Nick "Houdini" Polini

Keep a diary of what you're hitting, what's frustrating you, and your goals.
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic »

Today was a good day. Well, one bad thing happened to a player, but I'll cover everything in this post...

So I woke up this morning and headed out on the road to meet up with Vince Richardson and Drew Martin. On the way, I figured I would call Jackson and see if he wanted to join us since the college wasn't far from his place. He answered and said he'd head straight down.

Jackson arrives, then Drew, then me. I spotted Drew easily, because he would be the only person smoking a cigarette in the parking lot of a Christian college :P Met up with him when I saw him, then we had to find Jackson. We looked around and didn't see any sign of him.. However, he wasn't too tough to find because there could only be one person speeding and blaring Pantera from their car stereo at a Christian college. So we all met up and walked toward some tennis courts.

Drew gave us candy. Drew you're the fucking MAN.

We found a nice little circle and began to warm up while we waited for Vince and his circle-kicky friend. We warmed up for a while and talked and joked. It was a really good time. Jackson was finally getting some good solid Legovers with Drew's tips. I had some pretty sweet runs that were viscous (like watah), long (like a bong), and dense (like a .. fence.). Drew was hitting some dense runs too, and he also hit some cool Whipping Axles. Lots of fun.

Just about 2 minutes before Vince and his friend show up, Jackson was on the verge of a new trick. Backside Smear. He got so close a few times. Then he gave it one last try, completely fumbled over his feet and landed on his foot the absolute most wrong way you can land on your foot. He dropped in pain and clutched his leg. We feared for the worst. And it was the worst. Drew gave him some icy hot and then he said goodbye and SOMEHOW walked back to his car and managed to drive home. Later he texts me and tells me his ankle is broken :( So bummed about that. Jackson has always been a great friend of mine, one of my best. He always hurts himself, but never this bad. However, he seems like he wants to get back on the horse and ride once he recovers. So that's a good sign.

Anyway, like I said, Vince got there just before Jackson left. Vince and Jake (the circle kicker) were both super nice guys. Really cool to talk to and Vince knew a LOT about footbag. He knew the name of just about every trick I hit, so that was crazy awesome and surprising. Vince has a lot of his basics down. One thing he has to work on is: Lavers! He was shredding in a pair of modded Adidas or something that wasn't Lavers :P I think his game will pick up like madd when he gets a pair. I let him try mine out, and he really seemed to dig them.

I saw him hit some stuff like Smear, and some good tiltless links. He's also surprisingly good at Inside stalls. His clippers are lacking though. And I know that this is due to his non-lavers. They have an incline on the clipper that doesn't help him. But he's got potential... Just in need of a pair of 11.5 Lavers. If anyone has an extra old pair lying around that you don't want, you should tell me so I can tell Vince. He's really into footbag and it's cool to see how hooked he was. He travels with his job of transporting laser tag stuff and setting up at colleges in the US, so you might be next to get hit up by him. I recommend kicking with him. He's passionate about the sport, knows a lot of crazy stuff (like a secret thingy in your android phone which makes your little alien dudes get all fucky), and just a good dude to hang out and talk with. Jake seemed nice too, but didn't seem as into footbag as Vince. He could only do inside stall on one side and some basic kicks, then he sat out and watched. I hope he sticks with it. I encouraged him to not give up and hopefully I'd see him at an upcoming jam.

Oh Vince ended up buying 2 bags from me! So that was awesome! I'm glad he liked both of them. I stitched 2 so he would have a choice, but I guess he liked both :)

Vince invited me to come check out the laser tag at night but I had prior obligations to help my grandmother, so i had to deny the offer, even though it would have been sick. Maybe next time.

After I helped my grandma, I was missing Nadiah, so I filmed a long term goal and dedicated it to her, which I'll post in my highlights section.. All in all, it was a really fun day. I miss Nadiah though, thankfully I'll be seeing her this Friday :)

Highlights:

