tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38504748565423824462024-03-14T01:02:57.028-04:00ed [...]considering life through a collection of spinning toys.kinopahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07212741027510296294noreply@blogger.comBlogger118125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850474856542382446.post-50067969501692784962022-12-12T11:55:00.003-05:002022-12-12T11:55:36.819-05:00end of the road<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQdA9h2ZcaDZBV4SNLsURW-qWPSilG73LSUQkD1yWbTMMVGFkfoJd5jKgsuCDv_0vx-eekjIe8K_v6GQjZul0bUPK23Zzg3FgGu35VZC6lVSn5ku1zI6lslnIc1Qq7b7N_5mPIeUxFsPDnjoAVX2iptrJBbT6wbWYOfMX-7PxuP3S5OL_vVTPi8aDRMQ/s1440/3BFDF974-DF41-48EE-9949-C14D84163A21.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1440" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQdA9h2ZcaDZBV4SNLsURW-qWPSilG73LSUQkD1yWbTMMVGFkfoJd5jKgsuCDv_0vx-eekjIe8K_v6GQjZul0bUPK23Zzg3FgGu35VZC6lVSn5ku1zI6lslnIc1Qq7b7N_5mPIeUxFsPDnjoAVX2iptrJBbT6wbWYOfMX-7PxuP3S5OL_vVTPi8aDRMQ/s320/3BFDF974-DF41-48EE-9949-C14D84163A21.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19.08px;">well... just about 3 weeks.</span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19.08px;"> </span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19.08px;">3 weeks left on my 2nd year spent throwing a single wooden yo-yo. i know i haven't updated this blog as i intended. life intervenes. i assuage my guilt by reflecting that really whatever i say here is meaningless to anyone else. this whole experience is a meditation. there's no way, really, to communicate either its specific strangeness or whatever lessons it's contained to someone else. absurdly pointless though it may seem to most, it's a way which must be walked.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 19.1px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19.08px;">i was able to fly down to orlando for the florida state yo-yo contest this past weekend. it was surreal to attend a contest again after the past few years of pandemic yo-yo isolation. my last event was the world yo-yo contest in 2019, and i was not prepared for how nostalgic and wonderful it was to see other players perform and trade tricks. it showed in relief the degree to which i once took for granted years and years of these opportunities. it was so great to catch up with fellow judges, connor scholten and dennis shatter, with eric koloski and sean perez, with the man with the golden mic, danny amir, lucky meisenheimer (who gifted me an amazing hard-cover edition of his book) and with so many players whom i haven't seen these past years.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 19.1px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19.08px;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 19.1px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrpV2o3BauDmYeiGolWlPi6ANO6BGYlCNfMKLHZUzXQAwkJLBtw_HIDV5el5b7GpCcm8Ug3mLTMYTuyhbA2Dk4n1dakDHhzSzOp2vn-D9dvA0tFdwWCgxDKe7AWuust2QfkmzsMhRSzwBZoLd9JYlAnb3I9P7YQ-zmw8QAyz_B8Dg-5-clpeJO0u2rlQ/s1440/E1BB4AF6-AEA3-4FA1-9549-F8F4DECC728C.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1440" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrpV2o3BauDmYeiGolWlPi6ANO6BGYlCNfMKLHZUzXQAwkJLBtw_HIDV5el5b7GpCcm8Ug3mLTMYTuyhbA2Dk4n1dakDHhzSzOp2vn-D9dvA0tFdwWCgxDKe7AWuust2QfkmzsMhRSzwBZoLd9JYlAnb3I9P7YQ-zmw8QAyz_B8Dg-5-clpeJO0u2rlQ/w200-h150/E1BB4AF6-AEA3-4FA1-9549-F8F4DECC728C.jpeg" width="200" /></a><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19.08px;">it's weird to get old. like i didn't get into the yo-yo scene until my mid 20's so i was always older than most of the top players... but now i'm older than some of their PARENTS. and it's crazy because i can still relate to a teenager about trick creation or presentation, or the comic irony of certain weird elements, but with every advancing year my existence as a strange, anomalous "yo-yo fossil" feels more and more baked-in. i feel like i still think of yo-yoing the way i did when i was young, but to consider myself through the lens of a kid at a contest - the irrelevance of a 40-something guy throwing a wooden yo-yo is staggering.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 19.1px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19.08px;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 19.1px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19.08px;">a lot of people asked me about my experience with the deHcade this year. as mentioned, it's pretty odd to be at a yo-yo contest and only be throwing one wooden yo-yo, but it was strangely not difficult. in fact even if you aren't restricting yourself to one yo-yo in daily life, i kind of recommend picking just one yo-yo to bring to an event. try to throw only that. we live in fear of restriction - of missed opportunities. but you also see a contest differently if you take away the specifically overwhelming variety of all the throws to try. you also come to more deeply feel that functionally, all yo-yo's are the same, because it's always YOU throwing them. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 19.1px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19.08px;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 19.1px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19.08px;">yo-yo's are a bit like lenses through which you take in the world. you might see different things more clearly with this or that, but you're not different, the world's not different. you simply adjust your focus. it's interesting.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 19.1px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19.08px;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 19.1px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3O7Y0gexJnUaPIlzN7_guMAlaoA0XJeJPSb62swc7CaLV4iO296lZdGf7SViZPn-nIQGdbQzY_KSYQ_-SKcYRogbi1B0s7PA9MUhdJwBhHGOM5vi7Ljc9lQXLJnVtQqgnQea5XF6NsAh7K6nm3H0SOezJyIOHp5hVKLJS0d9yy6t3oiL4ppDNtQfifw/s1440/E007C0D0-91D9-45B5-A7CE-583A37F4BB90.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1440" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3O7Y0gexJnUaPIlzN7_guMAlaoA0XJeJPSb62swc7CaLV4iO296lZdGf7SViZPn-nIQGdbQzY_KSYQ_-SKcYRogbi1B0s7PA9MUhdJwBhHGOM5vi7Ljc9lQXLJnVtQqgnQea5XF6NsAh7K6nm3H0SOezJyIOHp5hVKLJS0d9yy6t3oiL4ppDNtQfifw/w200-h150/E007C0D0-91D9-45B5-A7CE-583A37F4BB90.jpeg" width="200" /></a><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19.08px;">the deHcade... has definitely seen better days. i have not been delicate with this yo-yo this year, and in the past few weeks and months, it has really started to show the wear. some large jagged chunks are missing from the rims, and i have to be aware which side i throw from on certain mounts to avoid painful catches. the threads have become worn to the point that it needs a lot of care to avoid flying apart on hard throws. incredibly, even with some significant damage to the wood near the axle on one side, it still plays amazingly smoothly.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 19.1px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19.08px;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 19.1px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19.08px;">i think dutifully picking it up from my nightstand every morning and throwing with it every day has been good for me. as i experienced in 2012, i feel close to it, but really i think i just feel close to my own playing - a hard feeling to describe... </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 19.1px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19.08px;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 19.1px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19.08px;">Tom Waits has a great quote: "Your hands are like dogs, going to the same places they've been. You have to be careful when playing is no longer in the mind but in the fingers, going to happy places."</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 19.1px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19.08px;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 19.1px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19.08px;">i feel like having sought uncomfortable or strange places with this stripped down yo-yo has helped me confront and push my own attitudes of what's "good" this year. mainly i think good yo-yoing just asks a question. sometimes you find an answer, and maybe it's inane, insipid, or brilliant. but the answer is less relevant than the question. it's the asking which matters, and when you take a year to throw a yo-yo which most players would see as laughably primitive, you either content yourself with the same places you've been forever, or you start asking some really weird stuff like "what yo-yo tricks can i make without throwing the yo-yo?" or "how can i make this stalled disc rotate on two planes simultaneously?"</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 19.1px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19.08px;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 19.1px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19.08px;">"how can i ask what i don't know to ask?"</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 19.1px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19.08px;">"how can i wonder something new about this simple thing?"</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 19.1px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19.08px;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 19.1px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19.08px;">i don't really care about going back to bearings for the ease of it or because i miss this or that trick, but i do think it will be fun to go back with that mindset fresh in my brain. i just hope i can avoid falling into only familiar rhythms. but y'know... there's value in that too. </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 19.1px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19.08px;">maybe the best evidence for my getting old is the understanding that the greatest misuse of yo-yoing would be in playing without joy.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 19.1px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19.08px;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 19.1px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSQTzh7Aj1UyFnUvEnXAkZ__Fp7WvrLIkgif07UMjXq0SpGfP9jgjuajsSptlfrFKL4sm15bxcNsh_Mm5I4jlp5Bt50xTbv7RnffqdOiho2m8b8rHZIOkOcUILhLJ9HlySY2o7mGZYMF0fThJKnqOCDE7qXLtdZgfFetLWSjOYWbgmeD7ry1zV0sg0zA/s1440/D52B11BD-CC9A-44A0-9598-6AA7509FEEA7.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1440" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSQTzh7Aj1UyFnUvEnXAkZ__Fp7WvrLIkgif07UMjXq0SpGfP9jgjuajsSptlfrFKL4sm15bxcNsh_Mm5I4jlp5Bt50xTbv7RnffqdOiho2m8b8rHZIOkOcUILhLJ9HlySY2o7mGZYMF0fThJKnqOCDE7qXLtdZgfFetLWSjOYWbgmeD7ry1zV0sg0zA/s320/D52B11BD-CC9A-44A0-9598-6AA7509FEEA7.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19.08px;"><br /></span><p></p>kinopahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07212741027510296294noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850474856542382446.post-25686362994253994632022-09-22T16:23:00.001-04:002022-09-22T16:23:27.764-04:00eHquinox<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ5Rb8sHesdQcmj6vHE97rv8SzGxk9tKNWQiFfela0aeYug96JcElNfll7Jvb9sO3qPKDiahyPlARa2ncPPa85lvUdv8GTxzgHycBIMpdBnXyL_RDgujqgqIqK6lQpzx-evZak9HfeeKGnYJBlzoI344Ye3cmbcmL6U29x3E62Yrb_6Yx0yuYzyTcWdQ/s3078/1C6A5577-B979-4D6C-B5B2-CA6E5810C8E3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3078" data-original-width="2691" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ5Rb8sHesdQcmj6vHE97rv8SzGxk9tKNWQiFfela0aeYug96JcElNfll7Jvb9sO3qPKDiahyPlARa2ncPPa85lvUdv8GTxzgHycBIMpdBnXyL_RDgujqgqIqK6lQpzx-evZak9HfeeKGnYJBlzoI344Ye3cmbcmL6U29x3E62Yrb_6Yx0yuYzyTcWdQ/s320/1C6A5577-B979-4D6C-B5B2-CA6E5810C8E3.jpeg" width="280" /></a></div><span style="font-family: courier;"><p><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></p>i've made it! (72% of the year.)</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;">that's not actually a legitimate achievement, but it's the equinox which somehow FEELS like it should be a moment of reflection (or perhaps resetting intention). but yeah, 265 days and basically 3/4 seasons with the same all-wooden, fixed-axle yo-yo.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;">and it's been kinda great!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;">the other day i was looking at my yo-yo cabinet and i just feel so distanced from its contents lately. i KINDA had an urge to throw a no jive a few weeks back, but i just threw the deHcade, and recognized that it was an IDEA i was craving as opposed to any tactile experience, much less any specific tricks which have been unavailable.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;">one thing i do wonder is whether this experience makes me a "worse" player. i'll note before i even touch on this that the idea of "worse" (or "better") implies a level of objectivity that i don't possess, and which i don't even really believe applies within yo-yoing. but it is interesting to consider whether limiting myself to a single wooden fixie has prevented me from opening doors available to me with the rest of the yo-yo's available throughout the wide world.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;">i don't think so.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;">first off, everyone has constant access to any and all yo-yo's they wish to throw. the mere availability of that hardware is not the primary obstacle to achieving ultimate yo-yo mastery (if such a thing exists). more than anything else, whatever your yo-yo niche, you just have to play A LOT. i can pick up a different yo-yo every day of the week, but if all i'm doing is a few of the tricks i've known for years before putting it back down on the shelf, that diversity is doing little for me. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;">if anything, the limitation of a single yo-yo has caused me to become extremely adept... AT said yo-yo. the deHcade absolutely feels like an extension of my arm at this point. i know just how it will respond, including within different weather conditions and slightly tweaked gap widths. it spinning along on the string feels strangely analogous to my own breathing these days. just a feeling which i probably filter out as ambient background noise or the hum of my own brain. what will be striking will be the first time i throw an unresponsive yo-yo again, and the shriek of the bearing jolts me out of my wooden reverie.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;">i do wonder how much i've forgotten. lengthy picture tricks are especially hard to access on a fixed axle, and it will be fun to try to explore that territory again. i also don't really have a tactile memory for the unresponsive regenerations i like to do. i know HOW to do them... i've just totally forgot how they feel.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;">in general, however, i think that every experience which causes us to dive more deeply into our chosen art or field makes us "better", and this year has certainly qualified. i've been able to play a very basic, simple yo-yo and stay (or at least feel) creative with it, which makes me happy.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;">i did inadvertently WASH my deHcade the other day. i had it in my jeans pocket, and i just threw them in there without thinking. didn't realize it until i advanced the laundry and took a soaking yo-yo to school. the axle swelled incredibly, and when i got home it became clear that it would be inextricable from the halves. i was momentarily worried that i'd need to switch to my backup (a bit like starting over), but no. i was able to drill through the axle and break it apart with a thin screwdriver. so the deHcade i started with picked up a couple minor scars (and maybe a bit more vibe) but it's good to go.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;">and so am i! 100 more days. honestly it's more stressful to imagine going back to throwing whatever than it is to imagine continuing on for these next few months. :)</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Ft56NjFNpjrn4EbPqnmSkPtWSX50n5AKmW9EtYoB-kMKqAHJhYw8W8KOfRzpEvJ8b_hbP1bwtY2I8agKgZ7iQOGwX71LNQnL52QtbkqMfcuhR6NDzQtIP6ABDnSyu7iU3dYGOKa8SqwFMj9JZTAUJLc501MThipG00YQv1pwEv07MwaIwaBs3_30Uw/s2609/BE4ECB7F-0D57-4245-B86E-B16955FF25A9.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1957" data-original-width="2609" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Ft56NjFNpjrn4EbPqnmSkPtWSX50n5AKmW9EtYoB-kMKqAHJhYw8W8KOfRzpEvJ8b_hbP1bwtY2I8agKgZ7iQOGwX71LNQnL52QtbkqMfcuhR6NDzQtIP6ABDnSyu7iU3dYGOKa8SqwFMj9JZTAUJLc501MThipG00YQv1pwEv07MwaIwaBs3_30Uw/w400-h300/BE4ECB7F-0D57-4245-B86E-B16955FF25A9.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span><p></p>kinopahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07212741027510296294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850474856542382446.post-28928068564014771952022-07-04T15:36:00.002-04:002022-07-04T15:36:59.079-04:00i forgot to blog.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2zp9wTVTxScrnUMjYNGjaKEL6LNfKZp3GtKP2v_XSZq5SLkhf9KbWscBix6-6fxAioMwRwB90i1DSxBZsDlk0lvqJeXbEGGE1eEPjXcoaKPH9dQgfpTbI7ZfiDExjz8FAnls_g1id2Fxeea5IMZIS2EIPrUDn2G61oEja7AqhTgcD2Ie2KSj6osQAUg/s3607/DB2F5FBB-1ABC-44E9-B61C-F894AA9F870C.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2705" data-original-width="3607" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2zp9wTVTxScrnUMjYNGjaKEL6LNfKZp3GtKP2v_XSZq5SLkhf9KbWscBix6-6fxAioMwRwB90i1DSxBZsDlk0lvqJeXbEGGE1eEPjXcoaKPH9dQgfpTbI7ZfiDExjz8FAnls_g1id2Fxeea5IMZIS2EIPrUDn2G61oEja7AqhTgcD2Ie2KSj6osQAUg/w400-h300/DB2F5FBB-1ABC-44E9-B61C-F894AA9F870C.jpeg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span><p><span style="font-family: courier;">sorry... i mean... if you've been anxiously awaiting a written account of how my 2nd year throwing a single wooden fixed axle yo-yo is progressing.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;">if not, then, i guess... bonus!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;">like the lego movie, everything is awesome. as i mentioned a few months back, it's surprising how little i have missed my other throws. they sit patiently, locked within their strange little airlock/museum of a display case, and i can count the number of times i've missed throwing them on a couple of fingers. (mostly i'd just like to toss a no jive.)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;">i am beginning to think it's reflective of a change in my attitude toward throwing more than anything else. i really haven't thrown as hard this year. maybe that's not the right way to say it. more like: i haven't been as consumed with the idea of progression. i took some time to look back at some of my tricks from the last few years, and had a <span>pavlovian response which was a combination of stress and fatigue. i chased some really hard (for me) trick ideas for awhile - years! it was worth it to me then, and it is still, but i'm in a different place as a thrower lately. this year has definitely been more about playing DEEP than going hard. i'm filming sessions way less, but i'm probably throwing as much as ever. but the emphasis has been on digging into a session with more intention (and possibly delight) as opposed to with a mindset of "seeking".</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;">it's weird because, while i've always preached an attitude of contentment as a yo-yo player, for 15+ years or so i've mainly been about trying to break ground or push outward into areas i haven't seen. not that those things are mutually exclusive, but there's always been an undercurrent of compulsion driving my playing. it feels strange to have largely shed that this year. strange, but great - i'm spending a lot more time shooting moons, spinning varials, and stopping go's than trying to push anywhere.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;">i was at the beach last week, and one morning i was out in a lineup which was almost entirely older guys (and yes, i realized i AM one). everyone out there was so chill. the waves were all waist-high or smaller. there was plenty of room, so no one was worried about space. pretty much every good turn or long ride had the lineup hooting and cheering each other on. those sessions are always so much more restorative than the ones where you catch a legitimately "impressive" wave or strive valiantly to push yourself forward. not so different.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;">the deHcade is holding up great. i've barely had to change the axle and while i'm not tossing it against brick walls, i'm definitely not babying it. i hope colin is doing well. i know he was pretty burned out in terms of making wooden yo-yo's and it was time for him to focus on other stuff. still really appreciative of how he and andre supported me for 10 years of eH yo-yo's.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;">much love everybody.</span></p>kinopahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07212741027510296294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850474856542382446.post-53497099944023794722022-03-07T19:08:00.004-05:002022-03-07T19:08:38.173-05:00all is well (... TOO well?)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgyZX_lusWge1Cv0IYkYg0B3eS3wdZj4wCUgS7VNbcYu6TqXFS33cRnIR4-oW5WQnj5n4GaiE8A3HYXnyCDFzdARTTNN8c1UqijgBEE4_F9cMkY6oEch42SV_SKuUYL0_sKWlIlfdHXPfx2Qwb_QBa04-F8LNsKYDEtPbruzk1OZnCbVOHxmL_laqd7cQ=s3867" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2235" data-original-width="3867" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgyZX_lusWge1Cv0IYkYg0B3eS3wdZj4wCUgS7VNbcYu6TqXFS33cRnIR4-oW5WQnj5n4GaiE8A3HYXnyCDFzdARTTNN8c1UqijgBEE4_F9cMkY6oEch42SV_SKuUYL0_sKWlIlfdHXPfx2Qwb_QBa04-F8LNsKYDEtPbruzk1OZnCbVOHxmL_laqd7cQ=w400-h231" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">i kinda thought i'd be feeling it by now.