greg raymond

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 23 Jun 2010 12:28

the daily dosage

Calcium - 1,000 mg
Magnesium (citrate, oxide) - 420 mg
Glucosamine HCl - 300 mg
Fish Oil Concentrate (molecularly distilled, ultra purified) (anchovy, sardine) - 3,195 mg
Omega-3 Fatty Acids (EPA 1,230 mg, DHA 660 mg) - 1,890 mg
Protein - 1514 mg
Pycnogenol (pinus maritima) - 125 mg
Citrus Bioflavonoids Complex - 2,000 mg
Phosphorus - 510 mg
Menatetrenone (mk-4) - 120 mcg
Boron (citrate) - 3 mg
Copper (citrate) - 1 mg
Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) - 1,000iu
Manganese (glycinate) - 5 mg
Zinc (citrate) - 11 mg
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) - 200 mg
Hesperidin - 600 mg

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 25 Jun 2010 07:37

the ticket

i just finished filling out my passport application documents. i will have to bus it to toronto or ottawa on monday or tuesday to apply in person at a Passport Canada office, using this ticket as backing for getting the passport express-made in time for the end of july.

exciting times ahead.

now, my next conundrum--G-Units or Nucleus? i really want to like Nucleus. i am going to have a session in some G-Units i modded a few months ago & have been wearing around casually. they are decently broken in just from walking, but i have never kicked in these shoes yet.

i have been changing so many things with my training, diet, lifestyle, etc over the past few months that i can't really tell if Nucleus are actually doing anything positive for my game. all i know is that i'm presently very unsatisfied with my guiltless string length. if things change dramatically in G-Units, i may cut the cord with the N-Bombs.

but now is the time for me to make the decision, so i can spend the next month practicing in the right shoes. i suppose i also have a halfway functional pair of Q3s, if i want to make things ultra-confusing.

my street performer's license is going to take longer than i thought to receive, 5 to 10 business days. i am kind of hesitant to start asking for money without having that license, because my usual hotspots for playing around town are also near municipal buildings with regular officers / security roaming about. i have a pretty good relationship with the city at the moment, but a part of it is that i've never asked for money.

i am planning on making up a "Help me get to World Championships in California" sign for busking & i will have my street performer's license on the sign itself.

this is a really good time to busk. firstly, it's World Cup time. everybody has football on the brain. so kicking a miniature football immediately draws interest, especially from the tourist buses unloading at Confederation Park. i received a bunch of unsolicited donations from some spanish tourists last time i was down there. next, Kingston Busker's Rendezvous is coming up in early July. i'm not an official busker for the event, but i will set up shop somewhere & throw down.

things seem to be falling into place, but in the tetris game of life, no piece is guaranteed until it's on the board.

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 28 Jun 2010 06:52

nucleus, it is. i switched back to g-units for a day, it was interesting. i feel like i am catching the bag with airport runways as opposed to shoes with g-units. also, the weight of the Gs vs the Ns is absurd. the heel especially of g-units is just too big for my taste. some of my favourite players still use Gs, but i can't seem to get down with them.

i posted a one shot stephen barnes in the video forum. it's a pretty boring string & gets sloppy towards the end. i am glad that i started my one shots with something that was longer than 2 contacts though.

i plan on posting one shots from most of my sessions for the next month. hopefully i can push some more creativity without too many 5 contact strings. my tentative idea is to focus each session to come on just a few specific components, then go for a one shot towards the end using primarily those components.

also, DERRICK OGDEN SIGHTING. he says he will play footbag again. i am teh happy. derrick is a natural, & it's saddening that he stopped his monstrous progression for the past 2 years. i will score him a bag to play with & he'll start coming out to sessions again once he gets a little ways into his physiotherapy. i tried to find his video of hitting cheese processor in McDonalds, but it looks like all his old youtube vids are gone now.

yesterday i played with john bagi & josh audet smith. josh started playing a bit with us last year & he's wanting to get back into it this summer. i think we will practice again tonight. i got some good footage of bagi's first play in about 4 months, but the files are not transferring well from my camera. i think i need to take smaller clips, these 1+ gig files keep crapping out during transfer.

t-shirts > quick-dry sport shirts. i have decided. i can't even reason it, it just feels better to play in a t-shirt. it's looser, more free. and something about wearing a t-shirt completely soaked to the skin at the end of a session is more satisfying. now i need to visit a t-shirt stencilling shop to make up some cheap-o shred attire.

and now for something completely different:

and yet it moves

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTXrkGFXi8g[/youtube]

this indie game is totally bad ass. you can pick it up for $10 on Steam. awesome style & music, great action / puzzle experience. and follows that classic ideology: "Easy to play, difficult to master."

