Nick "Houdini" Polini

[AdAstra]

Hey Nick, I'd be interested in the Facebook group to get better at footbag.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

AdAstra, Thanks for the comment. That's the comment that made me realize you and Adam Hilpp are 2 different players living in KY

So a lot has happened since I last blogged. Not much footbag-wise. I honestly haven't had a session since NYJ I tried to play in my new place, but the carpet is so slippery. I came really close to busting my ankle. If I didn't have crank, I'd probably have a twisted ankle right now, but holy shit, it's a gift and a curse, really. In this case, a fucking awesome gift. I have been messing around and drilling barefoot Ripsteins and DATWs. I think this might actually be doing me a lot of good, because I have always really sucked at DATW. It's way easier now.

I'm continuing to teach my footbag online class. That's going great. Lots of people are making progress.

So now, life stuff...

Absolutely in love with my new place. The area may seriously be in the epitome of bumblefuck nowhere, but I love the silence. I opened my door tonight and heard the bone-chilling howl of coyotes up in the mountains. That was eerily awesome.

Still trying to get Nadiah a job in the area. She just applied as a Plant Breeding Specialist at Longwood Gardens (like a zoo for plants), so we're really hoping she gets the job.

I'm setting up my porch shred spot this weekend, and I'll have my first footbag guests next weekend, I think. Greg Wenner is going to stop by on his way to Baltimore and I think Bonslaver wants to come up then too. I'll probably try to get Ivan and Zach to come too. Gotta order a Lovesac couch this week, asap. A co-worker gave me a really bad ass tiger painting the other day. I huge it on my wall and now my wall is bad ass.

I made friends with the old man upstairs who has no teeth and smells faintly of cigarettes and throw up. He's very nice though and he hoards cats, so of course we got along immediately.

I hung up a dartboard, so now I've got sports in my livingroom.

I named the 3 cows next to my apartment. They're all George. I cam home the other day and there was a large puddle of blood in my parking lot. They had slaughtered a George. It was a little upsetting, because I had been telepathically communicating with them for almost 2 weeks. They never replied but they were good listeners. RIP George.

Did I mention that my apartment is literally next to/on a farm? The inside is really cozy and modern though, and my rent is unbelievably cheap. 575/month and my landlord pays for waste removal and water, so that's dope.

Work stuff..

I had my first day of actual fieldwork today, while having the title of Biologist. Pretty bland, but kind of cool. We just went around to different tributaries and downloaded data off of these things called HOBO loggers. They measure dissolved oxygen, barometric pressure, temperature, and a variety of other things. The shitty part about it was that we had to basically solve a physical puzzle to unlock the HOBOs from the pipes under the freezing cold water, so by the time we retrieved them, we couldn't really feel out hands or arms for a few minutes. We check these once every 2 weeks. It was cool to do this, because people walk by and ask us what we were doing and we introduce ourselves as Biologists. That is just so cool to me, since it's been my dream to be a Biologist. I'll be getting personal business cards next week that will read "Nick Polini- Biologist" and I don't know if my fragile little heart can handle that kind of excitement. I love my job. I can't wait for things to get more fun and interesting in the spring.

Did I even say that I won the election for Marketing Director? I don't think I did. Well, hey, it's me, Nick Polini, Footbag's Marketing Director. I've been trying to get a hold of Steve Goldberg to talk to him about some of my plans, but he's been quite a slippery salamander to get a hold of. Hopefully he answers soon, because I've been spending a lot of my free time organizing one new thing I can't wait to incorporate in the footbag community. I think it will get more people interested in playing.

Anyway, I'm tried of typing. Can't wait to actually play footbag again. I've been fantasizing about the following tricks a lot:

-Ripstein
-Mobiusscrew
-Flux
-Mobius
-Pdx Blink

Man, those are fun tricks.

Bye bye.

[Add Block]

RIP George. Cows have best friends, but there was an odd number of them so there's a chance you were George's best friend.

