Muffinman

[C-Fan]

Here's a top post painting/image for you:


I really like this tradition and would like to keep them going.

10 FEARLESS GOAL
I thought of probably the most feasible 10 fearless for me the other day,: gyro diving butterfly > spinning ducking butterfly [repeat] > spinning ducking mirage > diving symp whip [repeat] > spinning ducking osis x2

10 fearless is a fun goal, and I'm sure you can/will get it. A few thoughts I'd share with you, from my own experience:

Chunking it into drills is smart, as it makes it easier to remember. I was never bothsided enough to really take advantage of this, but I will say that once you get to the 8th or 9th trick you definitely don't want to expend mental energy trying to remember what comes next, so doing it as drills linked together should help.
I noticed your proposed combo is entirely downtime tricks. In my experience, I found the easiest paths to get to 10 tended to be ones that started with a few shuffle tricks, then devolved into downtime links. For me at least, this was helpful since shuffle tricks are easier to control (but take more energy), so if I could knock out 5 shuffle fearless I could then usually reliably get 4-5 downtime tricks even if I had no breath left. If you're anything like me, I wonder if you could do something like fog-phoenix [rpt] to your gyro/spin duck bfly [rpt] to spinning ducking osis x2 or something like that.
I know you don't like doing whirls, but if you're chasing the goal of 10 fearless just once, maybe consider making an exception for one session if it doesn't hurt. I just feel like energy wise it is SOOOO much easier to throw a tomahawk than have to do reverse mullet because you need the extra add from symp to make up for the lost pdx. With how well you spin, maybe you could insert spinning whirls in between the spinning ducking butter-gyro diving butter drill and pick up 20% of your goal for free that way.

The commercial sounds like a neat opportunity. Fingers crossed you get it and it's a good experience. What is the commercial for? Healthy living like just a Public Service Announcement from the government encouraging exercise? Or is there a product/service being promoted like a gym?

[Muffinman]

Thanks guys.
So I never heard back from the casting agency, but Camille texted me the next day saying that she got the part, so that's awesome for her. I wasn't super keen on doing it myself anyway. And I'm glad that a friend/footbagger got it.

In terms of the 10 fearless, I have this problem where when I'm sitting at a desk thinking about footbag, I forget how hard it actually is and gauge my abilities by the highlights in my videos. Just gyro diving butterfly is tough. Well, probably mostly because I never do the spinning ducking butterflies like I do clippers. But I think you're right, Ken, that starting out with something like blurriest x2 > rev whirlygig x2 would be easiest. But again, that's me saying that while sitting at a desk. Will have to actually try next session. Maybe tack on spinning ducking butterfly > spinning ducking osis repeat > rev mullet x2. I dunno. I'm sure I can do 10 fearless. I just need to figure out which tricks will work best for me.

Whirls...I can do some whirl stuff, but my muscle memory for them is completely gone, so I would probably just hurt myself trying them because my body would try to do whip halfway through the dex... I think the only things I ever do are blazing, pdx blenders, just regular old whirl, and maybe something like whirr. But thanks for all of the tips, Ken! Also I can't play out of blenders, so that's not really an option for me. Hmmm.



Had a session on Friday.
I decided to not do 20x20, and wanted to focus on just mixing up my tricks and truly freestyling. It felt good to do some things that I never do, but it was also super frustrating because I was so incredibly bad at it. Just trying to put everything I can do in runs like nuclear, barrages, lots of atomic, double switches, and just more unique links for me. Gonna try this again next session and hope that it was just a bad day on Friday. Really want to mix up my game and not rely on the same "big" tricks to make things interesting.

My mom's visiting from out of town this week some time, so that may also affect whether or not I'm playing at all next sessions...

[C-Fan]

Camille texted me the next day saying that she got the part, ... I'm glad that a friend/footbagger got it.

Yeah, its too bad you didn't get it, but at least it didn't go to some rando. Plus Camille is awesome.

In terms of the 10 fearless, I have this problem where when I'm sitting at a desk thinking about footbag, I forget how hard it actually is

I recall having that same problem with 3 things specifically. Routines (underestimating how tired you get towards the end), 10 fearless, and Beasts.

I'm sure I can do 10 fearless. I just need to figure out which tricks will work best for me.

My experience with Beasts was similar. I honestly believe most players could hit a beast, its just a question of them finding the easiest/right one for you. I have no doubt you can get 10 fearless. The more interesting question might be something more along the lines of what do you think your actual ceiling for unique fearless is?

[Muffinman]

Mm, good question! I feel like my max fearless is probably not much more than 10, if that. Ah well. I just dont have the bounce I used to if that makes sense. Like I do tricks and the grounds sucks me in as opposed to pushing me away... good food for thought though!

