Damn dude, I can't wait for you to skool me whenever I stop being busy with work and actually play footbag again. We need to make a video. If we don't make a vid soon, all you modified folks need to get on our case.
Fun news:
100 Mirage footbags are on their way from the World Footbag Association to the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, where they will be received by yours truly and given to the children of Pittsburgh by members of Steel City Freestyle at "Kids Day" next month. Score. Thanks PPC. Here's to planting lots of footbag seeds in the youth of Pittsburgh.
Everyone should download "The Castro Has Good Taste" from this link. It was mixed by Mr. Boy himself (aka Ryan Mulroney) and I've been listening to it like non-stop for the past two days.
word up party people
j$
Steel City Freestyle
Day 4:
I kicked by myself today for about three hours or more in Friendship Park. It was the sort of beautiful day that reminded me of being a kid in Bayridge Brooklyn. Red brick. Wind. The enthusiastic feeling that my whole life is still ahead of me and that the past, as hard as it has been, was just a challenge to help make me who I am today.
Today I applied for a job with a company that I have wanted to work for years. I even studied their native language on the off-hand chance that they ever had a position available here in the states. If I get the job I will take it. And It will be great for everyone involved. And if I don't get it I will stay here in Pittsburgh, with my family, with my art collaborator and most importantly, the woman that I love. It's one of those situations where things can be either win-win or lose-lose and, well, I decided to drink a glass half full of water and play some footbag.
My body needed a rest from eggbeaters. I toe'd one or two.
-three contacts of dyno-dyno
-blender on the side that can't fully complete a whirling motion (with a little help from the twisting hip motion)
-Three blurs on my right side
-several swirls on left side. A few on the other
-Dyno-drifter
-Dyno-torque
Just a whole bunch of long strings. Lots of ducking. 20 legovers btb. Some other long tiltless drills. Dynos all over the place. I mean like everywhere. Paradons.
I guess I won't have chance to kick again for a few days. In the meantime I will just have to look forward to Tuesday when Yacob, Sam, Joel and I stand a good chance of all meeting up together.
Pipenberg makes some really nice bags. This brown green one I have been using started out like butter and became like a best friend.
Mmm... nothing like Devils-food donuts and milk after a long shred! But first to cook that london broil...
...today has been a good day.
I kicked by myself today for about three hours or more in Friendship Park. It was the sort of beautiful day that reminded me of being a kid in Bayridge Brooklyn. Red brick. Wind. The enthusiastic feeling that my whole life is still ahead of me and that the past, as hard as it has been, was just a challenge to help make me who I am today.
Today I applied for a job with a company that I have wanted to work for years. I even studied their native language on the off-hand chance that they ever had a position available here in the states. If I get the job I will take it. And It will be great for everyone involved. And if I don't get it I will stay here in Pittsburgh, with my family, with my art collaborator and most importantly, the woman that I love. It's one of those situations where things can be either win-win or lose-lose and, well, I decided to drink a glass half full of water and play some footbag.
My body needed a rest from eggbeaters. I toe'd one or two.
-three contacts of dyno-dyno
-blender on the side that can't fully complete a whirling motion (with a little help from the twisting hip motion)
-Three blurs on my right side
-several swirls on left side. A few on the other
-Dyno-drifter
-Dyno-torque
Just a whole bunch of long strings. Lots of ducking. 20 legovers btb. Some other long tiltless drills. Dynos all over the place. I mean like everywhere. Paradons.
I guess I won't have chance to kick again for a few days. In the meantime I will just have to look forward to Tuesday when Yacob, Sam, Joel and I stand a good chance of all meeting up together.
Pipenberg makes some really nice bags. This brown green one I have been using started out like butter and became like a best friend.
Mmm... nothing like Devils-food donuts and milk after a long shred! But first to cook that london broil...
...today has been a good day.
Long Day. Ate brunch with three people that are moving out of PGH and Jessica. Eggs Benedict. That's how you start a day! (Jake man, you must go to Coca cafe for brunch!).
Discovered a place across the street that sells art and T-shirts. They said they're interested in looking at my work. I have to get on that!
Helped my dad with some drywall through an elevator shaft.
