FuteBlaug (PSU)

[krustykrakk]

Hiii! I just kicked.

Nothing new to tell other than summer session 1 is finished and I am now in summer session 2. That means 2 more classes until I graduate.

Highlights since the last post (excluding today) :
-Ducking clipper b2b (new)
-two 25-contact strings in one short session
-pixies

Highlights from today:
-kicked with my new marco bag!
-more pixies
-refraction b2b (new)
-Almost highlight: footed toe>op out to in >same foot osis

[krustykrakk]

Hey, shut up.
April and I had two sessions today!
The first was during my 3 hour break from 9-12, after work; before class. April led the session again and managed to kick my ass for over an hour. We did lots of clippers, illusions, inside wraps to frozen clippers, and atw/orbits on both sides. My left leg atw is looking better. I am understanding the set > dex relationship with that side a lot better... orbit on left leg is weak dex direction combined with weak set leg. There's a Pythagorean Theorem going on with that leg, which leads to a triangle of suckiness, frustration, and stomping around like Barney the Dinosaur if he were an angry alcoholic.

Highlights:
-I managed to find time to kick, even with a full schedule!

The second session was surprisingly massive for me. This was pleasant considering I had already kicked, went to class, and worked two shifts earlier. On the half hour walk home, I called Nick P and talked footbag with him for a bit. We used to do this quite a bit but haven't in a while. I don't usually use up too many minutes on my phone since I mainly text and my phone conversations with my dad are around a minute and twenty seconds. He said he and Matt are excited to work on some things with the PSU crew involving form. He then mentioned PPTT, a concept he coined meaning something along the lines of "plank posture, tip toes." We talked about good players and form. My example of someone with a solid basis for a controlled form was Jay B. In his videos, his posture looks so prim and proper. I kept this in mind while playing and I believe it helped. The first thing April and I worked on legover. I am fairly certain I destroyed my record by at least 10 on the first attempt. This was amazing but I had to do again with April counting in order for my own proof of my personal record being broken. Keep in mind that this was almost immediately after my whole day plus a half hour+ walk home (so, PPTT works.) This was followed by a nice, long drill session with a bunch of cool things and even a few milestones for me.

Highlights:
-Legover x29 (I believe I had more the first time, but oh well)
-Toe far butter > pdx mirage x4.5 (New record by .5, I think)
-Clipper same butter > infinty rpt (Second time I hit this ever [sloppily])
-PLO b2b(strong > weak)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-PLO b2b(weak > strong)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Super slowwwww osis freeze b2b (maybe x3, I don't remember. My record is higher but not for slow and frozen.)

P.S.
People are going to start to come in tomorrow for the ArtsFest mini-jam. OMG. Excite. Mad, crazy, super excite.

[krustykrakk]

This weekend was ArtsFest at PSU. We had a good turnout and were blessed with great weather and better shred. Matt Kemmer, Dan Carey, Cass Taylor, Chrissy Fryer, Marc Peralta, Aidan Reilly Nick Poolini, Nathan Bonslaver and Ryan Michael ThomASS all graced the current PSU club (Ivan, Ryan M, April and I) with their collective presence. Side note* Khoa was absent due to a freestyle footbaLL event in Seattle.


First, Friday:
Nathan arrived on friday and wanted some kick. No one else could go, but I made it since he could only kick for one day. He is getting so good. He seems to be adding bigger tricks to his game and he surprised me in a variety of ways. The only flaw I see in his game, currently, is that his emphasis is on style. His strings usually barely made it into double digits, although his trick selection is insane.

Highlights:
-Whirl BSOS (new, sloppy on weak, also not sealed)
-More PLO B2B
-A bunch of BSOS dimwalk

Friday (post-shred) :
Nick and Ryan came in around 9:30, so we headed on down to the shredhaus. It wasn't long until Matt and Dan showed up. Naturally, they wanted to kick, so they had a basement session at the shredhaus. After the session, April, Nick, Ryan, and I shared a taxi ride home with an eccentric character who seemed drunker than I was. When we finally got in around 4a, Nick and Ryan cuddled.


Saturday:
After an awesome April-made breakfast, we headed to the kick spot. We decided to walk but once we got to campus, I had to catch a bus back to my apartment because I forgot my lavers. Ugh. When I finally got to the spot, Cassy and Aidan had arrived and Chrissy and Nathan came not too far after. We kicked for 3 hours, Marc came, then we kicked for two hours more. The music playing at the nearest stage was bluegrass and was not great for shred. Everyone had a sick session. It was very awesome to see April asking around for advice on things she wants to get better at. We help each other a lot but are on the same level, so we can't really teach from too great of a perspective. It was cool to see her strong initiative and, heard from the people who taught her, her fast improvement. Aidan was also there for Saturday. He hadn't played since a soccer injury to his knee. His game was set back a bit but he did well. I was glad to see him kick... his double orbits are scary.