I tried blurriest x2 > rev whirlygig x2 today. Waaay easier than the spinning ducking, like you suggested! So easy. If only pdx whirls were a thing I could do, fearless would be so much more attainable. Also, forgot to mention last session I hit dolomite first tIme BS — new trick!

Today I hit blackula and shaft both BS first time.
Footed blurry reaper BSOS! Also footed swivel BSOS.

[Muffinman]

Had a session with Alex yesterday.
It was okay. I think I will go back to doing 20x20. My runs have really been suffering. It's fun to try to mix things up, but it was like going from one extreme of complete comfortability with my tricks and links to the complete opposite of trying to just link tricks I never do. I think I will take that lesson and try to find a happy medium. Mix up a little more, but don't have an expectation that I can just change my game on a dime like that.

Highlights were some vortexes BSOS
gyro symp whip BSOS, dropped the BSOS rev whirlwind
and then just different unique combos, not of hard tricks, but ones that I rarely do and also rarely link

[Ryan_Morris]

If only pdx whirls were a thing I could do, fearless would be so much more attainable.

That said, 10 fearless with no paradox whirls would be pretty awesome. 10 fearless is a semi-exclusive club as it is, and I'm sure the VIP section for non-whirl-ers has a very short list.

[Muffinman]

Lol. I guess so. Thanks Ryan

A couple things:

1) I got some of my old VHS tapes back from Boatz and spent all of Saturday (about 14 hours straight) converting them. Turned out that the replacement software that I got (because I lost the product key for the one that I actually paid for) put a watermark right in the middle of every single clip... So I trashed them all and need to start again some time. Was excited to get the tapes back to Boatz quickly this time too. Ah well. What a pain. Next weekend is my birthday too, so it will probably be 2 weeks earliest before I get back to this.

2) On a more positive note, yesterday marks exactly a year that I've been TECHNICALLY playing footbag 1 year straight every day. Not really because it just means that I've hit ATW bs every day, but still, technically have hit tricks every day of the year. Going to continue this. But may switch dex directions for this year, since in-to-out is way harder for me these days.

[Muffinman]

Jammed on Friday. First indoor session of the season, unfortunately. Super glad we have the same space again though. Nothing really special. Runs were terrible again. I started out trying 20x20 again and kept getting 37-ish contact runs, but then decided I wasn't having fun with it. Still want to do it going forward again though, so next session I will try to start back up again.

Had a run with pdx blender BSOS, and footed the spender BSOS.
Hmm not sure what else. Oh, new tricks were spinning and gyro symple legovers, which I did all in a single run for the first time.
Oh yeah I had a really good warm-up though. I decided to start warming up with triple BSOSes of basic concepts. It takes a while, but feels good, so, like, tap triple BSOS, pdx tap triple BSOS, barrage triple BSOS, pixie tricks, double switch, torque, barflies, etc. It's fun, but need to somehow balance that with 20x20 since this warmup takes like 20+ minutes to go through everything.

EDIT: Oh, I also hit symp whip > ripwalk > ps whip > ripwalk [repeat] first try

[Muffinman]

Had a good, fun session today. Didn’t do 20x20, but busted hard for the camera on our probable last outdoor session of the season. Hmm what did I hit...

-blaze > pixie whip repeat > whip war 2
-rubberman > blurry whip x2
-vortex > spinning whip bsos
-footed spinning whip > spinning ducking clipper > gyro dlo bsos?
-oh! Blurrier > blurriest repeat! Second or third time ever? I dont think it was super clean, but probably okay
-bling blang > backside blur bsos?

Probably some other things.
Mike and Alex raced to 2 spinning clippers in a row. Alex won, but it was close!

[C-Fan]

I'm jealous of those spin highlights. Also kinda weird you can whirling set without pain, but not whirl? I find whirling sets harder on the knees than downtime whirls myself.

Looking forward to the video!

[Muffinman]

Thanks Ken
I think the thing with blazing is that I don’t do it nearly as frequently as if I were to be throwing down whirls. Like barely ever, especially in the past couple years. But I do mean to do more of it. Actually hurts my ankle more than knees on flip...

20x20 session #55:
First 20x20 in a while. I was hoping to film again and play hard but the temperature was half of what we were expecting. My fingers are too cold to type properly now. So focused on easy longer runs. Trained some basics:

-(spinning osis > ducking clipper) x5 > (Ducking clipper > spinning osis) x5
-(spinning mirage > diving clipper) x10
-(gyro butterfly > ducking clipper) x5 > (ducking clipper > gyro butterfly) x5
-(gyro diving clipper > ducking clipper) x5 > (ducking clipper > gyro diving clipper) x5 juuust rolled off

Not sure what else of note.
Excited to get back indoors on Monday, though we were super fortunate to find an abandoned giant tent to block the wind today!

