Ed Haponik’s 66 Rules has been making it’s way around the community for the last week or so. One of those “rules” stood out to me:
find a yo-yo that you can’t play well at all. play it exclusively for a month.
Compared to many of you, I don’t play any yoyo well at all, but I have a No Jive (a purchase also inspired by Ed) that I can’t do much at all on. This made me realize that even though I’m throwing expert level tricks (according to Andre’s scale), I sort of glossed over the basics in my rush to get the coolest, most non-responsive yoyos I could afford.
All that being said, as soon as the bundle of Type 8 cotton strings I ordered on Wednesday is in my hands, I’m boxing up all of my bearing yoyos and not looking at them for at least a month while I get to know my No Jive and all of the things I missed in my scramble to become an expert. I didn’t stop to smell the roses, so I’m gonna backtrack a bit.
So… “if anybody else wants to come with me, this moment will be the ground floor of something real and fun and inspiring and true in this godforsaken business and we will do it together!”
Bonus points for identifying the quoted movie. imdb.com is for cheaters. and losers.
P.S. Please don’t regale me with stories of your first crappy yoyo. I want to know if anyone wants to do this now, as in this present moment, not the past.
ha. awesome. i did this a few years ago, and it was the best thing i’ve done for my yo-yoing (granted i’m kind of an odd duck and my sense of what’s ‘good’ about my yo-yoing may not match up with anyone else’s). the cones to balls string project i’m working on with steve and j-def is kind of similar, except obviously with string.
my only advice is don’t enter into it if you aren’t sure you’ll be willing to go through it. a month is a long time to use a yo-yo you hate, which is NOT the same thing as a yo-yo you ‘don’t play well’. most yo-yoers i’ve met don’t have the will to go through with it, especially when faced with the prospect of playing only a yo-yo they stink with in public or at a contest.
anyway, i’m psyched that you read that, and that you’re inclined to do it. have fun, and please update this thread to let us know how it goes.
With the holiday, order processing was delayed so my strings just shipped today. I expect them on Wednesday or Thursday. That’s when I’ll fire up the “One Month” thread.
A few clarifications:
Doesn’t matter what yoyo you use, just so long as you can learn something and have a meaningful experience with it.
You don’t have to start on any particular day. Start your month whenever.
Don’t be afraid to share your thoughts, feelings, fears, triumphs, pics, vids, etc. I don’t know about anyone else, but I wanna hear and see it all. One of things I love about yoyoing is the people and how they relate to our strange little habit.
If you’re Ed Haponik, you’re welcome to participate. But you will probably have to tie some twine to a rock and throw with that for a month to see any real benefits.
The only thing exclusive about this exercise is the yoyo. So, anyone and everyone can participate.
If you get a new yoyo for Christmas, take a break and throw it. I mean, it’s Christmas. And it’s not like you get new yoyos every day.
I tried busting out my Sunset Trajectory for string tricks after reading Ed’s rules, and it wasn’t quite as bad as I expected it to be. However, with my new Skyline here and BOSS soon to be under the tree, it’s going to be difficult to resist the temptation to bust out the metals. I’m also asking for a NoJive for Christmas (another Ed inspiration), so hopefully after I get to know my BOSS, I’ll take on this task as well with a slight delay
I got a warm five dollar bill in my pocket that says ed can shoot the moon with that big yoyo…nyuck nyuck nyuck. Anyways, I’m totally down, I want to learn some of the stalls you see ed throw. My weapon of choice will be my Shinwoo Zannavi. I also started offstringing yesterday, which I have been using my basselope and it is pretty hard. I want to get my shinwoo back from my friend for offstring. I can’t start until after the pennsylvania state comp, though! (December 13th)
p.s. ed, you are one of my favorite players. I met you in Tennessee at the state comp this year, where you showed me (I would say taught me but I haven’t had the juevos to try it) lunar landing. I was the guy with bleach blond hair and a sparkly “A” on my shirt who told you that after watching you I wanted to quit playing unresponsive. My goal for the month with my responsive: Zipper stalls, looping, lunar landing, and of course, rule no. 11) hit a true renegade with a fly-away dismount. 8)
