Lack of footbag motivation continues. It's not like I hate the sport all of a sudden, or anything like that. I just haven't had a strong desire to play lately. Combine that with a bunch of life stuff that's been eating up my time and energy, and the result is almost no footbag on my end. Some quick hits:
I was sick for about a week. Nothing horrific, just a headcold and fatigue, but that was a week without footbag or skating. Then at the tail end of the sickness...
We got the dog! Man, big big life change. We walk him for an hour each morning, then an hour or more in the evening, and of course we had a lot to take care of when we first got him, like buying him a bed, taking him to the vet, etc. We've named him Barkley, in honor of the American philosopher Charles Barkley. The daily dog walking definitely eats into any time I'd have for footbag, but I enjoy the walks too. I normally just zone out listening to NBA podcasts, and at least I'm getting several miles of walking exercise daily.
Daylight savings just happened, which means its dark by the time I get home. Unless I join a gym, I'll be relying on good weekend weather to get in shreds/skating. I kind of don't feel that bad about this. The other seasonal variable is that we're going to start getting winter weather soon. Usually fall in Denver is alternating days of summer weather followed by cold snaps.
A couple of classic shred videos were recently re-released on YouTube, which made me nostalgic. The first was California Connection, which is probably from 2000. I definitely hadn't seen it in over 10 years, so the nostalgia hit me pretty hard. Back around 2000, Eli Piltz was the main guy doing edited videos, and he definitely had a monopoly at the time. Internet speeds and video quality were pretty terrible back then, so the most common form of video dissemination was VHS tapes you'd get at tournaments. I had some minor appearances in the Worlds 99 video, but nothing close to the number and length of clips I had on this video. Watching it in 2015 I know its hard to believe, but the level of play in my clips was considered BAP level, and people definitely treated me differently after the video came out. In some ways though, it worked against me as expectations were very high for me at Worlds 2000, and I didn't play well that week. Anyway, it was definitely fun to see old footage of me when I had that odd combination of super skinny body but super huge (and inefficient) execution. Looking back on 20 year old Ken, I feel like we have so little in common other than footbag...but its neat we at least share that.
The other classic video that recently came out was Fo Shizza, from 2002. That was a Dan Klokow video, and an all time fav for me. Dan's videos always felt less polished than Eli's, but somehow a lot more fun. Like they weren't afraid to be silly somehow. This was one of the last videos I got before leaving for Japan, and I'm pretty sure I copied wide chunks of it for my super footbag compilation VHS tape that I took with me. That tape not only helped me be less homesick and comforted me when I first got to Japan, it ended up being the first real shred tape that circulated in Japan. For me that tape really is all about Vasek. His sections still strike me as so fresh and inspiring. As for my own shred, it was neat to see PS torque again. I bet most people don't know I invented that...I had almost forgot myself to be honest.
On Facebook somebody posted a video of a freestyle soccer player hitting paradon twist with a soccer ball. I was impressed, especially since it was a decent sized ball. I decided to give it a try with a footbag, and it was pretty straightforward. Here's session highlights from that shred:
That was November 1st, and it was like mid-70s out. Last night we had our first frost, and its snowing up in the mountains. Fall in Denver I tell ya.
It sounds like Chrissy Fryer and Jeff Overbo will be in Denver area in the next week or so. Hopefully I can arrange to see them both, and use it as an excuse to dust the G-Units off. I'm pretty sure I've footbagged less than 8 times since Worlds ended, and I would have played even less if Monistere hadn't come to visit.
Fanzine
Re: Fanzine
If you get bored of normal shred, write down a stupidly long drill and spend your session trying to hit it once. Easy tricks, but long. Sometimes, you make the drill too hard or long and it could take you 3 sessions to hit it, but they're the most satisfying combos to hit.
You can recycle them as well, and try to hit them every month. Whenever I don't want to play, I just remember some of my old drills, wondering if I could still hit them and that usually brings me to play.
Or practice unusual stuff, your Frantic looks good, you could try something like Frantic Bronze badge.
You can recycle them as well, and try to hit them every month. Whenever I don't want to play, I just remember some of my old drills, wondering if I could still hit them and that usually brings me to play.
Or practice unusual stuff, your Frantic looks good, you could try something like Frantic Bronze badge.
I hate bad form and I'm a hypocrite.
Vojta
Vojta
Re: Fanzine
Props on beating me to 200 props 
Re: Fanzine
And I, in turn, am honored to give you your 200th prop for that.
Frantic bronze is a crazy idea. If my life were on the line, I could probably eke out 3 frantic tricks in a row, but who even knows. Frenzy b2b would be awesome though. Again, not sure when I'll have a good chance to shred next. I'm going to San Diego for Thanksgiving with the wife's family. That might be a good excuse to bring my shoes and get back into it. We'll see if the mood takes me.
In the meantime I'll probably continue spending my time walking the dog and playing TF2.
Frantic bronze is a crazy idea. If my life were on the line, I could probably eke out 3 frantic tricks in a row, but who even knows. Frenzy b2b would be awesome though. Again, not sure when I'll have a good chance to shred next. I'm going to San Diego for Thanksgiving with the wife's family. That might be a good excuse to bring my shoes and get back into it. We'll see if the mood takes me.
In the meantime I'll probably continue spending my time walking the dog and playing TF2.
Re: Fanzine
Weather was gorgeous this weekend, so I made a point to get out and shred both days. I didn't feel particularly motivated to play, but it would be a waste of 70 degree weather in November not to. I still think we're going to hit a point in the next couple months when its too cold for footbag,but OK for skating, so I'm trying to shred instead of skate while its this warm out.