:arrow: As soon as Drew was walking away to leave the session, I said, "wait Drew, this is for you" and hit Bedwetter first try. That was a good feeling, considering I've hit around 5 of them in my life
:arrow: Vince asked me to hit Pig Beater. And I basically said "Fuck no" because I suck at eggs,, but then be encouraged me to try it since I hit Bed. So while he has my shoes, i tried it and hit it both sides barefoot, then both sides in Lavers when he gave them back. Oddly enough, this was my first time hitting Pig Beater on either side, and I'm in love with that trick now. The way it feels. Damn. I really wanna start getting better at Eggbeater tricks now. They're starting to come into play and they're a lot of fun.
:arrow: New trick: Far Swivel!!! (Clipper Far Symposium Reverse Swirling Osis) The set and positioning are so strange for this trick. I love it though. Only one side, but once I get better at Flip ss Swivel, I think Far Swivel will come into play.
:arrow: Some really stylish and dope runs with links like Swerve> Spinning Clipper> Spinning Whirl> run (midstring) and lots of Revup> Fairy trick/Pixie trick bs
:arrow: Rubberman first try, so clean-feeling. Most controlled Rubberman I've ever hit.
:arrow: Barfly> Mobius. cool link
:arrow: BS Blur BSOS and it felt so easy on each side this time. I was happy about this, because I never really do this trick. That will probably change.
:arrow: Did try some Pdx Torques and Toe Torques with the new tip I got from observing Lon's videos. Butter. They felt like I think Torque tricks should feel.
:arrow: Spinning Osis> Spinning Xbd Rake> Far muted Blink (stylish link)
:arrow: Finally, my longterm goal I hit in the basement tonight.. Really happy about this, because my toe shuffle has always sucked:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH_2jV26Qig[/youtube]

I'm snookered out. Time for bed.
Nick Polini

Footbag is good for the SOLE

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"Yeah dude it's all mental. Then it's physical" ~Evan Gatesman
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic »

So today was interesting.

Long story short, I filmed a bit for the Xmas Calendar. 2 hours: one useful clip that is only a few seconds long, but it's a pretty hot link. I need to spend my film time more wisely from now on. I did also get another thing but I aim to push the number of contacts on it by a few more. No more talk about my calendar video. Secret secrets are secret.

Then I went to try to apply for apply a job at a local restaurant. When I got there, I asked for an application. They handed me a piece of paper with some info about the restaurant on it and told me simply "All applications are online nowadays". I said thanks, while holding my frustrations in and walked out the door. I drove 10 minutes for that... what the fuck. It's bad enough that I have a college degree and I'm resorting to restaurant work. I hate this economy. I wanna stab it in the face.

I talked to Nadiah on the way home. Nice hearing her voice but long distance relationships are so painful. I lost reception when I got near my grandmother's house so our phone call cut off abruptly.

After that, I got depressed and made hummus. It turned out awful and I made 2 big containers of it.

Then Nadiah and I had a mini "in spirit" drill session for a little while. That was nice. Just worked on some Reverse Swirls on each side.

Chatted with Nadiah later about life and how we hope we'll be able to find jobs close to each other. We're going to look and talk tomorrow and see if there might be any 2 in another state that we might be qualified for, that are also close to one another. Horticulture and Wildlife go hand-in-hand, so it shouldn't be TOO hard to find some area that has 2 offerings, one for each of us. Oh, in a perfect world...

So it started getting late and I was feeling really down still. Then I remembered I woke up with a strange urge to do Illlusions (w-..what..?) My legs didn't feel terrible from the sessions I had earlier, so I figured why not. Maybe I'll just go down and try some Smudges. What I hit, really cheered me up and shocked me quite a bit.

Highlights:

:arrow: Smudge> Smear 10x bs (I have NEVER hit a Pixie trick out of either Smudge.. let alone done 10 in a single session. Maybe 3, tops)
:arrow: Lon's Shuffle Drill! (Parkwalk> Blizzard> Dimwalk> Blur *rpt? right?) That felt great to actually hit! Something I never thought I would do, and I did it so easily! I was really happy about this one. I also hit it on each side separately a few times.
:arrow: Then I was just thinking how I recently talked to Matt Kemmer and Matt is good at Flail and I'm not good at Flail, so I wanted to get good at Flail. Did at least 10 from toe bs. Good ones too!
:arrow: Flail> Dimwalk bs (never Pixie'd out of Flail on either side)
:arrow: Symposium Bubba bs then BSOS (New on each side)
:arrow: Toe ss Flail bs then BSOS (New on each side)
:arrow: Pdx Flail bs (new on flipside)
:arrow: Blur> Flail> run> Gyro Flail (didnt intend to hit Gyro Flail, it just happened. That's a new trick.. only one side. Didn't try the other side)
:arrow: Paradon> Whirl 5x bs

I have a new outlook on Illusions: Fun?!

Holy shit, I can't believe the Illusion progress I've made just in that session. I walked into the session, not being able to hit Smudge very well. Walked out being able to throw down Smudges and Blizzards whenever I wanted to. Man, that was a good feeling to be able to do those tricks. The Lon drill really made me happy. It happened after only 7 or so tries. I hit one side right away, then hit the other side a few tries later, then was able to repeat it a few tries later. Might be my favorite drill now actually. I assure the reader that I will be practicing that drill.

