Nick "Houdini" Polini

[Zjeezy]

Nice work though dude.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Asmus: Thanks for posting in here, I'm honored that you would read my blog. Zach: Thanks for the corn I'm hanging out with her tomorrow night. Can't wait. I've been in Ohio for a week, visiting family. Just got back a bit ago. Nick Pasquarello and Mike Angeski came to visit me over the week and we played some footbag. Got some pretty good footage. From watching over my footage, I can say that, surprisingly, Atomic sets have become a nice bail from toe. Happy about that. We played in front of a really pleasant waterfall. Such a sick spot. I'll be upping footage later on. I'm going off to shred with Jeremy and Corey in a minute here. But in the video, I nailed some good stuff, and some ok runs. Added a new flipside 5 ADD that I didn't think I'd hit for quite some time, and 3 new Fearless 5-5 links. Very excited about them. I did some dedications too. Zach, you're one of them. I dedicated a 5-5 link to you.

I'm gonna get outta here now and meet up with the guys. Peace.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Just got back from the session. Great stuff from everyone. Jackson had some really styley runs, one specifically with symp mirage and dimwalk that I didn't expect to see. Jeremy surprises me once again with Stepping op Clip bs (First on flip), Swirl bs (first on both), Pdx Mirage bs, and Pixie op Clip bs (first on both). He's a fucking prodigy. Corey was getting some really dense runs together! I was blown away. Maddddd long tiltless runs. I nailed some new Fearless links!

Pdx Torque> Pdx Torque (starting on strongside)
Pdx Torque> Pdx Torque (starting on flipside)
Footed another 5-5 link (starting on both sides) that I've only seen some of the best players hit, like Lon Smith and a some others. Just couldn't manage to get a seal on it... Soon.
I also BSOS'ed Pdx Torque in a guiltless string

FUCK YEAHHHHH!!!!! I'm in the pdx torque b2b club

Going to try to edit my footage tonight.

Edit: I forgot some stuff from tonight.

Dimmiest (first one)
Had a pretty good run with Spinning Clipper> Spinning Clipper> Matador> run> Blurry Whirl> run
Spinning Heel> DOD> run

Uploading my 5-5 links now, since they're going to be the easiest to edit

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

New Fearless links & 1 new 5 add I hit while in Ohio (in the video below):

Blurry Whirl> Blurry Whirl... Doug told me one day, he just felt like getting this link and he tried it until he got it. This reminded me of that.
Flipside Pdx Blender (First one!) Mike showed me a trick to Pdx Wirl that I never thought about before, and it also made Pdx Blenders easier now.
Pdx Blender> Mobius... I saw Zach hit this in a repeat drill and thought it looked so stylish, I had to try it.
My first NON-FROZEN Mobius b2b... Ken & Tony called me out on my freezes. They said they would like to see me hit my Mom> Mob without the extra freeze on the osis... Got it


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opRaY0Detv0[/youtube]

More footage will be coming out tomorrow...

Edit: I did try to film Jani Walker for John Goode, Atomic Torque for Kevin Hogan, and Flip Food Processor for Mark Monistere... But I couldn't snag them. Sorry guys. I'll get these eventually.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Here's some stuff from Ohio that I forgot to add...

Highlights:

Ripwalk> Whirl rpt
Spinning Whirl BSOS
DLO> Dimwalk BSOS (Props to John Goode for suggesting I try Pixies out of DLO)
Maverick> Merkon rpt
First Flip Pixie Whirl
First Flip Stepping ss Whirl
Spinning Clipper> Ducking Clipper rpt x5 (I've really been concentrating on this drill. This stuff acts as huge bails for me, but I miss them sometimes... When I drill this til it's dead, I'm hoping these problems will cease. My ducks and spins felt really strong today... More on that later.)
Spinning Osis> Spinning Whirl

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today, I got a text from Bob at the butt crack of dawn... "When do you get home from Ohio?" I mindlessly and sleepily replied "I home!" Bob: Wanna kick at 11?" (Meanwhile, I fell back asleep) The next 4 texts... "Huh?" "Do ya?" "Huh? Huh?" "Do ya?" I wake up at 10:30, and reply... "I'll leave in a minute" Lucky I made it to his place in time. We had a great session. Bob's stuff is looking so crisp! Blurs are looking gnarly, he fdid his first flip Blizzards today and they were so clean, and he was stringing really well, in general. Also he figured out his Eggbeaters and flip DLOs

I kicked with Bob then went home and drilled for a bit in my new Quantums that were on my porch when I got home.. (THANKS MARK!!!!! I love them!)

