Nick "Houdini" Polini

[isirc10]

That campground looks super awesome. Like, in the "awe inspiring" definition of the word. Bay fishing in a john boat will make you sick. Carolina Skiffs are beautiful, I worked on a few of them when I was a boat mechanic. The only problem is the brackish water in the bay really does a number on the electronics and the engine cooling system.

Good luck with your students, looks like you had a blast. I like these sorts of posts WAY more than the Footbag/Modified is dying posts - even if the players don't stick, it's still showing that we are trying to do something about it instead of just making posts on FB/Modified - and I will say that you are one of the reasons footbag is getting serious on the East Coast.

A friend told me that catching crabs sucks. He must have gotten the wrong kind. (sorry, I had to)

Really digging the panorama shots. The footbag link was okay as well.

EDIT: Because top posts are special...

[boyle]

Nice pics from the campsite. Looks like an awesome place.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Ivan: Thanks for the info on Skiffs. We don't know much about them; Must do more research. Also, thanks for that picture. I got hit with some nostalj when I saw that. I miss that kid. I miss you too. Was talking to Ryan about possibly coming up some weekend before ECFC.

Danny Boi: Thanks man, the place rips pretty hard. I'm already in love with it and I've only stayed there 2 weekends. Pretty stoked that now I'll have some potential shred partners up there, now that Robert and Mike are into it. I feel like they're going to stick… I hope my feelings are right.

I've been noticing so many posts in blogs where people have picked up a student or 2! That shit rules! I'm so glad people have become teachers. Teaching is one of the most important parts to the sport. It progresses much quicker if you teach/are taught.

Anywhos, tonight, I was feeling kind of humdrum/tired from work. I didn't exactly feel like drilling or even playing footbag. But one thing led to another and I somehow began sifting through my shred videos, in my "For Study" folder (this is where I keep all of my videos of demos/trick tutorials/short videos of good players hitting a certain concept that they own… I often come to this folder and study some concepts that are the bane of my game) and I figured I'd check out Fairy again. I finally noticed one important thing about the dex. Anssi's knee comes up higher than his waist and I had a mini epiphany when I saw that. My legs didn't like the set tonight. I will keep messing with it on and off, but I think I'm close.

Meanwhile, I realized how bad my flip Stepping and Flip Atomic sets were and how comfortable and duckable my strong sides of those were. It was like night and day between strong and weak. So I figured I would focus on those.

I filmed Stepping ss Clippers from 3 angles, 5x on each side. Then I filmed Atomsmashers from the same 3 angles, 5x on each side. Finished my session with that, went inside, loaded up the footage, played each back in slow motion. I couldn't believe how easy it was to pinpoint my problem areas on each flipside trick. Stepping on strong looked great and felt great. Stepping on weak side was so weird. I noticed that I dexed outward first, then up on flipside, where on strongside, I noticed I dexed up then outward. Atomics.. Strongside was a dex that was sort of pushed quickly across and up at the same time, where flipside dex was more up-forward-and-over. Looked really huge on camera, which is a bad thing.

With this new knowledge, I went outside and tried to fix them. I was doing proper and clean flip sets within 5 minutes each! Filming yourself and analyzing your form is honestly one of the best ways to go. And if you don't quite know how to analyze, ask to send your footage to a better player. I will certainly help anyone out with this and Matt Kemmer has offered too. When you film and you analyze, it's almost abundantly clear what you have to do to fix that concept in question.

So after I had this huge breakthrough, I figured I'd end on a nice highlight:

Highlight:

Spinning Ducking Butterfly> Spikehammer bs! I hit this link 2x on both sides

I have never hit this link before. I have hit Spin Duck Butter> Ripped Warrior on strong side, 2 years ago at PSU, but it was very flukey. It feels great to hit this link on both sides and know that it wasn't a fluke. And I know I wouldn't have been able to do it without my flip Stepping work I put in today. That was the reason my flip Alpine Stepping felt so forced and so off. Also hit the easiest Ripped b2b after that highlight, just to test it out a bit. For the first time ever, it felt like I could do several more than 3 (my current personal record).

