48th Birthday Footbag Bash!
Posted by h4x354x0r at 8/31/2011 10:05 PM 
Categories: footbag
Tags: footbag hacky sack speaker circle 48 birthday bash 30 year celebration
Categories: footbag
Tags: footbag hacky sack speaker circle 48 birthday bash 30 year celebration
And, a celebration of over 30 years of playing footbag!
(slightly marred by prosthletyzers...)
Overall, a great day, a great birthday treat to spend a couple hours kicking on Speakers Circle. I played well, but the heat and the sun together really took it out of me!
I'm about to give Speakers Circle up for dead. Jeb and the hoards of his variants dominates the circle all day, every day. I haven't been able to kick there during session without a conflict with these people for a couple of years now. Never a break, never a shred of courtesy, never even the vaguest consideration of sharing the space. Not even today, on my 48th birthday, 30-year celebration session.
Today's group was a particularly (cough) righteous (cough) group. I swear I had to ask one of them to stop prosthletyzing to me over 10 times in a row. Another kept coming over, suggesting I move elsewhere, asking when I would leave, just being... abrasive. Most of them made snide comments about my footbag while they were hogging the circle.
Oh well... I still had a great time kicking and got lots of props from the students. I didn't shoot much video, just 4:20 worth over 2 hours, but... I wrote stuff like "It's Hack Man's 48th Birthday!" and "Celebrating Over 30 Years of Kicking!" in sidewalk chalk around the circle, and "Hacky Circle," and of course my wacky internet handle, h4x354x0r!
I'm very pleased to be celebrating over 30 years of footbag. It's been an incredible journey. I've met incredible people. The gift of footbag has been one of the most powerful positive forces in my life. I grew up, emotionally, in the footbag community. It took a long time. I'd like to thank the footbag community for their incredible patience, and ask forgiveness for being such a flaming fucking ass sometimes. 
Footbag really changed my life. It was that spark of inspriation, of passion, dedication, purpose, and the joys and rewards of hard work. It was, for lack of a better analogy, my salvation. Because footbag did so much for me, I felt compelled to share. I traveled. I competed. I ran tournaments and clubs.
It took me 15 years (and a couple of kids) to realize footbag was MY salvation, but it wasn't going to be EVERYONE'S salvation. Yeah, slow learner there 
It's still totally awesome, because footbag can still be my salvation - even if it isn't anyone else's. I've loved footbag since that first circle, where for one of the first times in my life I was encouraged to keep trying an activity with a group, despite the fact that I sucked. That gave me so much momentum that I ended up getting pretty freaking good (for my day). And, I still love playing footbag today, just as much as I ever did. More than ever, in fact.
At this point, I would go so far as to claim my weekly footbag sessions as spiritual. I drink a gallon of water and sweat it all out, cleansing my body. I lose myself in the music and the motion. I push myself. I inspire students. I get my funky groove on. I completely exhaust myself. People are always grabbing a quick shot of me with their phones and cameras. It rocks! It almost always leaves me with an incredible sense of physical, emotional, and spiritual wellness.
Maybe I should try to declare Hacky Sack my official religion. But, why bother? I believe it is, regardless, official declaration or not. It works for me.
Keep being beautiful, everyone!
2:00/ 48:30 - Thanks for tuning in!
Thank you, Derrick, those of us whose lives were so much enhanced, focussed or actually saved by footbag, share a special kinship. Keep the faith, chicken man, God danced the day you were born!
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Footbag is my salvation too. My meditation, my exercise and to some extent, my purpose. My vegetarianism is more like a religion for me, but playing Footbag is nothing short of spiritual for me. Too bad you can't sick the cops on the religious crazies, they sound annoying.
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Thanks Derrick! You are very much appreciated
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Awesome. This is exactly how I feel -- footbag completely changed my life. I hope I'm still doing this when I'm 48. Props on 30 years. I'm almost halfway there..
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