Montreal Footblog
You misinterpreted my frowny; it was to express my displeasure at not being able to shred with Mathieu.... well, either that or you just know me really well and know I unconditionally hate Toronto 
GOT MY LAVERS!!!! Genuine black mesh lavers! I can't believe it... I haven't tried them on yet, but they've got me hoppin' with excitement!! Game plan: Play at least once this weekend, and then get into a 3 day a week shred routine. I'm going to download the P90X which is some home-training routine which is supposed to be tough. We'll see, hype is hype but even if it's not great at least I'm doing some more exercise.
Matt's sending me a red and gold bag, so I'll have that one plus a sweet Johhny bag, which should be good for winter. I know a lot of you have like 10 bags at one time, but I've never been one of those kind of guys. Fucking polygamists.
GOT MY LAVERS!!!! Genuine black mesh lavers! I can't believe it... I haven't tried them on yet, but they've got me hoppin' with excitement!! Game plan: Play at least once this weekend, and then get into a 3 day a week shred routine. I'm going to download the P90X which is some home-training routine which is supposed to be tough. We'll see, hype is hype but even if it's not great at least I'm doing some more exercise.
Matt's sending me a red and gold bag, so I'll have that one plus a sweet Johhny bag, which should be good for winter. I know a lot of you have like 10 bags at one time, but I've never been one of those kind of guys. Fucking polygamists.
Nicholas Laroche
Sorry Mathieu, I ended up staying in that night, now I feel like the worst human being ever. But I'll get over it. And I won't miss the next shred you organize I promise (unless it's girlfriend related...hahaha)
I just read the first 20 pages of this blog and let me tell you...YEARS have gone by. As of next summer I will have been playing for TEN years. I've gone through 3 long term relationships, been in and out of school and various jobs, untold parties and the whole time footbag has been a part of my life. I really feel old, especially since I'll be joining the parenting bandwagon shortly. This is all to say I should be playing footbag moar often. I had recently had a surge of motivation with Mathieu Monpetit, but it went as fast as it came. Now of course is the issue of shred space in the winter...anyway, it's time once again to dip back into the wonderful experience of playing footbag.
Nick gimme a ring and let me know what your schedule is like this weekend/next week.
Peace!
I just read the first 20 pages of this blog and let me tell you...YEARS have gone by. As of next summer I will have been playing for TEN years. I've gone through 3 long term relationships, been in and out of school and various jobs, untold parties and the whole time footbag has been a part of my life. I really feel old, especially since I'll be joining the parenting bandwagon shortly. This is all to say I should be playing footbag moar often. I had recently had a surge of motivation with Mathieu Monpetit, but it went as fast as it came. Now of course is the issue of shred space in the winter...anyway, it's time once again to dip back into the wonderful experience of playing footbag.
Nick gimme a ring and let me know what your schedule is like this weekend/next week.
Peace!
James McCullough
-
CIC flurry
- Amazingly Sexy Man-Beast
- Posts: 3423
- Joined: 28 May 2003 16:06
- Location: Chicago
James, that's quite the memorable post! Let's celebrate 
I FINALLY arrived home not too long ago. God I hate Toronto, I had such a terrible time. Why do so so so so many people there seem to define who they are as their jobs? I would ask people, "Hey so tell me about your wife/husband", and would get as an answer "Well Steve/Jill/Mary works for a streamlining enterprise with record profits in Q2 and Q3..."
What the fuck kind of answer is that?
Ugh.
Didn't get a chance to kick but starting next Tuesday I'll be on Vacation for a couple weeks so I will have absolutely no excuse anymore!
I FINALLY arrived home not too long ago. God I hate Toronto, I had such a terrible time. Why do so so so so many people there seem to define who they are as their jobs? I would ask people, "Hey so tell me about your wife/husband", and would get as an answer "Well Steve/Jill/Mary works for a streamlining enterprise with record profits in Q2 and Q3..."
What the fuck kind of answer is that?
Ugh.
Didn't get a chance to kick but starting next Tuesday I'll be on Vacation for a couple weeks so I will have absolutely no excuse anymore!
Nicholas Laroche
-
PegLegHolly
- Swashbuckler
- Posts: 2475
- Joined: 02 Aug 2006 17:43
- Location: Cleveland, OH
- Contact:
I definitly hope you're gonna come!