Also, sometimes my flip stepping leg's shin starts to hurt after I have done a good bit of flip stepping during a session. Now I know why… Much less force/impact if you lift your leg straight up-and-over rather than over-and-up.

Very pleased with my training so far.

Taking tomorrow off.. project meeting with Leon. Wednesday, I think Nathan, maybe Jackson and maybe Jeremy (and maybe those 2 new kids from Pottstown, PA (not the young twins) are going to have a session.

Good night, all things.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Awesome sessions tonight!

Started off with Jeremy, Nathan, and me at our Pottstown meeting spot. It's halfway between Nathan and me, and 2 minutes from Jeremy's house.. lucky bastehd Fun session. Kind of tried to drill some concepts that I've been working on. Footed a huge 6 that I will hit when I'm ready. Just wanted to see if I would be close. Jeremy was trying to figure out his illusions and toe tiltless. He's going to give Clippers a break for a while because they hurt his legs. But toe stuff doesn't so he's going to try to get solid at that stuff first, plus his uptime toe game is honestly ridiculous. He has every toe uptime set pretty dialed. Once he gets downtime stuff, he'll be killing it. Nathan hit a bunch of firsts and his second 5 ADD (check out Nathan's blog to see what it was!)

After that session, I really wanted to figure out flip Ripsteins. I have been watching quite a bit of Vasek footage in slow motion recently. I saw him hitting Ripsteins on both sides with just a little too much ease… I was wondering what was up and if there was something I was missing. I messed with them for a bit and finally figured them out. It was like a punch in the face. I had been doing them kind of wrong this whole time.. even on strongside. So I did a ton of flip Rippies in and out of stuff and I was so proud. I had never done so many on flip in one session. I felt very accomplished. Going to keep working with them. I also had a breakthrough with double spins in this session. Watched Vasek for those too. I'm going to keep watching him. He seems to sorts know what he's doing I have never had so many breakthroughs in one month than I have had this month. I'm so stoked for my future game. I'm gonna do cool tricks.

Highlights:

Mobius> G.Y.B.A.S. bs link for Nathan. Pretty stoked I could Step out of Mobyass decently on both sides.
Ripstein> Spinning Butterfly BSOS My Ripswitch has been flicked to the "on" position.

Funny life story… I wanted to buzz my hair the other night, because it was getting long, so I did. I went to work the next day and people pointed out this one part I buzzed too deep on the back of my head :/ It was a huge, deep line I buzzed too hard, I guess. So I came up with the best way to not look like a total idiot at work… When someone would tell me about the line in my hair, I told them, "Oh yeah, it's a tribute to Robin Williams".. and they ALL believed me! HA! I had a hard time keeping a straight face. I told them it was a "life line" and they all went with it! I had about 6 people convinced that this was an RW tribute. Too funny.

Bed now!

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

So, I must quote Benjamin Franklin with what he said when he discovered electricity:

"FUCK YEAHHHHH!!!!!!" (come on, you know he was stoked)

But yes, It has been that sort of a weekend. I have some videos and pictures importing right now, so hopefully by the end of this post, I can include those.

Went to to the RV in Maryland this weekend. I've got some crazy dope life highlights from it, as well as some wicked ass dope ass nasty footbag highlights.

I'll start with some life highlights:

Lyfe Highlights:

We're 90% sure we found the boat we're going to get! There is a video of it below. The seller gave us a bangin good deal on it, so we're pretty sure we're going to buy this one. It's a 15 foot Carolina Skiff.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7ygWbyvQyA[/youtube]

Not as exciting, but still kinda cool.. We're also getting this golf cart It was my mom's idea, because she has a bad knee. I drove it today and it was a nice drive. I was never too into golf carts, but it's pretty fun. Just needs some fixin' ups (nothing mechanical, just needs to be cleaned and have seats replaced) Got a kickin' deal on this too. Holla. Picture below.