Not bad for a short session. The open everything was a nice surprise, since that was an order I'd never done before and I also hit it first try. It was also neat to work on flip frantic. I feel like there are some possibilities for new quads there for me, but not sure I'm going to pursue that or not. Maybe I should, since I've only hit 17 quads in my career, and getting that number to 20 could be cool. We'll see how motivated I feel. Since I play so infrequently now, I don't want to risk having any of my sessions be overly frustrating.
I didn't hook up with Chrissy this weekend, but she was only in town a couple days and had a packed schedule. Overbo will be in town soon and asked if he should bring lavers, and I told him yes. Now we'll see if the weather and our schedules allow us to play.
I have a couple old video projects on my laptop that I'm tempted to revive for the Joulukalenteri, but I don't want to promise anything since dog ownership has messed with my time management. I've contributed videos a few years now though, so it'd be nice to continue that.
Decided to try this out, with a variation of the old "FTB Drill," which is 12 contacts repeated (total of 24 tricks for the complete drill). The original had PSW at the end, but I'm more comfortable with tomahawk so I changed that part. I chose this drill because it seems to have a good variety of concepts, and also because I don't think I could remember anything much longer. I was able to hit both sides of the drill, but unable to link the whole thing together. On Sunday I altered the drill slightly, replacing one whirl with a double down (cause the original FTB drill had 2 whirl tricks and no double downs) and changing the order so it'd be easier for me (but probably harder for most people, since now there'd be stepping out of tomahawk both sides).Add Block wrote:write down a stupidly long drill and spend your session trying to hit it once. Easy tricks, but long. Sometimes, you make the drill too hard or long and it could take you 3 sessions to hit it, but they're the most satisfying combos to hit.)
Also messed with this, trying just to get Frenzy bsos. Pretty sure I'd only ever hit e-walk bsos before, and not frenzy, so sounded like a good challenge. Anyway, here's what I managed on Saturday:Add Block wrote:your Frantic looks good, you could try something like Frantic Bronze badge.
Not bad for a short session. The open everything was a nice surprise, since that was an order I'd never done before and I also hit it first try. It was also neat to work on flip frantic. I feel like there are some possibilities for new quads there for me, but not sure I'm going to pursue that or not. Maybe I should, since I've only hit 17 quads in my career, and getting that number to 20 could be cool. We'll see how motivated I feel. Since I play so infrequently now, I don't want to risk having any of my sessions be overly frustrating.
I didn't hook up with Chrissy this weekend, but she was only in town a couple days and had a packed schedule. Overbo will be in town soon and asked if he should bring lavers, and I told him yes. Now we'll see if the weather and our schedules allow us to play.
I have a couple old video projects on my laptop that I'm tempted to revive for the Joulukalenteri, but I don't want to promise anything since dog ownership has messed with my time management. I've contributed videos a few years now though, so it'd be nice to continue that.
200,000
Had Wednesday off, thanks to Veteran's Day. Had my first day of "too cold for footbag, so I'll skate." Kinda nice to have an alternate sports option for cold days. I'm not sure where I'm going on the skateboarding front. My board is falling apart, probably cause its cheap, but also probably because I don't take super good care of it. If I buy a new one I'll definitely store it in the house instead of the garage. I sometimes wonder if my progress is being hindered by having crappy equipment, much in the way a beginner footbagger would be held back by heavy lavers and a shitty bag. I like to tell myself that learning the fundamentals with bad equipment will eventually make me a better player, but maybe I'm just making it harder on myself. I also half wonder if I haven't bought a proper board, because on some level I'm not completely sold on my future as a skateboarder. It's definitely fun, but I don't love that I get so many minor injuries. I also worry I'll get a major injury at some point. Footbag is in some ways more fun, its definitely safer, and I also think its a better workout. Probably shouldn't overthink this, and just see where I'm at after the winter.
I definitely would like to hit the whole drill through, at least once. I kind of can't believe I didn't get it in the above video, since I made it through the hardest parts.
This weekend is supposed to be nice weather both days. I love it when that happens this time of year. Nothing worse than working through a week of fantastic weather, only to have it turn to snow on your days off. I think I'll mess around with some flip frantic and some weird tricks, and see where that takes me.
As I'm about to post this, I just noticed that my blog is about to hit 200,000 views. Kind of a cool milestone for me as a blogger. Like, I'm proud I've been footbagging for 18 years, but I'm also proud I've been blogging about my trip consistently for over 11 years too. I'm not sure when I'll retire from playing (or blogging), but it's neat to know that I can always look back on the blog and get a blow-by-blow account of over half my playing career. It hasn't always been smooth sailing for me and footbag, but it's been a hell of a journey.
Here's video from that Sunday shred:C-Fan wrote:
On Sunday I altered the drill slightly, replacing one whirl with a double down (cause the original FTB drill had 2 whirl tricks and no double downs) and changing the order so it'd be easier for me (but probably harder for most people, since now there'd be stepping out of tomahawk both sides).
I definitely would like to hit the whole drill through, at least once. I kind of can't believe I didn't get it in the above video, since I made it through the hardest parts.
This weekend is supposed to be nice weather both days. I love it when that happens this time of year. Nothing worse than working through a week of fantastic weather, only to have it turn to snow on your days off. I think I'll mess around with some flip frantic and some weird tricks, and see where that takes me.