Another cool thing, is that my shins don't hurt from those Flails. Win.

Amazing how a small footbag session can totally cheer you up sometimes.

Oh also, I decorated my Shred Lair (that basement spot in my last video :P ). I put a big sick purple tye-dye tapestry in the background, so it doesn't look so junky anymore. I also found an awesome spotlight in the basement, so I'm using that for extra light in the Lair and it works rather well. The coolest part about it is, it's madd old and gets SUPER hot. When I spin, sweat flicks off of me and hits the light and it sizzles like water droplets on a hot pan. Probably really unsafe too, but it's far too dope to care about safety.

Well, I'm going to bed. Night everyone.
Nick Polini

Footbag is good for the SOLE

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"Yeah dude it's all mental. Then it's physical" ~Evan Gatesman
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by h0ag3yb3atZ »

nick polini=so hawt right now. paris hilton flicks herself to your shred.
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic »

hahaha Kevin, I died at that comment.

Just had a drill session which was pretty great. Discovered new strengths and new weaknesses (vdecnost.. now I know what to fix).

Highlights:

:arrow: I absolutely found a new strength... Shuffle. I have never been good at it, but I was throwing down some 15-20 contact shuffle runs tonight, with Atomics, Stepping, Pixie, and Fairy. I have yet to work in harder Atomic stuff and Quantums. Also a more reliable flip Fairy would be a nice Christmas gift and if Santa doesn't give it to me then I'm going to have to try sitting on Satan's lap instead... Scratch that, Satan is an asshole and would probably make me blow him. Maybe I'll just try drilling my flip Fairy more instead.
:arrow: Starting to accomplish one of my goals: feel comfortable hitting at least 5 toe shuffle links midrun. Did a few of these in some shuffle
:arrow: Diving Butterfly> Ducking Butterfly *rpt 5x bs and ended this section with that drill 2x through (8 contacts)
:arrow: Fudge> Fear bs.. Wow I suck at this. Will drill more later
:arrow: Flipside Swirling Infinity 2x.. new trick on flipside
:arrow: Ripwalk> Blur> Legbeater *rpt 3x bs.. wow. I remember right after Worlds ended, I started drilling this and it was really difficult. Cake now.
:arrow: Ducking Pdx Illusion bs (new on flipside :/
:arrow: Pdx Whirl> Reverse Swirl *rpt 3x through (12 contacts) also got in plenty of practice with this drill because I hit it a bunch with just the single repeat, trying to hit it at least 2x through, which was my original goal. Finish strong.

I really enjoy having Illusions in my game now. I've been pretty obsessed over them for the last few days. I particularly enjoy Smudge and Fudge. Don't ask me why. Those are 2 tricks that I've only hit about 5x each before this week. I think having Illusions in my game now makes my strings longer, because when I hit a Mirage trick in my shuffle, I feel like I have to hit an Illusion trick soon after that.

Messed with Pdx Illusion a bit, was able to Pixie shuffle out of each one with no trouble, so that was great. I have actually been feeling like Lon recently. Structuring my runs like him subconsciously, probably because I've been watching a lot of him lately. Had some runs like, 10 contacts of flowy shuffle> Some tripless/guiltless spinning> a few random tricks like Blink. I think I'm starting to learn how to structure my runs, and it actually works as long as I fill a few holes in with shuffle. And it's funny that I'm getting better at shuffle, because for YEARS, I wanted to be a player who didn't shuffle much.

I need to get much better at ducking/diving. I started that duck/dive drill with not a whole lot of control. Ended them with much more control, but not nearly enough to be satisfied quite yet.

In other news, I might have an invention on my hands. It could possibly be my best idea yet. Really going to try to follow through with this one. Maybe I can sell my idea. Going to make a prototype then talk to my dad about it tomorrow about patents, because he has an invention of his own. So wish me luck with this one. I think it might be what I've been looking for. Inventing and successful entrepreneurship runs in my family on my dad's side. My Great Uncle got rich off of an invention he made. Don't know the whole gist of his, but it was something that made it easier to make name plates in the old days. And my Great Cousin is an idiot who was the original producer of Duck Dynasty, but then got in a fight with his partner and left after a handful of episodes. Little did he know, that show would become retardedly popular. Now he produces some other shows on tv, like some reality show about an office of people who one by one, get fired. But I thought that show really sucked. And not really falling into the same category, but sort of similar.. my grandfather used to know Chubby Checker when Chubby was a kid. My grandfather saw that he was getting into some bad stuff and encouraged him to stay off of drugs and out of the streets. Looks like that helped. Another cousin twice removed (or something? never met him) is the illustrator for Madonna's children's books.