I broke my almost 4 year fishing skunk! ("Skunk" is a fishing term that means you didn't catch anything) Sadly, I haven't caught anything for around 4 years. We were in Harrisburg before, and that river was really really bad. The only fish you would see were dead or dying. The Chesapeake is really nice and I was finally able to hook one. Pretty excited that I don't have a fishing curse, like I thought I did I didn't take a picture, but it was a 18 inch Blue Fish and he was delicious. I caught it on the footbag twins' dad's boat, which was really really nice. Never been on a boat that big. We (the footbag twins and I) did footbag tricks on it while it was moving fast

Here we go, footbag highlight time!

Footbag Highlights:

This was one of the coolest creative things I've ever done with footbag… Barefoot Ripstein On A Speeding Boat! It was really hard to keep balance, though! I'm pretty stoked I hit this! Raw video below (I didn't edit this, because at some points in the video, Robert filmed out the window and you can see how fast we were going!)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fq5IhDx4NI[/youtube]

The twins hit their first good Toe stalls on both sides… while the boat was moving! I have some footage of them both hitting some of their first few toe stalls on both sides. It's raw footage but if you sift through, you'll see them hit a handful of good toe stalls, each. Robert is in the grey shirt, Mike is in red… They give a little introduction at the end of this video, and they're going to be checking my footblog out soon, so give them a welcoming if you want to and yes, I know, they're damned impossible to tell apart! I had to guess who I was talking to a few times, only to be corrected by the other one.. "I'm Michael…" They smiled about it though because I'm sure they get that all the time. I am starting to get to know who is who now, though. Also, just a funny side note, but the twins thought an appropriate bay fishing/boating movie to play while we were trolling ("trolling" is when you set rods up at the stern and cover a large area of water slowly) would be Jaws II

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWHjqn0A_XA[/youtube]

Then I found out that ankle crank is genetic:





And here is a cool picture of both of them holding their footbags at the stern of the boat:



Not so much specific highlights, but I have hardcore broken open the code to a nice handful of tricks this weekend: Flail/Symp Bubba/Pdx Flail! (These have never been mine, ever ever ever. In fact, when I hit my first awful Flail years and years ago, I said I would never do those because it felt so bad. They just kind of came to me this weekend. I was really happy about that), Barfly/Paradon, Furious, Double Spinning, Barrage/Barroque/Flurry!, Whirr, Whirling Swirl, Pixie, Fairy!!!!!!, Symp Whirls, and Far Symp Reverse Swirls. This all came by just intently studying footbag videos.

I'm the most stoked about Fairies, to be quite honest. I have never been good at them. In fact, I used to do them and my knee always popped. I always figured it wasn't a big deal, because there was no pain. But one day (my avid blog readers might remember this, actually), I was setting Fairy Legover record, using my knee popping method, and I gave myself a semi-severe injury and was out for a few weeks. Ever since then, I said I would hold off on Fairy until I could do Pixies really well. I figured that Pixies would help me understand Fairy. And it's great to tell myself that I understood Pixies enough, finally. I also talked to April about Fairy sets the other night. We kind of ended on a friendly disagreement about tackling them, which is ok. I'm just glad I showed myself that my thoughts about tackling Pixies first would show me how to do a proper Fairy. I was hitting long strings of Pixie/Fairy(/some Stepping) shuffle and it felt so good to finally be able to do that. Cassy, April, and Lon Smith have been really big inspirations with learning Fairy sets. Can't wait to play again and beat the proper Fairy muscle memory into submission.

I also ended up hitting my second ever PS Egg, and footed on flipside, but I don't think I'm ready for those yet, because I felt a pull next my groin on each side during the Legover. I realized I was like a mood trying to PS Whirl, when he hadn't even hit a Whirl yet, so I decided to mess with Flails. This is when I realized I could miraculously do Flails pretty well, all of the sudden. Figured I'd get great at Flail first, before trying anymore PS Eggs/Symp Eggs.