If you wanna drive, maybe try to figure out with ontarian players when they are done with school.
Eg : Jay boychuk is in hamilton and can drive. I guess you could pick him up, so you don't have to drive for 16 hours
. You could do the same with Dante in kingston. I guess the end of the school would be a good time. If we are lucky, we might even be able to enjoy the tamtam jam!
If you can choose the date you'Re coming, make sure their will not be snow anymore. Montreal is beautiful to visit when it's not too cold:).
If you have any question, you can always pm me on FB!
Mat
If you wanna drive, maybe try to figure out with ontarian players when they are done with school.
Eg : Jay boychuk is in hamilton and can drive. I guess you could pick him up, so you don't have to drive for 16 hours
. You could do the same with Dante in kingston. I guess the end of the school would be a good time. If we are lucky, we might even be able to enjoy the tamtam jam!If you can choose the date you'Re coming, make sure their will not be snow anymore. Montreal is beautiful to visit when it's not too cold:).
If you have any question, you can always pm me on FB!
Mat
I suppose having a year in review would be proper and also fun to write, unfortunately I don't have much to report. My inclination to play wanes and waxes like the moon, and I never seem to have the drive needed to get my ass in gear to kick. For a while after I had stopped I would constantly check videos, but they've lost their magic somehow, no matter how hein the shred. The worst part is I have more equipment then I've had in a while: I bunch of fresh new bags, some slick pair of black lavers, and a community center just a hop skip and stepping set away just waiting to be filled with the traditional *tap tap TAP* of shuffle shred.
Laziness has definitely been a factor, no doubt, but also, as time fly's by it just seems to become more and more precious a commodity. It almost sucks having lots of interests because I can't focus like I'd like to on just one activity, leaving me only mediocre at a whole bunch of things. It's a little embarrassing considering how many times I've written here that I swore I would kick more, but most of my actions are determined by whims and how much I care, and when I don't want to do something, I just don't do it, period. That's a quality which has gotten me out of a lot of shitty things but also hinders me when it comes time to grind sometimes.
Whining aside, the good news is that I WILL be taking some boxing lessons! I'm excited for this; I've always been a huge boxing nerd, and I've finally found some sites to download the classic matches and I never, ever get sick of them. My adrenaline gets pumping as soon as the videos start, and I just get so into them, shouting advice at the fighters, having to pause to go pee alot, etc. Considering the wedding coming up for me and other cool plans for the next year as well, it's in my best interest to be as fit as possible. I guess in a fantasy world full of will, I'd be doing boxing lessons twice a week, and working on footbag for cardio/lower body coordination.
As for the Montreal Wedding Bash, which is the jam I'm coordinating with my wedding so that you footbaggers have a double-reason to come visit, it'll be July 9th (pretty much set in stone), I very possibly be able to host every single player coming up for free in an apartment, courtesy of Bailey's boss, Justin. How cool is that??
All the best in this new year!
Laziness has definitely been a factor, no doubt, but also, as time fly's by it just seems to become more and more precious a commodity. It almost sucks having lots of interests because I can't focus like I'd like to on just one activity, leaving me only mediocre at a whole bunch of things. It's a little embarrassing considering how many times I've written here that I swore I would kick more, but most of my actions are determined by whims and how much I care, and when I don't want to do something, I just don't do it, period. That's a quality which has gotten me out of a lot of shitty things but also hinders me when it comes time to grind sometimes.
Whining aside, the good news is that I WILL be taking some boxing lessons! I'm excited for this; I've always been a huge boxing nerd, and I've finally found some sites to download the classic matches and I never, ever get sick of them. My adrenaline gets pumping as soon as the videos start, and I just get so into them, shouting advice at the fighters, having to pause to go pee alot, etc. Considering the wedding coming up for me and other cool plans for the next year as well, it's in my best interest to be as fit as possible. I guess in a fantasy world full of will, I'd be doing boxing lessons twice a week, and working on footbag for cardio/lower body coordination.
As for the Montreal Wedding Bash, which is the jam I'm coordinating with my wedding so that you footbaggers have a double-reason to come visit, it'll be July 9th (pretty much set in stone), I very possibly be able to host every single player coming up for free in an apartment, courtesy of Bailey's boss, Justin. How cool is that??