</span></span><p></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;">like honestly, maybe i was really "caught up" in the whole thing last time, or else i was somehow unintentionally aggrandizing the act of using a single fixed axle yo-yo for a year. but like... big deal? it's now mid-march, and this has been positively EASY.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;">my cabinet full of unused yo-yo's is nice to look at, replete with shiny aluminum or painted wooden throws, but it hasn't been remotely tempting. i feel like that's a good thing in general, right? surely, it's preferable to feel content with throwing the same woodie every day, as opposed to desperately wishing i could grab one of my precision metals? but part of me is also aware that this could easily be the end of that part of my yo-yo life and it would be totally alright. in that regard, it almost feels like it SHOULD sting more.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjXnoDdZMWGZ8ujnMC3z7pWxpRwRDoFZGK7TxZq-t3ynsFjYGIIuYUKHSiiHnlrx-5RCzQ3tbXI5Wx54PV7vimCfxKqNKvplDlKoNA3pyX3dt8W45uzENaFme1hfTfWNppVcX5BVe_yqGRAgTfqpgUdHo-X8uQKivgF7OXHPyF00aGlklTUxOniHsMt0g=s2763" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: courier; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2763" data-original-width="1557" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjXnoDdZMWGZ8ujnMC3z7pWxpRwRDoFZGK7TxZq-t3ynsFjYGIIuYUKHSiiHnlrx-5RCzQ3tbXI5Wx54PV7vimCfxKqNKvplDlKoNA3pyX3dt8W45uzENaFme1hfTfWNppVcX5BVe_yqGRAgTfqpgUdHo-X8uQKivgF7OXHPyF00aGlklTUxOniHsMt0g=s320" width="180" /></a><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;">part of it is undoubtedly due to the support of other players. when i </span></span><span style="font-family: courier;">did this in 2012, there was almost no one else primarily working on responsive throwing, let alone fixed axle. it was a much more lonely road. this year (even having given up instagram), i feel really connected - particularly through the fixed axle discord server. even if those folks aren't throwing fixies every day, there's always a running trick dialog, people asking for help on this or that, people musing over the "state of yo" which is such a big part of throwing fixed... it's a lot easier to go through this process with some group therapy lol. </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;">fixed axle february came and went, and i was able to throw a <a href="https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/fixed-axle-fehbruary-win-a-dehcade/351502/103" target="_blank">fun little contest</a> on the yoyoexpert forum. i set 7 tricks to serve as "gates" and players had to hit them on video in order to enter a random drawing for a deHcade yo-yo. the tricks weren't impossible, but they definitely weren't easy either, so it was rad that 16 people entered. brian datz from canada won the random drawing, and andre will send him pretty much the last deHcade he's got. when the month ended, i was asked if i'd be doing another one for march. i hadn't planned on it, but said "sure", so you've got <a href="https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/mixed-axle-march-win-a-whatever-i-send-you/353509" target="_blank">another chance to try</a> if you're up for it! i can't offer any more deHcades, but i'll find something rad to give as the prize.</span><span style="font-family: courier;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;">which brings me to a bit of a bummer. </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;">i got an email from colin a few weeks back. he was in the process of turning the latest run of deHcade, and he realized upon preliminary testing that essentially all of his pieces were bad. apparently the tooling he had made to produce the yo-yo's (and specifically the axle threading) has deteriorated or otherwise failed. fixing that requires re-making the tooling which would be costly, in terms of time, work, material and expense. whether colin is up for that at some point in the future remains to be seen, but in the short term it means that there's probably not another run of deHcade coming. from my perspective, colin/tmbr has done more for fixed axle yo-yoing (and especially manufacture) than anyone since tom kuhn. he most definitely does not owe the world another wooden yo-yo, and i'm 100% only grateful that i got to work with him on the stuff we (he) did. but i also know how much people love tmbr and that the deHcade demand outstripped the supply, so i wanted to be transparent about it.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEge8cUcAQ4zWcJAVAfHWh6vXsXIw3RUj_gR3tTaMJTtwNFeS8oBIG749atZKIGmTLHmcFbyjUF5NPbtt6cB0-uLi7OAmk_e7JhlNGPvVyTiwS8VlfSObYUga7q2BNcO3aDvBz4RplzqWiVT0hlsrLJt1OmbjHUPhsGSt2twJ4LpAwYjiGIl5h1px-0zYw=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEge8cUcAQ4zWcJAVAfHWh6vXsXIw3RUj_gR3tTaMJTtwNFeS8oBIG749atZKIGmTLHmcFbyjUF5NPbtt6cB0-uLi7OAmk_e7JhlNGPvVyTiwS8VlfSObYUga7q2BNcO3aDvBz4RplzqWiVT0hlsrLJt1OmbjHUPhsGSt2twJ4LpAwYjiGIl5h1px-0zYw=w400-h300" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19.08px;"><br /></span><p></p>kinopahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07212741027510296294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850474856542382446.post-57998132437154033192022-02-10T10:50:00.001-05:002022-02-10T10:50:59.448-05:00where you come from & where you go<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi9-zul6XM16Id8xtEZIO33vOsHntDRxeT4RG7yWWTaC5zMK8DTsjLnk-oERgXvUXgC9cELUg4AfAZZloY664-O9WOVzBZ6fiSk7e0KxZX2YOoue4deRTpfvyIXp1pGZJplYMvm4XFQ0BiNYVD-NXEZ7MnCcxk7FCzlccPma1YhoSzaiCcvkUJQS8r2cQ=s3619" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2444" data-original-width="3619" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi9-zul6XM16Id8xtEZIO33vOsHntDRxeT4RG7yWWTaC5zMK8DTsjLnk-oERgXvUXgC9cELUg4AfAZZloY664-O9WOVzBZ6fiSk7e0KxZX2YOoue4deRTpfvyIXp1pGZJplYMvm4XFQ0BiNYVD-NXEZ7MnCcxk7FCzlccPma1YhoSzaiCcvkUJQS8r2cQ=s320" width="320" /></a></div><p><span style="font-family: courier;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">it's so gratifying to watch something you've cared about grow.</span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;">definitely true of children, and I suppose also cats, guinea pigs, or house plants... and (incredibly) also of yo-yo styles.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;">i'm running a <a href="https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/fixed-axle-fehbruary-win-a-dehcade/351502" target="_blank">little giveaway thing</a> this month (it being Fixed Axle February). basically i developed a somewhat arbitrary trick-list and said i'd randomly draw a winner from those who filmed themselves hitting it. people like yo-yo's, so i guess i did assume a few people would try it, but i wasn't actually prepared for the feeling of seeing other players stoked about hitting stuff like varial and bird. in fact, even just people asking for advice about them has been cool.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;">it's interesting that with the 0a scene having collectively enjoyed a bit of a hiatus from focusing energy on fixed 1a tricks (being hard at work in establishing whatever it is that the 0a style is becoming), stuff like split the atom represents a fairly significant challenge, even for some experienced fixed axle throwers. i remember visiting steve brown one year when he was doing street performances in virginia beach and i was just getting into fixed axle. he made the point that after yomega changed the game with the influx of transaxles, it was hard to find a player who could hit split the atom on an old woodie like the demonstrators of old.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;">that conversation (along with several with jack ringca about exploring the limits of fixed axle throws) was definitely a catalyst for me. ~17 years later i don't think about it in quite the same way, but at the time it was important to me to somehow retain the stoicism of the players who toiled to master tricks before bearings (or the internet) provided solace. i couldn't fully retain that, of course, but i DID put in <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>work, and wonderfully pointless though it may be, the canonical skill set i developed in those years feels like something worth maintaining.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;">in jazz, you need to know the rules in order to break them. in the last decade, 1a has represented "the rules" and 0a has developed as a counterpoint by focusing on trick elements which are better suited to responsive and fixed axle yo-yo's... but i confess the idea of developing skill in 0a WITHOUT jumping through string-trick hoops on fixies is something i never really thought about. like if we were effective in developing a style of yo-yo that people wanted to play, a benchmark of success would be that they start to learn it independent of the context and references it came out of. charlie parker understood the style of lester young, and consciously threw it out to make his own style. ornette coleman did the same with charlie parker. a generation later, you had saxophonists seeking to sound like ornette without having gone through the same process with regard to his stylistic predecessors.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;">and that's ok - it's inevitable, and it's how style evolves. it's really interesting to think about what i have ignored, as opposed to what's influenced me. watching players hit the tricks for this contest, it's even more interesting to consider where the players watching THEM will take the style next.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiLGYCCeEOeixjLuGpM_rZWyzi8hsNtKTcN5k7k19EYFQwc80nZ2WFfW44fE5EB3ZCUpJ_2UCDdeXj7EYgke4cjIx_7t_l1lICYFfDzMFdkbnt7Lvy00kNNTpmilwTO3XU-gcr0ahRP8X3GfcEVG85TBCGU87hpYaY9JvoDMG90G1B3UoLwGTLKL3SyAA=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiLGYCCeEOeixjLuGpM_rZWyzi8hsNtKTcN5k7k19EYFQwc80nZ2WFfW44fE5EB3ZCUpJ_2UCDdeXj7EYgke4cjIx_7t_l1lICYFfDzMFdkbnt7Lvy00kNNTpmilwTO3XU-gcr0ahRP8X3GfcEVG85TBCGU87hpYaY9JvoDMG90G1B3UoLwGTLKL3SyAA=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: courier; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiLGYCCeEOeixjLuGpM_rZWyzi8hsNtKTcN5k7k19EYFQwc80nZ2WFfW44fE5EB3ZCUpJ_2UCDdeXj7EYgke4cjIx_7t_l1lICYFfDzMFdkbnt7Lvy00kNNTpmilwTO3XU-gcr0ahRP8X3GfcEVG85TBCGU87hpYaY9JvoDMG90G1B3UoLwGTLKL3SyAA=w197-h263" width="197" /></a></div><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>kinopahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07212741027510296294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850474856542382446.post-34764005643192365632022-02-01T16:46:00.005-05:002022-02-01T16:50:38.629-05:00it's supposed to be hard<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19.08px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgnqUBj1JiAuKWP-I5z0Ztf8VjIgoDP1D6qSgNfoApcJ09sh6aw8dbqawcpzHFOFdz9BzhmPx9-ZGdn7Q2oX18tN_FXclwh6DFxvSc1HdFGeGBu5HkkqYYE4C7wuWMLM_eptkXNihowhyyuEyhfJAb6t1QBJSOrzUdjn-jp2-CrBdi3OlCEI3anBsKAxQ=s3322" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3322" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgnqUBj1JiAuKWP-I5z0Ztf8VjIgoDP1D6qSgNfoApcJ09sh6aw8dbqawcpzHFOFdz9BzhmPx9-ZGdn7Q2oX18tN_FXclwh6DFxvSc1HdFGeGBu5HkkqYYE4C7wuWMLM_eptkXNihowhyyuEyhfJAb6t1QBJSOrzUdjn-jp2-CrBdi3OlCEI3anBsKAxQ=s320" width="291" /></a></div><br /><br /><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier;">merry fixed axle february, everybody! </span></p><p></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: courier;">it's funny to realize that "faf" has been a thing for so long now. i remember it's first upstart incarnation and the contests which sprang from it, as well as the original "fixed friday" tags used by nathan martsolf. (while we're on the subject i remember the first time i saw a "trickcircle" on insta... when the term transitioned from an informal contest hangout to ray g and sonny using it to post awesome 15s content. it's weird to have watched elements of our microculture evolve from curious anomalies into foundational pillars of our communication.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;">2/1 also marks the end of my first month of this little journey. it's almost eerie how little i've missed throwing bearings (or even a diversity of other wood throws), especially given that i walk past my locked display case every day - a strange yo-yo time-capsule in my dining room. </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;">i make it a point to throw a little every day. i'm not sure if it brings me back to myself or gets me AWAY from myself. maybe either, depending on the day. but it's nice to know which yo-yo is in my pocket and to feel more accustomed to its shape and texture each day, along with the way it spins and responds.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;">one of my kids at school asked why i always have the same yo-yo lately and i tried to explain it. their response was "right but why, when you have 100's of yo-yos would you only play that one?" the idea of self-imposed restriction in such a frivolous context just doesn't compute. why make it harder on yourself? if you have every kind of surfboard, why would you restrict yourself to just one - and one of the hardest to ride at that? (maybe to make it more about the wave and who you are in relation with it? maybe to settle more deeply into your understanding of what it MEANS to ride a wave?)</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;">i've frequently made the point that fixed axle yo-yos are naturally a bit unpredictable. a bit fickle... sometimes downright difficult. you have to put a lot of attention into them just to execute the simplest string tricks while keeping them from snapping back at you. and i see those aspects of it as a tremendous benefit because they force me to be more PRESENT and they force me to grow. but i'm often guilty of neglecting the fact that some players (most players) play yo-yo to ESCAPE things like difficulty, frustration, and chaos. they have enough of that in their day-to-day lives. if your outlook is that yo-yoing is supposed to be for fun, then the idea of intentionally making it more difficult or intentionally restricting your access to a single difficult yo-yo - at least at first - can seem downright dumb.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;"></span></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjpuxq0VKI7hOKNxu6QnvdjNkpUB1tMsmJo4LlxD0alWtq7jNLObwyQawTYEiJwd1LNDrhB85e9RpuRSkQMZIPl8KkPwbPcP88_pzGMTRJOQeUfXj-VWVTu2LfLJ6iOk8rW2DhvJmnDTwQM9bVmHhPIsNeNQ7LsATmIUzCiEvbDomufy9i5hhpFJv7tkg=s3480" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3480" data-original-width="2704" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjpuxq0VKI7hOKNxu6QnvdjNkpUB1tMsmJo4LlxD0alWtq7jNLObwyQawTYEiJwd1LNDrhB85e9RpuRSkQMZIPl8KkPwbPcP88_pzGMTRJOQeUfXj-VWVTu2LfLJ6iOk8rW2DhvJmnDTwQM9bVmHhPIsNeNQ7LsATmIUzCiEvbDomufy9i5hhpFJv7tkg=w201-h258" width="201" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier;">meanwhile if your yo-yo is a more of a meditation tool... if tricks are places you go to be honest with yourself... if you're trying to get closer to the forces which govern reality and brush up against failure and frustration, where to hit the trick you have to kind of disappear into it... then a fixie is where it's at and the idea of focusing on a single one might not feel so strange. electric guitars don’t need to pull the strings hard across the instrument’s top to produce an audible sound. so you can set them up to play with almost effortless ease… but if your goal is to HEAR the air inside an instrument explode as the tones are created, then you have to embrace all the mercurial difficulties of an acoustic instrument. nature of the beast.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;">and the thing is, you CAN start to feel peace in the midst of difficulty, just like (as i mentioned in the last post) you can find space in the limitation. you CAN interpret the signs of progress through the frustration. the failure starts to feel less like something to be afraid of and more an integral part of the process - a teacher. i would never claim it’s more meaningful - it’s just the journey i’m on.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;">wishing one and all a lovely fixed axle february. </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;">throw hard and love each other.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;">and hey if you haven't already seen it, i'm running a little contest all month long on the yoyoexpert.forum. if you can hit the 7 tricks i've listed on video and post them in the thread, you'll be entered into a random drawing to win a DeHcade yo-yo! the tricks aren't super easy, but you've got time. </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;">(and a little difficulty is ok.)</span></span></p>kinopahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07212741027510296294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850474856542382446.post-76685709955641762852022-01-14T17:28:00.005-05:002022-01-14T20:23:48.307-05:00space to feel free<p><span style="font-family: courier;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiVc51tpEgxkJqns8dipTLzRKIwhGCGV80FgK8vc-QrJzAoIbxrVRVpC_dl-C4iu45w1l-Zd6LIttXOUKFuD3Gli1lgXWgN391TMp-emDiD2H3scDg5CIWcIorVh4np9uDFU4hTmuTPHlwVmKecyvF9qgXV_qiD5uZxr8Yf6zdHEBZ_H-jpItdGGxtZ-g=s4032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiVc51tpEgxkJqns8dipTLzRKIwhGCGV80FgK8vc-QrJzAoIbxrVRVpC_dl-C4iu45w1l-Zd6LIttXOUKFuD3Gli1lgXWgN391TMp-emDiD2H3scDg5CIWcIorVh4np9uDFU4hTmuTPHlwVmKecyvF9qgXV_qiD5uZxr8Yf6zdHEBZ_H-jpItdGGxtZ-g=s320" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">merry fixed friday, everybody.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">every day is fixed friday now, but it still feels special. It's also pizza night at my house, so that helps.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">two weeks into the adventure. that's 1/26 of the way for the math folks who like to simplify. so far the idea of "missing" my other yo-yo's feels absurd. i've gone two weeks playing just one woody by accident before. plus this one plays killer. i'm definitely enjoying the break-in process. it's funny because you only take a few weeks to prototype a yo-yo you're going to be using all year. and unlike metal, you know wood is going to CHANGE throughout. So the best you can do is 1) guess using your prior experience, and 2) DECIDE to be ok with however the yo-yo matures.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">feels like we guessed right so far. i walked home from dropping Silas off at the bus stop today and decided to shoot the moon. made it the quarter-mile home without even needing to correct - the moon basically shoots itself with this thing.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">i was stoked to get to do <a href="https://youtu.be/kuGueLtudMo" target="_blank">a little podcast conversation</a> with my good buddy Doctor Popular last week. we chatted about the history of the eH, the point of the year-long commitment, and general reflection on what fixed axle & 0a yo-yoing have become. we agreed that it's incredibly awesome and strange that while it once felt that almost all worthwhile yo-yo tricks were on the verge of having been conceived, NOW it feels as though even with the most "primitive" of yo-yo's, there's an untold universe of creative space out there. what a time to be alive!</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">the last two weeks have also been interesting because i kinda gave up instagram, which had previously felt like my most significant window of connection with other yo-yo's, and certainly the primary means by which i shared yo-yo tricks. i ditched it (at least for now) for 2 reasons. first, as a medium, i think it's inherently kind of garbage. you look at things, you like things, and it pays close attention to you and feeds you more and more of what you want. sounds innocent, but it amounts to information gluttony designed to prevent you from setting it down and encouraging you to reach for it as often as possible. add to that the fact that we humans find little more addictive than looking at each other and feeling as though we're not "enough".</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhllG6UX9b-VETeXv8hHzK4EHn9bh_4EUM4LSrFXrkNbPUYbXYhATkyKC2RL6PmJMnnTRveWj0n0DW5iKCxdoPI5pkB_319E-GnTHQ_Hg4nCU3LKPID1ewKWGjvTp8EEj4YrI-qlIGSybvc6VpnV2fIhlwZu4KB0QXsBqNuOKyURgLgcSfme6ko91a5GQ=s3282" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3282" data-original-width="2462" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhllG6UX9b-VETeXv8hHzK4EHn9bh_4EUM4LSrFXrkNbPUYbXYhATkyKC2RL6PmJMnnTRveWj0n0DW5iKCxdoPI5pkB_319E-GnTHQ_Hg4nCU3LKPID1ewKWGjvTp8EEj4YrI-qlIGSybvc6VpnV2fIhlwZu4KB0QXsBqNuOKyURgLgcSfme6ko91a5GQ=w219-h292" width="219" /></a></span></div><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier;">secondly, i just despised my own reaction to it. i'd post a yo-yo trick, ostensibly because i enjoyed it and thought it was cool, but even if i TRIED to ignore it, i'd catch myself being interested in how it was received by other players. creative DIALOG is important. but me getting a dopamine hit from someone i hardly know commenting "</span><span class="s2" style="font-family: courier;">🔥</span><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier;">" is not creative dialog. even worse, i'd feel compelled to post a trick every few days, even if i hadn't been working on anything in particular. maybe ANY excuse to play yo-yo is a good excuse, but whatever feeling drives that compulsion to share feels gross and inauthentic.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">it's kind of funny to listen to the insecure voice in my head saying stuff like "but almost 5000 people care about what you share" or "this is your only way to stay 'relevant'" or (most nefariously) "the way your style developed and has been received owes a lot to this medium". in truth i anticipated some kind of epic struggle with ditching it, but it was less a bang than a whimper. and i'm not trying to evangelize anybody about it - i just always advocate questioning your own processes and behaviors. only resolve to make changes if the answers you come to are STUPID.