Fanzine

[C-Fan]

Thanks Nick! Yeah, that gym floor is a bitch. I like the montage-ps egg link, but the ducks on the montages weren't as deep as the previous session. I think I'll blame the floor.

Top post painting!



I always like Chuck Close portraits. The pseudo pointillist technique is cool, but beyond that I just like the subjects he paints, and the snapshot candid quality of them.

[Asmus]

Fuck it! I am gonna post my favorite painting.

Exodus from the Land of Play by David Choe


Bigger version that does it much better justice.

[C-Fan]

Nice painting Moose. Reminds me a little of Hieronymous Bosch stuff.

Not much new on my end. My normal gym spot is still unavailable, so I've been forced to play on the slippery basketball courts recently. The weather is supposed to be super nice this weekend, which annoys me because I won't be here for it. I head out to Vegas on Friday, and I'll be there through the following Thursday. Unfortunately I'll be in classes that whole time, so I'll only have the evenings free, and I don't know if that'll work for footbag. I'll bring my gear just in case. Worst case scenario, at least I'll get to see Evan for dinner a couple times.

I get back from my Vegas trip Thursday night, and the next morning I do my final walkthrough of the house. Hopefully it all looks fine, we do the closing that day, and the next day at 5 pm we'll be able to take possession of it. So that gives me Sat night, Sunday and Monday to enjoy the house, and then I'm off to Sacramento for work again for a few days. Definitely not ideal timing to buy a house for me, but at least its getting done. Also probably better to do it now and have it be annoying with work, than do it over the summer and have it mess with my tournament training.

Speaking of tournaments, my next post I'm going to lay out what I think my 2015 tourney schedule is, as well as my goals and expectations.

For now, here's a vid from my last session.
I was happy to the montage combo again but better executed, and the final run felt good. I want to keep pushing my string length, since I figure it'll help me with both routines and circle. Oh yeah, and backside blaze was a new trick for me too. Not too hard.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Yeah, I was gonna say, Didn't expect the BS Blaze. Looked really nice. Great last run too. You did the reverse of Week 5 Intermediate LOTW towards the end of that string and I lol'ed in head.

[C-Fan]

At the Denver Airport now, a few minutes from boarding my flight to Vegas. The plan is to meet Evan at the airport and try and sneak in a shred before the sun goes down. It'll be tight to pull off, but if we can great, and if we can't at least we tried. I just wish I had charged the GoPro last night. I'm charging it now at the terminal, but who knows what kind of charge I'll get from it.

In other intriguing news, it sounds like Tom Kotsakos is in town as well. Not sure if he's going to shred with us, but hopefully at a minimum we'll all get dinner and hang out some.

On this trip I have to attend classes Saturday through Thursday. That means I probably can't shred any other day other than today, so I'm really hoping we can pull it off. To make things even more bitter, the weather in Denver this whole weekend is supposed to be record-setting warm. Temps in the 70s every day and sunny out. So if I didn't have this trip, I'd be able to shred outside at home the whole weekend. D'oh! Hopefully when I get back it'll be decent at least one day of the weekend.

Quick vid of my last indoor session I taped: I took yesterday off in the hopes of being rested for a shred today. Let's see if we can pull it off.

[C-Fan]

Vegas trip was pretty good. Managed to get in 3 sessions with Evan, the final one with Kotsakos too! Got some good footage, but not enough time to sort through it yet. It was just good to hang out with those two.

House closing went well. We're still living in an apartment for the next couple weeks, as we're setting up the final move. I'm in Sacramento for the next few days, but hopefully after that I can really settle into house projects.

On the footbag side, I booked an Air BNB for Worlds. So now I have my flights, lodging, and routine song taken care of. I just need to stay in shape and slowly start working my routine. I'm slowly easing into that, by transitioning from big tricks and links to longer runs and drills.

I got back Thursday night, and the weather Friday and Saturday was good enough to shred outside. And then of course Sunday and today it snowed. Typical Denver.

Here's a vid of my shred on Saturday. And yes, "Valumtimes" is a reference to Teen Girl Squad.
Stoked to see Derek tomorrow. We'll see if I can get in more than one session with him while I'm out there. I have a bad feeling work is going to crush me though.

[boyle]

Looks like there were some good times had there, plenty of long and dense runs in there.