All the best in this new year!
Nicholas Laroche
Footbag.
Footbag isn't anywhere near it's technical limit, not by a long shot, and it definitely hasn't hit it's stylistic ceiling. How many of us play, I'll count myself in for this one? 1000 freestylers? Probably not. Could you imagine what the game would be like if 10,000 people freestyled? I bet you most of our champions past and present would get just blown away by the actual top 1% of that crew. We still block ourselves every time we hit the same combos and tricks, the same tired links, over and over. We fall into habits, which just get reinforced by watching videos over other players who have the same habits we do. It also feels like every time someone pushes out of the mold and does something different, they seem limited in other aspects of their game.
With so few of us actually playing (ahem), there is just SO much left to explore with what we have already that it's just a damn shame no one is out there doing it. You know what I wanna see?
- Nuclear sets out of osis
- Inspins after grifters
- Quantum sets out of rakes, man the list goes on.
- Interesting (!), Genuine (!!), runs
OK, so, it's not easy, but nothing worth having is..
One big challenge is that today, more then ever, is that in order to push the envelope you have to have the dedication just to reach it. There's definitely an onus, you could even say RESPONSIBILITY, for the older studs to pass on what they've learned to the new cubs. The world is harsh and unforgiving, and if a tip helps save someone 500 reps on a trick, then it was worth giving.
Attitude is a huge factor in this as well, as players stop playing and the interest wanes, it's difficult to pass on the passion to potential recruits. I know I got my passion from the exuberance of all the players around me, and I can't imagine how difficult it must be to be by yourself with only Youtube as your friend and shred partner. Footbag has been on a decline no doubt, as those who were around for some of the Golden years might realize. There used to be electricity in the air and a sense of purpose, you could FEEL the movement with every jam and tournament.
On the flipside of the coin (get it?), there's a handful of people out there right now who are starting to make a move and get shit going, blazing their own trail without needing the light of the older players. I gotta give props to Jay Boychuck, for without a doubt being the most passionate footbag player I think I've ever met. I'll never forget the first time I met him, he just walked right up to me and said, "Hi, my name is Jay, I don't drink, I don't smoke, I play footbag" in a calm, almost frightening manner. His eyes were inense, and I think, just for a moment, his pupils had been replaced tiny 32's, possibly stitched by... Felix? Now THAT'S passion for the game!
More props for being an amazingly dedicated player is Mathieu GM. His energy and dedication is infectious, and I think everyone who comes in contact with this guy feels like playing footbag a little more. In the face of adversity like no local players to kick with, winter, and getting a degree this guy brings more energy to a circle then the Tasmanian Devil.
I'm sure there are others who I don't know about but those two guys are exactly what footbag is about and they bring their hype with them everywhere they go.
The golden era may have passed but the future has a silver lining.
Footbag isn't anywhere near it's technical limit, not by a long shot, and it definitely hasn't hit it's stylistic ceiling. How many of us play, I'll count myself in for this one? 1000 freestylers? Probably not. Could you imagine what the game would be like if 10,000 people freestyled? I bet you most of our champions past and present would get just blown away by the actual top 1% of that crew. We still block ourselves every time we hit the same combos and tricks, the same tired links, over and over. We fall into habits, which just get reinforced by watching videos over other players who have the same habits we do. It also feels like every time someone pushes out of the mold and does something different, they seem limited in other aspects of their game.
With so few of us actually playing (ahem), there is just SO much left to explore with what we have already that it's just a damn shame no one is out there doing it. You know what I wanna see?
- Nuclear sets out of osis
- Inspins after grifters
- Quantum sets out of rakes, man the list goes on.
- Interesting (!), Genuine (!!), runs
OK, so, it's not easy, but nothing worth having is..
One big challenge is that today, more then ever, is that in order to push the envelope you have to have the dedication just to reach it. There's definitely an onus, you could even say RESPONSIBILITY, for the older studs to pass on what they've learned to the new cubs. The world is harsh and unforgiving, and if a tip helps save someone 500 reps on a trick, then it was worth giving.
