A Day In The Life Of A Peanut Butter Cup

Listen Up!
Sorry about last week's non-existent post, I kinda forgot about it while I was planning for tests and Cornell. I've gone youtube happy. I released "Day Is Night", and it's done very well. I released JoJ 24, the video episode with Laura Ernst, and it seems to be doing well so far. Also I've released a performance update video. And guess what, I've still got at least 5 videos in the que waiting to be released, including "The Stage". :: JoJ's going to hit a snag in a bit, now that Laura's finished her road trip, she emailed me saying that she won't be able to do JoJ for a while, until she gets settled and gets a new computer. So I'm looking for more hosts for the next few episodes. :: Cornell trip report to follow.

So otherwise, I got sick as soon as I got back from Cornell. I always have perfect timing with that, I got sick about a month before WJF, about a month after WJF3, and 1 day after Cornell. I have good timing.

Cornell HLGCB: Highs: - Being recognized by about 5 people who I never met before or even knew about from both JoJ and my videos. - Pulling off some nice box tricks and Matt going "Nice" as he was passing by. - FINALLY learning diabolo. That only leaves 1 prop, devil sticks (shit...) - Hanging with Vova and Matt - The goldfish box takeouts after the main show. Lows: - The 4 hour drive both directions. - Getting less than 4 hours of sleep on day 1, and then sleeping in too late on the last day and missing almost all of the workshops - The JoJ episode that I recorded there. It's going to be such a wierd episode. Goal: - Do something new = Acomplished - Meet Matt hall = Acomplished - Get photos and video, unlike every other con I've went to = Acomplished - Not die = Acomplished Crush: Male - Vova's performance for the main show was insane. Pretty hot too. Female - Laura Ernst. Her light poi act foir renegade was so f'n HOT! Bane: - Not enough combat. There was only one game, and it only lasted about an hour! Actual Cornell report: Ok, so that's out of the way, Cornell was an interesting trip for me. My first time ever being there, and now I know why it's such a big deal of a festival. It was beyond awesome. Ok, so I start my trip at home planning everything out for what I'll do, when I'll record footage for JoJ, when I'll do JoJ, and places to sleep. Of course once I arrived I started seeing all those plans go up in flames. Poof, gone. That's why I don't like making plans, you'll never follow them or even be able to follow them. Luckily I'm good at improvising. So I get on the road at 7:00 AM (the equivalent of 4:00 Am to you) and start what my parents said was a 5.5 hour drive, google maps said was a 4.5 hour drive, and was actually a 3.5 hour drive. I love travel. So I get there, figure out how the whole "parking" thing works, and head to the building where the siteswap lecture is. That worked pretty well, especially when I arrived an hour early and juggled solo in the cookies and juice room before everyone came in all at once, and it become the entire festival within this 20x20 foot room. So after about 10 minutes of that, we all headed downstairs for the siteswap lecture, during which jugglinglab was replaced by Matt Hall for demonstrating tricks in siteswap. So after that happened we finally all headed to the gym at 7:00, and everyone was getting lost, except for Jeff Peden's group, which I was lucky enough to catch and tag along with on the uphill walk to the gym, and the rest of the day was open juggling at it's best. Random people competing against each other, a game of combat at 10:00 PM, and everyone helping to bring out the tables and all the equipment into the gym. So as day one drew to a close, I was starting to wind down as well, and was hanging around Laura more and more, seeing as how I was going to crash at the same place she was. What I never realized was that that place was literally 45 minutes south of Ithaca. So I was having a grand old time in the car, until we finally arrived. Now, my plan was, once I got to the place, to finish saving JoJ episode 24 and release it that night. Seeing as how I had already gotten it all edited nicely and everything, the problem was at my house, Windows Movie Maker decided to give me error messages every time I went to save the project to a file, so I figured I could do it from there, just burn all the original files and the project file to a disk, save the movie, upload it, and release it right in the middle of the convention. Thing is, I got the same error message after having to re-edit the entire episode because the project file wasn't working right. So basically, I wasted an entire hour on that computer just to find it wasn't going to work anyways, AND seeing as how the best connection they had all the way out there in bumblefock was 56k dial-up, it was hopeless. I retired and went to bed. So we all then woke up around 7:00, mind you we had just went to sleep at around 3:00 AM, so we got 4 hours of sleep. We then headed out for breakfast where we, as jugglers do, were screwing around and manipulating our utensils, sugar packets, and straws as we were waiting for our food. We finished that, one of the guys there and I decided to waste 75 cents on 3 bounce balls from the gumball machines and try to bounce juggle them between the 2 cars we had piled into. That was a fun way to waste a dollar. So then we headed back to the gym. Time for workshops, I skipped some of them, but went to a couple, including Vova's "Practice Session" workshop, where he gives us advice on how we should practice whatever trick or pattern we're working on. He comes over to me, goes "Hey Rich. So what are you working on right now?" I just flashed 6 rings 3 days ago for the first time when Laura was over and we were jamming at Middlesex County College, and I figured the day before that I should try to go for more catches, seeing as how I flashed 6 easily on the first time I EVER tried it. I'd gotten about 10 catches before things fell apart, and hadn't gotten a clean finish all of last night. So I tell him "I'm just working on qualifying 6 rings right now." "Alright, let's see." So I setup the rings in my hands, let fly, and get 12 catches to a clean finish first try. I got a congrats from Vova, and no footage to o with it. Hey, what do I care? I qualified 6 rings for the first time in my life on the first attempt right in front of Vova. My life is complete. The I believe came the acrobatics workshop, where I finally learned how to do some acrobatic positions. Such as being the base in a 2 person tower, and a few other positions that I don't remember the names of. All I know is that the next time I'm hanging out in the corner at MCC, I'm trying some shit.