[Asmus]

Nice video!

Looking forward to see Kotsakos/Lovely vid.

Can I see the airbnb you ended up booking?

Copenhagen!

[C-Fan]

Stoked to see Derek tomorrow. We'll see if I can get in more than one session with him while I'm out there. I have a bad feeling work is going to crush me though.

Bad feelings confirmed! Sacramento trip was a mixed bag. I only got to see Derek once because of work, and now I have even more work piled on me when I was at the breaking point before. Definitely one of the most stressful periods at work that I can remember in my 6 years in government. The one small silver lining, is that I'll be in Vegas next week again so hopefully I can see Evan once or twice. Unfortunately my work next week is like 45 minutes outside Vegas, so I don't think there's any way I'll get out of work any day in time to shred outside with Evan. But maybe we can meet at a rec center one night or something.

Back to Sacramento. While I was only able to get in one session with Derek, at least we picked a day when the weather was perfect. It was like 60 degrees out and sunny the whole shred, and my body felt great. Zach Jahner gave us a couple challenge combos that proved to be fun and stylish (see if you can't guess which they are from the video), and we also hit some LOTW. Towards the end of the session I decided to mess around with flip frantic, and was pleasantly surprised to find they were better than I remembered. I first did flip frantic back in 2005, but my flip pixies were pretty bad back then, so these might be my first legit flip frantic tricks.
After the shred Derek surprised me with a very nice 16 panel he stitched, and then we went to get sushi. It was nice just shooting the shit. I was optimistic we'd get in one more shred before I left, but work kiboshed that. At least I'll see him at Vegas Jam. I'm still kind of undecided about how I'm going to approach VJ. I haven't been able to play nearly as much as I'd like lately because of work, and I doubt that changes much before the Jam. I think I'll end up competing, just because it's always good to practice the competition mindset under real conditions, even if it's Circle and not Routines.

[Sporatical_Distractions]

Boom boom booooom

[C-Fan]

Very true, Kevin. Very true.

Latest trip to Vegas was a mixed bag. I was there for 4 full days, managed to play footbag twice, got to see friends twice, and got food poisoning once. Pretty awful. The trip was also my third business trip in a 3 week span, which is now my record for work travel. I hope I never have to break this record again, cause it sucks living out of a suitcase.

First session I drove out to Evan's house, and met up with him and Jeff Overbo. We went out to a rec center, and for $3 a pop we got admission and a basketball. All the racquetball courts were booked for the next hour, so we decided to warm up with basketball. We played a spirited game of 21 which was one of the highlights of the trip for me. I hadn't played any ball in a long time, so I was surprised how easy it came back to me. I was also surprised by what had deteriorated, and what hadn't: my handles were a lot worse, but my jump shot was surprisingly sharp. I had a couple instances of making a hoop, going to the line (halfway between free throw and 3) and making all 3 shots before having to check it back in. After our game we moved to the courts, but ended up playing in the hallway the whole time. I thought we all played pretty well. I filmed the session and should get a video out this week if packing for my housemove allows me time. I took Evan's best run from this session and made a short promo video for Worlds 2015:
Not bad for Windows Movie Maker. After our shred I didn't get to hang out too long, since I had work I needed to prep for the next day. It was still good seeing Evan and Jeff for the evening.

My second shred was the next day at my hotel. I wanted to save my memory card space for my next shred with Evan (which never came to pass, thanks to food poisoning) so I didn't film this solo session. I filmed the LOTW 8, but turned the camera off for the rest of the time.
I worked on some basics, but the real highlight of the session came toward the end, when I made a breakthrough on spender. Before this session I had hit spender many times, but I could never play out of it with any tricks bigger than BOP. The blender just never felt controlled. In this session though, I made a point to consciously set the bag lower, spin slower, and then focus on whipping the blender strong at the end. The timing felt very alien at first, but right away I could sense an improvement. By the end of the session I managed to hit spender-PSW, and spender-tomahawk. I'm optimistic I'll eventually be able to hit mullet/mindbender out of spender, which would potentially open the door to more beast combos. While this is something I want to explore, I'm also aware that we're in March already, so I probably should focus on stamina until Worlds, and come back to chasing beasts when the offseason returns.