-Highlights:
-Even more PLO B2B
-Lots of BSOS dimwalk
-Much BOP
-Cloud stall BSOS (new)

Saturday (post-shred) :
Cass, Ryan, April, Chrissy, and I all went back to my place. Chrissy and April went the supermarket and bought some foods while the rest of us went to the liquor store. After the liquor store, the three of us jumped in the pool and poisoned it with 5ish hours of shred sweat. Felt great. We had dinner, drank a little, and headed to shredhaus. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay for too long because I had an early morning shift at work the next day. Before I left, however, we ate cookies and cupcakes, and chilled. I later took the bus to my place and slept.


Sunday:
After work, I walked back to my place since the buses run every hour. It would have taken a long time for me to get back if I had waited for the bus. Everyone but April and I went to get coffee and breakfast at The Corner Room, a cheap restaurant in town, and April and I caught the next bus. We met up with the three peeps at the spot, juggled, did some yoga, and warmed up a bit before it started to rain. The rain came and left so we moved to a dry backup spot. It was not long before the other hooligans came out and the session started! I was tight and sore to start off but after a lot of stretching and moving around, I got back into kicking. I learned a few new concepts, hit a few new tricks, and had a good session considering I was very tired.

Highlights:
-Lots and lots and lots of Symple Far Osis BSOS (New; I am in love with this trick. Not only for the fact that it is basically torque without the mirage, but because it feels so nice. I was inspired to hit it by watching Ryan T and his symple-heavy style.)
-Symposium Mirage BS (new; it's about time I gave this trick a serious try. Before these two tricks, the only symp trick I ever hit was symp butter.)
-Great stepping advice from Nick. For the first time, I don't feel too far off from a nice set.
-Symple Stepping Far Osis (new; Very torquey but sadly only strong side.)
-Some decent attempts at antimatter ripwalk (kinda neat, I guess.)
-Infinity x11 (New; Old record is 9)
-Whirl BSOS (sealed!)

[Cass]

I left you a gift.


Spoiler - It's a half-eaten container of cottage cheese.

[krustykrakk]

Haha. Thanks, Cass. I will spread it on toast with powdered cinnamon.

[krustykrakk]

Hi!
I have been taking the kicking easy since Sunday due to both great fatigue and a busy schedule. I think that after today, it is safe to say that April and I are back in business. I had a somewhat busy work schedule this week but lax compared to last week. This coming week is even better! I am sooo looking forward to kick.

This week, April and I tried to kick on Wednesday but both got frustrated and quit soon after. Today, however, we did some work on toes. April and I had some pixie practice which was BS for April and mainly weak side for me. We opened it up with Magellan. After I hit strong side Magellan second try, I switched to soley weak side attempts at it while April alternated sides. Her progress with pixies today was pretty much the equivalent of my summer last year. It took a while to get flip Magellan, but I did eventually manage to hit it. Woo. Other than that, I did a bunch of toe same legovers on both sides. After all that, I tried a challenge that was given to me at the jam by Nick: to hit flip pixie to op foot clipper. I was waaay tired at the jam for this since it was on Saturday at hour 4ish. Today it took me a bunch of tries but after April told me to relax, I threw everything out the window and "just did it" with ease.

Highlights:
-Pixie op Pickup BS (New on both sides)
-Flip Magellan (New)
-Pixie op foot Clipper BS (New on flip)
-Smear (New on flip)

[DC Clinks]

Nice kick stuff. I don't know what a Magellan is but just the name alone sounds cool. Someone told me to try those same side legovers at PSU, it didn't work out very well for me. Maybe I can try them tomorrow.

Hope to kick/ hand touch with you again soon doode.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Aw yeah dude! Props on getting my challenge already! Well domed!

Challenge Part II…

-Pixie ss Clipper> Near Mirage bs
-Pixie ss Clipper> Pdx Mirage bs
-Pixie ss Clipper> Near Legover bs
-Pixie ss Clipper> Far Legover bs
-Pixie ss Clipper> Near Pickup bs
-Pixie ss Clipper> Far Pickup bs
-Pixie ss Clipper> ss Clipper bs
-Pixie ss Clipper> op Clipper bs


("Pixie ss Clipper".. thats what the Pixie op foot clipper is called)

GO!

[Derek]

Yo, man. Looking like some sweet highlights. Also, wanted to thank you for the prize bag. I was the one who won it at Open, dig the pattern, like, a lot.

[krustykrakk]

Yay Comments!

Dan: Thanks, I hope to kick you again too! Magellan is pixie same side legover. It's a sweet trick.

