387202 Curiosities served
happy bouncy things (and fire!)
Previous Entry :: Next Entry
Read/Post Comments (4)
First of all, I have a fire-staff in the mail to me right now. [fights urge to run to window to look for USPS vehicle that won't be coming until Monday at the very soonest and maybe not until as late as Thursday...] No, I can't go lighting it up and twirling it the moment it gets here, there will be lots and lots and lots more practice involved. But I did a fair many staff techniques in martial arts classes mumblemrff years ago, and after 8 years of Aiki classes I feel pretty competent with a staff in my hands...
But the kind of staff stuff you do with a fire-staff is just amazingly cool. (Performance techniques are very different from fighting techniques, though I hope to combine them.) Some simple stuff is easy enough, though it'll still take practice to really not randomly wack a shin or get awkwardly hung up at times. Also I'm not yet very comfortable spinning behind my head, or very fluid at switching between all the planes, but damn it's fun playing! Then I get to go do some of the more complicated stuff, though the idea of actually throwing a 5 foot staff I'm not comfortable with yet (that's a martial arts thing I think--unless you have two points of contact with the staff you don't have control of it...) And no worries--I do in fact know several fire dancers, though mostly who use poi/fans/batons, so when I get to the stage when I'm really lighting up (not soon) it'll be with people who know what they're doing...
Anyway I've been practicing with the giant wooden broomstick handle from the push-broom we keep on the porch--the most unbalanced and strangely weighted POS I could possibly have found to practice with (aside from a staff that wasn't actually straight, I mean...) but it is the right length (the staff I ordered is 5ft). It's so neat to be twirling it and trying to fwip it around arms and necks without letting the ends (which would eventually be on fire) get near to anything they could burn... It's going to be so much nicer with the evenly weighted shiny smooth aircraft grade aluminum to play with...
Yay! I'll tell more as it develops...
Other happy bouncy things include that I'm going to be the featured poet for Flytrap #5, and really, could I have picked a better issue number? (Hail Eris!) I just have to remember to ping Tim to be in Issue #23 when it comes out... It was wonderful to be writing a bunch of poetry again--and the lovely thing is that thanks in part to an online writing group (Hitting the Muse--fabulous name, eh?) that asked my to join right after I sent those poems to Tim, I haven't stopped. I still have to flex the poetry muscles at least once a week, and it's nice to have that added push, you know? So look forward to fall/winter when that beautiful darling is published (or better yet, follow the link to subscribe and get the next several issues, you won't be disappointed...)
Oh, yeah, Happy Birthday Ivy!!!!
Emily had her baby, so Randy is a daddy. (This is actually older news than it should be, I don't update often enough anymore). Jamison Ainsley was born last week, is 21 inches and 7lbs something and from what I hear is a very lovely little girl...
Other things at the moment fall squarely in the give/take categories of life. Everyone I know has had colds or illnesses of some sort, but seem to be getting better; arguments and make-ups abound (not all mine, mind you); work is enjoyable but copious and growing; free time is not always easy to find, yadda yadda. Somehow, in a public-journal, it's easier to focus on the happy stuff.
With that in mind: Fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire...
But the kind of staff stuff you do with a fire-staff is just amazingly cool. (Performance techniques are very different from fighting techniques, though I hope to combine them.) Some simple stuff is easy enough, though it'll still take practice to really not randomly wack a shin or get awkwardly hung up at times. Also I'm not yet very comfortable spinning behind my head, or very fluid at switching between all the planes, but damn it's fun playing! Then I get to go do some of the more complicated stuff, though the idea of actually throwing a 5 foot staff I'm not comfortable with yet (that's a martial arts thing I think--unless you have two points of contact with the staff you don't have control of it...) And no worries--I do in fact know several fire dancers, though mostly who use poi/fans/batons, so when I get to the stage when I'm really lighting up (not soon) it'll be with people who know what they're doing...
Anyway I've been practicing with the giant wooden broomstick handle from the push-broom we keep on the porch--the most unbalanced and strangely weighted POS I could possibly have found to practice with (aside from a staff that wasn't actually straight, I mean...) but it is the right length (the staff I ordered is 5ft). It's so neat to be twirling it and trying to fwip it around arms and necks without letting the ends (which would eventually be on fire) get near to anything they could burn... It's going to be so much nicer with the evenly weighted shiny smooth aircraft grade aluminum to play with...
Yay! I'll tell more as it develops...
Other happy bouncy things include that I'm going to be the featured poet for Flytrap #5, and really, could I have picked a better issue number? (Hail Eris!) I just have to remember to ping Tim to be in Issue #23 when it comes out... It was wonderful to be writing a bunch of poetry again--and the lovely thing is that thanks in part to an online writing group (Hitting the Muse--fabulous name, eh?) that asked my to join right after I sent those poems to Tim, I haven't stopped. I still have to flex the poetry muscles at least once a week, and it's nice to have that added push, you know? So look forward to fall/winter when that beautiful darling is published (or better yet, follow the link to subscribe and get the next several issues, you won't be disappointed...)
Oh, yeah, Happy Birthday Ivy!!!!
Emily had her baby, so Randy is a daddy. (This is actually older news than it should be, I don't update often enough anymore). Jamison Ainsley was born last week, is 21 inches and 7lbs something and from what I hear is a very lovely little girl...
Other things at the moment fall squarely in the give/take categories of life. Everyone I know has had colds or illnesses of some sort, but seem to be getting better; arguments and make-ups abound (not all mine, mind you); work is enjoyable but copious and growing; free time is not always easy to find, yadda yadda. Somehow, in a public-journal, it's easier to focus on the happy stuff.
With that in mind: Fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire...
Read/Post Comments (4)
Previous Entry :: Next Entry
Back to Top
