Oh my Ken I'm sold!!! What a riot.
Yeah I have so much to comment on in your last post. But so little time, oh wait I'm a bum this summer I got tons of time. The last thing you wrote about was judging. As you said its imposible to controle the judges especialy when the judges are newbies. You obviously know how much ones perspective on footbag changes over there career. Witch is why people should have to fill out surves about there experiences b4 they can judge, no realy. as far as all that fearless stuff goes, props. Anything that can make you feel like your game is moving. For me learning a new 3 is just as satisfieing as hitting a new 6(I think I've hit 3? maybe), and hitting a new 3 in a genuine link is WAY more gratifieing than hitting a bunch of fearless, but my along with yours and Schnider's perspective on the game is alot different than many people. Not that any of our perspectives are the same or even that similar. For example I'd love to get into BAP but I don't care to much about big adds, wierd. Anyway its nice to read about someones perspective changing in footbag, and someone who can actual verbalize it. I'm better at random Smart ass comments, or RSAC if you will, or thats what my dad spanked into me threwout my childhood, witch reminds me I need to go use my ointment..
peace and respect
Fanzine
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the Executioner
- BSOS Beast
- Posts: 447
- Joined: 13 Mar 2003 16:18
- Location: Laurel, MD
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shreddaily
- Flower Child
- Posts: 1665
- Joined: 03 Sep 2003 16:56
Todays session was an eventful one. Mainly because I warmed up with two hours of Dance Dance Revolution with my bud Seongtu. If anyone out there has never head of DDR I would say try it out it is great for learning good fairy sets. Seongtu has never even hacked before and he hit a fairy double down, sadly without a footbag, baby steps.
The weather here was very strange today. It started super cloudy but then the ocean winds blew in some humid weather. my hair almost started to curl it was so moist in the air. Or maybe it was the salon I went to. Those guys wanted 80 bucks for a die job and I refused so I think they put something funky in my shampoo. Smells salty.
On the way to the kick session this lady was stairing at me. I had know idea who she was but apparently she knew me, or atleast wanted my attention. She most have been in her sixties. I was a little scared so I started walking away but then she started following me. This lady looked like she should be in a wheel chair but she could power walk faster than I could. I finaly turned around and greated her, and she started making "caaaaaaah" sounds at me? I was very confused, she just kept doing circles around me making caaaaw sounds, and they kept getting louder and more violent. Finnaly after some people started to take notice decided to caaw back at her. Apparently thats exactly what she wanted. She opened her bag and showed me a tape recording devise and ran off laughing histericaly. I have a feeling I have not seen the last of the lady.
The weather made it hard to kick and my strange experience made it hard to concentrate. I was able to hit a few good runs and spinning osis> pdx torque BSOS was a nice suprise. Half way threw my session my lavers finnaly broke threw on the toes. I wasn'tgoing to waste the rest of the day so I decided to have a bairfoot session. I hit tap x 15 and pigbeater x3, both of witch made me fairly happy. But while attempting some fairy sets I landed the wrong way on my right big toe and my toe nail got jammed BAD.
It was purple all over and I knew I would lose it. This was bummig me out because I knew this would mean no kicking for a while, the to make matters worse it started to turn green? I decided to head to the nearest hospital to see if it was infected, who knows what crazy germs could have gotten in me at the park I was playing at?
Unfortunatly the nearest hospital was 20 miles away and as you know the trafic here is awful, especialy because a pre release of the PS3 was going on. One teenager almost ran me off the road. I thought better than to react and just slowed down and tried to avoid the crazy drivers.
When I finaly reached the hospital, I had to wait almost an hour before being chcked out. When I finaly got into the office this old lady walked in with a mask on. I recognized the eyes though. It was the same lady from the park! She took one look at my toe and said "This is not a Vetranarians office we don't service crows." Then she took out her tape recorder and played back my weak caaaw sound, and looped it over and over again and said I had to leave imediatly. I was very confused and demanded to speak to a doctor but she took out a needle and started making threatening jestures with it so I got out of there fast.
It took me another hour to find a hospital and I am in the waiting room now. Luckily they have a public computer and I can share this crazy story with you all. I hope my toe is ok. Fan Out!
The weather here was very strange today. It started super cloudy but then the ocean winds blew in some humid weather. my hair almost started to curl it was so moist in the air. Or maybe it was the salon I went to. Those guys wanted 80 bucks for a die job and I refused so I think they put something funky in my shampoo. Smells salty.
On the way to the kick session this lady was stairing at me. I had know idea who she was but apparently she knew me, or atleast wanted my attention. She most have been in her sixties. I was a little scared so I started walking away but then she started following me. This lady looked like she should be in a wheel chair but she could power walk faster than I could. I finaly turned around and greated her, and she started making "caaaaaaah" sounds at me? I was very confused, she just kept doing circles around me making caaaaw sounds, and they kept getting louder and more violent. Finnaly after some people started to take notice decided to caaw back at her. Apparently thats exactly what she wanted. She opened her bag and showed me a tape recording devise and ran off laughing histericaly. I have a feeling I have not seen the last of the lady.