[DC Clinks]

>I named the 3 cows next to my apartment. They're all George.

This was some good dank.

[Kylescook]

I'll be getting personal business cards next week that will read "Nick Polini- Biologist" and I don't know if my fragile little heart can handle that kind of excitement. I love my job.

Word, Glad life kicks ass for you.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Thanks guys. Yeah, sad to see George go, but I still see George and George every day I found out that they killed George and not George, so that's kind of a relief, because George was such a downer. Really pessimistic. Not really going far in life.

I made a video that will kind of mark my level at the beginning of winter. Hopefully it will be much higher by the end of winter.
It's posted on facebook but it's buried under 4 other posts now lol I'm so used to that. It's just kind of funny now. That group is just a clusterfuck of footbag throwup. It's not a great video anyway. But it kind of shows my average run, which I thought was useful. Anyway, going to bed with my kitty. I brought her up from my parents' house to live with me. It's nice to have company at least. Also Ivan came to visit the other night and we kicked (as you can see in the video), so that was really fun. We had a great time, but not the greatest session. He also gave me some new fabrics, so that was much appreciated. Thanks buddy.

Mother Nature destroyed my winter shred spot last night. Mangled it. It wasn't very solid to begin with. I'm going to bring my puzzle piece mats up from my parents' house soon and use them inside. My living room is big enough for it.

Oh also, Mark Monistere and I raced to this drill today:
Pretty happy with that.

I drilled inside tonight on that carpet. Focused on shuffles, specifically Atomics. Saw a bit of progress, so that's nice.

If you read my blog, thanks and I hope you enjoy the things that come out of my brain. My blog is a nice outlet for me to spill some beans or get stuff off my chest. I talked to Evan for a while today at work. We had a nice conversation about milfs, life, and footbag. Along with being a master player, he's also such a nice guy.

Bed.

[Ryan_Morris]

Winter is a dick.

[h0ag3yb3atZ]

i havent even hung up my fucking curtains yet hahahahah. still do feel strong about them though.


nice trix

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

A lot has happened since my last post.

-My 8ft giant purple bean bag couch has shipped and it is currently engulfing me as I type <3 I'll post a video of my new pad soon. It's so cozy and hip and footbaggy. I love it here.

-I brought my shred mats up from my parents' house. They fit in just right. Perfect size for my living room. Sorry PSU Shredhaus, this is the coolest place I've ever lived. However, Ivan and Pipenberg were the coolest room mates I've ever had.

-Greg was visiting this weekend for a day. Snow storm hit and stranded him here for a few extra days, but we made the best of it with footbag, kitty, illegal fireworks, and tequila! Video below!

This video has highlights from my best 2 sessions ever. I definitely feel like I've leveled up in this video, which is exciting. Plus, we taught Greg some brand new tricks, which are included in this.

We had a blast that weekend. Lots of laughs, lots of footbag, juggling, shots of tequila and illegal fireworks that we set off right next to my apartment (since there is no one around here for miles), and a few movies. Greg made me watch The Shining, because I had never seen it. Awesome movie. We ended up yelling "redrum" quite a bit at random moments at each other the next day. We had a really good time, despite him having to stay an extra 2 days and me almost not being prepared to have him stay that long, due to limited groceries. We were alright though. Greg is awesome. I'm glad he stayed for a while. I think we definitely became better friends this weekend.

So today, I got a text from Jay in the morning and the gist of it was him trying to help me figure out what I need to do to push to that next level. He suggested I do Vasek's method and pick 5 tricks that I want to get good at, like really really good at, and drill them every day. I'll post my list below and how my first training went. My mindset was to trap the big trick in between 2 easier tricks:

1) Ripped Warrior

-Started with Toe ss Butterfly> Ripped Warrior> Schmoe bs, which proved to be harder than I would like to admit. Toe ss Butterfly was really hard to Step Duck out of, for some reason. I figure it out though.
-Then I went to Toe op Butterfly> Ripped Warrior> Schmoe bs, which was way easier.
-Then I did Spinning Clipper> Ripped Warrior> Schmoe bs, which was kind of challenging.
-Then I did Pdx Mirage> Pixie ss Clipper> Ripped Warrior> Swirl bs and that was the hardest of all of them. I managed to bsos it twice and then hit it on both sides several times. My problem was that my Pixie set wasn't getting set straight enough.