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 29 Jun 2010 08:05

i ran into my sister @ market square while she was doing a photo shoot. she stayed afterwards to take a few pictures.

i was much happier with yesterday's one shot. although i didn't follow through 100% on my training concept, it turned out well. i spent most of the session working on whirls & reverse whirls. i had originally intended to do whirl, reverse whirl, swirl & reverse swirl, but after a short time working on whirl & reverse whirl, i realized that was more than enough to keep me busy for the entire session.

i think i will continue to work on whirl / reverse whirl tonight, but with more variation. toe / far / pdx sets, maybe some uptime sets.

Dio · Post by **Dio** » 30 Jun 2010 08:40

Awesome shots dude, those rev whirl drills sound good, that's a weak spot for me :/

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 30 Jun 2010 08:47

i think yesterday's one shot was a perfect reflection of how i was feeling. form felt very good, but my body was incredibly weak. i only ended up playing for half an hour.

as planned, i worked on toe whirls & far reverse whirls. one highlight that felt really cool was pixie xbd rake > toe whirl bsos. the only other highlight i can recall was a super hot lady stopping to watch for a while with her son. which reminds me, i need to work on crowd participation.

hmm, i just pictured what a muted blazing xbd rake would look like. i used to be able to blaze. maybe i'll start working on uptime whirls in a day or two. according to jay, i can already hit uptime tomahawks! so how hard could blazing be?

tonight will still be more work on whirls. i also got a call saying my street performer's license is ready.

POTENTIAL FOR CHA-CHINGAS!

edit: i received some advice from my brother today that i will try to incorporate into my one shot goals. the advice was to have more elements in each string that have different pacing from each other. things like butterfly, whirl & osis can all blend together a bit too much due to similar pacing ( pacing is largely dictated by the set height required for the trick, but also the footwork involved ).

so the idea for tomorrow is to choose two tricks to work on that have separate pacing from each other. not sure what that will be, yet. it's also canada day, good day for busking. so not sure how much i will feel like sticking to the plan tomorrow.

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 02 Jul 2010 18:01

the busking setup

played for an hour tonight, busking for the first time. i made $41. that felt pretty rad. sadly my camera battery died & i could not take a one shot.

tonight i decided to work on datw & drifter. both are improving, & i could hit datw > drifter on both sides pretty well by the end. i also worked drifter > pdx illusion. hit some good strings as well. in retrospect, i should have worked on a link into datw as well.

i need a hand, if anyone happens to know a good solution:

i won't really have a chance to work another pair of shoes in in time for worlds, nor can i afford another pair at the moment. is there any good way to deal with a hole in the sole?

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 06 Jul 2010 06:52

super fun session last night with bagi & josh. john's back is still troubling him, due to his construction gig so he played pretty relaxed.

josh is a really fast learner. he made huge progress on hip positioning for inside kicks & delays last night. he went from being able to inside kick 3 times on one side to 6 alternating inside kicks by the end of the session, with form improving on both sides.

i waited way too long into the session to try a one shot, but it was such a fun session that i didn't really care.

buskers festival this weekend! MatGM & Dante are coming into town on friday to kick it up & hang out all weekend. stoked!

