Mckenzie (sp>?) showed up, out of the fucking blue, and I felt like I wanted to show him some footbag. Some triages, nemesii, flurries and torques later, I felt like I did my job, but I was really already feeling the session in the morning. I don't think I hit anything good the rest of the time, but I sealed the session on one of my favourite tricks, pogo far symp twirl. It just reminds me of Felix Zenger, and I like that. He is a god among men. Afterward we mosey onto a pizza shop, where I sit with none other than John Goode. We talk shop, eat some pizza, and I tell him some stuff I've never told any other footbagger, just because it seemed appropriate at the time. He seemed to accept my words, and I read somewhere that he feels more motivated for footbag, so I feel like it was a useful conversation.
That conversation really reminded me of Cornell 2007, one of my best jams to date. One dinner, David Clavens, Jorden, Pipenberg and I went to go eat Pizza, and I still remember Dave talking to the waitress today. I should read that writeup, as I'm sure it went into grueling detail, and see if my memory matches my words. It just reminded me of how nice it is to feel "one on one" with a footbagger you don't really know, and how the rest of the world is insignificant, because you are so 'into' the conversation. I wish more jam's had this, just like the Justin Dale/Ken hot tub from a week earlier. That shit is worth living for.
After the pizza, we parted to our separate ways, and I ended up with THE gentleman, Will Digges, at Matt's apartment. We sauna'd with some koreans, and had a blast of a conversation there, and spent some time on the roof enjoying NY. We planned on waking up, having a last shred, and I'd head back to Canadia, yet again.
At the Shred:
I am spent, after the hour, and want to end my misery. I say to Matt and Will "One more nemesis each side, and I'm done". I hadn't yet done a furious set, so I had no idea how long this would take. I do my first nemesis, seal it, it wasn't clean enough, so I do another. Not clean enough. I do another, it was clean enough. I go to the other side, pop out a perfectly clean one. Toss the bag to Matt, and sit down. Matt later says, after Will and he tried some nemesis themselves "You know Jay, it really isn't fair that that trick is called Nemesis to you. You should really call it your good friend. When you can do that, hit it back to back both sides, it really isn't your nemesis". I found this particularly funny, mostly because it was true.
I got home, after a short flight and a drive from Buffalo NY, and sort of sat down.. "now what?"
------
Now what = Finland.
I just finished booking my tickets this morning, I suppose I'll be going to Finland for a month, starting in three weeks. I'll be spending time with the coolest collection of people that ever lived, and, in sunshine instead of brutal darkness. I think instead of a hindsight blog entry, I'll probably keep a live-journal of the days, and scan them for online, because I'll probably have drawings or something else. It will be the best trip of my life, I'll probably go through the most, and hopefully come out of worlds having done my best. A lot of schooling ahead, my friends. My plan for, before worlds, is really just to get better at raising the bar of my "basics", and maybe do a video for Jere's video contest. We'll see how it goes. I wont be making USO, due to money issues and a ridiculous amount of footbag. I feel terrible about it, but, an additional $700 and worlds legs.. It couldn't happen. Sorry Zeb. Fuck.
Thanks everyone for making the footbag community such a great one to live in.
Things that happened since last post:
a.) Green Cup
b.) NYFA 5.
Green Cup.
So, two days before the event, I get a text from Steve: "Are you coming to Green Cup?". At that point, I had written it off entirely, as, two days before, tickets to California... Seemed like a low realm of possibility. Steve encouraged to look for tickets, because you never know. As I sat stitching, on my sister's couch, I viewed on my phone what seemed to be ridiculously cheap tickets. Half bag done, and 20 texts to Steve later, I was going to California.