Nick: I will continue to call it same foot as to avoid confusion. Thanks for the drillydrills. I will try them soon. It sounds like they will help with flip pixiezzle.

Derek: Thanks, man! I'm glad you like the pattern! Just curious, was it the earthy-tone bag or the purple, yellowy guy?


I did kick today. Before kick, I had work then a break then school. I feel asleep in a cafe during the break. I am doing well in school as of now. Footbag was fun. April, Ryan, and I kicked for a bit then worked on pixies. Ryan cleared his first one!! April's are looking toast, as well. She even hit a dex out of it!!!*see her blog

Highlights:
-PLO X4

[Derek]

Totally spaced that you made 2 bags, it was the pimpin' purple and yellow one. Awwwww snap, someone is finding their Pixies.

[krustykrakk]

Yeahhayah! Pixies are the manliest, dopest sets ever... mainly because clean ones are hard to see? Pixies make me happy. For some reason pixie ducking hurts my hips o.O

Anyway, Derek, I'm glad you think the bag is pimpin'. During its conception, I just looked for the poppiest colors I had at the time since the other one is so dull. I am really looking forward to seeing/absorbing your knowledge of pixies barring you attendance at ECFC.

I am about to be late for class. Mikey is coming tomorrow for kick and touch hands. I filmed for hotlinks trick comp (osis.) I am unsatisfied with my video in terms of perfection so I am treating it like a backup. If I get lazy, I will post it. I have yet to make a bag for this but will probably stitch another 14 panel for it. I am really into 32s so I am going to take my time in making the 14 prize...I am stingy with my 32s.

[Derek]

Yesss, glad someone feels the same as I about Pixies. Probably cause your Pixie muscles are still growing. I had the same problem for a while, so I said eff that ish till my shizz was stronger. Well, you succeeded, bag is super poppy in any environment. Glad to hear, I'll have to sharpen them up, just for ya

[krustykrakk]

Hallo.

Be prepared for an angry rant.
I tried explaining footbag to a group of coworkers today. It failed miserably. When I say "miserably," I mean that the result made me feel miserable for the rest of my work shift. I would probably still feel angry about it if my attention wasn't diverted to a paper I have due in a few hours. This one asshole, who I previous liked as a person...Previously... flat out told me that it isn't a "sport" (he actually did the finger motions) and basically that I am wasting my time, no "cool people" play it, and that I would be better suited to find something else to do. Even if footbag wasn't something I spend hours upon hours of my life playing and practicing, even if it was just "hackysacking," what he said would still be extremely rude and, most of all, ignorant. He didn't even let me defend the sport at all. A manager must've seen the veins on my forehead so I was told to clean cabinets. I was content to get away from everyone but also felt as though I was being punished. After I had finished doing my menial task, I walked around the corner where everyone was and heard them making fun of me; quoting me me saying "Yeah, it's just hackysack." "Yeah, I don't know why he takes it so seriously..." etc. I heard them snickering and I joined in throwing my voice in whitegirl type of way. After that, I couldn't even look in anyone's eyes. I avoided mostly everyone for the rest of the shift except for my non-judgmental friends who weren't around. I know this is a common occurrence and, in the end, I know it doesn't matter but for some people I consider friends to make such a joke out of something they don't even understand make me feel badly. I play footbag for me. The only regret I have about footbag is not finding out about it sooner. I love this sport and the community. After the dickheads were dickheads, one of my cool work friends, Krishna, asked me if I had been kicking lately. He was genuinely interested and we had a nice conversation about food, and then movies. I even showed him a bag I stitched. Some people are not dickheads.

TLDR: Rude people are rude, other people are nice, footbaggers are the best.

I had a fun weekend last week. Mikie came down on his way to his brother's place. I sold him a bag (which I will post later,) he hit marius (before ever hitting mobius,) we went out for food, drank some beer, and watched a movie. I didn't play well last weekend but I had a lot of fun.

During this week, I trained a bit with April. My work has mostly been on proper pixie form and cleaner stepping form. I finally took in the advice for stepping that several people have given me several times; get the set foot back down quickly and return to a well-postured ready position. This has helped so much with stepping. I am also trying to hold a tougher clipper. For pixies, I am concentrating mainly on starting it underneath my knee, straightening my back and neck, and trying to avoid the floaty leg. I have been hitting more clean smears and Magellans. My flip still needs work but she's coming along. "She's?" I will name her flipril...after April.

I finally found a post-grad job. I will be working full-time at a cafe from 5am-1pm making sammiches for hungry customers. OK, so this is not my dream job and not even in my major but hey, it'll help pay bills and the hours are ideal for playing footbag later in the day. In the initial interview, I explained freestyle and the manager who interviewed me said her son plays soccer and might enjoy it. I know a lot of non-footbaggers ask about soccer but maybe her son might want to check it out. Anyway, I told her about events and it request off for the weekend of ECFC so that shouldn't be a problem!