* * *

and now, a small aside about being stupid. ugh. i didn't play on saturday or sunday. saturday night i ate $25 worth of pizza & drank 4 cans of pop. sunday night i had a mountain of pasta, then later on bacon & eggs. i think i gained about 13 pounds in 2 days. not to mention, i also slacked on supplementation.

all in all, a recipe for setbacks. my body felt weaker, heavier & less efficient. that being said, monday was a pretty solid recovery day. plenty of stretching, crunches, leg lifts, push ups, rebounding ( amazing training for footbag! ), an hour of biking & then the session with john & josh. with all said & done, i am back where i started on friday & ready to NOT FUCK IT UP. goddamn, why do terrible things taste so delicious? UGH.

* * *

now, an aside, from the above aside, about rebounding. a rebounder is a small trampoline. you've probably seen them used for aerobics & whatnot. but a little known fact is that the rebounder is also an energizer for your lymphatic system.

you may have heard about lymph nodes before, & how they are important for detoxification within your body. but the lymphatic system is far more intricate than the idea of lymph nodes would have you believe. the LS extends into every cell in your body, & is used to transport waste ( sodium / excess fluid ) from your cells & flush it from your body.

in the case of your circulatory system, the pump is your heart. but for your lymphatic system, the pump is your lungs. this is why deep breathing & meditation are so powerful...this practice has the power to affect every cell in your body.

in addition to deep breathing, the bouncing motion also energizes the lymphatic system. and bouncing on a trampoline takes no toll on your bones & joints, while still providing a workout for your muscles.

one exercise that i do on the rebounder, which translates pretty directly to footbag, is to hop from one foot to the other, in the same fashion you would for, say, alternating toe delays without a hop step. step deeply into the trampoline mat on each transfer & breathe very deeply throughout the exercise. i try to do this for about 30 minutes every day. the muscles really feel it afterwards, but my joints & bones feel absolutely no stress, it's incredible.

it also affects any workout that i do after the rebounding, in the sense that the follow up exercise is far more relaxed & i feel capable of pushing further.

* * *

so long as i can stop taking 2 steps forward then 1 step back, i think this month will be fantastic for progress. there is no lack of motivation, so this should be a smooth ride. *knock on wood*

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 07 Jul 2010 06:54

played with another new guy last night. he was very receptive to tips & advice. he started out being able to toe kick on one side. by the end, he had hit clippers on both sides with good hip positioning & could do 4 alternating toe delays.

it's all about breaking down that boundary in people's minds that "they could never do that". with the right attitude & some helpful pointers, footbag is actually pretty easy to get started in. "difficult to master"? definitely.

yesterday, i felt really shaky. i remember feeling both my arms & legs trembling as i was walking from the camera to do my one shot. i have been working pretty hard, but i think a part of it is how much weight i have gained & lost in such a short period of time. my body is telling me to take it easy on the ups & downs.

and today, i am mecha-sore. nearly every part of my body hurts, but it's that good type of muscle hurt that says, fuck yea, that shit's getting worked. my abs, chest, shoulders, legs & arms are all sore.

today, i will take a break from footbag. a nice, recuperative day. i will not eat garbage & i will do an hour of biking with stretching, crunches & push ups.

and i am leaving work early to watch SPAIN vs GERMANY. this game is going to be NUTS-O. this world cup is going exactly my way! netherlands are into the finals, & today's game might be my favourite matchup of the entire cup. regardless of who wins, the finals will be radical ( but i would like to see DEUTCH v ESPANA ).

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 08 Jul 2010 10:29

well played, spain. well played.

i'm a bit disheartened about this weekend. while i'm stoked that Busker's Fest has begun, the epicness that was building up has subsided quite a bit with the news that both MatGM & Dante will be unable to make it.

i will call derrick & john to try to get some people together, but at the moment it looks like i return to solo repping this fucking radical sport called footbag.

i am feeling much stronger today after having taken the day off yesterday. today i think i will work on string composition. it will allow me to keep training while putting on a better show for busking.

despite only being 10 contacts, my most recent one shot is my favourite so far in this recent series. i feel my form is growing stronger by the day & my density was a bit better this time around, barring the triple-bop at the end that was setting up for shuffle, if my damn shorts didn't keep falling down. ( the milan factor? ) if i can keep moving forward from this point, i will be in good shape for end of july.