The song "rocketman", re-done by William Shatner in the 1970's came into my mind. Flying places just feels nice, and doing it two days advance notice feels reasonable frothy. In the days before the event, I notice that 90% of the competition is injured, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. My own back had been giving me grief, since, I had not been doing tricks preparing for a jam, rather, whirligigs. It seemed like anyone could win it, and that scared me. Young Evan had fallen onto a tile, directly with his knee, Ken had net-raped his own knee, Justin had a back problem, and Chris is too styley to function most of the time. Combined with the fact that I had not planned a routine, for an event judged by Goldberg, this was scary.
I arrived in California, chatted with a nomadic-friendly-cool female at the Millbrae station, and found myself later in Mountainview for my session with Brian/Steve/Alex, eye-watched by David Clavens. Airplane shred always sucks, so I wasn't planning on anything victorious. Just like a few months ago, my flip clipper was taking a shit, and this seriously, deep down, worried me. Wtf, I fly all the way to California, after playing godly for the last few weeks, and my left clipper reverted to three months ago. No sir. Nu-uh. I wouldn't have any of that. After talking to Dave about it, we settled on the fact that it was probably just a "nervous" problem, and if I could get over my mental issues I'd probably be alright.
Turns out, Dave couldn't have been more correct. The next few sessions I had, I had with confidence, and that nasty clipper was A-Ok. +2 pimp points for Cleavar.
Ken did a fantastic job covering any video, or significant event recapping of the rest of the tournament, until the Golden Gate Park. The most significant highlights for me were...
a.) Justin Dale, being such a boss. Most consistent long strings of pretty much anyone. Routine length strings in casual circle are normal.
b.) Ken, just having such a large amount of experience in the game. It is like, a teenager looking at a 50 year old parent. You think you know things about life, (footbag), but then you realize that your parent has went through what you have went through, and thought about it for 30 years, and dealt with their shit.
c.) Seeing Chris Dean's first beast. That is a feeling of pure joy, I imagine. When I watched him hit it, just, the grin on his chin. Makes me smile right now. 69->food->spender is also a pretty tall order.
d.) David Clavens is fucking good at magic. Like, it is really easy to know how his tricks done, because it is just genuine fucking magic.
e.) 2 dropless routines in a row. Because I hadn't prepared, picked my music the day before, and...Wasn't prepared... Getting those two dropless really was neat. It will help my mental game immensely for worlds, since I realize that I am fully capable of dropless, it will just be my nerves I have to conquer. Frigging worlds.
f.) Winning circle.
This is the first "real" event, that I won. I won Request in Paris, but Milan was off satisfying some girl, so, that didn't feel victorious. I won rippin run in Vegas, against Evan/Bear, but, that is really a one time luck thing, so, that didn't feel great. Neither did winning this circle, because I really don't think I did. I did some open shuffle, and maybe a step or two... I just don't feel like I played to the level that I should have, in order to beat Evan. When Justin and Ken realized that was the first time I won something, I saw Justin's eyes lighten up, and he gave me sincere props, and that was the first time I actually felt good about winning. So, I'll keep that image in my head, referencing to this event.
g.) Hot Tub with Ken/Justin. We talked about Footbag, of course, and I asked them what I should be doing with my life. Speaking to two really experienced players/people, it was just what I needed to hear. I'll probably remember that Hot-Tub conversation as long as I remember footbag.
Golden Gate:
Steve/Bear/Alex/I showed up at Golden Gate Park, set up a speaker system and played on the closed-off street. It was super casual, and everyone knew they were moments away from saying their goodbyes. The most noteworthy event of the day for me was, When Steve said the net players wouldn't mind a short freestyle demo between matches, and that they wanted me to do it. I was already dressed in a red Planet Footbag shirt, and red planet footbag shorts, so I didn't feel like I was under-dressed for the occasion, and I wasn't too sore, so I obviously said yes. I guess I went out there for about 2 minutes, played to some dubstep while Eric Wulff was telling the crowd what I was doing. This felt a lot like my routines I've done, where I sort of dream through it, and don't remember what I did. Apparently I did pretty well, and all I recall was being glad to hit my flip ripstein in the middle of it. I also remember doing a hand catch, after a dropless minute or so, and just looking at the crowd, feeling very confident.