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">it's been a nice few weeks. and anyway, it's not about being "better" so much as being present. being cognizant of (if not in control of) my own thoughts, actions, tendencies, etc. it's funny because so much of this year could feel like it's about exerting more control, when actually it's meant to tweak the conditions to grant me space to feel free.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: medium;">anyway, happy weekend. it's supposed to snow sunday, and i just CAN'T resist walking the dog on new snow, so the hydrophobic properties of Colin's all-natural wood finish MAY be tested. :)</span></span></p>kinopahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07212741027510296294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850474856542382446.post-84282396920908154012021-12-30T21:52:00.006-05:002021-12-31T09:13:49.102-05:00here we go again...<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgMnPWa3KScmRqpi74NUH6E_EQYx634kI-QgMmNwXjSQSWCOsq9qTNkFtUesdtU-aeKBRTX8C9R3j3UVlmIy5RbXFQmweBF__3EAmtVSfM3L9G8gL4QODpFjXoHErqUs-Mq9fruoqN7zbFfDIQI9bGjy9vLSlZTh1yjnTLTVxoyPZTAaNIKTlffncuMzA=s2688" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2688" data-original-width="2016" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgMnPWa3KScmRqpi74NUH6E_EQYx634kI-QgMmNwXjSQSWCOsq9qTNkFtUesdtU-aeKBRTX8C9R3j3UVlmIy5RbXFQmweBF__3EAmtVSfM3L9G8gL4QODpFjXoHErqUs-Mq9fruoqN7zbFfDIQI9bGjy9vLSlZTh1yjnTLTVxoyPZTAaNIKTlffncuMzA=s320" width="240" /></a></div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: courier;"><p><span>a little more than 24 hours out from the start of the new year and a new journey.</span></p></span><p></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;">i feel like i should have more trepidation or mixed feelings than i do. (i remember this from last time as well.) probably, i've just spent so much of the past few months anticipating the whole thing and discussing the design and release of the deHcade that the advent of 2022 is (almost) an anticlimax.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;">but that's also kind of ideal. i'd really prefer the march toward the mundane to be accelerated, because the point is to experience one fixie as my everyday. getting past the newness and excitement of it being "a thing" is part of the goal.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhaeWBNuuKqnXZ0fH3A-6xXy-5gCOvr9gXl28pJdG6z0SNX3bEo2EBxCUWlVzou7QmZz6a4HCpAZbWIddKvbMwPavtjHUdC0N9VRsYaD0XI9KjCicqVNg2i-ThXxyChu7SxmKGoo6P3Ha-8dyRg0vfhuOqL_VBXe3OGhts7LWH_lVuxAGzrZWCVoY-7EA=s2768" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></a><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;">in terms of "newness" though, it's definitely interesting</span></span><span style="font-family: courier;"> to compare the original eH from 2012 with the deHcade and see the ways in which it's circled back (pun intended).</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhaeWBNuuKqnXZ0fH3A-6xXy-5gCOvr9gXl28pJdG6z0SNX3bEo2EBxCUWlVzou7QmZz6a4HCpAZbWIddKvbMwPavtjHUdC0N9VRsYaD0XI9KjCicqVNg2i-ThXxyChu7SxmKGoo6P3Ha-8dyRg0vfhuOqL_VBXe3OGhts7LWH_lVuxAGzrZWCVoY-7EA=s2768" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2076" data-original-width="2768" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhaeWBNuuKqnXZ0fH3A-6xXy-5gCOvr9gXl28pJdG6z0SNX3bEo2EBxCUWlVzou7QmZz6a4HCpAZbWIddKvbMwPavtjHUdC0N9VRsYaD0XI9KjCicqVNg2i-ThXxyChu7SxmKGoo6P3Ha-8dyRg0vfhuOqL_VBXe3OGhts7LWH_lVuxAGzrZWCVoY-7EA=w227-h170" width="227" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhaeWBNuuKqnXZ0fH3A-6xXy-5gCOvr9gXl28pJdG6z0SNX3bEo2EBxCUWlVzou7QmZz6a4HCpAZbWIddKvbMwPavtjHUdC0N9VRsYaD0XI9KjCicqVNg2i-ThXxyChu7SxmKGoo6P3Ha-8dyRg0vfhuOqL_VBXe3OGhts7LWH_lVuxAGzrZWCVoY-7EA=s2768" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></a><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;">most obviously, the guts have changed. when steve buffel and i discussed the initial eH, being able to do challenging string tricks was paramount. although i was doing plenty of stall-based stuff, a lot of it was used to weave together typical 1a elements. as a result, the og eH had a pretty wide gap (3mm) and low response for a woodie. as it broke in, the dimpled response didn't provide a ton of grip, and i usually had a totally dead duncan sticker in there to add some traction. when we produced the 1st tmbr eH, the gap got 0.5mm narrower and those holes got deeper and sharper, eliminating any need for stickers.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgtdVS523ynqmqf9GpfoYaiYfNMvRlTed6QVXyLuruk4oE_lu8P8V9UbvBW6XgR8Md9hqvpFByVKNb_1FMiEL_ceYBgyFHWXaOyBK9TnrhX2hLJpsfqoID67gB5mgQ26Q2mN7HKkaGWyoUSoOBkEpEAl0NphOw744Y20Gq1bzcRU4Gs4JYRJCCO3xjOaQ=s3296" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2472" data-original-width="3296" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgtdVS523ynqmqf9GpfoYaiYfNMvRlTed6QVXyLuruk4oE_lu8P8V9UbvBW6XgR8Md9hqvpFByVKNb_1FMiEL_ceYBgyFHWXaOyBK9TnrhX2hLJpsfqoID67gB5mgQ26Q2mN7HKkaGWyoUSoOBkEpEAl0NphOw744Y20Gq1bzcRU4Gs4JYRJCCO3xjOaQ=w227-h170" width="227" /></a><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;">like the past few eH's, the deHcade's gap is 2mm at the axle. i asked colin to incorporate a version of the deep negative recess on his most recent fremont because i liked how it played. it's aggressive and can take awhile to break in, but i love the effect on response and control.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;">although the deHcade has an added 1mm of diameter, it's lost that twice that in width compared with the original. this drops the mass from 57g to 52g. again, that reflects a sea change in the type of tricks the 0a style really focuses on. the deHcade handles stalls, regens, flips, spins, and stop-n-go's with considerably greater ease than the original, which prioritized spinning play.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjUKBuBLdkaV5GiImSt2ChkpPHu7rDAVoWO46MDjH6rdT7hET1SYRuVQ6-05yq_vz4gc_XxOh_6VG8GlftQkOehKD92kdUM4NGQZ-nyfpQMq5-i-qe2ZgVdhA15Nq3ktE7JErhzKes_bL0vQw7DW3_pckIrh7EmEaGT6665EYOt5Gzt6vXkiCwARE12JQ=s2661" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2661" data-original-width="1996" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjUKBuBLdkaV5GiImSt2ChkpPHu7rDAVoWO46MDjH6rdT7hET1SYRuVQ6-05yq_vz4gc_XxOh_6VG8GlftQkOehKD92kdUM4NGQZ-nyfpQMq5-i-qe2ZgVdhA15Nq3ktE7JErhzKes_bL0vQw7DW3_pckIrh7EmEaGT6665EYOt5Gzt6vXkiCwARE12JQ=w170-h226" width="170" /></a><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;">the defining feature of the eH has always been the profile </span></span><span style="font-family: courier;">of the "shoulder". from a sharp corner at the outer hub, there's a flat section which has varied by 1-2mm through the various releases before the inner hub curves toward the response. this facet has a specific tactile "flavor", and to me is what has kept the eH feeling like the eH. you really feel it on varials, balances, and fly-away somersaults.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;">anyway... the new year looms.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;">i'm not thinking of this as a resolution. i don't believe throwing fixed axle is actually "ideal" or that the 1-yo-yo-for-a-year thing reflects some lasting change i crave for myself. it's just the start of a journey - one i've walked before, but the trail grows in over a decade. it's the yo-yo equivalent of a long retreat into the mountains. when i come back out i'll have changed, but every year changes us - on some level every throw does, too. a lot of this is about HOW being intentional with what i throw affects my outlook and experience.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;">one thing I know going into it this time around is that come new years eve 2022, I won’t be able to encapsulate that in a pretty post.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: courier;">see you on the other side.</span></span></p>kinopahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07212741027510296294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850474856542382446.post-54401984641686057522021-12-27T18:59:00.007-05:002021-12-27T19:03:28.044-05:00eHrrival<p><span style="font-family: courier;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjWaKVFcE6qEbAYyZYP6F21sf_MVJtWe2if9H-h2WIlBTa0chgcQ9F9ld-QpEtGW42fqmzbjREA5BTC1uR3Hm5zkFYxTOxUdPmqCjlmUrU4vFSRW4jtLb7EhTezmdPm4vLF9speB6EUfF-uC1ygtf8FheLBMZqqDxVq2edCxmT3BYoBPP3QQtLcIEaMWA=s2412" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2412" data-original-width="2412" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjWaKVFcE6qEbAYyZYP6F21sf_MVJtWe2if9H-h2WIlBTa0chgcQ9F9ld-QpEtGW42fqmzbjREA5BTC1uR3Hm5zkFYxTOxUdPmqCjlmUrU4vFSRW4jtLb7EhTezmdPm4vLF9speB6EUfF-uC1ygtf8FheLBMZqqDxVq2edCxmT3BYoBPP3QQtLcIEaMWA=s320" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: courier;">it's weird to be back on this blog.</span><p></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier;">honestly i had no idea how to access it, but of course google makes it all too easy. just the idea of "blogging" feels about a decade old (or more), which is appropriate given the subject matter here.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier;">10 years back, i was gearing up for my first real fixed-axle endurance experiment. one wooden yo-yo for one year. it was a thing. i'll invite you to scroll back to the entries from 2012 at your leisure.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier;">i'm not big on numerology or the importance of anniversaries or anything like that. anytime someone asked me about repeating the 1-fixie-1-year thing, i kind of responded that it was a great experience, but i'd already done it. however, as we approached this year, and as andre, colin and i talked about a possible eH, it became more and more clear that i really did want to go back to the well and throw myself back into a single wooden yo-yo for 2022.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier;">there's lots of "why's".</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1">by nature, i'm someone who is most at home stripping away complexity. i have 300 or so yo-yo's, but deep down, i'd like to be someone with just a handful. (i'm also nostalgic and i attach memories of people, places, and experiences to my yo-yo's, which is why i HAVEN'T gotten rid of them en masse.) </span><span>fixed axle throwing (and what i've come to think of as 0a) is also the most authentic approach to yo-yoing for me. there's no technology or moving parts to hide behind, you get feedback on clean or sloppy technique IMMEDIATELY, everyone from serious throwers, purists, luddites, cats, and kids understand and appreciate it. and even more - hidden within its limitations is an entire universe of creative space.</span></span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjxtKlL9enaHSpqqaWvibLibEskA11bi_TCFBdMHWZKRZa1t_yKH38N6t7OlUaY8e8HPbc19ng-BvjfxIh7qgN2bsZ0hektVgnKCEuwnFDe_3OkMgNnVyC1SyU0W5awrCXbMdeHzjNV3-a5p1bJzGSOZjcL7ZxU4MRCutOrMb-rCZWboDOgwXP_Vlf3Xg=s1994" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1994" data-original-width="1496" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjxtKlL9enaHSpqqaWvibLibEskA11bi_TCFBdMHWZKRZa1t_yKH38N6t7OlUaY8e8HPbc19ng-BvjfxIh7qgN2bsZ0hektVgnKCEuwnFDe_3OkMgNnVyC1SyU0W5awrCXbMdeHzjNV3-a5p1bJzGSOZjcL7ZxU4MRCutOrMb-rCZWboDOgwXP_Vlf3Xg=w177-h235" width="177" /></span></a><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier;">i also want to reflect on and remember the first journey and feel the contrast. even before 2012 i was into throwing fixed hardcore. but a lot of it was about the challenge. i'd hit gyro flops or kamikaze, or else invent new 1a tricks on wood and feel accomplished. but playing with fixed axle's strengths (stalls, regens, stop n go's, flips, balances, early grabs...) all felt really nascent and the implications were just starting to hit me as 2013 approached. this year it will be impossible to ignore the context of the past 10 years - to see the arc (as well as the future) of the weird style my friends and i have tried to establish.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier;">there's also an elephant in the room which it would be easy and less awkward to ignore: spirituality.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier;">fixed axle has become almost a religion for me. (i find it obscene to talk about that stuff because it generally distills to our personal life experience, but it's also really tied to why i've stuck with this). the "state of yo" may have started as a punchline on the smothers brothers, but the experience of being utterly present in play - caught in the space between wanting desperately to hit the trick and being blissfully unaware of it - has changed me over the years. i've spent so much time in that quiet space that i can go there immediately, yo-yo or not. when i'm really playing, i fall away and drop a lot of the bullshit to which i often cling. i want to know more about that state and that dichotomy, and i access it easiest with a wood yo-yo in my hand.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier;">i promise i'm not trying to evangelize anyone. if i felt the universe unlock while i was baking artisanal bread or stacking rocks on the edge of a river, then that's what i'd be doing for 2022. so i guess partly i'm doing this to realize (or remember) just WHY i'm a yo-yo player.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier;">the deHcade turned out great. it imbues and synthesizes SO many qualities of the various releases we've done these past 10 years, and yet it's also a brand new thing. new width, new diameter, new crazy response groove... and yet the same old wonderful feeling. All the eH's have had a certain curve on the shoulder which has just felt perfect. i don't know what kinda voodoo colin's got, but i'm pretty sure he could whittle that inner rim to hub from memory by now. it's s a strange and sacred line.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjz36imbYNQV1p_oltlioovpYBKf1PuU9qXA8BLANlNIbu_5I703JnhuIrhXv3n8wmoSV49DSd9EC-fxBU0eWurJNZdPSL1mUIrsQ-8bVaqMYAWlHIFzhof0iELORQXGy8NVuIKGfi8z8b2X0jBNZvfn-KDNqbcUuMTk9vkzi74-uWMza6W94sh3SKTgw=s2706" style="clear: right; display: inline; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2030" data-original-width="2706" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjz36imbYNQV1p_oltlioovpYBKf1PuU9qXA8BLANlNIbu_5I703JnhuIrhXv3n8wmoSV49DSd9EC-fxBU0eWurJNZdPSL1mUIrsQ-8bVaqMYAWlHIFzhof0iELORQXGy8NVuIKGfi8z8b2X0jBNZvfn-KDNqbcUuMTk9vkzi74-uWMza6W94sh3SKTgw=w248-h186" width="248" /></span></a><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier;">so yeah. 1 year with this yo-yo. starting in like a week.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier;">my dad asked if i was going to try to throw all my other yo-yo's in advance. not really. i'll toss a few. kind of a goodbye. kind of a high five. and then i'll put all of em into my IKEA display rack, lock it, and hand my 13 year-old the key to hide until 12/31/22. it's one day at a time until then. one throw at a time. but newsflash: it's only ever one throw at a time. each throw its own strange eternity.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.7px;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: courier;">thanks for reading.</span></p>kinopahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07212741027510296294noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850474856542382446.post-69449567564364075262019-06-20T11:14:00.001-04:002020-10-20T12:18:07.149-04:000a<style type="text/css">
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">ups & downs, throws & catches, stops & go’s, sleepers & stalls...<br />
a responsive yo-yo player lives in the state between stillness & motion. in the space between wood & cotton. in a paradox; a contradiction.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span class="s1">our tricks transcend clicks - adding up to zero, and yet invaluable. </span><span class="s1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">occupying ephemeral moments, which we give our complete attention...<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">then immediately forget.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">we become the tricks, the infinite instants - perpetually born, dying, regenerating... we sit within the turning wheel; at the serene center of a spinning universe.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">in learning how to make the perfect yo-yo, we forget why. in learning to win, we forget to play. our throws become prayers for return… to low fi & no jive.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">butterfly & imperial, retro & modern, simple & technical, a tribe & individuals...<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">our lives are shoved around, buffeted by dualities. we throw, losing track of where down ends </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">& up begins.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNV3m4fvERXmuAjpaMEefaJvNo008XuUAG_W_XYt7GhlZPTx8br1ZKdDGrOIcEhfZAOHDkliz2MMq6FoMvmGJdHdGehbejVyiLjWbWYGJTiWakxHjwXxfLcL5VPkuY2p_wHAo_aQ9SMWbd/s1600/0aSpaceship.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="929" data-original-width="953" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNV3m4fvERXmuAjpaMEefaJvNo008XuUAG_W_XYt7GhlZPTx8br1ZKdDGrOIcEhfZAOHDkliz2MMq6FoMvmGJdHdGehbejVyiLjWbWYGJTiWakxHjwXxfLcL5VPkuY2p_wHAo_aQ9SMWbd/s320/0aSpaceship.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">*i wrote the original version of the somewhat self-serious, overly-poetic, manifesto-esque text above for doc pop's "stringburn" zine. i still like it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">0a was once casually used to describe "1-handed looping tricks" - the province of yo-yo novices before being initiated into the arts of 1a (string tricks), 2a (2-handed looping), or the a's beyond. over the last few years, the fixed axle and light responsive yo-yo's which once lent themselves to basic, foundational tricks have become the vehicles for a modern responsive renaissance. stalls, regens, stop n' go's, kickflips, and shoot-the-moons are being synthesized into an updated trick lexicon - a new take on old hardware. individual craftspeople and established companies are contributing new yo-yo designs optimized for tricks which have no hope of winning formal contests. in light of these developments, the combined modern responsive and fixed-axle style is taking back 0a - not as a contest designation, but as a counterpoint or counterbalance. throwing yo-yo with the only goal being goallessness. discovering weird trick ideas just because they're there, with zero to gain from them but enjoyment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">don't get me wrong, i love watching my friends crush routines on stage and get rewarded with trophies and medals. i love 1a. i love all the a's. i've just got no a's to give. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">i'm lucky to have been made to feel successful in yo-yoing without ever being any good at what's... uh… good. the best content i've come up with has either been done on antiquated, vibey, concrete-chewed wooden throws or else on modern 1a ones i've obstinately treated as the same. players like me need a style built upon a joke - one which can handle being simultaneously cosmic and comical. one built on the tradition of kids messing around with silly tricks on schoolyards, which resists being judged (unless by friends, and with shoes). a style which works as a way of play AND a way of life - seeking the State of Yo in the same way old skaters searched for Chin. i don't know whether 0a can feel this way forever, but i'm grateful for what's it's been and what it’s become; for the players whose shoulders it stands on, and the ones who keep it alive.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">plus, bryan figueroa made a sweet spaceshippy 0a icon, so now we have to have a style...</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5VOywofb0LwrIDIfUXeSggbvyn6LG7k6fKtYwoIAcLsUXyxFTqa2HH0pvDWfk3SDxlTvgYf1pbpZCyKj9XBsHtX0YCKOEIOHPmXPlAbILQbP0Al2D90JjYORRaZLDuEMdaXu4PIGbTyzy/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-06-20+at+11.01.42+AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1145" data-original-width="1189" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5VOywofb0LwrIDIfUXeSggbvyn6LG7k6fKtYwoIAcLsUXyxFTqa2HH0pvDWfk3SDxlTvgYf1pbpZCyKj9XBsHtX0YCKOEIOHPmXPlAbILQbP0Al2D90JjYORRaZLDuEMdaXu4PIGbTyzy/s320/Screen+Shot+2019-06-20+at+11.01.42+AM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvxhMhj68I7NB6RvKr1La8zzuw8jxcFzjpGIl-yC1NQSv1LIfQIX1GLejQBGQf6z1dGPgsAIvYXnEum0rvrwNks4m2fESkYhfEuA6EJ5P200PYNdf8JmQxO5rqYJ8TeU0kOVBu37dR6M8m/s1600/P4221869.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvxhMhj68I7NB6RvKr1La8zzuw8jxcFzjpGIl-yC1NQSv1LIfQIX1GLejQBGQf6z1dGPgsAIvYXnEum0rvrwNks4m2fESkYhfEuA6EJ5P200PYNdf8JmQxO5rqYJ8TeU0kOVBu37dR6M8m/s1600/P4221869.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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100 yo-yo's! yay!<br />
i'll grant you it's really a totally arbitrary milestone AND several of these posts have embedded two or even three yo-yo's at a time, but whatever... clearly, i'll accept any opportunity to feel psyched up about myself.<br />
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actually though, this IS a significant one for me. i <a href="http://kinopah.blogspot.com/2008/12/yo-yo-1-no-jive.html" target="_blank">began this blog</a> with my first tom kuhn 3-in-1 no jive yo-yo, and though i've gone through so many other amazing pieces which have inhabited my collection, that really still is the most important one. it doesn't do anything special, it's a little beat and honestly, it's kind of hard to make it do "cool stuff". regardless, it happened to be the yo-yo i was throwing when i began to fall into my own style (whatever that is).<br />