Ran 5 miles around a Lake with my sister.
Rescued my dad. Ladder fell, broke, fanagled with some scaffolding.
7:30PM: Decided to kick.
Dyno torque both sides.
Some far butterfly swirls.
Regular swirl was looking good.
Some long drills that were not so much BOP.
Basically my form was awesome. Anything I had dialed I could seem to keep linking straight out of. I felt like I was running. Not hopping up and down. It felt really good.
Running+footbag=:arrow:
Discovered a place across the street that sells art and T-shirts. They said they're interested in looking at my work. I have to get on that!
Helped my dad with some drywall through an elevator shaft.
Ran 5 miles around a Lake with my sister.
Rescued my dad. Ladder fell, broke, fanagled with some scaffolding.
7:30PM: Decided to kick.
Dyno torque both sides.
Some far butterfly swirls.
Regular swirl was looking good.
Some long drills that were not so much BOP.
Basically my form was awesome. Anything I had dialed I could seem to keep linking straight out of. I felt like I was running. Not hopping up and down. It felt really good.
Running+footbag=:arrow:
Several beers and it being past my bedtime = not a super involved post, but I felt today was worth noting. Hopefully Ian will fill in some of my missing articulation with a post of his own.
Kicked today in Friendship Park. I was pumped cause it's been a while since I've kicked and I've been aching to try out some random combos that pop into my head. Plus Ian's been lighting a fire under my ass (to borrow a phrase from Eminem) with the recent exponential increase in the sickness of his shred.
I hit some alright stuff...i was happy with the length of my strings mostly, lots of nice long ones getting towards 20 contacts I think. I hit pdx whirl>drifter>infinity>repeat. Simple but gratifying.
And for today's highlight: A photographer from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette came by and took pictures of us playing for like a half hour! It was cool. I definitely busted some crazy stuff during that period, mostly trying to have long strings with lots of crazy body positions (drifter, torque, ps whirl)...playing to the camera basically.
And if that wasn't enough, both Joel and Sam showed up to play today, both making noticable improvement on clippers and foundation stuff, plus just making me so happy that there are more players in the scene now. And then this guy Willie joined us to kick a bit and just be another good presence. Plus there were people sitting on the benches around us watching and clapping and stuff.
So five footbag players plus a news photographer, plus interested spectators, plus beautiful weather, plus our favorite park equals a f*cking awesome day of shred
I can't wait for the rest of summer and fall as the weather stays nice and we keep having these awesome days.
And incase you're wondering what a box full of 100 footbags looks like:
teeheehee
Kicked today in Friendship Park. I was pumped cause it's been a while since I've kicked and I've been aching to try out some random combos that pop into my head. Plus Ian's been lighting a fire under my ass (to borrow a phrase from Eminem) with the recent exponential increase in the sickness of his shred.
I hit some alright stuff...i was happy with the length of my strings mostly, lots of nice long ones getting towards 20 contacts I think. I hit pdx whirl>drifter>infinity>repeat. Simple but gratifying.
And for today's highlight: A photographer from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette came by and took pictures of us playing for like a half hour! It was cool. I definitely busted some crazy stuff during that period, mostly trying to have long strings with lots of crazy body positions (drifter, torque, ps whirl)...playing to the camera basically.
And if that wasn't enough, both Joel and Sam showed up to play today, both making noticable improvement on clippers and foundation stuff, plus just making me so happy that there are more players in the scene now. And then this guy Willie joined us to kick a bit and just be another good presence. Plus there were people sitting on the benches around us watching and clapping and stuff.
So five footbag players plus a news photographer, plus interested spectators, plus beautiful weather, plus our favorite park equals a f*cking awesome day of shred
I can't wait for the rest of summer and fall as the weather stays nice and we keep having these awesome days.And incase you're wondering what a box full of 100 footbags looks like:
teeheehee
Jake Milofsky
Steel City Freestyle [ex officio]
Steel City Freestyle [ex officio]
Alright. I don't know where to begin. I am so glad that Jake gave me something to work off of because my head would have exploded if I had to tackle this one by myself!
