Juggling is not a sobriety test.
Category: Juggling
Inspired to do home improvement
Cathy wants me to work on the house more. I want to juggle more.
Thanks for the contact juggling video Rich!
I’m not sure if my comment to Rich’s post got spam filtered or not so I’ll repost it here.
http://view.break.com/511205 – Watch more free videos
That guy is VERY smooth! Quite the inspiration too. The first time you, I or anyone saw contact juggling was in the movie Labyrinth with David Bowie. David Bowie had his hands behind his back and Michael Moschen, a juggler and choreographer, who created contact juggling, did the manipulations while wearing leather gloves. The only special effect used was when the balls floated away.
Michael Moschen taught an apprentice his techniques and that apprentice published the lessons in a famous book titled “Contact Juggling” that just has a black cover and plastic binding like it was made at Kinkos. As the story goes, Moschen was ticked!
The “crystal” balls (acrylic) are actually manufactured for the chemical industry and are used to float on top of vats of chemicals. They are fun to play with! I toy with contact juggling but have not put in the hours that this guy has obviously done in training.
Waking Exhausted
What’s tickling my arm? Oh, the cat is on the bed sniffing me to wakefulness. Look at the time! This house is hot. Why am I so tired after such deep sleep? My dreams. Tossing and turning. Programming in my head. All night I saw code and solutions to the programming challenges I have during the day. Do I really need to get up? I feel like I worked all night long.
I must work harder at calming my mind before laying down for sleep at night. I am not a practitioner of meditation. I have always wanted to be. Jason Jarrett helped me understand the Nichiren Daishonin Buddhist chant of NAM-MYO-HO-REN-GE-KYO and that’s brought me closer to a meditative calm than anything else I have tried. Chapter 9 of the book You Are Psychic!: The Free Soul Method
IJA Festival 2008 is in Lexington!
Oh serendipity! This is the closest I have ever been to the International Jugglers’ Association festival! I have video tapes from renegade shows from a couple of decades ago that just look like a blast. Years ago, young and bullheaded, I had attitude toward the IJA as being the evil juggling overloads (for profit) that popularized that horrid 4-4-10 nonsense. In truth, I just wasn’t innovative enough to get myself to one of the festivals. Groundhog Day Juggler’s convention in Atlanta and the one Neil Stammer (Andrew J. Allen) hosted in D.C. were the ones I was able to attend.
Juggling festivals are wonderful. You learn so much. And there’s nothing to really describe the sensation of walking into a gymnasium filled with a few hundred people throwing things at each other. And when you get some really talent passers together, the juggling is like clockwork, everything around you fades away, and you are in a single group mind defying gravity!
I went to the Knoxville Juggler’s Club night last night. It was thrilling but my skills have faded and long since been surpassed by superior jugglers. I never uttered that I was the best juggler in Knoxville; that would be wrong, lacking humility, egotistical, and arrogant. But years ago I heard it, and secretly I didn’t think it was too far off base not because I was talented but because Knoxville just didn’t have that many die-hard jugglers. Of course back then I’d blow off classes to go listen to Jimmy Buffett, The Grateful Dead, reggae, and the occasional acoustic guitar player while juggling barefoot in the grass at the World’s Fair Park. Met one of my best friends and has wife on one of their first dates while skipping class to juggle in that park. I want to keep going to the club and I want my juggling fire back. I doubt I will catch up to these guys. As the has-been juggler, I wonder how I would hold my own at the IJA Festival. I feel a bit like Fast Eddie Felson; there was then and there is now.
61st IJA Festival
July 14-20, 2008
Lexington, Kentucky [Source, juggle.org]
Juggling Club Meeting Tonight
As a reminder, the Knoxville Juggler’s Club meets the first Sunday and third Tuesday of every month. All skill levels welcome. Come and learn! Everyone can juggle. Juggling is good for the body, mind, and spirit. It also is a great social tool.
Naturally, my attendance is dependent upon my work progress. I do hope to get a short break as I could use the exercise!
Juggler on TV
Well now…Thank you Ken Schwall!
I have never seen him do that!
Perhap i need to teach my children to juggle.
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Clown day update
I love teaching these first graders how to juggle.
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Clown Day
Teaching kids to juggle today with Ringling Brothers Clowns!
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Those Jugglers Hurt Me!
My legs still burn! I have not moved so much in ages. I suppose this means I really should exercise more.
Knoxville Juggling Club relauches
I had to take a break from the tech. I don’t exercise anymore. Cannot remember the last time I stretched. I find myself wanting to sleep more.
When I used to exercise and stretch regularly, I slept less and felt more alive. So tonight, I committed myself to meeting with the Knoxville Juggler’s Club.
Jan Sanders Hall at Cokesbury United Methodist Church will be open to jugglers from 7 to 9 p.m. on the first Sunday and the third Tuesday of each month.
