A Master with a Riceball

[Asmus]

Tomorrow I am going to Helsinki for the Finnish Footbag Open. I can’t wait. Gonna be great to enjoy an extended weekend with the homies from the land of Unicorns.

But to get ready for a write-up of that, I need to get some bad news out of the way:

I played footbag with the one and only, the gentleman and scholar, the Copenhagen and Stanford legend - Mr. Kim Mortensen himself on thursday. An honor and a pleasure. We were both tired and did a bit too much talking to to really get super focused but I still felt like KIm played pretty well. Highlights I remember from him was: Vortex > Gyro DLO, Janiwalk to something big and Alpine Legbeater > Pdx Torque > Pdx Blender. Kim normally doesn’t push for big stuff, so it was cool to see him go in like that.

One of the things we discussed was a slight worry we both have about FootbagDenmark at the moment. Verena is in Canada, Jasper is injured, me and Kim are not playing that much, Mathias Blau is kicking butt as always, but the winter depression had definitely hit FD. The next day we got some very worrying news:

Right now Nis’ knee injury looks like it is a lot worse than first expected. Rear ligaments will probably never grow together, but can get stuck on the other ligaments, which may give a false sense of security. By all accounts, there will be a considerable looseness and instability in the leg forever. Even if they operate it, it will only be possible to get back 50% of what it was. In addition to all the complications of surgery, and the six months of rehabilitation that will be needed. If a miracle doesn’t happen I don’t think Nis will play footbag again. Damn, this sucks!

#PlayForNZA

[Asmus]

Finland was a pleasure like always. I am gonna do a more general write-up, but first I wanna talk about "Dumbal".
Dumbal is a Nepalese card game. I am not really a card game kinda guy but this was really fun! Here are the rules:

The game can be played with 2+ players. It's really good for 4-6.

Setup
- Use one or two normal decks of 52 cards - no jokers
- Deal each player 5 cards
- Leave the rest of the cards on a stack in the middle.

Aim
Finish a game by getting the lowest points of all the players in hand.
All cards are worth their face value. A is 1 point, J=11, Q=12, K=13.
You are allowed to finish when you have 5 points or less, but you don't have to. E.g. you can decide not to finish if you have only 4 points and wait until you have even less.



Playing
The game is played clockwise, the person left from the person dealing the cards starts.
- You first dispose (openly) of 1 or more cards from your hand by putting them in front of you.
- If you dispose of more than 1 card they have to be the same rank (e.g. two 9s, 4 Qs) or a sequence of at least three (6,7,8 of the same suit or Q,K,A,2 of the same suit etc).
- Then you need to pick up 1 card, either by picking from the (openly visible) cards disposed by the player to your right during his/her last round or from the stack of unused cards in the middle.
- After disposing and picking up 1 card, the player to the left gets a go.
- Note that it can happen that you dispose all the cards in your hand. But this means you still have to pick up a card.

Ending the game
If you have less than 5 points in your hand you can end the game, but you don't have to.
You end the game at the start of your turn by showing everyone your card(s) - note that you will always have at least one card in your hand at the start of a turn.
If you have the lowest hand you win the game. If you ended the game and someone else has the same amount or less points you don't win but that person does. If there is more than one player with less points the lowest wins.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Just watched some footage from FFO. Looked like a blast. So sorry to hear about all the injuries. Especially Nis's since I talked to him a decent bit. Lon had a meniscus injury and that didn't stop him. I hope he recovers fully. Such a bummer about so many injuries and ailments. Glad you're doing well, though. Nice Sick 3's from you. I don't think I could hit either of those within 10 tries. You are really good at everything that I'm really bad at

[verena]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, no! So sorry to hear about Nis!! I hope he'll make a return!
What about Troels and Andreas?

Looking forward to playing with you guys again! Rory and I have been playing quite a lot of footbag.

[Asmus]

I think Troels and Andreas is playing out in their cave in Sydhavnen.

Give Rory a hug from me and enjoy your time over in Canadaland.

Some thoughts on Finland
Flophouse Phonics
played an epic concert on saturday night. The band consist of a bunch of great guys. Two of which I am happy to call friends. The first one is Timo Aarnio who is a great footbagger and Juho Ylönen whose sauna I have spend some cozy time in. Check out their soundcloud and try to go to a show if you are ever in the Helsinki area.


Karelian pasty
is a thin rye crust filled something. Not really sure what. Juho suggested to heat it and then eat it with butter (he put a shitload on) and cheese. It was awesome.