Bob Highlights:

Pdx Torque> Mobius!!!!!!!!!!! That felt so gooooddddd to hittttttt. Tried it on flip, but my weak zooming is still a little too stupid.
Pdx Torque> Swirl
Good strings in general. Since I've been drilling repeat combos and other single 3 adds, my strings have definitely gotten much longer. So happy.
Blender> Torque bs
Void first try
Ended the session at Bob's on Spinning Osis> Pdx Whirl bs (This is probably my first link with flip Pdx Whirl)

Solo Highlights:

Gyro Mirage> Dimwalk rpt (Felt so much easier than last time I tried it)
Flip Gyro Blender! Woo! First time on flipster

That's all the footbag my legs can handle today. Jeremy texted me a bit ago and tells me that he hit Dimwalk bs... and he sent me a video... Yep, He sure got it. He learns so quickly, it's ridiculous.

Spending the rest of my night with a lovely lady, named Nadiah.

[sen]

Mom> Mob

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Mom> Mob

Lol Thanks Tony. I didn't see that. Mom> Mob. Definitely a difficult link. Mob> Mob is way easier

So here's a little personal story about last night. It's totally a downer, but here it goes. Nadiah and I went on a really fun date last night. We saw a movie together, then went to this sweet diner in this kinda ghetto ass area around her town. We ate there for a while, then we left, and started to walk to the car. We were just talking and laughing with eachother about everything, we get along so well. It was awesome. We get to get car, and she looks at me and goes "Uh... Nick...."... She holds up a shard of glass... "My window is smashed". I run around to the other side of her car. The whole driver side window is completely obliterated. On top of that, the cd player is stolen out of the dashboard. Glass is thrown about the entire car. I run to the passenger side of the car. My hydropak was gone. It had my favorite Bearbag in it. On top of that, they stole a gallon of orange juice, a bag of chips, some cds, and some other odds and ends. This girl is so sweet, she never deserved something like this. I was so upset for her. Oddly enough, she was totally calm about it. A normal girl would cry and bitch and scream, but Nadiah totally kept her cool. I was more pissed than she was. We called the police and they barely did jack shit about it. Anyway, long story short, I helped brush the glass off of her seat and stuff and we left and I helped he tape up her window with cardboard and a trashbag. Now that I know how she reacts to bad situations so well, I'm actually more attracted to her, and she said since I was so sweet and helped her with everything, she was more attracted to me. Oh and those mother fuckers stole my fucking pop-tarts! It was cool though, we joked about the situation in the end. She's getting it fixed today, and hopefully trying to come see me tomorrow. Nice to get this story off my chest. On a brighter note, maybe I just gave some homeless man a new hobby with that footbag he stole... Or maybe he'll think it's a magical crack rock and just try to smoke it....

Jeremy, his gal friend and I are going to play some footbag tonight, I think. Will post highlights later... Like always

[g00d33]

Wow, dude. That sucks. Big time. Taking the hydropak was one thing, but taking the pop tarts too was just going too far! But for real, that blows. It's good at least no one was injured or anything

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Lol, yeah I know dude, what kind of bastard person goes as low as to steal some innocent person's pop-tarts?

Anywhozer... I seshed with Jeremy and his ex-girl... friend? thing? Don't know what to call them. She was really cool though. Her name is Tiff and she's got every color in her hair and no more room on her face for a ring lol She was very interesting. She also had toe stalls, atws on bs, and was dexing mirages. Holy Matthews is hopefully sending her a pair of Lavers soon. Small feet are hard to find lavers for. Anyway, yeah, she was pretty interesting to talk to, considering she has so many piercings, and I am squeemish when it comes to needles. Lots of squinty faces and groans from me during that conversation. Very interesting though.

Something else really cool... There's this school near my house that's called "Owen J. Roberts" and for YEARS, I've been hearing that there is an exact twin of me there. People often say, "He looks exactly like you... but chubby." During the end of our session, Tiff told me that same thing... "So there's this kid who looks exactly like you and comes into my work on a regular basis... but he's chubbier." I was so happy to hear that she knew who he was! She's going to snap his pic next time he comes in to her work. I'll post this picture of my slightly out of shape doppleganger when I find him.

Anyway, back on track, the session was great. I felt really confident in my game! Jeremy was stringing well. And like I said, Tiff knew what she was doing with some basic stuff. I had one of the best sessions in a long while.