The weather made it hard to kick and my strange experience made it hard to concentrate. I was able to hit a few good runs and spinning osis> pdx torque BSOS was a nice suprise. Half way threw my session my lavers finnaly broke threw on the toes. I wasn'tgoing to waste the rest of the day so I decided to have a bairfoot session. I hit tap x 15 and pigbeater x3, both of witch made me fairly happy. But while attempting some fairy sets I landed the wrong way on my right big toe and my toe nail got jammed BAD.
It was purple all over and I knew I would lose it. This was bummig me out because I knew this would mean no kicking for a while, the to make matters worse it started to turn green? I decided to head to the nearest hospital to see if it was infected, who knows what crazy germs could have gotten in me at the park I was playing at?
Unfortunatly the nearest hospital was 20 miles away and as you know the trafic here is awful, especialy because a pre release of the PS3 was going on. One teenager almost ran me off the road. I thought better than to react and just slowed down and tried to avoid the crazy drivers.
When I finaly reached the hospital, I had to wait almost an hour before being chcked out. When I finaly got into the office this old lady walked in with a mask on. I recognized the eyes though. It was the same lady from the park! She took one look at my toe and said "This is not a Vetranarians office we don't service crows." Then she took out her tape recorder and played back my weak caaaw sound, and looped it over and over again and said I had to leave imediatly. I was very confused and demanded to speak to a doctor but she took out a needle and started making threatening jestures with it so I got out of there fast.
It took me another hour to find a hospital and I am in the waiting room now. Luckily they have a public computer and I can share this crazy story with you all. I hope my toe is ok. Fan Out!
Wow, I`m happy I changed the title of my blog. Sounds like you had a really intense day. You should try and hit ps blur on both sides, just in case your barbers caused your injury. Always be careful about discarding your hair and nail clippings, especially to people who wanted more money from you. Maybe they summoned the crow lady as revenge for you not getting the dye job?
Little bit of good, little bit of bad
Falling behind with backlog on my entries, but that`s sort of good too. It means that I`m playing a good bit, and maybe it will also make my entries less long and verbose.
Last Saturday I hit Morioka to shred with the crew. It was muggy as hell, and in typical Ken fashion, I decided to make this be the one session in 6 months where I forget to bring a towel
The forecast ruled out rain, so we played on campus at Iwate University. The campus was crawling with high school students, which created an atmosphere that encouraged showboating over working on hard components. Good practice for me, since it created a bit of a routines environment. I just hope I don`t drip sweat nearly as much at worlds. Seriously dying all day. Throughout the entire session, groups of high schoolers used their cellphones to take video of us playing. I was particularly impressed when one high schooler came up to me to compliment us on our game, and he used the word footbag! How cool is that? He said: "you`re really good at footbag." That`s such an advantage that Japan and Europe have over America... none of the baggage associated with the word: Hackey sack.
Kicked off the session by meeting the last 2 members of the club I had yet to meet. It was club photo day, so I got a few pictures shot with the club, then we got to shredding. We used a variation of rock-paper-scissors to divide into 2 circles. There`s like 9 people in the club altogether, including 3 shreditas. Very happy that the club has gotten big enough to require two circles. I mostly went for long strings all day, but I also managed a couple highlights along the way as well. I hit jawa-stepping same swirl for the first time, pretty easily. Frantic felt decent all day... continued my frenzy streak. I was also stoked to hit my Sick 3 again, and then to hit another variation on it (just one of the dexes reversed). Right now, I feel like I have maybe a 50% chance of landing it in competition, but who knows.
Gave Yukari some tips on making her legovers less downtimey, and she managed legover bsos a couple times, which was good to see. Yusuke was trying dlos, but I think he should focus more on solidifying his base of 2s. He`s only been playing a couple months. Saw him hit 4 consecutive ss clippers. Shinchan had the combo of the day by hitting pixie butterfly -spinning clipper-ripwalk. Yeah boy! I think I was most impressed y Azusa though. Last time I played with her, she was doing consecutive toe stalls, and hit her first atw with some tips. This time, she was doing mirages bsos, legovers bsos, and the occasional clipper on one side. She said her record for strong side mirages is 4! Awesome. I can easily see Morioka becoming known as a shredita powerhouse in a year or so if Azusa and Ayako continue progressing as fast as they have.
The other highlight of the session was finding out that one of the new members, Kenji, has the same size shoes as me. He doesn`t have Lavers yet, so when I move in a couple weeks, I will give him my pair of worn-down lavers. They`ll be better than his current shoes, and will likely convince him to buy lavers soon. During this session I developed a nasty blister on my right ring toe, so I stopped early and let him shred in my lavers. I`m really really stoked that this pair of lavers will find some use with a new player, instead of just being tossed in the bin when I leave.
