SLACKLINE. WHOOOT! For the uninitiated, think of a slackline as a tightrope trampoline.
It’s terribly exciting stuff and I’m quite impressed at the speed and INSANELY LOW COST of Scandinavean postage. I sped past the tutorials and some YouTube vids which made the sport look insanely fun.
For one
Then I was promptly brought back to reality.
What the Internet Shows: People jumping around with ease Reality: My standing on the rope on a spot for all of 5 seconds MAX.
What the Internet Shows: Effortless tightening of line Reality: My struggling with which way forward and how do I protect the sewn areas - oh crap I kinked a thread and it’s unravelling.
And most importantly though,
What the Internet Shows: Trees Reality: WHAT TREES? My line wasn’t long enough to span the basketball court and I ended up securing the line to a park bench and the stair rail. Diagonally. Which made my line slip.
I’m starting to believe that my crappy balls are the cause for my failure to master 5 ball juggling. While I can get about 10-15 catches rather regularly, my success rate for flashing 5 is about 50%. I’ve a bit of a strategy going for my juggling practise - I’m practising balls at home and flashier objects outdoors.
Today’s accomplishments are as follows -
Proficient 2 clubs in right hand
80% success 2 clubs in left hand
3 catches of 4 clubs synchronous
3 club chops
Continuous single-spin half-shower on right, clubs
80% non-continuous double-spin half-shower on right, clubs
25% under-leg right, 3 clubs
3 to 2-in-a-hand clubs
My club handles are starting to feel a little soggy - I have sweaty palms - and I realise that one of my clubs is not the same as the other 3 so it spins a little odd. Oh well.
While juggling clubs and hopping around like a nutcase at the park, some kids with dad in tow came by to watch. The kids asked to play with the clubs and I took the chance to (attempt to) promote juggling to the dad.
Because I couldn’t sleep at 3am this morning, I bought 6 juggling rings and 5 clubs from Mr Babache. I can’t wait for them and my new slackline.
Feeling mighty inspired, I headed down to the park after dinner for some juggling. It wasn’t a very fruitful session although I did manage to get some catches of a 4-ball under hand and some catches juggling clubs with my eyes closed. I did however, mentally listed the things I cannot do which include
4-club juggling
Rubenstein’s in the dark
Under the leg throws because there’s something wrong with my shoulder
5-ball casade
Continuous half-shower with clubs
Behind the back with clubs
3-in-a-hand
Behind-the-back continuous throws
I’m not even going to list the stuff that I don’t know how to try doing. For now, I’m going to blame it on the props I’m using - my juggling balls fell in a puddle, then sand on my FIRST throws and became icky to catch and my clubs are quite hopeless.
Now, once I get my new props, oh ho ho, I’m gonna be AWESOME. Either that or I’ll find some other scapegoat to blame.
Because I feel like it, I’ve deleted everything and am starting afresh. As my whims and fancies dictate for the moment, I shall endeavor to post only on a select few topics on this blog, the ones that I can think of are -
1) Unicycling
2) Juggling
3) Running
4) Pretty Pictures
5) Things I Find Funny
6) Videogames
And now for the first snippet that falls under number 5 is…
The dude with the unfortunate name happens to be an American gymnast and Olympic gold medalist. According to Wiki and I need to quote this -
“Gaylord invented techniques performed on the horizontal bar: the “Gaylord Flip” and the “Gaylord II” are still performed by gymnasts today.”
I can only imagine conversations like these:
At a bar - “Hi, I’m Gaylord and I’m a gymnast.”
At the locker room of any gym - ” Yeah, I’m Gaylord and I can show you the Gaylord Flip.”
Sorry, I know it’s rude but it’s like how you laughed at that kid you went to school with who was called Dildo. What? That wasn’t you?
True story though - on my vacation in Hong Kong, the cashier at a eating joint had a nametag that read ‘Hymen’. I’d love to see his girlfriend introduce him to her folks.