I am going to do my best to show up to both meetings. And I promise not to make any more naked jokes in the church… There were some very talented jugglers there tonight! Dave juggled 5 rings beautifully with ease, a feat I cannot personally replicate. He also juggled five crystal balls without a sweat. Kevin, Jimmy and Doug (not me…the other one) were doing artistic passing. My loud mouth came in and talked them into throwing lots of clubs at the floor. Noah practiced diablo and the rola bola. And we indoctrinated a bystander into 3 ball juggling. I had a blast!
What type of people attend juggling clubs? A high school math teacher, a nuclear engineer (okay..I don’t really know what he does but its got "engineer" in the title and his job is in Oak Ridge so I’m sure its top secret!), a finish carpenter who runs his own business, a middle schooler, a web application developer aka computer geek (yeah that’s me), and an IT guy (yes, that’s a computer guy too).
Why juggle? Because juggling is fun! And so much more. For me, juggling is almost spiritual! Juggling is good for the body as it is very aerobic. Juggling is better than coffee for waking you up as it gets the blood flowing and more oxygen to the brain. Juggling is a social activity. When a person juggles, be it a child or a shy person or anybody, people take notice and often converse and ask questions. Juggling will break you out of your shell! Juggling is good for the mind. You cannot juggle distracted. When you focus on juggling, your worries and the clutter in your mind slip away allowing you to find serenity. This is why corporations have seminars to teach their executives to juggle (aside from the wealth of productivity metaphors that can be thrown into the juggling lessons). In short, juggling is good for the mind, body and soul!
Who can juggle? Anybody! I’ve seen a one handed man juggle. Children can be taught at a very early age. Typically the hand eye coordination required develops around 8 to 10 years old but with patience, a 5 year old could learn. And everyone knows that as soon as I can (usually around 10 months), I teach my children to balance in my hand. I hear people say, "I am too clumsy." Well, that is a perfect reason to learn to juggle! Juggling makes you more aware of things around you and can help make someone less clumsy. Juggling teaches hand/eye coordination and teaches the mind to handle a state of chaos as well as predicting the paths of objects in motion. Jugglers are better drivers! Another excuse is "I don’t have the coordination." Yes you do! Anyone that truly wants to learn to juggle, I can teach in about 10 minutes. As Gusto’s cousin, Marso, says, "Anyone can juggle!"
Juggling Urges
I have taken to practicing juggling in the carpool line. My 5 ball juggling has really started to clean up and today I started trying to work a couple of behind the back throws into the 5 ball routine. I’ll practice many things in the carpool line. I haven’t done anythings scary yet but still the mothers in the carpool will get out of their cars and chat with one another all while avoiding me. So yes, sometimes I do get the urge to juggle machetes.
Thanks Willful!
Oh! That’s why I hurt.
My forearms have had a fairly constant burning pain the past couple of days. I assumed it was to over typing. They feel like the muscle wants to pull from the bone. It suddenly dawned on me today why! I have formed a habit of juggling in the parking lots while waiting at the schools for the students to dismiss from their activities. Specifically, I’ve started putting 15 minutes of juggling in everyday while waiting to pick Amy up from kindergarten. The juggling relaxes me and I feel my control really coming back strong! I’ll be juggling 6 or 7 bean bags in a few weeks.
The Regal Riviera Opens – then closes…
I had the pleasure of being invited to join Michael Messing as walk around entertainment for the Regal Riviera’s Open Ceremonies. I am pictured at Knoxnews. Saul Young is a fun photographer! (Note to Scripps: I would have bought the picture to use in this post but you don’t offer a digital purchase option). The event was divided into a public area and a VIP area. Unfortunately, the crowd in the public area was sparse and seemed to consist mainly of people who were "just walking by" so my juggling was concentrated in the VIP area. When the news crews started filming I was holding some very heavy juggling balls so I found myself doing endurance juggling. I faired well but dropped on camera (that always bugs me). Trying to juggle 3 pounds for more than 3 minutes straight without dropping for an out of shape, out of practice juggler is a feat unto itself! As the evening started to close, the crowd and turned sparse enough that I felt good about pulling out the torches. The Knoxville Police Department took a special interesting in this fiery activity. Maybe it had something to do with the original Riviera burning down in 1963.
The power went out shortly after the movies began but unlike certain conjecture, the juggler had already left the scene. The power returned a couple of hours later. Some discussion.
I like the look of the theatre both inside and out. The sign does not look cheap or cheesy. Looking south on Gay Street makes a pretty picture with the Tennessee Theater and the Bijou. The inside looks like a Regal theatre; nothing more, nothing less. As a college student, I recall having to take the bus to the 4 screen theatre which is now a furniture store beside Stephens Audio on Kingston Pike. That was an embarrassing way to have a date. Hopefully UT students will help make this theatre viable because I have my doubts about the downtown populace being enough to support it. Personally, I would like to see downtown a vibrant area for all kinds of theatre. ( and yes, I spell it theatre on purpose )
