Frank Sinatra Lives
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- Avenging Disco Godfather
- Posts: 1660
- Joined: 09 Jan 2007 12:43
- Location: Chicago, IL
Well. Well well well.
Kicked a whole lot since the last post - nine sessions I think. A lot happened, so I'll try to condense all this stuff & maybe I'll write a little more later.
Kicked with gMoney twice
Kicked with Tommy twice
Holly came up to Chicago one weekend for a job interview, hoorah
Took a trip down to Nashville & kicked with Holly & Elliott
Then I took a detour up to Michigan & kicked with Zach a couple times
And here are highlights:
plo x15 (new record)
a couple 20+ contact bops/easy guiltless drill strings
smear> ducking butter bsos
ps mirage> terrage bs
dyno b2b
pixie ss clipper> whirl> drifter
pixie muted clipper> pdx illusion> rpt
paste> symp mirage> terrage> symp mirage> terrage> run
pixie ss clipper> barrage bs
maverick> double pickup
terrage> maverick> whirl
barrage> terrage a couple times, trying for barrage> terrage> paradon
ducking clippers midstring a couple times
Kicked a whole lot since the last post - nine sessions I think. A lot happened, so I'll try to condense all this stuff & maybe I'll write a little more later.
Kicked with gMoney twice
Kicked with Tommy twice
Holly came up to Chicago one weekend for a job interview, hoorah
Took a trip down to Nashville & kicked with Holly & Elliott
Then I took a detour up to Michigan & kicked with Zach a couple times
And here are highlights:
plo x15 (new record)
a couple 20+ contact bops/easy guiltless drill strings
smear> ducking butter bsos
ps mirage> terrage bs
dyno b2b
pixie ss clipper> whirl> drifter
pixie muted clipper> pdx illusion> rpt
paste> symp mirage> terrage> symp mirage> terrage> run
pixie ss clipper> barrage bs
maverick> double pickup
terrage> maverick> whirl
barrage> terrage a couple times, trying for barrage> terrage> paradon
ducking clippers midstring a couple times
- CIC flurry
- Amazingly Sexy Man-Beast
- Posts: 3423
- Joined: 28 May 2003 16:06
- Location: Chicago
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- Avenging Disco Godfather
- Posts: 1660
- Joined: 09 Jan 2007 12:43
- Location: Chicago, IL
Thanks for all the positive comments guys. Of course, highlights are just highlights and don't mean everything, but it is always nice to have something from a session to point to and say "I was happy with that."
Tom, I was trying to BSOS that booty music but so far I keep coming up short. Flip whirl> drifter has been super hard for me.
Had many (seven) more sessions since the last update. Getting into a pattern of regular sessions with Grant & Tommy which have been going well, though I think a better spot could be found - something flatter & where we won't be in the way/have people in our way as frequently.
New Highlights:
Maverick> barrage
Pixie ss clipper> barrage bsos
Pixie ss clipper> ducking clipper> pdx mirage> rpt
Pixie ss clipper> whirl> drifter weak side
Pixie muted clipper> pdx illusion> terrage> terrage> pixie muted clipper> pdx illusion> run
Dimwalk> pdx illusion> rpt
Dimwalk> pdx illusion> dimwalk> osis> dlo
And these aren't new:
DATW bsos
osis> crispy dlo bsos
pixie ss clip> osis> pdx mirage (rpt)> butterfly> infinity> osis> pdx mirage (rpt)> symp mirage> butterfly> pdx mirage (rpt)
whirl> drifter rpt
Some crappy ripwalks bs
Maverick> double pickup
drifter b2b
pixie ss clip> pdx mirage> pixie muted clip> pdx illusion> pixie ss clip> pdx mirage> pixie muted clip> (dropped or bailed a few times here, trying for pdx illusion)
osis> blurry pickup
This is the time of year when it gets harder and harder to stay with it, mostly due to weather & daylight. But that just means I'm closer and closer to getting through this season without injury. Inside spot... who knows.
Well, gotta run, crappy software is glitching out as usual.
Tom, I was trying to BSOS that booty music but so far I keep coming up short. Flip whirl> drifter has been super hard for me.