I hit about 4 Flurries on each side. Those still suck, but they're so much better than before.

So yeah, just a really freaking awesome weekend. I just have to make it through work all this week, then Doug Tank is picking me up on Friday and we're going to NYFA Da Ocho'th. Really excited to see everyone again. It's been to long since my last jam.

I'll conclude this with a really beautiful view of the bay at sunset yesterday:

[Cass]

For me, one of the key things to remember with Fairy set is not to get lazy. When I don't focus on my form I end up doing a sloppy set that results in weird knee feelings which are never good.

Nice blog post.

[krustykrakk]

Nicholas, you must show me a barroque. Please.


Maybe
maybe


maybe you could do Jorden a tribute by giving barroquescrew a few tries p p p pleease

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Cassy: Thanks and yeah I totally agree with you. Any time I lose focus on Pixies or Fairies and I let my form go, it ends up in either a set that doesn't feel good or the dex doesn't clear.

Ben: I can definitely show you a Barroque at ECFC. Those aren't so bad. But the B-Screw is another story. I'll have to mess around with some regular Torquescrews soon. I'll map those out in my head. The Dyno in Tscrews don't make sense to me just yet. But, I will try to learn Barroques and Torquescews well enough to show you a Barroquescrew by ECFC. I'd love to hit that.

Tonight was a kind of good session. I have some shin pain, so I kind of wish I didn't play, but I plan on taking it easy this week, so I have fresh legs for NYFA the Ocho'th. I did manage some pretty cool stuff tonight. And on top of that… I picked up another new student?? He's 15 and he's brand new on my street. Just moved here from Philly and he asked me to teach him. I, of course, said yes, and we're going to meet up tomorrow. Hope he likes it. His name is Tyler. He seems kind of shy, but also real nice. I'm not going to shred or drill tomorrow. I just want to show Tyler the basics and try to teach him some kicks and stalls and whatnot. How do I keep getting young players into footbag? Whatever the answer is, I hope they stick around. The sport needs more young bloods.

I did film a bit in my session. Did not film everything though. Video is below, but here are my highlights in list form…

Highlights:

Decent 23 contact run (see video)
Pixie ss muted Reverse Swirl *one sided, footed flip though* (see video) Never seen this hit by anyone, though I'm sure a few players could do it.
Assassin> Smog bs (see video) I hit only one side in the video, and I THOUGHT I filmed the other side, but I couldn't find the footage, so whatever. It wasn't super difficult, which is super weird to hear myself say, since I never thought I'd be hitting stuff like this with ease… But, yeah, I really like this link.
Pixie ss Mirage x20 (New personal record) Lon challenged me to push them to 40. Half-way there. I think they will start feeling much easier soon.
Ender link: Fog> Far Symp Reverse Swirl bs Felt very Vasekky. Vasek is now one of my favorite players, btw.

Video:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGUqquZOm1Y[/youtube]

Push through this week, then Friday, Doug Tank is picking me up to go to NYFA. Really looking forward to that.

Oh, one kind of cool thing that also happened tonight.. I was talking to Marc Peralta and he was telling me how he wished more people played around him. I thought to myself that Joe Spano just recently got back into footbag and he lives in NJ too. I looked each of their areas up.. 30 minutes away from each other. Boom. Gave their numbers to each other. Boom bang boom. They scheduled a session for this week. That makes me feel really good that I was able to bring the joy of a duo footbag session to 2 people who would otherwise be playing solo.

On top of that, Joe said he'll be leaving at the end of the month (just for 2 months) to a boot camp and he won't be able to footbag or anything, just write letters and do boot junk. So I told him I would be his footbag pen pal while he is in Boot Camp. It will probably help his time go by quicker if he has something like that to look forward to. I'm also looking forward to this.

And I was thinking… I think I'm going to start doing random trick tips in my blog. Not every post, but every now and then… ya know, randomly. Here is the first one ( I guess I'll put the tips in green?): When you are doing a Swirl or Reverse Swirl, it is helpful to come up onto your support leg's toes while you're dexing at the bag's highest point. This will help you get an extra bit of height, so the dex can be done easily Hope people enjoy these.