So then came the games, which I took part in whatever I could, and filmed whatever I couldn't. The best thing was that I made my trick and placed in Best Trick, and watched my competition, namely Matt Hall, own their tricks. Matt won it by borrowing someone's set of boxes, and nailing his 3up 360 to foot catch on the first attempt, which was the first time he'd ever made it on the first attempt by the way. He had two more attempts at whatever he wanted, and made an awesome siteswap trick and almost made is excaliber duicide. He was on the floor afterwards, and after the next competitor went, said to the guy who owned the boxes he used "Dude, I will pay you one million dollars for these!" Epic.

So then all the performers and organizers have to leave for the big show, and for everyone else to go get something to eat after the gym closed. There were plenty of groups breaking off to go get a random selection of foods randing from Thai to Mexican. I ran with the pizza group, and the best part was, the pizza place was downhill from campus. So walking to it was no problem, and once there, we spend 10 minutes waiting for all our pizza, and playing "Snapple Sliding", where you slide a Snapple bottle along a table and get it to hang over the edge without falling, first to 10 wins. The pizza was good, and then came the walk back up to the public show. Back uphill, and me complaining the entire way. "Why is it that EVERY college campus I've ever seen in my life is built on a HILLSIDE! Can't they just level the land, THEN build the campus?" But once we reached the line for the show, all that vanished as everyone started passing and screwing around with whatever props they had happened to bring with them. There was an awesome bit of club passing after the show where someone randomly ran into the pattern of the other 2 people passing, stole a club out of the pass, and replaced it with a giant box of Goldfish Crackers. Epic.

Speaking of Epic, that show was insane. Vova's act was probably the best I've ever seen out of any act whether it be from a Broadway play, cirque performance, circus performance, juggling routine, or anything. He doesn't want me talking about it in detail, so I'll move on to some of the other performers. Matt Hall was struggling a bit with his tricks, but it was great to see him on stage nevertheless. Nick Flair, who I completely underestimated, blew me away with both of his acts. Lastly, Jonglissimo, the most insane passing act I've ever seen. Now I know where they got their reputation from.

So after that, the Renegade show started, which was great, and just so much was going on I can't even remember all of it. I just remember Laura stealing the show about halfway in with her light poi act. Matt getting beat at his own game of Rock Paper Scissors, Look Over There by Mike Karas. And the whole running act of the performance, the Juggling Fear Factor. I'll let you image it for yourself by naming the three acts, Razor Blades, on-chair 360's, squid juggling, and yeah.

So then came the after party at the Billing's house. Was ok, I finally recorded the JoJ segment with Vova and Lindsay before they had to run to catch a plane. Chatted a bit with Matt, Jeff, and Sky. And went to sleep on the very comfortable floor.