Mike hit pandora — new trickfor him after I suggested he work on spinning toes before struggling with spinning clippers.

[Muffinman]

20x20 session #56:
Footed vortex > spinning whip > spinning ducking clipper > mobius bs. Felt so good. (Stepping whip > far butterfly) x10. Nothing particularly noteworthy. We were both super winded from the heat of our indoor spot.

Oh, I figured out the VHS capture software after troubleshooting for hours on the weekend, so I’m back on my way to getting those online soon. That was super frustrating.

Oh yeah, also, I helped both Josh Gayhart and Chinsen with modding Climas recently. Sounds like an influx of new Clima players!



EDIT: A new fearless combo that I thought of today. This may be the most realistic so far. But then... who knows once I actually try it :
(spin duck butt > rev whirlwind > spin duck osis) x2 >
(ducking ps mirage > duck symp whip) x2

EDIT 2: Here's the commercial that Camille was in that I also auditioned for. It's pretty silly...:


EDIT 3: Oh yeah, I also did gyro DLO double BSOS this session, which felt good since the trick hasn't seemed as dialed as it used to be for me. It sucks to watch old footage of myself and realize that I'm nowhere as good as I was in, like... 2015. I think 2015 was my peak. Hopefully next summer I will be able to solo a lot more and fix that. I think that never soloing has really hampered my game, but it's a tough thing to fix in the winter where having a space to play is such a luxury.

[boyle]

On a scale of 1-10, how glad are you that you didn't end up being selected in an ad that's main focus is taking a poo?

[Muffinman]

Yeah, I'm 50% relieved (pun?) I didn't get it.
It paid $700 though... So, yeah, 50-50. I'm glad Camille got the money though.



20x20 session #57:
Was excited for today's session but we were relegated to the carpeted basement again because someone rented out our gym. Mike let me know in advance since he got there early, so at least I was able to readjust my expectations for a sucky session. That helped it be better than my lowered expectations, which was nice. Just drilling mostly since carpet is too grippy for my Climas, which are quite grippy to start with.

Some things:
-ducking far pickup > near butterfly x10
-pdx mirage > tripwalk x5, and then x4 on the other side... same run?
-spinning ducking clipper > ducking clipper x10
-stepping illusion > butterfly > blizzard > butterfly REPEAT > blurry legover > butterfly > shmoe > butterfly REPEAT > stepping mirage > butterfly > blur > butterfly REPEAT > blurry pickup > butterfly > stepping pickup > butterfly REPEAT (not sure I've ever done that before? Maybe once before, but I can't remember...)
-blurriest > butterfly x5 first try (for some reason couldn't even get one blurriest on the other side, though I don't think I have a flip for that trick...)
-stepping pickup > butterfly x10
-(stepping clipper > butterfly) x2 > (stepping clipper x2 > butterfly) x2 > (stepping clipper x3 > butterfly) x2 > (stepping clipper x4 > butterfly) x2 to open a run
-blurry whip > butterfly x5 > butterfly > blurry whip x5

But the main highlight was this:
I love the trick stepping near symp mirage, and I don't find it difficult at all, but I have this weird mental hangup on flipside... My brain gets confused and I can't get the symp in. It's been so frustrating for so long. So today at work I was just analyzing it in my head and trying to figure out how to break that mental barrier. When it came around to the session, I was able to hit it every single attempt! I was so happy. There was ONE attempt where I couldn't get it, but that was it. And then I tried stepping same symp whip, which again isn't hard on good side, but I never do it because of that flip hangup. I hit it first try also, but then couldn't hit any subsequent attempts. But I did manage stepping same symp mirage and backside blur both BSOS. Probably only done that few times ever before. Was hoping to do the same with stepping symp whip and rev whirlygig, but not today.

[Muffinman]

I'm so confused as to when I started freestyling.
For the longest time I thought 1997 for some reason, but I remember being introduced to freestyle by the movie She's All That, which came out in 1999. But at the same time I also remember being tiltless in 1999/2000, and meeting Dan Klokow and Zeke Ibardaloza, and that it took me a loong time to get to tiltless. So maybe I did start in 1997, in which case I missed my 20th celebration. But I really don't know and I'm still confused. I just looked at my Footbag.org profile for the first time in forever and it says I started in 1997... I definitely remember watching Dallas Footbag Club videos online in the computer lab in high school... And trying to learn tricks by reading Job's Notation printed off on paper at school... Maybe I will never know... Or maybe 1997 is when I discovered hacky sack? No... I think I was playing hacky sack since grade... 8?, which would've been... 1995? I have the worst memory

[C-Fan]

The Dallas Footbag Club website was definitely 98 and 99. If that helps at all.