Jaloviina
is a cut brandy (made from neutral grain spirit, water and French cognac. It is my favorite Finnish alcohol and I always drink as much as I can and bring back a couple of bottles.


Samu
has become one of my best friends. Not one of my best footbag friends, but one of my best friends period. We were talking about all the mischief we get into and he said: “I do it for the stories.”. That is really true for both of us and think that is why we get along so great. I also promised that if he dies I would go to his funeral and bring a stripper. I hope Duraggedy, as I call him, lives a long prosperous life.


Juho
reminds me of a unicorn. Illusive, beautiful and with a heart of gold. I feel like he is my spirit animal. I am happy that I can call him friend. And let's not forget the man has hands down the best style in footbag ever.


Pekka
is better than all of you. Better than anybody mentioned for BAP this year. Better than I will ever be. Long runs, big links, stuff like Blurry Whirling Swirl all over the place. Finland's sexiest and best kept secret! He is also an excellent host and has the coolest girlfriend in the world.
I didn’t get a photo of him for some reason, so the photo is an oldie but a goldie.

Really happy with the reaction my Juolokalenteri video got. Thanks for all the nice words. Makes me want to make bigger and better things in the future.

[Cass]

You are a cool dude. Keep it up!

[Asmus]

I had a funny conversation with a bot on Skype today:

[12:56:22] gurllovekittys862: hello
[12:56:30] Asmus Helms: hello
[12:57:08] gurllovekittys862: hello to you too
[12:57:17] Asmus Helms: Why do you love kittys?
[12:58:04] gurllovekittys862: heyy, thx for adding me...i had your username saved from a while ago, are you on any dating sites?
[12:58:41] Asmus Helms: I am not on any dating sites at the moment. But I would still like to know why you love kittys?
[12:59:17] gurllovekittys862: cant really remember how i got ur username.. but recently i got out of a relationship and i was hitting up guys i thought were cute lol...so u single?
[13:00:09] Asmus Helms: Personally I would probably rather have fleas and no kitty, than a kitty and no fleas.
[13:00:32] gurllovekittys862: well either way its ok with me BUT, you must be into blonde girls..are you?
[13:01:15] Asmus Helms: Blond girls are fine, but I must say I do not like kittys no matter what color fur. Could we decide on another animal? I know fleas are a little extreme, what about bees?
[13:01:48] gurllovekittys862: umm see through thong at the moment...
[13:03:02] Asmus Helms: I did not know a see through thong was a living animal. That is interesting for sure. Where does these animals live?
[13:03:36] gurllovekittys862: lol every guy is c'mon *notsafe* heres a pic i uploaded last night, you like?
[13:21:49] Asmus Helms: I am at work right now, so I can't cam. But I still would like to hear more about the animal. Do you know if it eats meat or vegetables?
[13:22:28] gurllovekittys862: i love to feel sexy...where would you like me to put those pretty red lips??
[13:26:04] Asmus Helms: I can't find anything on wikipedia or google about the animal. Did you see it on Animal Planet? YouTube maybe? Does the animal have pretty red lips? I am confused.
[13:27:05] gurllovekittys862: haha bad boy! let me put on my computer cam for you one sec...
[13:27:48] Asmus Helms: Do you own a real living see through thong? That makes me seriously consider cam'ing with you.
[13:28:24] gurllovekittys862: yes im real
[13:28:46] Asmus Helms: So you are a see through thong? And you can use Skype! WOW! Now I am impressed!
[13:29:17] gurllovekittys862: heres my profile *notsafe* if you go there it'll have myprofile pic, but once you hit join it will display my camera to you better not record me!
[13:29:50] Asmus Helms: I am sorry but there is only pictures of girls on that page, no see through thong animals.
[13:30:33] gurllovekittys862: pics are old skool hehe, i like to do cam 2 cam i'm online right now *notsafe* im the main girl u see there, type to me on the right hand side of my video
[13:35:10] Asmus Helms: So now you are a girl? I am sorry I do already have a girlfriend. But I would like to know if I could have a see through thong as a pet. Do you know the rules and regulations?
[13:36:15] gurllovekittys862: this is only for YOU lol..after your in let me know your username so that i can add to you my friends list
[13:38:00] Asmus Helms: Can't you tell me more about the animal? I still can't cam. How do they have intercourse? Do they live in the deep jungle, since I have never heard about them? Do they lay eggs? That would be cool.
[13:38:52] gurllovekittys862: oh its probably gonna ask you for a credit card to sign up for the app but its free babe, its just for age verification. Im wearing almost nothing and I dont want any kids watching me lol
[13:40:35] Asmus Helms: I am not interesting in seeing your body, my fair lady. I am however still interested in this animal. Why are you so secretive about it? Have you discovered it?
[13:40:44] Asmus Helms: You should write a scientific paper about it then and become famous
[13:41:00] Asmus Helms: Might not pay as much as being a cam model, but atleast you don't have to show your buns to strangers.
[13:41:33] gurllovekittys862: trust me babe, I have been a member with mywebcamcrush for a long time and know exactly how the site works..u don't have to pay if u accept my invite. I have a premium membership with them. click the Accept Invite button on the left side of the page, its 100% free to join
[13:42:26] Asmus Helms: If you want to keep on being a cam model, that is of course fine as well. I am sure a bunch of horny animal nerds would love to see your buns and the animal at the same time.
[13:43:21] gurllovekittys862: gosh im wet, don't be shy babe...get in my cam chat and watch me play a lil ..i love being watched hehe
[13:44:19] Asmus Helms: I totally support your decision to be a cam model to support your interest in rare exotic animals. But it is a little weird that it makes you wet talking about these animals. I am not into that kinda stuff.