Last Saturday I hit Morioka to shred with the crew. It was muggy as hell, and in typical Ken fashion, I decided to make this be the one session in 6 months where I forget to bring a towel
The forecast ruled out rain, so we played on campus at Iwate University. The campus was crawling with high school students, which created an atmosphere that encouraged showboating over working on hard components. Good practice for me, since it created a bit of a routines environment. I just hope I don`t drip sweat nearly as much at worlds. Seriously dying all day. Throughout the entire session, groups of high schoolers used their cellphones to take video of us playing. I was particularly impressed when one high schooler came up to me to compliment us on our game, and he used the word footbag! How cool is that? He said: "you`re really good at footbag." That`s such an advantage that Japan and Europe have over America... none of the baggage associated with the word: Hackey sack.Kicked off the session by meeting the last 2 members of the club I had yet to meet. It was club photo day, so I got a few pictures shot with the club, then we got to shredding. We used a variation of rock-paper-scissors to divide into 2 circles. There`s like 9 people in the club altogether, including 3 shreditas. Very happy that the club has gotten big enough to require two circles. I mostly went for long strings all day, but I also managed a couple highlights along the way as well. I hit jawa-stepping same swirl for the first time, pretty easily. Frantic felt decent all day... continued my frenzy streak. I was also stoked to hit my Sick 3 again, and then to hit another variation on it (just one of the dexes reversed). Right now, I feel like I have maybe a 50% chance of landing it in competition, but who knows.
Gave Yukari some tips on making her legovers less downtimey, and she managed legover bsos a couple times, which was good to see. Yusuke was trying dlos, but I think he should focus more on solidifying his base of 2s. He`s only been playing a couple months. Saw him hit 4 consecutive ss clippers. Shinchan had the combo of the day by hitting pixie butterfly -spinning clipper-ripwalk.
Yeah boy! I think I was most impressed y Azusa though. Last time I played with her, she was doing consecutive toe stalls, and hit her first atw with some tips. This time, she was doing mirages bsos, legovers bsos, and the occasional clipper on one side. She said her record for strong side mirages is 4! Awesome. I can easily see Morioka becoming known as a shredita powerhouse in a year or so if Azusa and Ayako continue progressing as fast as they have. The other highlight of the session was finding out that one of the new members, Kenji, has the same size shoes as me. He doesn`t have Lavers yet, so when I move in a couple weeks, I will give him my pair of worn-down lavers. They`ll be better than his current shoes, and will likely convince him to buy lavers soon. During this session I developed a nasty blister on my right ring toe, so I stopped early and let him shred in my lavers. I`m really really stoked that this pair of lavers will find some use with a new player, instead of just being tossed in the bin when I leave.
Some personal BOP records
Forgot to mention one more highlight from the Saturday shred: Gochin asked me for advice on consecutive osii, so I told him what I think of, even though I`m pretty crap at osis. I just emphasized the idea of whippnig your head around before you see the stall, and sinking real deep on the support leg and following through. He asked me to demo it, so I did some consecutive osii, and got in a decent rhythm. By the 17th osis, I figured I should try and break my record. My record was 20, and I was happily surprised to get 21! Not a huge improvement, but it felt like a big deal for me, because when I got 20 last time it felt like a fluke, and I wondered if I could ever get that many again.
Had another session on Sunday or Monday, but it was real difficult. I used my ipod to warm up, which worked fine for toe stalls and toe tiltless, but wasn`t very good for guiltless. The wire kept getting tangled on my arm. Still, I managed to set another consecutive record for myself. I hit 76 infinities in a row, crushing whatever was my record in the past. I could have hit more, but the ipod headphones were so tangled, that I was afraid I would mess them up or drop my ipod if I kept going. One earplug was barely clinging to one ear. I didn`t drop, I just accidentally bailed to pdx mirage. So I guess my record for longest guiltless string is at least 77. I felt real frustrated all session. It smelled like cum again, it was humid, and I never felt I got a good rhythm going. Still, I figured it was good to get more adds on the shoes, so I played anyway. The only highlight I managed beyond the 76 infinities, was hitting and sealing my Sick 3, even though it took me a real long time to get it. Even so, I took away some confidence from the session, knowing that I can hit my Sick 3 even on a bad day, and my stamina for routines must be improving, since I can go easy guiltless for long stretches.
