h4x354x0r

Hackman Blooms on Speaker Circle

h4x354x0r — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:50:00 GMT

Springtime is finally here - I can say less, and show more!

Presenting the first outdoor session of 2010, complete with as-promised "first rally" - plus more! Teh h4x0r is s0 plz w/weath0rz!

I definitely didn't realize the camera was rolling when the student from the Missourian caught me for some questions. One of their photographers was there, and The Maneater was there snaping shots too. I had a couple awesome rallies today, got some genuine props from the audience, put in an hour and a half, and best of all, I'm "marking my territory" by the first of all the speaker circle freaks to bloom!

Thanks so much to the peeps that hung out and watched today - l0v3z teh energies!

Thanks for tuning in, hope there's more outdoor next week!

A Day Late, a Contact Short

h4x354x0r — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 03:07:00 GMT

I started the session WAY late last night; I got distracted by something shiny, had other business to attend to, etc. Starting at 10:40pm, I told myself. "Just the minimum 1:15. Maybe just an hour even." I'm ahead on my time goals, and I ended up on foot and walked about 15km two days earlier. My shins were sore and tight. I could slack a little, couldn't I?

Plans, meet addiction. Since I was figuring on a short session, I hit it hard from the get-go. And I was having a great time, feeling the music, hitting the groove. As long as I wasn't counting guiltless contacts, that is. Just doing the hacky-dance thing, pushing the energy level but paying no attention to add counts, I was playing smooth and keeping the bag off the ground.

So it went - for the first hour. Then I decided to go for the guiltless strings. As good as I felt, surely I could hit a 20+ contact rally in the last 15 minutes. Bzzzzt! Almost 40 minutes later, my best was 19. My average was... I ain't telling. Yikes! And now it was 12:20 in the morning. I was fried. I gave up. Some days, gravity wins.

Still, I'm amazed at how sore I'm not after a session like that. My muscles feel good. Too bad my knees don't agree.

Not much else to say, except I'm dreaming of the day I can be the symbol of spring, and bloom on Speaker Circle. Long range weather forecast says I'm screwed, but... they've been wrong before. I'm jonesing to get the video fired up again. Speaking of video, don't miss this little clip from the Vegas Jam!

11:40 in 2010 so far. Thanks for tuning in!

Another blog post - more of the same

h4x354x0r — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 05:27:00 GMT

Actually, NOT! Early in the session, I was feeling the groove, getting my funky chicken style going just a bit. First time that's happened in a few. I counted a 22 contact guiltless run early on, too. But it seemed like my energy level was down a little. I spent more time going back to the radio, jumping to the next song (gawd I love being able to do that with internet radio!), pacing between rallies, stuff like that.

Then I kinda hit a lull in the middle. I was planning to do 1:30 tonight. In the last 15 minutes, I decided to try counting guiltless strings again. I swear almost every string was either 14, 17, or 19 contacts. Damn! I only broke 20 once! I was so pissed about it, I kept hammering away past quitting time. But persistence paid, and I finally busted out with a 34 contact guiltless run. Best counted rally of the year so far!

I also hit a pair of torques and a pair of paradox whirls in other 'clean' guiltless strings. Still getting the Drifter mojo too, and I hit a few decent blenders. I even got all cocky and tried a couple blurs; I'll be damned if they didn't end up being decent ripwalks instead. WTF - where did those come from? My right side whirl was back from vacation too. Furthermore, I made a small breakthrough in my juggling. I finally stopped looking at my feet and focused on the apex of the bag flight instead, just like in hand juggling. Much better! Of course I still stink; I think my best was a mere 5 contacts. But changing my focus sure made it seem easier, like there really is a chance I can get better.

Still jonesing for that first outdoor session. In my mind, it will be glorious! In reality, it will probably be windy and disappointing. Whatever. I promise to post my first outdoor rally of 2010. Even if it does suck. For now, another 1:45. I considered pushing it to and even 2:00 tonight; the janitor schedules have changed so I've got plenty of time. But I got what I wanted, and I do have to go to work tomorrow.