Had many (seven) more sessions since the last update. Getting into a pattern of regular sessions with Grant & Tommy which have been going well, though I think a better spot could be found - something flatter & where we won't be in the way/have people in our way as frequently.
New Highlights:
Maverick> barrage
Pixie ss clipper> barrage bsos
Pixie ss clipper> ducking clipper> pdx mirage> rpt
Pixie ss clipper> whirl> drifter weak side
Pixie muted clipper> pdx illusion> terrage> terrage> pixie muted clipper> pdx illusion> run
Dimwalk> pdx illusion> rpt
Dimwalk> pdx illusion> dimwalk> osis> dlo
And these aren't new:
DATW bsos
osis> crispy dlo bsos
pixie ss clip> osis> pdx mirage (rpt)> butterfly> infinity> osis> pdx mirage (rpt)> symp mirage> butterfly> pdx mirage (rpt)
whirl> drifter rpt
Some crappy ripwalks bs
Maverick> double pickup
drifter b2b
pixie ss clip> pdx mirage> pixie muted clip> pdx illusion> pixie ss clip> pdx mirage> pixie muted clip> (dropped or bailed a few times here, trying for pdx illusion)
osis> blurry pickup
This is the time of year when it gets harder and harder to stay with it, mostly due to weather & daylight. But that just means I'm closer and closer to getting through this season without injury. Inside spot... who knows.
Well, gotta run, crappy software is glitching out as usual.
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- Avenging Disco Godfather
- Posts: 1660
- Joined: 09 Jan 2007 12:43
- Location: Chicago, IL
I've had four more sessions since the last post. The only thing worth mentioning is I screwed up my knee. I'm gonna take it easy for the next few weeks, and see how it feels after that.
So I guess now is a good time to post some quick thoughts on the season. Getting flip osis reliable was a big hurdle to get over, but now I can do 20 bops pretty frequently. Flip pixie was another achievement this summer, I'm happy that I can hit the pixie tricks that I like on both sides regularly.
I didn't work on stepping or double downs, or spinning, which I had intended to do. Oh well.
Whirls are pretty good on one side, a little frustrated still with the weak side, just because schooling it hasn't seemed to create the kind of improvement I expected.
And then there's the stuff that just started to click unexpectedly, like midstring terrages got easy, and pdx illusions showed up out of nowhere one day. Same thing with rakes, though they are not a reliable component yet, and probably won't be unless I give them some attention. Drifters & ducking have been coming along ok though I didn't practice them a ton.
So a good chunk of downtime concepts are there to build off of. Still lots of things to work on, whenever it is I can get back to playing. I think whenever I do have regular sessions again I'm gonna take it slow at first. Well, that's it.
So I guess now is a good time to post some quick thoughts on the season. Getting flip osis reliable was a big hurdle to get over, but now I can do 20 bops pretty frequently. Flip pixie was another achievement this summer, I'm happy that I can hit the pixie tricks that I like on both sides regularly.
I didn't work on stepping or double downs, or spinning, which I had intended to do. Oh well.
Whirls are pretty good on one side, a little frustrated still with the weak side, just because schooling it hasn't seemed to create the kind of improvement I expected.
And then there's the stuff that just started to click unexpectedly, like midstring terrages got easy, and pdx illusions showed up out of nowhere one day. Same thing with rakes, though they are not a reliable component yet, and probably won't be unless I give them some attention. Drifters & ducking have been coming along ok though I didn't practice them a ton.
So a good chunk of downtime concepts are there to build off of. Still lots of things to work on, whenever it is I can get back to playing. I think whenever I do have regular sessions again I'm gonna take it slow at first. Well, that's it.
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- Avenging Disco Godfather
- Posts: 1660
- Joined: 09 Jan 2007 12:43
- Location: Chicago, IL
We had nicer weather yesterday than what we've been getting recently, so we put together a pretty fun session. I decided I'd try to kick, and actually played for almost two hours without anything more than some discomfort afterwards. I don't think I did anything really bad to my knee, but I also am not fully healthy. Another few weeks off for me.
I'm going up to Minnesota this Thursday through Sunday. I'm gonna see a lot of people from college (in other words, a lot of people that I played hackysack with). I will probably take some gear, at least shoes and a bag. I wanna be able to show off if the subject comes up. Nothing too intense though, since like I said I need to rest my knee.