[boats]

hahahahahaha

[Asmus]

A look back and peak forward..

2015 was a strange year footbag wise for me. I spend more time on footbag than I ever have (obviously, since we were hosting Worlds) but I didn’t get to play much. Still, I ended the year doing better at Danish Champs than ever.

Footbag events in Denmark in 2015:
- January: The Annual Christmas Lunch
- July: Worlds
- October: Dinner with volunteers and club members to say thanks for Worlds
- November: Danish Champs

My guess would be that we this year will have three events in FootbagDenmark: The Annual Christmas Lunch, a cottage trip and Danish Champs. Roskilde Festival is probably not gonna happen again this year. That seems to have run its course.

I will talk more about the current state and the future of FootbagDenmark as soon as we have had our annual general meeting. I think that will be in early March.

I only went to one tournament outside of Denmark - Finnish Footbag Open in Helsinki.

I think a good goal this year would be to attend two footbag tournaments outside of Denmark. The FC Footstars Birthday would be a great start to the year but my economy is hurting at the moment, so that will not happen. Going to Worlds or Euros would be a obvious choice and for the second tournament I would like to go somewhere I haven’t been before. It could be German Champs if it is somewhere interesting, or it could be Switzerland where I have never been. I could also return to Prague and go to my first Todexon maybe. Let’s see.

In 2017 I really wanna go to the states for a tournament for the first time!

I made three actual footbag videos this year:
1. Back in February I made a shitty video of me having a horrible session.
2. Then I made a “Season Ender” video from Copenhagen.
3. And then I made my Christmas Calendar video

I am definitely planning to make at least one great video this year!

Outside of footbag I had a good year. I did draw more than in the previous years and I hope to continue to do so. I did well at work, but didn’t get the promotion I was hoping for. The biggest life changer came at the end of the year, when my girlfriend moved in with me. So far it is going really well. It is weird to see your man cave turn into something more feminine and I still have to adjust my party lifestyle some.. But all in all I think we are doing quite well and I am enjoying it. Big step for sure.

I did not do anything with BSOS.IT last year. I just renewed the domain but I don’t really have enough motivation to do anything with it. Maybe the content will find a new and better home this year.. You are welcome to get in touch in your are interested.

And now to infinities and beyond..

Last year I did it for you guys - this year I am gonna focus on me, myself and my game.

So goal number one is to play more, goal number two is to attend two footbag tournaments outside of Denmark and goal number three is to get to:

- 50 Tiltless
- 20 Infinites
- 12 contacts of BOP drill

These seem ridiculous when you put into account that I have been playing footbag for more than a decade. But if there is one thing in footbag I always have been great at it is neglecting my basics.

This is already way longer than I had planned. I hope to see you all somewhere in 2016 and that all of your footbag dreams will come true!

I feel like this needed a photo. So here is a photo of me celebrating Danish Champs. Cheers and Happy New Years!

[Asmus]

I don’t normally agree with the haters, but it sure is dead in here lately..