Overall, it was another fucking solid week spent in San Carlos, California. Hanging out with Steve+Crew, taking care of Dave/Erin's Cat, and the rest of the attendance just gives me great feelings about Footbag. It was probably the 6th time or so I went to Steve's, and it is ridiculous feeling like you go there more than you do your own Grandparent's, or, parents for that matter. It does feel like a version of home, and I love it. Footbag sort of is my life now, and I can't find a reason to regret that.
---------
So, here I am, sitting at my computer, the Wednesday before NYFA. I have written this event off as well, as I just dropped a bunch of money on California, and am still sore from the event. I get a message from John Goode, telling me of some interesting circumstances, and decide that I better start looking into this event. A day passes, and Matt Kemmer asks me if I am coming to the event, and taking everything into consideration, I have tickets to NYC 20 minutes later. I would be staying with Matt Cross, the *very* first person I talked to in Footbag, and good friend. The level of competition compared to Green Cup would be a bit lower, but I had extreme nervous-ness due to my unpreparedness, and still good quality shredder at the event.
After some serious delays, amounting to about 9 hours in an airport for a 55 minute flight, I find myself in a cab to Matt's apartment in Brooklyn NY. Matt, with his luscious curly locks and sweet NYFA jersey greets me at the door, and we walk to the store and buy some liquids, and 2 bananas for me. Turns out Matt enjoys Coconut water like I do, and this would set the trend for me pretty much exclusively drinking coconut water throughout the event. I make my way to the roof of Matt's place, see some Gangster looking fellows in a Hot-Tub, and footbaggers all over. I walk about half-way through everyone, and the first "Jay Boychuk!" Cry comes from within the crowd. Some initial hello's were said, and I was with another group of family, on the opposite side of the united states. It honestly feels like Each Coast, Finland, and the rest of Europe, are all like parents to me, and I just go there and see the rest of my family. I chat with John Goode and Matt Kemmer, about footbag, what I've hit, what I should hit, what everyone else has hit, and will hit... Just girly footbag gossip in general. Eventually I make my way to the hot tub, and am the single person in there. Some people come around, eventually Way-Way joins me, and just more inevitable footbag thrilled-ness is everywhere around me. This feels good. A very different scene from the west coast, as, the west coast bases most of their talk about the demise of footbag, and the East Coast is optimistic, lots of new players, and it just seems alive. I'm happy at this point, to almost be a member of the East Coast, instead.
The following Day, Matt Kemmer, Matt Cross, Will Digges (such a gentleman) went to a breakfast Joint called "Bills", ordered some shred fuel and made our way to Central Park. Turns out that day was raining, but under some tree cover it proves to be dry enough for a few hours of shred.
This was sort of the "premiere" shred of the weekend I suppose, because everyone was fresh and excited. I knew Circle was going on, so I held back, but still hit some noteworthy stuff that people seemed to like. The most obvious of which, was linking Nemesis->nemesis on my flipside, which felt retardedly clean. Like, it felt cleaner than most of my normal nemesii, and some people saw. I guess it has been a long while *funtastik?* since the east coast crew has actually seem me play footbag, so in hindsight that might make people's reactions to my shred a little more understandable. I was literally warming up, just going through a bunch of concepts, and getting props. I remember my first double dex run, maybe, 12 contacts, got props... My atomic warmup (2 contacts shy of atomic everything) got props.. Just, basic stuff. This kind of woke me up to I guess what I take for granted in my basement.
