Wasabi: M(s)+J = BLAST

[Wasabi]

I haven't updated this bloggy in awhile...

Umm, Funtastiks was pretty good. I had more ups than downs. I mainly only had two things that upsetted me over the weekend at that tournament, but it's nothing I should worry or fuss about too much. One is an ankle tweak, and one is an encounter that was better left unwitnessed (it's the best way I can describe the incident). I sold out on all of my bags, played with a great deal of players and had a great time overall. The only regrets I have is not playing more, playing better, and not being able to hang out with the people I feel I am close with in the footbag world more.

I think the two people I felt truly appreciative in hanging out was James Roberts and Daniel Bodkin - two members that have been inducted into the Hall of Fame that very weekend; two people that made great efforts in the name of footbag. I enjoyed talking to Daniel Bodkin the most, honestly, since we are both stitchers by heart and know the workings in the footbag stitching universe. Heh, it's unique that I bring up the term "universe" along with Daniel Bodkin, since it seems like he is a true believer of astrology in a way. I suppose it was fated that we met at the one Funtastiks that he would be inducted into the Hall of Fame, and that I was fully prepared as an experienced stitcher to talk to him about our joint passion (stitching).

Speaking of stitching, on Saturday, I made a large 8-panel made out of red fleece out of Daniel Bodkin's panels stash, using sinew (sp?) thread. It was a tough yet simple project, as I'm not used to using sinew and red fleece, and I've never stitched an 8-panel in my life. I managed to complete it after awhile, and it came out much bigger than a baseball. But since the bag was made out of borrowed materials, I thought it would only be good for my karma to give it away to somebody. David Beyers and Jon Schneider had to thumb wrestle over it. Jon won.

I made a bag for Age. It is the sex. I wish I took a picture of it. It was a mini 32, with Lapis pents, and Marmalade/Burnt Orange/Saffron/Sunny Sienna/Cinnabar hexes.

I think what made my time at Funtastiks truly special was hanging out with Ken David more. I don't hang out with him too often in NYC, but at Harrisburg it just seemed like a great exception. His optimism is a great thing, and has inspired me to be more outgoing in my personal life as well.

I wish I could have hung out with Tom Mosher and Matt Cross more. Then again, I've lost my "party" nerve over the months (meaning, I've grown to be somewhat of a boring person from my sobriety, I think). Can't say if my decision to party less is a good or bad thing though...
_________________________________________________

Okay, to update on my life back into NYC:

-Classes are fun. Five and a half years at this college is leaving me with a bad nerve, but I think if I work much harder this semester, I can ease off and graduate comfortably.
-Being more outgoing to the girl I like is fun in of itself. I wish she could care for me like I do for her, though, but being close friends isn't so bad I guess.
-Since I sold out on all of my bags at Funastiks, I have to make more bags for Hackrifice. My right hand hurts with pinched nerves and the possibility that I may have carpal tunnel syndrome. Ugh. So far, the only bags I've made is one for myself and one for ECFC 25. I'll post pics sometime soon.
-Got my red Team Kolo Sport jersey (#23). It looks cool, but I'm disappointed that it's a medium. It looks pretty big and baggy on me. Hopefully if I plan on buying another jersey with the #23 on it, I can convince Kolo to make me a small.
-The tweaked ankle is feeling better. It feels funny, maybe painful, to crank my ankle. It just doesn't react in the same way as my other ankle. Hopefully it will recover quickly; massaging and resting is the best I can do.
-Played on Sunday afternoon. I think I played pretty horribly, and I missed on a lot of moves that I shouldn't have missed. I guess not playing for most of the week after Funtastiks and saving it for Sunday afternoon was a bad choice on my part. However, I think I made great strivings as well, like:

• pdx. mirage > op clipper rpt. x4
• Hitting eggbeater and following it up with a decent string afterwards.
• Getting a new personal record on consecutive pixies.

Long post.

[Wasabi]

I wish I had more girly love and a little less sweaty man love.

[Wasabi]

Managing and submitting a graduation audit is seriously complicated.

edit : I misread my audit print out! I just have to clear my current semester of classes with decent grades, and complete my incompleted assignments, and I'm in the clear! Now to fill out my graduation audit suckas!

[Wasabi]

I haven't had the focus to type up my write-up for Hackrifice 10 because of school work and stitching. However, I will get to it sometime during this week as that weekend is still very vivid in my mind.

All I can say is that it is definitely one of the best tournaments I've gone to in awhile, and I felt that I've played pretty well (though I always wish I could have done better). A lot of amazing, funny and great things happened in my trip to Winnipeg, and I intend to type them out! It was a blast!

[mannampepo]

you better miss Canada!.... and me hahah.

[Wasabi]

Hackrifice 10 write-up!