I'm going up to Minnesota this Thursday through Sunday. I'm gonna see a lot of people from college (in other words, a lot of people that I played hackysack with). I will probably take some gear, at least shoes and a bag. I wanna be able to show off if the subject comes up. Nothing too intense though, since like I said I need to rest my knee.
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- Avenging Disco Godfather
- Posts: 1660
- Joined: 09 Jan 2007 12:43
- Location: Chicago, IL
I played footbag with my friend Jake when I was up in Minnesota. Our college had a pretty good hack scene looking back - lots of fun people played, pretty much all my friends would at least circle kick and could at least keep the bag in the air.
Jake and I started circle kicking our freshman year, and we were equally graceless and uncoordinated. So we played off on our own a lot. Sophomore year Jake and I and another guy were roommates off campus, we had tons of space, most of it empty, so we played footbag in one of the rooms we didn't have furniture for.
Sometime after that, Jake found footbag.org, and told me about it. He was the first person I ever heard use the term footbag. We learned stalls and flying clippers, then walkovers & hopovers, and then some basic dexterities. Jake and I were kind of in competition, people always asked which one of us was better and from one month to the next it usually changed.
After college I stuck with it, and found CIC. Sometimes I would think about my friends from school, what they were up to, and whether they were still kicking. And I thought about kicking with them, and blowing their minds.
So Jake and I had about a 20 minute session. I was playing in jeans, so I couldn't really do much. Definitely wasn't representing my skills very well, though I like to think I left Jake's mind partially blown by hitting swerve. Jake was trying lots of reverse whirls. I wish he had stuck with it, maybe I'll send him an old pair of lavers I'm not gonna use anymore.
I also had a solo session downtown on Thursday. Since I'd barely played all October it wasn't surprising that I struggled. I did a little of everything and my knee felt fine during & afterwards. One highlight: pixie ss clipper> pdx mirage> pixie muted clipper> pdx illusion> rpt - I'd gotten all but the last link a few times, I was happy to finally knock this out.
EDIT: Just had a cold session. Guiltless drills, swerves (15 weakside, 5 strong, took a while) ducking clippers, spinning & gyro practice. Got my first good looks at spinning clipper & gyro clipper. It may be the case that I'll fluke these out soon, but it feels like I have a long way to go to understand the proper techniques to execute these tricks.
Jake and I started circle kicking our freshman year, and we were equally graceless and uncoordinated. So we played off on our own a lot. Sophomore year Jake and I and another guy were roommates off campus, we had tons of space, most of it empty, so we played footbag in one of the rooms we didn't have furniture for.
Sometime after that, Jake found footbag.org, and told me about it. He was the first person I ever heard use the term footbag. We learned stalls and flying clippers, then walkovers & hopovers, and then some basic dexterities. Jake and I were kind of in competition, people always asked which one of us was better and from one month to the next it usually changed.
After college I stuck with it, and found CIC. Sometimes I would think about my friends from school, what they were up to, and whether they were still kicking. And I thought about kicking with them, and blowing their minds.
So Jake and I had about a 20 minute session. I was playing in jeans, so I couldn't really do much. Definitely wasn't representing my skills very well, though I like to think I left Jake's mind partially blown by hitting swerve. Jake was trying lots of reverse whirls. I wish he had stuck with it, maybe I'll send him an old pair of lavers I'm not gonna use anymore.
I also had a solo session downtown on Thursday. Since I'd barely played all October it wasn't surprising that I struggled. I did a little of everything and my knee felt fine during & afterwards. One highlight: pixie ss clipper> pdx mirage> pixie muted clipper> pdx illusion> rpt - I'd gotten all but the last link a few times, I was happy to finally knock this out.
EDIT: Just had a cold session. Guiltless drills, swerves (15 weakside, 5 strong, took a while) ducking clippers, spinning & gyro practice. Got my first good looks at spinning clipper & gyro clipper. It may be the case that I'll fluke these out soon, but it feels like I have a long way to go to understand the proper techniques to execute these tricks.
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- Avenging Disco Godfather
- Posts: 1660
- Joined: 09 Jan 2007 12:43
- Location: Chicago, IL
Played eight of the last nine days. I'm grateful we got some nice weather. I'm not sure if I'm up for this 'play every day' thing. I like my rest days & I think they help me a lot. Anyway, I was eating some shit sandwiches for a few sessions but right now I feel like I'm pretty much back where I was at the end of September.