Circle was about to start in the bandshell (sp?) but that would be full of circle shredders, so, Matt Kemmer and I decided to keep on playing under the tree cover to stay warm. Maybe 30 minutes later when it was time for us to play, the rain was sort of stopping and we carried onto the competition, and it begun. I warmed up just randomly outside, and I had some photographer ask if he could shoot some, so, I played and he seemed to like it..Then another photographer...Then a group of people...Oh New York City, you tourists
. Once I was called up, it was Nick Pollini, John Goode and I. Nick obviously has good variety, so I was a bit worried for that, and who knows, John is really solid so he could have taken density. Turns out I played pretty well, and didn't have to worry, and may have had my longest strings of the weekend. I hit blurriest swirl, pixie dolomite swirl, whirlwind, among other things, and I sealed my spot for finals. In the middle shred between competition, I recall hitting a pretty cool run, starting with flip furious blender (first try), and ending on the other side gangster party. It hasn't really hit me until now, but I guess that is kind of a huge run in terms of footbag. I got props for it then, but, I guess I just accepted them now. In Finals, it was me, Doug Tank, Petar Sweets, and Ben Cooke. I have *never* shredded with Ben Cooke, and all I know was his vacation video, so I was quite worried. He can hit some hard shit. John Goode was the official contact counter of the weekend, and apparently one of my strings was 50 something contacts, and my shortest was ~20, so I guess I really didn't have that bad of runs. The only highlight from me, within this circle round, was the final run. I get passed the bag, the sun is now peeking out from the rain clouds, I see passer-byers looking into the bandshell (maybe, 100 people?) and all eyes are on me. I am in the middle of the shell. I think Pete was actually sitting down, just waiting for my string. I do my toe flicks, thinking about what to do... Do I just do something normal, do an ok string, and please people, do I do something easy and make sure I don't drop, or do I fucking crush dreams? I remember muttering under my own breathe "Please don't drop this", and go for Super-dee-duper-fly. The bag comes up, I look at it, see Juho's face and bail to osis. I hear the footbag crowd go wild, I hear the audience go wild because the footbaggers went wild, and I continue my string. I'm in auto-shuffle-drive at this point, thinking "ok, I got away with that murder, what next?", I do some shuffle, and I realize "I should totally try for nemesis->nemesis, because even if I don't get it, it'll look badass". I do some more bail tricks, waiting for my body to feel right, and I hear from the crowd "Do it BSOS!". This utterly distracts me, I drop, and want to fucking murder someone. This is now the third time Matt Kemmer has shouted from the crowd, and fucked with my concentration during a pivotal time in competition. This is highly annoying, but, I then quickly realize that "Well, I did well in competition, probably won it, and the eyes of New York are upon me. Smile you retard, you just did well".
Everyone commences their own playing, finals is over, all pressure is off, and the sun is sort of out. I lay down, kind of exhausted, and have to stretch. Sweet deal. Thank you circumstances for letting me come to New York City this weekend.
Next is Sushi, where I was dead tired, and don't remember anything notable, other than Matt C /Barrett making dollar bill hearts with a quarter encapsulated, and a dandy looking waitress for which to give them to. Turns out she charged us $5 for lemon wedges, so, she got no tip. We went back to Ben Cooke's place, I fell in love with a pillow, we watched some youtube, and eventually started playing some footbag. I tried to teach young Hogan about the ways of drilling basics, and he seemed to be receptive, and I sold my first bags in years. I hope their owners do enjoy them, the way I hope they do. I drank the rest of my coconut water, and went back to Matt's apartment, and called it a night.
Waking up with Bill's in my stomach, Matt Kemmer and I have a farewell session in Matt's gym. There was no time for warmup, so we just sort of got into it. I had one good twist string, with some both sided symp twirls, twitches, and ducking twists, and I also hit spender b2b for the first time, within probably 3 tries. It was pretty easy, and I felt good about that. After a train ride, we said our good byes and Matt Cross and I headed to Times Square.
