Insomnia, YoYos and Random thoughts

It’s another late night. I can’t get work done during the day since my kids are screaming and yelling all day long, which sucks when trying to do telephone tech support and/or consulting services. So, here I am up late. Don’t be confused with my daytime activity on YYE, I do have some amounts of time during the day between screaming fits and other stuff.

I’ll keep this somewhat short. I make no guarantees.

First, some observations and notices.

I started throwing in May of 2011. I won’t go into the full story, that’s good enough. My boy, who was 4, now is 5, sort of started throwing around the same time. He chose a red Brain, I chose a Duncan Reflex and Imperial. My eldest girl was having nothing to do with this. Well, a month later, my eldest girl wanted in on this, which resulted in my second YYE order that included 3 YYF ONE yoyos. This was one yoyo for each of them and one for me. Their motivation: To be able to do at least a basic throw and return on the Brain. My girl was using a Brain yoyo I bought on whim sometime before the order. Well, after a couple of weeks, she earned hers. Last week, after over 5 months, the boy finally earned his ONE. He somehow got back into it by getting this super mega cheap yoyo at a birthday party. It was two plastic halves with a string stuck between them. With no weight it couldn’t do anything. Anyhow that motivated him to get into this. I think also I was getting jealous of my increasing collection and what tricks I could do. At any rate, he’s on a ONE. Now both are gunning for something better.

Second, I was doing some reading about yoyos. They say that the first evidence of the yoyo could be traced back to 500BC. in paintings on ancient Greek vases. It is suspected that China may have had the yoyo sooner but there is no evidence. I disagree. I do thing that China did have the yoyo before 500BC and was supplying it to the Greeks. They were using the money from yoyo sales to invent gun powder. The lack of evidence is really all the evidence I need.

Lastly, I just want to remind people that while I may not be an expert by any stretch of the imagination, it seems to me that we’re here to have fun. Yoyo is supposed to be fun. I mean, aren’t we having fun?

Let me share parts of my “story of the yoyo” with you.

  1. Yoyo was the hot toy to have. I was 7 that Christmas. This was before Tickle Me Elmo. Yoyo was on TV at least enough where you could see it fairly regularly. I saw it and liked it. Plus, it was cheap. So I ended up with one. I’m seeing amazing tricks on TV, it looks so fun. Here it is, I have one, I can’t even get it to sleep, much less come up. I wasn’t able to get help, I asked for someone to give me some tips to get started and I was told how lame I was for not being able to use the yoyo, that I must be the only kid on the planet who can’t use it. OK, so my parents weren’t always supportive, but they were the ones who gave me that white DuncanImperial Gee, all I wanted was some help get started. Anyhow, some months later, the string broke, more discouraging words and the item vanished. I never lost interest despite that early set back. It always looked so much fun, but doing it myself just kind of never re-entered the picture. I liked watching yoyo performances. So, in 2011, I needed a new hobby. Something cheap, something not heavy, something not complicated, something fun. OK, so 2 out of 4 ain’t bad. Cheap? NO! Not complicated? Compared to what I started with, NO, now it’s very complicated. Heavy? Definitely not heavy. Fun? Oh yeah!

So, with all the negativity around here recently, the bickering and the other silly stuff going on that distracts from the fun, I remind you all to have fun.

I consider myself very lucky. I’m very good at the stuff I do to earn money. Data comm, networking, computers, live sound reinforcement, studio recording, remote audio capture, media transfers(including 16mm, 8mm and Super8 FILM!!) and more stuff. My passion is in audio and I love doing sound for events, so I’m trying to find ways to break into handling BAC, Cal State and US Nationals. I mean, these are small time events from where I come from, but I’m just an engineer, but not a marketing dude! As I stated, I needed a new hobby and it had to be fun and I found it in the yoyo. So other than dealing with screaming kids and 2 pugs that need tons of attention and a wife who also needs tons of attention, I basically get to spend almost all of my time having fun.

So, go have fun. Skip the negativity. Less complaining, more throwing! After all, if we weren’t having fun doing this yoyo thing, how many of us would still be doing it? Get angry? Go throw your yoyo and throw your anger away. In a bad mood? Go get your yoyo and throw until your mood changes. In a good mood? Go throw anyways! I feel much better after throwing. Even if I’m just screwing up trying to learn a trick, I’m still having fun. Heck, sometimes I don’t even want to try doing a trick, I’ll just throw and bind it back. Sure feels good!

So, time for me to sleep. But I wanted to share a few thoughts. Hope it helped a few of you.

In summary:
1: The yoyo has been around a long time.
2: The yoyo is supposed to be fun.
3: Share the yoyo love.

Thank you Chris for so eloquently putting it into perspective for all of us. I also have a busy life with many responsibilities (career, girl, etc) but all that pales in comparison to your inspiring life situation. You have many, responsibilities, (not to mention talent, iam a musician and i know how difficult tech stuff, mixing, mastering and live sound can be) more than i can count. And you still somehow find the fun and share it. Truly inspiring.
Well said Chris

I threw a lot when I was young, mostly Duncan butterflys (didn’t know there was anything else at the time). Last Christmas the wife and I were shopping for stocking stuffers and I came across a butterfly and got a twinkle of youth in my eyes. He didn’t care for it so kindly played with it for him. I threw for a month and then got a new job and didn’t have a lot of spare time but when my wife was rearranging the bedroom and moved the yoyo box that spark came back. Now my son (he just turned 7 yesterday) is starting to get into it and my wife hates us.

And yes Pedro Flores did not truly invent the yoyo. And yes it should be about fun. Any hobby or anything you do in life for that matter should be about fun. Not to be better than other people or brag about how much you know about something or to belittle someone for asking a “stupid” question on a forum about yoyos.

Bottom line: share your knowledge willingly with anyone who wants to know (its only going to help grow the community), throw more than you post and most importantly Have Fun!!