Next session won't be until Thursday next week. Until then, thanks for tuning in!

A Solid Winter Session

h4x354x0r — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 04:23:00 GMT

Another 1:45 at the Secret Hideout tonight. It's definitely the most solid session yet this year. Consistent energy level, consistent and reasonably dense difficulty level, hit everything I was looking to hit. But that whirl on the right side... WTF? Why were you so hard tonight? At least my drifters were coming easy, and I was hitting some torques, including a pair in a single rally.

Remind me, I need to wash my bags. I meant to do that after last week's session, but forgot. Still seeming like a slow-go on the simultaneous break-in of 2 bags, and my feeble attempt at learning juggling is, well, feeble. But a good washing will help. The poor things have hardly ever seen the outdoors, but with snow, salt, sodium chloride, and mud everywhere, the floor where I'm kicking is still filthy.

Despite the solidness of the session, all I'm doing is counting contacts and watching the clock. Tonight's best guiltless was again 24, but I only had to count 4 or 5 rallies to get that. I'm putting in the time, putting in the effort, but I'm not escaping. I'm not losing myself in the game. That's typical of indoor winter sessions. I dream of the warm summer days again, kicking on Speaker Circle. It will come, but not nearly soon enough. Last week's insistence that I'll get an outdoor session in Feb. looks like a pipe dream.

When summer does come, I want to be ready. I want to be conditioned, mind and body. I'm pumped about the longer sessions. Already at 3.5 hrs for the month, and that mental and physical conditioning for going that long consistently is important.

When I read other footbag player's blogs, I feel kinda silly being excited about hitting drifters and whirls. Everyone else is doing pixie gyro this and atomic leggy that. My only consolation is to wait and see what others are doing near their 30-year career point. I've been saying I've been kicking for "almost 30 years" for a couple years now; technically I've got a little over a year before I officially hit that milestone. That's one of my immediate goals - to actually make it to the 30-year mark and still be styling. At my age, almost any injury or health problem could take me out. NOT what I want.

Oh, and yes I did get a haircut, and trimmed the megastash. Thanks for tuning in!

I need a haircut!

h4x354x0r — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 06:01:00 GMT

I keep my hair buzzed in the summer, but I let it grow in the winter to cut down on dandruff. It better get warm soon... look at this stuff!

Definitely a better session than last week. I got a late start, and figured I could only do 1:15. But then I decided I was just gonna keep kicking until the janitors showed up. They never did. I finally quit at 1:45. I almost pushed it to a full 2 hours, but... I still had to make a CO- double F- double E- Filter run. Drug addiction (caffeine in this case) is not always a pretty thing.

The important part is, I felt more motivated, pushed myself a little harder. I definitely worked up much more of a sweat tonight than last week. I still can't seem to do much in the consistency department; my best guiltless string was a whopping 24. Oh boy. I'm gonna blame the floor. Tile. Dirty. Slick. If only I could be there right after the janitors, not before. But I started really strong tonight, got a little mojo working, and had a good time. And slick floors make me more (painfully) aware of my (lack of) balance.

In the music department, tonight it was Pandora that was lame, and Last.fm that was rocking the house. Either way, I love internet radio!

I've got a better start on my time goal this year than ever before. I like how my body feels after pushing myself longer. I'm so looking forward to 2-hour sessions in the warm sunshine at Speakers Circle! Speaking of which, fuck that goddamned groundhog. I'm gonna get at least one outdoor session in February. I believe in global warming more than a dirt-digging rodent.

Until next time, thanks for tuning in!

Pushing through midwinter blues

h4x354x0r — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 05:24:00 GMT

Budget cuts - we haz them! My secret hideout used to be open until 8pm, but budget cuts scaled that back to 5pm. Or so I thought. Turns out something else moved in to fill the void, and I still can't access the secret hideout before 8pm. What's worse, I got caught by the cleaning crew which shows up at 10:15. They SCARED the SHIT out of me!