Highlights:

Atomsmasher> Atomsmasher!!! 2nd time I've hit this. Atomics on both sides feels so nice now. Very bail-ey.
Had THE BEST RUN... OF MY LIFE!!!! Can't remember what all was in it, but it was something like Blur> Dimwalk rpt> some ducking stuff & spinning stuff and there was a nice Blender in here somewhere too> spinning ducking clipper somewhere in here...> more stuff> Ripstein> Pdx Whirl> stuff> Blurry Whirl> Inside stall (because I was so baffled at how I was flowing so well) Definitely 20 or more contacts. I was so happy about this.
Gravedigger bs (New on both sides!!!) I've been working on Torques recently, and I think it has helped quite a bit.
Mobius BSOS in a Guiltless string
Possibly an invention? If not an invention, then NO ONE does this in their runs. I got an idea to mess with heel delays tonight... and I hit Blur ending on Heel on both sides, very first try on each side. I will DEFINITELY start using this in my runs... And if I'm not mistaken... This is a new 5 ADD for me! I can almost guarantee that this has no name, even if it has been hit before... I will be doing more of these, and I don't want to constantly say "Blur Ending on Heel", so I want to call it "Syzygy". "Syzygy" is a term used to describe the configuration of planets and how they align, such as the sun and the moon. This trick starts in clipper (which I'm comparing to the sun), and ends in a heel (which is about on the same level as the starting clipper and this would be the earth). I don't know, I just think this trick, in general reminds me of that. I tried to use an astronomy term, since that's what a lot of footbag tricks are named after (nuclear, atomic, fusion, etc...), plus I think the term and the trick go pretty well together. I will definitely be doing more to these and I've come up with some cool links in my head to hit with Syzygy in them. I knew drilling heel delays would come in handy!
Ended my session on a dream drill... WHIRL WAR!!!! This is great because, as of recently, I've had no flip P. Whirl.

Anyway, yeah, great session. To end Jeremy's session he hit B> O> P. He said he'll hit it on his other side tomorrow lol I keep saying it, but that guy's got the mindset of a future awesome player.

Going to bed now. Might be hanging out with Nadiah tomorrow after work. Later.

[Corey]

I think I called your frozen mobius out before you even hit mob>mob.
Oh I had to look up what a hydropack was...ayo technology.

[DTank126]

I dont have time to catch up on your blog right now but just wanted to say props on the non-frozen mobius>mobius. Still looks like crap but hey, you cant fix ugly.

Jk, your style's really comin together. Hopefully I see you at a tourney soon. Do you have a passport? Go to the London Jam in a few weeks!

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Yeah, you did call me out on that earlier, Corey.

Doug, thanks a lot man. Yeah, sorry my Mobii are so fucked up and sketchy the spins are froggy, the first dex was thin and the second was the and the osis was too scoopy. Will try better next time No way I can go to London dude :\

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This week is kind of depressing, in general. I only have a few days left to hang out and say goodbye to everyone around here because I start college again in a few days!!!! Fuck man. So today, I went kayaking with Leon, it was like our goodbye hangout :\ We spent the end of the kayak trip taking turns freestyle rapping about stupid shit. While Leon beat boxed and came up with topics, I would freestyle, and vice versa. Some of the best topics were "basket ball player dunking on a 2 ft hoop" and "babies being thrown into helicopter blades". ...So that was fun.

After leon left, I grabbed Jackson and we met up with Jeremy at Bob's barn.... This was my final session with Bob and Jeremy before I go away Bob's kids even colored me little pictures that said "Good luck from (then they tried to sign their names but messed up, crossed out a letter, then tried again until they got the right letter). Lol The little Riefers are so ballin. Love those kids. Anyway, aside from that sad part about this being my going away session, it was a great session.

So... Jackson hit some sick strings. Long tiltless strings with some guiltless. He's figuring out Osii, as well. Really stoked. Jeremy was rippin it. Had some super sturdy, well-balanced tiltless with really great delays on each trick. Bob played awesome too. I can see his old style coming back (since he's been drilling 2 ADDs this whole summer). I can tell that since he'd gone back with me to drill our 1 ADDs & 2 ADDs, that once he starts drilling the 3 ADDs, shit will start sticking with him so well. I played really well tonight. I was happy I played well, since I'm not going to see those guys for a little while... Anyway...