Highlights (some of these are new, some aren't, some I'm not sure)
ducking PS mirage bs (definitely new - and first five I've hit on both sides)
DATW> PLO> rpt (new)
osis> torque bs (new - torques were crispy-ish I think)
osis> symp mirage (weak side)
pixie muted clipper> infinity> whirl> osis> pdx mirage> rpt> symp mirage> butterfly> infinity> osis> pdx mirage> rpt
drifter> osis> infinity> rpt to 9 contacts
smear> terrage> symp mirage> rpt
osis> dlo one side & osis> double pickup other side in same string
blizzard bs
dimwalk> pdx illusion> terrage bs
pixie ss clipper> pdx mirage> pixie muted clipper> pdx illusion> rpt
butterfly> pdx mirage> rpt to 20+ contacts
pixie ss clipper> crispy dlo> rpt
pixie ss clipper> whirl> drifter bs
That last one has been real tough on my weakside, since they are all weakside components. I've hit it weakside about a dozen times in the last couple days, and got it back over to strong, but didn't finish it. It'll happen.
I need to get my endurance & consistency back up. Regularly hitting 10 contacts bops/bop equivalents is not unrealistic. At the same time, I'd like to keep my strings to no more than two bops in a row - not always gonna happen though. Its just so easy to rely on pdx mirage, some of my other tricks to get from clipper back to toe are way less consistent, but then again are much more fun. So the better I get at them, the more fun my strings are going to be. Gotta work on it.
Looking forward to NYJ!
Highlights (some of these are new, some aren't, some I'm not sure)
ducking PS mirage bs (definitely new - and first five I've hit on both sides)
DATW> PLO> rpt (new)
osis> torque bs (new - torques were crispy-ish I think)
osis> symp mirage (weak side)
pixie muted clipper> infinity> whirl> osis> pdx mirage> rpt> symp mirage> butterfly> infinity> osis> pdx mirage> rpt
drifter> osis> infinity> rpt to 9 contacts
smear> terrage> symp mirage> rpt
osis> dlo one side & osis> double pickup other side in same string
blizzard bs
dimwalk> pdx illusion> terrage bs
pixie ss clipper> pdx mirage> pixie muted clipper> pdx illusion> rpt
butterfly> pdx mirage> rpt to 20+ contacts
pixie ss clipper> crispy dlo> rpt
pixie ss clipper> whirl> drifter bs
That last one has been real tough on my weakside, since they are all weakside components. I've hit it weakside about a dozen times in the last couple days, and got it back over to strong, but didn't finish it. It'll happen.
I need to get my endurance & consistency back up. Regularly hitting 10 contacts bops/bop equivalents is not unrealistic. At the same time, I'd like to keep my strings to no more than two bops in a row - not always gonna happen though. Its just so easy to rely on pdx mirage, some of my other tricks to get from clipper back to toe are way less consistent, but then again are much more fun. So the better I get at them, the more fun my strings are going to be. Gotta work on it.
Looking forward to NYJ!
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- Avenging Disco Godfather
- Posts: 1660
- Joined: 09 Jan 2007 12:43
- Location: Chicago, IL
Shaaaa.
Four more sessions since the last update, making ten in a row. I don't think I've ever done that before. Weather is getting back to the seasonal norm so its anybody's guess if I'll play again before NYJ. I'd like to play regularly all the way up to the event. But I'm picky about the conditions I play in & don't have an indoor spot where I can just go play whenever is convenient... or an indoor spot at all I guess.
Highlights:
triforce drill through level 5 (also got within a couple contacts of completing level 6)
20+ consecutive osii twice
osis> ducking clipper> osis> rpt
symple pickup & symple legover bs
paste x3
fairy x9
datw> terrage> rpt
ducking clipper x4> run
pixie ss clipper> ducking clipper> pdx mirage> rpt (hit this before)
pixie ss clipper> osis> pdx mirage> rpt to 16 contacts
20 or more easy guiltless a few more times
Four more sessions since the last update, making ten in a row. I don't think I've ever done that before. Weather is getting back to the seasonal norm so its anybody's guess if I'll play again before NYJ. I'd like to play regularly all the way up to the event. But I'm picky about the conditions I play in & don't have an indoor spot where I can just go play whenever is convenient... or an indoor spot at all I guess.
