Frank Sinatra Lives

[Frank_Sinatra]

Do I need to give you some more challenges?

Challenger, eh?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHWWWa8EvzI[/youtube]

Well that was weird. Anyway, if you want to give me more challenges I'd accept them, still have a few to work on from your first batch, they are in the first post of this blog.

If anyone needs a long-ass novel to read this summer, I suggest this blog entry.

Got the client to push back their go-live date so my social life can continue at its current zombie shuffle. So that means I didn't have to work quite the hours I expected last week, and snuck a couple sessions in.

Tuesday solo in Grant Park - 1:30
pixie whirl (definitely clean for once)
infinity x18
butterfly> pdx mirage> rpt x17 (record)
46 contacts tiltless

And my new drills x5 sets each. I was very pleased with this session. I thought I'd finally break that 50 contact mark, when I got to 40 I decided to just do clippers & pickups & try to catch my breath, but I was already too exhausted. Dropping from exhaustion is my favorite way to drop.

Thursday solo in Welles Park - 1:00

I fell asleep (like rem-cycle asleep) on the train, woke up, picked my bike up from the shop, and rode to Welles. Not a bad session considering how tired I was, but I was noticing drops & form errors on things that usually are a lot better. Mostly worked on osis this session.

ss clipper> osis> rpt x8 contacts
ss clipper> drifter> rpt x11 contacts

Friday w/Tom in the 60618 - hour plus-ish?

I've been challenging Tom to hit a lot of stuff lately, this session it was blurs out of torque. Which he did (like always) on both sides. Best from me was flip terrage> butterfly> infinity> pdx mirage> terrage> butterfly> infinity> dropped pdx mirage. I've wanted that drill for a while, and really shouldn't have dropped the last link. Wasn't a great session for me.

Saturday w/Tom, Fred, Josh, Jake, Zeke, and Jack from Minnesota (and an assortment of hackers) at Peace fest for about one million hours.

Started with hack but the bags sucked and the first couple circles did too. I wanted to bail to freestyle but there was nowhere close to the festivities with good shred space. It started to rain and our bike gang rolled up under an overpass and we began to shred. Zeke and Tom peeled away, and eventually Fred. After it cleared up we (Jack, Jake, Josh, and myself) went to some basketball courts and kicked for a while.

I couldn't really keep any strings going. Noticed that my legovers were off. Third kinda crappy session in a row. I'm just dropping early on things like legover and pdx mirage so my strings are way shorter than usual.

So anyway after shred I went and found Zeke and just circle kicked for the rest of the day. Which was actually a lot of fun. Hit DOD with a big ass crocheted bag, some DATW, terrage, brief tiltless, almost always ending with like a butterflyer or some stylish pass. Its always nice for people to tell you how amazing they think you are. They don't need to know the truth.

And then I did a bicycle scavenger hunt with Tom. Which was redonculous. We won! I may not have shredded my dick off yesterday, but I definitely rode my nuts off. Got home at like 3am and passed the fuck out. Just been sitting around the apartment all day - its been a long time since I had a day of no activities, although I definitely could've taken advantage of this time and got more done around the house. Instead of looking at porn. So much porn.

Planning on kicking tomorrow with Tom, Independence at like 6:30ish.

[Frank_Sinatra]

Kicked five times this past shark week. Rode my bike a lot, too. I think footbag and biking will start to become more balanced as far as exercise goes. For one thing, I'm never frustrated by how poorly I'm biking.

Monday at Taste of Chicago - solo for :30 or :40, then with Tom for about an hour. We were kicking right by probably the most trafficked entrance, and eventually (Tom) drew a crowd. Kind of a highschool-jock-douche crowd, but a crowd. We handed out lots of fliers. Really cool thing - we met Travis Mitchell from Northern Illinois University, he foots a mean bag.

I don't remember any highlights... some things started off shaky, but were good by the end of the session (symp mirage, pdx mirage).

Thursday at Taste of Chicago - with Josh for 1:30 or 2:00 then with Josh & Tom for another hour + hacking with Zeke for a bit.

Wow, now that I think about this day was cuhrazy. Josh hit 100 infinities. We got run up on by like 20-30 "urban youths" (you crackers know what I mean). I then got served. I was in the middle of serving them back (and, thus, it would be "on") when a good half-dozen cops ran over to yell at the kids. And keep the streets safe from dance-offs.

