Ivan I's Footblog

[C-Fan]

Top post.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

He was so funny in Dr. Doolittle!


I laughed so hard when I saw Ken posted that pic of MLK, because I thought he replaced Bill Nye with MLK hahaha

[isirc10]

Wow, that was awesome. I think that from here on out, Ken should post pictures as the first post on every page. Makes my blog more exciting

Anyway, had a pretty bleh session today, but was kinda expecting it so no big deal. 2 days of rest after 5 days kicking in a row felt weird. I never really warmed up today and all of my muscles felt really sore all of a sudden. Hit some alright strings toward the end with osis and some midstring pixies and the usual stepping stuff. No fog today. No blurriest or fusion either, but you can't have it all. Gonna kick some more tomorrow, probably just drilling alone and maybe film something for Matt's comp.

In somewhat footbag related news, I have a project I need to do for my technical writing class where I need to write and instruction set on how to do something. I am going to film a stitching tutorial for a 32 panel bag. When the professor came over to check my progress/topic selection, he was completely clueless why anyone would want to make a hacky sack, but it was a nice feeling being able to say that my bags have gone all over the USA and even some distant parts of the world. Regardless, I got the okay for the project, so maybe I can make something I can post on here and be proud of.

No highlights today, but I can't possibly have highlights every time I kick - that would make me spoiled. The one thing that kept me going today was that even though I was having a rough session, I was still having a lot of fun kicking with everyone else, and that is something that I love about this game. Over and Out.

[boyle]

It's great to use footbag inside the topics at uni. I have used quite a few examples of the old hackin' the sack over time. I'm sure if I do any other qualifications I will look for more ways to keep mentioning footbag...

[isirc10]

Played a bit today, did some osis drills and filmed my sick 3 entries. Had three, all of which turned out pretty conservative, but w/e. At this point in my game, I don't have very many exciting strings that I can call a sick3 and still be able to hit it while being filmed. Here is the entry I didn't use:

http://youtu.be/My-Nd0bS5kY

Also footed ripwalk>ripwalk>blurriest. Felt a lot better today, don't know why I was so bad yesterday. Might have been a bit under the weather, or just didn't warm up properly (starting to sound like an old man here, but w/e, if it keeps me kicking, it's what I gotta do) No offense to old men, for they are far wiser than me. Will kick again tomorrow. Drilling osis and flip DLO (because butterfly>ss mirage can easily turn into butterfly>DLO). One week till the Pumpkin Jam. Still gotta push to get better so I can at least pretend to not suck when everyone good shows up.

[isirc10]

Had a drill session yesterday, focused on osis and DLO. Did 125 clipper > osis on each side, then 125 butterfly > osis on each side. Then drilled DLO on both sides from clipper and toe. Flip DLO was a bit of a struggle but eventually the motion smoothed out and I could hit one out of 5 attempts. Ended the session with DLO bsos.

My hip flexor is starting to hurt a bit and was really tight yesterday so I will take it easy for the weekend. I played through it yesterday and it was alright, but I would prefer for it to stop hurting altogether before I go for more stepping/atomic tricks.

[isirc10]

Hiked a bit yesterday. Kicked today. Still making that stitching tutorial video. Feeling really tired.

Pretty much a summary of my state of mind right now. Just came back from a decent session. Started out in slow, basic warmups, stretched, then did some osis drills. Then got in a circle with Khoa, Aiden and Sean (new player). played alright, had some 50 contact plus tiltless strings with lots of osis and stepping stuff as usual. Still falling back on bails like SS mirage, but that is a work in progress. Eventually that will be a DLO instead. Then April, Ryan and Kat showed up and we split circles. I gave my shoes to Sean so he could check out the awesomeness of Lavers and played in socks with Kat. It was a lot of fun, messing around seeing which tricks I could still hit without lavers. Ended up hitting something along the lines of mirage>legover x20 so I guess that link is on lock. Also hit pixie ducking clipper. Fun.

Put my lavers back on a just messed around. My right lung wasn't feeling it today and it took a good deal of concentration not to just call it a day and push through it, but it was worth it in the end. Managed to not pass out and still keep a decent level of shred but anything over 20 contact was pushing it and I got lightheaded a few times and had to cut off the string to keep myself in this world. Playing with low oxygen intake is kinda fun, in a twisted way. Lets you play around with different breathing techniques during a run with almost instantaneous feedback.

All in all, a good session. Nothing hurts (well, my lung doesn't count) and I played respectably. Stepping could have been tidier. Could have hit more DLOs. Ready for my lung to stop hurting and getting back into the swing of things for Pumpkin Jam. Modified, you should try to get batter for Pumpkin Jam as well, even if you aren't going.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Wanna see my best impression of Ken Somolinos? Ok here it goes...