As I'm about to post this, I just noticed that my blog is about to hit 200,000 views. Kind of a cool milestone for me as a blogger. Like, I'm proud I've been footbagging for 18 years, but I'm also proud I've been blogging about my trip consistently for over 11 years too. I'm not sure when I'll retire from playing (or blogging), but it's neat to know that I can always look back on the blog and get a blow-by-blow account of over half my playing career. It hasn't always been smooth sailing for me and footbag, but it's been a hell of a journey.
Re: Fanzine
In Salt Lake City for a few days for work. Was originally scheduled to fly out on Tuesday morning, but my flight got canceled on Monday due to weather concerns. People were predicting a big blizzard on Monday night, which apparently scared Southwest a full day in advance. My boss told me to try and fly in a day early to beat the snow, which was a good plan in theory but worked out horribly. I got put on a flight for Monday at 10 pm, and headed out to the airport at 7 since there were no delays noted. When I got to the airport we got hit with a couple delays, but at 11:15 I was boarding the plane. I went to sleep feeling like I dodged a bullet. An hour later I wake up...we're still on the ground? What? Apparently the de-icing took a long time, which combined with the delays meant the flight crew had been on duty too many hours, so at 12:30 they kicked us off the plane and canceled the flight. All the hotels near the airport are booked due to other canceled flights, so after rebooking my flight for the next morning my options are:
1. drive home in the snow and dark, probably 90-120 minutes due to driving conditions, sleep one hour at home, then drive back to the airport in the same conditions.
2. sleep on the floor of the airport for 3 hours.
I opted for the latter, which meant in a 24 hour period I was officially on clock for 21 hours. That's definitely a new record for me, and one I hope I never break. Hopefully the rest of this trip goes OK. Didn't bring any footbag gear with me since I knew it'd be cold, but also didn't have much time to pack either. With all the overtime I've been putting in, I'm in the danger zone now of use-or-lose. Even accounting for Thanksgiving and Christmas leave, I may have more vacation days at the end of the year than I'm allowed to carry over. Hopefully I can take a few days off here and there to avoid that.
The blizzard in Denver really screwed me timing wise, but I also feel like I can't complain too much, since it waited til the working week. The entire weekend leading into it was actually perfect weather. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday it was sunny and in the low 70s, and I was able to shred outside all three days. Made a point to focus on footbag and not hit the skate park, since we'll probably hit a point in December and January when its too cold for footbag, but OK for skating. Shredwise I didn't work on any of the things I mentioned in my last blog post. Mostly just tried to have fun, and ended up working on throwing some tricks on flip that I don't normally do (e.g. flurry, food, whirling swirls). It's weird, I feel like I've played hardly at all since Worlds ended, but I don't feel my game has taken as bad a hit as I expected. My stamina and consistency are definitely down, but I still feel I can hit tricks and links that are on par with my harder stuff from tournament season.
Have a feeling my next outdoor sessions are going to be in San Diego. Very much looking forward to that trip, for a bunch of reasons.
1. drive home in the snow and dark, probably 90-120 minutes due to driving conditions, sleep one hour at home, then drive back to the airport in the same conditions.
2. sleep on the floor of the airport for 3 hours.
I opted for the latter, which meant in a 24 hour period I was officially on clock for 21 hours. That's definitely a new record for me, and one I hope I never break. Hopefully the rest of this trip goes OK. Didn't bring any footbag gear with me since I knew it'd be cold, but also didn't have much time to pack either. With all the overtime I've been putting in, I'm in the danger zone now of use-or-lose. Even accounting for Thanksgiving and Christmas leave, I may have more vacation days at the end of the year than I'm allowed to carry over. Hopefully I can take a few days off here and there to avoid that.
The blizzard in Denver really screwed me timing wise, but I also feel like I can't complain too much, since it waited til the working week. The entire weekend leading into it was actually perfect weather. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday it was sunny and in the low 70s, and I was able to shred outside all three days. Made a point to focus on footbag and not hit the skate park, since we'll probably hit a point in December and January when its too cold for footbag, but OK for skating. Shredwise I didn't work on any of the things I mentioned in my last blog post. Mostly just tried to have fun, and ended up working on throwing some tricks on flip that I don't normally do (e.g. flurry, food, whirling swirls). It's weird, I feel like I've played hardly at all since Worlds ended, but I don't feel my game has taken as bad a hit as I expected. My stamina and consistency are definitely down, but I still feel I can hit tricks and links that are on par with my harder stuff from tournament season.
Have a feeling my next outdoor sessions are going to be in San Diego. Very much looking forward to that trip, for a bunch of reasons.
-
F[uns]tylin' Eclectic
- Post Master General
- Posts: 4092
- Joined: 05 Feb 2010 19:53
- Location: Drumore, PA
Re: Fanzine
Well, I'm all caught up on Ken stuff.
These videos have thoroughly entertained me during a slow day of work. Thanks!
What's FTB stand for?
These videos have thoroughly entertained me during a slow day of work. Thanks!
What's FTB stand for?
Re: Fanzine
Thanks for the quick note Nick. I see you posted in multiple people's blogs today. That's a good reminder that it doesn't take long to drop a short note, and people appreciate it. If everybody did that we'd probably avoid the periodic dumb threads about how Modified is dead.
Not too much new on my end. The wife and I went to San Diego for Thanksgiving, which was a nice change of pace. It was really nice weather out there, and apparently we missed some snow in Denver at the same time, so that felt like good timing. In San Diego we spent most of our time hanging out with family. I only got in one serious shred, plus one minor shred where I basically just did BOPs. Still, glad I got in some exercise to burn off all the food we ate.