Highlights:
triforce drill through level 5 (also got within a couple contacts of completing level 6)
20+ consecutive osii twice
osis> ducking clipper> osis> rpt
symple pickup & symple legover bs
paste x3
fairy x9
datw> terrage> rpt
ducking clipper x4> run
pixie ss clipper> ducking clipper> pdx mirage> rpt (hit this before)
pixie ss clipper> osis> pdx mirage> rpt to 16 contacts
20 or more easy guiltless a few more times
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- Avenging Disco Godfather
- Posts: 1660
- Joined: 09 Jan 2007 12:43
- Location: Chicago, IL
Three more sessions. It was supposed to be in the mid fifties yesterday & today, and I was planning on playing, but it turned out being a bit cold for me. We might have snow in a couple days.
Highlights:
kicked with Fred!
same side, near, far, and pixe symple legover and symple pickup, both sides
pixie ss symple legover strong side
whirl x6 strong side
Those symple tricks are fun, and they've come to me pretty easily once I was able to conceptualize them. Symple magellan was kinda fluky the first time, but I hit at least one good one. Now to never do it again.
I'm still working on ducking clippers for about 10 to 20 minutes most sessions. And I'm still fucking around with spinning, but I'm no closer to it. Last time I played I focused mostly on the first pivot/step. I'm not frustrated, I know it will take some time.
Highlights:
kicked with Fred!
same side, near, far, and pixe symple legover and symple pickup, both sides
pixie ss symple legover strong side
whirl x6 strong side
Those symple tricks are fun, and they've come to me pretty easily once I was able to conceptualize them. Symple magellan was kinda fluky the first time, but I hit at least one good one. Now to never do it again.
I'm still working on ducking clippers for about 10 to 20 minutes most sessions. And I'm still fucking around with spinning, but I'm no closer to it. Last time I played I focused mostly on the first pivot/step. I'm not frustrated, I know it will take some time.
for spinng and for ducks/dives, I find that doing high set clipper stalls is good practice. Just toe set > clipper delay > high straight set (as opposed to what I see sometimes where people do clipper set at normal height > another one > maybe a high one next > another normal one) because that's exactly what you need in a real string to accomplis any of those tricks. If the set goes wild, the rest of it is pointless.
that's all super obvious, so you're welcome for not enlightening at all
that's all super obvious, so you're welcome for not enlightening at all
Bob R.
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- Avenging Disco Godfather
- Posts: 1660
- Joined: 09 Jan 2007 12:43
- Location: Chicago, IL
What? I thought everyone on modified was an expert on everything. Anyway, I've had my fill of enlightenment lately. But seriously thanks for the tips, my spinning set has been kind of coming along, once I can play regularly again I don't think it will take long to land something.Rieferman wrote:that's all super obvious, so you're welcome for not enlightening at all
So another New Year's Jam has come and gone. I wasn't sure if I'd do another write-up, because to be quite honest I'm pretty burnt out at the moment. Anyone who has been involved with a footbag event to a significant degree knows there's a behind-the-scenes story, and that's mostly what's on my mind at the moment, but I don't want to get into all that. In the past I've done like a chronological order of what happened but since I was occupied with not very entertaining things I think I'll do a much briefer write-up than usual.
Anyway, as usual, I'll highlight your names in bold so you don't have to read the whole thing. Sorry in advance if I miss anyone, unless you're an asshole, then I'm not sorry.
Footbag wise, I played less than six times in the six weeks before NYJ, but I did get a couple sessions in the week before & felt like I could play decently at the event. Boy was I wrong. I choked in circle, and I was eliminated first in both the request comps. I played at what I would consider an acceptable level for about half an hour out of the entire event.
I spent a lot of time hanging out with Ken Somolinos, we played footbag a little bit but it was casual stuff mostly, like the night before the event with the Toledo crew, Donovon, Nik, and Steve.
Toledo rolled nine deep into NYJ! I'll be very interested to see how the scene progresses.
