yo-yo #83: SPYY ronin

one of the things that i like about being a yo-yoer is that it feels a bit like stepping into a stream. submerging your pinky toe, you're instantly connected to [essentially] all of the water, everywhere. likewise, the moment you tie on the slipknot and throw down, whether you recognize it or not, you renew your connection to every other yo-yo player in the world.

around 12:43p today, i twisted up a brand new type-10 cotton and threw a light session on my favorite new ronin. i'm not sure whether steve meant to send me this one as an anomaly, but it's almost hypnotic to behold, especially in the sunlight. it is the blackest blue yo-yo i've ever seen, if that makes any sense. maybe all of that colorway are like that; i dunno. but (speaking of water) it recalls the inky power of waves like cortés bank, which is doubly appropriate considering the graphics. (it's a good looking yo-yo - hey! you should buy it!)

in any case, throwing in my backyard this afternoon, 'vaguely warmed' by a pale november sun, i wondered what my friends were up to. maybe at 12:43, drew tetz was immortalizing audrey hepburn in a new picture trick. steve brown was probably hefting a kid (or two) on his shoulders. jon rob may have been deciding between hats, shoes, or combinations of both. guy said something about throwing no jives with spencer; i wonder if that went down. safe to say that seth was relentlessly pursuing some beautifully incredible concept (which i am not creative enough to visualize). sonny was probably engaged in mid-morning guinea pig frivolity, and it's a fair bet that john bot and abe were laughing hysterically someplace.

when i'm bummed about this or that, i sometimes think about disney world. i have a map of it next to my desk at school (where ironically, i have hardly been 'bummed' at all). i like the idea that between the berms of the magic kingdom, someone is always having the time of their life. even when the park is empty at 3am, it's like it's breathing in, its subterranean tunnels alive with janitors and technicians busying to prepare fresh magic for the morrow.

yo-yoing is kind of the same for me. it's not a place you can go, but somehow that makes it even more sacred. because yo-yoing is always 'there'. every day, we all go to its well to drink. we stand on its platform to express our most sincere selves, but also to learn and be humbled. we reinvent tiny aspects of the art, collectively and perpetually. every time we throw sleeper, someone is sharing our joy on the opposite side of the world. we're all bearing its standard, carrying it forward an inch at a time in whatever direction may occur to us. unless you turn your back on the art completely (and i've never heard a compelling reason for doing that), you always remain a yo-yo player. and our little tribe consists of some of the most 'improbably amazing' characters i've ever come across. to be associated with them (with you) through our mutual compulsion to throw is truly gratifying.

today i thought about all of the people who enjoyed their first successful 'gravity pull' today, maybe throwing at the same time as myself. i thought of all the kids who enthralled each other at playgrounds, or of the precious few who finally got a grown up to admit that 'you know, that actually IS pretty cool!' i considered all of the tricks that would be invented today, and was thrilled to have lent some tiny contribution. i thought about all of this stuff and i realized (once again) the hard-learned truth that the humble 2-ply string which connects us all is more significant than the space that divides us.