Had another session on Sunday or Monday, but it was real difficult. I used my ipod to warm up, which worked fine for toe stalls and toe tiltless, but wasn`t very good for guiltless. The wire kept getting tangled on my arm. Still, I managed to set another consecutive record for myself. I hit 76 infinities in a row, crushing whatever was my record in the past. I could have hit more, but the ipod headphones were so tangled, that I was afraid I would mess them up or drop my ipod if I kept going. One earplug was barely clinging to one ear. I didn`t drop, I just accidentally bailed to pdx mirage. So I guess my record for longest guiltless string is at least 77. I felt real frustrated all session. It smelled like cum again, it was humid, and I never felt I got a good rhythm going. Still, I figured it was good to get more adds on the shoes, so I played anyway. The only highlight I managed beyond the 76 infinities, was hitting and sealing my Sick 3, even though it took me a real long time to get it. Even so, I took away some confidence from the session, knowing that I can hit my Sick 3 even on a bad day, and my stamina for routines must be improving, since I can go easy guiltless for long stretches.
Just had an excellent after-school session now. Had another good after school session yesterday too. I feel my confidence has returned. Just need to really play for fun, and not just tell myself I am playing for fun. Session in Morioka tomorrow. Next week hopefully I`ll catch up in the journal. Just didn`t want to leave the zine on a neutral/down note before the weekend, especially because I`ve got my groove back and am having so much fun again.
Last edited by C-Fan on 03 Jul 2005 18:13, edited 5 times in total.
Hm, thanks for the tip Max! My problem is that my good shred shorts don`t have pockets... but maybe the clip is strong enough that I can clip it the back of my shorts. Worth a shot... I think the thing that throws my balance off the most is holding something in my hand that has a wire connected to my head. That`d be so rad if I could play footbag and listen comfortably to a walkman.
I`ve been playing a ton lately, and they`ve all been good sessions too. I`m really not practicings much for Worlds, but that may be the best preparation. I`ll try my Shred 30 maybe once or twice in a session, my sick 3 maybe a few times. Haven`t really been schooling a routine. Hopefully I can get the songs I want on a CD, which would be a big step in the right direction. I have two songs in mind right now, and one is by Britney. Yes, I`m completely serious.
Its raining today, and I kinda hope that it continues raining after school, so I can take a day off. I`ve been averaging about 5 sessions a week, plus usually a light session on one of the off days. So like 5.5 sessions every 7 days. That`s a lot of footbag. I just feel happy that this year I can play this much, and focus on having fun, as opposed to last year, when I was coming off an injury and had to be careful. I`m looking forward to being able to play hard at Worlds. Last year I wasn`t able to play as hard or as long as I wanted, because my right leg still wasn`t 100%.
My tiltless warm-up has had a positive effect on my game. My flip ATWs are way stronger, and in general my flipside just feels overall more "solid." Its a nice feeling. Skooling frantic set has also helped my flipside pixies, and vice versa as well. Frantic= pixie pixie set.
Some quickie updates on recent sessions:
6/29 Lovely outdoor session. Good weather, no cum smell, not too muggy, good shirt for footbag (no more baggy shorts/shirts before worlds!), plenty of light. Warmed up with my ipod, listened to "September" by Earth, Wind, and Fire, and "Afterparty" by Method Man. Had modified on my mind, so I hit rev-up to torque as an homage to Aaron Orton. In Mosher`s honor, I hit jawa- stepping egg-smear, maybe for the first time. Not that hard, but definitely a cool rewind. Hit pdx egg- whirl repeat to start a string, which felt cool cause usually I don`t play out of flip pdx egg with anything interesting. Some good dexless runs, some OK run throughs of Shred 30. Mosly just happy that I can still go dexless. Discovered that nova from opp toe is real easy. Hit that out of ducking pdx mirage. I didn`t hit my sick 3 combo a single time, bit I was OK with it. Inspired by some Felix vid I saw lately, also hit dod swirl on my weak swirl side, only my second time ever. Hand caught it and yelled Yesss! A second later it dawned on me that I should have tried sealing it with a run with the other swirl foot paradon swirl, and I slapped my forehead. A few more minutes of trying fixed that though, as I started a string with dod swirl, and hit paradon swirl (other swirl foot), blurry whirl, and pdx torque in a sealing run of about 20 tricks. First time ever hitting double downing swirls both sides in a run.
I`ve been playing a ton lately, and they`ve all been good sessions too. I`m really not practicings much for Worlds, but that may be the best preparation. I`ll try my Shred 30 maybe once or twice in a session, my sick 3 maybe a few times. Haven`t really been schooling a routine. Hopefully I can get the songs I want on a CD, which would be a big step in the right direction. I have two songs in mind right now, and one is by Britney. Yes, I`m completely serious.
Its raining today, and I kinda hope that it continues raining after school, so I can take a day off. I`ve been averaging about 5 sessions a week, plus usually a light session on one of the off days. So like 5.5 sessions every 7 days. That`s a lot of footbag. I just feel happy that this year I can play this much, and focus on having fun, as opposed to last year, when I was coming off an injury and had to be careful. I`m looking forward to being able to play hard at Worlds. Last year I wasn`t able to play as hard or as long as I wanted, because my right leg still wasn`t 100%.