After a while, Tom joined us & we moved to another high-traffic spot, and drew another crowd. I was not happy with how I was playing, but Tom & Josh were really throwing down. I guess I could've stopped, but I just wanted one good string so I could get a little bit of approval from strangers, which I so desperately crave.

So I was kinda hating being in front of a crowd. I have a complex love-hate relationship with the audience. I love them when they think I am good. I hate them when they know I'm not that good. Ok so it isn't that complex.

Anyway, a camera crew found us. They were with a group of freestyle soccer players, who also watched. I hit atw first try with their "real" ball. On all of my strings, the camera man turned away from me. That usually only happens when I dance. I finally had a good high 30s tiltless run - with a dropped but clean terrage finish - that was totally missed because one of the soccer players ran up in the circle and was doing his thing. Pretty fucking rude. At first I was pissed, because I thought the camera guy was local so there might be a chance of seeing the footage. But he's from Amsterdam or something so I don't care.

I'm really bored with tiltless and it isn't fun anymore. This session helped put that into focus. Had a good talk with Josh about where to go with my game, which I started working on the next day.

Friday, solo for two hours at IP, then with Josh for an hour.

Osis session. Did various drills to 20 or more contacts to start off, then it was all osis all the time. Hour plus of osis, mostly flip osis, which still is weird every session but after about 20 minutes starts getting easier. Highlights!

toe drifter> barrage both sides
toe drifter> osis both sides
osis> barrage on one side

Saturday - Midwest Regionals at the Taste of Chicago

Eventually rode down to the Taste with Fred. Got there about 3 - just in time for a demo. Did two demos that day, got some food tickets in return. Paging BF Skinner. Jon Nagela, Scott Davidson, Travis Mitchell, and Grant Mooney were already down there. Tom was there too but he might have been a little later. We ate, and ran into Meinard, and kicked some more. I was really low-energy all day.

Sunday - Day 2 of Midwest Regionals

Got there a little earlier, about 1pm, first one there. Talked with Scott & Val about the demos, and they heard me out and Val did adjust her demo speech. I think it was for the better. I still didn't have a ton of energy. The first demo was really rough because it was mostly me and Scott playing solo on the same stage and sweating our asses off. About 30 minutes into it I was taking a breather between every string.

Some other people showed up, and we did the second demo. I introduced myself to some of the area net players that I haven't met yet. The second demo was way less intense, and I also stopped giving a shit. Grant came with his friend Jake and left before the third demo, which was when we did a brief circle comp.

I was emcee during the open circle comp. Could've been better, but it could've been worse. I think it'd be fun to emcee again. Judging is kind of a mind fuck when you know everybody's game, and know what's hard for them and what is automatic.

Then in intermediate circle comp I got second. Out of four - Fred (winner) Travis Mitchell, and Matt Churney. Eh. I never saw myself competing in footbag because I figured I'd just tense up and be upset with myself. But the opposite was true. I just relaxed, played decent, and didn't give a shit. It was probably easier knowing I wouldn't come in lower than second place. So I'd definitely do another intermediate circle comp.

Anyway, this is a really long post, so I might as well bury some useless training plan minutae in here as well. I need to start schooling the hell out of flip osis. Solo sessions during the week. Lately I've been enjoying solo sessions more than anything else in footbag. I'm not trying to be antisocial, its just this ugly footbag adolescence I'm in. So solo sessions are my way of putting a bag over my head and waiting this thing out. I hope I can beat my flip osis into submission quickly, but who knows.

I think if going guiltless becomes a big wall I might quit freestyle. Ultimatum to myself. [/ramble]

[crazylegs32]

I think you need to expand your range of sick tricks. Instead of all the drilling and long run training how about a couple 5 adds or a triple dex? This advice is the opposite of what I would give a newbie but its always fun to hit something new.

[Moxie]

Instead of all the drilling and long run training, how about a couple 3 adds or a quintuple dex?

I think this will help you on your journy. But you have to watch the entire thing.

[Rieferman]

as usual, your post had me laughing in a few spots. You're like that writer I think his name is David Sedaris maybe? Whatever, it's just a kind of dry humor that always gets me. You should seriously write a book or something.

The footbag adolescence reference is so dead on.