The good thing is, the janitors are usually really cool people. They're working at night, on hard times themselves, the last thing they want to do is cause other people trouble. A little respect goes a long way. I think my secret is still safe for now, but I've got this window between about 8:10 and 10:05 to be in, do my thing, and be out. I've given up on trying to find a legitimate place to kick this winter. I just can't afford it.

It was a dark and stormy ni... wait, no, wrong profession... It was a crappy, uninspired session. I'm rather irked at Last.fm; it seems like every time I tune into my station, it's all different, but not in a good way. A few weeks ago, it went from Fatboy Slim / Chemical Romance / Other Funky Stuff to lame Easy Listening crap. Tonight it was all Ambient tempo stuff. That worked OK for a while, but the beat started getting monotonous. Good thing there's more than one of those internet radio stations. Pandora seems as true as ever to the kind of music I like to kick to.

But what about footbag? you ask. Oh yeah, that. What this blog post is supposed to be about. When I can't get into the groove, I'm reduced to bean counting. I needed 1:45 to make "par" for the month (5 hours) and that's what I did. I managed to hit at least one of all my usual moves, but certainly not in a single rally. I'm working hardest to re-integrate drifters into my strings. I like drifters.

I don't take my camera to the secret hideout, because I can't really post the video. Not being able to post the video makes me not care about the blog; I blew it off last week. I might just start taking it and filming anyway, because I like being able to go review and count rally contacts after the fact. I hate counting contacts while I'm kicking; it turns me into a bean counter instead of a freestyler. But I did spend the last 30 minutes of the session counting guiltless contact strings. My best was 20. My average was probably 6 or 7 (In nearly 30 minutes of trying). In a good session, I can double that. Bleh...

I'm still working on the dual footbag break-in. I kick with each one for about 10 minutes, then switch. Both my Abshire bags are sweet, but subtly different. And since I'm doing this, I've decided to practice juggling just a bit - at least once per session. I never really got the hang of it back in the day, and I quite frankly still suck at toe delays. But the practice seems to be paying off, because I actually got a few rounds on each foot tonight. It would be nice to have just a little of that for next summer's Speaker Circle sessions. Kinda like pendulums and probes; not that hard, but a crowd-pleaser.

That's it for now. Thanks for tuning in!

Twenty Ten and I'm at it again!

h4x354x0r — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 14:38:00 GMT

Just a quick post to log my footbag time: 1:30 in the secret hideout. After 3 weeks off, and beating up my body having fun with my backyard sled run, it definitely wasn't the best of sessions. I was stuck firmly in the 1-2 add zone. I hit my 3's and 4's, but I think my longest guiltless string was 5 or 6 contacts. Ouch.

With my new goal of 60 hours this year, I've upped my "minimum" session time from 1 hour to 1:15, and am trying to hit at least 1:30 per session. I'm still looking for a legitimate place to play in the winter though, and there's a good chance I'll only get an hour at a time. I'll be glad when I can do 2-hour sessions in the warm sunshine again.

Thanks for tuning in!

Happy New Year!

h4x354x0r — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:20:00 GMT

First, a review of last year's goals

50 hours of footbag: YES! I did 58.5 hours. I was hoping to hit an even 60, but... then it snowed. I ditched the last session of the year to play in the snow with the kids (Win!). Along the way to my footbag goal for the year, I've been featured in a local newspaper and been the subject of several J-School student documentaries.

2,400 Km on the bike: YES! I finished the year with 2,918 Km (~1,813 mi). Was hoping to hit 3,000Km, but again, the snow. So, don't expect me to feel bummed that I didn't quite make the 3K mark. I still ride a bike to work and back every day, and lots of other places too. So far in my life I've displaced at least a quarter-million miles of car travel with bike travel. Stick that in your carbon footprint and smoke it!