My tiltless warm-up has had a positive effect on my game. My flip ATWs are way stronger, and in general my flipside just feels overall more "solid." Its a nice feeling. Skooling frantic set has also helped my flipside pixies, and vice versa as well. Frantic= pixie pixie set.
Some quickie updates on recent sessions:
6/29 Lovely outdoor session. Good weather, no cum smell, not too muggy, good shirt for footbag (no more baggy shorts/shirts before worlds!), plenty of light. Warmed up with my ipod, listened to "September" by Earth, Wind, and Fire, and "Afterparty" by Method Man. Had modified on my mind, so I hit rev-up to torque as an homage to Aaron Orton. In Mosher`s honor, I hit jawa- stepping egg-smear, maybe for the first time. Not that hard, but definitely a cool rewind. Hit pdx egg- whirl repeat to start a string, which felt cool cause usually I don`t play out of flip pdx egg with anything interesting. Some good dexless runs, some OK run throughs of Shred 30. Mosly just happy that I can still go dexless. Discovered that nova from opp toe is real easy. Hit that out of ducking pdx mirage. I didn`t hit my sick 3 combo a single time, bit I was OK with it. Inspired by some Felix vid I saw lately, also hit dod swirl on my weak swirl side, only my second time ever. Hand caught it and yelled Yesss! A second later it dawned on me that I should have tried sealing it with a run with the other swirl foot paradon swirl, and I slapped my forehead. A few more minutes of trying fixed that though, as I started a string with dod swirl, and hit paradon swirl (other swirl foot), blurry whirl, and pdx torque in a sealing run of about 20 tricks. First time ever hitting double downing swirls both sides in a run.
Nice to see BAP invitees working their ATWs 
. Makes me feel better about the time I've spent drilling my weak inside kicks/delays.
Managed a dozen consecutive flip inside kicks tonight, which is about a tenth of my strong side. Woo!
. Makes me feel better about the time I've spent drilling my weak inside kicks/delays.Managed a dozen consecutive flip inside kicks tonight, which is about a tenth of my strong side. Woo!
Colin Kennedy
[email protected]
[email protected]
Yeah, I didn`t really bother learning my flipside fundamentals for my first couple years footbagging, which slowed me down later. I eventually had to go back and re-learn my fundamentals on my flip, which had the pleasant side-effect of making all my strongside moves stronger. I really find that if you understand a move well enough to do it on your flip, it makes your strong side much more consistent. I think most people overestimate how much of footbag is physical ability, and underestimate the mental aspect of the game.
6/30
Played ping-pong after school, and had a real light session after work. Can`t really call it a session, cause I really just messed around. Still, I was stoked to get 4 consecutive pixie mirages in a row pretty easily. Not bad, considering I was wearing baggy basketball shorts. Continued my frenzy streak. Did an excellent shred 30 run through. Had a couple repeated tricks, but I did that to avoid dropping. It`s probably mathematically and strategically better for me to sacrifice uniques and adds (if necessary) in order to avoid drops. I need to really remember that... too often I will push too hard and drop, when I could easily have bailed and not dropped. Surprised myself by hittting dod swirl again pretty easily. Again though, I hand-caught it. But just like the day before, I was soon able to hit another one, which I sealed with a run around 20 contacts including paradon swirl using the other swirl. I was particularly happy with this sealing run, because it had like 7 or 8 dexless in a row in there!
6/30
Played ping-pong after school, and had a real light session after work. Can`t really call it a session, cause I really just messed around. Still, I was stoked to get 4 consecutive pixie mirages in a row pretty easily. Not bad, considering I was wearing baggy basketball shorts. Continued my frenzy streak. Did an excellent shred 30 run through. Had a couple repeated tricks, but I did that to avoid dropping. It`s probably mathematically and strategically better for me to sacrifice uniques and adds (if necessary) in order to avoid drops. I need to really remember that... too often I will push too hard and drop, when I could easily have bailed and not dropped. Surprised myself by hittting dod swirl again pretty easily. Again though, I hand-caught it. But just like the day before, I was soon able to hit another one, which I sealed with a run around 20 contacts including paradon swirl using the other swirl. I was particularly happy with this sealing run, because it had like 7 or 8 dexless in a row in there!
Friday
Feel a little proud that I have the only un-edited post in the "I am footbag" thread. It`s gone undetected for about a week.