Btw, tricks will be owned when they're ready to be owned. I'm not saying "don't drill the hell out of something" because you have to do some of that. What I'm saying is that it's sometimes more beneficial to drill the hell out of something, give it a rest and do something else for a few weeks, and then come back to it. Muscle memory has a funny way of forgetting mistake movements and remembering correct movements when you take this approach. Plus, it helps frustration levels.

Me? I constantly have about a dozen concepts that are work in process. Sometimes I feel like I should just pick one and kill it so there'd only be 11 left to learn. So I'll do that. If it learns, cool. If it doesn't, I rotate before the 'throw the bag and scream' stage creeps up on me.

[Frank_Sinatra]

Thanks y'all. Its really cool that, whenever I'm having a hard time with my game, I've got friends in the sport who can give me contradictory advice. But seriously I see where all of you are coming from (except Emily).

Big tricks are fun, and a new sick trick would be nice to own. But the effort expended vs. the payoff is just too high for where I want my game to go right now; I'd rather put that effort into the big holes in my game (and flip osis is the biggest). The key is going to be sensing when the effort into flip osis vs. the payoff is too much - and then switching my practices up before they start to really grind, with the knowledge that I can come back to flip osis later if I have to.

Also, I'm a big David Sedaris fan, but lacking a Billie Holiday impression I don't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath. But sometimes I think about writing a book about my life in Chicago so far. Here's the title to one chapter I'm ready to write:

I was at a party, and a Japanese Architect rubbed my nipple

And the chapter would be:

"I was at a party, and a Japanese Architect rubbed my nipple."

So it would be a short book. Shorter than the session recaps I'm about to write.

Wednesday July 9 - Shred w/ Tom & Fred at IP

I can't believe that this was the first IP session with Tom and Fred of the season. I forgot how much fun those sessions were/are. Hopefully it won't be the last of the season. I think I played alright. About half the session was working osis into strings, the other half was a little more varied but did work on paradon a little and terrage a lot.

terrage> paradon
flip terrage was on

Friday July 11 - solo downtown for an hour

osis> ss clip> rpt x4 or more contacts x25 sets
terrage> butterfly> infinity> pdx mirage> rpt starting from both sides
terrage> dimwalk (one side)
osis> barrage (side I hadn't hit yet)
osis> infinity> infinity> rpt (one of Chim-Chim's challenges)

Very satisfying session. That terrage drill has been sooooo close, and I finally beat the living shit out of it. Barrage out of osis is really cool, and I want to own that link, but I don't think it is worth the time right now. Still cool to know that I can do it.

CIC Birthday Jam

Was fucking great. Started with squares, won a couple games early on. Freestyled with Henry, Reid, Tom, Fred, Reile, Josh, Jake, & Mike & his friend (UPers) in the afternoon. Didn't really push myself too hard.

Then I ate a bunch of food and just chilled for a while, which was the best part. As usual, talking shit with Henry was a lot of fun. I was laughing my ass off all day.

Played more squares, started to make a lot of mistakes the longer I played. Reile was my kryptonite. Then after a while I freestyled some more with Henry mostly but Reid/Tom/Fred rotating in and out of the circle. Tried some big tricks/new tricks for a while, didn't hit anything new. Ended the day with 30, 35, 40 and 40+ contact tiltless drill strings. Then just hung out in the park for a while, packed up, etc. etc.
It was a blast.

Monday July 14 - solo at IP

Managed to sneak a session in at the end of a long day. Schooled osis some more.

osis> ss clipper> rpt x10 sets
osis> drifter (one side)
near reverse guay (one side)
reverse double guay (one side)
run with 4 or 5 symp mirages both sides

And some general around-fuckery. So flip osis is coming along ok. Happy with rate of progress so far, but in my experiences with drilling, the fastest progress happens at the beginning, because there's just so much room to improve. Then again, I'm hopeful that my rate of progress is gonna start improving. With all the work I've put into form, and just learning how to learn footbag, maybe that will be the case. In any event, if working on flip osis starts to suck, I'll switch it up with drifter, symp mirage, or PLO, or something.

[Rieferman]

me talk pretty someday

osis drill suggestion (bear with me, it's a lot to read.. but it makes more sense than you think if you shadow the entire drill):

right clipper > left osis > right osis > infinity (to left clipper) > right osis > left osis > infinity (to right clipper) > left osis > pdx mirage > ss butterfly (to left clipper) > right osis > pdx mirage > ss butterfly (to right clipper or opp clipper) > repeat

If you build into being able to repeat through this drill, I like it because it pretty much gives you practice on a bunch of skills that are useful in a real run (example, you get to practice back to back osis, as well as single osis. and other bops). Takes a surprising amount of balance to do this drill well. (and a surprising amount of memory to remember it the first couple times)

[Frank_Sinatra]

Thanks Bob. That drill is definitely one I'd have to build up to. I've been trying some of the links during my practice sessions, though.