Attitude is a huge factor in this as well, as players stop playing and the interest wanes, it's difficult to pass on the passion to potential recruits. I know I got my passion from the exuberance of all the players around me, and I can't imagine how difficult it must be to be by yourself with only Youtube as your friend and shred partner. Footbag has been on a decline no doubt, as those who were around for some of the Golden years might realize. There used to be electricity in the air and a sense of purpose, you could FEEL the movement with every jam and tournament.
On the flipside of the coin (get it?), there's a handful of people out there right now who are starting to make a move and get shit going, blazing their own trail without needing the light of the older players. I gotta give props to Jay Boychuck, for without a doubt being the most passionate footbag player I think I've ever met. I'll never forget the first time I met him, he just walked right up to me and said, "Hi, my name is Jay, I don't drink, I don't smoke, I play footbag" in a calm, almost frightening manner. His eyes were inense, and I think, just for a moment, his pupils had been replaced tiny 32's, possibly stitched by... Felix? Now THAT'S passion for the game!
More props for being an amazingly dedicated player is Mathieu GM. His energy and dedication is infectious, and I think everyone who comes in contact with this guy feels like playing footbag a little more. In the face of adversity like no local players to kick with, winter, and getting a degree this guy brings more energy to a circle then the Tasmanian Devil.
I'm sure there are others who I don't know about but those two guys are exactly what footbag is about and they bring their hype with them everywhere they go.
The golden era may have passed but the future has a silver lining.
Nicholas Laroche
It's hard to believe that footbag is pretty much over in MTL except for Mathieu GM. We had such a great thing going, I remember one summer we had Yacine Merzouk, Seb D, Chad Devlahovich, Eli Piltz and Scott Bevier all playing as well as maybe 15-20 other kickers including me, James, Mathieu Gauthier, and Ianek. The tam tam jams were intense, there would be something like 20 sometimes more of us all kicking at once, there'd be a bigger turn out then at a lot of jams. The only kickers I'm counting are those guiltless or above.
It's a weird feeling to watch an era pass, because it happens so slowly you don't realize it until it's done. Like, BAM, 10 years of history over with, and we're now all of doing our own thing. The real sad thing about it is because of how close footbag brings people together, it feels like a family member is gone. In this case, like the whole family up-rooted and scattered to the four winds.
It's a weird feeling to watch an era pass, because it happens so slowly you don't realize it until it's done. Like, BAM, 10 years of history over with, and we're now all of doing our own thing. The real sad thing about it is because of how close footbag brings people together, it feels like a family member is gone. In this case, like the whole family up-rooted and scattered to the four winds.
Nicholas Laroche
Deep winter has set in for good now and this is where all my stored up fat is coming in handy. To further cultivate the fat for the cold days ahead, we picked up an Xbox. It's both a blessing and curse; the damn thing is so much fun, it can interfere with other equally fun activities which take a little more effort to do, aka anything else like music, etc. The last thing I'd ever want is to become another sheep like everyone else out there.
This month will officially mark the halfway point to our wedding. Panic and stress are in abundance, too bad money isn't. What a fucking nightmare to plan this is, I don't know how women can spend so much time discussing the tiniest detail for 6 hours like it's actually important. If I need to look through catalogs of different kinds of spoons anymore I'll won't be able to eat cereal ever again. I'm excited though, our life will officially take off July 9th, so this weird un-married time feels odd; We're doing our best to save money, not spend on certain things like home-improvements, and in general there's this "tense" atmosphere, like we're always waiting for something.
Writing in here has always been zen-like for me, so even though I don't kick anymore it still feels good to write. Or "Diarize" as corporate wankers would put it.
Random: Love Venture Bros.
This month will officially mark the halfway point to our wedding. Panic and stress are in abundance, too bad money isn't. What a fucking nightmare to plan this is, I don't know how women can spend so much time discussing the tiniest detail for 6 hours like it's actually important. If I need to look through catalogs of different kinds of spoons anymore I'll won't be able to eat cereal ever again. I'm excited though, our life will officially take off July 9th, so this weird un-married time feels odd; We're doing our best to save money, not spend on certain things like home-improvements, and in general there's this "tense" atmosphere, like we're always waiting for something.
Writing in here has always been zen-like for me, so even though I don't kick anymore it still feels good to write. Or "Diarize" as corporate wankers would put it.
Random: Love Venture Bros.