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 11 Jul 2010 16:19

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l86w8Cl4BKA[/youtube]

pretty happy with this one shot. strings are slowly growing past the 10 contact mark.

buskers weekend was pretty fun. made some decent dollars on saturday night & was just fun to hang around with so many people wandering around, bumping into all kinds of people i hadn't seen in a while.

tonight i played in an area where i couldn't busk, but it was a fun session. slowly piecing strings together.

i hope some in-soles will solve the nucleus problem, as least for the week of worlds. i am building up some serious callouses now, both big toes have broken through the soles of the shoes now. i figure it is more bad ass when my symple swirls spray out blood, but is the tradeoff worth it?...definitely.

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 14 Jul 2010 09:36

short session last night, 30 minutes. very tired. shut mixer bsos ( not guiltless ), not much else to report. feeling weak today, blew out yet another tire on my bike & couldn't ride this morning. flat broke. the daily routine of work, practice, eat, sleep is growing in tedium. left shin is bothering me a bit, giving dangerous flashbacks of 2004 Worlds where i overplayed on day 1, injured myself, then quit for 3 years. feeling kind of shitty overall.

perseverence. i need to push through this, without succumbing to slacking off & also take care of rejuvenating my body. i will take the night off from shred but maintain warm up routine & supplementation. so many elements to balance in order to be where i wish to be by the end of the month.

i need to get drunk.

edit: after 20 minutes of lymphasizing, my left leg feels quite a bit better. sadly i just got roped into moving washers & dryers for the next 2 hours. i really hope this doesn't negate my recovery.

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 18 Jul 2010 21:15

took 4 days off, my leg hasn't been feeling right. had a short session today, felt decent. i will definitely need to do something about these nucleus soon, not sure if callouses are building quickly enough to outpace the punishment of the open toes.

today's session was inspired by kevin crowley's 2007 worlds shred. sometimes i don't know whose shred i am inspired by until i am out there kicking the bag. that was the case today. i watched 2007 circle while warming up today. there is some crazy shit in there. the lon - penske - gatesman semis battle is probably my highlight of the video, other than every single string jorden hits, & vasek is just unstoppable in this vid. but when i was kicking, it was kevin's crazy smooth style that inspired me. he hits some really nice links as well.

the one shot from today turned out a lot better than i had expected...it was probably one of the longest strings of the day, unfortunately. but i did learn some things. i hit a new trick for me, double switch. i hit it bs, then i hit it bsos. i'd like to hit double switch -> datw -> dod. i could work on double pickup from clip then it could repeat. we'll see what comes. tomorrow is another day.

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 21 Jul 2010 06:14

taking more time off. i think it'll be good for me in the long run to have energy to learn as much as i can during worlds instead of trying to push myself to a new level & burning out before i get there.

my passport is in! i go to pick it up today. so great to have that issue resolved, not to mention that having a passport is pretty rad--especially since it's my only piece of photo id, haha. ( whenever i am carded for booze i just do an impersonation of "The Rock". that seems to pass for photo id pretty well. )

i also heard back from my old friend, Kirk Chantraine, who is living in San Francisco right now. Mat, Dante & i will be crashing there on the night of the 30th. will give me a chance to see a bit of san fran before diving into oakland for the week. we will also have a day after the tournament to explore the city. Kirk plays footbag as well, i hope he comes out to the tourney.

Kirk was telling me about a fairly epic dinner table he sat at a few months ago:

"last sunday i had a pretty crazy dinner. i was at a table with tu and tuan vu, eric wulff and peter irish! it was tu, eric and ahren's birthday thing."

wawaweewa.

tonight will be another night off i believe. thursday night is a great busking night, will save energy to hopefully make a few dollars while doing this thing i love. whoring out footbag to the masses, one kick at a time.

Dio · Post by **Dio** » 21 Jul 2010 16:23

Thanks for the hook-up with Kirk's place Greg, looking forward to meeting him. Take time off for sure if you need it, we gotta' give all out shred at Worlds!

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 29 Jul 2010 08:41

WOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRLLLLLLLLLLLDDDDDDDDSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!

last post before i leave.

i haven't played since last thursday, for reasons i will not get into!

never gonna keep me down!

i hit double switch > datw bs during the last session.

going to be a nice, relaxing, INTENSE WEEK OF ABSURDITY!

peace.

