Monday, August 8, 2011
Marko Kalc - Hoop Dance
Marko Kalc - Hoop Dance - Impro na Rabu from Marko Kalc on Vimeo.
This video features some not-so-complicated moves, but delivered with lots of feeling. I love the passing and the quick spins, and seeing those 'go-to' moves is making me feel a little more hoop friendly than my current mood has been. With Life getting in the way more often these days, I have been a bit tougher on myself both about, and within hoop practice. I feel like I have a time limit - okay, 20 minutes of hooping, then I'll pack, paint, do laundry, run those errands, yadda yadda...
With that kind of attitude, trying to master new moves becomes even harder. And when hoop practice becomes this scheduled, frustrating part of my day - well, it's all too easy just to let practice slide. Maybe I will try going back to some of these more comfortable patterns to warm-up and see how the session goes? Excuse me while I think aloud.
Of course, there will always be times when I can't hoop - or when I need to take time off - and I will honor those feelings instead of allowing guilt to rear it's ugly and useless head. For now, it is time to attend to some of those Life duties, but perhaps... with this new dose of inspiration, I will have an old school hoop jam post errand madness.
Gold and Silver Determination
Adelaide looks ready to hoop!
I can't get enough of this girl - she is an amazing hooper and artist.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Carissa: London to Africa with Hoops in Tow!
Carissa Caricato, founder of Hoola for Happiness, hooping all over London, Kenya and Uganda (July 2011). Having a bunch of fun on her recent mission trip taking 50 hoops to schools, villages, orphanages and medical clinics.
The hooping starts about :20 seconds in!
Hooping in South Korea
Rooftop, sunset, hoop. Perfection. I love the flow of this and the pizza tosses.
That hoop spot is jealously inducing to be sure.
Forever Young
Sometimes you just want to feel like a little kid again. Never the kid you actually were, of course; but that idealized, free and happy child that you would be, should you retain knowledge of everything you know now.
There is no uniform more appropriate for the adult-child than that of the hippie. Colorful, dangly beads - like the costume jewelry borrowed from grandma years ago. That loose, slightly dirty feel of everything that gives the idea of play clothes - the kind specifically worn to get dirty and go on adventures.
My birthday is coming up this month.
Right now the plans are to make a rainbow cake, construct a fort in the back yard, and for all intents and purposes, just spend a night playing dress-up.
Never is the desire to feel young stronger than when you are getting older.
....rainbow cake. I can't wait.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Wisdom
The Dalai Lama was asked what surprised him the most; he said, "Man, because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then he dies having never really lived.".
If there was ever a day that this was needed, it was today.
Thanks to Beth Lavinder for the quote.
Everything I Love
Boots gifted to me from a friend - I always feel the most myself when I am wearing clunky boots, heatwave or not. (I also think it's funny that the eye effect on the second one looks more edited than it is - I actually just blinked at the last second.)
The stuffed bear I have had since I was 3 years old. Now, I am sorry - but look at how well that old thing is holding up. My favorite thing about him is that he isn't smiling. In fact he looks sad, and serious - which I always appreciated as a kid. My teddy bear thinks deep thoughts.
Of course my lovely hoop - though this picture explains my relationship with it this week. Picking it up, throwing it down, getting frustrated, getting bored.
Taking pictures, hooping, dressing up, deciding how to frame everything.
There is a feeling that comes with creating something that is like no other.
From Hippie Camp
Back in June I posted this picture of a mysterious hooper with her back to us, showing some beautiful ink off as she hooped. Here is another shot of her from that day at Hippie Camp, from this set.
A Hoop Rock Opera
Multi-hooping, twins, and a crazy custom hoop that looks a bit like flat blades are protruding from the sides - this video is intense. Philo Hagen over at Hooping.org isn't sure who this hooper is - but I am sure that someone must know. I mean, check out 4:45min in - how does she do that with a ladder?
video after the jump
video after the jump
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Clock Watching
Sometimes I think - well geez, if you don't want to hula hoop today then don't - but, I said I was going to and gall dernit I am going to do what I told myself I would.
Getting out of practice has made me forget just how good it feels to be in the regular routine - learning faster and getting stronger. I can't always have incredibly inspiring weeks, but I can do something every day.
Doing something fun just feels fun. Doing something that I don't want to do feels like an accomplishment - and that's the feeling that keeps me coming back.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Science of Circus
Science = awesome. Circus = awesome. Doubly awesome indeed. There are lots of other great shots from this event, the Glasgow Science Centre Birthday party with Bright Night International, by Okaar on Flickr.
See the rest of the Science of Circus here.
Back from the Beach
Home again.
It always feels strange to say that I am "going home," meaning back to VA, when I am down in Ft. Lauderdale at my mom's house. Is Florida still supposed to be my home? It's easy to think so after driving by places that bring up memories from 10 and 15 years back, and realizing that I still know how to get everywhere, while I still need a GPS no matter the endpoint here in VA. Of course, back then, memorizing how to get somewhere was the only way to get there.
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| Ft. Lauderdale by Andy Royston |
Florida proved to be a nostalgic wonderland this time around - a decidedly rare feeling as I couldn't wait to escape that hot swamp for the larger part of my life. I used to dream of snow, and seasons, and scarf weather as a child. But, finally feeling like I have a life here in Virginia brings out the sweetness of my former home.
When I first moved away, everything was shaky, everything was hard, nothing made sense, I didn't know where I was going - only that I had to keep moving forward - and going back home felt like taking a step back. I didn't want to disrupt my 'new' life. It was like being interrupted for dinner in the middle of a big project. Yes, it's fine and good, but I was just about to make a breakthrough. I think.
At this point, though, going to Florida was a welcomed break. A true vacation. I finally felt like a tourist instead of a resident. William and I played like little kids (what else is new) on the same rafts and floaties that I had as a kid, sloshing and swimming in the uncharacteristically rough waters. Florida in summer is a ghost town, so the beach was all our own, day or night.
A memory that is surely to cause those wistful pangs of nostalgia in the years to come was when, on Saturday night, we decided to head back to the beach around 8pm. It wasn't all the way dark yet, but the sun was going down and the resort lights on the shore, paired with the ship's lights on the horizon made for a night of almost cinematic perfection. The water was as warm as a bath, there were stars overhead, and no company except for gulls, and the salty air was just as cozy as the ocean. It's always when surrounded by nature, by the things most real, that I feel most like I am in a dream.
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| Ft. Lauderdale - Andy Royston |
Florida was the last hurrah of the summer's travels. Now it is time to get back in the swing of things. Back to teaching, getting packed up to move, continuing with my daily hooping, and figuring out the next step.
I am excited about the future, but it was beautiful to drop in at 'home' and remember the past with a softer lens than my 16, 19, or 21 year-old self ever did. It is a calming to remember all the past confusion that I got through, and that we all get through, just fine. It lets me know that I can do it again.
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