Nobody reads my stuff anyways, July 19, 2012 Edition

General Yo-Yo
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The past couple of weeks have been frustrating on many levels.

So, let’s look at the yoyo stuff first, since that’s all you really care about, then you can skip the rest of my story, deal? Deal!

I’m still working on kwijibo. I still need work on this, but it’s going quite well. I am landing it, just not reliably yet, but I did do it twice on one throw a couple of times. When I do that, I change yoyos just to ensure good technique. I’m not changing yoyos as often as I would like to.

As far as training is concerned, and don’t take this as a negative or a slam, but I got started with Andre’s tutorial on this trick, but even with the angles, being full speed, it didn’t work too well for me. I ended up using the videos Brett Grimes made, one for One Drop, the other for HSYY. Seeing it broken down and slowed down really helped me get this trick down. My point here isn’t “oh, the videos on YYE aren’t good”. My point is that you should try any and ALL learning resources you can find when you’re learning something. I’ve learned many tricks using nothing other than the YYE videos for my learning. We all learn differently and sometimes we need a different perspective. Never limit yourself!

My boy is currently bearing up his Fiesta XX as I type this. He can throw it, land it and bind it back. I even showed him how to do off-string barrel rolls and he can do that now too. He just needs to slow down and stop being a spaz and controlling his throw and he’ll improve. He’s into my stacked yoyos so we have to figure out what to get. He likes my Magic YoYo T9, so that may be the way to go. I have 2 of those so I have a set when I get around to messing with ASquared style. He’s playing his Magic T6 almost exclusively now, although he stil raids my case and throws my Albatross quite a bit.

I missed the YYF/Tony Hawk Birdhouse Left Coast tour stop in Sacramento because I was tearing my house apart looking for my 66/110 impact tool. I need it for a job, but I don’t have the $70 to buy a decent replacement and I dislike cheap tools. I was unable to go to the Rocky Ridge Learning Express YYF event the next day, but that’s due to the fact that I have kids and my wife and I share a car, so the logistics were impossible. I hope YYF feels the tour is worth it and does another next year!

New arrivals: Nessie. Nice!
Got a YYS Stalker and a YYF Rockstar. I successfully traded off the Rockstar for a Spin Dynamics Monkey First, which should arrive sometime next week.
I have secured a Cascade, a Ti-5 and another unnamed yoyo.
I have a Duncan Mayhem in the box at my house that I can’t open because I can’t pay for it yet. The story behind that is coming up soon. I feel like a total tool because I made a deal, he shipped first since he has no feedback, and my cash ran out. I WILL make good on this!

So, my money situation:
As per typical, one of my clients is late with their payments. 2 payments now. I can’t charge late fees. Long story, don’t ask, it will make your brains eject through holes in your skull. Tired old story, I could repeat it monthly.

I had a job doing sound for a concert on July 13th. That got cancelled. The headlining artist, who I will not name, went “diva”(it is a dude) and threw a hissy fit about the hotel room not being acceptable. For what his pay is, at that LOW pay rate, you DO NOT get those sort of luxuries. Anyhow, due to his panties getting tied in a knot, he camped in the hotel room he got and was posting stuff to Facebook(which he’s since removed) and forced the promoter to CANCEL the concert, yet the headlining artist ALSO took his full pay that he didn’t earn since he didn’t perform. As a result, I don’t get paid either and neither does my crew. The promoter has to refund tickets which means he operates at a loss. I’m angry because no money, yet I did a lot of work(enough to earn the full price) and I can’t pay my crew either. I have bills to pay and now I’m screwed on those as well. I’ve been in a very bad mood most of the past few days as a result. The promoter was going to be in contact with me but he’s flaked on that as well.

Oh, in case you’re wondering, it was a Christian-music event with a Christian artist. I don’t want to drag religion into anything, but I feel it’s worth noting. Also worth nothing is that I’ve suffered a lot of abuse in the name of “christianity”. But that’s not suitable for discussion here.

My next gig is for YoLex on Saturday in Roseville. I love doing sound for yoyo contests. The pay may not be great, but I could care less. I love the atmosphere and environment. For this one, I have no clue if I’m going to get paid, but I also don’t care if I get paid either!