Well, I've freestyled 11 of the last 13 days, and lit up a pretty boring hack circle at Pitchfork on one of my 'off' days. Plus some good bike rides. I'll lump all the highlights together at the beginning, and then whatever observations after. Here is a list of things you are allowed to give me props for:

toe drifters (not pixie style drifters, real all-downtime toe drifters)
illusions (could actually see the dex!)
osis > ss clipper> rpt x11 contacts
pixie op osis (weak osis - first time)
drifter> drifter
osis> osis> rpt x5 contacts
sidewalk (first time - one side)
plo x8
terrage> symp mirage> rpt
symp pixie x5
symp mirage x5 (weak side)
infinity> infinity> osis> rpt x11 contacts
dimwalk> stepping legover> plo
reverse double guay> run w/ double guay
motion> run

On top of that, I've been hitting lots of new 4>3 & 3>3 links to start runs, and pushing myself to chunk more thrices into my tiltless salsa. Usually I can do 4 or 5 guiltless before I bail to tiltless. I think my best guiltless string so far has been 7 or 8 contacts. My runs are a lot more loose & spontaneous. I'm dropping earlier because I'm trying harder tricks.

Out of those 11 sessions, I kicked with Tom four times, Josh once, and .Dan once. Always cool to kick with new people, and what I liked about kicking with Dan was he spent like half of the session working on stalls. Nice to see people willing to do what is necessary to get better at freestyle, instead of just talking about wanting to freestyle and/or whining about how hard ATW is when they haven't even bothered to work on toe stalls.

When Josh came out he brought a camera. He filmed my legovers & osii to help me learn what I'm doing wrong. I already knew what was wrong with my flip osis - turning too soon, and setting too low, so it's more like blind pivot> accidental clipper - lameness. I don't know about my legovers, I just want to get the dex tighter on my right side & keep my toe pointed forward instead of out to the side. We also filmed some shred, I didn't watch much, and I didn't like what I saw. I don't think I can be objective about video of myself.

The sessions with Tom were fun & I was generally happy with how I played. We kicked at like five new spots, which was pretty sweet. Tom had some good things to say about how my game is looking now, which was nice to hear.

I need to fix my flip osis, but at least I know what I'm doing wrong. I'll try to do that with my next few sessions. I've got to correct the set, so I should probably spend a lot of time on clipper, too.

I think if I get contacts I'll be able to fix some things with my posture. And peripheral vision will probably come in handy. I should make an appointment to do that soon.

[Reid]

props on the drifters

[Zac Miley]

plo x 8, drifter b2b, symp pixie x 5

Props!

Also, thrices is a good name for 3 adds.

[Frank_Sinatra]

Thanks guys! Had seven freestyle sessions, plus hack at Lollapalooza, since my last update. Haven't gotten around to making an appointment to get contacts yet. Here are some highlights:

drifter> dyno
butterfly> osis> mirage> rpt x14 contacts
butterfly> whirl> rpt
far osis (1st time on weak side)
double pickup> symp mirage
drifter x3
parkwalk> dyno
osis> ps mirage
backside smear> ducking butterfly
smear> plo> plo> dimwalk
plo> plo> dlo
datw> dlo
crispy torque (1st time on both sides)
terrage> butterfly> pdx mirage> symp mirage> butterfly> pdx mirage> symp mirage> butterfly> osis> drop

So mostly I've been working on different two move links. I have managed a handful of 20 or more contact tiltless runs in the past couple weeks, but long runs are pretty scarce right now. I think I should spend some time maintaining that ability. On the other hand I want to eliminate near pickup from my game. So my goals aren't entirely compatible with one another.

Three of these sessions were solo. Still mostly working on flip osis & playing out of osis when I solo. Can hit most of the basics out of osis on both sides, starting to hit some harder stuff out of my strong osis.