I still haven't looked at the footage from SD, so that video will come later. I actually lucked out with the weather again right before the SD trip, where we had another stretch of 3 days in a row of shorts weather. Made a short vid of that, and the free YT video music was jazzier than usual:
Since we got back from San Diego its been cold and snowy. I need full on scarf/gloves/hat when I walk the dog. In typical Denver fashion though, its supposed to get back up to the 50s by the weekend, so I might luck out and get another weekend shred.
Been thinking about going back to Japan next summer, since I don't have much interest in going to Slovakia for Worlds. If I do go to Japan, it'll mark exactly 10 years since my last visit. Crazy to think how much has changed since then.
I'm not 100% sure I know what FTB stands for. I think it stood for "Future of the Bag"...I know it came out of the Chicago Inner Circle though. I think I first learned of it from Kotsakos.F[uns]tylin' Eclectic wrote:What's FTB stand for?
Not too much new on my end. The wife and I went to San Diego for Thanksgiving, which was a nice change of pace. It was really nice weather out there, and apparently we missed some snow in Denver at the same time, so that felt like good timing. In San Diego we spent most of our time hanging out with family. I only got in one serious shred, plus one minor shred where I basically just did BOPs. Still, glad I got in some exercise to burn off all the food we ate.
I still haven't looked at the footage from SD, so that video will come later. I actually lucked out with the weather again right before the SD trip, where we had another stretch of 3 days in a row of shorts weather. Made a short vid of that, and the free YT video music was jazzier than usual:
Since we got back from San Diego its been cold and snowy. I need full on scarf/gloves/hat when I walk the dog. In typical Denver fashion though, its supposed to get back up to the 50s by the weekend, so I might luck out and get another weekend shred.
Been thinking about going back to Japan next summer, since I don't have much interest in going to Slovakia for Worlds. If I do go to Japan, it'll mark exactly 10 years since my last visit. Crazy to think how much has changed since then.
Re: Fanzine
Reconsider Slovakia. Have you been to Africa? Slovakia is like that, except without the lions and stuff
I hate bad form and I'm a hypocrite.
Vojta
Vojta
Hibernation
My footbag hibernation continues. Part of that is due to weather, partly due to lack of time, and partly due to equipment. The fabric on the instep of my right G-Unit is almost completely ripped out, which makes clippers on that foot about 30% less reliable. And that was my worse clipper to begin with! If the government shuts down in the next couple weeks, I vow to use some of my free time to mod a new pair of G-Units. I have 2 fresh pairs left, and I feel like I wore my current pair down far enough to retire them.
In exciting news, some hackers in Denver randomly posted to the Freestyle Footbaggers group on Facebook! If Polini hadn't asked where they were from, it would have slipped past my radar, so thanks Nick. I reached out to them, and am optimistic we'll meet up to hack. They already know how to play foursquare and have interest in basic tricks, so I'm hopeful I can win them over just playing foursquare with them, and then try and lure them down the path of hardcore freestyle. The only downside so far is that they only play outside, so the aforementioned winter weather probably means it'll be a slow start with them.
I'm enjoying the Joulukalenteri so far. The Olav vid really blew my mind, since the shred was so hardcore...and also from 2011. How can you sit on that kind of hardcore footage for almost 5 years?!? I'm just glad it finally came out though. Testament to how crazy Olav is, that 5 year old footage is still world-class. I didn't make a video for the calendar this year, which is a bit disappointing since I contributed the last 2-3 years. Just bad timing with getting a dog and adjusting to the time management challenges. On a positive note, Ivan made a sick video for the calendar using footage I gave him about a year ago:
I was really really happy with how it came out. While the shred level isn't as high as the Summer 14 Ken video Ivan made, the editing and theme of it almost make me like it better. Shredwise its also not entirely fair to compare the two either, since the Cactus video was taken from 2 (maybe 3?) sessions, while the other video was from an entire summer's worth of highlight-chasing sessions. In any case, this is definitely in the top 2 for me in terms of favorite videos ever made of my shred. What can I say, Ivan does amazing work.
Been following Evan and Landes' venture to Boise with interest. I think the two of them could do really good things for footbag through Freedom, but that only happens if they survive the first year of business. And my understanding is that the first year is the hardest, since you're basically building your brand and investing in infrastructure, all the while trying to keep a roof over your head. I bought a handful of bags off his site, and I encourage anybody else reading this to do the same. I didn't even view it as buying a product (I don't really need footbags) so much as investing kickstarter money to a business I want to see succeed. If the footbag community won't support a footbag business run by their own people, then we kind of don't deserve to succeed. *ends shameless plug*
In exactly 2 weeks I go to Atlanta to spend the holidays with Haley's family. Hopefully it'll be warm enough there to kick. That would be good motivation for me to mod my new pair of shoes.
In exciting news, some hackers in Denver randomly posted to the Freestyle Footbaggers group on Facebook! If Polini hadn't asked where they were from, it would have slipped past my radar, so thanks Nick. I reached out to them, and am optimistic we'll meet up to hack. They already know how to play foursquare and have interest in basic tricks, so I'm hopeful I can win them over just playing foursquare with them, and then try and lure them down the path of hardcore freestyle. The only downside so far is that they only play outside, so the aforementioned winter weather probably means it'll be a slow start with them.