The next day was pretty uneventful, I woke up REALLY late, around noon, thanks to the lack of sleep I had gotten the night before. But I rolled out, went to the con center, bought myself a Diabolo and Wes's DVD, and headed back to NJ. Overall, a good convention, and during the convention, Jason announced that the next WJF is December of NEXT YEAR. So now I've got another full year before I can go to anything. Maybe I'll do IJA next summer. Here's hoping.

Juggle This:
Didn't do much else outside of record a quick video of what I could do with Diabolo 36 hours after first learning it. Otherwise, nothing else happened. Next week I'll talk about what happened when Laura Ernst came over, maybe. We'll see what happens.

A Day In The Life Of A Peanut Butter Cup ~ Reeses2150

Listen Up!
The Park did amazingly well. I thought it was a neat video, but people are really liking it a lot. I think right now it has almost as many views as some of my worse music videos. And what's worse, is I've got another one just like it that I made today. :: JoJ. The past few episodes have done pretty well, especially because we're taking advantage of Laura's road trip. Granted, we haven't gotten any comments or replies on either Rec.Juggling or the WJF forums, but no news is good news. If people aren't complaining, they were satisfied. Oh, and by the way, Episode 25, will be a video episode with Laura broadcasting straight from my fireplace if you haven't been listening. :: Don't know what else is going on. OH! Cornell's Big Red Juggle Fest! I will be going if you haven't seen, but I still haven't entirely figured out whether I'll be driving or not. Or whether I'll be doing a JoJ episode from there, or just a wrap up like Joe did last year. ::
Also, don't forget that "Day Is Night" releases on Saturday! :: One last thing, I released a few things to DeviantART, maybe you should check them out, no? http://reeses2150.deviantart.com

Daily Life:
Bah, why do I have to tell stories. Ok, so yesterday, I had a break between my classes, and I was bored. I had on my orange sleeveless shirt and had brought in my clubs today. Why? I have no idea, I randomly get up every morning and go, "What props do i want to bring to college with me today..." Yesterday happened to be clubs. Also, I had recently discovered that the theater in the college center (where I always practice anyways) was lit up and open to anyone at the same time when I have a break between classes. So I've been starting to practice in there. Also, the great thing is, the 2 people besides me that know anything about juggling are taking classes in the theater for their performing arts classes, so they're usually in there too, although busy.

So basically, yesterday, I have my camera, clubs, rings, orange sleeveless shirt, and about 2 hours of free time. Can you say "Sequel to The Park"? Yes, I spent the 2 hours I had gathering footage for another video in the same artistic style as "The Park", and I'm calling this one "The Stage". Original, ain't it? So yeah, last night I spent editing it all together, and I now have another video cued up to go on my youtube profile. I remember when I was struggling to find things to put on each week. So yeah, that was a fun day yesterday, I probably lost some weight I was sweating so much when I was done.

Juggle This:
Ok, Yo-Yo's. I just realized today that I have 2 yo-yos when I thought I only had 1. I remembered as I was staring into my prop box and seeing my 10 year old Yomega X-Brain that my new one came with an extra string! I suddenly had the bright idea to tie that string to my old one. (The reason I stopped using yo-yos after Standard Deviation was because the string from my old one, which had never been replaced, snapped and I never had bothered to get a replacement. So I just stopped doing yo-yo for a while.) So today I put the new string on my old yo, and now I've been practicing with both today. Good times.

Also, I recently found out that, like thrillnetwork.com has for what roller coasters you've been on, jugglingdb.com has a database where you can put in you're personal records and see how you compare with everyone else. I recently just tried holding certain patterns on there for as long as I can on the first try and put them up. I'll see what happens and if I remember to update it.

"The Park" released for those who didn't see it yet. It got really good responses for what I thought was an OK video that turned out to be a really good one. Hey, if people think it's good, it must be good right? Check it out if you haven't already.

Also, don't forget that "Day Is Night" releases on Saturday!