Highlights: new pain in right inner thigh from eggbeaters and stepping sets. I'm really excited about this, because it means that I am adequately working a new set of muscles. I truly believe that it is an indication that I am growing and learning better form.
Legbeaters both sides
atomsmashers
fluxes
still more dynos and lots of more paradons mid-string
easy hand-grabbed a far butterfly swirls after my first real try at a long, original string
toed a ducking legover
linked easilly out of reverse and regular whirls on my good side.
Blurs both sides. Ripwalks both sides.
Hit Jake's request for diving clipper-ducking clipper repeat on second try. (Props to Nathan Pipenberg for the awesome bag- I have confidence ducking with it.)
Lot's of torques midstring.
Drifters that were linked out of well, but only one side.
There was a lot stuff inbetween. Stepping butterflies, etc. The links are getting much longer. I feel physically better than ever before. My body seems to be absorbing the wear and tear like a athletes body should. Eating it and growing (knocking on wood). For the first time in years.
So, enough about me.
Will is this guy that showed up as non-assuming as anyone can. Carried himself like a traditional hacky-sack player but quickly caught Jake and myself off when he said the following about his roommate: "he mostly hits 2-3 add moves". Yeah. Where's your bloody roomate?
So after the four of us are finally kicking at the same time, in front of cameras, hitting great stuff, Will takes off to grab his guitar from his house across the street. By the time he came back Jake and Joel have gone off to a pot-luck dinner. Turns out Will has a lot of talent. He hits voice inflections with machine like accuracy whilst playing against upbeat, challenging chord progressions. Later he plays me some electronic music he made. This guy sings like Mike Patton (my childhood idol) but does not even know who he is! There will be some serious collaborating in the future.
Anyway, I met Matt, his roomate. Matt looks like a combination of Nathan Pipenberg and Jake's current roomate (Adam) who is about as hardcore a biker (not-to-mention person in general) as they come. I asked if he wanted to kick, and he was very hesitant after 'never kicking with someone else in real-life' and 'learning only from movies and the internet'. None-theless, he had modified his red Lavers very well and had two real footbags.
So we kicked. This kid is AWESOME.
Although it is clear that there is major work to be done in terms of smoothness, and getting back into shape in general, he went from hitting broken tiltless links to consecutive original 3add combos. Pixie legovers, clipper set legovers, ducking tricks, osis' back and forth, double around the worlds, etc.
He is a very bright, fast learner. I gave him a little bit of advice and he went from making jerky clipper stalls to solid drills of 4 or so infinities back to back. It is unclear how much time he will have to dedicate to this sport come fall, but I can clearly say that this kid has the potential to be great.
Well, I ended up kicking several hours today, even though my leg was tight. I think Sam and I may kick tommorrow although I may just go running. Both would be nice.
This summer has been the first vacation I have ever really had. I eagerly look forward to getting back to work, but it is very nice to know how far I can get my body back into shape with a little bit of time away from the daily grind. I feel like I'm ready to take on the world!
Edit:
I thought that I should add that Jake is becoming really sick. Trying to catch up with him is really inspiring and forces me to learn things from new angles. Thing is though, as much as I am making leaps and bounds in my progress, it seems to keep Jake from being lazy. His loose threads are tightening and his basic strings are starting to become unpredictable and solid. When Jake does a trick he immediately ownes it. He's got a style that reminds me of DC (perhaps my favorite footbag player these days) but not as blood-thirsty. The scene looks like it is finally coming together over here in the steel city. I miss kicking with Caleb though.
Highlights: new pain in right inner thigh from eggbeaters and stepping sets. I'm really excited about this, because it means that I am adequately working a new set of muscles. I truly believe that it is an indication that I am growing and learning better form.
Legbeaters both sides
atomsmashers
fluxes
still more dynos and lots of more paradons mid-string
easy hand-grabbed a far butterfly swirls after my first real try at a long, original string
toed a ducking legover
linked easilly out of reverse and regular whirls on my good side.
Blurs both sides. Ripwalks both sides.
Hit Jake's request for diving clipper-ducking clipper repeat on second try. (Props to Nathan Pipenberg for the awesome bag- I have confidence ducking with it.)