The last session I had was on Wednesday. I filmed a few interesting concepts that I have been thinking about for a while. I will have them up later when I post a picture of the bag I sold Mikie. They include knee bump ducking, pixie reverse refraction, and reverse refraction into ducking (attempts.) I couldn't hit the revfraction ducking but it would be neat to hit. I would like to be able to eventually hit revfraction drifter rpt. That would be very stylee. My reason for knee bump ducking is that I always see pros hit whirls out of knee bump. Why not duck it? Imagine a Lon run with a few random knee bump ducks in there. That's cool.

One final thing, April and I are now officially in the business of selling footbags! (Woo, streamers and confetti)
I have sold three so far; An all-black 14 panel to Coreyx3 for half a case of beer, a spikey red and green 14 panel to Ryan Morris for $5, and the tiger bag to Mikie for $15.

Prices for April and Ben Bags are as follows:
$15 for 14 Panels
$20 for 32 Panels
$5 for a matching bracelet (or any pattern up to 6 colors made by April)
-Every fifth bag will receive a free bracelet by April!
Shipping is $5 worldwide, but let's be honest, no one wants to pay that. Just come out and shred with us to avoid that ugly, extra five dollars!
*Custom bags are a possibility but April and I will eventually post pics of some bags to give the potential customer an idea of our color selection.

Thanks,
Ben

[Allan]

Sorry to read about the jerks. I've experienced hearing people make fun of me for playing footbag when they don't know that I'm within earshot. It fucking sucks. The funny thing about it is that these people are just sheep who lack the ability to be creative and independent in anything. Even knowing how sad their small, closed off lives must be, still doesn't take the sting out of it though. My particular experience happened, like, 10 years ago, and I still think about it from time to time.

Props on the new job

[krustykrakk]

Thanks, Allan. I had my last day at that job yesterday and am happy about it!

My new job is pretty cool. Since I work pretty early, I can get through the work day without too much stress. The cool thing is that I am working full time with plenty of time to have a normal day (preferably after a two hour nap.) Right now, however, I have classes after work so I nap when I get home around 4. My days are long but that will end in about a week. Another thing that's pretty cool about my job is that I have most weekends off! I can have weekend shreds with the club, solo sessions during the day, and and anddddd I officially have off for East Coasts and only miss one day of work! The only thing I have to worry about is getting my last loan for my last tuition bill... before I have to worry about paying off the loans themselves.

So, I haven't kicked since Saturday. I've been meaning to get outside but real life keeps getting in the way. I tried a few times but I don't want to push myself too far since it is the last week of classes and first week of full time work. I have to move everything out of my room because my lease it up and I am moving a lot closer to campus with April. We will go from being 2 miles from campus to being a block from it. The thing I will miss most about my current apartment are the parking passes. There are more than a few towing companies in State College. Since it is a pedestrian-centered town, parking is a bitch. It was nice being able to pick up a 3-day parking pass for any footbaggers visiting to save them money. Oh well.

On to the Saturday session! Ryan, April, Khoa, and Khoa's Freestyle Football friend, Jakob all came! Everyone made great strides. April made her strides with flip pixies, Ryan with ducking, and me with whirls and pixies. Jakob had a great time trying footbag and isn't too far away so I hope he comes back to shred!

Also, I have an order for my first all-leather bag for Ryan ThomASS!

Highlights:
-Whirl BSOS (New, finally)
-Pixie ss mirage BS (New)
-Smear BSOS (New)
-A few flip Magellans (Not new but not easy yet)
-Ivan helped me understand flip whirl a bit. I have hit it before but have struggled with the timing of it.
-Symple Far Solesis (shaky and only on strong)
-Spinning clipper (I was showing Jakob different concepts and he pressured me to hit it after a few failed attempts. I blew his mind with a dragon )

[Cass]

I think somebody owes me some cottage cheese Other high protein snacks I'm willing to accept include tuna, greek yogurt, and bacon.

Hope this helps

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnR7NyDiq3s[/youtube]

[Cass]

I know I said it goes under the heel in the video but it's actually more behind the ankle.


EDIT

Another thought - Immediately after the set I find myself straightening out my ankle. This makes it much easier to clear the bag. If you don't straighten out then you would be dexing with the heel which is harder to clear. I think.

[bluevampire101]

and bacon.

I'm not sure if this is a viable question, but do you mean this bacon?


....OR this bacon?

[Cass]

Haha April! Definitely the latter. If I wanted the former I would have specified peameal bacon