God dammit Beretta... I really do think I love you.

Also... You're a beast.

Your progress is crazy Beretta! I mean seriously... How long have you been training? And how much do you weigh?

(A more full entry on today, than the one line in my last post.)

September 17, 2009
Great, amazing, wonderful, sad, happy, emotional, physical, fantastical day today.  I've been really anxious about my living situation, which has been marred by other people's problems with drugs and women and cleaning up after themselves and paying rent.  It looked like I was going to have to somehow make time to move out, which seemed impossible.  Then, today I talked to my landlord, and it's all good.  We're booting out (with due process of course) the problem folks and the good people get to stay, and take our time filling up the house with people worth living with.  The good news to you is... THE PK COUCH IS OPEN TO CRASH ON!!!  Hopefully we'll have another dance party soon, to celebrate!

That news really made my day.  I don't know when I would've packed or moved my shit.  The stress was really getting to me.

Ballet was very difficult today.  I was having a hard time focusing mentally, and today was not a flexible day for me.

Worked on HS's between classes a lot.  Walking down concrete stairs on your hands is scary.  I can do it no prob over and over in my house now, but it's a whole 'nother matter outside.

Also, hit up this catleap spot I found recently while walking to get a cup of coffee.  After finishing my sandwich for lunch, I hit up some trees on campus, working on bar techniques I've learned recently, doing 'em on the branches. Train whenever, wherever, especially when you're busy as _ _ _ _.

Left my last class early so I could go see one of my favorite local musicians.  As I was driving home, I thought "hey, that amazing playground is right over there."  So, of course I stopped, and had an amazing 20 or 30 minute training session.  Continuing to be inspired by Oleg.  Running rail precisions, underbars, cats, spinning out of vaults, fun, fun, fun.  Definitely some stuff that I want to put in my sampler, which I've decided recently I want to make.  That painted 12' wall that used to taunt me, is fun to scale.

Had a blast at the show afterward, too.  Busy weekend ahead.  Should be fun!

Today was the always epic SFPK Monthly Jam.  Third Sunday of every month traceurs from all over Northern California, from Sacramento in the Northeast, to Murphy's in the Southeast, to Santa Cruz in the South and of course the Santa Rosa crew in the North (including yours truly) converge somewhere to train.  Today it was Santa Cruz, a spot I love!  Might be going to school there next year.

Such a great group of people, and I hadn't seen all these people together in one spot in a long time.  As spread out as we are, even though I only see them once a month or less, these people are my best friends.  Traceurs understand each other in way that no one else can.  Lots of smiles and laughter all day.

I'm really proud of what I did today, too.  Pushed myself.  Steep uphill backwards cat-balance on a flat rail.  Tried a weird wall-run (you jump to the wall, then pop and grab) that I'd only watched others (i.e. Tyson Cecka and NoSole) do before.  I failed to make the top, but I didn't hesitate at all.  Made a catleap at height, with minimal time (less than a minute) building up to it.  Tried 360 wall runs for the first time ever and came pretty close, after a series of comically-bad attempts.  Got a chin-high crane jump with my hands assisting.  Worked on kong exit distance.  Did some good progression work to overcome my rail-precision fear (I've done 'em before, but hate 'em.)  Worked on craning onto a rail, then running on it (thanks Oleg!), which was easier than I thought it would be.  Rail flow, big moves, style, function, fun, smiles, laughter, friends: parkour.

Haha, Nice! Looked a little awkward there for a sec though.

It was a great evening of training.  Me, Alter, Morgan and a new guy (Joe) had fun training.   Worked on some basics and also playing on the playground @ SR Charter School for the Arts.  I'm starting to get pretty comfortable with bars.  My power just wasn't there tonight though. 

I couldn't make a wall run that was ridiculous easy last week.  Very annoying.  I have all these stupid minor injuries slowing me down, draining my confidence, etc. 