Lot's of torques midstring.
Drifters that were linked out of well, but only one side.
There was a lot stuff inbetween. Stepping butterflies, etc. The links are getting much longer. I feel physically better than ever before. My body seems to be absorbing the wear and tear like a athletes body should. Eating it and growing (knocking on wood). For the first time in years.
So, enough about me.
Will is this guy that showed up as non-assuming as anyone can. Carried himself like a traditional hacky-sack player but quickly caught Jake and myself off when he said the following about his roommate: "he mostly hits 2-3 add moves". Yeah. Where's your bloody roomate?
So after the four of us are finally kicking at the same time, in front of cameras, hitting great stuff, Will takes off to grab his guitar from his house across the street. By the time he came back Jake and Joel have gone off to a pot-luck dinner. Turns out Will has a lot of talent. He hits voice inflections with machine like accuracy whilst playing against upbeat, challenging chord progressions. Later he plays me some electronic music he made. This guy sings like Mike Patton (my childhood idol) but does not even know who he is! There will be some serious collaborating in the future.
Anyway, I met Matt, his roomate. Matt looks like a combination of Nathan Pipenberg and Jake's current roomate (Adam) who is about as hardcore a biker (not-to-mention person in general) as they come. I asked if he wanted to kick, and he was very hesitant after 'never kicking with someone else in real-life' and 'learning only from movies and the internet'. None-theless, he had modified his red Lavers very well and had two real footbags.
So we kicked. This kid is AWESOME.
Although it is clear that there is major work to be done in terms of smoothness, and getting back into shape in general, he went from hitting broken tiltless links to consecutive original 3add combos. Pixie legovers, clipper set legovers, ducking tricks, osis' back and forth, double around the worlds, etc.
He is a very bright, fast learner. I gave him a little bit of advice and he went from making jerky clipper stalls to solid drills of 4 or so infinities back to back. It is unclear how much time he will have to dedicate to this sport come fall, but I can clearly say that this kid has the potential to be great.
Well, I ended up kicking several hours today, even though my leg was tight. I think Sam and I may kick tommorrow although I may just go running. Both would be nice.
This summer has been the first vacation I have ever really had. I eagerly look forward to getting back to work, but it is very nice to know how far I can get my body back into shape with a little bit of time away from the daily grind. I feel like I'm ready to take on the world!
Edit:
I thought that I should add that Jake is becoming really sick. Trying to catch up with him is really inspiring and forces me to learn things from new angles. Thing is though, as much as I am making leaps and bounds in my progress, it seems to keep Jake from being lazy. His loose threads are tightening and his basic strings are starting to become unpredictable and solid. When Jake does a trick he immediately ownes it. He's got a style that reminds me of DC (perhaps my favorite footbag player these days) but not as blood-thirsty. The scene looks like it is finally coming together over here in the steel city. I miss kicking with Caleb though.
Update for the sake of it.
Matt in the last week has footed paradox drifter and paradox double legover 2 out of his first 3 tries ever. Today he hit 6 contacts of infinity pardaox illusion. He taught himself that move on Tuesday.
Alright. So I don't forget. In the last week:
swirl is getting dialed. I've been linking swirl to simple swirl. Some behind game is developing between dynos, swirls and osis's.
I sealed a blender with a butterfly.
Atomic set is looking much better. I've hit some original strings with legbeaters and ducking moves.
I have been schooling the spinning set and hitting spinning clipper mid-string. Now my bad side is good and my on-side is missing. I will have them both shortly.
Paradons are tight.
Progress on ripwalks. I think I need to run some more for sheer leg strength, but I hit one ripwalk back to back the other day and the motion looked smooth and piston like, while the set was almost chest high each way. I need to have this form all of the time. It will come.
I hit torque into ducking clipper on my bad side and torque into ducking butterfly on my good side today in the same string, on request to hit torque to ducking clipper. That was nice.
I was not expecting to kick today but I agreed to meet Matt inbetween drafts on cover letters. I stayed calm and schooled basics. Hit some stepping butterflies and osis. Consecutive ducks.