Oh look, a bed.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

So Tyler never came out to kick today. Maybe tomorrow. He lives sort of across the street from me, and I used to see him watching me kick sometimes. I really do think he's interested.. just a little shy, perhaps.

So I did have a session today. Little-to-no impact, though. I'm pretty stoked on how it went. Plus, my legs feel pretty good right now. I did film a bit this session.

Highlights:

Ss Frigidosis: Strongside- 14, Flipside- 10 (video)
Cool Frigidosis drill. The link was inspired by Antonio Pirrotta, who did something similar for one of Paul's intermediate challenge threads. (video)
Cloud kick> Muted ss Reverse Swirl bs (flip is new)
Got myself an invention I kind of feel like no one would have thought about doing this sorta thing. It was actually inspired by Ben Babyak.
Did a lot of fun, no impact weird links that flowed surprisingly nice and were consistent. I will start trying to incorporate more of this cool stuff in my runs, now that a lot of it feels way easier. Kind of like putting little "fancy toe stalls" in my runs.
Also messed around with Hopover Swirls, also inspired by Ben. Got a few bs, and they felt a lot easier than last time I tried them… which was like a year ago? Damn, I can't believe I haven't done those for this long. Well, I think they'll be working themselves in soon. Strong side feels pretty dialed in, and flipside feels like it will be there soon. Bummer that you don't see these too often. And I thought of an awesome combo I want to get eventually.. Motor> Hopover Swirl bs. Too sick. Did hit a handful of Ss Motors this session on bs. Fun trick and it's getting much easier.

Video:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qymeLGLbHW4[/youtube]


Motor always looked confusing as hell to me.. It's actually just a Swirl then bail to late Gyro Inside stall. Start learning the trick by doing a full Clipper set> ss Swirl and planting the Swirling foot onto the ground, attempting to race the bag to the ground with your dexing leg's foot. First one to touch the ground, wins, and you want your foot to win. This will give you a really good understanding of timing and what your body should be doing during Motor. (You should be able to do Swirls pretty well bs before attempting this trick).

Good night!

[krustykrakk]

Sick stuff.
Hey, what's your Ben-inspired invention?
Also, hopover swirls are really cool. I am glad you are doing them. You should be like Chinsen and eventually try hopover ripstein.
We kick soon?
We kick soon.

[Pirrotta]

lol stylish link, BSOS'd it too.

[PrunusAberration]

I keep forgetting to watch your videos. I can't do it at work. :/ I'll have to remember when I get back on wi-fi/home computer.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Thanks guys

So I just got home from NYFA Da Ocho'th. It was a fucking blast! My favorite non-competitive jam by far. Doug was supposed to scoop me, but he got really "sick" a day before the jam Nah, jk, I talked to him on the phone and he sounded awful. Hope to see him at ECFC. Missed you at NYFA, buddy. I'll do some footbag highlights, as well as some jam highlights:

Jam Highlights:

Prime parking spot right in front of the Shred Castle. Thanks Bruce!
Monster in the closet. Blawawararaghh! Ping-pong ding-dong
"I Pooped 'Em"
Copied Boatz's drink order.. Texas sized Strawberry Daiquiri with an extra shot. Best decision.. John Goode also copied. Then Hogan, Bob, and Ben Little all copied us halfway through. The left side of the table was wasted
Yelling stuff at the birthday girl at that restaurant.. Sam? Sharon?
"WOOP-WOOP'ing" in the restaurant
Bob's smashing homemade salsa!
Trying to throw up a single, whole gummy bear with Johnny Breakdown as my cheerleader.
Ben Little's fucking awesome.
Tristan popping in for a night
Hogan and me hanging our heads out the window while Drew drove us through the city.
Afro Punk Fest!!! So many blacks and whites in one place! Love the way everyone got along so well
Boatz made me look at Cheerios in a whole new way…. OooOOOoo!
John Goode still rips
Meeting up with and introducing Anastasia (my ex-neighbor from PA.. she just moved to NY 2 days ago) to footbag and having her do pretty well.
Midnight geocaching with Hogan
Bob's story about Bob Reifer and the Spinning Ducking Butterfly
Microcosm & Samsara are dope movies
John Goode apologizing for everything
First successful parallel park in NY
Teaching Johnny Breakdown Spinning Ducking Osis bs! Props dude!
Waking up first on Saturday, last on Sunday
Evan's dog was everywhere
Meeting Bijan. He's a real cool dude. Glad he's playing again.
Talking with Bruce about inventions
Ben Cooke crushing it with crazy new contact juggling tricks
Hogan asking Rosa for silverware
It was awesome to get to know Johnny Breakdown, and Ben Little more