Also hit up some trees at the JC.  Tonight I was able to work up the balls to actually try what I thought of yesterday: I don't know the name of the technique, but it's a bar thing where you lean backwards while sitting on a bar, then lower yourself by your hands (or flip off, that will come later!).  There's this weird little flow piece I'm working on in this tree: wall run (tree run), to underbar, turn around, then do the sit back thingy and fall off.

Working a lot of tree flow lately.  Fun stuff.

Weekly practice in Santa Rosa today.  About four of us.  We did parkour for about an hour and a half, then headed down to this crazy art festival in Santa Rosa, called the Handcar Regatta.  Basically people make human-powered contraptions then drag race 'em down the railroad tracks, usually while wearing Steampunk costumes.  Totally wacky and hilarious.

Tried handstands on the railroad tracks, as well as pirouettes (turned out and parallel).  It's really hard to pirouette on a rail.

That looks like SO much awesome! Also, procrastination makes papers better. The best time to write them is right before class!


...as long as your printer doesn't jam...

Thanks Spencer!


October 1, 2009

Worked on handstands all day between classes.  Epic fucking radness.  I have the transition from handstand to forearm stand down, but I have a hard time staying balanced afterwards.  Also tried transitioning to one arm forearm stands.  I foresee lots of possibilities opening up after I become proficient with this.  Also, I have much greater range of motion now on freestanding HSPUs, but not when I link them.  Walked about 40-50 continuously on my hands today.

Also, GTG PPPUs.

Plus I aced the super hard Anthro test, and got a high B-minus on my Film History test.  Not bad, since I only ever skimmed the books in both classes.  :kekekegay:

School is rad... we watched a Marx Brothers film tonight.

Tons of energy right now, might do some night training!

EDIT: Oops, almost forgot: made very gratifying progress on some flow in a tree on campus. A month ago I never would have seen this possibility (and I didn't have all the skills either), two weeks ago I could only imagine it, tuesday I could do half of it, and now I just need to work on making it smoother. Hooray for progression.

Santa Rosa Weekly Practice
Just me today.

Did a nice barefoot warm-up. Joint rotations, jogging, push-ups & variations, squats & QM. Then worked on safety vault flow in a rail space. Finally getting okay at reverse safety vaults.

After that spent some time drilling kongs. First I worked on exit distance, then I worked on left foot takeoff, which sent me back to square one. It was like day one of training all over again, except that I had improved quite a bit in fifteen minutes.

Then I did a couple all-out laps around the school. This was a very frustrating experience. Perhaps its the frequency of trips to Taco Bell over the last couple weeks that are to blame, perhaps its because I don't run much anymore, perhaps it was a "bad day"... but whatever it was I'm not happy with how I performed on these long runs. I think I should be able to fit in a few 1-2 mile runs a week, right after work or something. Maybe some jump roping too. Lameness.

Then I went to the college next door. Worked a few things. Got really close to a precision that I've been scared of for awhile now. Then I tried again and whacked my shin on it. Oy. So I started working 360 wall runs for a minute. Not sure how motivated I am for these, so perhaps I'll never have 'em. Oh well.

Moved to a different part of campus and worked pop to crane, left and right, as well as precisions at height. Amazing how an easy distance gets scary a few feet off the ground.

Major accomplishment of the day: walked down concrete stairs on my hands without a spot. Felt great. There's a set of 3 long stairs that aren't very high that I keep seeing every day between classes, but didn't want to try in front of a couple hundred people. Great first step in the progression to bigger, longer, higher sets! Really happy about this one. Did it several times to make sure.

There's a giant wall near the campus police station. Haven't got it yet, but was almost there after screaming at it a few times today.

Then I walked to get a smoothie, then ambled over to the rad elementary school with the killer playground.

Lots of fun creative things there today! Almost got glide kips! Really close on a bunch of them. I think it's just a matter of time and repetition. Rail flow, running up the dome, drops and rolls through a bar set, to a wall run. Lots of opportunities for unique movements at this place. Glad I started going back there so much. Also, spent a lot of time working on leaping brachiations. My damn calluses held me back a bit. Suckers are huge, I need to take care of 'em.

Three hours of awesome. It was nice being alone.