Today I was out and about running some small preparation errands for CalStates. The objective: to purchase an inexpensive stopwatch. But why do I need a stopwatch when I could just use my iPhone? Crappy battery life on the iPhone and I might need the iPhone. Sometimes it’s best to have a dedicated tool for the job. So, I go to a sporting goods store to get one. $10, in blue. Score!
Uh oh. I’m near the local Toys R us. My 3 year old keeps taking everyone else’s yoyos and isn’t happy with her pegged string yoyo. But, the last several trips, Toys R Us has sucked. Not today. The end cap displays were STOCKED with Duncans and Yomegas. The only item of interest to me were Yomega Raiders, but I have a pair of Unleashed yoyos and I can’t loop yet so no reason to buy more loopers. Since the kid is 3 and just had a birthday where we didn’t get her any presents(long other story involving a late paying client and lack of time), I decided to make a belated birthday present and get her a Reflex so she could start. They also have these two-packs of a Limelight and Mosquito for $10, so I figure she can have an inexpensive upgrade path. Now she’s got 4 yoyos and ideally SHOULD leave the yoyos of two elders alone.
Now, while I was there, a kid ran into me and was trying to pick out a yoyo. I had my DM2 and my XCon Pro on me and busted out a few tricks for the kid. He said I made it look so easy, but I said “I’m not that good, but these are easier tricks and I practice them a lot” and then showed him Matrix, went to a couple of different wrist mount GT’s, then a trapeze and bro. I’m seeing the need to learn looping better and carry something set up for 5A. Anyhow, he went out with a Duncan Metal Drifter and a pack of Duncan strings. Told him about CalStates and my nearby yoyo meets. I answered a lot of questions.
So, take the 5 minutes or so to answer a few questions. Doesn’t matter if it’s a kid or an “older thrower”. Doesn’t matter if it’s yoyo or not. If you can help someone out, even if it’s just hobby questions. There’s not enough “nice” going around these days. This little bit of “shared experience” may be something that makes someone’s day or week or more.
Another side note, Toys R Us appears to be re-stocking again if you need your yoyo fix. YYE still has much better selection. Chances are, between the sales tax vs. shipping, YYE still may offer a better value. Plus, you can’t get a PSG or Asteroid at Toys R Us.
I visited the same store in my area last weekend, and the selection varied a bit from what you describe in your local store. I saw that Duncan 2-pack with the mosquito/limelight, but I don’t remember seeing any Yomega stuff at all, or any brand besides Duncan. It was all a bunch of cheap Duncan stuff. I saw Reflex, Freakhand, imperial, butterfly, and a bunch of keychain yoyos for $3, which was a great price compared to online. I think the selection changes from time to time, because I saw a Duncan metal drifter in there around Christmas time, but not this time. I agree that there’s not enough “nice,” but it’s just the kind of world where kids are taught not to talk to strangers (so strangers don’t want to talk to them either, even with parents there), and people are suing good samaritans if a good deed doesn’t turn out the way they wanted. Just the world we live in. I’ve been able to interject some nice into my routine here and there though…it does make you feel good.
We have some store called Toys city here in indonesia, and almost all of them carry various duncan yoyos.
They also have Raptor, Echo and Metropolis in stock, and Light up FHZ too.
Also, on selected store, they also have some YYF in stock, mostly Whip, One, Loop 900, Protostar, Northstar, Velocity and even G5.
Really interesting to see yoyo scene growing in here.
Sadly we don’t have a toy store in my area… You used to be able to get Mosquitos at Wal-Mart but they pulled them I guess.
I visit my grandmother from time to time, she lives about three hours away and has a Toys’R’us near her, and I got a Freehand 2 from there a while back, but when ever I go and check now all they have are Butterflys, Imperials, Proyos, and some cheap wood yoyo that looks like a frog and has the string glued to the axle…
My iPhone is 3+ years old, a 3G I got in December of 2008. It’s time for an upgrade. But, with the new iPhone slated to hit anywhere between July and September, it’s not the time to dive in and renew a contract. The battery life has been doing the typical and expected gradual decrease in performance. Completely normal. At least I didn’t get one of the exploding ones!
I don’t know… maybe if I’d stop spending money on pro audio gear and yoyos… At any rate, a $10 stopwatch serves the purpose just fine. I want to ensure the performance gets their properly allotted time. I’m going to time from when the audio starts to when the cut-off time is. I EXPECT each song to have a 2-second silent lead in, and I ALSO expect prelims to be edited to 1 minute of content and finals to be edited to 2 minutes of content. If not, I’ll give a 2 second fade-out.
So, now the issue comes down to… CLWY drop or Iphone drop. Talk about tough choices… Hmm, if the phone drops at the right time, I can log into YYE and to get the CLYW!
Great story and I agree we need more love in the world.
Chris and I are going to be texting and sending pictures all day on Saturday since he is running sound for Cal States and I’m going to be producing Florida States so he needs to keep his phone free so I don’t blow it up in the middle of a performance haha.
I decided to try something (not sure if it hasn’t been done before or not) at Florida States and I pushed very hard to have everyone upload their music to my server ahead of time. This way I was able to edit the music to 2minutes and also put their name attached to it in a video so when I play their song their name and if they are sponsored will fly up on the plasma TVs. Extra work on my end ahead of time, but is going to make for a much better and a heck of a lot less stress the day of. If everything works out that way I will be doing the same thing for Worlds this year. Except with much bigger screens
This is going to be a fun weekend of YoYo’ing with Cal States and FL states and then last weekend was the PNWR. It doesn’t get a whole lot better. Can’t wait to see all of the pics and videos. I’m going to be setting up 3 Go Pro cameras to capture Florida’s with. All of us here are pumped and ready. But we are very small compared to California haha.
So if you are going to Florida or Cali show some of that love, take the time, especially if there are new yoyoers there. They are the future. Show them love!
I’ve got an assistant to help me keep things flowing. I’m doing it “old school” with CD’s, but if I can get a chance to rip, I’m gonna rip everything I can for fast editing. On site. Oh, ProTools, I love ya so much! But if I had the time and the foresight, I’d do like you’re doing. The extra effort will be so worth the time, then I only have to worry about last minute entries. But, this will be a good test of myself and my crew and my gear. Keep 6 decks moving at all times for playback. Should be loads of fun!