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i really fell in love with the unembellished simplicity and modesty of the no jive from the first throw. and since then i've worked on and off to put my own stamp on it (both metaphorically and now, physically). i've tried to hit some hard stuff on it. i've tried to come up with some new moves that work BECAUSE of its limitations, rather than in spite of them. and i've accumulated a pretty staggering collection of no jive variations (my wife would probably call it pathological). this one makes 75.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixDvshLqwCPdytcCetNuMua3fUdjK7uRDBvs3A9nJ61L_neEZWjpZ5IcKEL1rLAKDo7DFS8XU06i4hFVwlRdf9SxsgzzLw2NOV1aDQCd-hmSdewZ-KPm9YBX3ITeDtjJVgBuVBa1tvjSEk/s1600/P4211858.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixDvshLqwCPdytcCetNuMua3fUdjK7uRDBvs3A9nJ61L_neEZWjpZ5IcKEL1rLAKDo7DFS8XU06i4hFVwlRdf9SxsgzzLw2NOV1aDQCd-hmSdewZ-KPm9YBX3ITeDtjJVgBuVBa1tvjSEk/s1600/P4211858.JPG" height="200" width="112" /></a>for anyone who gets excited about yo-yoing, there will have been that one model which you just see as "classic". typically, it'll be one of the first models of which you were aware - maybe the imperial you first saw at toys r us or the dark magic you saw in the video which first got you hooked. regardless of its specifics, it becomes the central icon around which you build an understanding of what yo-yo's are and what they are for. that's how i feel about the no jive. though it wasn't the first i owned, i think of it as the penultimate "simple" yo-yo; the best thing we collectively came up with before yo-yo's (and yo-yoing) got complicated. mind you, i have no problem with complicated - some of my tricks are pretty complicated. but i've always had this need to stay tethered (so to speak) to the idea that yo-yo's are basically toys - meant for fun. rancid milk is genius in its obfuscating angular geometry, but so is shoot the moon in its carefree simplicity.<br />
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when i learned that i could go ahead with the idea to make a small run of personalized no jives, i really wanted it to be something that would fit with what i loved about the yo-yo from the start. in 2012 i did a video i called <a href="http://vimeo.com/54041987" target="_blank">"play simply"</a> to commemorate the end of my year of playing only the spyy "eh", the title of which was adapted from the patagonia slogan "live simply" (patagonia was cool with it and even threw the video up on their website). i used to have an aikido instructor who insisted that "simple doesn't mean easy". at the time, the distinction was lost on me, but now that i'm older i come back to it often.<br />
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alot of the hardest things i've ever done (with yo-yo's or without) have been fundamentally simple and clear. there isn't really too much technique involved in dropping into a bowl or overhead wave, playing through a lead sheet, or blasting through an attack with irimi-nage. with each of those, the key is to commit and be present. 360 flips are great, but i've met a lot of guys who have have them dialed and won't drop in on 8ft. similarly, would anyone argue that charlie parker's "ornithology" more meaningful than miles' "flamenco sketches" because it's got more notes? with love to bird (who could also play slow, i know), sometimes i wonder whether the function of complex technicality is to distract from the fact that we're conditioned not to see the value in the simple stuff. it shouldn't be surprising. our culture is imbued with the olympian mentality of "faster, higher, stronger" (by which we've really just come to mean "more"). and though that attitude has taken us to the moon and bought us many wonderful appliances, we've paid for it with, among other things, sunsets devoid of contrails and the time necessary to appreciate them.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4GVrFXtcylX3SQKendZpJkmvothPaVDLbeF7_ZKO5cxw_QJqB1T4HhRja6Kre6528y41CZ1SAQFkA2hWpB1rDvoFEJskjlRzAQ63mJ-quwuWEzrqKPrG6kApvbryfpT7zMQEYbVequ1ev/s1600/EHnoJive_FINAL.tif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4GVrFXtcylX3SQKendZpJkmvothPaVDLbeF7_ZKO5cxw_QJqB1T4HhRja6Kre6528y41CZ1SAQFkA2hWpB1rDvoFEJskjlRzAQ63mJ-quwuWEzrqKPrG6kApvbryfpT7zMQEYbVequ1ev/s1600/EHnoJive_FINAL.tif" height="200" width="200" /></a>this past xmas, my dad gave me a cool little gift - a wooden yo-yo from yosemite featuring an engraved image of the park icon "half-dome". yosemite has got to be my folks' favorite place under the sun, and the yo-yo was given to suggest it as a destination for an upcoming family trip. personally, i just really liked the natural scene on a wooden yo-yo, and a week or two later i had a vague idea of what i wanted on the no jive. i sketched out an embarrassingly bad concept on what was basically a napkin, and it was immediately clear that i did not have the skill-set necessary to bring this to life. so i did what anyone needing some sweet art for a yo-yo would do - i hit up my pal jason week!<br />
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after some back and forth, jason took my shoddily-conceived idea and made it legitimately special. he include<span style="text-align: center;">d nuances i would never have thought of, like taking an actual profile of me playing from my instagram and incorporating a palm tree as a nod to the traditional carvings of yo-yoing's past. he kept the semi-circle motif that calls to mind the original no jive logo and made the suns rays look less like a citrus cross-section and more like the old starburst mandalas. he took my crappy attempt at a breaking wave and made it look at once like a little a-frame i'd like to surf AND a tiny version of the hokusai wave on my arm. even the no jive lettering on the sand evokes the original classic font. tl;dr: jason week is amazing, and he took this from being a pipe dream of mine to being one of the raddest looking yo-yo's i've ever seen.</span><br />
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despite all i say on here, i do tend to overcomplicated things - thoughts, processes, motivations - to the end that i become very inefficient, confused, and forgetful. i get caught in cycles worrying about the silliest minutia while neglecting the fact that it's a beautiful day or forgetting to put on pants. i spent a lot of my early life trying really hard to be good at specific things, and placed virtuosity above what is fundamental. as i get older, i'm starting to feel at home with the basics, and their importance is more apparent. after playing mostly fixed axle for almost a decade, i think i'm starting to get a pretty decent throw. i'm starting to get a sense for what the yo-yo will and won't allow me to get away with. most importantly, i'm starting to understand my own thought processes while i'm playing.<br />
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since i first met it, throwing the no jive has helped keep me grounded. i can't hit anything on it without giving my full attention to the moment. i love that it comes from maple trees like i've got in my yard, and that it has exactly one moving part - it. it's nice and quiet, and i can throw at night without bothering anyone. yeah wood has its inconsistencies and that can give you a little vibe, but tuning it up like i do one of my ukes is part of my routine and part of the fun. plus, you know what else has some inconsistencies? me. you know what else has a little vibe? the frickin universe (see post below). embracing those qualities is way more fun than seeking desperately to escape them.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihmeGV6wN19mgFZTCtTI-Cev_yzIVYJLMzgLG60jQ338uPbIXQOeriGcSl_EiwjKbf4HPIsDqxbonx2WYF2Wrv4fpgNIWfxBXVQMstBlrh5gLEHACJ_Um8A88KtYgb64fXRnJnAJ_0kF7V/s1600/P4211866.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihmeGV6wN19mgFZTCtTI-Cev_yzIVYJLMzgLG60jQ338uPbIXQOeriGcSl_EiwjKbf4HPIsDqxbonx2WYF2Wrv4fpgNIWfxBXVQMstBlrh5gLEHACJ_Um8A88KtYgb64fXRnJnAJ_0kF7V/s1600/P4211866.JPG" height="200" width="105" /></a>when i throw wood, i really try to kind of come back to myself - by which i guess i mean that i try to play for the same reasons as before i "learned to play". i try to go outside or on my porch and feel the yo-yo on the string and take joy from it. i try to let go of the distinction between me and the yo-yo. or the breeze. or the rain. maybe i do hard stuff or maybe i do easy stuff, but i try to keep my mindset clear, and though there's no fear of a concussion like there is at the top of a skate ramp, i try to commit and give myself to a moment in the same way. when you've been playing awhile and made connections with other players, it's hard not to tack something onto your playing; experiences you've had, tricks that have given you trouble, people you miss, times when you've felt profoundly successful or unsuccessful. i cherish yo-yoing, and the feelings and memories i associate with it, and though i don't seek to forget that stuff when i'm playing... i do try NOT to hang on to it, which, for me, is what the phrase "no jive" has come to mean.<br />
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thanks again for reading any of these blog entries over the last few years, and i hope you dig this particular yo-yo. if so, i have a few of them, and you can get one here: <a href="http://edhaponik.bigcartel.com/">http://edhaponik.bigcartel.com/</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixDvshLqwCPdytcCetNuMua3fUdjK7uRDBvs3A9nJ61L_neEZWjpZ5IcKEL1rLAKDo7DFS8XU06i4hFVwlRdf9SxsgzzLw2NOV1aDQCd-hmSdewZ-KPm9YBX3ITeDtjJVgBuVBa1tvjSEk/s1600/P4211858.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></a>kinopahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07212741027510296294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850474856542382446.post-73229602727778347942014-01-27T16:27:00.000-05:002014-01-27T16:27:30.113-05:00yo-yo #99: anti-yo fluchs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGkn7FrV-KJGDXdM_BFGUPVbbsj5akqMndOWKODeBaCjfawym1BjYqmXpiMtFkAugnVQDxUZPxiFfXV_Ay4mZokDJduWhIul7kW8lltPBRZQ9T19Vu6LWeduIAsBBBC1dQwt2Sno13Fcq7/s1600/P1271220.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGkn7FrV-KJGDXdM_BFGUPVbbsj5akqMndOWKODeBaCjfawym1BjYqmXpiMtFkAugnVQDxUZPxiFfXV_Ay4mZokDJduWhIul7kW8lltPBRZQ9T19Vu6LWeduIAsBBBC1dQwt2Sno13Fcq7/s1600/P1271220.jpg" height="320" width="297" /></a></div>
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if you could reach deep into your brain, among all of the thousands of words you've collected during your life as a verbal, literate (i'm assuming here) human being, which one word would you most WISH described your playing.<br />
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you don't have to answer that. it's the same for almost everybody. and due to its universal application to both awesome yo-yoers and awesome yo-yo's, it is probably in the top 10 most frequently-bandied words used on any given yo-yo forum. the word, of course, is smooth.<br />
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some people want to play fast like mickey. some people want to play slow and stylish like jon rob. but everybody wants to be smooth. and everybody wants a smooth yo-yo, which is made complicated by the fact that almost nobody agrees on what that really means. i've said before that i want my playing to reflect the universe in which it happens. well, matter (and maybe existence, itself) is pretty much composed of vibration. even an inert yo-yo sitting on a table is crackling with vitality; the atoms, electrons, quarks, muons and gluons which compose it chasing each other around in a frenetic, chaotic, and somehow symmetric dance. the tiny world inside a yo-yo may really be just as random, weird and UN-smooth as our own macroscopic lives, but it's all relative i guess (yuk yuk).<br />
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just a few years ago, the community saw even expensive luxury metals released which would earn that ultimate death-knell moniker in forum reviews: wobble. this yo-yo, the anti-yo fluchs, was cursed with such a label (at least by some), which went on to haunt its creators, sonny patrick and kiya babzani for years. the fluchs was released on christmas, 2004, right around the time i fell back in love with yo-yoing for my 4th (and present) obsessive wave. by the time i was aware of it though, it was sold out, and i didn't actually get to play one for almost a year, when i traded tricks in a durham parking lot with a local player with the user name "creek". even he said the fluchs wobbled, a sentiment echoed throughout the dave's skill toys review page and at extremespin.com. regardless, i was still a month away from receiving my bare bones and g&e2, and this was by far the coolest yo-yo i'd ever played.<br />
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on the anti-yo website, there was a brilliant anecdote describing a western cowboy's conversation with a barkeep about the fluchs's "charles & ray eames influence" and it's unique slip-matte finish. anti-yo was about the coolest yo-yo company that ever was, and the fluchs has maintained a well-deserved cult following, due equally to its story, its aesthetic, and its play.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUAiKEON1qnSNBm9Wks6e_yuJ7DyBw_NmMPCjyKR0mfC3RG7ZWRfs0Pr4ZzDQWy7YrM0u2YdXe6zG5oJgNyeVGcpSGDHpRVmdvFAViSDHQ4A2im2EAZ7tRSSJ7yV6ZOF9_D_ntZ4N-vnBW/s1600/P1271224.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUAiKEON1qnSNBm9Wks6e_yuJ7DyBw_NmMPCjyKR0mfC3RG7ZWRfs0Pr4ZzDQWy7YrM0u2YdXe6zG5oJgNyeVGcpSGDHpRVmdvFAViSDHQ4A2im2EAZ7tRSSJ7yV6ZOF9_D_ntZ4N-vnBW/s1600/P1271224.jpg" height="148" width="200" /></a>i got this particular all-pink one a few years later from nick correa, the modder known as feralparrot, who incidentally invented the "schmoove" mod which was applied to doc pop's version of another anti-yo in yes, absolutely's "the end". (if that sentence makes sense to you, congrats - you're a yo-yoer.) i have it set up with some old red baz pads and a clean half-spec bearing. as you can see, the fluchs featured a super-thick dif-style axle with the bearing coasting right over it. anti-yo applied some white plumbers' tape (basically, sticky caulk) to dampen vibrations since the threaded taps are just a hair too thick for the axle. i've played a few shaky fluchs, but most of them were just great, and this one plays downright awesome. it's quite smooth indeed, but what does that even mean, right?<br />
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<span style="text-align: center;">obviously, most players discern the smoothness of a yo-yo by the amount of disruption they feel. since around 2008 though, when yo-yo bearings and (more importantly) bearing seat design became nearly standardized, we've seen a precipitous drop-off in the number of un-smooth yo-yo's out there. it's almost to the point where new metal yo-yo's hardly need a review; they all mostly play the same. of course there are little variables which still matter (profile, wall, gap, weight distribution), but the quality of play and consistency is in a whole new ballpark compared with when this was released a decade ago.</span><br />
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these days, it's expected for your yo-yo to be the smoothest thing out there, and if you nail it against the cobbled sidewalk, eliciting some untunable vibration... it might be time to shelve that sucker in the case-row reserved as your "yo-yo cemetery".<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1pWM9dGaNNqLZMD25atMekBtiLSuihzyBZ8F_yuL6_tH1b5Dm6aAX5HVvq_M7x7FelZyI5EB18WOtk9IJT1_XDO6QDVIbII4d_aIeKZ5acgFMzC2GOJ_YoxjEq9nMERencC7GXN2PZ_Xm/s1600/P1271223.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></a>i kid. as evidenced by the fact that this is the 99th yo-yo i've mused over, i've played a lot of shaky, wobbly throws. i've come to the conclusion that, unless you are completely inept or incapable of focusing on anything BUT your yo-yo's vibration... it really doesn't matter that much. most PEOPLE are a lot more shaky than the toys they complain about. if you're a good pianist, for example, you can still play a crummy old upright piano. certainly, you won't sound as "good" as you do on your beloved steinway, but what does that mean? maybe it's out of tune... so play it like thelonious monk, seeking out the notes BETWEEN the keys. maybe the bass doesn't carry at all... so play songs which allow you to HAMMER with the left hand. someone who understands how to play, and just as importantly WHAT to play, can direct their tools toward the use for which they are most suited.<br />
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we've all got our preferences, but if you require a "dead-smooth" yo-yo to make your play seem alive... you're doing it wrong.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1pWM9dGaNNqLZMD25atMekBtiLSuihzyBZ8F_yuL6_tH1b5Dm6aAX5HVvq_M7x7FelZyI5EB18WOtk9IJT1_XDO6QDVIbII4d_aIeKZ5acgFMzC2GOJ_YoxjEq9nMERencC7GXN2PZ_Xm/s1600/P1271223.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1pWM9dGaNNqLZMD25atMekBtiLSuihzyBZ8F_yuL6_tH1b5Dm6aAX5HVvq_M7x7FelZyI5EB18WOtk9IJT1_XDO6QDVIbII4d_aIeKZ5acgFMzC2GOJ_YoxjEq9nMERencC7GXN2PZ_Xm/s1600/P1271223.jpg" height="153" width="200" /></a>what will always matter more than how a yo-yo plays is how YOU play it. your yo-yo can stagger and shake like it's undergoing electro-shock therapy, but a good player can make it LOOK as smooth as nickel-plated butter. and playing smooth is easy. you don't even have to agree on what it means. just WATCH the players who you think are smooth and do what they do. talk to them and dig into their understanding, which inevitably informs their playing.<br />
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i always get hyped up after watching sid seed (rodrigo pires), one of the most impossibly smooth throwers alive. he just seems like he was organically grown in some free-range alien farm to be the ultimate yo-yoer. one time i asked him about one of my tricks, and his response was "in a trick like that, don't stop the yo-yo when you want to change its direction". that, to me, sums up sid's playing perfectly. he makes it seem like the yo-yo just WANTS to go where its going. just on its way, holding its little bindle (that folky satchel-on-a-stick thing), a rolling stone blowing in the wind of sid's fancy. similarly, doc pop's "alpha style" was pretty much the beta version for what would become modern "smooth 1a". and the philosophical underpinning of that style was simply to minimize stops and starts; to keep the yo-yo moving.<br />
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after you've tried desperately to emulate the players you find smooth, what should you do? clearly, you should watch the players you would not call smooth and re-evaluate your diagnosis.<br />
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two good examples are john bot and drew tetz, admittedly two more of my favorite players (and dudes). in my opinion, neither of them are particularly smooth in the way most people use the term (at least most of the time). both of them CAN play very smoothly and have certain tricks that highlight that, but they also bounce around a lot. they'll make quick, angular, erratic movements or snatch the yo-yo out of the air. some of their tricks can have a downright sketchy (even spazzy) feel to them, but there's more than one way to be smooth. one thing that always kills me about those two players is how fluidly they move between ideas. look at john's picture trick story-sequences or drew's movements from stall to stall in "crisis". and i'm not talking about the physical movements, but the mental ones. to do those tricks, your brain has to ooze dynamically from mount to mount and hold to hold in a way that is the quintessence of smooth. any interruption and you will overturn that dumptruck, miss that kickflip or drop one of the 8 string segments you're using to build starfox, and the whole idea will collapse. we assume that being smooth means looking smooth, but it means BEING smooth, and those guys are smooth as hell.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixgi4ex2X9e_B9Vhyc6pYemI8KhiLV07JWXuZsNqX8mDvTN-PPT0NE_qnLVWVZ5PbRxZaTOO77RJnXDYU38z5jzXrytQCpA4rQ3CEfUZ6W-545_m1kQ7Tybi_Sy8NGSJyRP7djy_wsPdV3/s1600/P1271226.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixgi4ex2X9e_B9Vhyc6pYemI8KhiLV07JWXuZsNqX8mDvTN-PPT0NE_qnLVWVZ5PbRxZaTOO77RJnXDYU38z5jzXrytQCpA4rQ3CEfUZ6W-545_m1kQ7Tybi_Sy8NGSJyRP7djy_wsPdV3/s1600/P1271226.jpg" height="200" width="154" /></a>you can be smooth outside and smooth inside. you can be smooth in the way you throw a sleeper. in the way you iterate through mechanical repeaters. in the way you catch the yo-yo. you can be smooth in the way you build a trick... or a routine... or an event... or a relationship... or a lifetime.<br />
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to me, being smooth is about continuing on with intention, and APPEARING to be smooth is about communicating that feeling to an audience. our tricks are composed of ideas, and presenting those ideas (to others or just ourselves) so that they flow seamlessly and make sense is the basis for aesthetic yo-yoing in general. sometimes maybe those ideas are meant to be janky and abrupt. other times they will be light and fluid. smoothness is about CARING that the trick will go well and investing in it, but not so much that your mind gets attached and entangled, sacrificing the next integral motion. it's about practicing such that your physical being has learned and forgotten the specifics on where and when to act, and your mental being is always willing to embrace change.<br />
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when you get down to it, smoothness is mostly just yo-yoing in the way you want to yo-yo; which is seated in being comfortable with the good and the bad of who you are, what you are throwing, and why you are playing.<br />
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<br />kinopahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07212741027510296294noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850474856542382446.post-83601548404786002022014-01-26T10:33:00.001-05:002014-01-26T11:25:21.297-05:00yo-yo #98 - alex's personalized el ranchero<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">"emancipate yourself from mental slavery</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">none but ourselves can free our own minds" - bob marley</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">"folks don't even own themselves</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">payin' mental rent to corporate presidents" - public enemy</span><br />