Talk about screens and surplus of everything. Hundreds of thousands of people, lots of starbucks and Bubba-Gump shrimp right in the centre of everything. The highlight of this for me was that Brian Mckenzie (sp>?) showed up, out of the fucking blue, and I felt like I wanted to show him some footbag. Some triages, nemesii, flurries and torques later, I felt like I did my job, but I was really already feeling the session in the morning. I don't think I hit anything good the rest of the time, but I sealed the session on one of my favourite tricks, pogo far symp twirl. It just reminds me of Felix Zenger, and I like that. He is a god among men. Afterward we mosey onto a pizza shop, where I sit with none other than John Goode. We talk shop, eat some pizza, and I tell him some stuff I've never told any other footbagger, just because it seemed appropriate at the time. He seemed to accept my words, and I read somewhere that he feels more motivated for footbag, so I feel like it was a useful conversation.
That conversation really reminded me of Cornell 2007, one of my best jams to date. One dinner, David Clavens, Jorden, Pipenberg and I went to go eat Pizza, and I still remember Dave talking to the waitress today. I should read that writeup, as I'm sure it went into grueling detail, and see if my memory matches my words. It just reminded me of how nice it is to feel "one on one" with a footbagger you don't really know, and how the rest of the world is insignificant, because you are so 'into' the conversation. I wish more jam's had this, just like the Justin Dale/Ken hot tub from a week earlier. That shit is worth living for.
After the pizza, we parted to our separate ways, and I ended up with THE gentleman, Will Digges, at Matt's apartment. We sauna'd with some koreans, and had a blast of a conversation there, and spent some time on the roof enjoying NY. We planned on waking up, having a last shred, and I'd head back to Canadia, yet again.
At the Shred:
I am spent, after the hour, and want to end my misery. I say to Matt and Will "One more nemesis each side, and I'm done". I hadn't yet done a furious set, so I had no idea how long this would take. I do my first nemesis, seal it, it wasn't clean enough, so I do another. Not clean enough. I do another, it was clean enough. I go to the other side, pop out a perfectly clean one. Toss the bag to Matt, and sit down. Matt later says, after Will and he tried some nemesis themselves "You know Jay, it really isn't fair that that trick is called Nemesis to you. You should really call it your good friend. When you can do that, hit it back to back both sides, it really isn't your nemesis". I found this particularly funny, mostly because it was true.
I got home, after a short flight and a drive from Buffalo NY, and sort of sat down.. "now what?"
------
Now what = Finland.
I just finished booking my tickets this morning, I suppose I'll be going to Finland for a month, starting in three weeks. I'll be spending time with the coolest collection of people that ever lived, and, in sunshine instead of brutal darkness. I think instead of a hindsight blog entry, I'll probably keep a live-journal of the days, and scan them for online, because I'll probably have drawings or something else. It will be the best trip of my life, I'll probably go through the most, and hopefully come out of worlds having done my best. A lot of schooling ahead, my friends. My plan for, before worlds, is really just to get better at raising the bar of my "basics", and maybe do a video for Jere's video contest. We'll see how it goes. I wont be making USO, due to money issues and a ridiculous amount of footbag. I feel terrible about it, but, an additional $700 and worlds legs.. It couldn't happen. Sorry Zeb. Fuck.
Thanks everyone for making the footbag community such a great one to live in.
Jay Boychuk
Have you ever comsidered doing a video blog, like on Youtube? I think it would be fantastic. Your enthusiasm is much better translated verbally. Another plus is that instead of taking a while to write you could do it quick and naturally. You could also supplement hacky tricks of yours if you're feeling ambitious.
Once I'm uninjured could you teach me the basics? I still need to visit Jorden to fix my whip form. Maybe I could combine a trip once I can play again..
Once I'm uninjured could you teach me the basics? I still need to visit Jorden to fix my whip form. Maybe I could combine a trip once I can play again..
To make myself look like less of a douche, I did apologize afterword and Jay forgave me.jay7 wrote:This is now the third time Matt Kemmer has shouted from the crowd, and fucked with my concentration during a pivotal time in competition.
Had a great time with you. All the best towards Worlds my friend.
Matt Kemmer