First thursday session of the year AKA The New Year's Banquet Edition

In attendance were:
o Michael “Migger” Niels - Newly engaged! Congratulations to him.
o Frederik Mens
o Kim Mortensen
o Verena Lenneis - Back from Canada and on her way to Mexico
o Jan Birkel
o And special guest Rune DK



Rune used to live in Copenhagen and were a big part of FootbagDenmark in the noughties. The same summer I moved to Copenhagen, he moved to my hometown Svendborg. Anne (Lise’s sister) also lives there and they have been playing a bit lately. He is a great guy and I should definitely try to set up a session next time I visit my moms.

There was a nice chill atmosphere at the session. People switched circles often and think everybody got to play with everybody. Considering a bit of a break, christmas holidays and what have you, I played okay. Need to get in better shape though. Verena played really well. It was easy to see she has played a lot with Rory in Canada. She hit Double Blender first try for example. Kim had a cool run with Mobius bs and a Symp Torque in there.

Afterwards most of us had a couple of beers and catched up. Good times.

Here is a new commercial featuring Mads Hole and Milan Benda

[Derek]

Your bot conversation had me dying. One of my favorite pastimes. Seems as if things are starting to flourish in the realm of Denmark, hope this persists. Props with the move in, may all be well in your cosmos. Miss ya, homie. Wish to be seeing ya in the near future.

[AdAstra]

Hej! Didn't realize you were from Denmark! I studied there last summer, but it ended right before Worlds, unfortunately. I loved Copenhagen.

[Asmus]

Hej AdAstra! What a bummer we didn't get to meet up!

On thursday we had a meeting of the board. Not much interesting to say from that. Biggest news was we are gonna look into start selling bags, since we get some requests and we feel like there might be even more out there lurking.

Afterwards we played footbag! In attendance were: Mathias, Kim, Andreas and Rasmus & Nis who were not playing. Nis recently got some very encouraging news about his knee, very happy about this!

There is a high probability that in about six months I will be back to a state similar or very close to the one I had before my injury. There is no need for an operation of my cruciate ligament, but there may need to be chisel bit of cartilage at a time. I start playing again when my thigh muscle has grown 2.5 cm in circumference (about two months from today).

Footbag in Denmark wouldn’t be the same without the king!



I got close to Quantum Legover > Alpine PLO [rpt] that would be pretty cool. I also hit this little styley combo I liked: Osis > Blink > XBD Rake > Symp Butterfly

[Asmus]

CLIPPERS

I talked about Clippers with a young man named Kick Toelini the other day. And by Clippers I don’t mean a decent to good NBA team or boats for that matter. No, what we were talking about was what is widely considered the hardest and most ilusive trick in all of footbag - The Clipper.

The thing is I have a lot of stupid drops on basic Clipper tricks like Ducking Clipper and Infinities, so I asked the young Jedi about some advice. We came up with the following things. I should drill:
- Clipper > SS Clipper * 10
- Clipper > Freeze 3 seconds
- And Infinities

Nick: “I feel like if a player can't do Infinities well, the rest of their game lacks control. Improve your Clippers, which will improve your Infinities and that will improve the rest of your game.”

You are not stuck with the crank you are given.

THURSDAY SESSION

In attendance were: Kim, Jan, Troels, Verena, Mathias and Nis on the sideline

I mainly played with Kim and Jan. Jan played really well. Kim played pretty well. I played decent. Best run had both Pixies, both Spinning Clippers, both Spinning Legovers, both Infinities and both Ducking Clippers.

Jan asked Kim if he could do Nuclear. Jan was just able to clear the set and Kim hit a good looking Matador. I thought should try it and cleared it hips high first try. I did not think I would ever hit that set. It took me a bunch of tries but I finally managed to hit a decent Matador. Great feeling!



For the past 6 months I have slowly been plucking away at Atomic. Not something I think will be an addition to my game but it’s pretty fun to do and apparently that worked. I guess this proves that I can still get better if I actually decided to work on something.

DAILY GOALS APP

As I wrote previously “Last year I did it for you guys - this year I am gonna focus on me, myself and my game.”. Part of this is that I want to play more - at least once a week. To make sure I do this, I have installed the app “Daily Goals - Simple habit tracker “ to track my progress.

I have put in two habbits for footbag:
- One for our two weekly indoors session with the goal of going ot both each week and with reminders
- And one for additional sessions with no goal

Here is how I did in the month of January:



Obviously I didn’t do well but I do think the app is a good tool and that me and my game will benefit from it.

I also set up a goal of drawing for at least one hour twice a week, and there I did a lot better. Here is the tracking for that:



Tomorrow we have our annual (Late) Christmas Dinner with FootbagDenmark. Expect some photos from that next time.

FOOTBAG!

