2015 - 20 Years of Flow and Introduction to the Circus Life

This June marked 20 years of yo-yoing for me. I celebrated by going to the Flatland Juggling Festival in Lincoln, NE. There I met with a lot of skill toy players and flow artists, some I have known for a while and some I was meeting for the first time. Over the course of the 3 day event I felt my heart swell with excitement for all of the things I was seeing around me and the old tricks came back to my hands like I had never taken a break. I was a novelty in the room as the only person yo-yoing all weekend and I played til I had blisters. Then, I played some more. It hurt so good.

After the event I felt something awaken in me. At first, I thought it was that old competitive spirit that wanted to travel to competitions and try to prove myself as one of the best in the sport. I very quickly realized that wasn't it at all. As a competitor, I felt like I was limiting myself on what I could actually do. The rule set for yo-yo contests did not allow for many of the things I was interested in pursuing unless I wanted to wait and compete in the Artistic Performance (AP) category at the World Yo-Yo Contest. Nope. Not interested in that at all. Competing is stressful and eventually makes the hobby less fun. I wanted to move past that and just entertain people. I was meeting regularly with performers of various disciplines from Juggling, to Poi, to Hula Hoops, and so on. These great people opened my eyes to a world of creativity that felt much richer than playing for points.

Since the Festival, I have been dabbling in other flow arts, taking patterns and moves from them that I can incorporate into my yo-yo show. I have also been spending a lot of time engineering small acts to perform in front of a crowd. Some are feats of skill, like knocking a quarter off a nervous volunteer's ear, while others are choreographed routines similar to yo-yo freestyles but with more creative elements than technical elements. It is for the entertainment of the poor folks that have to watch me.

I learned that there are local circus groups in and around Lincoln that either already exist or are getting started soon that hold performances all over the place. I did not even know this was a thing. I have done so much in the way of performing on my own over the years. Oh, what it would be to be a part of a performing group? As soon as I started doing some digging I knew this was my next turn in the path of my life. I have learned a great deal about what a modern circus is (and what it isn't) and I want it.

Juggling at Jazz in June

The Journal Star spotted me juggling at the Jazz in June concert last night outside the Sheldon Art Gallery in Lincoln, NE. There wasn't an article associated with it, just this picture.

The funny part about this is I did a heck of a lot more yoyoing last night than juggling but the photographer came around during one of the couple of times I was juggling.

I'm at it again...

It has been a while since I have posted anything, but today I am here to say that I am BACK!

I can't say with certainty that I will be posting on a regular basis. I may be too busy out DOING.

You can always stay up to date in all of the things I do by following me on twitter @IAmSweeps, now on Instagram @iamsweeps, and Facebook if that is your preference.

This is going to be a very short post just to mark that I have returned home where I feel like I should have always stayed, yo-yoing. No promises of future projects or competitions I am getting ready for. No plans on re-opening the doors of Barking Spider. Just me rocking out with my loops, hops, and long spinning flow. I am adding Juggling to my nerd resume as well as other skill and flow toys but yo-yoing is my mistress, my muse, and everything else will likely remain second to her.

Tales from the 4 x 4: Bringing in new players.

One of the most exciting things for me to see in any hobby I participate in is growth. When new players join your hobby you get a small sense that your hobby will stick around for a while and not having to play against the same people all of the time is nice too.

Last Saturday I had to opportunity to introduce a new player to Warmachine/Hordes. If I remember correctly he had no prior miniature war gaming experience but, like the rest of us who play this game, he is some kind of nerd. Usually we get a lot of timid lurkers who cruise by and peek at what we are doing but this guy was a friend of a regular player, did some research on his own, watched some videos, and came with questions and ideas. Awesome.

After watching some other people play, getting an insane amount of suggestions before he even knew how to play, and probably quickly going into overload my new models were finally glued and I challenged him to a battle box game. We discovered that the shop we were playing at had battle box figures available for our use. He mentioned he was interested in Cygnar and they had Cygnar's battle box...color us all shocked.

We kept the game as simple as we could. He had the Cygnar battle box and I made a quick Trollblood battle box (after the fact I realized I probably would have done better with the actual Trollblood battle box...meh). We played a nice, slow game. We paused for rules explanation, trying not to throw in rules and/or tactical tips that were not immediately important. He quickly developed a defensive strategy, not really knowing what any of the models did except that one of his models had an extremely long shot once it had the Snipe upkeep spell on it.