2) Pixie Swirl

-This was such a pain in the ass on flipside. I'm still pretty new to this trick on flipside, so I just tried to hit it a bunch of times from Pdx Mirage. It proved to be very easy on strong side, but crazy hard on flipside. The frustrating part was that when I would try hand toss> Pixie Muted Swirl, I would hit it about 80% of the time. Then I soon realized that MY PDX MIRAGES WERE SO WRONG. I was kind of sliding in and out of the dex, until I realized that my success was much greater with setting, hopping to the side and squaring up with the bag, then dexing. I think I must have hit about 10 good ones on flipside from a Pdx Mirage. I'll be monitoring this one closely.

3) Blurry Whirl

This is one of my least favorite tricks in footbag, but I'm also not great at it, so this might have something to do with my detest for it. Jay told me that learning how to step out of Blurry Whirls will be really helpful with stepping out of bigger tricks. So, I sucked it up and drilled it.

-Started out with Toe ss Butterfly> Ripwalk> Blurry Whirl> Ripwalk bs, which was a little shaky on flipside, but started to straighten itself out sooner than later. I did this one several times on both sides.
-Then I did flipside Blurry Whirl> Spinning Whirl after I was finished. That was kind of nice, because it's usually pretty challenging for me on flipsdie. They're getting better.

4) Torquescrew!

I love this trick, but I need a lot more reps on flipside with it.

-Started with Ripwalk> Torquescrew bs. Not too hard.
-Moved on to Spinning Butterfly> Torquescrew bs a few times on both sides, just so I could get some more flipside reps in. Then I ended it on BSOS Spinning Butterfly> Torquescrew. It's starting to feel way easier on flip.

5) Pdx Revup and Pdx Blink!

I love these tricks too! Both are pretty consistent, but it would be nice to be able to hit bigger tricks out of them, because I currently always bail to Butterfly after I hit these. I figured I'd drill them together, since they are so similar.

-Started with Ripwalk> Pdx Revup bs and Ripwalk> Pdx Blink bs several times on each.
-I did one flipside Symposium Revup, just to prove to myself that I could still do it.
-Toe op Revup bs made an appearance several times on each side, since it's so similar to Pdx Revup.
-Ended these with Magellan> Far Revup bs a couple times each.

After the session, I was wiped out but pissed off about flipside Pixie Muted Swirl, so I took may Lavers off and hit it in socks once on each side. I was satisfied with that.

Sat down on the mats, stretched and did some pilates core exercises, as well as a bunch of crunches, followed by 10 pull-ups on my pull-up bar.

Now I'm here and I'm about to close this shit and watch the pilot episode for the new season of X-Files!!! Stoked. I don't have cable because I didn't want it, so I couldn't watch it last night. Better late than never.

In regards to these drills, I Want To Believe that they will really help me through this winter. We'll find out. The Truth Is Out There.

[AdAstra]

Ha if I'm ever able to visit, I'll make sure to bring the Kentucky bourbon for shots. Bourbon>Tequila.

Any way: you mentioned paradox mirage I think. What is that? Isn't paradox using the "wrong" leg to dex with? Would a paradox mirage not just be an orbit then? Or do you stall with the other foot in which case isn't it just a Fairy?

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Haha Awesome, I gotta get me some more fireworks. And you got the video of Pdx Mirage I sent to you on facebook.

So, I didn't do anything after work today. And it felt great. $ days in a row drilling and playing my ass off, I needed a break. However, I do have some special things to report..

If you're on the facebook group, you saw me post... a few things today. One of them was a hypothetical jam that might be happening (probably will be happening) in Hilton Heights Island, South Carolina. Carlos Chacon (a newer player) called me today at work and we talked all about it.