Modified, you should try to get batter for Pumpkin Jam as well, even if you aren't going.

I don't think you actually need any batter for pumpkin jam.


Just kidding, Ken. I enjoy your puns on typos you find.

Anyway, so glad to hear you're gonna be ok, concerning your lung.

Couldn't help but post this..
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDhV5OTsnzY[/youtube]

So stoked to kick with you this weekend... If I hadnt made that clear enough through Facebook messages or on your blog

See you soon. Peace man.

[C-Fan]

Wanna see my best impression of Ken Somolinos? Ok here it goes...

Modified, you should try to get batter for Pumpkin Jam as well, even if you aren't going.

I don't think you actually need any batter for pumpkin jam.

[Asmus]

Loving your energy and all the stuff you got going on.

Looking forward to shred with you some day!

[krustykrakk]

Hi.
Ivan.
Hi, Ivan.
Hi'van.
That is the greeting which will be the new standard. I was super stoked to do weird (footbag) stuff yesterday! Congrats on flip dragon! We just need to get you working on calf/tootsie rolls and flappers!!

[isirc10]

Ben, Nick and Nate already called me that last year.

Anyway, had a really fun session with Nate (and everyone else who showed up) on Wednesday. Didn't hit anything spectacular. Hit my first flip dragon, felt really awkward, but that is to be expected. Did some strings but couldn't figure out why my stepping was erratic. Nate complemented my game saying it was really smooth and the trick variety was good which I thought was pretty awesome (because I always thought his stuff was super smooth). Not having kicked with him in a while made me forget how much he rips. I want his pixies so badly. Can't wait for everyone else to show up for the Jam. Ended the session with some whirls (because Toolan is coming up and I need to get good at whirls) and they felt pretty solid, but once again I was doing them all downtime and not midtime. Ended the session with pdx whirl > pdx whirl.

Also, this tutorial thing I made took a long time. It's really boring but should be everything one needs to learn how to stitch a footbag. There are several things I could have done better, but overall I think it is a nice addition to the three other videos on youtube that show you how to stitch a 32 panel.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQjZHPBL9F8[/youtube]

[isirc10]

So I am supposed to be studying for an exam I have in 4 hours, but whatever, I might as well post on modified instead. I can't really find anything else to study so I guess it's the best thing I can do to get my mind ready.

Pumkin Jam was a lot of fun. Nick, Mike, Matt, and Nate are so awesome to kick with and I kinda forgot how good they all are after not seeing them since worlds. It was a relaxing weekend for me where I just forgot about everything related to school and just played footbag with all of my friends. Nothing beats that. Club turnout was awesome on Friday night, and then dwindled during the weekend as people were preparing for midterms (a good part of the club is made up of engineering students and we are in the middle of a midterm wave right now) but that didn't stop those of us who were irresponsible (me) from showing up and having fun. Kicked for 2-4 hours every day. I got a lot of useful tips from everyone. Stuff to work on:

keeping ankle locked on legovers/pickups
midtime whirls
keeping a straight back on stepping
quantums

Matt taught me quantums in about an hour and a half in our basement on Saturday night which was super awesome. It was a great privilege to have someone just sit there for that long and put up with my shitty attempts at a set and give me constructive criticism on how to better them. After the Jam, people left and school came crashing back down on me. Had a session on Weds with Nate and some of the PSU crew. Nate told me to do spins so I listened (when does that ever happen?) Anyway, some collective highlights from the past two weeks:
Drifter BSOS
Symp whirl BSOS
Spinning clipper BS
Spinning osis BS
Tripwalk BS
Toe Blur BS
Quantum ss legover BS
Ripwalk x 9
Osis x 14
Stepping ss clipper x3 BSOS

Pulled a muscle in my hip doing stepping muted opp clipper rpt. Taking a break for a few days because of that and midterms. Ugh, footbag. Why don't you play well with school and everything else...

[Matt K]

It was an absolute pleasure to play with and help you. It's incredibly satisfying to help someone who has the desire to improve and to see results almost immediately. I'm happy to see all those quantum tricks are both sides now.

Until next time; remember to keep that knee up.

[isirc10]

Yep, knee is up without much thought on strong side now, weak side is still taking some effort, but at least I can hit it now. Strong side is starting to get REALLY easy to hit after a session of messing around with it. Forgot that I hit Quantum SS butterfly BS on Weds as well - it felt like a much nicer trick than tripwalk.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Yeah man, I absolutely enjoyed kicking with you. I just got a tatse of state college to my door. Nate just walked in Good shit thought man, love the new bag. Keep it up. You're on your way, kid.