Highlights:

Syzygy BSOS Stoked on that. This trick will work it's way into the weird part of my game, hopefully.
Started some good runs with Gravedigger & Blurry Torque
So many strings that I was truly happy with
Lots of good shuffle Need to get better at Pixies though, a big bail link of mine from toe is Atomsmasher> Butterfly :\ Bob suggested I changed that butterfly to Paradon. I'll be messing with this in the future.

I was really happy to see that Bob gave his new phone number to Jackson and Jeremy, and Jeremy and Jackson gave their numbers to Bob. This means they're going to be kicking with him while I'm at school. That was the highlight of my night. I'm so happy Bob gave me a chance so many years ago, even though I was a one-sided little douchebag ADHD tiltless player. I always say that I'd be nowhere without him, but he always says that it wasn't him, it was my practicing... I say that's bullshit. Bob is the sole reason why I am where I am in footbag. Sure I practiced and played a lot, but without Bob's guidance, I'd be nowhere near where I am. So, once again, Bob, thanks for being the best shred partner/teacher/friend anyone could have. I can't wait to come back home next time and see that everyone in my local PA crew is pretty much BAP as fuck

I'm looking forward to PSU though. I don't know how much I'll be able to kick in the next few days, due to packing and hanging out/ saying goodbye to some old friends of mine, as well as seeing Nadiah one last time before school. She said she wants to drive up every so often and visit me. We're pretty much together now, btw. we just want to take it easy, but it's easy to tell that we're both pretty crazy about eachother. Can't wait to see her again.

Good night.

[Rieferman]

Thanks Nick, it's nice to read the kind words (but it's totally all YOU that is making you get good so quickly). This was one of the most fun summers of footbag I've ever had (in 15+ years of playing) thanks to all our sessions. Good luck at school and can't wait to hang again when you come home on breaks etc.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

I can't thank you enough for everything, Bob

Tonight, I went outside and drilled for a little bit. I realized my strong inspin clip was good, but my weak one was dooty. So I started with that....

Highlights:

Inspin clippers bs (first time in a while for flipside, need to work on this more often) Almost dialed on my strongside, flip needs work, but they're coming along.
Worked on Spinning Ducking Osis midstring... This feels natural for me now. I rarely missed it on bs.
Realized I never hit flip Blurry Symp Mirage... So I hit that for the first time, on the first try.
Then toward the end of the sesh, I worked on blender> spinning (especially on my flip... Flip zooming is whack for me, specifically from Blender)...
Once I figured out a big problem with my blenders (I was setting them too far away from me!!!) I made up a nice little repeat drill and hit it... Spinning Clipper> Blender rpt That felt nice.

I just edited and am now uploading footage from Ohio of Nick Pasquarello and I. I'll be posting it here soon. It's got the first Marius, Holy Roller, and Scorpion's Tail that I've ever hit on tape. Should be up in.... 25 minutes... Now... we wait.......

Edit: Finished! However, Youtube went all fucky on me and decided that I'm illegally using the song, so the audio is out. I'm upping it to vimeo right now, to fix this problem. But here is the version with no music in the mean time...


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFx6mPR0YN8[/youtube]

Comments/critiques are welcome.

[Jazzkid]

^ great session....your atomics looks easy...marius looked easy...

For scorp....just start doing consecutive spinning butterflies and this will fix any issue you have....

DUDE>>>

I am trying to go to my first comp at East Coast......hope you will be there and we can shred......

[Pasquar]

[quote=]"Jazzkid"
I am trying to go to my first comp at East Coast......hope you will be there and we can shred......[/quote]

wiggity what! do it!!

[h0ag3yb3atZ]

good shit son. your double downs already look clean and easy, theres alot more fat to your strings and I don't think i saw a single two add. Scorps looked real legit, I think I may have to hit that tonight after seeing you make it look so easy.

with that said I think you should work on making your sets more compact. Not necessarily setting super low, but your legs look like they are doing more then need be especially on these two concepts. I don't think fixing them should be any trouble especially since you can duck both sets on both sides, just a heads up son.

crazy challenge: vortex>void bs (tape or it didn't happen )

keep it up, hope to chill at east coasts!

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

"Jazzkid"
I am trying to go to my first comp at East Coast......hope you will be there and we can shred......

wiggity what! do it!!

