you got to get your dreams chewed and spit by the harsh reality of life to call yourself “old”.
and if you still have your dreams then, you get to call yourself “young” ;D ;D ;D
you shouldn’t feel old when 17 cause when you’ll really get older, you’ll realize that by “acting old” while being so young, you would have missed so much important parts of life. I know 22yo kids who are older than I am.
I’m 33 years young, just quit my job to open a yoyo store.
Good thing you were deported. (sarcasm) Tulsa is a horrible city. I’m glad you made it out. 
Please tell me you started the store and you are in the black before you quit your job. Yo-Yo stores are a cut throat business and it’s not easy making it. I wish you all the success.
Quit my job last september, I was supposed to start the store last november, started two months ago and it’s doing much better than expected, it’s TONS of work but I love it.
I agree it was a leap of faith but I believe I’m doing a good job and I can already see that it’s paying off. Still far from making a living out of it, but now that I started, it seems to be possible within a shorter time than I originally expected.
The market I’m on is very different than US market and I’m basically the only one here. I’m not taking away customers from other shops, rather, I’m trying to help build the french scene by making yoyos easily available as many of the teens here are reluctant to order in other countries and most people don’t even speak english.
It was a well thought out process to begin with (it’s not the 1st company I try to build so I’ve learned from previous mistakes so I’m in the clear to make brand new ones now!) and of course, the challenge here is to simply beat the odds, beat the math that say I couldn’t do it (try making a market study for yoyoing in a country where the known community doesn’t exceed 30 or 40 players)
Bottom line, I believe that yoyoing is a great activity, art form, sport, whatever, I believe yoyoing should be spread out to the masses because I believe that yoyoing will make the world that much of a better place. I believe in transmitting the values of yoyoing because they take what’s best in our modern world (social media, ease of communication and travel, cultural mix etc…)
and I believe in it so much that I was fairly confident to quit my job and try out a yoyo store on my own.
when you think about it, what is there to lose other than money?
IMO, life isn’t worth living if you don’t pursue your dreams
when we’re young, we have the head full of dreams, and then as we grow older, society, the system, consumerism etc… they all take our dreams away and we end up being “old”, caring about politics, the economy, boring stuff, we get a mortgage, involving us for decades to come, we get a frustrating job and once we reach those 5 last minutes of life, we end up asking ourselves “what if I tried?”. And that’s a question I don’t want to ask myself, I want to know.
Yoyoing woke up the kid in me and brought it back to life. Now I’m still kinda broke but I’m happy like never before, working towards a goal, making a dream come true.
And in the end, the trip is what’s worth living, not the destination.
So in a way I feel “Old” because I went through bad stuff that life threw at me and came back. and I feel “young” because coming back from that made me realize that youth is a state of mind rather than a number, being young means that you still can believe in the unbelievable, dream of a better life and be happy with fewer material needs. (I don’t watch TV nor do I have a cellphone for example)
happiness is a choice, at least for us who live in modern/western countries. Society wants to make us think we’re unhappy so they can sell us stuff we don’t need/want by making us believe that consuming will make us happy. but that’s a lie. We have all we need to be happy, which is food, a roof over our heads, good friends and a world of opportunities.
I agree with everything. I just wanted you to be “safe” with your finances considering jobs are hard to come by these days. Glad it worked out for you.
33 here. Picked up throwing again about 6 months ago. Last time before that I was learning from Kens world on a string in the late 90s.
no worries, I really appreciate the concern, and I have my own family to take care of on top of that.
that said, I know I can easily find a job because I’m willing to do whatever for a given amount of time. I know by now that I want to be my own boss, so a job will also be temporary for me unless I work for myself.
I’m almost 30 and dreading the next bday but oh well. I yoyoed a lot when I was younger on butterflys doing loops and other old school tricks. I picked it up again christmas of 2010 when I bought my son a butterfly to go in his stocking. He didnt get much from it but I did. I played with it for awhile and bought a couple bearing yoyos, started a new job, got busy, stopped throwing and then picked it back up in November of last year. I learned to bind and the rest is history. I yoyo everyday for several hours no exception. It drives my wife crazy but oh well. I started a club with some other guys in the area, I went to VA states and plan on going to more contests.
I’m 35 and drive my wife crazy as well. She says she can hear YoYo bearings in her sleep!
I started a club in my community and have been teaching classes at the afterschool center. It’s been a blast.
Im an administrator of a probation department and am responsible for handling workers comp claims. I’ve always wondered if yoyoing is a good way to prevent repetitive motion injuries or arthritis in hands or wrists? So when I’m caught throwing at work I can say I’m doing my “exercises”. Seriously though. You use both hands in a wide range of stretching and strength building movements that I think would be helpful. Anyone have any experience to back my theory?
from nothing but my own personal experience, it’s quite the contrary. I’m afraid yoyoing might cause this kind of injuries. When I practice a lot (like before contest or “grinding” my FS or one trick I’m working on) I tend to hurt myself quite often (tendinitis) and I never had that before (even tho I play the piano and spend extensive time typing on a computer)
I have bad arthritis in both my hands and wrists. yoyoing actually does help. At least for Dr YoYo and I.
I agree with Hadog, I would think yoyoing could lead to tendinitis or repetitive use injuries. However, if you already have a bit of arthritis then it might help to keep thing stretched and a bit loose.
I’m not a doctor, I only play one in my mind.
19 in body, both 5 and 65 in mind ;D
43 here, and throwing for nearly 9 months now. It was either this or invest my money. Yoyos just seemed more practical 
YoYo’s come back (most of the time), not all investments do. 
I’m 30, not 40 yet though.
There are a lot of older guys here.
I am 29 and will be 30 this year. I have to say its amazing to see that throwin is a part of all ages. Keep it up guys!
I proudly confess I am a 14 year old locked in a 53 year old body! Throwing keeps my mind and body sharp. Well, not really but it is fun!
Ok…I guess I can reveal that I’m 55 :o !!
Started throwing while Kennedy was in office. I had a Duncan Bowl-Yo if anyone remembers one of those. Obviously things have progressed nicely in the YoYo industry since then.
Though I catch a lot of crap from some friends for always having a YoYo in my hand, I will never give it up. I just wish people would quit asking me to “Walk the Dog” !!
Now that is getting old !
I’m 43 and I don’t get asked to walk the dog enough!