So, my relatives have been known to do some pretty big things. Maybe, I'll be next.
Nick Polini

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"Yeah dude it's all mental. Then it's physical" ~Evan Gatesman
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic »

Last night...

Around 2 am, I was trying to make some template stamps, like Ivan uses for stitching bags. I was in the basement, with some erasers and a razor blade, slicing away. I fit the hex on the eraser perfectly. Chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop. Done. That went well. Then I tried to fit the pent on the other eraser. This proved to be impossible because the eraser wasnt big enough. So I went upstairs and grabbed a blue strip from my shred mats that I wasnt using. It with just fine! So I start slicing that one. Slice, slice, slice, slice, THRIPP! That last "thripp" wasnt the foam. It was my fucking hand. I dropped the blade immediately and ran upstairs, knowing that it was pretty deep. A razor had just hit my hand.. how could that not be a deep cut? I kept thinking/hoping I was dreaming. Washed it under the sink and saw a horror show unfold before my eyes. Oozing. I tried to run upstairs to wake up my grandmother and let her know that I probably needed to go to the emergency room. On the way up the stairs, I began to feel strange. I got up most of the stairs, then.. nothing. A handful of seconds later, I wake up, lying on the ground, having no idea what had just happened. While was I lying there, I looked around, then at my hand. I remembered what happened. I had just fainted on the stairwell and rolled backwards down about 7 stairs. I finally got upstairs, woozy as hell, blood still dripping steadily from my hand. Knocked on my grandmother's door and woke her up, told her what happened and we looked at it, decided it might be able to just have heavy gauze over it. I bandaged it up, while tending to the wounds on the side of my face, as well. Then went to bed, waking up feeling like I'd been hit in the head by a truck. However, I do feel fine this morning, thank Something.

I know this doesnt have much to do with footbag exactly, but I wanted to share it, because after thinking about it more today.. I realize I got so lucky. I was extremely lucky that I didnt sever any nerves during the initial accident, I was lucky that the blade didn't go any deeper. I was lucky that the blade was pretty clean,I was lucky that I was only on the 7thish step when I fell, and I was lucky that I didnt break my neck, LEGS, or arms during the stair tumble. I fell backwards down 7ish stairs.. if it had been anymore, there could have easily been a second rotation that broke my neck or something. This happened when I was about 14, walking up some stairs at my house. I bumped my knee really hard (oh, I have Syncopy, if you didnt know this already.. basically means I'm a pussy and pass out if I have any drastic change in my body's environment (ie. going from hot room to cold room too quickly, getting hurt on a funny bone, seeing a lot of blood, etc...)) and I passed out from about the 7th or 8th stair. Didnt even get hurt that time.

I'm not Christian or Catholic, I dont believe in "God", per say.. but I am somewhat spiritual.. I just think something is cutting me big breaks in my life.

Anyway, here is a picture of my job well-done:

Image

Image
Nick Polini

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"Yeah dude it's all mental. Then it's physical" ~Evan Gatesman
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by janis »

Crazy shit, glad you are ok and avoided getting injured worse falling down the stairs.

Also awesome highlights lately!
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by Drew »

Slow down, Champ! Thank Something everything turned out alright!

Are you home for Turkey day?
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic »

Thanks for the concern guys.

And Drew! Nice to see you back on Modified! I will be around my home for thanksgiving. Would you possibly be trying to ill it with a bag?

Tonight East Coast Footbag United! had a pretty awesome jam in Kutztown.. I'm going to bed now, but I'll blog about it more later. Footbag was filmed.

A picture of our gang:

Image

left to right: Corey Hahalis, Ryan Morris, Ivan Iakimenko, Ben Babyak, Mike Toolan, Nick Polini (me), April Tou, Corey Gerges, Jackson Raap
Nick Polini

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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by boyle »

pretty full on evening, falling down the stairs and everything. Hope you're going alright now. Looks like a good gang there. Looks cold too.
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic »

Update:

Facial injury is all healed up. Hand is still an open wound. I think it's closing slowly though. Doesn't hurt anymore, isn't bleeding, and no sign of infection. Good signs probably. Going to keep putting insidefairyset-sporin on it.