Reduce my anger: YES! Against all odds, against my life's history, the "fever" of rage and anger finally broke. I went through a very bleak period this summer, feeling suicidal enough to go buy the exhaust extension hose I would need for the job. I had it all planned out. Before I pulled the plug, I took a short trip through SSRI land. THAT SHIT SUCKS BIG TIME. The crap made me feel awful. No, I wasn't getting angry while I was on it, but I sure as hell didn't get happy either. I just got numb. I physically felt like crap all the time, and mentally felt like a zombie. Two words about me and SSRI drugs: NEVER. AGAIN. That goes for the therapists, shrinks, and doctors who push that crap, too. The only person that belongs in my head is myself.

In the end, it was one of my best friends that helped me get my head screwed back on straight. Once I finally found the strength to cast the enormous weight of hatred and anger overboard, I discovered many other things were tangled up with that albatross, and went overboard too. Fear? Yep, that was just another lead weight tied to anger. Motivation? Oh shit, that's tangled up with the fear and anger too. In fact, I'm still reeling from the change, trying to find a new balance in my life. But I can't go back. The anger, and everything tangled up with it, is at the bottom of the ocean, unrecoverable.

I did get genuinely angry for the first time in months on Christmas Eve; A 2-hour job blew up on me and turned into an all-day frustration fest. Afterwards, I felt like I had been hit by a truck. Being angry takes too much energy. I just can't do it any more.

OK, On to my goals for 2010

60 hours of Footbag - I got so close this year, I've got to try to hit the mark next year. It's going to be tough; I don't have a good winter kicking place, and that's where I lose so much ground against my goals. Securing an indoor facility for 2010 will be a top priority.

3,000 Km on the bike - Again, I got so close this year, I've got to try to hit the mark next year. Just a few more lunchtime bike rides, or taking the longer route to work and back, and I'll have it.

The first two goals never change much: X amount of footbag, and Y amount of bicycling. The 3rd goal is always the crazy, out there, fru-fru kind of thing. And I can't make up my mind. There are so many things I want to try! I got a harmonica for XMas; I've always wanted to be able to wail the blues on a harmonica. I'll try that. I'm also disappointed in my relative financial status; this year has seen income reductions and expense increases. I'd like to increase my income in 2010. That might dovetail well with my desire to learn new technology, maybe a new programming language. I also want to be more affectionate with the wife and children.

Lots of ideas, and I need to pick one to call out as my goal, or resolution. Ah, yes... more affection with the wife. That's it! Thats definitely it. Wish me to get even luckier in 2010.

Thanks for tuning in!

An hour and a half at the Secret Hideout

h4x354x0r — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:26:00 GMT

Just a quick note: an awesome 1:30 session in the Secret Hideout. Since my old Abshire bag blew a seam at the end of the documentary filming, I've decided to start breaking in both my other Abshire bags at the same time. It'll take me a little longer to get them both completely broken in, but I think it will be worth it.

I do want to give a shout-out to Richard Abshire - all footbag sequences in my documentary were filmed using an Abshire bag. 58:30 for the year... still gunning for 60!

Thanks for tuning in,

"Footbag Phenom" Documentary

h4x354x0r — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:05:00 GMT

Here it is!

A million and more thanks to Nick Velliquette for his time and incredible enthusiasm for producing this documentary. Your professor better give you an A+++ for this!

Thanks for tuning in!

Indoor filming session

h4x354x0r — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 02:11:00 GMT

Just a quick note: Nick wanted to get just a little more filming for his project. Of course the amazing 5-week streak of balmy weather has finally turned to BITTER WINDY COLD! No prob, Nick got me into the Student Rec center. I had a great time kicking in a handball court (Walls!) and beside some of the basketball courts. Nick conned a couple guys into kicking with me, I laid down a sufficiently jaw-dropping rally in front of a crowd of students, and put in another hour!

