Friday 28 Oct 2011 by Orphi the AweKid.

I haven’t done any diabolo for quite a while really. However, with the weather outside worsening, I’m probably going to start doing more of it. For example, I spent my lunchbreak today practising. I was getting bored, and just about to pack my stuff away, when I decided to try to pull off an infinite suicide.

Needless to say, that didn’t go exceptionally well. But I spent about half an hour trying, and once or twice I managed to get it to work. Woo!

Trouble is, I keep ending up with the diabolo far too close to the ground. And then my free stick hits the ground, and won’t pass under. More to the point, it seems trying to pull up doesn’t really lift the diabolo, but does accelerate the free stick, throwing my rhythm off and usually resulting in a complete unwrap. Oh, and once or twice I’ve managed to put the diabolo into a trapeze without actually meaning to. Man, I couldn’t do that if I wanted to…

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Monday 18 Apr 2011 by Orphi the AweKid.

Saturday was a good day for diabolo. My sister came over to paint Eric’s shed (random…), and I spent a few hours wandering around Eric’s garden getting some practise in.

The best thing about diabolo is the feeling you get when you finally pull off a difficult move. The worst thing about diabolo is the way absolutely nobody gives a fig.

Well anyway, I just about managed to pull off a trapeze suicide. Once or twice, anyway. The secret seems to be to move the stick, not the diabolo. Anyway, we’ll see how far I get with that…

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Tuesday 12 Apr 2011 by Orphi the AweKid.

With the weather being nice lately, I’ve had the opportunity to spend more time practising outside. I quickly learned that few outdoor locations have a floor as smooth as carpet. That makes floor starts a little more tricky. Yesterday I had a go outside, but quickly found that it was just too windy. So I moved inside, and amoung a series of unsuccessful moves, I managed to pull off my first successful darkside (AKA reverse catch). Actually, I managed a few. I still haven’t really got this one down very well, but I managed more than one.

I also made some small improvements to by backhand stick grinds. It’s still quite unreliable, but not as hopeless as it used to be. I still can’t get anywhere near the suicide out of wrap, never mind infinite suicides. My string appears to be too long for the latter.

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Wednesday 06 Apr 2011 by Orphi the AweKid.

I really like my new carbon fiber handsticks. They grind so well, being so shiny and all. Not sure I like the two new large diabolos though. The pink one is very pretty, and they make a nice matching pair if in 20 years’ time I learn how to do two at once. But being so large, heavy and shiny, it’s hard to get much speed. (Then again, being so heavy they keep their speed well, and being shiny they grind well, if a little uncontrollable.)

In the last week or so, I’ve been getting modestly good at some new suicides. I’ve been able to do the Chinese suicide for ages (and the trapeze suicide is just… well, suicidal). But I’ve now more or less mastered the suicide into wrap. Swing the diabolo to the dominant size, let go of your dominant stick, and catch. You are now in a wrap.

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Wednesday 09 Mar 2011 by Orphi the AweKid.

OK, so last summer I spent a day learning to do diabolo. My sister got me a pair of diabolos for Christmas, and I’ve been practising ever since.

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