Friday, Sept. 19, 2008 - Day One

To start off I should mention my Thursday evening before I write about what happened on Friday, since my flight is at 6 in the morning. On Thursday I was stressed out on college work, stitching and getting my stuff together for my trip to Winnipeg, that I ended a pretty long-term friendship that I had with this girl. I guess things hadn't added up well throughout the years that we don't synchronize well (we argued on something as silly as a graduation audit). In any case, that's in the past. I packed up everything that I believe I could pack up, and slept lightly for a good 4-5 hours before I had to leave by cab and into LaGuardia airport.

But there was one important item that I forgot to take with me: my PASSPORT!! I'm such an idiot! This was like the crucial ninth inning in a baseball game, or the tiebreaker that would end the 5th set in an intense tennis match. I only had one hour before my flight would go to Chicago O'Hare airport!! So, I punched my home number and called up my drowsy parents at 5am to help me deliver my passport to me in time (embarassing, I know! ). My Pa eventually got to LaGuardia at 5:17am in time for my flight, gave me my passport, and I gave him a hearty hug and a lunch that I would eventually treat both of my parents to the following week.

I didn't get to check my baggage, as the check-in time was too late, so I had to bring my wheeled carrier into security. I brought shot inside one of my baggage, and I had to nervously explain my case to the authorities. "Um, yeah I make hackysacks, so the container you're holding is filled with ______ shot to fill them in." They let me through.

The flight(s) were long but not as stressful as I thought. When I got to Chicago, i finished up on making a 32 while I ate this pan pizza made with smoked salmon and tartar sauce. It was delicious, but maybe a bit too overwhelming. Sewing during flights definitely pushed my motivation further, as it is something i haven't done before. However, I think the atmospheric pressure put a damper on my focus, and with the lack of sleep, I was slowly falling asleep while stitching.

So, I get to Winnipeg, and I was confronted with the Canadian authorities. Weird, isn't it? You get to Canada from the States, and they stop you at Canadian grounds to validate whether you're allowed to enter the country of not. I mean, they did the same thing at China, but it was traveling from one region to another, and nothing within international terms. Luckily, I got a pretty attractive officer to interview me, and we talked about Hackrifice 10! She sounded pretty interested in the tournament, but she was also wary that I might "solicit clinical care to patrons." I guess the stoner objectivity of footbag tournaments will take a long time to put aside.

I spent maybe 5-7 minutes roaming around the airport in Winnipeg before I find out that Erik Chan and Mike Faille were right behind my tail. Without any cellular contact with people at this tournament, I felt a bit nervous on how I would meet up with footbaggers, but I suppose everything went according to plan. We eventually met up with Kevin Regamey at baggage claim, and we talked about classic consoles (specifically a Pong console that Kevin dug out somewhere, which needed 6 "C" batteries to power ). We then drove to the Forks Market.

When we got there, shred was happening. I was pretty stoked and slightly nervous to make myself social. It's been 2 years since I've been on Canadian soil, so I wanted to absorb the scenery more than interacting with people (although interaction, with Canadians especially, is something that I was ecstactic about as well). I met up with old and new faces - Rory Dawson, Byrin Wylie, Denton Louis, Andrew Grant, Camille Surovy, Johnny Suderman, Andrew Dunford, Kyle Warren, Joel and Michelle - and it was a blast. Jeff Lopes and Manna Mpepo arrived a little later that afternoon. Shred was happening and it was intense. Byrin and Rory threw down amazing stuff as always. Manna was there to destroy, in pants and fancy casual shoes, and although we felt some concern for his leg injury, he was persistent and stoic to throw down.

I heard the CBC was interviewing everyone at the Forks, but I wasn't aware of their presence. I did see a camera man. For the most part, I was still feeling weary from my trip to Manitoba.

Rory, Denton and I did some elbow bag. It was cool and weird. We sort of gave up when Rory wanted to kick some more, and that we pretty much accomplished all, if not most, of the surfaces that can be achieved through elbow bag.

There was one hilarious incident where Kevin wanted to do stall transfers, and Andrew Grant was game (I believe for double's routines and such). There was something like pincher transfer to pincher, and that was weird and entertaining, and then it just got more homoerotic from there. I think that was one of the very few times in my life where I was losing my breath laughing (so much so that I had to kneel down to the ground to grab my composure). This was definitely one of the best highlights I've experienced in any tournament.

Me and Andrew Dunford were comparing bags. It was sweet. I sold a bag that i called "Raphael" to Denton, as my theme for bags that I would sell at Hackrifice would be inspired by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The pattern was sick and the colors made it look Christmas-y, but I was glad that Denton got that bag.

When we got to Erik's place, we had time to kill. I believe we all wanted to go out and eat, and that place would be Ruby Tuesdays (a traditional hang-out for the Winni-baggers). So, me being the enthusiast, I found light in Erik's many family-style board games: Jenga! Me, Mike, Johnny and his girlfriend Rachelle (sp?) were totally game, and it was seriously intense. I had shaky hands, so it was really hard for me not to topple the great Jenga tower. I felt really lucky in removing some pieces, especially the one piece which we all thought might make the Jenga tower fall. Mike awarded me one Canadian dollar for my efforts, which I eventually used for dinner later. Rachelle was the one that made the great tower of Jenga fall, which she tried to balance with her head but eventually led us to think she headbutted it down. At dinner, we (Johnny, Rachelle, Mike, and myself) were apparently seated at the same table, and we had a load of fun naming ourselves "Jengafrice" or "Team Donnokkablokka." Much love to Johnny and Mike for the great names.