57 hours down, 3 more weeks to hit 60. Time to pull out that can of Scheme-O-Matic...

Nick's project is due today. Next post should be the final product. I'd like to thank Nick for his interest, dedication, energy, and enthusiasm in creating a documentary on my involvement in footbag. I can't wait!

Thanks for tuning in!

Testing a New Location

h4x354x0r — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 02:30:00 GMT

It was probably too cold to do this but...

One more Outdoor! With Nick filming for his project, we mixed it up this time - hitting 4 different locations on campus! I only filmed at one spot - "Tiger Plaza" on the Carnahan Quad. A fountain runs there in the summer. That's Nick in the background, just packing up, so I bust out a couple blenders. Dang, where were those 10 minutes ago? Oh well, I got 'em on my camera, priceless commentary and all.

We still need to do an interview, do a bit more work filming a few moves, and get a little more background material on the history of footbag. I'll be very interested to see how this project turns out.

That's another 1:15 for an even 56 hour total. Thanks for tuning in!

Story filming has started

h4x354x0r — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:05:00 GMT

Just a quick note - I met with an MU Journalism student at Speaker Circle today. He's working up a story on me and my involvement with footbag. I don't have any video of the session, because his roommate had his camera and was MIA (Tigers did win last night -PARTY!). So he used my camera, and took the tape to ingest.

It was definitely an "off" session for me, I had a lot of trouble getting anything going. But a good videographer can fix that, eh? He seemed really excited about some of the shots he got. If work isn't too crazy tomorrow, I'm going to try to meet him at the circle again, with his HD camera next time. Let's hope we can pull it off.

One more hour - 54:45 for the year. Thanks for tuning in!

Bonus Outdoor - Amazing Number Four!

h4x354x0r — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:17:00 GMT

OMG - it's the rarest of "Funky Chicken" footbag videos ever: I'm. Wearing. A. SHIRT!

It's hard to believe I've been blogging about my footbag experiences for over a year now. I was kicking outdoors on Stankowski Field just before Thanksgiving 2008. This is part of why I started my footbag blog. Now I can see the pressure of posting videos has actually improved the add ratio of my rallies (marginally) during that time. W00T! I'll take that. Other tidbits: my average rally length for posted videos is still only about 30 contacts. The "single best rally of the session" approach of my videos, while quick and easy, is getting a bit boring. I might have to mix it up a bit. But... Gawd I love playing footbag freestyle!

It was chilly enough I had to put on a shirt. Crazy! Old timers know this: I've almost never worn a shirt when I kick. They just get saturated with sweat and get in the way of the footbag. But I make compromises to kick. At my age, every session is a gift. That I can still do this, that I am still doing this, brings so much joy to my heart. Posting vids of barely 2-add ratio runs seems lame compared to today's freestyle monsters. I've got 2 broken legs compared to Vasek, the young punk, or Davidson, a hardcore shredder almost my age. But... whatever. If "most fun" counts, I'm still in the running.

I enjoy kicking more today than I ever have. Retirement - whatever the heck that means - suits me well. My time, my focus, my goals, my results. The terror of the judge's table has faded away, leaving only the sheer joy of kicking. I may be declining in technical ability, but I'm still getting better at choreography. That's what I want, and I'm happy.

One more note about the circle preachers. A couple of younger guys were out there today. I spent the first 40 minutes kicking nearby, waiting for them to leave. When they moved aside and sat down, I checked to see if they were done with the circle. Yes. But then one of the guys changed his mind and wanted to preach some more. He finally compromised by kicking with me and preaching to me for over 20 minutes. Bless his heart, he was actually pretty good with the basics! I'm trying really hard to establish a good relationship with these people; my access to Speaker "Hacky" Circle depends on it. Things are going well with them so far.

Oh, one last thing: 2:15 out there today. I kept kicking until my legs started cramping. Minus the time I spent circle kicking with the preacher and another guy, I'm calling this session 2 hours even. 53:45 for the year. How close to 60 can I get?