Nicholas Laroche
Life just tumbles along, happy to hum a tune and go down the road to success. I like it that way.
Music has been at a standstill for a while. I'm a little depressed at having yet another one of my passions take a back seat, but what can you do, priorities are priorities. I've decided to re-re-re-restart the radio show, but this time I'm going to keep it as just a podcast which I'll update on my blog weekly. I really miss performing, and it's always been a good way to punctuate the week, and it really get my musical mojo flowing.
Once the wedding is done I'm going to be free to work on whatever project I feel like, and that's when I'm going to hit a crossroads: Too many ideas! I really want to work on something which will benefit me professionally and hopefully artistically. One idea which I've been kicking around (not footbag) is working on a flash game. I programmed C++ for a number of years and so Actionscript should be a breeze, my fiancee is a more-than capable artist, and I can easily whip up a soundtrack. That's a lot of easily available resources for the project, and once completed it can be an excellent portfolio piece for a wide range of work, whether it's in programming, sound-track work, voice-over work, etc. The design is a little sketchy at this point but I have the theme worked out.
Ahhhhhh footbag... you've given me much, but I got nothing for you these days. We'll see what happens in spring.
Music has been at a standstill for a while. I'm a little depressed at having yet another one of my passions take a back seat, but what can you do, priorities are priorities. I've decided to re-re-re-restart the radio show, but this time I'm going to keep it as just a podcast which I'll update on my blog weekly. I really miss performing, and it's always been a good way to punctuate the week, and it really get my musical mojo flowing.
Once the wedding is done I'm going to be free to work on whatever project I feel like, and that's when I'm going to hit a crossroads: Too many ideas! I really want to work on something which will benefit me professionally and hopefully artistically. One idea which I've been kicking around (not footbag) is working on a flash game. I programmed C++ for a number of years and so Actionscript should be a breeze, my fiancee is a more-than capable artist, and I can easily whip up a soundtrack. That's a lot of easily available resources for the project, and once completed it can be an excellent portfolio piece for a wide range of work, whether it's in programming, sound-track work, voice-over work, etc. The design is a little sketchy at this point but I have the theme worked out.
Ahhhhhh footbag... you've given me much, but I got nothing for you these days. We'll see what happens in spring.
Nicholas Laroche
Hey Ken nice to hear from you!
I've nailed a theme down, I'd like to do a game based off of the Mimic Octopus... not sure if any of you saw the youtube video:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygh1-ul6E94[/youtube]
The rough idea of "The Mimic Octopus" is the player controlling the octopus is able to move them around and collect yellow star-fish in the ocean, which are basically just points. There would be three buttons other then movement, each of which would make the octpous mimic a certain kind of creature. When you're mimicking creature A, creature B would flee and leave you alone, but creature C will come after you. It would end up being an action game competing against time and random different sea-creatures, with the player strategically and eventually rapidly changing forms to dodge creatures and collect enough star-fish to get a high score.
At least, that's the rough idea, there's still so much to flesh out, but I feel it has potential because I know how to program all of that and the idea is simple enough that hopefully it's hooky. I know I get stuck on these kind of games many times. Ideally it would be simple to play and hard to get a good score to keep people playing, and the mimic octopus is just too fucking cool, who wouldn't want to play a game about them!
I've nailed a theme down, I'd like to do a game based off of the Mimic Octopus... not sure if any of you saw the youtube video:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygh1-ul6E94[/youtube]
The rough idea of "The Mimic Octopus" is the player controlling the octopus is able to move them around and collect yellow star-fish in the ocean, which are basically just points. There would be three buttons other then movement, each of which would make the octpous mimic a certain kind of creature. When you're mimicking creature A, creature B would flee and leave you alone, but creature C will come after you. It would end up being an action game competing against time and random different sea-creatures, with the player strategically and eventually rapidly changing forms to dodge creatures and collect enough star-fish to get a high score.
At least, that's the rough idea, there's still so much to flesh out, but I feel it has potential because I know how to program all of that and the idea is simple enough that hopefully it's hooky. I know I get stuck on these kind of games many times. Ideally it would be simple to play and hard to get a good score to keep people playing, and the mimic octopus is just too fucking cool, who wouldn't want to play a game about them!
Nicholas Laroche