[isirc10]

Played a bit yesterday before my midterm. Only had sweatpants and my new balance minumus shoes. Hit a lot of clippers, a few ripwalks, tripwalk BSOS, whirls, osis, ss guay, and drifter BSOS. Hit Fear on strong side.

My legs looked really weird in sweatpants and sleek shoes but I kinda liked it. Whirls looked super cool. It almost made me look athletic (at least from my point of view). Toe game was pretty nonexistent, but I guess its nice to have a clipper heavy session once in a while. Kicking again in 30 minutes. This time with lavers. My hip feels better, but I might just stick to drifters and osis and stay away from uptime sets.

[isirc10]

Session today went well. Extremely well. Didn't feel tired and accomplished everything I wanted to, to the point where I almost felt like I had set my expectations too low. Had a nice breakthrough with drifters so I can actually hit them now. Hit barfly... really easily as well, didn't really believe I was hitting it until I hit it a second time and realized that it was indeed that trick. Got some whirls in, some eggbeaters and DLOs. Overall a refreshing session. Hit drifter>whirl BS and drifter>blur BS. Ended by drilling drifter a bit more and tried blurry drifter and tombstone but ended up busting ass when my foot got caught on my planting leg... could have ended much worse if I had not fallen. Everyone else did really well today as well. Ryan hit some DLOs and drifters, Kat got some nice strings and links, Sean hit his first mirages BS. Marc got some good looking blurs in.

Stuff to work on:
flip barfly (strong was so easy and relaxed, flip needs to catch up)
spinning
flip quantum (same reason as barflies)
uptime set > drifter
OSIS... every now and then it reminds me why it is the root of all evil in footbag.

Icing my legs right now, kicking again tomorrow. This was definitely the drifter breakthrough session. Lets hope it continues. I am on a hot streak right now.

[bluevampire101]

OSIS... every now and then it reminds me why it is the root of all evil in footbag.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urb6WPtoKIk[/youtube]

Hey. There was a session this past Monday (yesterday) that you were at. Me too! I saw you!
Post'n stuffs!

[isirc10]

Haha, that video is great!

I suppose I should probably update sooner rather than later... here goes!
So the past month I have been playing 5-6 days every week, and it has been very productive. However, towards the end, my legs have been giving some negative feedback about my constant session so this past week I have limited myself to 3 sessions over 7 days. I have a lot of cool stuff that I have hit and a lot of concepts have gotten easier. Infinities are coming back in full force and are a welcome filler in my strings as I can do 4-6 back to back very consistently. DDs are getting easier as well, and I have found that the more I relax my leg and let it do the dex itself, the better and deeper I can do it. Unfortunately, flipside is still wonky. Drifters are coming in strong and I can't wait till I can hit more than 2 back to back. Whirls are starting to be less forced and apparently I hit some midtime (ish) according to Mike Toolan, so hooray for progress! DLO and egg beater / bubbabeater are starting to flow well in strings, although I am starting to notice an alarming tendency to be onesided with those tricks and I am gonna have to stop that before it cripples my game. Ducking clipper is getting reliable enough to feature in strings when I am playing in front of people and always gets a good reception from everyone.
Osis is still osis - forget to drill it one day and then next day it feels as if I am hitting it for the first time.
Interestingly enough, stepping has gotten worse and I actually have to think about the set every time in order to clear it... and I am having the same problem with atomics now. Guess I need to go back and do more drills with stepping sets while consciously lifting my knee with each step. They are currently my only trustworthy bothsided uptime set so I can't afford to lose them. Torque has made a few appearances in my game, but I think I might wait a bit before I chase that one. Pixies need to come first. Anyway, highlights for the past month:

Bubbabeater BSOS
DDD
Barfly BSOS
Torque BS
Drifter x3
Drifter > whirl rpt
Symp whirl BS
Blender BS
Dyno BS
Bedwetter
Pixie muted refraction
Slap BS
Backside Blizzard BSOS
Ripwalk>Ripwalk>ducking clipper rpt
Infinity x 63
Frontside toe blur

Stuff that needs fixing ASAP:
flip pixie
flip atomic
flip quantum
osis
flip eggbeater
flip DOD

...yeah, December is gonna suck. I have been neglecting a lot of flipside stuff (I just settle for hitting it a few times on flip and then just go back to strong) so I suppose I should probably quit being a little bitch and go back and drill flipside before it seriously handicaps my game. I am finding more and more of my runs to be made up of 3s and 4s so hopefully the bothsided drilling will make me more comfortable as I transition from 2 adds to 3s. Truth to be told, I am getting bored of the mirage>legover (and its variants) drill every other run