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it's 7:53 on a sunday. i have lived my life in such a way that at 7:53 on a sunday, i am awake, full of coffee and eggo waffles and typing on a computer. the chief culprits in this situation (my kids) are in the next room, zoning out to any one of the half-dozen identical disney channel shows capable of transforming otherwise vibrant 5-15 year-olds into paralyzed drooling zombies.<br />
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it has me thinking about where we direct our attentions in this bizarre modern life we lead.<br />
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you wake up one day and you are 36, and you remember like it was yesterday, shuffling downstairs at 7:53 to watch the tail end of "Gummi Bears" before "Muppet Babies" came on at 8:00 (i'll grant you that would have been on a saturday). and then, presumably, you wake up a 65 year-old and wonder why you ever sat around blogging at 36. and then, i guess you wake up at 84, and you're dead, so you don't wake up at all. our lives are composed of the fruits and waste of our choices, but they are also seasoned with the motivations for those choices - by the strange ways in which we justify our behavior.<br />
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we assume that our behavior belongs to us, but in general, i find that to be the rare exception.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAJ1IqZw3y1JpURF2HX13pJu6A2AYtYD8c6RPtUeg_AIsk4LGwWwmgvq5VLu_PsJ9nlqIcoLyO7G4mSxgu7GT1Q6x9gTwrafUJrbdn7XI0jatb3Q-zPH61nrPETxqAVXLFzWP3WSr06F_Y/s1600/P1261217.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; clear: left; float: left; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAJ1IqZw3y1JpURF2HX13pJu6A2AYtYD8c6RPtUeg_AIsk4LGwWwmgvq5VLu_PsJ9nlqIcoLyO7G4mSxgu7GT1Q6x9gTwrafUJrbdn7XI0jatb3Q-zPH61nrPETxqAVXLFzWP3WSr06F_Y/s1600/P1261217.jpg" height="200" width="113" /></a>a couple of years ago, i wrote myself this little rule:<br />
"<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">15. don't yo-yo with the goal of being admired. don't worry over whether you're 'somebody in the yo-yo community'. be 'somebody in real life' and then be the same person in the yo-yo community.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">"</span><br />
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it sounds so simple, but it's a pretty tall order. i've often said that yo-yoing is significant as an inward exploration, but that it's also a kind of dance; a performance. how can you dance without considering how people react to you?<br />
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the danger is in beginning to change the way you behave so that others will accept you. that's pretty broad and maybe silly, since changing our behavior so as to be accepted is a deeply-ingrained, evolved human trait going back to our first attempts at society. and though our rules have changed somewhat, society (whether we try to define ourselves BY it or AGAINST it) still bosses us around, sending us to one side of our mental/spiritual cage or the other. maybe by recognizing that we're in a cage, we are freed a bit. the matrix has you, neo.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxzqrINvGDFBvcv8bVVLNNfrkoicdsGVQ66TXK4ObVkRdbPFKl7DZxH0dU6Zu9gOp7rcwS2nITvxCrhJs6oYPDVb0OXOCixSSs6zirhzgPUz69fu-92vLeUB3E6iMy2qyJLQdYc47d6INe/s1600/P1261215.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; clear: right; float: right; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></a>these days, i think we've taken it a bit further, and "the middle way" seems to have shrunk down to a treacherous ridge overlooking precipitous drops on either side. do i connect or disconnect? do i identify or ignore? do i affiliate or reject? even within the strange microcosm that is yo-yoing, we coagulate into factions which go to every imaginable length to draw borders between themselves. who can resist this tendency when in the last few decades, humanity has armed itself with impossibly powerful weapons against feeling excluded or alone. enter: facebook, instagram, the disney channel, starbucks... clyw?<br />
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i catch my daughter taking selfies sometimes (read: constantly). i completely understand that this is just something that kids do now. 20 years ago, no kid would want to waste multiple exposures of their precious and limited kodak film on their own visage when they could just look in a dang mirror. when a photo is as inexpensive as a few kilobytes, however, take a hundred. take a THOUSAND. put em online and see how many "likes" you can score. i ask her who she's trying to impress, and she's adamant that it's "no one in particular", and i've seen enough of instagram to realize she is not alone in this strange fixation.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxzqrINvGDFBvcv8bVVLNNfrkoicdsGVQ66TXK4ObVkRdbPFKl7DZxH0dU6Zu9gOp7rcwS2nITvxCrhJs6oYPDVb0OXOCixSSs6zirhzgPUz69fu-92vLeUB3E6iMy2qyJLQdYc47d6INe/s1600/P1261215.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; clear: right; float: right; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></a>i want to laugh derisively at this strange self-obsession, but then i stop and think of #trickcircle. over the past few months, how many hundreds of yo-yo videos have we put out there? i know, personally, i've done a couple per week, lately. and yet how many of my peers' contributions do i actually WATCH? only a few, determined by what i know of the person or if i've heard it's something "special". how many tricks have i seen that have made me say "ok i need to try that NOW"? maybe a half-dozen. i think for the most part, we are obsessively/compulsively sharing, even though as few people pay attention to our tricks as they do to my daughter's selfies. and sure, sharing a trick is a bit different than sharing our face, but is it really? our tricks reflect our ideas and in our community, our ideas reflect our identities... and, by dark proxy, determine our worth.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxzqrINvGDFBvcv8bVVLNNfrkoicdsGVQ66TXK4ObVkRdbPFKl7DZxH0dU6Zu9gOp7rcwS2nITvxCrhJs6oYPDVb0OXOCixSSs6zirhzgPUz69fu-92vLeUB3E6iMy2qyJLQdYc47d6INe/s1600/P1261215.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; clear: right; float: right; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxzqrINvGDFBvcv8bVVLNNfrkoicdsGVQ66TXK4ObVkRdbPFKl7DZxH0dU6Zu9gOp7rcwS2nITvxCrhJs6oYPDVb0OXOCixSSs6zirhzgPUz69fu-92vLeUB3E6iMy2qyJLQdYc47d6INe/s1600/P1261215.jpg" height="185" width="200" /></a>the other day, said daughter was dying a purple streak in her hair, and i documented the moment with an iphone snapshot. almost immediately, my 5 year-old son commented "you HAVE to post that on instagram"... 5 years old. it was a wake-up kind of moment. is my kid really being taught that the only value in a moment is its "sharability"? is he already parsing the frames of his own existence to subconsciously search for marketable moments? it was as though we had momentarily stumbled upon a rich vein in a mine, and his first impulse was to sell the gold rather than just appreciate its glow. it kinda shook me, not just because my 5 year-old had that impulse, but because before he said it, i was thinking the same exact thing. we sell our moments and we sell our tricks. we get paid in likes, and it makes us feel significant.<br />
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it makes me want to throw my phone away in revulsion, but that's a knee-jerk reaction, and i know that there must be a way to find balance on that narrow ledge. when we look at the parts of our life that are sharable or salable, we are effectively ceasing to live in these moments and instead paying with them as a kind of existential currency. but to whom?<br />
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pretty much all of our choices in this world represent a kind of payment these days. 300 years ago, you paid a tithe to the church, and today you pay it to starbucks. the latte's are probably tastier, i'll grant you, and there's much less chanting in latin (grande, venti, trenta...). we pay with our time and we pay with our money, and what we get out of the exchange is our own sense of identity. we buy a pair of retro vans so we can be "that guy who wears retro vans - maybe he cares about skateboarding's roots". we buy the nice selvedge jeans to be "the guy who cares about denim craftsmanship". we buy the sweet new Puffin 2 yo-yo to be "the guy with the super-exclusive bip-bop colorway yo-yo" (and to be cool like palli, let's face it). in reality, no one cares about these discrete choices as much as we do. WE become the world perceiving ourselves. we are paying ourselves to like ourselves through a revolving door of middle-men.<br />
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we identify and associate, and as noted, that tendency is as old as humanity itself. the only difference is that the tribes have turned into brands, and the brands have become glossier and more consolidated. the question it raises, to me, is "who am i underneath all of my choices; my collection of affiliations?"<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDZkL5fkDzQImNgZzgix84GpZLXVIuiL5mFbc_FJhzvAJDKh1Y7s4sf_6sMd816f0uxL8_ccPJdl1jsAYk03dHW0jQsjn0qXYtyM1P4AZg8_JAbvIUkfu9LavvirOsQlklBaQXTXCn7Wll/s1600/P1261216.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; clear: left; float: left; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDZkL5fkDzQImNgZzgix84GpZLXVIuiL5mFbc_FJhzvAJDKh1Y7s4sf_6sMd816f0uxL8_ccPJdl1jsAYk03dHW0jQsjn0qXYtyM1P4AZg8_JAbvIUkfu9LavvirOsQlklBaQXTXCn7Wll/s1600/P1261216.jpg" height="162" width="200" /></a>i gave this yo-yo to alex last year. it's an "el ranchero", one of the last models SPYY put out before steve gave up the ghost. originally, it was a cool dark-bronze proto, devoid of any markings. since steve had once made a couple of special pink ronins for my daughter, i asked if i could send this one back to him to be lasered specially for my son. it's pretty funny, because i was super amped on giving it to him, but when he opened it, he was like "oh cool. a yo-yo with my name... next." he's not really jaded, but in our house, yo-yo's are everywhere, and so they aren't really special to him. someday later on, maybe he'll realize "oh man... this was a SPECIAL yo-yo" or maybe he won't. i kind of want to protect the part of him that is oblivious to what distinguishes an everyday toy from the icons of art and craft over which we "serious" players get our collective panties in a bunch. i want to protect the part of him that doesn't care what brand of t-shirt or jacket he wears, how his hair looks, or how he is perceived by a world which he will come to believe cares more deeply about him than could ever be realistic.<br />
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incidentally, my kids are still watching the disney channel (i'm a fast typist). during this time, the disney channel owns them. they are letting it happen and i am letting it happen, too. the best i can do is try to teach them that they are going to be owned sometimes (or at the very least, rented), and that everyone has to deal with that as they can. within that, hopefully i can make it clear to them that their choices have consequences; that often the most trivial, unnoticed, and reflexive are the ones that have the greatest impact in determining who they will become... that the cage isn't so terrible a thing if you're aware of yourself within it.<br />
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<br />kinopahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07212741027510296294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850474856542382446.post-46123234672549803932014-01-18T15:33:00.001-05:002014-01-18T15:33:44.585-05:00yo-yo #97: silver minute<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLWsoArAAFlFVPrXXyJI2VwD27PDXrCG1iL9MPgNLJkQHDg42GZ9fEfwXQ2pPsZl-bU7y58VxNU58Sd-DiA5-s4zJYtTdCUR3WXEFXsw3L4JhXRzLR_fjom-bGvZ_ppCgYHRnyWLiTHbf8/s1600/PC041191.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLWsoArAAFlFVPrXXyJI2VwD27PDXrCG1iL9MPgNLJkQHDg42GZ9fEfwXQ2pPsZl-bU7y58VxNU58Sd-DiA5-s4zJYtTdCUR3WXEFXsw3L4JhXRzLR_fjom-bGvZ_ppCgYHRnyWLiTHbf8/s1600/PC041191.JPG" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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happy new year! woohoo! it's hard to believe that 365 days ago i was still just shaking the rust off after spending my year with the 'eh'. actually i'm still kind of doing that. fortunately, the rust kind of suits me.<br />
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i haven't done much with the blog since then, i know. i've definitely picked up some cool yo-yo's and have imbued others with interesting experiences, so i should have no excuse moving forward. sometimes it's tough to look at a blank page though.<br />
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so among the interesting things that happened to me in 2013 were the disintegration of spyy, and my subsequent invitation to join the werrd alliance. i gotta say, after steve emailed the team to say 'i really can't keep doing this', i did not at all see myself joining another yo-yo team. when stu asked, however, it really felt like a good fit. i've been keen on their yo-yo's since trying the first tfl's in 07, and stu is always trying to nudge werrd toward being more of a lifestyle brand than just a yo-yo company.<br />
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i can get into that, because yo-yoing is kind of a lifestyle thing. what we've built is as much a way of life as it is a distraction. yo-yoing can speak volumes to the meaning behind being alone. it is fundamentally an introspective and self-sustaining endeavor, and it always will be. if chess is considered "the battlefield of the mind", then yo-yoing is like yoga. even if we play in a fairly sedentary way, our brains are twisting and stretching through the minefields of string geometry we devise. and yet, yo-yo is also a performance, inextricably tied to the aesthetic of dance. just try to play "introspectively" at a theme park or shopping mall. if you're any good at all, you'll draw an accidental crowd which will wonder why you don't have your hat out.<br />
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as crazy as it feels to say it, yo-yoing is something that can give your life meaning. when in line at the dmv or slogging through paperwork, i'll catch myself doing familiar tricks in my head, and the upbeat, carefree feeling endemic to the act gives me a lift. it's a rad enough deal that when i get dressed, i pick shirts that will contrast with my yo-yo and string. and it's something that many of us value enough to travel for, sometimes for days (or weeks). it's a part of our lives in which we all seek to improve in some way, and which we hope in turn, will somehow improve US.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIn7x_yVoG2BUhUeNHrz6o3HEuHKL6gR841Vgufd0nuyuvPyVcoQwOlugWEwT_nZFLcBhaY8a5EYO2YxSNN3TJu6Ah7lDk1evBVm5BmfZdjAPyZ5cK6KY1ZsYKymAaVD2RMeXN-6YCDOV_/s1600/P1181197.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIn7x_yVoG2BUhUeNHrz6o3HEuHKL6gR841Vgufd0nuyuvPyVcoQwOlugWEwT_nZFLcBhaY8a5EYO2YxSNN3TJu6Ah7lDk1evBVm5BmfZdjAPyZ5cK6KY1ZsYKymAaVD2RMeXN-6YCDOV_/s1600/P1181197.JPG" height="115" width="200" /></a>on that topic, i was perusing the newest issue of surfing magazine the other day, and i came upon a pretty cool little article which i felt was relevant to this new year's offering. i've often drawn comparisons between yo-yoing and surfing (also skating, martial arts, music, madagascar hissing cockroaches, and pretty much whatever else), and this set of surfing resolutions resonated with me. here they are reimagined as yo-yoing resolutions (don't worry - there aren't 66 of them and none of them has to do with giving up bearings). i figure it's still january - not too late. anyway, here are some resolutions i'm feeling out.<br />
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<ol>
<li><b>loosen up</b>: you know the guy who yells "f--k!" if he gets a snag? the guy who doesn't talk to anyone at contests and gives his fellow competitors the stinkeye? the guy who, even after making his way out of the craziest, smoothest combo has a frown on his face like he just got kicked in the balls? don't be that guy. (side resolution: stop assuming that all yo-yoers ARE GUYS.)</li>
<li><b>dial in your equipment</b>: if after a month, you're still getting used to that new yo-yo's profile, cut your losses and sell it. if you've got a dinged up beater that you never play, sand that sucker down and give it to the kid down the street. this year, you're going to shed that dead weight, not in the name of fashion or fads, but because you really don't need more than a few great throws that fit your style perfectly. you need what you need to play like yourself. the rest weighs you down.</li>
<li><b>throw at least 4 times a week</b>: if you don't have kids, make it 5. true story: the last calendar day on which i did NOT throw was may 21, 2005. i find i just don't have a good reason not to. too busy? for a few flowy combos or a couple shoot-the-moons? c'mon. remember you're a better version of yourself after you've thrown, and it should take no more convincing than that to get that slipknot on your finger. make time.</li>
<li><b>go big</b>: like conde, right? nobody ever made real progress without testing their assumptions; without pushing the limits of what they thought was possible. you can do more with this little retro-winding double-knobbed toy than anyone has EVER done. on some level, you have to believe that. doubt is essential because it keeps your mind questioning, but it's also an anchor you should perpetually try to shake off. try tricks that people would assume are a waste of time and energy; tricks that defy something you assume is beyond what the world (or your skill) will allow. visualize what you'd like to do with a yo-yo... and then do it.</li>
<li><b>break away from the crowd</b>: this can be taken literally as well as figuratively. some of my favorite memories are of swimming alone at the rosen (r.i.p.) early in the morning while most throwers are passed out (or at the tail end of a bender). the circus taught us that crowds attract crowds, and it's awesome to yo-yo with your buddies, some of whom you might not get to see but a few times a year. but you've got to get that space, too, lest you fall into the trap of tying your own play onto somebody else. stylistically, you need room to breathe. take some time away from the internet, away from videos and #trickcircle and see where you go.</li>
<li><b>throw everywhere: </b>this one i made up. in the surfing article, #6 was "surf a wave that should not be surfed", but that doesn't apply easily to yo-yoing. although it kind of does. any surfer with even a shred of sanity will tell you they're afraid to surf big pipeline, but what are yoyoer's afraid of? non-yoyoers. i'm always surprised to hear how many players hate to throw in public, mostly because they don't like the idea of interacting with people who might give them a hard time. yo-yoing, however, is an outward expression as it is an inward exploration. if you can't walk that middle path, you're missing out. also, this is meant to suggest playing where there are NO people - throw on the tops of mountains, on tiny islands, in empty hallways, and on forest trails. for me, yo-yoing is a way of processing a moment; a momentary fist-bump with reality. don't hesitate to do it anywhere.</li>
</ol>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOuwBSSEAiuC4wG3XqseTHEEdJFQbaP8J7xkmly_6hSw0fPz-YzFboX3d2-Npq7Y8ZzgTlFWt1MMGPIUUaB3THCGs5pY7iR0YVASnucJLZU3ypgdtqIdsQ8TQ2IDOZu-PxvWTM-Pi8HZvi/s1600/photo+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOuwBSSEAiuC4wG3XqseTHEEdJFQbaP8J7xkmly_6hSw0fPz-YzFboX3d2-Npq7Y8ZzgTlFWt1MMGPIUUaB3THCGs5pY7iR0YVASnucJLZU3ypgdtqIdsQ8TQ2IDOZu-PxvWTM-Pi8HZvi/s1600/photo+1.JPG" height="200" width="200" /></a>this is one of the first yo-yo's i got from werrd. it's a silver minute which in the course of my everyday play has been banged off of essentially all of the non-actinide elemenmts (not boron, but whatever). it bears some scars, but still plays totally true. i tossed one of the ctx bearings in there, and it's become my go-to modern yo-yo. when it's not on my finger, it's dangling the descender strap i got from bryan figtree. it's my every-day weapon against my own laziness, creative ennui, and tentative assumptions.<br />
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happy new year, everybody! i hope however you choose to do it, that playing yo-yoing enriches your life as immeasurably as it has mine.<br />
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kinopahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07212741027510296294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850474856542382446.post-50579375565729318302013-09-14T22:49:00.001-04:002013-09-14T22:58:50.244-04:00yo-yo #96: mini-motu<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjXQlqCXr0Rzq0LTzBLt0x0rRmKLKvfrRaDF3iE8NftsblPb9Ah3UD1_pD1ZZC_bMpHV4-YDdRF6QwDteB69l2-EMivVNzHuTJ-niNnUaruSaL_ndxCOXnyH6u5UXRtWY_0jxo1Hg5PC-E/s1600/P9071003.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjXQlqCXr0Rzq0LTzBLt0x0rRmKLKvfrRaDF3iE8NftsblPb9Ah3UD1_pD1ZZC_bMpHV4-YDdRF6QwDteB69l2-EMivVNzHuTJ-niNnUaruSaL_ndxCOXnyH6u5UXRtWY_0jxo1Hg5PC-E/s320/P9071003.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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many of the most generous people i've had the pleasure to meet have been yo-yo players. it's pretty remarkable and, i think, one of the aspects of this hobby which has kept me hanging on for all these years. the tricks are rad and the toys are (often) shiny, but the people are the best. my friend (and now, teammate - whoa!) jacob jensen gave me this yo-yo as a gift.<br />