Matt in the last week has footed paradox drifter and paradox double legover 2 out of his first 3 tries ever. Today he hit 6 contacts of infinity pardaox illusion. He taught himself that move on Tuesday.
Alright. So I don't forget. In the last week:
swirl is getting dialed. I've been linking swirl to simple swirl. Some behind game is developing between dynos, swirls and osis's.
I sealed a blender with a butterfly.
Atomic set is looking much better. I've hit some original strings with legbeaters and ducking moves.
I have been schooling the spinning set and hitting spinning clipper mid-string. Now my bad side is good and my on-side is missing. I will have them both shortly.
Paradons are tight.
Progress on ripwalks. I think I need to run some more for sheer leg strength, but I hit one ripwalk back to back the other day and the motion looked smooth and piston like, while the set was almost chest high each way. I need to have this form all of the time. It will come.
I hit torque into ducking clipper on my bad side and torque into ducking butterfly on my good side today in the same string, on request to hit torque to ducking clipper. That was nice.
I was not expecting to kick today but I agreed to meet Matt inbetween drafts on cover letters. I stayed calm and schooled basics. Hit some stepping butterflies and osis. Consecutive ducks.
Before I forget, I kicked 2.5 hours today so I'll document it.
First: I need more footbags. I am playing so much harder now and with so many new people that they just aren't lasting. Once I get a career position I will start making bags when I have the time. I'm sick of not having them available when I need them.
Highlight:
second try: spinning squeeze to swirl.
2 runs of paradox mirage paradon repeat with strings out of them including dynos.
ducking clipper swirl link to string
spinning clipper bsos
many ripwalks. I had one string with at least four in it.
lots of swirls midstring and getting closer at reverse swirl consistancy. For now it's a starter or a stopper.
I had one string where I hit reverse whirl on both sides, and whirl on my good side. I have being frustrated that I don't have it on my left side but I have been told the way I have been getting closer could be bad for me and I will not force it.
Matt will be out of town for a few weeks. He will be solid when he returns. Today he almost hit blur and paradon out of curiosity. He has a toe game that reminds me of Pipenberg, which is about as much of a compliment on someones toe game I can think of. He picked up tapping bsos and did a really big eggbeater. It was like a jedi-beater.
Applied for a job that could very well be a perfect fit for me. I wonder if it threw off my game today, having my fingers crossed so tightly and all.
First: I need more footbags. I am playing so much harder now and with so many new people that they just aren't lasting. Once I get a career position I will start making bags when I have the time. I'm sick of not having them available when I need them.
Highlight:
second try: spinning squeeze to swirl.
2 runs of paradox mirage paradon repeat with strings out of them including dynos.
ducking clipper swirl link to string
spinning clipper bsos
many ripwalks. I had one string with at least four in it.
lots of swirls midstring and getting closer at reverse swirl consistancy. For now it's a starter or a stopper.
I had one string where I hit reverse whirl on both sides, and whirl on my good side. I have being frustrated that I don't have it on my left side but I have been told the way I have been getting closer could be bad for me and I will not force it.
Matt will be out of town for a few weeks. He will be solid when he returns. Today he almost hit blur and paradon out of curiosity. He has a toe game that reminds me of Pipenberg, which is about as much of a compliment on someones toe game I can think of. He picked up tapping bsos and did a really big eggbeater. It was like a jedi-beater.
Applied for a job that could very well be a perfect fit for me. I wonder if it threw off my game today, having my fingers crossed so tightly and all.
Yesterday Jake, Sam and myself kicked for about an hour. Sam is getting progressively better at linking preliminary moves. Jake is more and more solid each time.
Hit ripwalk out of swirl. Did not seal it.
Hit one run with 2 sealed torques on each side.
I hit blur on both sides.
It was a miserable session for me though, for the most part. I had a few strings that were longish and I hit some advanced stuff (for myself) but I was in such a funk that I don't even remember what they were.
I'm gonna do some graphic design and mash-ups for the next couple days and just take some time off before we get a couple new bags from Nathan P. That should raise my footbag spirits!
Hit ripwalk out of swirl. Did not seal it.
Hit one run with 2 sealed torques on each side.
I hit blur on both sides.
