Thunder & Lightning were original (and better) names for Pixie and Fairy

When Greg Nelson and I were taking one of our many road trips back in the early 90's (may have been the late '80s), we used to theorize about footbag. Surprise. Of course, we both eat, drink, sleep and dream footbag and have for many years. We were freestyle rivals turned partners who drove to middle ground, about 2.5 hours drive each, to meet and shred just about every weekend in Kalamazoo, MI where Steve "Kozmo" Kremer (inducted into the 3rd wave of BAP) used to go to skool. Greg is from Ann Arbor and I'm from Chicago.

On one trip where we drove together somewhere unknown, we theorized about dexterity that could be done before a trick. We knew it could be done, but neither of us had completed it yet. We thought that if we set off of a toe, we could do a dex in either direction from either foot and we even gave them names. MUCH better names than they actually were given once people actually started to do them. We called them "Thunder" and "Lightning". They ended up being called Pixie and Fairy.

Imagine how much cooler a trick name would be if it were Thunderous Whirl vs. Fairy Whirl for instance. Lightning Osis vs. Pixie Osis. Damn did we miss the boat on that one. Who is responsible for naming them Pixie and Fairy anyway?

If I was on TV describing the trick names, I wouldn't dare mention Pixie and Fairy moves as I would be embarrassed. I'd go with Blurriest or Symposium Tricks as they have cool names. But it is too late to change the names of the tricks now, too bad too.

Historically, if you do the trick first you can name it. Our mistake was not believing in ourselves enough to pull the car over and try those tricks on the spot. We both knew the concepts were HUGE, we didn't have any idea how huge. There are SO MANY tricks that use Fairy and Pixie sets and every one of them could benefit from a better name. Like Corpse Grinder is the coolest name for a toe delay, Thunder and Lightning are such better names for Pixie and Fairy. Oh well.

Shred notes: 2/26/10
Almost hit fairy barfly (triple dex). Would have been lightning barfly (see above). :-(
Very difficult to be productive in shredding when feeling down. Have been riding emotional roller coaster lately. I WILL succeed though, eventually. On MY terms, not anyone elses. I am willing to shift, not change. If people around me can't accept me for what I am, then tough shit. I'm me and I ain't changing. Thats just the way it is. If it takes forever, so be it.

'Play your strengths' doesn't mean ignore your weaknesses...

I advocate what Kenny told me, 'play your strengths' but that doesn't mean I would say to ignore your weaknesses. It is important to keep focused on performance-quality strings, but always be aware of what you need to work on and to train those elements 'out' of your game.

Today I spent almost 20 minutes drilling L Blender. I am not only working to make my weak points stronger, but to modify a habit of mine. You see, I have been doing blender to dyno for so long, that every time I try for L blender, out comes a dyno. So I am actively spending time learning to buck the habit. To be able to pull off L blender opens many doors for my future game.

I have also suffered from one-sidedness in the world of fairies and pixies. I have daily spent a few minutes on this and it is paying off. Along with my flipside barrage, these training detours will have huge payoffs in the form of a better rounded game!

Keep playing!
-enlightener