Friday, 7/1
Played at school again. I figure: "hey, if I`m going to sweat during gym class, I may as well take advantage and shred some too. " The weather was nice out too, so I played outside for a bit. Hit frenzy like 3 times; one time I sealed with a run including flurry and bed. Hit Jawa to pdx grifter to start a run, which I thought was pretty stylish. Had my foot on pdx torque bsos during the sealing combo I also hit ewalk to blurriest again, which is a fun link. Blur-smear-hippy legbeater bsos. My dexless felt on, which is cool because it seems like lately I can go dexless without concentrating as hard. Its becoming more natural. Got a bit frustrated when Jazz taunted my weak pixie, but I ignored jazz, and the session never got bad. The most fun part of the session was messing around with inside stalls. Stuff like inside set same dlo, or toe whirls both sides set from insides, and paradox miraging inside to same foot blender. That last one feels straight up paradox.
Feel good I am having fun with footbag before worlds, instead of putting pressure on myself. I think this may be the best way for me to prepare for worlds.
Friday, 7/1
Played at school again. I figure: "hey, if I`m going to sweat during gym class, I may as well take advantage and shred some too. " The weather was nice out too, so I played outside for a bit. Hit frenzy like 3 times; one time I sealed with a run including flurry and bed. Hit Jawa to pdx grifter to start a run, which I thought was pretty stylish. Had my foot on pdx torque bsos during the sealing combo
I also hit ewalk to blurriest again, which is a fun link. Blur-smear-hippy legbeater bsos. My dexless felt on, which is cool because it seems like lately I can go dexless without concentrating as hard. Its becoming more natural. Got a bit frustrated when Jazz taunted my weak pixie, but I ignored jazz, and the session never got bad. The most fun part of the session was messing around with inside stalls. Stuff like inside set same dlo, or toe whirls both sides set from insides, and paradox miraging inside to same foot blender. That last one feels straight up paradox. Feel good I am having fun with footbag before worlds, instead of putting pressure on myself. I think this may be the best way for me to prepare for worlds.
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shreddaily
- Flower Child
- Posts: 1665
- Joined: 03 Sep 2003 16:56
Holy shit, I was just checking out the Japanese forums and Takumi is going off! Don`t know if I should post here though, cause I want everybody at worlds to be taken by surprise. I won`t get to play with him until Worlds, but man I`m looking forward to that now.
Other people I am stoked to play with at worlds: Paul Croenjaeger, Vasek, Felix, Tuukka, and Juho Marjo.
Don`t know if I should post here though, cause I want everybody at worlds to be taken by surprise. I won`t get to play with him until Worlds, but man I`m looking forward to that now. Other people I am stoked to play with at worlds: Paul Croenjaeger, Vasek, Felix, Tuukka, and Juho Marjo.
Weekend shred
I`ll change it when you hit my challenge already! Come on Strangedog! It`s a cool trick!
Whoa... 6 more views and my blog will be at 11111 views! That`s a cool number.
Nasty: My dexless is pretty easy and generic still. Mostly ducking, diving, gyro and spinning clippers. Maybe 80% of my dexless is composed of just those. I`ll often end my dexless with ducking or spinning osis, or spinning or gyro eclipse. I also occasionally do zulu stuff, but I never feel its clean enough, and I hate that feeling. I also like to do the occasional toe spin, but only one side really. All my other spinning stuff is relatively both sided.
I used to have a pair of Millenium Ilie Nastases. Most comfortable shoes I`ve ever owned. I called them `my Nastys.` It`d be cool if Nate played in Nastases...
Anyway, in honor of my new blog name, I was going to try and write an entry in Josh`s style, so I checked out his latest entry. It was all about how the police comandeered his boat and he helped apprehend a suicidal wifebeating redneck by pulling him out of an oysterbed. Yeah...um, I never thought of my life as truly boring before, but... yeah, I can`t compete with that. 
So instead I`ll write about my shred over the weekend.
Saturday morning made another case for firing the weatherman. Thankfully though, this meant that it was sunny and nice out, instead of pouring buckets. I got lunch in Morioka, giving myself about 2 hours to digest before shredding, which was a good idea because I got fast food. My favorite burger place, MosBurger, has new burgers in every season, and my favorite sandwich/burger thing is a summer-only affair. Its a piece of nan-bread covered with the ingredients of a taco. Its called nan-tacos. Just trust me on this one, its awesome.
So after nantacos and some gaming in the arcade, Gochin came to pick me up. In the backseat was Russ, a freestyler from Aomori who had found me via my club on footbag.org (I always tell people to make a club listing on .org, even if the club consists of just one person). I had put him in contact with the Morioka crew, and he had played with them a couple weeks before when I was in Tokyo. So it was cool to finally meet him. For some reason we had never mentioned our nationalities during all our email correspondence, so I was kinda surprised when I met him and he spoke with a brogue! Even though his Japanese is better than mine, I still caught myself talking to him in English a lot. I always feel kinda weird speaking Japanese with other gaijin, because there`s always that latent competitiveness, or awareness of the other person`s skill, which makes me feel a bit uncomfortable.