Last night, I got the bulk of lighting design changes done for a show on the 28th. After I get done posting this, I’m going to remove the lights from my truck and get the truck ready for the YoLex contest Saturday. Later today, I have to move some phone lines in an office and get paid for my work done!

Keep up the throwing and have a good week!

2 Likes
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How kind… :slight_smile:

It’s a shame to read about you being screwed out of your pay like that. I’m not sure why this performer who threw a fit and left should get his pay while you, the one who was prepared to do what he had agreed to do and the one who has a crew to pay, is left with nothing.

On a lighter note - how goes the worlds campaign?

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If you met my son, you’d know what I mean. Of course, he’s 5.5, so it shows. But still… I am tired after being woken up to screaming at 6AM and all the kids constantly screaming since then. Fortunately, no phone calls today.

Revenge: My son can’t throw today because the other kids won’t give him any space to throw. Now he can experience the joy I have! Oh wait, there’s also no safe place to throw because there are toys scattered everywhere!

Worlds update:
Worlds for me is a no-go. My wife had a relative who was “in country” from “out of country” and so she used up her vacation days on entertaining them, which included a few days in SoCal, where we also went to Disneyland. But, because of the days used, she has none left for her to stay home a couple of days so I can attend Worlds.

Between my late paying clients, the late fees I have to eat because of their late payments and this screw-job, there’s no money for airfare. I do have a paying gig for Friday/Saturday the 27-28, but he won’t pay until the Thursday afterwards, but that’s nothing unusual, we’ve been working that way for 3 years now, so no issue. It’s a matter of waiting for credit card and Paypay payments to clear.

So, how do I resolve this? Work harder to get to Worlds 2013!

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Harder? From what I’ve read you sound like one of the hardest working people I know - work any harder and you might explode! I really don’t know how you manage it…

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I love what I do. I’m not attending Worlds just to go. I’m attending Worlds to do SOUND!! The AV challenges are quite enormous and I know I can handle the logistics, so I want to conquer the challenge. I love doing sound and AV and computer stuff, so what may be considered “work” for some is “play” for me.

Now, yoyo, man, that’s work! Well, play. Well, it’s something! Combine sound and yoyo, and well, I’m a pretty happy guy! This would be my “throw vacation”. What I want to do is attend Worlds, and then fly my family out and we spend a few days at Walt Disney World Resort, then go back home. It’s really not so bad if I can score the right hotel and airfare deals.

A lot of people don’t get to follow their dreams. I’ve been doing that my whole life. And I get paid for it too! I’m just extremely lucky. I just wish more people had the same luck, the world would be a happier place. It’s also amazing what can happen when you’re not purely driven by money either.

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i hope your able to go to worlds man, I’ve heard it is enchanting there!

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i read your stufff!

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This year is not possible.

Next year, it’s a possibility. Of course, my wife will conspire against it anyways.

This year was just some bad planning. We took a mini vacation in April, then this real fast one at the end of June/start of July, that I already talked about. Since I’m self-employed, I have all sorts of luxuries in regards to time off. Since my wife is the one with the regular paycheck, we kinda have to go by her schedule. There’s also been a few other things that have come up this year that also burned some of her vacation days.

2013 is a whole new set of possibilities. With the fact that Worlds is already scheduled, it is two-fold:
I know when it reserve my time and book airfare and whatever else, while my wife knows when my target dates are and attempts to undermine it!

In the meantime, I’m going to go after getting sound for Nationals taken care of for 2012 and going forward. I’ve already secured CalStates and BAC. I’m also doing sound smaller contests around the region. Just one of my ways of giving back, getting to do what I enjoy and share it with others!

Thanks! It means a lot to me.

I know people are reading it, I see the view counts creep up!

Next update will be probably after the 28th of July. I’m preparing for a yoyo contest tomorrow, then a pair of big events the next weekend(back to back, but same venue, so no gear move Friday night!). With me not going to worlds, the next weekend is open, but I’ll be on telephone standby supporting the people who ARE running AV for Worlds. No gigs until the last two weekends in August. I plan on using that time to learn new tricks and earn more money to buy still more yoyos, run my yoyo/skill toy meets and having a good time!