Thanks for tuning in!

But wait - there's MORE outdoor!

h4x354x0r — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:26:00 GMT

Dang I'm getting lucky - another beautiful November day for kicking at Speaker Circle!

Yeah, the video is kinda lame, but I had an awesome time! Today's camera work was shoddy, with me accidentally filming as much of me taking breaks and drinking water as playing footbag. D'oh! But that might tell you just how much fun I was having. There were a few times I got so deep in the groove, when I finally dropped the bag, I couldn't remember how long the rally was. Probably not really all that long, but... Oh, that feeling!

And I got my pair of torques* again today (*not on film. darn). Can't miss those!

I started a bit late - about 11:45 - and of course conflicted with Jed, one of the circle preachers who showed up minutes behind me. He was nice enough to let me kick for an hour, but it wasn't nearly enough. I feel like I could have done two! Still, I had another photographer shooting stills, answered some questions for another student, did an impromptu video spot for a clean energy campaign, and talked to another student about being the subject of a more in-depth documentary.

I hung around and talked to a couple people after Jed took the circle. When I finally took off, some of the students disrupted him to send me off with props. Thanks everyone!

1:00 / 51:45 - Thanks for tuning in!

I have achieved my kicking goal!

h4x354x0r — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:31:00 GMT

Yeeee-Haw! Another awesome session on Speaker Circle Friday afternoon! No camera this time - I promised my son he could use it. But there were at least 4 other people with cameras taking video of me, so there's still video out there *somewhere*.

Wind! And lots of it for this session. The wind brings back powerful memories of Kenny Shults at the World Footbag Championships back in the late 80's / early '90s when it was still held at the Colorado School of Mines fields in Golden, CO US. The singles freestyle finals had gotten underway - outdoors - but a mountain storm was rolling in and the wind was picking up. Just as Kenny got started with his routine, the wind started whipping like crazy. And I mean CRAZY.

Ken's near-flawless performance that day, in what had to be 25+MPH wind gusts, remains one of the most jaw-dropping footbag feats I've ever witnessed. The man was every bit as crazy as the wind; like to the Underdog tune: "Speed of Lightning! Roar of Thunder! Kenny's foot, it WILL get under, the footbag... THE FOOTBAG!" The judging panel was a sea of whipping hair framing stone-still faces with popping eyes and gaping jaws. Kenny just blew us all away.

Then the freestyle got moved indoors and everyone had to do their routines over again. So anticlimactic.

I, too, matched crazy with crazy for this windy session. Not quite like Kenny back then, but I was definitely having a good time! Lots of props from the students, with several of them filming a rally or two.

And perhaps the most important news? I've achieved my annual (50 hours) kicking goal! With a 1:20 session, that puts me at 50:45 for the year. Yay! Can I achieve 55 hours in the next 6 weeks?

Thanks for tuning in!

Hacky Circle Breaks Out at Shred Session

h4x354x0r — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:24:00 GMT

A journalism student with a deadline. Cool but dry weather. No appointments at work. Three strikes, and I'm out... playing footbag!

Two very unusual things happened today. First, a hacky circle broke out! A couple of the people that hang around the circle sometimes decided to hack in. Within 10 minutes, we had a huge 7-8 person circle that lasted nearly an hour. I played center. Just about everyone was busting out some kind of move - delays, fliers, someone almost hit an around the world, and we had several official "hacks." Sweet! My speaker circle shred sessions may never be the same again.

The other thing, my daughter showed up and joined the circle. First time for that. I've never pushed my kids to do footbag, but I'll certainly welcome them into a circle! Thanks for coming out and joining me silly beans

I didn't get any video of the circle though. What I do have on tape is *ahem* OK. A longer-ish rally that starts out saucy but winds up cheesy with just a hint of meat in the broth. Why is it always a food comparison? And exactly how do I 'score' the kicking time playing pivot man in a circle? I sure hurt like solo shred time. I was out there for an hour and a half, I'm gonna call it an hour. I believe that puts me at 49:25 - only 35 minutes shy of my annual goal. Target, you are in my sights.