We played at Iwate University, but with a much smaller turnout than last time. Shinchan couldn`t make it due to tests, and altogether there were 6 of us for most of the session. I warmed up real fast, and felt good and springy. Nothing huge all day, but my strings are long and dexless flows very well. My flip pixies and atomic feel good too, and I liberally sprinkle my strings with them without thinking too hard. My shred30 attempts are pretty bad, but I`m not overly fussed about it. At one point Gochin describes one of my combos as "hageshi", which strikes me as a superbadass adjective. Up until then, I had only heard that adjective used to describe wind or rain. It means "strong" like "torrential." That`s one of the best footbag compliments I`ve ever gotten. I`ll make a point to use it myself in the future.
Gochin played pretty well all day. Tap to magellan. Some real nice atom smashers. Shunsuke hit flipside mirage for the first time, and also got it bsos. Yusuke was trying for consecutive flip mirages. I tried to get him to hit legover-mirage repeat. He didn`t hit it, but hes definitely capable of it. The highlight of the session was Ayako`s play. She`s really on track to become one of Japan`s best shreditas. 5 legovers in a row! Booyah! Just overall her control looks better, and you can tell she has grasped the idea of trying to go for long runs linking 2s together. Gave her some tips on how to think of clipper set mirage, which I think may help her.
It was fun playing with Russell. He has lanky legs which really remind me of Kung Fu Kyle (crawford). He`s only been doing 2 add tricks for a couple weeks, but his toe 2s are solid. I think its because he`s got such good control over his basic kicks. I taught him how to hit mirage from same side toe ("pixie"), and also got him to link 2 add moves for the first time. He hit legover to pick up. Towards the end of the session he was close to linking 3 2s.
About an hour into the session it started raining, so we relocated to a covered bike garage. It kinda reminded me of the automotive jam from Worlds 97 vids, and was fun. This blog entry is full of old skool references.
Whoa... 6 more views and my blog will be at 11111 views! That`s a cool number.
Nasty: My dexless is pretty easy and generic still. Mostly ducking, diving, gyro and spinning clippers. Maybe 80% of my dexless is composed of just those. I`ll often end my dexless with ducking or spinning osis, or spinning or gyro eclipse. I also occasionally do zulu stuff, but I never feel its clean enough, and I hate that feeling. I also like to do the occasional toe spin, but only one side really. All my other spinning stuff is relatively both sided.
I used to have a pair of Millenium Ilie Nastases. Most comfortable shoes I`ve ever owned. I called them `my Nastys.` It`d be cool if Nate played in Nastases...
Anyway, in honor of my new blog name, I was going to try and write an entry in Josh`s style, so I checked out his latest entry. It was all about how the police comandeered his boat and he helped apprehend a suicidal wifebeating redneck by pulling him out of an oysterbed.
Yeah...um, I never thought of my life as truly boring before, but... yeah, I can`t compete with that. So instead I`ll write about my shred over the weekend.
Saturday morning made another case for firing the weatherman. Thankfully though, this meant that it was sunny and nice out, instead of pouring buckets.
I got lunch in Morioka, giving myself about 2 hours to digest before shredding, which was a good idea because I got fast food. My favorite burger place, MosBurger, has new burgers in every season, and my favorite sandwich/burger thing is a summer-only affair. Its a piece of nan-bread covered with the ingredients of a taco. Its called nan-tacos. Just trust me on this one, its awesome. So after nantacos and some gaming in the arcade, Gochin came to pick me up. In the backseat was Russ, a freestyler from Aomori who had found me via my club on footbag.org (I always tell people to make a club listing on .org, even if the club consists of just one person). I had put him in contact with the Morioka crew, and he had played with them a couple weeks before when I was in Tokyo. So it was cool to finally meet him. For some reason we had never mentioned our nationalities during all our email correspondence, so I was kinda surprised when I met him and he spoke with a brogue! Even though his Japanese is better than mine, I still caught myself talking to him in English a lot. I always feel kinda weird speaking Japanese with other gaijin, because there`s always that latent competitiveness, or awareness of the other person`s skill, which makes me feel a bit uncomfortable.
We played at Iwate University, but with a much smaller turnout than last time. Shinchan couldn`t make it due to tests, and altogether there were 6 of us for most of the session. I warmed up real fast, and felt good and springy. Nothing huge all day, but my strings are long and dexless flows very well. My flip pixies and atomic feel good too, and I liberally sprinkle my strings with them without thinking too hard. My shred30 attempts are pretty bad, but I`m not overly fussed about it. At one point Gochin describes one of my combos as "hageshi", which strikes me as a superbadass adjective. Up until then, I had only heard that adjective used to describe wind or rain. It means "strong" like "torrential." That`s one of the best footbag compliments I`ve ever gotten. I`ll make a point to use it myself in the future.