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Not worth reading update:

I have resolved the issue of the yoyo I couldn’t pay for. It ends good. I got paid for a job, so I was able to take care of paying for the yoyo I bought via Paypal last night. So, today, I opened up a brand new Duncan Mayhem. This is a great out of the box A-bearing metal throw with what appears to be Duncan silicone stickers. It’s nice to have an A-bearing around!

Tomorrow, the Monkey Fist I traded for will be shipped to me and I should have it by Monday or Tuesday perhaps.

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I read it!

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Think positive my friend, you’ll get there!!!

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yo studio!!!

can’t you sue that company or sponsors for not paying you?

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Suing can take a very long time, and can cause more problems than it resolves if you don’t win.

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That is an item I would prefer not to discuss. You’re referring to the concert cancellation, right?

Let me comment briefly on that:
The promoter called me before I was to arrive warning me of a potential issue. 99 our of 100, issues of this nature are resolved. No, make that 999 out of 1000. Either way, I gotta watch my language because well, as an audio person, we’re not exactly “sugar and spice” in the first place and we tend to be “potty mouths”. I mean, we can drop a sentence consisting of nothing but F-bombs and everyone around us will know EXACTLY what I’m saying. But, I digress. My opinion is that this was an intentional bullcrap tactic and the guy went into the deal with the intention of taking the money and running. At any rate, he took the free plane flight in or travel in, stayed AT the hotel room Facebook’ing and Tweeting, and never worked a second AND took his full pay. The promoter busted his butt to take care of the artist.

At 1PM, the promoter told me to go ahead and load in. He felt positive progress was made. I had been there since 10:30AM. But, after getting partially loaded in and set(FOH was 100% operational as were all tie lines from FOH to stage). At 5PM, 3 hours after scheduled 2PM sound check, 1 hour before doors, 2 hours before show

The promoter handled this as an HONORABLE man. He was referred to me by another HONORABLE man I enjoy working with. I feel in the pursuit of future business with this promoter, I feel he was screwed but above all maintained honesty with me at all times. I feel it’s not in my best interest to sue this individual. I feel it is within by best interest to align myself with him in the hopes of getting future events with him.

I’m angry, no two ways about it. I’m angry I don’t get to do what I love to do, which is live sound for concerts. I’m angry that I didn’t get paid. I’m angry that because I didn’t get paid, I can’t pay my crew. Trust me, it gives me joy to be able to share my “wealth” with my hard working crew, sometimes even more joy that actually getting paid. I mean, what’s the point in having money if you can’t share it? Of course, sometimes that means buying stuff, sometimes it means YYE orders.

Who I want to sue is the artist, but unfortunately, I am not in a position to sue the artist. I don’t have the funds to sue him. I don’t have the time to sue him. My agreement is between the promoter and myself, I’m going after the wrong individual. It’s not a worthwhile pursuit that won’t really net me any results except cost me time and money, both of which are better utilized in other manners.

I do have better things to do. For example, I have a yoyo contest to do sound for tomorrow. I’ll be so all consumed with that job that I won’t even give a crap about what happened the week before. I’ll be having too much fun to care. The odds are that I won’t get paid, and you know what, I don’t even care about the money. I’m gonna pump $30 of diesel into the truck, hit the road and give those yoyo competitors a great experience and treat them like A-list rock stars.

Other things I can do: I can answer questions on YYE. I can teach my kid more yoyo tricks. I can learn more yoyo tricks myself. I can do more computer consulting. I can prepare for future events. I can start moving on securing getting the agreement to do sound for Nationals. Just a few of many things I can do. I’m trying to stay productive and positive. Some days are harder than others.

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It’s sad to know such jerks can be so rude and selfish to such hard-working, nice guys like you.

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So very true. And its terrible to see creative people get screwed who love what they do and have to go through such idiotic ordeals that are created by others. I completely understand since I’ve gone through this with photo shoots and it never gets any easier.