I think we all went to shred at the University later that night. Me, Rory, and Denton had a pretty quaint bathroom stall conversation, in which Rory was later replaced by Erik for his commentary. Disgusting, I know, but it was amusing I thought. Breaking the silence barrier/boundary within the toilet was something that I felt could be memorable in any great tournament, especially in Hackrifice 10.

It was hot in the University, but we all had fun shredding like crazy. I think I over-exerted myself that night, but it felt good to play in a warm setting. I didn't get to hit many highlights that I wanted to hit, but whatever. It was better than stitching, I thought then.

-End Day One-

[Muffinman]

I'm glad you had so much fun here, Waylon! It was so awesome to have you; and all the way from New York! Man! Kevin's and Andrew's stall transfers were HILARIOUS! I hope somebody got some of that on video... I think either Rishell or Camille may have?? And... yeah, the bathroom thing was one of the most awkward things I've ever experienced

[Wasabi]

I think I forgot to mention in the last entry about Kevin's awesome video that he made for Hackrifice 9. It was simply epic, and was shown to a live public audience later Saturday Night (which I will elaborate further).

I also forgot to mention some weird car ride conversations that me, Erik, Mike and Kevin had as we drove to the Forks. About Kevin's two near death experiences on the same stretch of road (one involving Erik and letting out a scream and such). And me pointing out an obese person riding on an electronic wheelchair, which piqued my attention.

Saturday, September 20, 2008 - Day Two

The people that crashed at Erik's place on Friday night were me, Camille, Mike, Kevin, and Jeff. I think Andrew was there as well, but I can't really confirm that (for Saturday at least). I awoke on the cold floor with shred music in the air, and lo and behold what was playing on Erik's television was "Balance Of Power." What a classic shred video to start the day off. We all showered and had a mild breakfast, while watching some major performances of Allan Haggett, Peter Irish and Sunil Jani. I think Camille took a long time to shower that morning.

We all went to a Tim Horton's to get our breakfast fix. The staff there took a while to get our orders completed, and I think there was a small error for Mike Faille's order that lagged our stay further. I was fascinated by how small the "small" cups were at this fast food joint, because in America everything is big (even the small serving size). I had a good caffeine fix with my French Vanilla roast (I think that's what I ordered). However, the egg salad, in which me and Kevin both ordered, didn't bode well for our palette as the people at the Tim Horton's put too much horse radish.

We feasted and socialized as we entered the event site, the River Osborne Community Center. The preliminary warm-up shred and qualifying routine comps were all done within the street-hockey rink. I felt wowed and at awe of this setting, since like the Forks Market I was looking around and absorbing the area with exact detail. I watched many Hackrifice/Winnipeg videos that involved this hockey rink - it felt nostalgic, even though this is the first time I've set foot there. The CBC reporting crew was already there, and Net has already started on the grass field adjacent to the rink.

I was stopped to be interviewed by the CBC. I felt a bit nervous, as I'm always camera shy in these types of situations, but I tried my best to keep a comfortable pace and just answered the questions that I've been asked. I mean, I'm the only yankee that flew in to this tournament, so I have to at least give a pretty good impression. I was sporting my red Team Kolo Sport jersey and maroon shorts, so I felt like I was standing out A LOT. I think I did a good job, but I doubt I actually made it to the final cut of their report on the tournament.

Shred was sweet. I didn't get to hit some of the stuff that I wanted to, but I remembered that I felt really sore from the night before at the University of Manitoba. I remembered clearly that when Manna entered the circle, he had a cold glare and wanted to Mulroney everyone. Seriously intimidating!!

Note: Will post more later. Day Two incomplete.

[Wasabi]

I'm updating with a new post in this blog to say that I'm not really an avid blog writer. I like reading blogs, but I haven't found the appropriate times or interest to do so during my last semester at college. The work has gotten to be really aggressive, tedious and tumultuous - all in one package to torment my winter. Added that I'm also scheduling for job interviews and internships in the hopes of obtaining a stable line of work for my future has been my biggest concern at the moment.

Although I'm saying this, I do have to apologize for not completing my Hackrifice 10 write-up. It was a great tournament, and I had some of my best footbag tournament experiences right at Winnipeg, Manitoba. I've met some of the greatest people in footbag right at that very tournament. Sadly, the interest in completing and conveying a summarization of my experience is permanently lacking, I feel. There are just a lot of items and issues in my life that are taking precedence over blog-writing, so I think its reasonable to explain myself in this way.

In terms of footbag, I haven't had a serious session for quite some time and the consistencies of my performance has been diminishing. I mostly just hack in unmodded Lavers or G-units and try to shred my best in them than in my Quantum02s.