Here's the low down:

He's a Biologist, so we immediately hit it off. He has a boys soccer team that he coaches. There is a lot of interest in footbag, which is DOOOPPPEEE. Carlos wants to host a jam that covers footbag and teaching footbag to his students, a free kayak/paddleboard adventure where Carlos will give us a nature tour of all the aquatic life, and/or a free guided nature walk (both of these will be guided by Carlos. He does this for his job, which is awesome, because it's what I used to do with Audubon! I might be his co-pilot and add bits and pieces to what he says, since I know my fair share of wildlife Biology, too). It might possibly be at a beach house right on a beach. Basically, the whole thing sounds freaking awesome, since footbag and wildlife are my 2 main hobbies. It seems like there is a lot of interest in this jam already. I'm going to be working with him to help get it rolling. Carlos said it might be in June or July. More on this later, but if this sounds cool to you, please try to attend. I think he's going to have a good turn out for this one.

He also said, if this one goes well, he is originally from Costa Rica and he still does bird tours there about 3 times a year. He has his perks there and wants to eventually host a tournament/jam there, possibly next to an (active? I think he said active) volcano! He has friends there that kick with him, and are also interested in getting more involved, so if this worked out, we might have a scene in Costa Rica. Free rain forest zip-line rides would be included in this package. But this one is further in the future. Already pretty excited by this one, though.

In other news, my footbag 101 class has been getting really good. Lots of participation and lots of challenges are being slayed. Just got a few new players just this week, so we'll see how they do. The footbag scene is really starting to get cooking, in terms of novice to basic level intermediate players. Austin (AdAstra) is one of my students in the class and he's made huge improvements. A few weeks ago, he told me he was worried about his lack of crank on flipside Clipper.. now he's hitting tricks out of it. He's moving up on the challenge list, too. I'm so proud of all my students in the class. If you're interested in becoming a student of mine, just post in my blog and ask to be added or message me on facebook.

Another dude, Ryan Chadwick, just found the facebook group a few days ago. I helped him order Lavers and some footbags today. He seems stoked about getting into it. Plus he lives an hour and a half away from Hogan, so he wants to get to a point where he can flow, and then meet up with Hogan. He also got one of his buddies into it, and I'm teaching him in my class, too. I've been talking to him quite a bit. He seems like a nice dude.

Last bit. I was talking to Vince Richardson about Clippers the other day. He has trouble with them, so we devised a plan where he's going to come over to my apartment one of these weekends and we're just going to workshop. Then I figured, why stop there? So, I posted an open invitation for anyone who wants some help with footbag to come crash at my new pad for a weekend and we'll just workshop in my shred arena. It seemed like no one was too interested or they were just too far away. Then Sean Nyman, a new player from Michigan, posted and said he's in. So, next weekend, he's coming down and staying a few days and I'm going to put my coaches hat on and get him learned up on some footbag. I think Ivan and Bonslaver might come down that weekend, too. Bonslaver has really been impressing me lately. He's exploded into a young David Clavens. Stoked to play with him again.

Trying to start work on footbag.org soon, giving it a nice make-over, so it looks more appealing. Then we have some projects planned after footbag.org looks nice.

That's all that's happened in my very footbaggy life. I feel a surge in footbag activity lately. I think it will only improve as soon as we finish with footbag.org and those damn Quantums are released. I'm slowly planning to do a promo video in the spring, too. Oh and if anyone who is good at making videos, wants to make me an intro and outro clip for all my videos, I'd really appreciate it. Jay suggested this, since I'm the Marketing Director now.

[boyle]

Costa Rica sounds cool. Pre/post Worlds next year do could work well. Sounds like things are doing really good for you.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Thanks Dan, things are going well. And yeah, Costa Rica would be the shit!

I haven't blogged in a while, but I've been extremely involved in footbag for myself, as well as others.