New job is job. Kinda sucks. I deliver some terrible shit (pet heads/dead pets, old people stool samples, also pretty sure I had a vile of grand pop semen today..) Anyway, it pays a dollar per mile per package, and I have like up to 4 packages sometimes, and travel to Philly, New York, or as far as Pittsburgh. So only my 3rd day doing this. I hate driving in the city though. But we'll see how it goes. Hoping a wildlife job comes through soon. I have a decent "foot-in-the-door" connection with this one place.

Footbag has been good until a few days ago, when I set my Fairy Legover record, but also pulled something in my left knee. It's been a few days since that happened and I think it's starting to get better. But enough about the knee. It's upsetting, because I was on a roll for a while.

Crystalmethmas video. Xmas video is complete on my part and my mystery shred partner's part. We just have to convert some files and edit the music to it. Pretty please with it though. No Beast. Was going to film that, then I hurt my knee. But my part is good enough for someone who had to end prematurely due to injury.

About an hour ago, I was sitting on my couch, and from outside I hear a faint "Nick.. Nick... Nick.... Nick." That went on for about 5 minutes, then a knock on the door. Jackson wanted to kick. He came inside and showed me a picture of a naked man shooting a gun, dressed as Mickey Mouse, then ran into the kitchen, tore the curtains off the wall and walked around with them on his head for a bit. Then we went upstairs and I coached his session. He set his Clipper> ss Clipper record on flip side to 5, strong to 10, and op Clipper record to 5. Good jorb guy.

Anyway, not much else to report on. ttylz
Nick Polini

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"Yeah dude it's all mental. Then it's physical" ~Evan Gatesman
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by C-Fan »

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic wrote:
New job is job. Kinda sucks. I deliver some terrible shit (pet heads/dead pets, old people stool samples, also pretty sure I had a vile of grand pop semen today..) Anyway, it pays a dollar per mile per package, and I have like up to 4 packages sometimes, and travel to Philly, New York, or as far as Pittsburgh.
Any chance of hooking up with local players when you do these trips?



F[uns]tylin' Eclectic wrote: Xmas video is complete on my part and my mystery shred partner's part.
Crossing fingers its Pipenberg. It's criminal to finish 4th in the world in circle, and then drop off the shred map.

Hope your knee recovers quickly!
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by h0ag3yb3atZ »

pipe didn't make BAP because he refused to felate all of finland,true story.

looking forward to you and your "mystery" partner (really guys?, this isnt wwf wrestling haha) i know your part got cut short but judging by how well you've been playing and how sick you were 3 months ago i coudent be more amped to see some fresh shit.

if you go to ny with nahds this winter ill go for sure. would be dope to shred one more time this year mang.
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic »

Ken: It might and it might not be Pipenberg.. Either way, you won't be disappointed. And he didn't drop off the map, he got a stress fracture in his foot, so he's been trying to let that heal. Also, I know you've been to Japan a few times, so I must ask you.. Have you had "Mixed Congee"? It's this delicious japanese porridge treat with mushy peanuts, kidney beans, mushy rice, cane sugar, mushy oatmeal, mung beans, mushy peal barley, etc... My dad got a big package of them from his friend in Japan. He used to be the Japanese liaison for his company before the tsunami but he has a bunch of good friends over there and they send us awesome japanese snacks all the time. I'm eating a can of it now and it boggles my mind how mushy these peanuts are. Might be the 8th wonder of the world.

Kevin: I hope no one is wrestling world wildlife. I wont stand for that :P I'm glad you're looking forward to my part. Hope it's not a letdown. Too stoked for your's too dude.

Tonight I kicked with Jackson. My knee was feeling better, so I figured I would, but I stayed away from stressful stuff like double downs, pixies, fairies, and whatnot. Decided to practice a lot of basics. Jackson hit his first Blurry Legover and Flipside Pixie Clipper! That Pixie Clipper has been 3 years in the making. I was so pumped for him and he was also really hyped. Also, the kid's Tiltless strings are looking so dope. I hope he really sticks with it now that he sees that drilling will help him improve.

Highlights:

:arrow: Forget to mention that I hit BS Toe Blur a few sessions ago, and also Toe Blizzard bs. All new tricks.
:arrow: Infinity x100 (3 separate times.. not all super controlled..)
:arrow: ..So I decided it would be better to practice doing 5 sets of 20 in a telephone booth-sized square. So.. I did that.
:arrow: 30 contacts of Infinity> Near Butter *rpt

My Ripwalks still don't feel right. Wtf. Whatever. Thats partially why I was drilling Infinity.