In the end he pretty much shot my army off the table and won. He told me on a number of occasions during our game that it was invigorating to come up with a plan, execute it, and it work out. I was super excited for him to win his first game. I have been playing the game for just under a year but I am brand new to playing Trollbloods and Hordes, in general, so even though I know the rules of the game well enough I am not solid on how this army works and my opponent outplayed me.

This brings me to something I heard on a podcast that I thoroughly agree with. When trying to build interest in your game it is beneficial to have extra models, especially battle box models, ready to go. That way, if someone looks interested in the game but you can see they are obviously overwhelmed by the number of models moving around and all of the rules they would have to remember you can ask them if they would like to give the game a try with a battle box game. They get the feeling for allocating focus/managing fury. They get to move some models around the table, getting to see how a battlegroup works within your Warcaster/Warlocks control area. Most importantly, they get to beat some stuff up with cool looking models. They may not win their first game but, if they were interested before, hopefully they are doing some mental accounting or cash counting and deciding how soon to buy their own battle box when the game is over.

I, personally, love playing lower point games because it gives me an opportunity to learn my army. It is too easy to pick a bunch of cool looking models in an effort to make a 50 point army and then as soon as you get it out on the field you realize the models you picked have absolutely no synergy. At lower point games, you can find strong synergies and slowly grow your army from the ground up until you reach whatever point value you are aiming for and, if you did it right, that army will be jam packed with so many synergies it seems like your options within the game are endless and you are ready for any and all challenges.

Building your hobby up is an awesome thing. You get to meet new people with similar interests without a lot of effort, you get to play the game in a way you might not have played for a while, and you get to keep the game alive. I'm not saying it is everyone's responsibility to bring new players in but if you like what you are doing enough to want it to stick around why not try and bring in new players. New players can bring in fresh ideas that can improve everyone's game.

Good luck and happy geeking.

A stepfather's lament...

Those that know the story, know the story. To those that don't:

     On Sep 1, 2012 we got a visit from a young police officer. I had just gotten home from playing Pokemon, don't forget I am a geek of all trades, so, of course I was playing Pokemon, and the doorbell rang. Helen and I thought "Who the f..." and I answered the door. We don't get visits from police officers on a regular basis so I was unsure as to how you are supposed to greet a police officer who comes to your door. I decided to treat this young man like anyone else. I opened the door, said "Hello," then asked if I could help him. He asked if Helen was home and I showed him in. I think in these moments you are supposed to sit down to put the officer at a little more ease in the event that he has something really bad to tell you. You might be less likely to fly off the handle and go crazy, forcing them to react with force. I was totally oblivious to proper etiquette and stayed standing. The following was a blur. The officer, looking very nervous, said that he was there because they got a call from Helen's mom to track her down. "Oh no. What happened to Anita, Brandon, or Bryn." There was a pause that seemed like an eternity. Then the officer said it, "It's about your daughter..."

     I don't have the obituary info handy so It won't go in here. Zoe was 5 years old when she passed away. The details of her death don't really matter because this is not meant to create awareness of some weird medical condition or degrade the fact that she is gone. Explaining things in medical terms sterilizes it and makes it less about the person who is gone and more about the condition that took them away. She wasn't mine by blood but I was a part of most of her life. From the days of "Little Miss" running up to me, grabbing my pant legs, looking up, then taking off running to someone she was more familiar with to the days of the duck face and bunny hands. She is my daughter as far as I am concerned and dare anyone to challenge me about it. I can never replace her father, Jeremy, who is a good dad and was there, with her, when she died. I wouldn't want to even try. Zoe had 4 parents. She was that awesome. The love that we have for her is too much for just 2 people.

     Zoe was a world traveler. She was born in Hawaii, lived in Virginia and South Carolina. Everywhere she went she made people love her. Everyone was a friend to her even if she didn't know their name. Zoe was a princess and she was going to marry a prince one day...it was in her 20 year plan.

     Zoe was so hungry for knowledge. I taught her the ABC's, both lower case and upper case. I got to see her eyes light up when she got them all correct. She just started school and we all knew that if she had the chance she was going to rule the world.