Thanks for tuning in!

Bonus Outdoor Session 1

h4x354x0r — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:49:00 GMT

With a 14-hour workday under my belt yesterday, and a break in the clouds today, it's looking like footbag time!

By the time I got out to kick, the wind had kicked up and the day's heat was fading. I still got some sunshine time though, and no shortage of footbag love. I was approached by 2 more journalism students about using me for their school projects, and one spent some time shooting stills. I Lovz teh attention!

And I loves wireless and internet radio at Speaker Circle too. Most of the time I played to my Last.fm station, but the obscure Timbuk 3 came from my personal library.

And notice another pair of torques - that's 2 weeks in a row I've got 'em on tape. A new best trend!

1:30/48:25 - Thanks for tuning in!

My last outdoor session of the year?

h4x354x0r — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:42:00 GMT

Cool, cloudy days are so perfect for kicking! No shadows, no blinding glimpses of the sun, and I think the more monochromatic lighting improves my vision. It was crowded on Speaker Circle today too, with Mizzouwear vendors to the left and StudentCity.com to the right.

Sorry about the lousy soundrack this time. My boombox was low on juice, but the guys at the StudentCity.com tent were kind enough to provide some jamz from a Macbook Pro and some portable speakers. Not optimum, but it did the job for the first hour or so. Thanks guys!

Then the preacher guy shows up. He just walks into the center of the circle and starts his thing, regardless of what else is going on (including a footbag rally!). Several students urged me to "play around him" so I did. Not close, but I managed 2+ laps around the outside of the circle, stopping and doing little shred ditties here and there, without a drop. sw33t!

This was, after all, likely the last outdoor session of the year. I wasn't gonna stop till I dropped - my whole me, not just the footbag. And a +1 bonus for covering all my old "bases" today: drifters, blenders, whirls, paradox whirls, and torques - on both sides. Until my legs started cramping. 1:45 today, 46:55 for the year. I'll take that.

With the preacher still yammering on as I packed up and headed off, one of the students told me, "You're the only one that comes out here that makes any sense." All I do is crank up the jamz and hack my little heart out. If that's what it takes to keep it real, I'm happy to help.

Thanks for tuning in!

The Secret Hideout Season

h4x354x0r — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:52:00 GMT

I spent 2 weeks pretending summer wasn't over, and refusing to go indoors. With continued rain and cold, I had to face reality. It was a nice summer.

The "thump" of the door lock responding to my passcode deep underground was music to my ears. Hello, secret hideout. I'm glad you're here. I forget how nice the amenities are: bathrooms nearby and chest-high shelves for water, boom box, towel; high ceilings and plenty of light ...and heat! It's a shame this place has to be kept secret.

Without the camera, I could make up lots of stories. But technically, this session stank, stunk, we're talking skunk roadkill. Should I blame the hard shoulder pointer I took from my bike gooseneck when I slipped carrying it up the stairs in the morning? Or maybe the unexplained lower back pain that came in the afternoon? How about... just being plain old, ugly, and haven't kicked for a couple weeks?

In the absence of torques, what does one do? Go crazy with the dance hacking thing! I dialed straight into Fatboy Slim's Why Try Harder, and proceeded to jam out an hour ten. I also worked on breaking in my new Abshire bags just a bit. I'm really liking the blue/purple one. Unfortunately, my iPod's battery seems to have taken a hit from it's recent laundering. The screen is perfectly back to normal now, but It was fully charged in the morning, yet it died at 11:05pm that night, ending my session.

I'm really bummed I can't do my usual video blog. I'm looking for a legitimate place to kick, but with little money and a limited schedule, it's tough. But I'm not giving up just yet. And I might get brave enough to live broadcast for a few minutes. That might be fun!

Thanks for tuning in!