It was a miserable session for me though, for the most part. I had a few strings that were longish and I hit some advanced stuff (for myself) but I was in such a funk that I don't even remember what they were.
I'm gonna do some graphic design and mash-ups for the next couple days and just take some time off before we get a couple new bags from Nathan P. That should raise my footbag spirits!
Ian and I are thinking of working as backup dancers to raise $ for Steel City Freestyle:
In other news, the session on Saturday was fun. I footed Blurry Whirl>Blurry Whirl. I know I can seal that, I just need the right combo of energy and mental clairity...not always that easy to attain.
Things are feeling good these days though. I've gotten drifter, dlo, various ducking and diving variations dialed enough that I can put together some decently genuine strings. Once my flipside torque comes around and I can rely on my flip atomic a little more, I'm gonna be feeling really good about my game.
Ian hitting combos like swirl>ripwalk and all kinds of dyno shit is stretching my mind a bit more too. It feels good. I can see Matt getting a sick toe game pretty soon and driving both Ian and I to hit more pixie stuff. I hope he comes to Funtastic with us.
Things are good in the Steel City.
In other news, the session on Saturday was fun. I footed Blurry Whirl>Blurry Whirl. I know I can seal that, I just need the right combo of energy and mental clairity...not always that easy to attain.
Things are feeling good these days though. I've gotten drifter, dlo, various ducking and diving variations dialed enough that I can put together some decently genuine strings. Once my flipside torque comes around and I can rely on my flip atomic a little more, I'm gonna be feeling really good about my game.
Ian hitting combos like swirl>ripwalk and all kinds of dyno shit is stretching my mind a bit more too. It feels good. I can see Matt getting a sick toe game pretty soon and driving both Ian and I to hit more pixie stuff. I hope he comes to Funtastic with us.
Things are good in the Steel City.
Jake Milofsky
Steel City Freestyle [ex officio]
Steel City Freestyle [ex officio]
There was an air advisory warning in Pittsburgh today. So, Jake, Joel and myself went out to kick. Felt like playing in NYC. Maybe that's why I was so on...
new combos:
several paradons to ripwalks and ducking clippers to ripwalks bsos
symposium mirage to butterfly swirl
2 repeats of ducking clipper osis, ducking clipper, repeat. In other words my duck is looking better.
hit spinning paradox mirage and spinning mirage on the other side in the same string. Then I hit the other side spinning paradox mirage.
Jake sealed something special today with a butterfly.
new combos:
several paradons to ripwalks and ducking clippers to ripwalks bsos
symposium mirage to butterfly swirl
2 repeats of ducking clipper osis, ducking clipper, repeat. In other words my duck is looking better.
hit spinning paradox mirage and spinning mirage on the other side in the same string. Then I hit the other side spinning paradox mirage.
Jake sealed something special today with a butterfly.
Yes, yes. I had the energy and mental clarity and sealed Blurry Whirl>Blurry Whirl, thanks for the lead-in Ian.
It was a fun session, though I don't think I hit anything else crazy. I did fulfill Joel's request for me to say "Yo Mama" while in mid-air during a PS Whirl. That was good for some laughs. I guess it would make more sense if I was hitting Your Mom though, ha.
And I found out today that we might get a spot on the local AM news show to promote our appearance at the Schenley Plaza Kid's Day event. I'm not sure who watches tv between 8 and 9am on weekdays, but whoever it is will surely see me and hopefully other members of SCF bustin' big in downtown Pittsburgh. boo ya
It was a fun session, though I don't think I hit anything else crazy. I did fulfill Joel's request for me to say "Yo Mama" while in mid-air during a PS Whirl. That was good for some laughs. I guess it would make more sense if I was hitting Your Mom though, ha.
And I found out today that we might get a spot on the local AM news show to promote our appearance at the Schenley Plaza Kid's Day event. I'm not sure who watches tv between 8 and 9am on weekdays, but whoever it is will surely see me and hopefully other members of SCF bustin' big in downtown Pittsburgh. boo ya
Jake Milofsky
Steel City Freestyle [ex officio]
Steel City Freestyle [ex officio]
Yacob! How's it going? I'm trying to get back into playing. We'll be out in Cranberry PA (north of Pitt) for a week around x-mas. Maybe we can play a little and get a bite to eat after or something like that. I'm sure my folks can occupy the wife/kids in the city for a few hours while we do so. Will you be around the city around that time?