The last thing I was working on was Merlin. I think I footed it somewhere around mid-late October and then stopped progressing. I still have the motivation to seal that trick, and then some, so I'm not out of the game just yet. I just don't have the time to train myself with solo sessions these days. As for casual hacking, I've been trying to keep my consistency up with clippers and with moves that end in clipper. Toe-reverse whirl is one of few tricks that I've been working on and off during these "hack" sessions with minor success, I guess.

Anyway, after this semester is over, I hope to play more footbag while juggling with job interviews and internships. I just booked my flight for NYJ at Chicago so I'm hoping that experience will help motivate me to play better amongst my peers. I'll see you all there.

[Wasabi]

I got a minor nervous breakdown sometime on Wednesday, so for the rest of the week I've given myself some leisure time to put my mind away from my studies. I've sewn one bag since then, an amaretta/facile mini hybrid, and it's alright (though not very cleanly, since I've been out of touch from stitching for some time), but I think it can pass for a $30 bag at NYJ. I'll post a picture of it soon. I'm stitching up some unique bags for sale by the end of this year, but I'll try to make most of my bags look clean and professional enough to be worth buying.

My body feels pretty sluggish right now. I've tried running down a block and had to gasp for air like crazy. This Fall semester has really done a number on my health, in more ways than one. I'm really concerned about how my footbag profession would be like until I reach Chicago, and I only have a few weeks left. It's not like I feel that I'm inevitably going to fail at competition, but my motivation to not do horribly is my concern right now.

Anyway, the best time I can schedule with my doctor is after New Years, so what I can do now is keep up with a balanced nutritional diet, and keep up a self-efficable mentality until then. Train what I can do, and have fun doing it. I don't want to go into NYJ wanting to compete and blow away the competition, but I do want to enjoy my stay there. Smoking is probably out of the question, even though I've gotten back into the habit just recently. All I'm really anticipating is connecting with some old and new friends in footbag while I'm there, and have fun in both the freestyle and net courts.

[Wasabi]

The NYFA crew had an evening indoor session at Dick Shea's. Pretty big turnout too. It was a shame that we could only play for two hours, together.

Those who came to kick: Bruce Dole, Pascal Tomecek, Barrett Neimeth, Greg Pestillo, David Beyers, Drew Martin, Jon Schneider, Matt Isanuk, myself. Sometimes I'm unaware of how big our crew is, but I guess that is due in part that we all live pretty different lives, with different priorities and different mentalities toward footbag. It was a joy to kick with everyone! I hear from Bruce that we have more new members coming into our club, but they rarely show themselves within our scheduled session times.

There is one person that I'm a little interested in. He's an Asian guy that goes to NYU. He has Lavers and last I heard from him was sometime in early October, I think. He was schooling on clippers from what I heard, so hopefully he'll come kick with us soon.

Here are some small highlights that I achieved during this session:

*clipper > ss illusion bsos. First try I think, and the first illusion seemed pretty ankle-y.
*Merlin. Looked pretty clean, but I felt I could do better with the backside mirage.

In this session my goal was to link as many combinations, however small they were, together as clean and relaxed as possible. Fairy same legover > pixie op clipper > pdx. mirage; fairy op legover > frontside toe blur; smear > eggbeater; pdx. mirage > toe same reverse whirl; these are some links that I remember. Some I've hit, some I haven't - what I wanted to see is where my performance cap was at in this session, and see clearly on what I need to improve. For example, my strong side mirage dexterity (left leg) is actually my weak illusion dex; my right leg is my weak legover; how is my body positing itself during eggbeaters and Merlin?; the list goes on. I intend to play more and more in solo sessions to improve on the basics so that I can hit these links efficiently. Plus, I want to play well at NYJ, so the better I prepare, the less guilt I'll feel.

I'm still working on reverse whirls. I can clear the dexterity, but my body pushes/nudges forward quite a bit that my clipper delay ends up pushing the bag off. Strong side stepping feels good. I felt that my problem with stepping was momentum and clipper placement and delay. I've understood the clipper concept and felt satisfied with my stepping sets last night, but now I want to hit stepping out of butterfly which adds to my concern on momentum. Simply put, I just need to school on butterflies, which I haven't exactly done in quite some time.

In my solo sessions and at hack, I think the one thing I want to work on the most is butterfly, and see how much I can hit that consecutively. I think my last record was five, which is pathetic now that I think about it, but we all start somewhere I guess. Now seems like a good time to hit ten or more of that trick. My clipper form has gotten a lot cleaner, but I can get sloppy sometimes due to lack of focus so I think I'll be drilling those more.

[C-Fan]

Fairy same legover > pixie op clipper > pdx. mirage; fairy op legover > frontside toe blur; smear > eggbeater; pdx. mirage > toe same reverse whirl;

Have you hit 20 tiltless yet? Can you do 10 clippers on each side consistently? In 5 attempts at a tiltless string, what is the average number of contacts you get?