I'm enjoying the Joulukalenteri so far. The Olav vid really blew my mind, since the shred was so hardcore...and also from 2011. How can you sit on that kind of hardcore footage for almost 5 years?!? I'm just glad it finally came out though. Testament to how crazy Olav is, that 5 year old footage is still world-class. I didn't make a video for the calendar this year, which is a bit disappointing since I contributed the last 2-3 years. Just bad timing with getting a dog and adjusting to the time management challenges. On a positive note, Ivan made a sick video for the calendar using footage I gave him about a year ago:
I was really really happy with how it came out. While the shred level isn't as high as the Summer 14 Ken video Ivan made, the editing and theme of it almost make me like it better. Shredwise its also not entirely fair to compare the two either, since the Cactus video was taken from 2 (maybe 3?) sessions, while the other video was from an entire summer's worth of highlight-chasing sessions. In any case, this is definitely in the top 2 for me in terms of favorite videos ever made of my shred. What can I say, Ivan does amazing work.
Been following Evan and Landes' venture to Boise with interest. I think the two of them could do really good things for footbag through Freedom, but that only happens if they survive the first year of business. And my understanding is that the first year is the hardest, since you're basically building your brand and investing in infrastructure, all the while trying to keep a roof over your head. I bought a handful of bags off his site, and I encourage anybody else reading this to do the same. I didn't even view it as buying a product (I don't really need footbags) so much as investing kickstarter money to a business I want to see succeed. If the footbag community won't support a footbag business run by their own people, then we kind of don't deserve to succeed. *ends shameless plug*
In exactly 2 weeks I go to Atlanta to spend the holidays with Haley's family. Hopefully it'll be warm enough there to kick. That would be good motivation for me to mod my new pair of shoes.
Re: Fanzine
Congress got its crap together at the last moment, and we avoided a government shutdown. I was kind of hoping we'd shut down, so I could get some errands done and work through some video backlog. It's been icy and snowy here lately, and my main sources of exercise have been shoveling snow and walking the dog when its dark and freezing out. It's supposed to be warm today, so I may try and sneak in a session. I'm way behind on the LOTD for this year's Joulukalenteri.
The main footbag update on my end is that I'm retiring my navy blue yankee g-units. The right instep just came off completely, and the soles are getting worn down to the point that I have no traction. Retiring these shoes makes me sad on a few fronts. I used these shoes at USO 2013, Worlds 2013, and Worlds 2015, and got some of my best finishes in them, including 3 dropless routines. It also makes me sad because I'm down to my last 2 pairs of G-Units now. I decided to mod the white LA ones, since the hunter green ones are uglier IMO. I wonder what I'll do when I burn through these last 2 pairs.
Here's a quick vid from my only real shred in San Diego over Thanksgiving. My right instep was already almost completely off, so I was dropping a ton. The nemesis in the vid is "the" but it was one of my better runs, so I left it in there.
Less than a week from now I'll be in Atlanta for the holidays. With a bit of luck, maybe it'll be nice enough to footbag. Crossing my fingers.
The main footbag update on my end is that I'm retiring my navy blue yankee g-units. The right instep just came off completely, and the soles are getting worn down to the point that I have no traction. Retiring these shoes makes me sad on a few fronts. I used these shoes at USO 2013, Worlds 2013, and Worlds 2015, and got some of my best finishes in them, including 3 dropless routines. It also makes me sad because I'm down to my last 2 pairs of G-Units now. I decided to mod the white LA ones, since the hunter green ones are uglier IMO. I wonder what I'll do when I burn through these last 2 pairs.
Here's a quick vid from my only real shred in San Diego over Thanksgiving. My right instep was already almost completely off, so I was dropping a ton. The nemesis in the vid is "the" but it was one of my better runs, so I left it in there.
Less than a week from now I'll be in Atlanta for the holidays. With a bit of luck, maybe it'll be nice enough to footbag. Crossing my fingers.
Re: Fanzine
http://www.americanbronzing.com/services/mementos ??C-Fan wrote: Retiring these shoes makes me sad on a few fronts. I used these shoes at USO 2013, Worlds 2013, and Worlds 2015, and got some of my best finishes in them, including 3 dropless routines.
Re: Fanzine
Only one session since my last post, and it was a rough one. The forecast called for temps in the low-mid 50s, but I don't think it ever made it that high. I also didn't do myself any favors by playing in a windy spot (my normal spot was covered in snow, so I was forced to improvise) or by forgetting my hat. At least I had long sleeves on and remembered gloves. It was also a tough session since I was trying to break in my new g-units, and they were stiff as hell. Part of that may have been due to the cold as well. I think if I had warmed up at any point in the session the shoes wouldn't have held me back, but I never did.
My only goal for the session was to catch up on LOTD combos for the calendar. I didn't check the combos before leaving the house, since I figured I'd just check them on my phone. Not a bad plan, provided I REMEMBER MY PHONE! Urgh. So in a nutshell I had a session in the cold, in new shoes, without music, and trying to hit the LOTD combos from memory. All said, I'm pretty happy I remembered as many as I did. I mis-remembered a few (pixie guay to ss DLO turned into ss egg) and completely forgot a couple others, and in some cases I'm not sure if I'm even doing the right trick since no videos are posted and the moves are a bit ambiguous. Like, pixie gyro toe...does that start and end on the same toe? In any case, while it was a frustrating session I'm glad I played. I haven't been getting much exercise lately, so any session is a minor victory. Here's what I managed:
With a bit of weather luck, hopefully I can get a session in Atlanta next week and catch up on all the combos. Through Day 22, the only one that I anticipate giving me serious problems is the shut ducking legover to terrage, since I can only duck one shut set and that'd force me to link to weak terrage, which is surprisingly hard to clean for me.
While I haven't been playing much footbag, it's been on my brain a good bit. I think that's a good sign, as it'd indicate I haven't lost total interest in the sport.