My class is going stronger than ever. I have 3 girls in my class now, so that's awesome. Hoping I can help them all graduate the class eventually. All of my students are doing well. I had to call on Mark Monistere and Ianek to help out as being teachers, since the group has gotten much bigger. About 1 new player every handful of days.

Haven't played for about a week and a half, because of knee problems again. It sucks. I can definitely still push my game though. But my knee is just something I have to be cautious of nowadays. No more 8 hour session/6 sessions in a row. I think my limit is 3 days in a row, with yoga and stretching, then a day break of yoga and stretching. Then back on. That seems to be working pretty well. I just ordered a new knee strap. I always thought knee braces look bad in footbag. Well, I should say, I think I look bad in a knee brace and I don't think it's good for giving a cool look tot he sport. But I did just order a cool knee strap that I intend on using. I like how non-invasive those are and I always thought Honza looked cool playing in one. So that'll be here soon. I don't think I'll always need it, but I think it's a good precaution for continuing to play at the higher level that I've been playing. I've also been hard at work on my footbag video vault project and Allan has been kicking ass with helping me, too. So, big thanks to him for being my partner with all of this stuff.

I've got some videos. 2 of them. One's dumb/funny and has Jay Boychuk laughing in the background. The other is drilling from today.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5Nrr0YRi3U[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am7hWHnGzN4[/youtube]

Ok now for life stuff (Honestly, save yourself and don't read the first paragraph, please. It's more for me to just get off my chest and vent it out. It's boring too.):

I have been wanting to post in here about life stuff, but I didn't feel like it, but it's starting to get to a point where if I don't get it out of my head, I dunno.. I guess it'll just feel better to have this posted. I'm just starting to get depressed. I almost guessed that it would happen. I don't see humans every day, which is nice, but also gets lonely. And I think a big part of it is that some of my friends and girlfriend have been me, unintentionally of course. And I guess the bigger part that bugs me is my girlfriend unintentionally ditching me. She's 2 hours away now that I moved. She's only been able to come visit me one time so far. It was a really nice weekend, but it just sucks that I've been here since the beginning of January and she has only been able to come up once. Her mom lives with her right now, so it's awkward if we try to meet up at her place, otherwise I'd drive to see her. I dunno, I hate even venting about this. It's also annoying because for the last few weekends, she's been supposed to come up, but something always happens.. Family problems one weekend, sick pets the next, and a funeral this weekend. She says she's not just making excuses, and I believe her, but mother fucker, am I important enough to make a little time for? It feels like I'm not, then the friends ignoring/forgetting about me doesn't make it better.. However, Ivan drove up last night and we played footbag, so that was really cool of him. Bonslaver was supposed to come, but he wasn't able to swing the hours that Ivan was able to come up. So anyway, I'm just going to let her have some space and try to keep my shit together. But man, I really feel like I'm on the brink of depression.

START READING NOW.. I'm hoping no one took the time to read all that shit I just spewed. Seriously, don't read it, it's kind of embarrassing and it's just bitchy. I just wanted to "Dear Diary" that bullshit. I actually feel a bit better after doing it, which is nice. That was my intention.

Anyway, other life stuff that is more interesting and doesn't suck. Work is awesome. I really love where I am right now. My pad has been rad. It's super cool to have my chill/living room area right here and 2 feat away from me is my shred arena. Stoked to be so fortunate to have this set up. I bought a bird feeder the other day, so it was kind of cool to finally have my own place to have a bird feeder on my porch.

Footbag has been good. Having fun trying to push myself, so that's good. Trying to go to this reptile exhibit with my dad on Feb 27th. Planning on buying either an Alligator Skink or a Blue-Tongue Skink. But we'll see when I get there.

I think, in the early spring, I'll be buying a nice camera for birding. I hear dropping around $600 will get me something that I'll be very happy with, so I've been looking at the Nikon Coolpix 900p. Some birders recommended it to me.

