So the other day I was just looking around YYE, when I stumbled across this post by Ed Haponik:
"it’s really hard (fixed axle). whether you mod or not. whether you nerd out about it or just do it occasionally. regardless of which yo-yo you happen to prefer. they’re all hard, and there’s no way to mask it and nowhere to hide from it.
honestly the fact that it’s hard is why it feels like there is so much space out there in terms of ways to innovate. it’s kind of like over the last few years, fixed-axle players have been discovering a new version of 5a, only attaching the counterweight is really frustratingly, prohibitively difficult. it’s really worth it to stick with it though. it is. here are some reasons off the top of my head.
•playing fixed axle will help you to see all of your playing differently. it will inform the way you look at unresponsive tricks, and you’ll understand where they come from and how they developed in a new, esoteric way.
•being able to shred on a fixed axle yo-yo connects you to drew tetz… but also to spencer berry. also steve brown. also john higby. also dale oliver and also bob rule and gus somera and barney akers and harvey lowe and pedro flores. it’s the raddest tribe in yo-yoing, and there’s nothing exclusive about it.
•it’s infinitely more organic than the bs way players throw around the word “organic” these days (meaning ROUND). if you play wood, your throws were alive once. so was your string probably. that’s kind of cool. if you dig, yo-yoing is kind of all about the feeling of being alive.
•frustrating though it may be, if you can really commit to it, you’ll feel yourself improving so quickly at the most fundamental components that the difficulty won’t seem to matter.
•you’ll leave the house and won’t worry an iota which yo-yo you’ve got with you because you can hit your stuff on literally anything.
•kids, moms, old people, and weird hermits who have never seen a yo-yo will see you playing and love it, and not because you make it look hard, but because you make it look easy.
•some jock at the mall will see you playing and say “hey walk the dog” and you’ll do it because it’s a fun, classic trick and your yo-yo didn’t cost $180 and he’ll say something like “yessssss. hey lemme try?” and you’ll let him… and he’ll be able to make it go up and down, and you’ll go your separate ways feeling great.
•you’ll be doing a trick sometime and it’ll be going along fine and you’ll be locked in and flowing, and for reasons unknown, everything will go to heck and the string will snag and the yo-yo will lock up in mid-air and be flying back at your face and you will cut your throwhand finger across AND YOU WILL CATCH THAT %&$# IN A PERFECT, BEAUTIFUL BRO STALL… like you designed it that way. like you meant it all along (which you did, whether you know it or not) and you will dump back to trap just to claim it, regen back to the hand, chuckle, pet your cat and go get a slice of pizza, not because you deserve it but because the world is amazing when you play fixed axle.
so stick with it"
I’ve messed around with fixed axle for a while now, but only occasionally. When I saw this post, it inspired me to pick up my No-Jive again. Then an idea entered my mind.
Enter Project Reconnect.
Project Reconnect is: every day for at least ten minutes straight, I will play with one of my fixies. Immediately afterward, I will record a short video clip of an element that I liked from the day’s play time, and post it on Youtube. This will go on for a year.
I suppose this is sort of like a less extreme version of what Ed did last year.
So, why am I doing this. There are a couple reasons.
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One is something Ed said in his post. “being able to shred on a fixed axle yo-yo connects you to drew tetz… but also to spencer berry. also steve brown. also john higby. also dale oliver and also bob rule and gus somera and barney akers and harvey lowe and pedro flores.”
I want to get a taste of what it was like to play yoyo before bearings. -
I want to get better at yoyo overall, and this is one way of doing it I feel. Since fixed axle yoyos require a greater deal of control, this is one way to train myself
This is also a bit of an experiment. I want to see how I develop over a year’s time as a player.
So that’s that. The first video should be up later today, if anyone cares.