Hacked with Reile & a bunch of other random people, including our dear friend Churney, at Lolla. Hit DLO midstring (pretty sure it was the first time, hit it a bunch of times since then) during one of those circles. Got to show Reile some things he hadn't seen me do before, like drifters, which was cool. Other fun hack circle stuff. Like passing.

Also got to have a freestyle sesh w/Reile & Tom in Evanston which was super duper. Kicking with Reile - multiple times? Yes please.

Kicked with Tom a bunch - had a session on Wednesday that was probably my worst of the year. So frustrating. Kicked with him & Josh on Friday, first hour & change was still bad, and I stopped a couple times to try to get my rage under control. Tom busted out but Josh stuck around, & we kicked for another hour & change, and I finally got some things clicking again during that last hour.

Josh gave me some climas but they're too big - even bigger on me than my lavers. When I played with them on I felt like a completely different person. Strange.

Yesterday I kicked with Tony, then freestyled with Tom, then with Josh, then played some 2 square with Josh & Zeke. Went 0 for 4 against Zeke, I managed to keep it close during at least one game, and defended pretty well throughout, but Zeke was freaking unstoppable. All that net is surely having an impact. I haven't played much squares with Zeke this summer & I forgot how much fun it is.

I've got a bunch of work to do. Probably not kicking tonight, unless I find a spare 45 minutes of daylight.

[gMoney]

When I played with them on I felt like a completely different person. Strange.

[Frank_Sinatra]

Nice. Look at that Space Ghost jaw!

So I don't normally update this thing so frequently, but I had a great session last night and I've just been dying to brag about myself.

I didn't think I was going to be able to play because I worked late, got a haircut, and when I finally left downtown it was raining. But I decided to kick on the front porch of the IP field house & do half an hour of flip osis. Then when it stopped raining I moved over to the regular slab. And then I hit eight new tricks! Count em:

flip parkwalk
flip magellan
flip pixie ss osis
smog
flip DLO
pdx whirl
blizzard
flip paradon

My first several flip paradons were questionable, but I finally hit one that was clean. Similar story w/blizzard. Also hit flip backside smear cleanly - I'd hit it before but had some doubts about how clean it was. And I had a nine contact BOP run.

This session felt great! Footbag hasn't made me this happy in a long time.

Also kicked on Monday w/Tom. Was glad to kick with him before his obligations called him away. It started like I was going to have yet another crap session, but instead I took my time to warm up and solidify basics and ended up having a decent short session. Crispy torque and osis> ps mirage again.

________________________________________________________________________________
EDIT
________________________________________________________________________________

Had a mostly-hack session with Zeke, Ronnie, & Allen (Alan?) just now. Pretty sweet. Then we listened to some funky jazz for a little while. Had a couple ok strings. Did manage to hit... 4 new tricks!

blurry pickup (both sides)
pixie ss pickup (weak side)
pixie ss illusion

So much fun. You know what else is fun? Going through my move list and removing a bunch of the "strong side only" notes I had. Found a couple moves to try out next time. And... just jinxed myself. Pray for me you fucking heathens!

[The Actual Sized E]

Wow, that's a lot of new shit! Good stuff Captain N

[Frank_Sinatra]

Thanks Reile!

Kicked four more times. Fugee-la-lights:

flip smudge (first time)
flip blizzard (first time)
flip sidewalke (first time - that's the Olde English spelling btw)
51 contacts tiltless
butterfly> infinity> osis> pdx mirage> rpt
terrage> butterfly> osis> pdx mirage (both sides)
backside smear> dimwalk
hit some of my new tricks a few more times, notably blurry pickup

So... 50 contacts tiltless. Its been one of my big goals in footbag and I'm glad that I did it. I got there by doing atw> pixie> rpt x26> clipper> near pickup> rpt x25. Would have been cooler to do it in a run with some varied, interesting links, but I'm not going to let that stop me from being satisfied with achieving this goal. I have one remaining major goal: go guiltless.

On that subject, I'm still doing flip osis wrong. I can visualize it correctly - set straight up about butt-high, wait for the bag to peak, bring osising foot up & form the scoop, pivot. I'm just having a hard time actually doing it, especially the pivot, especially midstring. My next three solo sessions are going to be focused on correcting osis, then I think it'll be time for something else.

Need to stop playing so much. Four or maybe five times a week max. Less is more. If I really feel like getting outside or getting some exercise, I've got a bike.