Footbag Highlights:

Spinning Butterfly Swirl bs, Gyro Butterfly Swirl bs (all firsts)
Got another Double Spinning Osis b2b with witnesses this time
Wrecking (Spinning Gyro) Mirage BSOS> string sealed with Mobius> Mobius
Mobius> Ripstein> Mobius
Saw Ben Cooke hit a Torquescrew… Have always wanted to hit one. Hit it first try. One side only, unfortunately. But it was really dialed on that one side, so it led to some more exploration.
Hit 2 new 6 ADDs, several times each, with Torquescrew in them. One of them is sort of uncommon.. the other is extremely uncommon. I will reveal these both once I hit flip Torquescrew. It felt shitty to hit these without having a flipside anywhere close to it. Hit my first flip Far Symp Dynos after this, though Will be drilling them.
Vortex> Mobius *rpt> string
Had a really good look at Vortex> Void *rpt. I'll hit that soon.
Toe Far Blink x6 (new record)
Gyro Clipper x80-something! Definitely a new record. Beat that one by 40something
Totally accidental new Fairy tricks: Fairy Eggbeater and Fairy Paradon. Meant to do a Flog on the first one, then a Dimmest on the second one. Crazy junk.

Reflection:

Such a bad ass weekend. Lots of stuff that was seriously "you had to be there" stuff, but it was just such an incredibly awesome time. First time driving into the the city, too. I will probably be doing that more often, since the drive really wasn't too bad.. 2 hours and 20 minutes. Holy shit. I can't believe I never just drove to NYFA before.

Great to see everyone again! Especially, those who I haven't seen in a long time. I hope you start practicing footbag, John Goode.

I played pretty alright. I know I can do better. Before I left for NYFA, Jay lit a fire inside me with a conversation that made me want to be just EPIC. No longer just "pretty good/ok". I should apologize for the recent name of my blog from a little while ago. I know I didn't/don't suck. But I know I'm not EPIC yet. It's hard to discuss your level in footbag without sounding cocky, so I just like to almost put myself down, in terms of that sort of thing, because I don't like to sound cocky by accident. I talked to Jay about this. I kept saying "I don't like to sound cocky, but..." while talking to him about my level, and he told me that he used to say the same thing to his elders! That made me smile. It was also cool to learn that we have some other blatant similarities. Also, Jay said he was once an "OMGOMG Fanboy" and I know I am/used to be one, too. I don't see Jay as that anymore. I see him as a bad ass footbag destroyer… I am not a bad ass footbag destroyer. That's going to change. I'm going to start letting my feet do the talking.

Jay really helped me a lot in my life. I honestly consider him a guardian angel. He sat through an entire summer of Physic with me, while I was taking it at PSU in the summer a few years ago. Skyping me several days a week, just to explain how to do these equations/problems… HE was my professor. I would have failed without his help. But with his help, I passed with a B+. He has also encouraged me and helped me push myself immensely in footbag and in life. And he's done this the hardest he's ever done it before with that last talk we recently had. I have a burning desire to get very good at footbag NOW. It was great to have NYFA Jam to test out some of my stuff and see what I need to improve. I definitely got that information this weekend. Can't wait to train for East Coasts now.