     Now that she is gone, what do we do now? This is a question that, apparently, is perfectly "normal" for grieving parents to ask. I hate that. I have heard "What you're feeling is normal" too many times. Just because it is "normal" doesn't mean it doesn't suck really badly. I do not care if I am "normal". What I care about is that I am sad beyond function, I have no motivation to do well in school, I have very poor concentration, my memory is completely shot, I don't get enough sleep, the sleep I get isn't good and the list goes on and on and on.

     We have seen a counselor who was so robotic we quickly moved on. I don't wish bad things on anyone and I definitely wouldn't wish that my worst enemy lose a child but I think that if you are going to be a grief counselor you need to have experienced some sort of similar loss. Empathy is much stronger than sympathy, especially when dealing with loss. People with sympathy usually only have it at first and they are the quickest to move on with their lives and then start asking questions of you like "Why are you still upset about that? It happened months ago." I will let you all re-read that, let it sink in, and decide if this applies to you or how ridiculous these kinds of people are.

     We attended a presentation on grief at a local hospital. It was an interesting event because it was geared towards professionals within the field of grief counselling as well as people who have experienced loss. The presenter, Dr. Robert Neimeyer, did a great job of varying the presentation style throughout the program. One of the most important things he said that I took from his presentation were and I know I will not quote it correctly but I will use quotes anyway to separate what he said versus my thoughts about it, "You can never be the person you were before your loss, again, so the idea of recovering from the loss should be quickly abandoned. To recover from any sickness or ailment would suggest that once the recovery was complete you would be your old self again. You might be bandaged up and even missing some pieces but, for the most part, you would be whole again." This idea has helped me to see the err in a lot of my coping strategies. I desperately tried to continue on "business as usual." Whether it was from denial of what I was feeling about the truth that was unavoidable or a sense of duty to my family to hold myself together so they would have someone to be a rock they could lean on it was doomed and flawed from the start. I am a hot mess, broken. To lean on me would be like leaning on a pile of sand. If you leaned too hard you might get buried too.

     We have finally found a support group to attend, Remembering our Children. We have only gone once and I think it is too early to tell how this will go but it is better than dangling off the ledge to oblivion trying to hold yourself up knowing full well it won't last long and the fall may not end.

     Zoe didn't make it to her dad's big day but she is still the prettiest flower girl, ever.

     Talking about this is hard and writing about it is even harder. I write how I feel and read it to make sure it sounds right. Reliving everything over and over again with every line. I am going to end this post here.

     I love you, Zoe. I will see you in my dreams and we can keep working on your letters if you want or we can play together. Your choice.

Saturday Night Zombicide?

So, I usually spend my Saturday playing Warmachine/Hordes and that definitely happened yesterday. Some really fun games were played, friends I haven't seen in a while showed up. Good day for war gaming. This post is not meant to feature any of that...another time.

After the regularly scheduled programming I was introduced to a board game called Zombicide.

For those that are not familiar with this game the rock bottom basics are that you are a survivor of the zombie apocalypse and you and a group of other survivors go around searching buildings and vehicles for weapons and other supplies (sometimes finding zombies instead), completing objectives depending on the scenario you are playing and, most importantly, killing zombies.

There are lot of different types of weapons ranging from a pan, katana and machete to dual wielding pistols and Ma's Shotgun but so far my favorite is the chainsaw. Oh my...I love the chainsaw.

My team and I did not survive the game last night which anyone who has watched a zombie movie in the last 10 years knows that they usually don't end with a happy ending.

For those looking for something to break up their family game night schedule of Scrabble and Monopoly might check this game out. The best part is the game is cooperative so for the good of the team "if there is any question and the roll is low, the die is cocked."

This isn't just a yo-yo blog anymore...

I know this blog has been inactive for quite some time now but I have experienced some things recently that have completely changed my world view in some respects and now I want to tell a different story...the whole story.

What the heck does that mean?

Well, what first started out as a canvas for painting the picture of my experience with yo-yoes will now include other hobbies I enjoy, life experiences, general thoughts, and really encompass all of the things I feel like are worth sharing with the world. We don't know how long we have in life and once we are gone and our friends, family, and acquaintances remember us how do we want to be remembered? My hope is that I can give them a place to visit while I am still here that they will want to come back to and remember funny things or see some of the cool stuff I have seen. I want to share my life with them, and all of you.

Welcome back...