Bob R.
I was almost in NYC this weekend but felt I should stick around town and take care of business. Anyway, it's Saturday and our two new Pipenberg bags came in the mail last night. I feel like I'm opening a package from Apple when these come in. They are just so well-made and packaged 
So, after I put final edits on this mashup-set run-through I've been working on I'm gonna go break these in. It feels good to have the time to take music seriously. The three years+ I have invested into practicing Ableton Live have really paid off.
So after having just read Olav's blog I have a few ideas about things I can work on. No, not alarmingly difficult combos silly- but sinking into sets more, and slowing down. These Pipenberg bags have such good hang time and clean leaves that I will try many spin sets too.
It hurts that I won't be at worlds this year, but ATM, with the whole transition into a career out of school mindset I feel very tunnel-vision about taking care of myself and living tightly. It makes me love footbag more than ever when I practice it (which is frequently) but not very social when I'm doing it. This will change by Funtastik.
So, after I put final edits on this mashup-set run-through I've been working on I'm gonna go break these in. It feels good to have the time to take music seriously. The three years+ I have invested into practicing Ableton Live have really paid off.
So after having just read Olav's blog I have a few ideas about things I can work on. No, not alarmingly difficult combos silly- but sinking into sets more, and slowing down. These Pipenberg bags have such good hang time and clean leaves that I will try many spin sets too.
It hurts that I won't be at worlds this year, but ATM, with the whole transition into a career out of school mindset I feel very tunnel-vision about taking care of myself and living tightly. It makes me love footbag more than ever when I practice it (which is frequently) but not very social when I'm doing it. This will change by Funtastik.
Schooled some stuffs. Hit some off-side swirls today. Spent a half hour working on the set and the dex. I hit a whole bunch but it is still no where near the other side. On the other side I did hit swirl and simple swirl both out of dyno. I may not have hit swirl... I may have just gotten close... darn frozen mojitos!
I made one stepping set today that I could have ducked! I did not repeat this though.
Hit some more paradons into ripwalks. My stepping sets were a lot better today. I was able to seal most of them with paradox mirages.
I skooled my off-side whirl. I am beginning to understand what I am doing wrong. I will have this trick soon.
I hit some long, more original strings.
Getting close to stepping out of reverse whirl.
I made one stepping set today that I could have ducked! I did not repeat this though.
Hit some more paradons into ripwalks. My stepping sets were a lot better today. I was able to seal most of them with paradox mirages.
I skooled my off-side whirl. I am beginning to understand what I am doing wrong. I will have this trick soon.
I hit some long, more original strings.
Getting close to stepping out of reverse whirl.
Another two hour session by myself today.
Highlights:
4/5 blurs on my right side.
Footed Ripwalk b2b (I have done this before but today was more about form than anything)
Many Ripwalks sealed with paradox mirages on both sides
I kicked with one of my pairs of Camo G-units for the first time today. I just threw in my insoles and the played perfectly.
I hit some more swirls on both sides. The right side is looking a lot better. I think that the same difficulty I am having with left side whirl is attributed to the weakness of my right side swirl. Therefore, I am glad that I am developing this motion, and I expect that my strength in left side reverse whirl will help me dial my off-side reverse swirl very quickly. All four motions will be had eventually.
Today I was in the middle of a longish bop drill when I felt the impulse to throw in a paradon with the air of ownership. It went through so well. I could see why Joel and Jake reacted to the depth of my paradon dexes the other day. I started punching the air and making machine gun noises like an eight-year-old after that string
Feels good to be alive.
Highlights:
4/5 blurs on my right side.
Footed Ripwalk b2b (I have done this before but today was more about form than anything)
Many Ripwalks sealed with paradox mirages on both sides
I kicked with one of my pairs of Camo G-units for the first time today. I just threw in my insoles and the played perfectly.