[boyle]

While he may not have the OMGOMGs, Jay is definitely still one of the biggest fans of footbag that exist, and fans (which in reality footbag doesn't have many of) are integral to any sport. You have really been on the rise with your skills lately and your passion/being a fan is really helping your game, as well as many other people as well.

Also, if it's only a 2 hour drive, you should be going there every couple of weeks!

[C-Fan]

Footbag Highlights:

Got another Double Spinning Osis b2b with witnesses this time
Wrecking (Spinning Gyro) Mirage BSOS> string sealed with Mobius> Mobius
Mobius> Ripstein> Mobius
Vortex> Mobius *rpt> string
.

Props on these especially.

[DTank126]

Bah! I'm so pissed I couldn't go. I kept trying to convince myself I wasn't that sick but it just got worse and worse. Even if I did make it I woulda been miserable the entire weekend.

Thanks for doing a write up. I was craving some kinda insight into what went on this weekend as these summer Nyfa events are my favorite. I can always count on you for some keen summary of a jam/tourney.

Do you still wanna carpool for ECFC? If so gimme a call so we can work out the logistics cause I'd like to go down for 3 days.

[krustykrakk]

Hi, Doug.

NICK, NICK, NICK! I just ordered the tix! Woooooo

[Max Power]

I think you forgot a highlight from the jam.

Blaze ya dead homie!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7I9jnLdS_M[/youtube]

Great write up dude.

I pooped 'em

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Danny Boy: Thanks for the kind words, man. I really appreciate it.

Ken: Thanks Ken I was certainly highly hyped on those specific ones.

Doug: Dude, we missed you. I mean, no we didn't Nah, seriously though, we did not miss you… ok maybe a little. But in all actuality, we all really wish you were there. You would have loved the part where I tried to offer John Goode a glass of water by nudging it toward him with my nose, then spilling the entire glass all over his pants

Ben: We are 138!!! Hypedddddd!!!!!

Drew: 15 for the Juggalos… 20 for the other hoes! Yeah, they're totally non-discriminators. FAMILY!!! That shit was hilarious!

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

So today was a really mellow day at work. I muted my stupid scanner so it didn't beep or make noises. Oh man, so peaceful. While I was at work, Nathan Bonslaver and I were plotting a duo session.

FAST FORWARDZZ!!! I arrive to the session spot and Nathan texts me that his parents think I'm a genuine enough person to actually come up to their house to have a session with him. That was cool to know that they trusted me and didn't think I was going to Blaze Ya Son Dead Homie. There was also a light at the kick spot in Nate's driveway, so we got to kick a little longer since it gets dark earlier now.

This was a really cool session. I really felt accepted by Nate's parents. So that was a huge highlight, in itself. Also, Nate and I talked much more openly at this session. Not like just Student and Teacher, but more like friends. I definitely consider Nate a friend, too. It's funny, because this Student-Teacher-Friend thing really reminds me of how Bob and I used to be. I haven't been able to contact him still :/

But during our session, I did a few things Bob used to do to me. Like, this happened tonight.. I saw Nate trying to hit Dimwalk. I've seen him hit it plenty of times, but he's still dialing in his Pixies. So I said, "I'll race you to hit Dimwalk". He agreed. I hit it first try and Nate dropped. Nate took it as a joke, of course, not like I was trying to say "I'm so much better than you". We both laughed about that one. He'll have me on that race one day. But yeah, Bob used to race me and hit the trick first try all the time. So many memories.

