Learning new stuff, making friends, and leaving work hassles behind

At the beginning of November 2023 I was handed a Contact Staff, and this last Christmas I bought myself and a friend a Balance Board. During the holidays I had a little time to practice both, and decided (whilst a little merry on Expresso Martini's) it would be fun to have a go at spinning the staff and balancing on the board at the same time. An earlier post contains a couple of GIFs showing (on a 3 second loop) early attempts at this unorthodox arrangement, and since then I have been keen have another try.

So yesterday I took a bag down to the beach and located a spot to set up and start recording. I'm still not convinced the surface was completely level but at least there were no ceiling or light obstacles to avoid!

I spent about an hour trying to put more than a few seconds of wobblily flow together, with this clip turning out best of a bad bunch and not looking so bad/beginner in my humble opinion. Clearly there's lots of scope for improvement but I think that will come quickest if I continue to practice these skills individually.

Towards the end of my play-time, which really is a essential for me as I fucking hate being inside and in front of a screen doing shit I don't care about, a guy who was sat by the water just out of shot got up and walked over. I didn't recognise him the whole time he was there even though we had met briefly once a few months prior. He asked for a go on my Staff, which I allowed because I'd seen a video or two of him and he's pretty good - better than me. Well, now he has my number and I'm hopeful we'll get to meet early one morning or later in the day (after work shite) so we can hopefully help each other improve some. I suspect it will be me who benefits most, and he is going to need my Staff-wizz friend to teach him some new tricks.

My mother, brother, and daughter have all been sent videos of me both 'Staffing' and balancing and the general consensus has been, "why?". Not really words of encouragement, which is fine, but I did feel a little disappointed that they seemingly didn't think so hard before asking the question.

Apart from the obvious physical health benefits of activating loads of muscles and moving around after sitting on your arse for 7-10 hours a day in front of a screen, there's a nice boost to my (previously flakey) mental health going on here too.

When I get those thoughts such as, "I'm not fucking sitting behind a desk all day until I'm 68 or whatever the retirement age is then", escaping that desk and leaving work thoughts behind for an hour or two gives me a little kick I need give some more of my time up the next day. That is until 2025 of course where Crypto will moon and we'll all be handing in resignation letters, maybe.

Have a good one,

Ash