Threes and fours will come to you easier if your foundation of twos are solid. If your 2s aren't dialed, then you may be able to occasionally fluke harder tricks, but what's the point? I want to see you get 20 tiltless, or even better, consistently get 10-15 tiltless on command every time.

[Wasabi]

I'll definitely school the two adds, Ken. I just drilled clippers earlier this afternoon, but with some unfortunate injury as a result from it.

It's nothing serious. It's a slight tweak on my strong clipper, and I was playing in unmodded Lavers on wet terrain (smooth concrete to be exact). It should heal in two days at most. If I can find some time, though, I think I'll mod the pair of Lavers I was wearing and begin playing in them in preparation for NYJ.

[Wasabi]

I've been slaving away at papers this entire week that I haven't had the time to train at footbag. I've had a stressful final exam on Thursday that left me tired and hating my preparation/performance so much that I'm feeling really depressed about myself. Added that my professor seemed to dart and stab me with his cold gaze because I owe him two papers and such, I'm feeling the heat as I am typing this. I'm taking most of today and tomorrow on finishing them.

I have another final paper that is due at 4pm today, but it seems doubtful that I'll have it completed by then. I'm reserving all of my attention for it tomorrow and Sunday, and I hope I can submit it sometime then (I've set Monday as my limit for submission). I also have a couple of papers due for another class, but since they are for a memoir class where you are given free liberty to self-reflect with the text you are analyzing about, I can spend plenty of time working on those, stress-free. I'll probably reserve them for Monday or Tuesday.

In terms of stitching, I think I'll reserve most of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday on cutting panels and maybe spend some time making bags. I think it should work out before I make my trip to NYJ. However, I do feel like I want to spend time with someone during Christmas evening and Day, just doing nothing, so that I can reflect on where i want to lead my life. NYC is such a bustling town, and I just feel like a small country boy with a college education that has no merit whatsoever (what can you do in life with a Creative Writing BA, minoring in Asian American Studies and Psychology?).

I do want to work somewhere involving the Asian American community, probably something involving closely to its polity, but nothing really rings a bell to me at the moment. Plus, with the job market as it is now, i think working somewhere within Hunter College is my best bet. However, working at the Asian American Studies department is seemingly non-existent, because the department and administration is, as I just mentioned, non-existent. There's just not enough funding, and everyone that works under that department is an adjunct. If I want departmental work, a private or state college is where its at involving my interests, but I'm afraid that my academic record won't make me an interesting candidate.

Realistically, I feel like a product of abjection as I'm reaching toward the end of my college life. This is not pessimistic in any way, though, because I've had this thought countless times from having chosen Creative Writing as my major during college. What can I do with that college experience? What can I develop and transcend from that field? I've always hit a dead end when it came to that, and I'm just not sure if I can find a good-paying job with my interest in English. And with this degenerating faith toward my academic experience, I'm slowly losing interest in developing the life that i wanted to imagine myself in prior to college: a teacher, a tutor, a person that utilizes the English language to not only communicate with his colleagues but benefits himself economically.

But yeah, I feel like I've spoken about this in my blog countless times. I try to keep this to myself, because it has nothing to do with footbag, but I don't have any other place to write it down, and I want to make my thoughts known to other people.

Anyway, once I get my work done, I hope to see you all at NYJ guilt-free. I'm still very tiltless in footbag, with some advanced moves in my mix. I'm just trying to keep myself elated within a mental perspective.

edit: Fixed last sentence after a second review.

[crazylegs32]

Theres all kids of creative writing in advertising.

[Wasabi]

I got chewed out by my professor over the phone. His class is only an elective which accounts for the remaining 3 credits I need for my cumulative credit total of 120 to qualify for graduation. It's only a course that covers the early plays by Shakespeare, and he's a pretty big traditionalist and favoritist of the man, so our talk was pretty one-sided. He held his soverignty over me in our talk, and I felt somewhat broken by it, but my father consoled me to take one step at a time. I really felt defeated and down, but there's something about my Dad that knows how to fix my mental break-up sometimes (even though I hate to admit it).

I can't honestly say all I want to say about my parents except that I'm truly grateful to them. They are the ones whom have supported me to today, even through my many faults of character, supported my college education and are funding my trip to NYJ. It's during the times when I feel really down about myself that they truly shine. I really cherish their selfless nature, even if my Mom is a devoted gambler and my Dad has become a sloth that watches TV for most of his day.

Call it karma or my own personal superstition, but I think today feels like a pretty big turning point for me. Today I realized what I need to do for myself and for my future, and where I should lead my life. I have a pretty big understanding on what I want to do. It's just a matter of getting my information out there. It may take a couple of months, more or less, but I want to do my best in finding the one job that I'm satisfied in working at (even if it isn't my primary interest), because I want to work and help support my family as much as possible. Doing minimum wage work, going to college, and helping around the home doesn't seem to suffice to me anymore. I have to elevate my standards in life so that I may elevate myself and my environment as well.