Kicked with Josh in Millennium Park on Friday, that's when I hit those new tricks up there. Too bad I was in a foul mood from work. Josh filmed a little, and I played less terribly than I usually do on camera. But... I'm still pretty sure my style is not fun to watch. Actually, I would like to see the part of the video where I'm *almost* yelling at four little kids who were getting way too close to the blades. The rusty canvas blades.

On Saturday I kicked with Tom in IP, then we biked down to kick with Rob Creel from New Orleans. So... much... biking. Rob's a good guy, and it was a fun session. I hit a barfly to finish the day, and Rob hit Voodoo Cool trick. We got some food at Handlebar afterwards, which was particularly awesome because they had a place to bring bikes indoors and not need a lock (I stupidly lost the key to the lock Zeke has been loaning me).

And the other two sessions were solo. Sunday I started at IP, got annoyed by children (which is becoming a recurring theme - I can't wait for school to start), and biked to Welles. Then yesterday was in Grant Park close to the lake because I wanted some isolation from foot traffic. Some me-time. Hahaha all my time is me-time.

You know, pictures would be a nice complement to this blog. Oh well, you'll just have to make due with my words. My glorious words.

EDIT: I forgot I was going to comment on worlds & routines. Because you've all been waiting to hear my thoughts. At first I was stunned to read that Vasek lost. Though I did not appreciate having to Google "BAP Twister" to find out who won. J/K. And like a lot of other people when I watched the routines I was like... really?

I understood what Vasek was trying to do with his routine, and actually enjoyed it the most as a spectator, though I agree his transitions were botched & if he'd stuck them - without kick bails - I bet he would've won.

But I'm no connoisseur of routines. I can't even say I'm a fan. I don't want to say anything negative about specific routines because I have no real concept of how difficult they are, and will never come close to the level of play of any of these guys. But in general, I'd rather watch shred.

I guess what I'm getting at is this: if someone were to perform some of the common elements of routines, without music, in a circle, it'd be terrible. Toe bails, freezing delays, toe juggling, the repetition... But you set it to music and somehow it becomes the event that we use to determine the world champion? It just has nothing to do with how people actually play footbag.

I did really enjoy watching the circle comp finals. And sick 3. Holy fucking Olav.

And the rumor is worlds will be in Berlin next year? That's pretty sweet. Do you think people will be told to tear down their toe walls? I'm sorry for that. Ok, enough blog.

EDIT #2: I'm not getting Quantum 03s after all. Freedom didn't have enough black size 9s to fill all their orders. All for the best - the delay in shipping gave me some time to think about my purchase. I've heard/read almost entirely negative feedback about the Quantum line in general. So maybe I'll drop down a half size in lavers, whenever it is that I make my next shoe purchase.

[Colin]

Do you think people will be told to tear down their toe walls?

Well done sir.

[Frank_Sinatra]

Colin, don't encourage me.

So, I injured myself back on August 20. I was trying pixie same dod, then thought I would try pixie same motion, and then my body tried to do both at the same time. Sprained my foot and my ankle. Took about a week and a half but now I can play on it again.

I've got to get my butterflies & whirls on the injured side solid again, and then see what else I've lost. I'm afraid that a lot of the new tricks I hit last month aren't gonna be hit again for a while. Plus my plan to school flip osis is all up in the air now. Feeling frustrated.

Kicked four times since my last post. Session recaps:

Soloed at the Daley center on Wednesday August 20 for about an hour & a half. Schooled flip osis, then osis> osis x5 sets starting on each side. Tried flip DLO some more but didn't hit one. Then Tom & Brad Nelson came downtown and we had a session across the street from the Wrigley building. And that's when I hurt myself. Brad is really good at footbag.

Kicked with Fred on Wednesday in the IP. Ankhole was still too stiff, and I stopped after about 45 minutes. Flip PS Mirage was a lot easier than I remember it.

Played some hack at Jazzfest & also Millennium Park on Saturday. It was really dead - hacked with Zeke for a while & my ankle started to feel normal again, then some hack & freestyle w/Tom & Zeke at Millennium (had a 10 or 11 contact guiltless drill string), then back to Jazzfest to hack w/Zeke & Alan. Tried some TATWs - its not impossible.

And then had a session yesterday at Welles w/Zeke Josh & Jake. Hacked, freestyled, then played some squares. Won a game, coughed up another game to Jake after getting to game point. Zeke won the other two. My defense was good.

Oh yeah and I got contacts. Its an adjustment.