I've officially been approved to travel to Austria for that business trip in 2016, so that's exciting. The head Biologist had me write up a biography for the Austrian company to look over, I wrote about all the stuff I've been doing in Normandeau, then I read it and it just made me sound like the dude haha But it was all true, and I just hadn't realized how much actual new experience I've gotten working at this place until then. Looking forward to the spring, when we'll be getting out of the office and actually doing field work, finally.

Working out: Still been working out every day. I'm going to achieve my New Year's resolution this year of a visible 6 pack of abs. I can already see the outline.

I spent like 3 hours Skyping with Jay yesterday. That was a good time. He's always fun to chat with and talk about footbag plans and stuff. He was singing in German to his puppy at one point while I was preparing the foot bubbles (video above) and I told him it sounded like he was reciting heavy metal lyrics to him lol

I've been feeling like this kid lately:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7RgN9ijwE4[/youtube]

Anyway, I'm out. I was planning on going to work tomorrow, but then about a hour ago, I realized I have off for President's Day, which was a nice surprise.

Bye.

[Add Block]

Being able to still shred 3 days in a row is awesome. I'm usually too scared to play 2 days in a row. I probably could without a problem, but injuries suck so much that I don't even tempt it.

For Honza, it all comes down to style. He says that injuries come 100% from a person's style, and that he had an awful style back when he had to use the knee brace. I don't know where that puts the rest of us since his old style looks absolutely fine to me.

Those drills are cool, the Drifter/RevSwirl one looks 10x easier for you than the rest. Also you make Spinning look too easy.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Thanks Vojta. I appreciate the comments. Spinning just came naturally for me. It's weird that lots of others have to work so hard at it. Drifters are finally pretty good, considering I drilled my ass off at those for years :/ And interesting about the insight on Honza's injuries. Thanks for sharing. It makes sense about the injury correlating to bad form.

So tonight was awesome. I got a message from Bob Green around 2 pm today asking if I could have a session in like 2 hours. I didn't have anything going on, so I told him to come down. Bob was on business in Edgewood, MD, which is apparently only 50 minutes from me. So I got to kick and hang out with him tonight. He's such a cool dude and he gets to blow shit up for a living.

Bob played pretty well. Hit a lot of cool shit that you just don't see every day. We ended up giving each other some challenges and his really opened my eyes to the stuff I'm really bad at. I hammed out at Pixie Muted Swirl tonight and I think I got better at Atomics tonight too.

Highlights:

Pdx Blink> Pixie Swirl bs
Spikehammer> Pixie Swirl bs
Pixie Rake> Pixie Swirl bs
Atomsmasher> Pixie Swirl bs
FS Toe Blur> Pixie Swirl one side
Tapping DLO> Far Muted Revup bs (WOO! That's my kind of toe-to-toe)
Predator bs!
Atomic Drifter bs!
BS Smear> Flail bs (Bob challenge)
Flail> DOD bs (Bob challenge)
Tribute to Ricky Moran (who is out of jail now, and I actually chatted with him a little bit tonight. He wants to start playing again and he'll be at Worlds '17!) Spinning Ducking Mirage> Atomic Drifter. I got close on flip, but I think I hit Spinning Mirage> Atomic Drifter on flipside. Video of the Spin Duck Mirage> Atomic Drifter below.
Almost forgot, I took a really half-assed joking attempt at Nemesis today and I actually came really close. I got all the dexes, just didn't switch my weight, because I didn't actually think I'd come close.

Here's a video from yesterday's drill session:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDVga3q6qqo[/youtube]

Oh and today, I hit Atomsmasher x8 first try and faced forward on all of them. I've got a new method for Atomics, that I think works really well. I call it the "Alien method". Pick my brain if you want. I'll explain if anyone is interested.

Here's the Spinning Ducking Mirage> Atomic Drifter: https://www.instagram.com/p/BBllgTEpUBk ... kthepolini

I've been feeling a bit better from what I was venting about above. It helps to just chat with friends, like Bob. Stoked for the next time he can come visit.