I think in the next year, without the burden of college hanging onto my shoulders, it would be a good time to find a commitment with someone. I shouldn't let romance get in the way of my future in findinga job that pays well, but it's something that I have been considering for some time. It's not like I haven't worked the field before, but my inclinations toward college study and work always got in my way during the crucial moments of my relationships.

Anyway, NYJ is this Friday, because that's the day when many footbagging attendees will be arriving at O'Hare. I'll be the earliest to arrive there, I think, but I'm guessing Eoghan will be beating me to it since he's arriving sometime in the night of the 25th. I'm going to start cutting panels tomorrow, and sew bags around Christmas Day and evening. I won't be having an eventful Christmas other than familial obligations, since it seems that everyone around me has plans. It's probably expected because I haven't had contact with many people through any interpersonal setting other than Facebook and whatever. I suppose it's fine, though, because we all live our own individual lives.

Happy holidays everyone, and I'll see most of you in Chicago later this week.

[Wasabi]

I'll just summarize my experience at Chicago in this one post. I know I'll be missing out on a lot of details, but overall I had a lot of fun at this jam. The hospitality was awesome and I met a lot of great footbaggers with a ton of personality.

I came in Friday morning weary and sore because I came in on an early flight and it was delayed. Actually, I flew in on Chicago on time, but because of the frozen roads my plane couldn't enter a gate until an hour or two later. So, my ass was sore from sitting and I was cooling off a lot. I also forgot my scale at home, so I lost whatever motivation in sewing bags for sale in Chicago. Bummer.

Tom Kotsatkos was nice enough to invite me into his home. I gave him my prize bag, we sorted out the prizes and the "Shredder" t-shirts that were for sale at the jam. He even made one in front of me (made especially for him; red logo on black tee) which looked really cool. His parents and the hospitality they provided were awesome as well. Their dog "Paris" was a little rascal, but I had fun with her. I was told to keep away from their bigger dog, but in my head he looked like a big baby asking for food.

Around noon or so we went to pick up Matt Kemmer, and I think afterwards we went to Reile's place to see Eoghan McDowell and to check out his apartment, which was very nice. Had some pizza and Thai food, watched "Natural Born Kickers" (I think) and both Tom and Reile were sorting out on how to pick up the rest of the attendees. Matt and Eoghan were excited for shred, so they play barefoot, but because I left my shred shorts and shoes in the car I thought I would for shred later at the hotel. I remembered the wait was pretty long, so I just waited and stitched for awhile.

The ride to the Hyatt was pretty tumultuous, I remembered. Matt, Eoghan and myself rode inside of Reile's van. Matt sat shotgun and me and Eoghan were stuck sitting in the back. Although I was told beforehand on what Reile's van was like, I feared for my life that I might unexpectedly fall back and pop out of the back of the van (I used my carrier as a seat on the van, and it kept sliding around as we rode). We finally got to the Hyatt, and shred was happening on the 18th floor. It smelled like a manly sweat sauna. I played a bit, but not well. I didn't put my contacts on or anything. I've met up with a couple of old and new faces. The hotel room that Eric Chang reserved for us looked awesome. I don't remember much else from that night other than buying groceries at the local supermarket, filling our stomachs, and watching the shred video that Eric compiled from his tournament attendance in all of '08.

The event site at the McCormick looked spectacular. I was a little confused on the intel, because I thought the site was separate from the hotel, so I wore my sweater and jacket. Needless to say I brought way too much baggage. Shred felt nice on Saturday, and because there were no scheduled competitions on that day it was awesome interacting with other kickers. It was sweet to kick with Ian Pfeiffer. That kid got pretty good pretty quickly. Doug Tank always has awesome style. I met up with Julien Cote and I think this was the first tournament in which we've interacted - he's such a character. His belt is seriously sweet, but the I fail to name the cartoon character though. He has awesome style as well. Eric Chang got a lot better since Worlds '07, and that motivated me to get back into shred shape for '09. As for myself, my shred sucked as always, but I tried my best to link tiltless strings as much as possible, and reached 20 contacts. What I hated was that I bailed to toe and inside due to brain farts in my shred, and that led to a pitfall on my motivation.

Four Square was definitely a lot of fun. I've heard that Chicago was famous for its Four and Two Square, and I had to try them out. Kolo kicked my ass in Two Square. I made a lot of good points in Four Square, but I never reached 15 points in a game of Four Square. I remember that I got Steve Goldberg out of the king square once, and Sebastien Duschene three times. It was all in good fun, and I think it feels a bit silly that I got two of the best players in Two Square out of their king square so effortlessly with a knee bump or rubber knee. Highlight of the weekend? Who knows. Again, all in good fun.