Also, working up to Ducking Clipper x100 and Infinity x300. Evan told me to push my basics really far, so I'm gonna try to do that... Unless Anssi sees this and disagrees.

Loving the Xmas calendar so far and it's only the first week. So many sick videos so far. I think Greenwood was a great choice for Day 1. That really hyped me up.

My knee is feeling better though, so I'm happy about that.

I figured I would post this because I remembered it today. It's a video of me "rap battling" this kid who though I was a mystery rapper who verbally attacked him on Myspace and made rap songs dissing him. I was the fake rapper's (WP) first myspace friend and 4Clov saw that and asked my friend if I was WP. My friend thought it would be funny to tell him I was, and I went along with it because it was hilarious.. So then this happened.

http://vimeo.com/597889

Basically, I was trying to logically tell him to stop rapping because he was making an ass out of himself.
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic »

Had a session last night.. Drilled basics, basically. Did have one highlight that I was definitely happy with.
Highlight:
:arrow: Pdx Blender> Blur bs

Today is Day 7 on the xmas calendar, which is a new video from Matt Kemmer and me. Hope everyone enjoys that.
Last edited by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic on 08 Dec 2013 13:16, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by Asmus »

I really enjoyed your video! Thanks for making it.
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic »

Thanks Asmus! I'm glad you thought it was good :) I know Matt and I are pretty pleased with it and it seems to be exciting to other players too, so thats awesome.

I'm having a session with Jackson right now. Hit some awesome stuff, so i wanted to jot before I forgot. Jackson hit Whip for the first time today, as well as Flip Symp Mirage for the first time and a few first Pogo sets, also Legover x3.

Highlights:

:arrow: Barfly b2b
:arrow: BAP Drill (easypeasy now.. used to be so difficult.. progress!)
:arrow: Flip Ripsteins have opened up a bag of WhatTheFuck on my ass. They're basically better than my strong side now. Strange.
:arrow: Paradon> Barfly bs
:arrow: Barfly> Cakefuck bs! That felt great. (This is my attempt to change "Revup" to "Cakefuck"... I dont think it will work, but if you don't try, you won't succeed)
:arrow: Gyro Butterfly x7! (all muted.. not finished with this yet.)
:arrow: New Tricks: Spinning Butterfly Swirl bs!
:arrow: New Tricks: Gyro Buttefly Swirl bs!
:arrow: New Tricks: Blurry Whip bs

Then I did my warm down stuff :D
Last edited by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic on 08 Dec 2013 13:23, edited 1 time in total.
Nick Polini

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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic »

So I spent a nice, quiet night with my family, watching some movies. Then when they went to bed, I was bored from tv and I wanted to stop sucking at Drifters. So I downloaded a few Drifter tutorials (Piltz and Clavens). Piltz has (well, had) Drifters locked down hardcore, but I noticed on one side he sets super high and waits. I thought it looked too inconsistent, so I watched it once and closed it down. Then I watched Dave's. Duh, of course his were better and more consistent. He has like the tightest Drifters. And I noticed one thing that Dave does that I only did on strong side. He points his leg out like a Whirl. I realized my flipside points inward or straight ahead. So I went outside and did some drills.

Highlights:

:arrow: Effortless Drifters were learned tonight. BSOS'ed a ton of them. Also hit Drifter x10 with ease and no hip popping like usual. Looking forward to taking what I learned tonight even further in the future.
:arrow: 50+ contact run with a bunch of dense stuff. I remember Vortex (almost BSOS, dropped it on flip side), Gyro Whirl BSOS, Spinning Osis> Blender, a Paradon or two, Rake> Toe Swirl, Whirls, Ripwalks, Drag, Legbeaters, Swirls, and Rev Swirls. Disappointed I decided to not bring my camera outside.
:arrow: New tricks (that I really love and want to start using a lot): Gyro Refraction bs (muted).. this trick feels wonderful.
:arrow: Figured I'd work on Pdx Whirls too. Pdx Whirl x8 first try. Surprised me. I think it's all the Infinity work I've been doing.
:arrow: Sweet link: Gyro Butterfly> Reverse Swirl> Gyro Illusion bs (everything muted)
:arrow: Blender is starting to feel really nice and natural as a bail out of Osis. Drilled a bit of Blender> Osis> Osis> Blender on each side.
:arrow: I realized that my game is starting to lose its unusual edge, so I'm going to start hitting a few weird combos in my sessions from now on. Got a few cool ones tonight.
:arrow: Gyro Frigid Heel> Symp Swirl bs
:arrow: Ducking Inside> Monster-Frigid Walkover (2:00 mark in Badassery)> Blender bs
:arrow: Clipper> Far Shin Pinch> ss Butter bs
:arrow: Flip Symposium Whirl x2

My game has been feeling pretty great recently. This basics work is really giving me a leg up. Everything feels a good bit more controlled since I started doing basics warm downs the other day. That is definitely all inspired by Kemmer, btw. Thanks man, I appreciate those warm down tips you gave me on telephone the other day.