Gochin played pretty well all day. Tap to magellan. Some real nice atom smashers. Shunsuke hit flipside mirage for the first time, and also got it bsos. Yusuke was trying for consecutive flip mirages. I tried to get him to hit legover-mirage repeat. He didn`t hit it, but hes definitely capable of it. The highlight of the session was Ayako`s play. She`s really on track to become one of Japan`s best shreditas. 5 legovers in a row! Booyah! Just overall her control looks better, and you can tell she has grasped the idea of trying to go for long runs linking 2s together. Gave her some tips on how to think of clipper set mirage, which I think may help her.
It was fun playing with Russell. He has lanky legs which really remind me of Kung Fu Kyle (crawford). He`s only been doing 2 add tricks for a couple weeks, but his toe 2s are solid. I think its because he`s got such good control over his basic kicks. I taught him how to hit mirage from same side toe ("pixie"), and also got him to link 2 add moves for the first time. He hit legover to pick up. Towards the end of the session he was close to linking 3 2s.
About an hour into the session it started raining, so we relocated to a covered bike garage. It kinda reminded me of the automotive jam from Worlds 97 vids, and was fun. This blog entry is full of old skool references.
Sunday, therapeutic shred
As I`ve mentioned, my time in Japan is fast coming to a close. I see these final days, these final grains of sand, falling off the calendar in progressively faster fashion, and feel lucky to have footbag to center myself mentally as I push my way through the logistical and emotional whirlpools which I face with increasing frequency and intensity as my departure draws nearer.
After my Saturday shred, I met up with my ex-girlfriend to say goodbye. We only dated 10 months, and broke up over a year ago, but it still promised to be my hardest goodbye in Japan. We hung out on Saturday night and Sunday, and it was a nice, if not emotionally gut-wrenching goodbye.
After she left, I lost no time in lacing up the lavers and heading out to play footbag. I just knew it was the right thing to do, and that it would comfort me and remind me of who I am. I knew it didn`t matter if I hit anything all session, just the simple act of being able to find solace and strength by doing the thing I love most, I knew that would be enough. I felt really really lucky that I had footbag to fall back on. Maybe other people would drink, or play videogames, or eat a lot, but I had footbag. I`m so fortunate that I have such a healthy and positive outlet.
I warmed up with my ipod and just kicked a lot. Didn`t really count. Same with my toe tiltless warm up. Comfort in the feel of the bag rhythmically finding my foot. That`s all that mattered. I just let the session come to me, I didn`t force anything for most of the session, and it felt good. Just flowed. I did still manage to hit a few decent combos. Probably proudest of:
jawa-blur-pixie butterfly-ducking butterfly-blur -jawa
jawa-fog-pigbeater.
ewalk-ps whirl bs
Lots of frenzies bs
My sick 3 for worlds again!
I ended up playing til it was completely dark in the parking lot, but I think I needed to play that long. When I finally made my way back inside, I felt at peace, and excited for worlds and the future.
Thank you, footbag.
After my Saturday shred, I met up with my ex-girlfriend to say goodbye. We only dated 10 months, and broke up over a year ago, but it still promised to be my hardest goodbye in Japan. We hung out on Saturday night and Sunday, and it was a nice, if not emotionally gut-wrenching goodbye.
After she left, I lost no time in lacing up the lavers and heading out to play footbag. I just knew it was the right thing to do, and that it would comfort me and remind me of who I am. I knew it didn`t matter if I hit anything all session, just the simple act of being able to find solace and strength by doing the thing I love most, I knew that would be enough. I felt really really lucky that I had footbag to fall back on. Maybe other people would drink, or play videogames, or eat a lot, but I had footbag. I`m so fortunate that I have such a healthy and positive outlet.
I warmed up with my ipod and just kicked a lot. Didn`t really count. Same with my toe tiltless warm up. Comfort in the feel of the bag rhythmically finding my foot. That`s all that mattered. I just let the session come to me, I didn`t force anything for most of the session, and it felt good. Just flowed. I did still manage to hit a few decent combos. Probably proudest of:
jawa-blur-pixie butterfly-ducking butterfly-blur -jawa
jawa-fog-pigbeater.
ewalk-ps whirl bs
Lots of frenzies bs
My sick 3 for worlds again!
I ended up playing til it was completely dark in the parking lot, but I think I needed to play that long. When I finally made my way back inside, I felt at peace, and excited for worlds and the future.
Thank you, footbag.
Re: Sunday, therapeutic shred
? Somehow double posted... 
Inauspicious start for page 17... but yeah, last entry on page 16 is my Sunday shred, with some nice combos. Looks like today will also be a rainout, making for a rare 2 day hiatus from physical activity.
Inauspicious start for page 17... but yeah, last entry on page 16 is my Sunday shred, with some nice combos. Looks like today will also be a rainout, making for a rare 2 day hiatus from physical activity.