The conference room that was reserved for the nights that we played in was spacious and awesome. I don't think I kicked in full shred gear during those times. Man sweat sauna air was in full abundance then. From what I remembered, finding an open bathroom wasa hassle because security locked those facilities sometime past 10 pm or whatever. ****-cicles. Shred and Four square on Sunday night was awesome, since it was being streamed live on us-stream through Matt Cross' laptop, and I served as sideline commentary for a brief period of the night then. I made an ass of myself advertising my bags, but that only chopped up the feed and blocked everyone's view of the shred.

I think what was most memorable was the time spent in the CIC suite in 1701. A lot of good conversations occurred inside that room. A lot of awkward ones happened as well, but I'll leave that out in my blog post. Scrabble was the game of choice inside, and I regret that I didn't get in a game when I had the chance. I had a good talk with Scott and Val Davidson on... Saturday night. I discussed myths, epics and literature with Val, and life, occupation and Daniel Botkin with Scott. Pancakes, stuffed deep dish pizza and Italian beef & polish sausage filled my stomach a plenty in that room. I remember it was really easy to make Zeke laugh, but Danny Petrick was just killing himself with the comedy that was happening.

It's just a shame that my style has only worsened in the past year, and my motivation for footbag dropping severely during the winter. I can only blame the surmounting guilt I've gotten from academic studies and life during that time, that footbag didn't seem to be an important priority for me. I think Chicago NYJ relit the passion I've lost in footbag, and now I want to get back into shape asap. What with college behind me and my pending graduation in the Spring, all I need to worry about is to finish whatever paperwork I have left, write two appeals on two assignments that I need to finish for my incompletes and that's it. After that is just waiting up on job interviews and reserving most of my time with footbag and stitching.

I think I'm going to avoid attending whatever east coast tournaments that will appear this year and just play solo, so that I feel like I'm in better shred shape to attend. Well, save for Montreal Spring Jam, Beantown Jam and the NYFA tournament, but I think for the NYFA tournament I wouldn't want to play at all but do my best in help maintaining and organizing the event properly so that all attendees enjoy themselves.

This is all I have in my head at the moment. There were a lot of other things that happened in Chicago that captivated me, but I fail to recall them at the moment. I'll just make another post if something comes into mind.

PS: Oh right, it was awesome speaking to Mike and Emily again. I felt that we didn't interact much during our time at Florida, but our time at Chicago felt really cool and awesome. If only NYJ was extended to a full week instead of 3-4 days of footbagging fun.

[CIC flurry]

Waylon,
It was great having you here. I intend on kicking a lot next year, or at any other event I go to obviously. So we'll get a circle going. You're quite the gifted conversationalist as I noticed at my house. I'm glad you weren't bored, with me getting stuff ready. I'm the type of person who doesn't buy many different bags unlesss I've played with one first for a while, but I really like your footbags, and I can't wait to kick with mine.

[Wasabi]

I'm not a very consistent blog writer, but I guess I'll put a few thoughts into this post.

I'm sewing all amaretta bags at the moment, and have sewn amaretta/facile hybrids and microsuede/facile hybrids after NYJ. They're pretty sweet.

I gave my first go at a microsuede/facile hybrid to Bruce Dole to test out, because the bag I made for him from last year's New Year's is falling apart, and I decided to give it to him. It seems to perform well, and with the filler that I put in it the playability is really juicy. The stitching is not very consistent, though, and my gather on that bag is reminiscent of the "Blister" footbag sold at World Footbag. The pents significantly pop out unlike your typical 32-panel, but the flexibility of the microsuede gives a nice contrast to that feel in a way. I should work on experimenting a better sewing style with microsuede, so that I can make full use of the extra gather I'm allowed with the fabric, as well as manipulating the light feel that the material gives while adhering to my standard of keeping bags "in shape" during play. If you're wondering what the colors were, it was black microsuede hexes and Flash Red pents. Atlantis pents is my next idea for a bag like this.

I'm currently making an all amaretta bag at the moment, with super high gather. There's a loop around each bleedhole stitch, so I guess you can say there are five knots per one pentagon. I usually apply 10 or so per pentagon (2 per side), but I felt a little whimsical about this sewing style and a lot of top-name stitchers use this style of sewing as well. For me, I'm finding this method hard to keep a consistent gather and I tend to over gather each side. My hexagons are getting slightly wrinkled from all of the gather. Luckily, I used a super large template to adjust to this mishap and the amaretta's light texture, so it should make for a 32 that's slightly larger than a golfball. Once it's done, it'll be pretty sweet and I plan to post a picture of it soon.

Ken Somolinos wants me to make a bag that's larger than golf-ball size that has a "floppy" performance, so I'm in the process of figuring out a filler for that type of bag. I guess regular lead shot and poly seems like a decent filler, but the stitcher in me feels like I can optimize this filler further. It's just trying to sew tight bleedholes appropriately on an extra large template that is my concern at the moment, and I'm still waiting up on the colors he wants on his bag.

On that note, I need to buy a large batch of lead. And tungsten.