Meeting Milan Benda was really cool, even though the language barrier prevented much conversation, he just exuded good vibes. Thanks to Milan & Brian Bear for helping with the housing situation that came up with Ken & Christoph Larndorfer.
Christoph was cool, I regret not hanging out with him more during the event, but the team four square game was a blast.
I got to spend more time with Zac Miley & Matt Kemmer than any previous event, which was fun. Its always good to get to know people beyond the shared interest of footbag. But speaking of that sport, we played some footbag on the first day, Matt's shuffle is really really solid and Zac is very smooth and fun to watch, I'm surprised that he says he hasn't been playing because he looked sharp to me.
I did get to play briefly in a circle with Reid Strellner and Ianek Regimbald - which was a lot of fun. Ianek is one of those players that you start to wonder if you should stop giving him props, because every string has something that you probably haven't seen before.
I was really happy that Fred Noinaj was able to come out both days & that we got to kick again. Hope your knee gets better soon, buddy.
Also happy to see that Tom Kotsakos was able to actually play some footbag this year.
And I kicked with James Risden a bunch! Even though we were sore & the floor sucked, its always fun.
Oh yeah, and Eric Siegel came out. Played with him too, also fun. Damn I need adjectives for 'fun' 'cool' and so forth.
Glad that Tommy Arianoutsos came out both days. This summer I promise you if you keep playing you're game is gonna explode.
And Grant Mooney! I enjoyed hanging out with you, glad you were able to participate despite whatever happened to your knee on the second day.
Big thanks to Emily Kulczyk for helping out so much. I admire your poise. A lot of things that people enjoyed wouldn't have happened without you.
Thanks also to Eric Reile for graciously hosting so many players.
As usual hanging out with Zach Jahner was good times. I hope your comeback is fun & successful, but more importantly keep doing well in school so that you can move here.
Apples to Apples with Ken, Marianne, Reile, Zeke Emily, Tom, Zach & Kamil was so much fun. As was the Pinata. Look for more pinata photos & video on facebook soon.
Met a lot of new people - Cory Allen, Matt Maurer, Joey Michels, Brian Washburn - hopefully we can do it again soon at another event. Glad that Brian has somebody to kick with now & that he could make the trip out.
I'm glad I got to see so many of my friends, and make some new ones. There were some people who couldn't make it out who were missed. Maybe next time. Sorry if I've overlooked anything or anyone else.
I do want to briefly make some more serious comments. Footbag has been a very good thing in my life. I'm not into airing all my business on modified, but those of you who know me well know what it means to me, and what it has meant to me for the past few years. And it has only been there for me thanks to the contributions of others, especially Zeke. A lot of other people too. I've been looking for ways to give back, but many of the things I've tried aren't a good fit for me.
I'm not saying I won't be involved in NYJ again, in fact I'm already looking for ways to do a better job next year. I have a much better understanding of what I'm in for. For instance - I shouldn't plan on playing, I should take on more responsibility rather than assuming I can delegate, I should understand that at this point the attendees have certain expectations of the event that they are bringing with them & I should try to meet those expectations rather than adjust them, I should spend more time confirming attendance & working with the attendees before the event, and I should accept that things will happen beyond my control that could adversely affect the event. Its just so happens that none of those things come very naturally to me so I get stressed out pretty quick.
Basically what I'm saying is I am looking for a way to contribute to footbag that better suits me.
- CIC flurry
- Amazingly Sexy Man-Beast
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- Avenging Disco Godfather
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- Zac Miley
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Hey Nathan - I thought the organization and things of the sort were fine. You handled everything that I could see well and I appreciate all of the effort you put in, even though I saw none of it. Except for the pb & j's.
It was fun playing and hanging out with you. I'm glad you couldn't tell I haven't been playing.
Thanks. Don't beat yourself up (if you actually are...), it was a really fun event.
It was fun playing and hanging out with you. I'm glad you couldn't tell I haven't been playing.
Thanks. Don't beat yourself up (if you actually are...), it was a really fun event.
Jay (8:06:01 PM): Bu-bu-buu-buug--Looks up, and the feeling goes away like a sneeze-bu-buuuh-BULLLSHITTT
Jay (8:06:14 PM): *wipes bellybutton*
Jay (8:06:14 PM): *wipes bellybutton*