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the longer i play yo-yo, the more frequently i find i am assailed by fits of nostalgia. some days, i want more than anything to throw the purple fireball i used as a camp counselor trying desperately to relate to my boom-era charges. on others, i just have to channel the west coast sector_y revolution and nail yellow airplanes or pure 143 on my royal blue renegade. a few weeks ago though, i was aching for the inimitable feeling of my first "intentionally unresponsive" yo-yo, the yoyojam mini-motu.<br />
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by early 2005, i was really still beginning. i had played plenty of yo-yo, but i had never been "good", and the only unresponsive yo-yoing i was doing was the result of my stickers wearing out or bearings breaking in. i knew how to bind ok (actually i had first learned that on my thp raider years before), and i understood that playing a yo-yo that didn't snag offered some significant knuckle-saving benefits. however, i had yet to cave and buy one of the yo-yo's (mainly consisting of yoyojams, buzz-ons, and the prohibitively unattainable dif-e-yo's/oxys/hspins) which were clearly designed with low response in mind.<br />
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i'm not sure newer players understand the degree to which the yo-yo landscape has changed from year to year. guys like johnnie were changing everything through unresponsive play in the early 2000's, but it took time (years) for yo-yo's to start coming unresponsive out of the box. the wild success of the boutique market between 2005-2007 (bare bones, radian, peak, pyro...) really accelerated this phenomenon, but as of 2005, it was still tough to find a yo-yo for which you would need a bind right off the bat. and by the spring of that year, i was hot for one.<br />
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i drove up to rhode island to visit family and (i think) attend a wedding. as i made the 12+ hour drive, however, i developed a clandestine, yo-yo-based plan. one of the few brick & mortar stores of which i was aware was located just an hour from my maternal grandparents. surely, i could sneak away for a bit to check it out! andre boulay, yoyojam team captain and the wizard behind mastermagic.net (the precursor to yoyoexpert.com) was based nearby, and the local toy/science store, A2Z, was rumored to have most of the company's models in stock. <br />
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my uncle insisted on making the drive out with me. i think he found it perplexing that i, a 20-something dad, would be willing to drive an hour to visit some shop because they sold... nice yo-yo's. the store turned out to be like so many small independent toy shops - totally jammed with product. a nice older dude, whom i later learned was the store's owner, jack finn (a yo-yo icon in his own right) was psyched to hear that i was looking to talk shop. [returning to yo-yoers' generosity,] i was amazed by how much of his own time he was willing to give up, going over the minute details differentiating each model.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv98cfabYZSXwth2WiA0-C9KMsD1YmL5i81LFRzyLJqqozkcFDm-J6YxfwPOc4t-40_9_apjl0QwLpr2uGF68y00tR6Ldah5rYVfuqYwKJlwNQOh49Ytz_PVaUuTTQ_VwXKjfjfmeHXoYi/s1600/P9071002.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv98cfabYZSXwth2WiA0-C9KMsD1YmL5i81LFRzyLJqqozkcFDm-J6YxfwPOc4t-40_9_apjl0QwLpr2uGF68y00tR6Ldah5rYVfuqYwKJlwNQOh49Ytz_PVaUuTTQ_VwXKjfjfmeHXoYi/s200/P9071002.JPG" width="193" /></a>he was more than willing to let me try everything. i probably spent an hour (yet again, totally perplexing my uncle) sampling every yoyojam available, including the record-setting, fixed-axle DJ, which appealed to my purist sensibilities but would have been a terrible choice. although jack produced and let me try what i think was a sweet prototype of the spinfaktor hg, the 3 i ended up deciding between were andre's dark magic, johnnie's hitman, and the diminutive mini-motu.<br />
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all of these had [fundamentally] similar guts, and all required my sketchy binding skills. this was the era when yyj's still had beefy o-rings and needed thick cardboard or metal shims to reach true dead-unresponsiveness, but those huge size-C bearings would break in within a few hours, putting you in the weird snag-zone common to tight gap/dry bearing setups. most serious players would either shave the o-rings with a razor. the high art of filling grooves with flowable silicone was only beginning to take root (thanks in part to doc pop's great "how to mod a bolt" instructions).<br />
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i ended up selecting the mini-motu because it was the most understated, not only in terms of size, but also its graphics and the color that was available (white). even the rims had a slightly more authentic, almost gun-metal sheen which contrasted with the shiny aluminum of the other models. upon getting my new yo-yo back to my grandmas, i was immediately vexed by a sudden and apparently total loss of response. the motu had gone narcoleptic in the blink of an eye. though i was prepared for this eventuality (expecting it over, say, a week or two), i had not banked on it going so abruptly from light tug-response to absolute rock-on-stringness.<br />
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above all other tricks, i was, at this time, desperate to have a yo-yo with which to emulate andre's thumb grinds. so, i tried to remove the caps that very night. i tried suction cups, duct tape, and even a cockamamie forum suggestion involving putting the yo-yo in the freezer in the effort to get the rims to compress. nothing worked, and in the end i had to extract them surgically (i think with my aunt's steak knife), ruining the first of many yoyojam caps in the process.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh6z6wQ_X4emFllFjc77f8z_kej2Ml1oxgVKBIM7lD3lMYfq7nw_pTjXLFaTbIvpBJH8QnSLIbw6akVNmxoqb8aIA1wnn_heYeGMsJO9uClI2XYWe5ufrvqTt8EUlzj0Zt482U6YP0uG0J/s1600/IMG_7558.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh6z6wQ_X4emFllFjc77f8z_kej2Ml1oxgVKBIM7lD3lMYfq7nw_pTjXLFaTbIvpBJH8QnSLIbw6akVNmxoqb8aIA1wnn_heYeGMsJO9uClI2XYWe5ufrvqTt8EUlzj0Zt482U6YP0uG0J/s200/IMG_7558.JPG" width="141" /></a>it's a funny thing to begin a journey. you hang onto details of the minutia which would just blend into the background noise further down the road. one of my seminal sessions is captured in the photo to the right. at the lake, the evening after buying it, the unrecognized potential of a huge gap and low response was made real to me, and i dove into the difficult truth that there are no creative barriers which are not self-imposed. i remember doing kwyjibo, along with gabe's trick "triangulation" and linking a few of my own tentative moves together. though not "mighty", it was an important session for me, and i've played yo-yo every day since. it's funny to recall that, given that some people think of me as someone who eschews modern yo-yo's, it was really that little motu which sucked me into my most recent (and least escapable) iteration of yo-yo obsession. <br />
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though it became a go-to in my growing quiver, that particular mini-motu died a protracted and (for me) agonizing death. i'm not sure how it initially developed, but the yo-yo caught that special flavor of black plague evidently reserved for yoyojams: nipple cracks. maybe it was precipitated by my ridiculous freezer antics on our first evening together. regardless, this condition is about as close to pancreatic cancer as a yo-yo can contract: once you find a crack in a yoyojam's hub... you know the end is coming.<br />
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not unlike the varied responses which develop from watching a terminally-ill loved one, yo-yoers respond to this condition in diverse ways. some try to conceal the initial crack and pawn the yo-yo off on some unexpectant forum member. some break out the superglue and hope for the best, watching the cracks irrepressibly metastasize over anything between a few weeks and a few years. some prematurely euthanize the yo-yo, breaking it apart to harvest the rims for the now nearly-defunct practice of modding. and some sail on along de Nile.<br />
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my white motu developed its initial cracks around 2007, and i threw it almost daily until it became a wobbly mess about a year later. at some point, i dismantled it and included the rims in some sort of trade. since that time, i really missed throwing this model, and when jacob produced this translucent blue specimen at worlds this year, i was ecstatic.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFFu_WtOMj538ism_XkxfK4010nIGxTyO_OnVsOq9NXZQkvfc3jilVFVs08E82RcvYGsN229rCYGPXu2-ZHtioQqszM_CzagUPj8jA-qvn4GN7Go6AuoH0r4l679zpAURtZlMOemXwh5G9/s1600/P9071000.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="145" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFFu_WtOMj538ism_XkxfK4010nIGxTyO_OnVsOq9NXZQkvfc3jilVFVs08E82RcvYGsN229rCYGPXu2-ZHtioQqszM_CzagUPj8jA-qvn4GN7Go6AuoH0r4l679zpAURtZlMOemXwh5G9/s200/P9071000.JPG" width="200" /></a>throwing it the other day, i noticed something which would have once been alarming: a small crack - about 2mm in length, right where the plastic meets the metal rim (click to enlarge). this yo-yo, too, is on borrowed time, but i don't say that with despair as i might have years ago. there may be many days and many throws before this gift becomes unplayable, or perhaps just a few. there may be sessions i will remember down the road, like that night on the lake, or just a few nice, anonymous throws. you cannot measure the joy held within a single throw, any more than takeshi can measure the serenity found in the sunrises he diligently observes, or ben mcphee can measure the glee arising from seeing a huge shorebreak wave swallow him. we all have only so many sunrises, so many waves, so many throws, but that which is immeasurable is, in a way, infinite. we're all cracking, sure; some of us gradually and some immediately. but that shouldn't mean that we can't enjoy what spin we have. we're cracking, but we're also smiling.<br />
<br />
cracking, but always, always beginning.kinopahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07212741027510296294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850474856542382446.post-56584726547927618392013-08-27T22:38:00.000-04:002013-08-27T22:38:28.882-04:00yo-yo #95 james's pocket rocket<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzznGipowhXswAdI_AXkweFlCY290qKPseIhJHhqM4tQO9z5_Pg67ZbvJ4Q5Wpj7sDdWoDADMlo_q7RoAKhDJXgRYp2mNnLoN9bwGGyYH7WbJLDtGpE4eqkYGYR3MftNm5KdA21FcGa1aO/s1600/P8270869.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzznGipowhXswAdI_AXkweFlCY290qKPseIhJHhqM4tQO9z5_Pg67ZbvJ4Q5Wpj7sDdWoDADMlo_q7RoAKhDJXgRYp2mNnLoN9bwGGyYH7WbJLDtGpE4eqkYGYR3MftNm5KdA21FcGa1aO/s320/P8270869.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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when i think back to the last post i made on this blog, i remember feeling very upbeat, very positive. for one, i was a teacher basking in the glory of winter break. i was also in the waning hours of a very, very long stretch with just one fixed axle yo-yo. it was new year's eve, which represents the epitome of hopefulness. and, just a week previously, we had told our two kids that we would be having another little baby.<br />
<br />
we told them on december 23, having placed little baby-bottles and rattles and stuff into a blank stocking hanging from the mantle. we let them find it, let them take it down and draw their own conclusions. it was adorable. i got the whole thing on tape. i cannot watch it.<br />
<br />
in mid-february, it became clear that the baby was a boy and that he had a genetic condition called trisomy 18. just like with down's syndrome, this meant his cells had an extra copy of a chromosome. however, the prognosis of this particular condition is met with... more predictably grave outcomes. really it meant that our baby was highly unlikely to live very long, if he survived to be born at all.<br />
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the night we found out what was really going on, we realized we had to name him, and decided on james logan haponik at the dinner table. we liked the middle name 'logan', and its connections to a mutant with special healing powers seemed somehow appropriate (if a bit ironic). it truly broke my heart to hear that stacy would have loved to name him for her father, michael, (as our first son, edward alexander is named for mine), but that she couldn't 'take' the name from either of her brothers, who may have kids themselves someday. i met stacy in high school, and she is my one and only love. but i'm absolutely certain that i could find no person of better quality or character had i searched a hundred years. if you get married, make sure you're able to say that to yourself honestly. you'll find it's worth it when the shit hits the fan or when the chromosomes are too numerous.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqyKdmEPX6AHb0Tk0JVIQAqcuTCOJTg5Qa124CPBCoQLgVCOLgww6OPQuk-DSyq-_-RAmCKpYe47vnkvT41sl9n_a5DRYMZpvoAsvSwynPbL9CU0XB39TVCXcx8k01L3wPZ6tW595Oc-Lo/s1600/P8270867.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="115" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqyKdmEPX6AHb0Tk0JVIQAqcuTCOJTg5Qa124CPBCoQLgVCOLgww6OPQuk-DSyq-_-RAmCKpYe47vnkvT41sl9n_a5DRYMZpvoAsvSwynPbL9CU0XB39TVCXcx8k01L3wPZ6tW595Oc-Lo/s200/P8270867.JPG" width="200" /></a>we aren't religious people at all, but terminating the pregnancy never really seemed like a viable (or moral) option to either of us. i think it's different for every parent and every pregnancy, but we were definitely going to see this one through to whatever end. it was interesting to find that some acquaintances were surprised that we would carry a baby like this to term, despite our lack of commitment to an organized religion. there were definitely days when it would have felt easier, but something would have broken irreparably within us.<br />
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one of the toughest components to all of this was considering how aggressively to try to "intervene" medically after james was born. i learned that you can keep a person of any age alive for a very, very long time, even if their body has no ability or apparent intention of keeping its life up independently. the prospect of watching an infant suffer continuously while hooked up to various life-sustaining machinery seemed selfish to us both, as though our own feelings self-worth, joy, and our reluctance to let go were more important than the life experience of a baby who has no idea why he suffers. i do not for a second claim that it is universally the right choice for anyone/everyone, but to me a brief life in the arms of loved ones seemed preferable to a prolonged one lying on a table, connected to tubes with no prospect of getting better. if and when i get really sick and am not going to able able to survive off of life support, i want to spend my last my last days/hours embraced by my loved ones. why would i choose something else for my child? there have been moments of doubt, but i think we made the best choice we could have.<br />
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the next few months were surreal, and without question the hardest of my life. it wasn't all horrible, mind you. there was still happiness. but it was as though the melody of my family's laughter and joy was played over a pedal-harmony of pain and confusion. stacy and i had become accustomed to walking through the baby section at target shooting secretive glances at each other. now we pretty much felt like giving the entire section the finger. stacy couldn't even really shop for the baby, because she didn't think she'd be able to take returning nursery items which would prove unnecessary.<br />
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caitlyn reads us very well, and there would be no way for us to have hidden our confusion, anger, sadness, exhaustion, or any of the feelings which arose out of this experience. she understood what was going on, though i doubt she understood 'why'. none of us did. alex is 5, and he was made aware that the baby was very sick, and that he might or might not get to meet him after all. there is nothing like reading the disappointment on your 5 year-old son's face when you tell him that he probably won't actually get to bike or play catch with his baby brother.<br />
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on june 21, we checked into the hospital. since stacy is a doctor, everyone was very much aware of the situation. they were very kind and gave us all the privacy possible. actually, they had us in the most far-removed room in the maternity ward. however, the shower ended up leaking into the hall, necessitating a room switch just a few hours before delivery. the kids stayed the night at my in-laws' a few miles away. everyone was ready to mobilize at a moment's notice. this is often the case with imminent baby arrivals, but even more so when the situation is medically tenuous. my mom and dad came in the night before (evidently i had miscommunicated the induction date - nice job, me), so they went to see the new superman movie. the next morning, they came back in to see us, and were halfway through describing just how awful they found the film when stacy [very] suddenly felt that james's arrival was imminent. <br />
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the next few minutes were a blur. james was born, and immediately he looked very, very sick. he had a faint heartbeat, but no color and wasn't breathing. we thought we had seconds, and our desperation was extreme. miraculously, the nurses were able to convince him to breathe. he never really 'cried', but made soft whimpering sounds which i know i will echo in my mind forever. they immediately gave him to stacy, and i swear within a minute of doing so, he had gone from ash-gray to bright pink. i let myself hope for a little time.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH9xofna92SoLj9rpcObgViaT1aNArELyjRdrlZxDsL6XyIEQfsNu-g2FAmXxxdPmmMmC9Ci5NB1BjYR5-eAgbV6OpcDwMKsRepH5Cw_U88wzPQOPBUURqVE3leMJvo1VH9f8wkFxDKtt_/s1600/James+Haponik+BW-35.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH9xofna92SoLj9rpcObgViaT1aNArELyjRdrlZxDsL6XyIEQfsNu-g2FAmXxxdPmmMmC9Ci5NB1BjYR5-eAgbV6OpcDwMKsRepH5Cw_U88wzPQOPBUURqVE3leMJvo1VH9f8wkFxDKtt_/s200/James+Haponik+BW-35.jpg" width="200" /></a>after a few minutes of cuddling and laughing, we got in touch with the family, and they started arriving in the room. i remember feeling happy and proud as i invited my parents into the room, and was momentarily confused by their apparent trepidation as they entered. babies with this condition tend to have about every problem imaginable, and virtually none of them can be rectified within the first days of life, much less hours. knowing that we were not aggressively trying to keep james alive (meaning not hooking him up to a ventilator), most of the doctors and nurses were superfluous at this point, and all but a particularly saintly nurse named Laura left to give us our space. we needed it, as the room quickly became crowded with my family and stacy's. the kids arrived, and alex and caitie were able to meet their little brother.<br />
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alex was very hesitant. among his less obvious issues, james was born with a cleft palate, so he looked a little different than your typical baby. he was also TINY at 3 lb, 12 oz. alex had to be convinced to touch his baby brother at first, but after he got used to it, he loved sitting on the bed with stacy and having James hold his finger. the moment caitie entered the room, her eyes met stacy's, and both of them started crying. both of their tears seemed to communicate that which could not be expressed rationally; stacy's conveyed how sorry she was that this all happened while caitie's tried impossibly to say "it's ok." she held her baby brother and sat with stacy and was generally stronger than any 10 year-old should ever have to be.<br />
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we were visited by a professional photographer whom we had arranged through a charity called "now i lay me down to sleep". they organize a network of photographers who come to hospitals and homes to take "remembrance portraits" of terminally ill kids. they give all of the digital copies to the parents; no fees and no watermarks. it is pretty much the most admirable charity i can imagine, so if you're tired of sending money to amnesty or greenpeace, y'know...<br />
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over the next 5 hours, james gradually deteriorated. his breathing became punctuated by occasional (and alarming) apneic spells, and we knew that we were losing him. stacy and caitie cradled james, and i held my son's tiny hand as he stopped breathing altogether. i was amazed by how long it took. true to his namesake, james logan's heart continued to pump dutifully, even though deprived of oxygen. later i learned that this has to do with babies' hemoglobin-rich blood, but the idea of wolverine powers felt better at the time.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFiVcWoKVtsaDZHZxQXhu088htOf2GiS7N7xEjD0eMw1UmHZqBELvQ5F61LlCMXU191zCHECtDOx_txHcWwygQhwhmhUd8gxN6JEdwqAP7ACuYtlmHjfvAULDMhT-gqreE3dbjQ_9Wu4jg/s1600/P8270873.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>from february on, we knew that james would die. we were getting ready for it, but i will not say that we were prepared. for one, we had no idea how the kids would react or the best way to help them grieve. from the beginning, we have tried to be as open with them as we feel they are able to handle, and i think they are finding their way through their feelings appropriately. so far, i think that alex has handled it all with more clarity and grace than any of us.
