I posted this on the Facebook page and the front page of my website but I figured those of you that remember High Speed YoYo should be kept in the loop. This has been an amazing community, thank you for all the support over the years.
Final Update 9/29/2019
It has been a long time since I have written for High Speed YoYo. To answer your question yes, I am still alive, and yes, I am still throwing. The very short answer to why I have not written a review, updated the site, or written on the Facebook page in well over two years is that life seriously got in the way.
The longer answer is quite a bit more complicated. To keep it short, sweet, and to the point… I had way too many things going on and not enough time to take care of all of them. First off, back in early 2017 I went back to school to earn my master’s degree in education. It was not easy to balance my hobbies, school life, work life, and family life all at the same time but I did my best to make it work. That balancing act ended abruptly in late 2017 when my wife at the time and I separated and, subsequently, I filed for divorce. At that moment I became a single parent of my teenage son. I had to find a new place to live and had little to no access to most of my possessions during the proceedings. While the divorce was going on, I was still working towards my master’s degree and to be honest, the site ceased to be a priority of mine. Fast forward to today… I graduated in December 2018, the divorce was finalized earlier this year, and I have new priorities that monopolize my time. I am quite happy in my new life. My family is in a stable, healthy environment and I am raising an amazing son, and helping him with his passions for retro videogames and playing the baritone sax in any and every high school band available to him in his school district. I am also doing my best to help my eldest daughter wherever she deems it possible as she starts her junior year of college.
I do not know if I will ever update the site again with another review or, to be honest, how much longer the site will stick around. I have been lurking around on the old forums and it has shown that the times have passed me by. I have become just another mediocre old dude with a yoyo. Please do not send me your condolences, I am quite happy in the new roles that I have been given. There is always a reason for the things that happen in life and this whole experience has given me some much needed prospective. All I can say is thank you for the huge amount of support you have given me in this community, I have loved being a member.
I’ve always thought very highly of the reviews and content on high speed yoyo. I’d often head straight there if I wanted some info on a particular throw.
It will be a shame to see the end of it but I’m glad you’re in a good place where you are now.
Thank you for compiling one of the most resourceful tools in the yo-yo community and your expertise was second to none my friend and colleague…keep the wind to your back & good luck friend!
Godspeed Sir! Your reviews helped me learn about yoyos. Informative, well written, entertaining. Congratulations on the Masters Degree, best wishes to you and your family. Most of all, thank you for sharing your knowledge with us.
Always loved the HSYY reviews. Thanks for doing them!
Glad to hear that you are doing what you need to do to prioritize your life, but that you are still throwing
The only part I object to is when you say you are just another mediocre dude with a yoyo, ahaha. I beg to differ… you contributed a lot and there is always room for you to engage again if you want to (though it’s true that there is a lot - too much? - to keep up with in the yoyo world).
I hope you will consider relocating the reviews or handing them off to another, a passing the torch, if you will, rather than simply tossing them into the equivalent of a digital fire. I started throwing and collecting unresponsive yoyos a little more than two short years ago, and in that time I have watched countless YouTube review videos and read numerous written reviews. I have purchased somewhere between two and three hundred yoyos, and for each consideration, I sought out a review from you, because I found your reviews to contain the best information for my needs. Regardless of your age or even the age of the reviews, the information is still quite pertinent and spot on. Thanks for the update on you and your life, but please consider ensuring your reviews remain available to the yoyo community. Reviewing yoyos may be a hobby of the past for you, but for those just getting into throwing or collecting, or those even interested in expanding their current collection, the information in your reviews is invaluable. ;] Thanks!
Life happens. We all have to remember that and not let it make us feel bad for our choices. As a parent and a partner and an adult with a career/house/responsibilities, I 100% feel you. My time for yoyoing has gone up and down over the years.
But one thing I love is that the yoyos are always sitting on the desk waiting for a throw, the community is always here when you need it, the videos are always on IG for you to stumble on and get stoked. So step away if you need to, but don’t forget that it’s all still here for when you, inevitably in my experience, realize that you miss throwing and talking with others who love this silly toy.
Please PLEASE reconsider this. Even if you never throw a yoyo again, I’d ask you to reconsider. Yoyoing has lost too much cool history because nobody made a plan to keep it. I’m sure there is somewhere that the High Speed Yoyo content could be moved to so it had a home.