Concerning tungsten, I've found that Richard Abshire and David Clavens use two different types of tungsten as their filler for their bags. I know David uses the tungsten from Ballistic Products, and that has a small component of steel or iron in its shot, but I'm wondering if Richard uses tungsten in his bags. Actually, the real question in my head is whether tungsten shot can be magnetic or not, thus evaluating whether tungsten shot typically has a component of steel or iron in its mix, and whether tungsten shot comes in a mix of other types of minerals and metal that still regard the shot as having a high percentage of tungsten in it. Umm... long story short, if tungsten shot can be made without using steel or iron in its mix, that asserts my belief that Richard does use tungsten as a filler in his bags. Otherwise, he's using plated lead.

Oh, and I cracked Richard Abshire's sewing technique. All I can say is that it's an interesting technique coming from an interesting man... and I haven't met Richard yet. I wish I can talk theory with him in person, but I decided not to attend the Vegas Jam last weekend. Maybe if there is a SoCali Jam this year, I might attend if he plans to be there.

Hmm.. Other news. It's getting harder and harder to play in 25 degree (Farenheit) weather here in NYC. Playing outside in the cold is out of the question, but I want to kick and freestyle so badly my legs are hurting. I get nervous twitches on what I want to do.

I finally figured out the crux on my flip clipper, and I want to work on that more and more (as well as everything regarding my flipside). I want to drill clippers both sides like crazy, and then drill whirl and reverse whirl badly on both sides. I don't think I want to work on Merlin anytime soon, albeit it is a cool move, I feel that my current performance in footbag is not at the level of the move in question (right now, I feel it's hard to get the symp. mirage cleared well in time the first dex is completed; I would just be wasting time if I can't figure this movement shift first before attempting again). I think I'm going to abstain from my strongside uptime sets and work on my weak side. Wanton sets should be kept at a minimum, because I keep injuring my right ankle alot from the impact that it hurts to flex my toes. I do feel that I should work on my atomic sets for both sides more, though, so that area is questionable.

However, most importantly I should work and refine my tiltless strings more and more. Make the bag my bitch, like most top tier players in the game. It's 2009, and this is the year I want to go guiltless. I don't have college to worry about, and I can spend more time playing footbag now. I think an hour a day would be a great start, and I just had a short session yesterday. Although I was playing outside with casual clothes on, I feel like I progressed a little just by putting adds on my shoes. Considering I've been kicking in Quantum 02s for more than a year now, its time to get serious and level up with these shoes. I do hate the toe, though, but its something I can adjust to (and I want to transcend into a clipper-agressive player this year). This is the year to make it big, and I want to give it my all to impress myself and others through footbag.

[Wasabi]

I guess I jumped the gun on what jams I wanted to attend this year, but I guess it's not too big of a deal. My intention for this year was to concentrate playing solo as well as playing with the NYFA crew more, but I guess I slipped up on some minor details during my introspection. I've neglected two tournaments that I should make an effort to attend.

Jams that I plan to go to, unless something screwy happens that forces me unable to attend:

Boston Jam - it's a pretty quick train ride to Boston from NYC)
GRASS '09
Montreal Spring Jam - I've gotta go to Montreal. I always wanted to for more than a year now.
NYFA tournament - I'm dedicated in being one of the main organizers of the event, so my attendance here is an obvious one.
Funtastiks - How could I miss this? There are [possibly] only two left before Brenda and Joe call it quits!

GRASS 2009 should definitely be a fun treat. I've always enjoyed my attendance at any GRASS event, especially when the weather outside is freakin' perfect, but I'm not too excited to play on paper-covered gym floors. The juggling festival and show are always exciting to watch though.

Funtastiks is one of the few major East Coast footbag events out there, and I think there are only two left to speak of. The player attendance last year and the year before seemed kind of low in my opinion, so the popularity of this jam is dwindling from what I can tell. I sort of miss the old days when the New Jersey crew (Ministry of Silly Walks) and the Chicago crew would happen to come by, and there's my first Funtastiks in... 2005 where Nate Linscott made an appearance. At a personal level, what will drive me to attend this year's Funtastiks would be the list of attendees and my budget during the summer, so it really depends. I'd say 50/50, but those odds can change as the dates come closer and closer.

Also, there is Worlds at Berlin. I've never been to Berlin nor have I ever gone to Europe. Ever. The destination is intimidating, exciting and extremely exotic to me. I don't know what to expect, and I want to see for myself what to expect as I step foot onto German soil. As much as I'd like to see a familiar face from the USA or Canada there, I would really like to meet some awesome footbaggers that are somewhat local to the area. And I also promised a drink with Peter Brocka, so that's something to expect! haha My only attendance at a Worlds competition was at Florida in the US, so a week of footbag in Europe for my second Worlds attendance would be a serious treat. It's both ecstactic and intimidating to me, both at the same time, that I feel really motivated to persevere in footbag this year.

How many months do I have, seven, eight? My attendance at Worlds would probably come down to how much the plane ticket costs.

Hmm... I'm going to have a short session tomorrow, but I promised to have tea with my mum because its her birthday under the lunar calender. Decisions, decisions...