yesterday as we filled out his kindergarten forms, there was a
getting-to-know-you questionnaire which asked him "do you have any
brothers or sisters?" without hesitation, he answered "i have a sister
who is 10, and a brother who is in heaven," adding "i was going to say
'a brother who is dead', but saying he is in heaven sounds nicer."<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFiVcWoKVtsaDZHZxQXhu088htOf2GiS7N7xEjD0eMw1UmHZqBELvQ5F61LlCMXU191zCHECtDOx_txHcWwygQhwhmhUd8gxN6JEdwqAP7ACuYtlmHjfvAULDMhT-gqreE3dbjQ_9Wu4jg/s1600/P8270873.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFiVcWoKVtsaDZHZxQXhu088htOf2GiS7N7xEjD0eMw1UmHZqBELvQ5F61LlCMXU191zCHECtDOx_txHcWwygQhwhmhUd8gxN6JEdwqAP7ACuYtlmHjfvAULDMhT-gqreE3dbjQ_9Wu4jg/s200/P8270873.JPG" width="148" /></a>i resigned from my teaching job. i would have taken time off if james had been born healthy. knowing that he would not be, it seemed that my attentions would still be best directed toward home. two days after he died, and immediately after returning from meeting with the funeral home director, i received a call offering me another open position at the school. it was polite, and not intended to come off as "so now that it's clear you'll be free next year..." but it was hard to hear.<br />
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i never got to give james this yo-yo. i had it in my pocket throughout the entirety of his life. i knew he would be miniscule, even for an infant. i have given alex and caitlyn many yo-yo's, and will hopefully have time to give them many more (whether they want them or not). with james though, i didn't have time to give him very much at all. and though i intended this for him, at the time it really didn't seem all that important. honestly, small though it is, it would have been way too big for him anyway (i don't own a mighty flea). among the gifts we did give james were a small stuffed lamb, which caitie now keeps on her bed, a plush dog-blanket named spot which alex keeps watch over, and a few cute outfits he got to try on which stacy has in a box. me, i'm keeping this yo-yo safe for him. it reminds me that we would have had a lot of fun together if things had been a little different. it also reminds me that though i didn't have time to give him this little present, i did have time to hold him, to hear him, to see him meet his family, and to say goodbye. i did have time, and i am so inexpressibly grateful.<br />
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i'm sorry. i know this is a yo-yo blog. you didn't come here expecting to read this epic saga. and i know i spend most of my ramblings here saying stuff like "don't get attached to anything!" or "everything is transient and impermanent!" or "ding up your yo-yo's, weenie!" i think the thoughts i've tried to express in this blog have helped me to crystalize what i think and feel about the world, all of which has been tested over the past 6 months. i've found that some of my understanding has been broken, some of it has been reforged, and some of it has stood firm. this experience represents the predominant emotional landscape of my life this year. where before, i have primarily thrown a yo-yo to experience reality more clearly or directly, often this turmoil has left me wanting to throw in order to hide, ignore, and forget.<br />
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this yo-yo, however, i will only ever throw to remember.
kinopahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07212741027510296294noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850474856542382446.post-12771988195364939602012-12-31T21:01:00.002-05:002012-12-31T21:50:43.285-05:00Happy New Year!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFcHcNoaTE9Enkm04ctIM5JrHi6XcIArFeCo9bT4cHocVmCLxbUx9NW43srdYdCdX62GlI3CCJ-MR9IKQ1_TsMCBgwryh1WCi4gOpAMpUg4FQxr7Vmuxhn4FTV8LtVnJzhxVQZf1_oiL4B/s1600/PC303447_2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFcHcNoaTE9Enkm04ctIM5JrHi6XcIArFeCo9bT4cHocVmCLxbUx9NW43srdYdCdX62GlI3CCJ-MR9IKQ1_TsMCBgwryh1WCi4gOpAMpUg4FQxr7Vmuxhn4FTV8LtVnJzhxVQZf1_oiL4B/s320/PC303447_2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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i'm just inside of 3 hours left. the last 3 hours of a year spent throwing one yo-yo. it's really, REALLY not a big deal, and i have to say i'm ashamed of playing like it is on instagram and facebook and whatever.<br />
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at this point, i'm excited to make good on a deal i made myself. to hold up my own end of the bargain (which, of course, was the only end at all). it feels like one last xmas gift; one i saved for and which i get to open a few days late. in the movie 'rob roy', liam neeson calls honor 'the gift a man gives himself'. i don't know how much 'honor' can be attributed to any aspect of this endeavor, but it feels great going into these last few hours.<br />
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tonight, i'll kiss my kids goodnight, along with my wife (she's got to work in the morning). i'll probably put the big ball on tv. and i'll throw yo-yo. i'll try to "throw well" and just be grateful for these moments as they falter and expire with all the swiftness of a wood yo-yo dying into stillness... just like they do every night of every year, regardless of whether or not we pay attention. <br />
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i figure i've thrown the 'eh' at least 100,000 times this year. that's a lot of throws for one yo-yo. a lot of catches. a lot of missed tricks. a lot of snap-starts. a lot of spent string and frustration and relief and sanding axles and desperately eeking out sleepers and tuning out vibe... it used to look like this:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzlxZ6elvz2qCLbLfiaX2EkICdmIa3BYZwlzau1z5_MB3czoNpMz6ZZRYibWPY5KqLxC0yBZACJIlZRXEWSbXQYq8deYl8EAmwOKFtutU8C6UyuzFC25UJnAJ_6DBcFN2OPzg-59_fS_LS/s1600/IMG_4248_2.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzlxZ6elvz2qCLbLfiaX2EkICdmIa3BYZwlzau1z5_MB3czoNpMz6ZZRYibWPY5KqLxC0yBZACJIlZRXEWSbXQYq8deYl8EAmwOKFtutU8C6UyuzFC25UJnAJ_6DBcFN2OPzg-59_fS_LS/s400/IMG_4248_2.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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and now it looks like this:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg21xyw4RNQix4hkBmky8yc7SN7tV9yovni0856Auj5hH3l8uL0kjiNHkSMUAt-pxvN2QNd51vYaz1sQjUSlwoBU1uSr5FLDu23iCtMCp8E4PebfuJszkhK5MiYY3WdGuppMa8-vr9I-0Qd/s1600/PC303444.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg21xyw4RNQix4hkBmky8yc7SN7tV9yovni0856Auj5hH3l8uL0kjiNHkSMUAt-pxvN2QNd51vYaz1sQjUSlwoBU1uSr5FLDu23iCtMCp8E4PebfuJszkhK5MiYY3WdGuppMa8-vr9I-0Qd/s320/PC303444.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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i wouldn't trade anything in the world for those 100,000 throws. i wouldn't trade anything for this "not a big deal" experience, because it's the "not a big deal" things that you do (or don't do) that end up defining who you are. they say 'you are what you eat', but really you are all that you do. you are your huge, grandiose successes and your most terrible failures, but mostly you're all of the tiny moments in between. you're 'washing the dishes' and 'making sure the kids wear their seatbelts' and 'sitting around looking at twitter'. you ARE those moments... and if you're reading this blog, then on some level, and in some way, you are what you throw... and how you throw... and WHY you throw.<br />
<br />
in truth, as my time on <a href="http://365yoyotricks.com/">365yoyotricks.com</a> wound down, i found myself a little disappointed. in the last few weeks, it occurred to me that so many of the ideas i wanted to explore this year, i never got around to building into tricks. in the beginning, a year seemed like SUCH a long time. it seemed like the path stretched forever and twisted so that i couldn't see more than a few yards in front of me. and then in the middle, it DRAGGED some days (especially on those july afternoons that saw my cotton string slip through my skin like razor-wire). i had some traction, and i had some purpose, but the monotony and routine still made it seem like "the end" was just some amorphous idea that couldn't take form. but on new year's eve... it occurs to me: THIS is what i was able to do with a year. THIS, and no more.<br />
<br />
i hit <a href="https://vimeo.com/56537319" target="_blank">some good tricks</a>, i think. i busted some knuckles. i was a pretty good teacher and a pretty good dad and a pretty good husband. and a pretty good yo-yo player, in my way. i think on new year's eve, you always look at yourself and wonder if all your 'pretty good' could have been something more... and you wonder if you've got it in you to live up to that untapped potential tomorrow. i kept my promise... but do you ever really FULFILL it?<br />
<br />
but at the end of the day (and at the end of the year), the overwhelming feeling i'm left with is one of gratitude. i'm SO fortunate to be able to give this kind of frivolous pursuit my attention and commitment. i have it SO GOOD to have been able to spend time thinking about what it means to play with a YO-YO... a TOY... and to be able to have shared this experience with my friends and find that some of them care about it, and even want to be part of it... it has been truly surreal.<br />
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a lot of people have asked me what i'll use for my first throw of 2013. it'll be that one at the top of the page there. my yo-yo. i owe it that much, at least.<br />
<br />
i wish you the very best in 2013, and thank you sincerely for giving my little internal adventure even a moment of your attention.kinopahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07212741027510296294noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850474856542382446.post-60407068548197735212012-12-18T18:47:00.000-05:002012-12-18T18:47:01.645-05:00winding down...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSne0L4lUZ5HKVrKXnLFlCKmnvJD222WqAVjkfdKyiYA4vU1t6f3hHD6c-huuiPvdA0uk-x2TEQYhfNW3EV-vDeil-vljC2t6jTboKcGibQ_cBtEgQRbsKZCL7G69pBKGUUwMzEVwSgOE6/s1600/PC183308.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSne0L4lUZ5HKVrKXnLFlCKmnvJD222WqAVjkfdKyiYA4vU1t6f3hHD6c-huuiPvdA0uk-x2TEQYhfNW3EV-vDeil-vljC2t6jTboKcGibQ_cBtEgQRbsKZCL7G69pBKGUUwMzEVwSgOE6/s400/PC183308.jpg" width="315" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
So it’s the end. Pretty much.<br />
<br />I’ve got, what, a couple of weeks left? “Not with a bang, but a whimper”, as Eliot said. I truly can’t express enough gratitude to accommodate what this whole experience (and this whole year) have meant to me.<br />
<ul>
<li>To Steve Buffel for enabling it from the start, and for repressing what would have been a very natural desire to say “hey jerk… remember all that stuff I’ve done for you? Just play my metal yo-yo’s, ok,”. Instead, he made me a truly legendary wooden yo-yo, and supported me full-on. </li>
<li>To Steve Brown, who thought it’d be alright to give me a weekly spot to share the tricks I felt like doing, even though the vast majority of yo-yoers don’t do fixed axle on the regular.</li>
<li>To Colin Leland, who has pushed the standard of what wooden yo-yo’s can do harder than anyone, and who agreed to help SPYY share the ‘eh’ on a level I never thought I’d get to see.</li>
<li>To Drew Tetz, with whom I’ve had a running video-text conversation throughout the year, and who is using fixed axle to dictate “the shape of tricks to come”. It seems like not a week goes by that one of us doesn’t text the other “Is this yours? Have you done this?”</li>
<li>To the other Light Sleeper Society guys who got on stage at Worlds and gave me their shoes, that was certainly the most amazing extrinsic honor I have received in yo-yoing (or COULD receive, more like).</li>
<li>To my kids at school and at club, who have been so hilariously patient with me as I’ve tried to teach them Kamikaze and White Buddha using fixed axle. After the first few weeks, they realized ‘yeah, he’s gonna keep this up,’ and resigned themselves to learning tricks with the yo-yo dead.</li>
<li>And, to all the people who sought out my stuff, who sent me messages of support, or who have given wood a more legitimate shot lately. It’s really gratifying and humbling to be part of this movement of renewed appreciation and trick progression.</li>
</ul>
I’m a little anxious about the prospect of just grabbing a random yo-yo and walking out the door with it. I’m not sure how easy it will be to go back to playing "just anything". I definitely miss playing 2-handed, but aside from that, I kind of doubt that playing with a bearing will be substantially more fun than what I’m doing now. I’m fairly confident that I’ll feel really bad about my “regular 1a” and its degree of deterioration, but we’ll see. I’m so excited about the directions fixed axle is going that I’m sure I’ll still spend a lot of time doing that (certainly more than just on “Fixed Friday”). <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit-nDX94gzC7XhUbCSpbSALF_6OC0BC38dwO4OuLb6Sw8-i0MiUXwWDWRjp1JpC7snwXfW7BCQju3yCf6HpYzkNA5r_Z5NDWalPEx9hka3aL1BmZbvPkess4feQT491pusxhh5pEIXmfpN/s1600/PC183306.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit-nDX94gzC7XhUbCSpbSALF_6OC0BC38dwO4OuLb6Sw8-i0MiUXwWDWRjp1JpC7snwXfW7BCQju3yCf6HpYzkNA5r_Z5NDWalPEx9hka3aL1BmZbvPkess4feQT491pusxhh5pEIXmfpN/s1600/PC183306.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit-nDX94gzC7XhUbCSpbSALF_6OC0BC38dwO4OuLb6Sw8-i0MiUXwWDWRjp1JpC7snwXfW7BCQju3yCf6HpYzkNA5r_Z5NDWalPEx9hka3aL1BmZbvPkess4feQT491pusxhh5pEIXmfpN/s320/PC183306.jpg" width="180" /></a>I’m not good at tying a bow on things and saying “that experience is over”, but I suppose that’s the<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit-nDX94gzC7XhUbCSpbSALF_6OC0BC38dwO4OuLb6Sw8-i0MiUXwWDWRjp1JpC7snwXfW7BCQju3yCf6HpYzkNA5r_Z5NDWalPEx9hka3aL1BmZbvPkess4feQT491pusxhh5pEIXmfpN/s1600/PC183306.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a> natural consequence of beginning a year-long commitment and seeing it through. In terms of what it’s given me… Aside from a very obvious and intimate (gross!) acquaintance with my yo-yo, I definitely feel I have a better sense for what will and won’t work before I throw down. I’ve got a much more intuitive sense for my own throw than I did a year ago. When you can only really do a trick if your throw is up to snuff, it becomes pretty evident when one is off-kilter. I never had a big hang-up about dings or vibe with any yo-yo, but the last few months have taught me that banging a yo-yo (even a wood one) off of all manner of creation and inducing a vibe that would rival a heavily caffeinated Charlie Sheen can still be perfectly manageable in terms of completing tricks. I have no beef with those that like their yo-yo’s clean and pretty, but it’s neat to have experimented with slamming one yo-yo again and again and still being totally in love with it. I've broken into new personal territory with respect to tuning a yo-yo into its best possible level of play, breaking in axles, and eeking out the dying embers of a throw’s energy. <br />
<br />I would absolutely recommend this experience to anyone. I mean, not having a one off wood yo-yo made for you or anything, but dedicating yourself to one throw for an extended period is a pretty cool exercise. It’s pretty crazy, the degree to which I’ve come to associate myself with the ‘eh’, and not at all because of the name. When one thing goes everywhere with you for a really long time, it kind of takes on the flavor of your experience (and vice versa, I guess).<br />
<br />I think regret is a choice, and generally not a very good one, but I do regret losing the first ‘eh’ with which I began the journey. The one I’ve played the past 8 months is just as wonderful, but I wish I weren’t the type of person to lose things (although it IS the first yo-yo I’ve ever lost – go figure). I kind of wish I didn’t get so much attention for the things I do. Obviously, I make videos so that people will watch them and enjoy them. I write blog posts so that people will read them and think about them. It’s neat to get praise, but I also do those things to challenge myself and dissect myself. It’s probably pretty distracting, both for myself and for others, to get credit for stuff that is supposed to be about ‘arriving at truth’ and I wonder if some of the meaning gets lost.<br />
<br />And so the toys go winding down (to quote Primus). My only resolution for 2013 is to try to be a good person and to make every throw count. I have never, ever, ever been more stoked to throw, which at the end of a journey like this, is a great thing to be able to say. I wish all of you a wonderful holiday season, and sincere thanks for reading about my frivolous toy-playing adventures.<br />
<br />
... oh, and i apologize for the caps. i don't know what happened.kinopahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07212741027510296294noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850474856542382446.post-87482481211711603022012-12-02T16:42:00.000-05:002012-12-02T16:42:28.775-05:00want an 'eh'?here's where they'll be:<br />
<a href="http://shop.yoyoexpert.com/product/817/EH-%28Ed-Haponik-x-SPYY-x-TMBR-x-YoYoExpert%29">http://shop.yoyoexpert.com/product/817/EH-%28Ed-Haponik-x-SPYY-x-TMBR-x-YoYoExpert%29</a><br />
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;)kinopahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07212741027510296294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850474856542382446.post-8413361244411240422012-11-23T18:32:00.001-05:002012-11-23T18:32:08.690-05:00all strung up and ready to go.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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in that last shot, you can see one cool anomaly. most of the "eh's" sport a new red oak leaf to indicate that they were made not in canada, but the u.s.a. steve ended up lasering ONE with the original maple leaf. we're developing a plan for what to do with that special one. ;)kinopahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07212741027510296294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850474856542382446.post-14231122596695880182012-11-23T08:09:00.001-05:002012-11-23T08:19:51.943-05:0011/12 of the way to forever...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
i've been playing the 'eh' for just about 11 months.<br />
actually it was right around a year ago that steve and i first hatched our plan to try this little experiment in self-discovery (or self-deprivation).<br />
<br />
you may have heard that, contrary to our initial plans, we will be able to release a small number (less than 50) eh's into the wild via our community's greatest bastion of commerce, <a href="http://yoyoexpert.com/">yoyoexpert.com</a>. the yo-yo's which will be released are, i will grant you, quite a bit different from what i've been playing. of course they're still fixed axle, still 'dimple-response', still lovely, raw red oak, just begging for you to develop a patina. honestly, they're alike in pretty much all of the important ways. however, these eh's were crafted not in canada, but in oregon, by colin leland of tmbr toys.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic02DPFkKCVhaf-JzWI9KvVqJtISj2L3vhFN6-kjIc4U_-P43-XKUZ6KeDmWCF3Cy7TktSpGKctP1wPePN4PPFP_Fkue7SO09ugpI5m7tFFsgimnSSluj6fTbDwx-8Oa_sNjuiwg7-alXe/s1600/PB233098.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic02DPFkKCVhaf-JzWI9KvVqJtISj2L3vhFN6-kjIc4U_-P43-XKUZ6KeDmWCF3Cy7TktSpGKctP1wPePN4PPFP_Fkue7SO09ugpI5m7tFFsgimnSSluj6fTbDwx-8Oa_sNjuiwg7-alXe/s200/PB233098.jpg" width="112" /></a>colin is the 2011 fixed axle "champion of all the world", an awesome player, and a great friend. when i first fielded this idea to steve a year ago, his thought was "maybe we could get colin to make it for us". obviously, i'm glad steve took a stab at it and made me an unbelievable yo-yo, but when we agreed to try to fire off a small run, it was a natural to ring colin up and see what he was up for. tmbr is the pre-eminent maker of fine, progressive wood yo-yo's on the market today. anyone who even THINKS they might want to try wood should own a tmbr.<br />
<br />
steve, colin, and i began an email exchange that has hovered around "everyday" for the past month. i got a proto in the mail from colin a few weeks ago, made right from steve's original specs. once again, i cheated on my commitment to play it (though since it's still an 'eh', i don't even feel bad about it). he knocked it out of the park, and after some ridiculously small adjustments to the profile, he cranked out a full run, sending them off to steve for laser-engraving (he needed to revamp his basement exhaust system to accommodate the ash and dust). i should receive the lot of them in a few days, and will set about the task of assembling them, tuning them, hand-twisting some type-10 cotton string for them, and packaging them.<br />
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with any luck, they should be available at yoyoexpert by the 1st week of december. my plan is to update this blog with the link as soon as it is live, along with the initial facebook thread i made asking if anyone was interested.<br />
