yo-yo's i can't wait to play

so, as the end of the year begins to loom, and the reality of being able to enter the yo-yo room without being assailed by temptation sets in, i thought i'd look around and see what yo-yo's i'll be itching to play come january.

a lot of people have asked me what i'm going to throw first at 12:00:01 this january. i really don't know. honestly, the stress of trying to make a meaningful decision or something might incline me to avoid the late hours of new years altogether. last year, i had already been playing the 'eh' for a few weeks when 2011 ticked out its last dying seconds.

i have acquired strikingly few yo-yo's this year; certainly fewer than any of the previous 8 or so years, suring which i've been heavily "into" yo-yoing. that said, there are a few throws that i have yet to throw down which i can't wait to try.

first up is this tmbr freemont. when colin sent this little guy to me, it had a "do not open till 2013" label on it, which was at once cute and brutal. colin sent me one of the original freemont protos, which i moved on to my pal drew in advance of the 2012 challenge. i absolutely cannot wait to throw this yo-yo. all i remember of my tmbrs is how utterly shocked i've always been when i throw them down. colin makes an incredible yo-yo, and i'm honestly more impressed with myself for holding myself back from this sucker than any of the others.

it's pretty painful having brought this trio to yo-yo club for the last few months and having watched the kids throw them. all i get is great feedback on them, which i feel disingenuous passing on without viscerally KNOWING how they play. the ranchero, in particular, calls to me with a devilish siren-song. so pretty.

these aren't the only no jives i've picked up this year, but these are the ones which i'm dying to throw. clean machine with some crazy spalting which i received direct from brad countryman, along with a pair of gorgeous late 90's 3-in-1's from my buddy (and legendary wood-chucker), chuck short. yes that's an unfinished no jive on the right (only one i've seen without the "special" stamp), and yes that's a green/yellow, played-to-hell, reverse-stamped no jive which was one of chuck's main players during the boom. yeah, i'll be having some fun with those. i love a yo-yo with stories to tell.

it's hard. you try not to be an egomaniac. you try not to let things like "your own signature model yo-yo" get to your head. honestly though... to have two of them that you don't let yourself play for a year feels almost wasteful. i miss all of my v's (guess i should call them "flying v's" now that mickey has a v, himself - thanks, mick! ;)), but i'm probably more excited by the prospect of throwing the ronin again. 1. i've been throwing responsive stall tricks and flyaway dismounts all flippin' year, and 2. i just love that thick, creamy, bust-through-walls feeling the ronin has. steve knocked that one out of the park, and i'm interested in whether i approach it from the same angle after a year.

drew tetz is one of my best friends in the world. we don't hang out much, but he really does everything i want to be able to do with a yo-yo better than i can imagine myself doing it (i reread that, and it doesn't all-the-way make sense, but i don't care). i feel like we really get each others' approach. beyond that though, he's just got such cool ideas. his 44rpm flatpack craft is out of this world, and while i think the flatpack kendama is further into the realm of utter genius, i'm positively dying to throw this "moon" yo-yo he sent me.

so there you go. that's what i'm excited about throwing come 01/01/13. i'm not in a rush or anything, but it's fun to look at your toys and make a big stack of the ones you're jiving to play with.

... oh, and there's also this one. hmm... looks a little like the one i posted here, doesn't it? weird.