Anywho, stoked on drilling and on footbag in general... like always :P I really hope to have good style one day and good control and be able to do whatever I try to do. I can feel that I'm close, and I think I'll be there by Worlds 2014 if I keep this up.

Sidenote: I'm really glad I kept trying to improve my Gyros and Spins. It's the backbone of my game. And I know it used to be boring to watch, when I would do stuff like Osis> Gyro Clipper or Spinning Clipper> Spinning Clipper or other lame Zooming links, but I feel like it's going to pay off and I'll be hitting some mean Spinning and Gyro links and Zooming out of hard tricks. Just have to keep pushing.
Nick Polini

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"Yeah dude it's all mental. Then it's physical" ~Evan Gatesman
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic »

Just a few cool unusual highlights I wanted to take note of..

Highlights:

:arrow: Flapper> Ripwalk BSOS
:arrow: Flapper> Gyro Flapper b2b
:arrow: Flapper> Pdx Illusion bs
:arrow: Drilled a bunch of Far Flappers.. almost, but not yet satisfactory on flip side
:arrow: Flapper> Infinity> Reverse Swirl *rpt
:arrow: Solestice x4
:arrow: Solestice> ss Flapper *rpt

That's all for right now. Will probably drill tonight though. My major goal in footbag is starting to come into play. "Be able to throw down dense runs with big tricks and weird tricks". I am going to just keep trying to up my number of b2b's for all tricks that can be repeated. I think that has really helped me recently. After working Gyro Butterfly last night, that trick is so dialed in and I think the stomp down (not a hard stomp, just like BANG Butterfly.. so you know it's a solid delay) with the Butterfly made me much more consistent with other tricks, because I'm pretty sure my consistency went up a good bit since just yesterday.

Today's xmas calendar is amazing. End of Season is definitely my favorite video so far. The scenery is just... no words to describe it. If you haven't seen it, go see it now.
Nick Polini

Footbag is good for the SOLE

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"Yeah dude it's all mental. Then it's physical" ~Evan Gatesman
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic »

Just finished a "Hell yeah" type of session. My runs are fucktons more dense. An I learned some new junk..

Highlights:

:arrow: Osis> Barfly BSOS (Barfly is turning into a (as Bob used to call it) "Bread and Butter" trick")
:arrow: Drilled a bunch of Solestice. Found a dope tip that makes them so much easier to think about. Just concentrate on the Sole stall and the rest just happens.
:arrow: Spinning Solestice BSOS
:arrow: Solestice> Blender bs
:arrow: Infinity Swirl BSOS
:arrow: Solestice x5
:arrow: Spinning Solestice> Spinning Butter (one side :( Will work to get this on flip)
:arrow: Blurry Solestice bs
:arrow: Flip Whirling Swirl 10x bs (I have never hit it on flipside more than 5x in one session. Always been terrible at it on flipside, but it's starting to click)
:arrow: Whirling Swirl> Ripwalk bs (first time stepping out of each side)
:arrow: Inspinning Clipper BSOS
:arrow: Toe Inspinning Clipper BSOS (this was great because I usually do Inspin on right toe and Spin on left toe, but yes, they were both Insinning and they both felt so much more natural than previous attempts)
:arrow: Run starting with Pdx Whirl> Ripwalk> Ripwalk> Pdx Whirl> string> some Flapper stuff> shuffle> Schmoe> XBD Rake> Inspinning Clipper> Gyro Butter> Spinning Butter> Drop on Mobius. Wish I was recording.
:arrow: Had one string start with Barfly> DLO> shuffle> Flip Barfly
:arrow: Had one string with Whirling Swirl BSOS and Twirl BSOS
:arrow: String with Gyro Butter> Spinning Blink> string> Blender> Whale Tail

That's all I can remember. But damn, my game is starting to feel stronger than ever, and I'm really happy that I'm using more unusual stuff again.
Nick Polini

Footbag is good for the SOLE

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"Yeah dude it's all mental. Then it's physical" ~Evan Gatesman
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic »

Just finished a session with Jackson not too long ago. Hit some good stuff, but it was mainly a drill session. Jackson hit his first Nuke set on each side, first Clipper Ducking Butterfly, first Clipper Ducking Osis, Osis> Pdx Mirage bs, Osis> Infinity bs, and Osis> Near Butter bs. His runs were looking awesome too. He's really improving quickly and I know he can actually see it.