Taking off of footbag for a day or 2 to give my legs a break.

It's awesome that valued veteran players are coming back with a vengeance right now. Kevin Crowley, Jorden Moir, and Ricky Moran all came back this week. As marketing director, I love seeing that

Bye!

[AdAstra]

You make the pixie legovers (is that the right name?) look so easy it's unreal.

Also what is it called when you circle the bag in clipper form?

I always shred better after watching your videos for some reason.

[boyle]

Excellent work on the atoms, would be great if you could break the ten mark (says I, struggling with 2...). It is really great to see older players coming back. Bob seems like a really cool guy, I'd love to meet him some day. That's awesome you got to get in a session and must have been good for the positive attitude having a visitor.

There's some pretty crazy combos in there, nice variety.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Austin: That's literally the first time anyone has complimented my Pixies haha That must be a good sign. Thanks man. The Clipper ATW I do is called "Swirl" (dex goes back to front) or "Reverse Swirl" (dex goes front to back). You'll see me do Reverse Swirl more often that Swirl. Try them. You can probably hit one or the other or both. Players usually have a preference right away. Reverse Swirl was always easier for me, but I can do both now pretty easily.

Dan: Thanks dude, I'd really like to break 10 Atomsmashers. I'm starting to slowly figure them out. I need to learn how to harness more force from the ground. Yeah, Bob is an awesome dude. Super funny and easy to talk to.

I'm at work, so here's 2 quick links from last night's 10 minute tiny session:

My first Toe op Symp Eggbeater on flipside:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BBn3-G6JUEB ... kthepolini

My first BSOS Nova (Symposium DLO):

https://www.instagram.com/p/BBn5F_jpUFq ... kthepolini

Gonna do some more editing for the video vault project tonight. I've got a deadline now, so I should be able to get more done.

Bye.

[boyle]

When will you go to Austria? I had a great time both times I went there. Plenty of other footbag hubs not too far away either.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

If Nadiah and I end up staying together, we've always wanted to go to see the Fairy Wrens. I'd love to go. Especially for the herps and birds.

Ok, so quick post. I attended half of PSU Valentimes Jam. I wasn't feeling Valentimes Day, though, so I left early. It was helpful being around my friends this weekend though. And I did get to have 2 sessions with them. They're all almost Guiltless, which is such a good feeling knowing that they are all just about there. Everyone has improved a ton. Ben with his flawless, effortless Whips and Rolls, Ivan with his very promising shuffle, Greg with his double dexes and unusual surfaces, Khoa with his evolutionary sitdowns and his toe game, Aidan with his crazy toe game (just needs to work on Clippers.. that kid needs Lavers BAD), and Ryan with his incredible new flow and consistency with Drifters and DLOs. Everyone has really been working hard and it shows. You guys are all such good friends. Thanks for helping me out by being there this weekend. Not the easiest weekend for me. Sorry if I bummed any of you guys out.

Highlights:

Porkscrew (Calling this "Pigf*cker" from now on.
Gyro Nova
Smog> Nova
Vertigo bs several times each
Alpine Whirligig
Ripped> Spike> run on both sides
Pixie Swirl> Torquescrew bs
Pdx Whirl> Spinning Ducking Butter *rpt
Blurry Drifter> Gyro DLO> Smoke
Spinning Butter> Near Nova bs

Oh yeah, then after the jam on Saturday, we all went and saw Deadpool together. Great movie. I was never a comic book guy, but it was such a good action movie. Would definitely watch it again.

Oh yeah before Deadpool, we went to Ivan and Ran's old train club set up. I've known about it for years, just never went to see it. It's pretty freaking cool. It's a gigantic tiny city with tiny people. As biologists, Khoa and I found several biological flaws in the layout... the bears were too close to some of the golfers, the fishermen didn't have visible fishing licenses displayed on their clothing, the giraffe was not to scale, and there should be no giraffe in Pennsylvania in the first place. Oh and there were alien figures in some places. Not very biology-oriented. However, still very very cool.