I've found a couple songs I think could work for routines, and have even mentally sketched out the beginnings of some choreo. Of course, I'm not even sure when I'd have a chance to use them, since I'm not going to Worlds next year and have no idea what's going on with US Open or East Coasts. I'm not going to worry about it too much. I'm going to prioritize a Japan trip, so once I have that scheduled and planned I'll see what footbag trips are viable and prepare accordingly. In some past years I've prioritized Worlds and USO and scheduled my year around them, and in other years I've scheduled footbag around other priorities (like when I got married). I think next year the priority is going to be Japan and attending weddings, and if I can work footbag around that then great. If not, no biggie.
Yesterday I had an idea for a footbag project to undertake next year. It's a bit ambitious and would force me to learn some new skills, but I think it could be a lot of fun. It's also never a bad thing to learn new skills, and it'd give me an excuse to catch up with some old friends. I don't mean to be super vague here, but I also don't want to promise something here and then not deliver. Enough about that for now...hopefully the next mention of the project in the blog will be the end product itself.
One thing I like about this time of year, are all the end-of-year lists and just general recaps of 2015. Might be nice to do something like that in the blog, if I have some time before break starts in 24 hours.
My only goal for the session was to catch up on LOTD combos for the calendar. I didn't check the combos before leaving the house, since I figured I'd just check them on my phone. Not a bad plan, provided I REMEMBER MY PHONE! Urgh. So in a nutshell I had a session in the cold, in new shoes, without music, and trying to hit the LOTD combos from memory. All said, I'm pretty happy I remembered as many as I did. I mis-remembered a few (pixie guay to ss DLO turned into ss egg) and completely forgot a couple others, and in some cases I'm not sure if I'm even doing the right trick since no videos are posted and the moves are a bit ambiguous. Like, pixie gyro toe...does that start and end on the same toe? In any case, while it was a frustrating session I'm glad I played. I haven't been getting much exercise lately, so any session is a minor victory. Here's what I managed:
With a bit of weather luck, hopefully I can get a session in Atlanta next week and catch up on all the combos. Through Day 22, the only one that I anticipate giving me serious problems is the shut ducking legover to terrage, since I can only duck one shut set and that'd force me to link to weak terrage, which is surprisingly hard to clean for me.
While I haven't been playing much footbag, it's been on my brain a good bit. I think that's a good sign, as it'd indicate I haven't lost total interest in the sport.
I've found a couple songs I think could work for routines, and have even mentally sketched out the beginnings of some choreo. Of course, I'm not even sure when I'd have a chance to use them, since I'm not going to Worlds next year and have no idea what's going on with US Open or East Coasts. I'm not going to worry about it too much. I'm going to prioritize a Japan trip, so once I have that scheduled and planned I'll see what footbag trips are viable and prepare accordingly. In some past years I've prioritized Worlds and USO and scheduled my year around them, and in other years I've scheduled footbag around other priorities (like when I got married). I think next year the priority is going to be Japan and attending weddings, and if I can work footbag around that then great. If not, no biggie.
Yesterday I had an idea for a footbag project to undertake next year. It's a bit ambitious and would force me to learn some new skills, but I think it could be a lot of fun. It's also never a bad thing to learn new skills, and it'd give me an excuse to catch up with some old friends. I don't mean to be super vague here, but I also don't want to promise something here and then not deliver. Enough about that for now...hopefully the next mention of the project in the blog will be the end product itself.
One thing I like about this time of year, are all the end-of-year lists and just general recaps of 2015. Might be nice to do something like that in the blog, if I have some time before break starts in 24 hours.
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F[uns]tylin' Eclectic
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Re: Fanzine
Nice job on remembering the LOTDs 
Project, eh? I like projects. If you're interested in sharing, I'd like to hear. I've got a half page of project ideas for 2016.
Project, eh? I like projects. If you're interested in sharing, I'd like to hear. I've got a half page of project ideas for 2016.
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boyle
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Re: Fanzine
sounds like a podcast is cooking (potentially, that's just a guess). The pixie gyro toe is back to the same toe you started with. The videos are on my instagram. I will put them up here in the thread tomorrow. I was trying to "spread the impact" of the calendar and LOTD across more platforms, but I don't think that idea really worked that well.
Re: Fanzine
Hey there,
Not sure when you will actually make it to Japan, but I plan to be back there sometime before JFC next year. If I am there before you, feel free to hit me up for crash space.
Not sure when you will actually make it to Japan, but I plan to be back there sometime before JFC next year. If I am there before you, feel free to hit me up for crash space.
TJ Boutorwick
"You can do anything" -Greg Nelson
"You can do anything" -Greg Nelson
Re: Fanzine
First post of 2016! Hope everybody had a nice winter break and a good new year. My break was pretty good. We spent close to a week in Georgia with the wife's family. Lots of rain, but temps were in the high 60s and low 70s the whole time, so that was a nice change. I also got in two outdoor shreds, while apparently it was cold and snowy in Denver that whole time.