Not kicking today or tomorrow. Might go on a bike ride or something later on if I don't find something else to do. First I gotta do some shit around the apartment.

[Zeke]

inside kick> back kick> be in sync with the footbag> spin> arms out for good balance> knees slightly bent for optimal readiness> spin some more> look like a jack-ass BSOS BITCH!

Blough Jobs

[Frank_Sinatra]

Nice.

So, in my last post I forgot to mention that I hit another of Reid's challenges:

legover> ss plant legover> rpt x8 contacts

Kicked five times since my last update. Highlights:

whirl> pdx mirage bs
phoenix (w/body contact)
osis x5
stepping ss legover (first time - both sides)
fairy same mirage (first time)
reverse magellan (first time)
flip DLO (2nd time)
ducking symp mirage> ducking butterfly
ducking butterfly> ducking butterfly (another one of Reid's challenges)
dimwalk> ripwalk
symp mirage> butterfly> pdx mirage> rpt x21 contacts
symp pixie> symp mirage> rpt
toe same drifter> pdx illusion

Some good sessions. Had a pretty big session at Welles w/freestyle and squares on Sunday. I was happy to win one of the games.

My right knee hurts. I don't know why but it was feeling tender yesterday during the day (I didn't kick the night before). Then I kicked last night, and afterwards it started to hurt in certain positions. Probably aggravated it the most trying blender, but I was trying a lot of stuff that is hard on the knees. Fuck what everybody says about form, footbag is hard on the knees. Well, only fuck it so much. Don't fuck it until your knees hurt, for instance.

I'm going to see how dat kneehole feel this weekend but if it hurts I'm gonna call it a season. I've been playing steadily for the last eight months anyway, probably due for a rest. If I recall correctly it was about this time last year that I started to feel the wear of a rigorous season, but it was also when I first started to hit double pickups, barrages, and whirls somewhat regularly.

Anyway, knowing that there's only a few weeks left of nice outdoor weather (and it seems like the cold is gonna get here fast) I'd really like to be outside kicking. Oh wamp wamp wamp.

I'd like to get an indoor spot sometime in November, and be in footbag shape for NYJ. Haven't done anything to find a spot yet. Too bad the YMCA was a pain in the ass because it's the obvious choice.

On a more personal note than what I usually write in here - today, I have been a vegetarian for 7 years. September 18th will be three years since I quit drinking. September 24th will be my first anniversary at my current job.

I've been increasingly obsessed w/Superchunk & lead singer Mac McCaughun's current band Portastic lately. I think they are great, and I hope you do too. I wanted to find a video for "Autumn Got Dark" by Portastic, it would be fitting but oh well. This video is kind of dumb but the song is great in my arrogant opinion:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKZyEfG1nw0[/youtube]

[Frank_Sinatra]

I haven't been playing much since my last update because my knees have been acting up. They're in need of some rawhide discipline. It sucked not playing for a week so I started up again - I know its not the smartest thing but I can't help myself.

So I had three sessions this past week - Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Just worked on clipper & osis for the first two sessions & expanded on that a little more during the third session. Staying away from whirls, uptime, and double dexes for the most part. Got osis x6 a couple times which beats my old record of osis x5. Doing 5 or 6 contacts guiltless (mostly bops + symp mirage) is pretty easy. I worked on drifters last session, I'd like to own that move. So fun but requires better balance to hit midstring than I had yesterday.

Anyway, I hate these "comeback" sessions. It always takes me like a week to get back to the level I was at. I'm so baffled when I read suggestions to take four or five days off before competing, or seeing someone not play for months and then after like 15 minutes start busting out big shit. Guess its just the level I'm at & the length of time I've been playing. But it is still frustrating when I know I've played better before, and really want to be pushing my abilities, but first I've got to eat the shit sandwich that is the comeback session.

This will be the least of my concerns when we are all hobos. And shit sandwiches are just a memory.

Continuing on the reflective mood of my last post... I've been turning a question over and over in my mind, and I just can't come to any sort of conclusion. This will probably get me mocked behind my back, and rightly so - it is the footbag way - clown ass? Or ass clown? There's no good answer. No clear path to take. I'm losing sleep over this. I'm leaning towards clown ass, but that's no kind of a life. It's tearing me apart.

This is probably the best of the music videos I've posted:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbGNrPtirV4[/youtube]

Thank god.