Also got a text from my newest student, Nathan Bonslaver. He hit 6 alt. Clippers, 10 ss Clippers (strong), 7 ss Clippers (flip), and a 10 contact string of clippers and toes, covering every transition. He doesnt even have Lavers yet (xmas gift from his parents.. they already got him a pair too). Going to hopefully be meeting up with him this weekend. He also told me that a few of his friends who can also do clippers and stuff are going to try to meet up with us too.

Anyway...

Highlights:

:arrow: Whirling Swirl> Twirl bs
:arrow: Clipper Far Blink> Far Blink bs (fuck yes.) Those Clip Far Blinks all of the sudden feel much easier than before and I think it's because if learning to control my Infinities.
:arrow: Toe Inspinning Clipper BSOS again.
:arrow: Drifter x11
:arrow: Had a runs where I just felt like I was in charge and Ripwalks, Spinning Butters, Gyro Butters, Swirls, Reverse Swirls, and some other things were just paste keeping my runs together and dense. But I had stuff in some runs like Barflys, Blenders, Pdx Blenders, Cakefucks, Twirls, Whirling Swirls, Flappers, Drifters, Blinks, Gyro Blinks, Mobii, Paradons, etc... My runs are seriously starting to think for themselves more than usual.
:arrow: Clipper Far Twirl bs (Flipside is finally not very difficult)
:arrow: Magellan> Smear> PLO *rpt (first try)> string
:arrow: Blur> Legbeater> Ripwalk *rpt (first try)
:arrow: Finally hit my first GOOD flip Symposium Whirling Swirl tonight.
:arrow: Did a ton of flip Whirling Swirls through out the session, then finally realized that maybe the reason why I still suck at them is because my flip Symp Swirls are not great yet... This proved to be true..
:arrow: So the end of my session consisted of drilling Flip Symp Swirls.. Did a bunch to hand catch
:arrow: Symp Swirl> Spinning Butterfly 5x bs
:arrow: Symp Swirl> Blur 5x bs

I chose Symp Swirl to be my "Trick of the Week" (TOTW). This is a new program Jackson and I are going to start. Throughout the session, everything we do will involve our TOTW and we'll keep using it until we're good at it. Hoping that practicing a lot of Symp Swirls will help me dial in Whirling Swirls.

I never understood how some people think Symp Swirls are WAY easier than regular Swirls. For me, it's the complete opposite and regular Swirls are so much easier to understand. By the way, practicing flip Swirls and flip Reverse Swirls really paid off. I really don't see a big difference between flipside and strongside anymore, so that's a really amazing feeling, because I have always preferred strongside over flipside and I'd always worry about dropping on flipside. Now, it's a really easy "I need some time to think about what I'm going to do next" trick. Just need to have Symp feeling the same way.

I have never felt more "on track" in footbag than I do currently. I have been playing for around 7 years, but only started drilling seriously and trying things on both sides 4 years ago. I'm only finally starting to get to a higher level. I know why though... It's because I used to just practice EVERYTHING when I drilled. One day Barrages, next day Flappers, next day Pixies, etc.. This was definitely not a shortcut, but I think I'm glad I did it this way. I say this because I think basically, at this past World's, I went into it having only sharpened a few of my pencils (Spinning, Gyro, Zooming, Ducking), while I had this huge heap of pencils that were almost sharp. Ever since Worlds, I have sharpened a few more pencils of mine (Blinks, Stepping, Reverse Swirls, Swirls, Pixies, DODs & Paradons, Blenders, Butterfly Swirls, Cloud Kicks, etc..) Some of those are sharper than others, but I'm so pleased with the huge progress I've made since Worlds. 7 years of messing around gave me those pencils and they had no tips on them at first and now a bunch of them can write in fancy cursive writing. I don't know what else to say about it. Sorry if that was boring to read, I just felt like writing about that. I have always wanted SO BADLY to be where I am in footbag right now. And I'm here... It's a nice feeling that really shows me that hard work pays off.
Nick Polini

Footbag is good for the SOLE

Funblog

"Yeah dude it's all mental. Then it's physical" ~Evan Gatesman
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