It has been over 3 weeks since GILD’s (Dave) last post.
Has anyone heard from him since then?
Raphael Lasar
Matawan, NJ
I don’t know, but didn’t that one guy, Sendfairy, used to post a lot? He hasn’t posted in ages.
EDIT: Wait, Sendfairy was his evil twin. Sendhair is who I’m thinking of. Whatever.
Hmmmm…wasn’t Sendfairy the good one?
Nope, Sendfairy was Sendhair’s evil twin.
Not according to Sendfairy (is what I was getting at)
Ohhh, I gotcha.
come back Gild 
Hi Everybody
Dave has guilted me into signing up instead of just lurking, mainly so I can let you know where he is.
He is having internet access problems at the moment but will doubtless be back to his usual chatty self once the situation returns to normal.
Jayne
Thanks Jayne. Wow, actual information! Please give Dave our regards and tell him we look forward to his return.
Oh, and welcome to you too. What kind of riding do you do?
Raphael Lasar
Matawan, NJ
I’ll send him your regards when I see him at the juggling club meeting on Thursday. He’s suffering from the “moving offices” virus where nothing works in the new building.
My sole experience on a unicycle so far was about two months ago. It involved getting on, dragging myself up and down the hall windows a few times and falling off. To my credit I didn’t let the seat hit the floor - I cushioned it’s fall with my leg. Those bruises took 3 weeks to heal. As I am now moving into a time of year when I will have time to practice I’m going shopping this weekend.
Living in Johannesburg I think my choices will be pretty simple - take it or leave it.
Jayne
Good luck with the learning. You wont regret the time and (possible) pain.
What kind of juggling do you do? Naturally there are quite a few other jugglers here at rec.sport.unicycling. Once you’re riding somewhat competently putting the two together is more than a bit of fun.
Cheers,
Raphael Lasar
Matawan, NJ
To be honest, most of my juggling seems to involve picking balls up off the floor. I’ve only been doing it for 2 months or so and just need to practice. I must admit that I am getting better, but considering just how bad I was to begin with that’s not really saying much.
Juggling has so far been less painful to learn than unicycling (except for the cat who has had a few balls dropped on her) but as I’m still on nice squishy beanbags that is to be expected.
My 3YO daughter will sometimes work as a ball fetcher. My 13YO son just thinks I am strange and, I think, longs for a more conventional mother. Imagine what he’ll do when I come home with a unicycle!
Re: Gild?
thanx for the concern
as jayne pointed out, we moved offices and the kept promising that the internet will be connected 2moro
i’ve been working some oddish hours and that prevented me from getting to internet cafes and the like
hope u enjoyed the break
dont forget about your PM’s GILD…
Try practising in front of a bed, and you won’t have to bend so far to pick up the balls. If you keep throwing them too far forwards you could try practising in front of a wall. As for catching the Unicycle while you learn, don’t bother. Whoever owns the Unicycle would probably prefer their seat to be bruised rather than your leg. Simple choice- take it.
Thanks for the advice. I have done the “in front of bed” and “in front of wall” thing. I’m now trying the “throw until you drop, not until you stop” thing. I’ve also been told (by Dave, in a rather cryptic but amusing sign language tableau) to throw a bit higher. I think as far as juggling goes I am now in the “Conscious Incompetent” stage. If my daughter isn’t picking up for me I just take my shoes off and pick the balls up with my toes. I am VERY GOOD at picking balls up with my toes. I know I am getting better as I no longer have to walk across the room to pick up the balls I have dropped - a bit of a stretch and I am there.
The unicycle in question was Dave’s. I fell over sideways and much too quickly to do anything but hope for the best. He has told me that I can choose not to fall off which strikes me as a novel idea. I’ll work on it once I finally get my own unicycle - shop was out of stock on the weekend but might have some in today.
Off to lurk once more.
Jayne
Another tip: work/concentrate on your throws (not your catches).
Why:
If the throws are good, 1. the pattern is ‘stable’ and 2. the catches are easy.
If the throws are not good, 1. the pattern is a mess, 2. the catches are difficult, and 3. since the catches are difficult, and likely not in the right place, making a good next throw from that hand all that much harder.
Yes, catches are important, but you likely have the needed skill to make all the catches IF the all the throws are good.
Jayne, sorry to beat this dead horse, so to speak.
The method you describe above is almost universally considered to be the wrong way to go about learning and practicing juggling. By juggling until the pattern falls apart, which in your case right now I guessing to be fairly soon, you are learning mistakes.
Much better would be to do 3 clean throws and catches as many times as needed to make sure its solid. Then move on to 4, etc. For the basic cascade it shouldn’t take too long to progress to the point where you’re juggling it solidly for a good while.
This is not to say, of course, that you wont learn eventually, just that it’s bad form. This is particularly true when you start to work on more advanced tricks.
Good luck,
Raphael Lasar
Matawan, NJ
- Rowan
Or you could attach a washing up bowl or box to the front of you and then you’d never have to bend down to pick up your balls again… (after i wrote that i realised that i you have a dirty mind that sounds pretty …dirty 
)
That feeling you always get if your talking to men about them playing with their balls Now that was rude. And DIRTY.