Onto more of the session. We started off drilling Dynos. Nate drilled Dyno, while I drilled Far Symp Dyno. Once that got boring, we went onto Barflies. He's so close to hitting them on demand. Tonight, I actually found the final key to Barfly. I was nailing them like crazy. Both sides. Clean, deep, crisp… Blaze Ya Dead Barflies. Then we went onto some trick experimenting, just for fun. I wouldn't call it ADD hunting, exactly, because we only give it a few shots, then if we can't get it, we realize we need to drill more basic stuff to hit the trick. Later, we focused on drilling the basics of Torque (Nathan) and Torquescrew (me). I really wanted to hit it flipside tonight. Nathan footed Torque in the dark so many times, but couldn't quite seal it, because.. it was dark and there was a toad sitting in the grass, judging us. Fun session filled with some great conversation and lots of laughs.

Highlights:

Flip Torquescrew I was trying to hard to hit this at NYFA. No cigar, though. Finally nailed a really smooth one tonight. And, as promised, I said once I hit flip Torquescrew, I would reveal what the secret Torquescrew 6 ADDs were that I learned at NYFA. Really stoked about each of them: Moby Dick (Gyro Torquescrew/Mobius Screw)! I hit that the very first time I ever tried it this weekend. Also footed it first try, hit it second try tonight to show Nate. The other trick that you don't see every day was Pdx Torquescrew! I hit that within 2 tries at NYFA and then first try tonight to show Nathan. I can't believe how dialed both of those have become. They're now my easiest 6's.
Just when you think the mystery 6 ADD game is over, I present 2 more to you. This time, they have a Double Down in them. Nathan and I were both pretty blown away by each of them. I will provide a hint to one of them with this picture:



If you know it, don't reveal it on my blog. You can message me if you like, though. I footed this one on flipside, too. I just know I'm not quite ready for it or the other mystery 6 ADD.

Pretty stoked on this one: Mobius> Reverse Swirl *rpt
Blurriest bs (First good one on flipside that I would actually label as "Blurriest"… Flipside was good, strongside was great… Can't wait to get better at both)
Ended session on: Barfly> Far Symp Dyno bs… These were both in the dark. Lets just say I got some good Barfly practice in when trying to hit these. To semi-quote Vasek: "Do the Barfly in the dark"

Just a really awesome session. I'm planning on practicing the things that Anssi mentioned in his blog. My desire to get really good at Torquescrews is extremely high. It is obnoxiously dialed on strong side. I just need to work on Flipside now. By ECFC, I'd like to be able to have consistent Torquescrews on bs.

Oh yeah, Nate and I have a cool idea that we're going to do soon. Something like a gift for other footbag players. You'll see that eventually, I hope.

Barflies are so much like Infinities, it's a bit ridiculous/hard to believe. The only difference is that you pull your dex leg into the "Illusion Trigger Area", that spot right under your balls/absence of balls, then just end in a normal Infinity delay. You don't have to pivot into the bag, which is what I always thought… Do it just like an Infinity.

Good night!

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

I'm going to be privately drilling from now until East Coasts. Can't keep waving my cards around for everyone to see, especially when it comes to competition. If I kept up my blogging, it would be like showing my bare chest to my enemy in battle… I really would like to do well this year at ECFC.

I'm also working on a video and I'm hoping to have that finished by around ECFC. After Jay's talk with me, I've made a list of things I consider to be "EPIC" that the video will be comprised of. Lots of really difficult drills and sickening combos in mind. As Jay said, "stuff that no one else can touch".

I might blog random non-footbag stuff, though… Like tonight, I accidentally washed my hands with cat shampoo. It made me want to write a song/poem.

In slight footbag news, I am looking to hold a little jam at my campsite in Rock Hall, Maryland. I brought it up at NYFA a bit and some people showed interest. I would be looking to hold this sometime in October, I think. We did purchase that Carolina Skiff, by the way, so we will have plenty of opportunity to take the boat out and I can thrash some people around on the tire tubes. Also, the town is very close and it looks great for public performing. Just have to scope out a spot for the jam to take place. The footbag twins, Robert and Michael would be stoked on this. A jam in their own backyard. I think it would make their day. Great places to eat in town and we can even have a crab cook out. I know it's a bit of a drive for some, so I'm not expecting this to be a huge jam. More on this later. Feel free to message me or comment if you're interested in coming.

Good night