In other footbag news, Vegas Jam is now just 10 days away. Food poisoning and travel forced me to take a few days off, but I'm hoping I can get back into decent shape in the next week and not embarrass myself while I'm out there.

[C-Fan]

1 week from tomorrow I'll be in Vegas, seeing friends and shredding. Light at the end of the tunnel for sure.

Food poisoning and travel forced me to take a few days off, but I'm hoping I can get back into decent shape in the next week .

I've played the past 3 days in a row, and I feel my strength coming back. I need to make a point to just work on form and stamina, and not spend too much time chasing silly highlights. Those won't help me at Vegas Jam as much as getting my legs under me will. I'm just glad that my body is starting to feel right again.

Yesterday's session I mostly just played around with fliers. I did some for the LOTW, and then just messed around with fliers in general. My past two sessions I also made some good progress on pdx whirling swirls. In the past I was able to hit them, but I was relying on speed and luck to get them. After studying some of Gatesman's, I realized it's more about setting low and pivoting quickly. If you set at the right height and pivot fast enough, it really makes the trick easier. The past two sessions I was able to get pdx ws->hand catch->other pdx ws handcatch. Not sure where I want to go with this, but it's been good practice for set height and hip pivoting for sure.
Getting excited for Vegas Jam. I'm staying at Circus Circus, which has a reputation for being one of the crappiest hotel/casinos in Vegas. That said, everybody else is staying there, which should make it a good base for partying and hanging out. 3 years ago at VJ a bunch of us stayed at the Excalibur, and hanging by the pool was one of the best parts of the trip.
There's also an amusement park attached to Circus, which I fully intend to visit at least once. Hopefully I can get others to join me.

As for the tournament itself, I'm going in with zero expectations. I'm not sure how Circle are going to be run or judged, so I'm just going to approach it as an exercise in playing with a competition mindset. Hopefully I can upset somebody, but the real goal is to give it my best shot and see how my "in-the-moment" mindset is doing.

[C-Fan]

In exactly three days I will board a plane to Vegas, to go to Vegas Jam. On one hand, the timing is horrible: we moved out of the apartment and into the house on Saturday, and since then its been non-stop unpacking and errands. On the other hand, I could also really use a vacation, and seeing friends and footbagging for 2.5 days should really hit the spot. Shred, pool-lounging, and amusement park all sound amazing to me right now.

The weather in Denver this week has been perfect. Just ideal spring weather, temps in the mid 60s and sun. Unfortunately I couldn't play at all on Saturday and Sunday due to moving, and Monday after work I had to run errands, but I still managed to squeeze in a light session last night before the sun went down. I'm hopeful I can get in a longer, more relaxed session tonight after work as well. I really need to work on my stamina, otherwise I'll be in trouble at Vegas Jam.

I still haven't set up internet at the house, which has actually been helpful in a weird way. We have a lot of work to do with cleaning, unpacking, painting, etc. so its been good to not get distracted at home. I can also attack some footage backlog. I'm not sure what my plan is for filming at Vegas Jam. I'm sure there's going to be a ton of good stuff to film, but I doubt I'll have time to attack the editing, and I've already overloaded Ivan with footage over the past 6 months.

Here's a quick vid of Overbo, Gatesman and myself, from my last trip to Vegas. Think of it like Ivan's "No Luck, Just Vegas" video, except replacing the good editing and time lapse footage with shitty editing, a song randomly slapped on, and all indoor footage:
3 days. Yikes. Hopefully I can get into better shape over that time frame, and just go into the Jam with the mindset of having fun.

[Kylescook]

Atomic Grifter was nutty. Can't wait to Meet and Shred with you this weekend.

[C-Fan]

Me too Kyle!

In less than 24 hours I will be at Vegas Jam. On one hand I can't wait to be there, since it'll be great to see my friends, take a break from errands and unpacking, and just unwind. On the other hand, I wish I had another week until the jam, since my body is rebelling on me, and I could use the time to heal up.

