If I have 5 minutes to kill, I’m yo-yoing. As long as it isn’t stupid crowded and I can slip into a spot that doesn’t impede anybody’s movement, I’m giving er a throw.
I was waiting for my next round of a magic tournament to be posted 2 weeks ago. So I pulled out a yoyo and started doodling. Before too long one of the out of towners sees me and goes “YO! I haven’t done this in ages. Can I?”
To which there is only one response in my opinion “are you familiar with unresponsive yo-yos and how to bind?”
He’s comfortable with my prerequisites and I hand over my daily carry. But as I do so, I have one, very selfish, thought, “I hope he’s worse than me” lol.
I YoYo’s anywhere that there’s space to safely yoyo. Occasionally I’ll get a kid who asks me to dna or an adult asking me to walk the dog. Otherwise rarely do people even acknowledge I’m there…
I Work at a university and thought I would throw a few out it see it anyone would engage and comment. I was walking back from a lunch with some of my team so was just walking and throwing some sleepers.
I have a feeling that it must have looked so natural that no one made comment or mentioned it, or perhaps did not see it as unusual behaviour. To keep in mind that I am a 50+ and would consider this might be conceived as eccentricity and not a young and rebellious activity.
I will be conducting this experiment again and would encourage everyone to do the same.
feel like you are more likely to get a comment if you do some tricks, people are less used to seeing them and it can therefore suprise them enough to say something
Great topic! I pretty much carry my Luftverk Ti Executive wherever I go. Not in a case or anything, just in my pocket. It’s constantly coming into contact with change, my keys, etc.. So it being titanium is obviously beneficial.
I throw it everywhere. Standing in line for stuff at the bank, walking my dog, everywhere. Usually just forward or backward passes, maybe some loops and such. Nothing crazy, just something to hold my attention. Surprise surprise, it’s not an easy thing to hold.
However I’ve noticed something, it’s almost impossible for me to throw and remain angry or sad about something. It’s really therapeutic.
I was at a work event and they were doing some sort of fair.
and a YYF booth was there and I got to meet a guy named Keith. I was stoked to see yo-yos and he even let me try some unresponsive throw I’d never seen before.
I went back up to my desk and got my Gold YYF Shutter from 2014, I joke with people and call it my “Doorknob”.
We had a long conversation about yo-yos and how he got into it.
He recommended I go to the AZ YoYo comp but it was the same day as a bridal expo so my priorities lied elsewhere.
I hope he’s in the forum and having a great day, genuinely made my year.
Near Xmas I was at the grocery store throwing. Another person sees me noodling with my Deepest State and were mesmerized. They were saying “wow what a fantastic hobby to have” and “I haven’t seen one of those in ages.”
I was glad to bring joy and a smile to somebody’s face in these stressful times.
I have been out and about yo-yoing, mostly walking to and from my office at work. I often get people doing the double take, looking back for a second look to confirm what they had initially seen at first glimpse.
I usually get a grin or a smile, however not had any interactions from people passing.
I have now purchased a Duncan Pulse that might get a little more attention.
Today I have had a office team mate come over to my work space and comment on my Duncan Hornet that i have displayed on my desk.
They had pointed asked ‘is that a?’ and had quickly responded ‘ A Yo-yo, yes it is’.
After a brief discussion about the origin of the Yo-yo I gave a simple demonstration, with a sleeper, rock the cradle and a trick a called the Drop Bear (Australian trick).
Had them fascinated. “I had no idea you can do that with a Yo-yo, i thought it was a kids toy’.
This open up a conversation across the office with others that had not seen my tricks, commenting that they also had them as children.
I also had a comment from another college that had seen me do around the world in the car park on the way to work this morning that was positive too.
The other day I was throwing while at the gas pump, waiting for my car to fill up. A gent at another pump gave some of your typical comments like “I haven’t seen one of those since I was a kid.” He also asked if I had ever competed. I laughed and told him I hadn’t. But who knows, if I’m still in Missouri when the next UYYC rolls around, maybe I can do something like the 30 second one, IDK Good times all around
Last night at the hotel I was down the lobby waiting for my boss to come down so I was throwing a bit and the receptionist was very excited to learn all about it, and to praise me for my “skill” lol, she damn near fell over when I did Skin the gerbil lol. It was great, really gave me a nice boost.
She didn’t seem to have too much a desire to try but she was tickled to see me go through some tricks and to explain a bit about the scene.
I just remembered a fun story that happened years ago on one of my trips to Disneyland. Friend and I were walking back to our hotel after grabbing dinner on our first night. I’m playing with my brand new Duncan Triumph that I bought at Downtown Disney in our travels. Ahead, I see this guy in a suit in front of a timeshare location with hands moving about but nobody in front of him so he couldn’t be talking to anybody and doing hand expressions. As we got closer, we see that he’s actually playing with a yoyo. He stops yoyoing and attempts to go into sales person mode. I quickly butted in and said “I see you do yoyo!” I then pull my Duncan out. It went from what was supposed to be a sales pitch to a couple of guys yoyoing for a few minutes and talking about the hobby and where we are. We then parted ways and I don’t think I saw him anymore on the remainder of our trip. But it was fun to see another thrower in the wild.
Most of the time people either just don’t care, think you’ve got way too much times on your hands/have no life, or say “wow I haven’t seen those in ages.”
When I subbed at the middle school I would bring a duncan metal drifter and do tricks for the kids at the end of class if they didn’t give me a hard time. Like blood in the water for piranha, had to do something to keep control. I know I gave bad substitutes hell when I was a kid
Good times all around