The two sessions I had in Georgia were a bit frustrating, mostly due to equipment failures. That's unfortunate, cause I was already kind of low on the footbag motivation front, so to have my only outdoor sessions derail due to equipment really is a buzzkill. As I've mentioned in the blog before, I'm down to my last 2 pairs of G-Units now. I modded one pair in December and had an outdoor session in the cold, where they felt very stiff. I chalked that up to them being new, and the cold making it harder for them to break in. Well, my second and third sessions in them were in warm, humid air, and they didn't do/feel much better. If it were just a matter of them taking longer to break in I'd be OK with it, but at the end of my second Georgia session I was horrified to see that the instep on one shoe is already coming loose. In the shoe's defense, it was never manufactured to have people slicing outer layers off. Also, it was probably made 10-12 years ago, so I shouldn't be shocked that the material has aged. This pair probably would have modded and broken in just fine in 2005, but ten years later I can't count on it performing well. Still, it was demoralizing to have spent so much time tracking down a new pair, so much effort to mod them painstakingly carefully, only to have them start to fall apart after session #3. I could mod my last remaining pair (which I've had since December of 2008 I believe), but they'll probably be in similar condition. I'm not sure if or how I can repair them, and frankly I kind of want to forget about it until spring.
The other equipment issues I had were that both of my main bags finally developed holes, my iphone screen cracked when it faceplanted (didn't even drop the phone, it was propped against my shoe and tipped over), and the bottom of my nalgene cracked open when I slammed it down in frustration at everything else breaking. Ugh. It's always really bugged me that footbag equipment is so hard to get, and then it's so fragile once you have it. Like, the sport is hard enough to learn to begin with, much less without making it so hard to get usable equipment and keep it alive.
Shredwise, I spent both sessions closing out the Joulukalenteri LOTD combos. I ended up hitting 47 of the 48 combos, which I'm happy about.
While the difficulty of this year's LOTD was lower than the past two years, the variety of concepts was better than last year's, which made it more fun for me. That's a tough challenge for a single person, to develop 48 combos which increase in difficulty to a high level, and also use a variety of concepts. I gave a shot at that last year and never did anything with the footage...I wonder if I should post that in February or something as a Feb LOTD. It'd be cool to have a scoring system too, where you'd get like a point for hitting a LOTD combo, 2 points for hitting both LOTDs, and 3 points for hitting both LOTDs both on both sides. Or maybe some kind of bonus for linking LOTDs. That'd be neat.
The footbag project I cryptically alluded to hit some snags, but I'm still working at it. I'd rather take my time and get a quality product done, then rush it and have something I'm not satisfied with. I saw in Asmus and Gressett's blogs they laid out footbag goals for the year, which is commendable. For me, I'm really not sure what my goals are. I know I'm not going to Worlds. I think its likely I go to USO, but unlike past year's I'm not feeling the burning desire to compete and win. As for my own game, I also don't have any strong goals set. I do feel more and more like I may want/need to transition into a more domestic, suburban life in the coming years, but I'm not sure what that means for my game and my goals. The past couple years I looked at that upcoming life crossroad, and reacted by setting big goals. Kind of an, "if I accomplish these goals, I'll be able to say goodbye to the game and feel good about it." Stuff like making finals at Worlds, or winning USO. Right now in January 2016, I feel like the crossroads is closer, some of the big goals have been accomplished, and I'm not sure what path to take. I'm still spry enough that I could try and chase some of those big goals for one more year (e.g. win one more USO), but I could also make the transition into retirement by showing up to tournaments and competing, but not investing as much time and energy into it. I'm not even sure I could do that, but that's how I'd envision the best case scenario of me easing into a less intense stage of involvement with footbag. Or who knows, maybe my footbag project ends up being something I really enjoy, and that becomes the vessel for my footbag passions. Right now though, in early January, I think it's too early to worry much about any of that.
The two sessions I had in Georgia were a bit frustrating, mostly due to equipment failures. That's unfortunate, cause I was already kind of low on the footbag motivation front, so to have my only outdoor sessions derail due to equipment really is a buzzkill. As I've mentioned in the blog before, I'm down to my last 2 pairs of G-Units now. I modded one pair in December and had an outdoor session in the cold, where they felt very stiff. I chalked that up to them being new, and the cold making it harder for them to break in. Well, my second and third sessions in them were in warm, humid air, and they didn't do/feel much better. If it were just a matter of them taking longer to break in I'd be OK with it, but at the end of my second Georgia session I was horrified to see that the instep on one shoe is already coming loose. In the shoe's defense, it was never manufactured to have people slicing outer layers off. Also, it was probably made 10-12 years ago, so I shouldn't be shocked that the material has aged. This pair probably would have modded and broken in just fine in 2005, but ten years later I can't count on it performing well. Still, it was demoralizing to have spent so much time tracking down a new pair, so much effort to mod them painstakingly carefully, only to have them start to fall apart after session #3. I could mod my last remaining pair (which I've had since December of 2008 I believe), but they'll probably be in similar condition. I'm not sure if or how I can repair them, and frankly I kind of want to forget about it until spring.
The other equipment issues I had were that both of my main bags finally developed holes, my iphone screen cracked when it faceplanted (didn't even drop the phone, it was propped against my shoe and tipped over), and the bottom of my nalgene cracked open when I slammed it down in frustration at everything else breaking. Ugh. It's always really bugged me that footbag equipment is so hard to get, and then it's so fragile once you have it. Like, the sport is hard enough to learn to begin with, much less without making it so hard to get usable equipment and keep it alive.
Shredwise, I spent both sessions closing out the Joulukalenteri LOTD combos. I ended up hitting 47 of the 48 combos, which I'm happy about.
While the difficulty of this year's LOTD was lower than the past two years, the variety of concepts was better than last year's, which made it more fun for me. That's a tough challenge for a single person, to develop 48 combos which increase in difficulty to a high level, and also use a variety of concepts. I gave a shot at that last year and never did anything with the footage...I wonder if I should post that in February or something as a Feb LOTD. It'd be cool to have a scoring system too, where you'd get like a point for hitting a LOTD combo, 2 points for hitting both LOTDs, and 3 points for hitting both LOTDs both on both sides. Or maybe some kind of bonus for linking LOTDs. That'd be neat.