A Day In The Life Of A Peanut Butter Cup ~ Reeses2150

Listen Up!
Yes, I know this post is being made a week late. It was a combination of business with classes, laziness, and my idea that "I may be able to do a quick visit to Philly Fest on Saturday, maybe..." Sadly I've decided against doing the day trip to Philly, seeing as how I'm a little squeezed for cash, time, and responsibilities right now. I hate that word, responsibilities. I'll make a rant on responsibility later. :: Classes are really starting to suck now that we're about 4 weeks in. Now's the time when "they" are hounding me about midterms, even though those still don't come for another 3 weeks or so. Right now I have to worry about lab reports and quizzes instead. :: JoJ's gotten right back on track. Of course this week's episode may end up being a little bit more difficult to record because Laura's on the road, and this weekend everyone but me will be at Philly. I'll figure something out. :: Yeah.

Daily Life:
Stories, stories, I need more stories. I need them, but I don't have them. Sorry.


Juggle This:
Well, I just released my WJF Profile video, and Joe asked "Why did you make this video?". So here's your answer Joe, because I can. Actually, there are a few reasons. First being I knew as soon as Jason announced it that he'd need at least 1 person to get everyone ELSE motivated to make one, otherwise noone would make any videos and the idea would die again. So I took advantage of how bold I am and made one. Second reason is that I had a lot of great technical footage of single tricks that I didn't think would fit well in my next music video, so instead of having these videos of me doing 94444, a 5 ring flat reverse flash, and a bunch of other tricks, I figured I'd use them in the video, and I wouldn't have to record anything else except for the spoken part of the video. Third, I liked Jason's idea about making 2 videos, one now, and then another right before the convention to show the progression. As I seem to be progressing really fast recently, look at the difference between even "No Sleeves Attached" and my profile video, I'm getting better by the day. So I figure by the time WJF5 comes around, I'll have progressed even more and make another video to show it. So that's why I made that video.

Also, I got in the WJF4 Convention DVD, so it's time to review it. It's a bit short, but that's one of only 2 complaints I can come up with about it. Everyone at WJF4 and their girlfriends rocked, and they all deserved to be on it. The exhibition footage was pretty comprehensive, and the coverage of all the intermediates, juniors, and the beginners comp can't be complained about, as long as they stay as the entire routines and not clip shows. The fact that Jason was taking footage at the library was pretty awesome, and it makes me regret not going. I think I skipped out on it to record JoJ, but that's my fault. One thing that confused me was, did Jason have a steady cam? Or is he just really good at doing the "hold the camera against your stomach and crab-walk"? Because the shots from the pre-convention footage when he was getting Vova doing 7 club 5ups and Thomas it was really smooth and looked like either a steady cam or a boom operated one (which I know it can't be). So good job on the crab walking then Jason, the footage was awesome.

Now onto the complaints. I'm going to be comparing it to the WJF3 convention DVD, which I think is the best of all the WJF DVDs. In the WJF3 DVD, half of the DVD was about the pre-convention, post-convention and behind the scenes stuff. The other half was mostly interviews and stuff with everyone from the convention. NONE of that was in the WJF4 DVD, except for the pre-convention footage and a quick clip of Vova stowing away in someone else's hotel room on day 1, and even if you combine those two, there was only about 15 minutes worth of footage total presented, and 5 minutes of it (the intro) we've all already seen. So that was a big disappointment for me, as I always prefer the convention DVDs over the championship DVDs. Another thing I felt the DVD was lacking is basically a tangent of that last point. The WJF4 DVD is only 1:20 long. The WJF3 DVD was about 2:20. A full hour difference, and if you take out the competitions from both of them, it'd probably be even more. I'm not sure whether Jason just didn't do enough filming during the convention (I didn't see him filming all that much when I was there), or whether stuff got left out so that he could release the DVD early (which if that's the case, I'd suggest against it next year. I'd rather wait for a good DVD than get a bad one now).

Either way, I'd give the WJF4 Convention DVD a 6.7 of 10. For the footage that was there, it was really great, but only an hour and a half just isn't enough to give someone the feeling like they know what happened at the convention.

Also, on another quick note, my youtube profile is going to get hjit a lot more within the next 2 weeks. I've decided to finally release to it my artistic video, "The Park", and I just finished editing video 10, and am calling it "Day Is Night. That will hopefully release on the 20th if everything goes along smoothly. In the meantime, I hope you've enjoyed this week's pictures. They're all from "The Park". That releases on the 13th.

Oh, and one last thing...




A Day In The Life Of A Peanut Butter Cup ~ Reeses2150