The inability to peg down a date 20 years ago is real. I remember for years thinking my official footbag anniversary was July 28, since the New York Footbag Explosion was July 28, 1997. Then one day I looked up the tourney on footbag.org....and turns out it was in June: http://www.footbag.org/events/show/859657310

Felt very weird.

Even though our memories of our early years in the sport is imperfect, it's cool we're still around and can share some perspective/experience with the new generation. When I played with Kat Cryan and Greg Wenner this past weekend, they were surprised that I had lived in Japan. Like, they had no idea I had a role in developing the footbag scene there. But then, that was almost 15 years ago so why would they?

[Muffinman]

Wow, has it been 15 years already??
I was always somehow hoping that I could be the Chinese ambassador for footbag, but I’ve never been to China, just Hong Kong but I really wanna meet Bruce Li! You should be in the HOF just for JFA alone, nevermind everything else you’ve done for the sport!


20x20 session #58:
Had a fun duo with Mike tonight. Felt pretty good. Mike hit spinning clipper BSOS, also pandora BSOS.
I’ll try to recap some of my highlights:
-ducking clipper > gyro whip x5 on flip; kept dropping x5 on good side...
-scorpion’s tail BSOS, felt really deep
-stepping whip > pdx blender BSOS
-gyro dlo and mobius both BSOS
-pdx mirage > legbeater x5 bs?
-twirl and twist both bsos. I ahould do more twirls. Oh, dropped on revup
-spinning ducking clipper > spinning whip BSOS in a lot of runs
-lots of vortexes
-a void at Mike’s request. Good side hurts my hip so I dont even try
-gyro diving mirage, spinning ducking mirage, and alpine merlkon all bsos?

Dunno what else.
Preordered Red Dead redemption 2. I’m on the streetcar home and I’m dying to play, but apparently it’s 2 discs and takes 1.5 hours to install I will probably have to delete a lot of games to fit it too. I think 150 gigs?? 2 discs is nuts. That hasn’t been a thing since like Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy on PS1!

[boyle]

I hope to see some competition in China in the coming years. I would like to try to go I think. Something like that thing of the others not knowing about your time in Japan, that's some extra motivation to get this thing with the player profiles going. If you are a footbag "fan" you would be reading that kind of stuff and having the knowledge of what's come before. Some of this information is around, but you really need to dig for it.

[Muffinman]

Oh yeah, I also hit blazing near mirage and blaze both BSOS last session.



20x20 session #59:
-gyro diving clipper > ducking clipper x5 > ducking clipper > gyro diving clipper x5
-spinning ducking clipper > scorpion's tail BSOS, and blurriest BSOS, and dropped on blurrier BSOS?
-little apple double BSOS a few times, was trying for triple
-pdx torque BSOS
-pixie dod and pixie paradon BSOS
-stepping whip > twirl BSOS
-pixie ducking clipper > spinning whip BSOS?
-tried to double BSOS vortex
-some other stuff. Really struggling with fogs and bedwetters recently. They take so much energy

[Muffinman]

Earlier in the year I thought a cool follow-up to hitting 350 tricks on my 35th birthday last year would be to hit 2000 total tricks by the end of this year. I didn't know if I would be able to do that since I'd already hit most of the easiest tricks on my to hit list. But then happened to look at the list today at work and thought I could give it a shot. I thought I only needed 114, but somehow miscalculated and must have wrongly factored in bothsided tricks. I posted on Facebook but then removed it because I found out that I only hit half of what I needed! I still need another 117. But I think I can still reach that goal in another session or 2. Today's was all barefoot in my living room (though some tricks required clipper, like stepping tricks and some jesters and stuff). Next session will also be at home, but will probably require at least one shoe for some butterfly and osis tricks.

It's disappointing that I didn't reach the goal I thought I did. But I'm optimistic that I can still get it, especially with a couple months before the end of the year still. Here are the 114 new tricks I hit: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... nrvqg/edit

I'm gonna calculate tomorrow which 117 I can hit most easily. Stoked to have a fun goal to work on! And also an excuse to be able to play at home, whereas I normally would never shred in my apartment because I don't want to disturb my neighbours. Maybe also fuel to motivate me to maybe do barefoot sessions at home from time to time, especially with winter in full swing.