I hit some more swirls on both sides. The right side is looking a lot better. I think that the same difficulty I am having with left side whirl is attributed to the weakness of my right side swirl. Therefore, I am glad that I am developing this motion, and I expect that my strength in left side reverse whirl will help me dial my off-side reverse swirl very quickly. All four motions will be had eventually.
Today I was in the middle of a longish bop drill when I felt the impulse to throw in a paradon with the air of ownership. It went through so well. I could see why Joel and Jake reacted to the depth of my paradon dexes the other day. I started punching the air and making machine gun noises like an eight-year-old after that string
Feels good to be alive.
Jake and I kicked today. We also came up with a new graphic for our club. It was mostly Jakes idea but I helped develop it and I did the designing.
EDIT: Jake did some of the usual whirl variations he does very well and added some stepping same side mirages. The weather, and large diesel truck nearby seemed to affect his game. He had one string in particular that impressed me with many toe tricks in it.
I had the best day ever yet. No Caffeine or aspirin. I hit so much today that I wanted to.
highlights
A bunch of stepping eclipses, but still none sealed with torque
osis-paradox mirage- paradon- dyno- ducking paradox mirage.
toed ripwalks out of torques
X2 ripwalk b2b sealed
ripwalk- far(paradox?) reverse symposium whirl
many ducking contacts
many steps out of butterflies
some steps out of paradons
lots and lots of paradons
atomics felt robust. Legbeaters midstring and one very nice atomsmasher
some good reverse swirls and fewer swirls.
etc.
I'm feeling good.
Edit: Today I almost ducked a stepping set. I was quite happy about this. It landed on my neck. Without a question it was the lowest stepping ducking set that an individual of 5'11" might possibly duck, but it was there and I'm happy about it.
Another thing that was memorable, and should be in this time capsule, was that I made two very solid efforts at furious sets. If either of them were closer to my body I feel that I could have done something with them. It does not matter so much, because I am in no rush to start schooling such upper-level stuff before I get my blurs completely down. I merely did it so that I could better understand how to optimize my available resources when attempting stepping sets. However, I clearly remember Caleb's advice from about two years ago about how the motion for the second furious dex almost feels like a non-cross body swirling motion (horizontal in-out atw motion) and I feel that I was able to incorporate this bit of information well.
Since both of these components that once seemed impossible are starting to seem physically attainable I am going to start running even more and continue to push myself in footbag as long as it still seems enjoyable.
EDIT: Jake did some of the usual whirl variations he does very well and added some stepping same side mirages. The weather, and large diesel truck nearby seemed to affect his game. He had one string in particular that impressed me with many toe tricks in it.
I had the best day ever yet. No Caffeine or aspirin. I hit so much today that I wanted to.
highlights
A bunch of stepping eclipses, but still none sealed with torque
osis-paradox mirage- paradon- dyno- ducking paradox mirage.
toed ripwalks out of torques
X2 ripwalk b2b sealed
ripwalk- far(paradox?) reverse symposium whirl
many ducking contacts
many steps out of butterflies
some steps out of paradons
lots and lots of paradons
atomics felt robust. Legbeaters midstring and one very nice atomsmasher
some good reverse swirls and fewer swirls.
etc.
I'm feeling good.
Edit: Today I almost ducked a stepping set. I was quite happy about this. It landed on my neck. Without a question it was the lowest stepping ducking set that an individual of 5'11" might possibly duck, but it was there and I'm happy about it.
Another thing that was memorable, and should be in this time capsule, was that I made two very solid efforts at furious sets. If either of them were closer to my body I feel that I could have done something with them. It does not matter so much, because I am in no rush to start schooling such upper-level stuff before I get my blurs completely down. I merely did it so that I could better understand how to optimize my available resources when attempting stepping sets. However, I clearly remember Caleb's advice from about two years ago about how the motion for the second furious dex almost feels like a non-cross body swirling motion (horizontal in-out atw motion) and I feel that I was able to incorporate this bit of information well.
Since both of these components that once seemed impossible are starting to seem physically attainable I am going to start running even more and continue to push myself in footbag as long as it still seems enjoyable.
Last edited by Ian Brill on 16 Aug 2007 23:03, edited 4 times in total.