Heck yes! I'm trying to go to East Coasts too! It'd be so sick to finally meet you, Mark. I'll drag Pipenburg's ass down to East Coasts with me too. Nick, I hope to see you there too!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is officially my last blogging before I move into my apartment at Penn State University... 4 hours away :\ Kinda bummed right now. Definitely going to suck being so far from my footbag crew, family, and Nadiah. Got a text from Pipenburg the other day saying that he just got a new pair of Lavers and he's ready to kick. So stoked to be kicking with Ian Brill and Nate this semester. Well, I'm out, I guess... *sigh*

Edit: Yo Kevin, thanks for the compliments dude. I'll keep that stuff in mind. You can hit Scorp. Mine wasn't even that clean in the video. Hope to see you at East Coasts too. I'm def trying to go.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Howdy everyone! I'm about 4 hours away from where I'm usually typing this bullcrap

I really like it up here at PSU. It's a nice environment with tons of friendly freshman alcoholics stumbling in front of me as I'm walking home, trying to repeat (but badly slurring over) the phrase "Say Sushi". Wow! What imbeciles! Anyway, it is actually a lot of fun down here. It's so huge though... Like I mean.... HUGEEEEE. Yeah. It's kinda of cool being here, because I keep remembering that Dave Clavens was once walking on the same streets that I've been wandering around on. And on top of that, I just kicked in the spot where Dave often frequented when he played... I can only hope that if I kick there enough, maybe some secret power of Dave's will latch onto me and make me better... Keep dreamin. Also, to top it all off, I kicked in Dave's spot with Dave's number one shred partner while he was at PSU... Nate Pipenburg. We'd hung out a few times before. He seems like a really chill dude. He just got back from hiking the entire Appalachian Trail :O Pretty amazing. Tonight was his first session in 5 months! And he wasn't even that rusty! He's gonna have a strong come back. Our session was a lot of fun. He was hitting some madd flowy strings. I love that kid's style. So rippin. It's so fucking effortless. The dude's got so much potential. And to make matters even cooler. I wasn't kicking badly at all tonight! A few random highlights..

Highlights:

Nate taught me Gyro Toe lol I've never understood it, but now I love it. I hit it both sides, multiple times.
Got some good tips on Pdx Torque and Marius
In general, longer, flowy strings
Nate and I both ended out session with 20+ Contacts. I had 21 and Nate had 25 or 27.

We plan on drilling and playing a lot in the near and distant future. We're gonna push eachother hard to get better. He wants to work on some things that he'd not concentrated on before, like double downs and eggbeaters and whatnot. I really can't wait to get some hardcore, BUT FUN, drill sessions going with him.

Anyway, yes, I'm stoked on my new location, but yes, I do totally miss Bob, Jeremy, Jackson, Drew, Corey, The Q-Town Rejects, and all the other guys back home from my crew. I wish you guys the best of luck with footbag. Oh and apparently, we might have a new member, who doesn't live too far away. he just talked to me this morning, telling me he was trying to get together but I had to deliver the bad news... I'm moving :\ I think Jeremy and him are planning on meeting up. I'm really gonna miss Jackson, just cuz he's been such a good friend/neighbor/shred partner.

Oh and, surprise, Zach Hoffa and I are cool again. He texted me a few weeks back and asked if I wanted to kick again ad that he was sorry and stuff. We had a pretty cool session, and we video taped it, but sadly, we lost the footage :\ Hoping he'll come up and visit sometime.

Anyway, I'm gonna go hang up some posters in my new room.

Peace, love, and footbag to all.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Kicked today with Nate. Great session. Lots of fun. We did some straight up freestyle, then later we did made up links and repeat drills for eachother. Definitely a fun time.

Highlights:

Nate helped me out with my flip Pdx Drifter. I understand them so much better now.
Pdx Drifter BSOS (first time!)
My favorite link that Nate gave me and I hit within a few tries was, Gyro Butterfly> Pdx Drifter
Atomsmashers are getting way easier for me. Rather than Atomic set> bail to Butter, I'm now doing Atomic set> bail to Mirage. It's feeling so good.
Need to work on Pixies :\

Nate was hitting some good shit. He nailed some cool stuff like Diving Drifter, and a lot of great flowy runs.

Ian Brill moves in this Monday I think. Can't wait to kick with him too.

I noticed a couple funny things about sessions with Nate and I.... He's like a fucking tower standing across from me in our cirlce and I'm a little shramp and He's got insanely long legs and I've got the "Crankles". We're a pretty interesting thing for students and passersby to see.

Going on a walk around campus to figure out where my classes are and shit.

Later..