Two songs I am feeling at the moment:

[DC Clinks]

Phat beatz man. That daily goals thing looks pretty good. You should totally post some of those drawings you were talking about on here, I'm always hyped for other people's art. Appreciate the photoshop/ MS Paint job, I too enjoy making weird things digitally.

[boyle]

Nice work on the matador, nuclear is a great set. I was just thinking today how when you've been playing for a long while, you think back to a time (let's say 5-10 years back) where you said "oh, wouldn't it be awesome if i could hit this trick", and then to actually do it some years on there's a bit of pride there.

[Asmus]

Phat beatz man. That daily goals thing looks pretty good. You should totally post some of those drawings you were talking about on here, I'm always hyped for other people's art. Appreciate the photoshop/ MS Paint job, I too enjoy making weird things digitally.

I have started a weekly drawing/comic on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. It is in Danish, but there is not much text, so Google Translate could be your friend.

Here is a recent traditional drawing:



A month ago I contacted by an old friend who wanted to do DRINK & DRAW in Copenhagen. I did the logo and went to the first one. Good times, definitely gonna come back every month.


This is the most hipster-thing I have every designed

Nice work on the matador, nuclear is a great set. I was just thinking today how when you've been playing for a long while, you think back to a time (let's say 5-10 years back) where you said "oh, wouldn't it be awesome if i could hit this trick", and then to actually do it some years on there's a bit of pride there.

Fosho!


THE ECONOMICS OF FOOTBAG CLUB

Mathias and Nis just did a great job of doing the accounting for last year and a budget for this year. I thought I would share a some insight in how FootbagDenmark’s economy work.

This is all from the budget for this year, since last year was weird because of Worlds.

Our Income is divided between: 20% from membership fee, 5% support from the municipality, 46% from doing shows, 20% from footbag sales and 9% from other.

Footbag sales is something new and I am currently plucking away at setting up a webshop for us.

Our expenses are divided between: 4% on our website, 22% on tournaments, 22% on a training camp, 30% on footbags, 6% on Worlds/Euros Aid, 8% on training facilities and 8% other expenses.

We are expecting a 9% deficit this year but that is easily covered by the money we have in da bank..


THE ANNUAL FOOTBAGDENMARK CHRISTMAS DINNER
In attendance were: Kim, Nis, Rasmus, Mathias, Frede, Michael, Verena, Paul, Jan, Troels, Lise (back from LA!) and yours not so truly.



This happened on Saturday. It was pretty much the same procedure as every year: Eat awesome food at Spiseloppen in Christiania and do a lottery with footbag prizes. Afterwards we headed to Bankeråt where Mads Hole was working. He took good care of us. We ended the night at a place which name could be translated to something along the lines of Charlie Goat’s Garage and had liquorice shots with tabasco. Good times.

[AdAstra]

Every time I read your blog I die a little bit that I hadn't gotten a little more serious about Footbag about a month sooner so that I could learn from you all. Not to mention I miss Denmark hardcore. I stayed in Socialt Kollegium while I was there for the summer. Know anyone from there?

It's really cool seeing Footbag videos from dk and knowing where they were shot from my time there. The nostalgia is real. If trump wins I'm coming back for good.

[Asmus]

Concert with Lise

On Sunday the 14th I went to see Anderson.Paak with Lise. Lise is heavy into Disc Golf these days (that’s why she was California) and it was great to catch up with her, get our groove on and drink some beers. Anderson.Paak broke through after appearing on Dr. Dre's 2015 album, Compton. He is a multi-talented dude - singing, rapping, drumming, dancing. He is probably the most energetic performer I have ever seen. Great concert for sure.
DRINK&DRAW CPH with Special Guest

On Wednesday we had the second edition of DRINK&DRAW with a special footbag guest… Mr. Flavio Loetscher from Switzerland! It was good times for sure.



Flavio does awesome footbag videos. Check them out here.

Return of the Shredder



So far my goal of playing more footbag has been an absolute failure. I only played once in February. We had our annual General Meeting yesterday. Afterwards some people played but I have been feeling a little sick, so I skipped. Hope to return as a shredder next week.

The most interesting thing discussed at the meeting was that we are gonna start selling footbags.
I have started working on a webshop: http://www.footbagdenmark.tictail.com

We got a new batch of bags and they are probably the best yet. Here is a picture:


I still love footbag!

[Sporatical_Distractions]

So far my goal of playing more footbag has been an absolute failure.
...
I still love footbag!

Same lol