<br />
even after the flying v and the ronin, this is the most excited i've ever been about sharing a yo-yo with the larger community. this year will be inextricably linked in my mind with the 'eh'. it's been in my pocket every day. when i think about it, i've spent MUCH more time playing it than any other yo-yo. it's soaked up my sweat, and i've taken a few of its splinters. i struck out on this journey with the intention of transforming a certain yo-yo into an extension of my hand, and there's been no option but to succeed. time will do that. the yo-yo has developed a more obvious patina, it's left its mark on me as well.<br />
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a lot of people have asked me 'what's next', but i have no resolutions in the works. i, myself am vexed when i think about NOT carrying the 'eh' around all day. having a ronin or flying v in my pocket again (or that new ranchero calling my name - yum) just seems so foreign a concept, like cheating on a spouse or something. i've had to "practice" not being tempted to play other yo-yo's to the extent that the habit is ingrained. in the end, though, i think i'll manage. while it's great to develop a sense of "relationship" to the instrument you play... attachment is still attachment. and it ain't no good.<br />
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regardless of how much time we've shared, i feel that i SHOULD be able to give the 'eh' away to someone come january just like i'd give away any other yo-yo. it would be tough, and i feel like that's an emotional response that needs some exploration down the road.<br />
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for now though, i'm happy (and very excited) to be at this stage. i feel simultaneously very connected to the yo-yo i've been throwing and ready to apply what the past year has done for me to my other spinning toys. <br />
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<a href="https://vimeo.com/54041987">here's a new video</a> which deals with my perspective near the end of this adventure.kinopahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07212741027510296294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850474856542382446.post-36488751114883599312012-10-29T20:42:00.000-04:002012-10-29T20:42:08.618-04:00yo-yo's i can't wait to playso, 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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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. <br />
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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. <br />
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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. <br />
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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.<br />
<br />
... oh, and there's also this one. hmm... looks a little like the one i posted <a href="http://kinopah.blogspot.com/2011/12/365.html">here</a>, doesn't it? weird.<br />
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<br />kinopahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07212741027510296294noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850474856542382446.post-19728275179009974622012-10-08T10:31:00.003-04:002012-10-08T13:19:35.995-04:00home stretch<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjssADXK2eLeaSad5LrFFMWxOdledanyXXvuyWLJ57GHw-SZEoC6dNubk6nZ-6uEqkX6d9RMPFfXATF6912r31Vu3u-ooR0GMwVDSdY-_TRbIWzIbGuo72NuO4xTls1Wa7BqgpocMb-AXtN/s1600/PA082507.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
today is a good day; the kind of day that gets me stoked to be a yo-yo player.<br />
<br />
it got started right, watching some of my friends' freestyles from saturday's national yo-yo contest. it always feels nice when good people are rewarded. i've known <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Fvm08Vgc3ew">zach</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZCKCIYJQrMw">tyler</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1S_efIYj91Y">pat</a>, and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vxljRsvEZ9U">bryan</a> for years now, and they're all such good folks who care deeply about performing pushing the game forward. i wish i could have been there, but i definitely feel like a better dad for having hung out at home for my girl's b-day weekend.<br />
<br />
i brought both my kids to our local yo-yo club, where the toy store employees and i were the only players over 10. club is so hard these days with respect to playing wood. the kids don't get the challenge and aren't impressed by the difficulties of fixed axle. to them, yo-yoing is yo-yoing, just as it should be. regardless, club was fun. caitie hasn't thrown much lately, but she learned mach 5 after seeing it twice. it's awesome to watch some of the returning kids developing from tentative "power throws" to their first whip tricks and boings.<br />
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i also started to compile a little video of my <a href="http://365yoyotricks.com/">365yoyotricks.com</a> vids for the end of the year. i generally don't like to watch my old videos, but i guess i thought it would be neat to look at footage from months back. it was. it turns out, i'm really proud of some of the tricks i've come up with this year (and the older ones which i've hit on wood). going back to some of the footage from january, when i was just starting to figure this yo-yo out, was surreal. so many sessions. so many spent strings. some of the videos call to mind exactly what i was thinking or stressing about; background radiation coloring a year of experiences. i've played SO MUCH this year. i can't even figure how many individual throws (or snap-starts, god help me). and clasped within the untold hours of footage on my hard drive are hilarious head-bonking misses, multiple moments where alex walks right through the shot (once even grabbing the camera), string breaks, axle-burns, sudden downpours... that stuff, more than the few takes where you nail the trick perfectly, really shows who you are as a yo-yo player.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjssADXK2eLeaSad5LrFFMWxOdledanyXXvuyWLJ57GHw-SZEoC6dNubk6nZ-6uEqkX6d9RMPFfXATF6912r31Vu3u-ooR0GMwVDSdY-_TRbIWzIbGuo72NuO4xTls1Wa7BqgpocMb-AXtN/s1600/PA082507.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjssADXK2eLeaSad5LrFFMWxOdledanyXXvuyWLJ57GHw-SZEoC6dNubk6nZ-6uEqkX6d9RMPFfXATF6912r31Vu3u-ooR0GMwVDSdY-_TRbIWzIbGuo72NuO4xTls1Wa7BqgpocMb-AXtN/s200/PA082507.jpg" width="198" /></a>my simple, sweat-stained oak yo-yo has been the primary constant in my life this year. the seasons have come and gone. my kids have grown up a ton. there's been upheaval at the school where i work. but the cotton string that's slid over my hemlock axles all year has tied things together nicely. i've had to tune and caress this yo-yo into its best possible state for every session. might sound like a pain, but that's what i signed up for. last fall, i felt myself not caring about the little things, and with the 'eh', the little things make or break you. same with life, really, though we do our best to ignore it.<br />
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it's hard to believe that this journey is over 75% complete, and that in about 12 weeks i can go back to 2-minute combos, axles that never wear out, and bearings that will keep spinning through any kind of mutated hold.<br />
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today, it kind of sank in. i'm going to make it. i'm going to have played one wooden fixed axle yo-yo for a year, straight. and while aspects of the commitment have been harder than i thought, i was right that this was the best thing in the world for me to do. i've said before that though playing with a yo-yo isn't epic or important, but using a yo-yo (or anything) to discover yourself and dissolve your illusions most certainly is. if 'cones to balls' challenged me to rethink the seemingly-trivial, this year has demanded that i rethink the absolutely-fundamental. and in rethinking the absolutely-fundamental, i've been relieved to discover that i still just really love to yo-yo. it's amazing to me that there IS so much to love about such a simple act, even when you're 35 and essentially out-of-touch. those rare moments in which we experience the pure, unmitigated glee of making good on our challenge to ourselves (which is what all yo-yoing is about, really) put into perspective the pettiness of the drama, bickering, and self-aggrandizement that would sometimes drag us down.<br />
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anyway, i hope it was a good day for you, too.kinopahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07212741027510296294noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850474856542382446.post-90326555917773276902012-09-04T18:40:00.001-04:002012-10-08T13:42:48.600-04:00why i play yo-yo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
i said i wanted to get back to basics.<br />
<br />
so today, i was eating lunch at panera (having a bread-bowl of the french onion soup, if you want to know). i was thinking about some of my recent frustrations and the ongoing temptation to play with a bearing yo-yo after 8+ months with only the 'eh'. in my last entry, i noted that i kind of associate bearings with "ease" (and therefore, on some level, must associate wood or fixed axle with "difficulty"). whilst sipping fresh lemonade under an overcast sky, i asked myself WHY even a part of me would think or feel things in those terms.<br />
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i'm not a competitor - i have no contests to win or lose. i'm not aware of any extrinsic goal-sheet i've set up for myself; no list of tricks i'm ticking off. i'm just playing. at least so far as i know, i don't have any real criteria for either success or failure as a yo-yo player. i just play... but if that's the case, what can possibly be "easy" or "hard"... easy or hard to do what?!?!<br />
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i thought about the times when i've felt most "successful" as a yo-yo player; when it's felt most "right". i don't have a long list of titles or accolades to reflect upon, but the few things i've won (or not won) don't have any particular resonance for me in terms of when i've felt successful. i've put out some videos, some of which have been watched by a few people (some of whom have said they enjoyed them)... but even with the end-products i've really liked, i don't associate them with "success" as a yo-yo player either. by and large, the times i've felt most "successful" have occurred while i was PLAYING: casually, joyfully, and solitarily (that may or may not be a word, so how about "alone-ly").<br />
<br />
there are definitely some specific sessions and tricks that come to mind; things that i've hit (especially on wood) that i tried and tried for before finally breaking through into some tactile understanding. but when i deconstruct those moments a bit, it's not so much "nailing" the tricks that's mattered. it's not the sensation of the yo-yo whacking the flesh of my palm after a clean fly-away... rather, it's an indescribable feeling of "connection" which i've found universally central to every momentary success i feel i've tallied.<br />
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there are those moments for which all of the universe seems to focus itself on what you're doing to enable it to work out in a way that feels "right". sometimes, it's just what you think you intended, and other times it's a big surprise. while i'm yo-yoing, i often find myself working on a sticky concept; something i think i can get or make work, but which is really outside the realm of what i fully understand. i've come to know the landscape of those emotions much better this year; the doubt, the effort, the frustration, and above all, the faith. you throw and you throw, and you think "i'm never gonna hit this"... but then suddenly, through in instant of serenity that seemingly willed itself into existence, you somehow know that you will. other times, in the midst of uncertainty, you find opportunity (hi, einstein!), and by the same amazing grace, you bust down the door into new creative territory which had never occurred to you.<br />
<br />
i've hit so many tricks like that; discovered so many tricks like that. and i'm sure everyone has. the common thread that knits them all together is that sense of focus and connection with what i'm doing. it's as if i only get to really be 100% "at home" with myself in those moments, which are obviously ancient history as soon as the yo-yo responds.<br />
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except that the great thing is, the more you play, the more you realize that the connections aren't really gone at all. you can learn to feel your way into those moments; maybe not by straining and sweating to get there, but by relaxing and appreciating that your REASON for trying to nail the trick and the sense of calm focus which will eventually enable you to do so... are actually one and the same! it's available - it's there all the time... and realizing that makes yo-yoing much more personal, much more meditative, and ultimately way more productive.<br />
<br />
i'm a better person because i play yo-yo. i used to doubt that sentiment; used to deflect onlookers' praise by saying stuff like "well, it's not like i'm doing anything great for society." don't get me wrong; you're not curing cancer by playing with your yo-yo, but if you can make yourself into a calmer, happier, more patient person... if you can recognize the signs of others around you who are struggling with the doubt and uncertainty of hitting this or that [metaphorical] trick and help them through that... if you can find yourself in a simple trapeze and just feel it - not just the yo-yo and the string, but the enormity of the cosmos, spinning and vibrating right along with you... i think your yo-yoing is pretty damn useful.<br />
<br />
by practicing this stuff, you're not just idly "spending free time" as so many passers-by like to mention. you're breaking down doors within yourself. you're connecting yourself to the laws and forces which shape everything around us, from atoms to galaxies. you're shirking off the material limitations of your being and BECOMING the trick you're throwing down. within that larger framework, there's no reason why wood should be a limitation and no reason why metal should be a convenience. it's clear that the part of me that wanted this journey to be over so i can play with a bearing and hit this or that with "ease" had become a little lost and a lot disconnected from what's most important to me about playing.<br />
<br />
whether with metal, plastic, wood, or terra cotta... i know i can find the way to play "like myself", which is the pathway to something greater. the contests are great, the sponsorships are great, the respect is great, the yo-yo's are great, and the friendships are (super) great. but as awesome as all of those things are, in the end, they're not why i keep throwing down. when i'm in the right frame of mind, lost in a trick without a care in the world for what i'm getting out of it, for a moment i don't know where i end and everything else begins. those are the moments i'm chasing, and that's why i play yo-yo.<br />
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(... *terra cotta 2013. let's do it, steve.) ;)<br />
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*not reallykinopahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07212741027510296294noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850474856542382446.post-46365026432132948512012-09-01T12:38:00.001-04:002012-10-08T13:18:34.370-04:00temptation and acceptance<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw6WSFyk2z1uf_SWOEMpkCW5LeYqttWlIzkiQPFMX4QNb5O6R2fqADgovQJweK6iTqg9XT7D_bJS2WDzWsKHEkWmD8xDIwf72lx_GUXRS3KEJmVf0bsKCdHm6ItAy4bXMCVDybyTtrzhxF/s1600/P9012289.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw6WSFyk2z1uf_SWOEMpkCW5LeYqttWlIzkiQPFMX4QNb5O6R2fqADgovQJweK6iTqg9XT7D_bJS2WDzWsKHEkWmD8xDIwf72lx_GUXRS3KEJmVf0bsKCdHm6ItAy4bXMCVDybyTtrzhxF/s320/P9012289.jpg" width="320" /></a> </div>
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with significantly greater frequency lately, i have caught myself REALLY wanting to throw a bearing yo-yo. the first 7 months or so of this endeavor pretty much passed without notable temptation. the 'eh' is a really good fixed axle yo-yo, and the challenge of figuring out how to set it up was an engaging one.<br />
<br />
i've pretty much got the thing dialed now (after 8 months with it). i know just how to prep my axles so i don't burn through them immediately (i still carve a trench through them after a few weeks). i'm adept at sanding out chips and lining up grain to minimize vibe. i can tell how this or that string will respond before i put it on. most of all, i've got a much more deeply entrenched and intuitive sense for what i'm going to be able to hit with relative ease... and what i'm going to have to sweat (and sometimes bleed) for. i have a visceral understanding of its weight and tactile feeling, even when it's nowhere near me (which is virtually never).<br />
<br />
while it's awesome to have developed such a deep connection with one yo-yo, it takes a bit of the mystery (and certainly the variety) out of the equation.<br />
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i miss the feeling of "ease" in yo-yoing, which is funny, because i've spent so much energy denouncing the idea that it should be easy. i'll be at club and the guys will be talking about this or that mount, and i'll be all "oh! that reminds me of THIS!!!" ... only to remember that i'd only be likely to nail "THIS" on wood after around 100 tries. going back to school has been rough, too. a lot of my kids have yo-yo's (big, mean, unresponsive metal ones)... and it's hard not to be jealous of their spin time! i keep thinking how fun it'll be when i get back from xmas break, able to bring a different yo-yo every day (especially the dynamo, ranchero, and orbitron, which i've only been able to heft and gawk at in awe).<br />
<br />
by and large, the kids do NOT get it. "why do you always throw the same old wood yo-yo?" is a question i'm answering every day (often to the same few kids), and i find it's kind of a hard idea to explain to a 10 year-old.<br />
<br />
"because it's a challenge."<br />
"because i'm trying to push my yo-yoing in a more holistic direction." <br />
"because although it's frustrating when things are hard, it can also feel deeply satisfying." <br />
"because i feel like a more authentic player when i strip away the modern conveniences."<br />
<br />
only the first of those is even momentarily acceptable to a kid who's trying with all their might to get trapeze consistent.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://distilleryimage3.instagram.com/805522e6eeea11e1be981231380f620c_7.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://distilleryimage3.instagram.com/805522e6eeea11e1be981231380f620c_7.jpg" width="200" /></a>don't get me wrong; i'm not even considering backing out of the deal with 4 months to go. and honestly, i bet throwing metal again will end up feeling a bit anticlimactic after the first 10 minutes. i really do love what i'm doing and feel much more connected to the tricks i'm coming up with. i'm just at the hard part; more than half through the journey i described for myself, but still tens of thousands of throws before i'll let myself be free.<br />
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sometimes, you get in a bit of a rut, and you think "if only i could DO THIS or GO THERE", but i really think that reflects a messed-up mindset. my wife sometimes catches me checking the surf report (we live 200 miles from the ocean), and the other day she asked me "how much time per day do you think you wish you were doing something else?" it kind of caught me funny. i don't see myself as being dissatisfied or malcontent, but i do spend a lot of time thinking about things "i used to do" or "would like to do". surfing, skating, practicing aikido, being in hawaii or the tetons, rocking out in a band... i like to think i've had a pretty awesome life. i've been able to do some pretty fun (if not radical) things, and i like to feel connected to them, regardless of where i am now. maybe that diminishes my ability to appreciate here and now. i hope not. you make certain choices, and you live with them as you can. <br />
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regardless, i need to back up and really remember what the reasons for this whole year-long challenge were. i've taken a lot from the journey (in ways both expected and otherwise), and that i owe it the full ride is a given. i'm arriving at a simpler version of myself as a yo-yo player, and in a way which i could not have come to through any other means. so while i may say i miss bearings and i may check the surf report in wrightsville... here and now is still just fine.<br />
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chop wood, carry water.kinopahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07212741027510296294noreply@blogger.com0