I didn't play last weekend because of the move, so when I played earlier in the week I pushed really hard. I played again the next day, and during warmups my hips felt weird. I figured I just needed to take my time warming up, but I underestimated the tightness in my hips, and on a legbeater I felt one of my hip flexors snap like a guitar string. For the rest of the night I felt pain even when I wasn't moving the leg or putting weight on it, and when I had to do stuff like bend down to take my shoes off the pain was just excruciating. The next morning the pain was a bit less, and today its about the same. I've overreacted to injuries in my blog so many times though, that I'm just going to continue resting it and hydrating, and see how it feels by Saturday. I think its definitely possible I'll make a partial recovery by then, if not a full one. My worst case scenario is I warm up on Saturday, it still feels bad, and I shut it down for the jam. If that happens I can just film and judge and hang out, which is far from the worst way to spend a weekend. I'd be a lot more concerned if this occurred right before USO or Worlds. Its not like I worked on a routine or spent time preparing for Vegas Jam, so it'd be less crushing if I'm unable to play.

Adding salt to the wound, yesterday I also got a bad stomach bug from eating a cupcake that had been left unrefrigerated all day. Pretty sure the homemade buttercream went bad, and I paid for it all afternoon and evening. Felt like there was somebody in my stomach randomly stabbing me with a knife from the inside out. I was able to sleep through the night though, and now I'm 90% better. Hopefully today I can just take it easy at home while I pack up for my trip, and tomorrow I'll at least be in good shape to hang out (and maybe play 4square?).

Here's a video from my shred earlier this week:

[Add Block]

Definitely prefer your reverse eggbeater style Frantic over Vašek's high knee Frantic, that Pixie part is just more visible with yours.
It would probably be the right way for Frantic Ducking as well, I'd imagine one could chip out their front teeth with Vašek's method.

[Asmus]

Sick shit Old Homie Quantum! I want your Grifters!

[Sporatical_Distractions]

Sick vid ken! I really like your style in it as well. It looks more low effort than older vids

[C-Fan]

Still kinda want to do a Vegas Jam write up, but life has been conspiring against it. I got back from Vegas last Thursday, and brought my laptop bag into the office on Friday. I had my GoPro in there with my Vegas footage, but I didn't realize it until I got home, so I wasn't able to edit footage this weekend. On Friday night Haley and I went roller skating, and some moron knocked Haley onto her tailbone, which ended up being a really bad injury. That, combined with some car maintenance I had to do, really ate into my weekend.

On Sunday though Cass came into town and we were able to get in a small session. I was a little apprehensive about how the session would go, for two reasons:

I injured my hip flexor 13 days earlier, and when I tried to play on it a week earlier at Vegas Jam, it was a no-go. So I wasn't sure if the hip would allow me to play.
Denver is 1 mile above sea-level, and the altitude sometimes hits out of towners pretty hard when they exercise.

Happily, my hip cooperated and Cass seemed to do fine with the altitude. Her hotel was in a part of town I haven't been to in a few years, so my recollection of good shred spots was a little off. I knew there was a nice park nearby where I shot part of my old Beasts video, with a big frog statue. Sure enough, the park and the frog were still there, but the spot was smaller than I remembered and it was overrun with kids. Luckily, there were some empty tennis courts right nearby which proved to be a very good shred spot. I couldn't bring a camera since I left it at work, but I also didn't think to bring a speaker for music either. Thankfully Cass brought her own speaker and music, so we had tunes to play to.

I took my time warming up, and was happy to find the hip wasn't causing me any of the same pain/problems it did in Vegas. I still didn't feel confident to do much with drifters or atomic on that leg, but it didn't slow me down too much either. I think I'm going to alternate rest days with easy shred days for a while as I try and build back some strength. Cass played well, with a few very long strings. I am definitely jealous of her ripsteins. She was also doing a lot of rake tricks, which looked very cool. I'll have to start integrating that into my game.

After shred we took our time stretching down, then went to get some greek food. The weather was perfect during shred, but after we ate it felt like the temperature dropped 20 degrees. We walked around the neighborhood where the restaurant was which was nice, but most of the cool shops were already closed. We went downtown to get dessert, where Cass got a shake and I got a maple bacon donut. It was amazing.

Cass is in town through Thursday morning, so hopefully we can meet up again on Tuesday for a shred. Wednesday night Haley and I are going to see Walk the Moon, so yeah, crossing my fingers weather is good on Tuesday.

[Cass]

You didn't mention the cat cafe! That was fun.

There are some dope spots in the convention centre I bet we could get away with playing at if the weather sucks. I paid enough to register for this event that I feel justified in shredding here