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 11 Aug 2010 08:41

so, before i post anything about worlds, besides the fact that it was PHENOMENAL, i need to say something about the man who made kingston footbag what it is. Tom Mosher, an unstoppable powerhouse of enthusiasm & positive energy.

a long time ago, when i first started playing footbag again in kingston, i spoke out in my blog against the image created by the KFM ( kingston footbag militia ) & how i didn't consider myself to be a part of it. however, i now know that i was pretty much talking out of my ass. it was spoken from a stuffy position of an outside perspective from the footbag community.

the work that tom put in to kingston footbag, & footbag in general, is worthy of high praise & that cannot be forgotten as we move forward. and KFM is just awesome. so this is my apology & props to tom for all of his work over the years.

Shout out to Tom Mosher, original creator of the KFM.

mosher · Post by **mosher** » 12 Aug 2010 04:36

abstract wrote:so, before i post anything about worlds, besides the fact that it was PHENOMENAL, i need to say something about the man who made kingston footbag what it is. Tom Mosher, an unstoppable powerhouse of enthusiasm & positive energy.

a long time ago, when i first started playing footbag again in kingston, i spoke out in my blog against the image created by the KFM ( kingston footbag militia ) & how i didn't consider myself to be a part of it. however, i now know that i was pretty much talking out of my ass. it was spoken from a stuffy position of an outside perspective from the footbag community.

the work that tom put in to kingston footbag, & footbag in general, is worthy of high praise & that cannot be forgotten as we move forward. and KFM is just awesome. so this is my apology & props to tom for all of his work over the years.

Shout out to Tom Mosher, original creator of the KFM.

Aww, thanks Greg!!! That really means a ton to me!

I am glad footbag is still alive in Kingston, I may have started the KFM but you guys are the ones keeping it alive!

Really glad to be remembered!

mosher · Post by **mosher** » 12 Aug 2010 04:36

abstract wrote:so, before i post anything about worlds, besides the fact that it was PHENOMENAL, i need to say something about the man who made kingston footbag what it is. Tom Mosher, an unstoppable powerhouse of enthusiasm & positive energy.

a long time ago, when i first started playing footbag again in kingston, i spoke out in my blog against the image created by the KFM ( kingston footbag militia ) & how i didn't consider myself to be a part of it. however, i now know that i was pretty much talking out of my ass. it was spoken from a stuffy position of an outside perspective from the footbag community.

the work that tom put in to kingston footbag, & footbag in general, is worthy of high praise & that cannot be forgotten as we move forward. and KFM is just awesome. so this is my apology & props to tom for all of his work over the years.

Shout out to Tom Mosher, original creator of the KFM.

Aww, thanks Greg!!! That really means a ton to me!

I am glad footbag is still alive in Kingston, I may have started the KFM but you guys are the ones keeping it alive!

Really glad to be remembered!

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 17 Aug 2010 08:47

Worlds Tidbit for the day: Toni Paakonen is the nicest guy on the planet.

Starting to Busk for KICKASS! Last night was a good night, for a Monday. $20 in 45 minutes. Gonna need a lot more than that to rock out in the ARC for the Jam, though!

We have a DJ for the event & for the party night! DJ LD in the house.

Footbag-wise, I am devoting most of my time between now & KICKASS to Drifters & Step set. Both those moves work on my core strength a lot, which is what I need, in addition to being bad ass components.

Last night was a good session for the above. But I need to stay super consistent to keep up with my progress while at Worlds. Being surrounded by so many ridiculously strong styles makes one more aware of their own inconsistencies & push harder in that environment to execute everything right. So I really need to play every single day to not let that awesome time go to waste.

I remember one night at Worlds I just drilled stepping near clipper for 3 hours. They felt so horrible that night, but a day or two later I could step in strings fairly regularly. Last night I was stepping in every string.

For Drifters, I definitely have a flip side. My left foot clipper & right support hip needs work. Work, work! Zug, zug.