The footbag project I cryptically alluded to hit some snags, but I'm still working at it. I'd rather take my time and get a quality product done, then rush it and have something I'm not satisfied with. I saw in Asmus and Gressett's blogs they laid out footbag goals for the year, which is commendable. For me, I'm really not sure what my goals are. I know I'm not going to Worlds. I think its likely I go to USO, but unlike past year's I'm not feeling the burning desire to compete and win. As for my own game, I also don't have any strong goals set. I do feel more and more like I may want/need to transition into a more domestic, suburban life in the coming years, but I'm not sure what that means for my game and my goals. The past couple years I looked at that upcoming life crossroad, and reacted by setting big goals. Kind of an, "if I accomplish these goals, I'll be able to say goodbye to the game and feel good about it." Stuff like making finals at Worlds, or winning USO. Right now in January 2016, I feel like the crossroads is closer, some of the big goals have been accomplished, and I'm not sure what path to take. I'm still spry enough that I could try and chase some of those big goals for one more year (e.g. win one more USO), but I could also make the transition into retirement by showing up to tournaments and competing, but not investing as much time and energy into it. I'm not even sure I could do that, but that's how I'd envision the best case scenario of me easing into a less intense stage of involvement with footbag. Or who knows, maybe my footbag project ends up being something I really enjoy, and that becomes the vessel for my footbag passions. Right now though, in early January, I think it's too early to worry much about any of that.
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boyle
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Re: Fanzine
I was thinking some kind of point system for the links would be great. I didn't have time to implement it this time. I like that idea of points for linking combos together. Looking forward to see what comes of your project.
Re: Fanzine
In Sacramento this week for work. Derek is out of town, which is disappointing. Left my shred gear at home, which may have been a mistake since it's pretty nice weather here. While I didn't bring shorts or shoes, I did bring my footbags so I could wash and repair them. I've definitely been in a fallow period in terms of footbag enthusiasm, but I sense a resurgence coming on. If that's the case, I don't think I'll regret my time off. Hopefully that helps me peak with footbag energy over the summer, when I hope to go to USO and Japan.
The local rec center in Denver had a promotion where I got 5 free admissions. I think I'll end up getting a membership, since the space looks pretty nice, and work will pick up some of the cost. End of winter and start of spring in Denver is a hard time to predict, since on any given day it can be t-shirt weather or 3 feet of snow. So having an indoor space is a good investment. Thanks to the promotion, I finally got in my first shred of 2016. My shoes are still breaking in, my bags were all bleeding, and I definitely felt out of shape. Despite all that, I still had a lot of fun playing, and was pleasantly surprised to hit a few unexpected tricks/combos first try, like pdx whirling swirl, toe fog, and the bld-tom drill:
Weather is supposed to be decent in Denver this weekend, so hoping to get in an outdoor session. If not, I'll go to the gym, so either way hopefully I can play. In other good Denver news, it sounds like Gatesman is coming to town for a training at the end of the month. Looking forward to hanging out and shredding, and also hoping Evan's visit will draw out some of the old school players. Last time an out of town guest came (Monistere) all the old schoolers said they'd come play, and they all flaked out. Hopefully they don't do that again.
Other big news is that I bought tickets to Japan. Last week of May, first week of June. Need to reach out to my Japanese friends still. It'll mark almost exactly 10 years since the last time I was there, which is kind of insane. Definitely excited to see old friends, and also gives me incentive to get back into footbag shape. It'd be embarrassing to show up and be out of game shape. I'm just proud and happy that the scene in Japan is still in existence and going pretty strong. Feel so lucky I was able to play a role in creating that scene.
Finally, my footbag project is coming along slowly, but surely. If I can make some tech progress in the next couple weeks, I'm optimistic I can release the project soon.
The local rec center in Denver had a promotion where I got 5 free admissions. I think I'll end up getting a membership, since the space looks pretty nice, and work will pick up some of the cost. End of winter and start of spring in Denver is a hard time to predict, since on any given day it can be t-shirt weather or 3 feet of snow. So having an indoor space is a good investment. Thanks to the promotion, I finally got in my first shred of 2016. My shoes are still breaking in, my bags were all bleeding, and I definitely felt out of shape. Despite all that, I still had a lot of fun playing, and was pleasantly surprised to hit a few unexpected tricks/combos first try, like pdx whirling swirl, toe fog, and the bld-tom drill:
Weather is supposed to be decent in Denver this weekend, so hoping to get in an outdoor session. If not, I'll go to the gym, so either way hopefully I can play. In other good Denver news, it sounds like Gatesman is coming to town for a training at the end of the month. Looking forward to hanging out and shredding, and also hoping Evan's visit will draw out some of the old school players. Last time an out of town guest came (Monistere) all the old schoolers said they'd come play, and they all flaked out. Hopefully they don't do that again.
Other big news is that I bought tickets to Japan. Last week of May, first week of June. Need to reach out to my Japanese friends still. It'll mark almost exactly 10 years since the last time I was there, which is kind of insane. Definitely excited to see old friends, and also gives me incentive to get back into footbag shape. It'd be embarrassing to show up and be out of game shape. I'm just proud and happy that the scene in Japan is still in existence and going pretty strong. Feel so lucky I was able to play a role in creating that scene.
Finally, my footbag project is coming along slowly, but surely. If I can make some tech progress in the next couple weeks, I'm optimistic I can release the project soon.