Category: hobbies

We Juggled on Our Anniversary!

Guess what we did on our anniversary yesterday? We juggled! We got another set of 3 glow balls so we could try the 2-person 6 ball pass juggling trick.

The glow balls are plastic and filled with plastic pellets. They are uniform in size and weight and have 20 different colored light modes and patterns. They are USB rechargeable. The manufacturer says they are “made to take a beating—without being too hard.”

That said, we still suggest you consider wearing safety goggles.

This is a challenging juggling trick because you have to be almost perfectly synchronized with your partner. We drop the balls a lot, but we’ve improved even since the first time we practiced. We still jitterbug around a lot and we work hard at keeping up the “1, 2, Pass” count.

You have to be pretty solid juggling the 3-ball cascade. We get a lot of practice because it’s hilarious.

Rube Goldberg Contraptions and Other Updates

Just random updates for now. That 2-person 6 ball pass juggle Sena and I made a YouTube about? We could barely complete a couple of volleys, and we didn’t think we’d ever make much more progress. However, yesterday, we were starting to make 3, even 4 passes and cascades. Just when you think it’s hopeless….

What about me and the shower juggle pattern? I have not stopped trying—but I’m really no further ahead than I was 6 months ago. It wouldn’t feel right to quit. Success could happen tomorrow.

I remember watching an X-Files episode a while ago, “The Goldberg Variation.” A Rube Goldberg Contraption is a machine that is built of a lot of complex parts that in sequence result in solving a simple task. The main character in the episode is Henry Weems, who is incredibly lucky. His life is a series of improbable, complicated sequences of events that either make him rich or foil his enemies.

Unlike most people, Henry wants to use his incredible power for good, specifically to help a kid get a special treatment for liver disease which is killing him. The results he gets are wacky and complicated and result in good things happening to others.

I wonder what makes Rube Goldberg Contraptions so focused on trivial results? I think it would be nice to build one that—write your wish here.

Note: Rube Goldberg cartoon in public domain (source Wikipedia article, “Rube Goldberg machine”).

2 Person 6 Ball Pass Juggle

Sena and I reached for the sky and tried another two-person juggle pattern with 6 balls. It’s supposedly one of the easier tricks, but we are ordinary jugglers and beg to differ. One YouTube expert juggler says you should be able to stand in one place and juggle 100 cascade throws to do this trick.

Sena finally wore her safety goggles, probably because she got knocked on the head once while we practiced.

The idea is for both partners to do a solid 3 ball cascade pattern and pass one of the balls at regular intervals. Believe it or not, the slowest pace is to count “1, 2, pass” so that you throw the pass after two right hand tosses in your cascade. Both partners pass with the right hand to each other’s left hand.

That was difficult for both of use because we’re used to counting every throw, including the left-hand throws. You have to skip counting the left-hand throw and starting counting with only the right-hand throws. There are faster variations of this trick, including passing every throw!

We drop a lot of balls, needless to say. But we have a lot of fun!

Side By Side Steal Juggle

We took a couple days to get the hang of the side steal juggle. It’s not easy and a lot of the throws look more like sneaky passes than steals. But it’s a lot of fun!

Sena juggles with her arms really reaching for the sky, like she’s getting robbed—which actually fits this complicated crime of a juggling trick.

You have to get a feel for whether you feel more skilled by reaching with your left or right hand when trying to steal your partner’s juggling balls. That dictates on which side you stand. One of the key points is to stand fairly close together.

It helps to toss the balls a little high and close to the juggling pane of glass so that you don’t have to reach too far out in front or you or too far behind you.

We counted the initial throws just to get started. After the first steal, it got too difficult for us to keep track of the count and a free style pattern began to emerge. We traded balls 4 times and Sena was gunning for 5. We almost got there.

Because we were so close together, ball collisions were common, making it important to time throws.

Side by side, shoulder to shoulder, this is a juggling trick in which teamwork is the key. It really helps you develop more skill with the 3-ball cascade.

Juggling Updates

Well, I’ve been juggling for a year now. I have been trying to learn the shower juggling pattern for 6 months. I can still do only about 3-4 throws. I think it’ll happen eventually.

All of the juggling balls are downstairs on the lower level since all the upstairs doors were repainted. We can’t scuff them up by dropping juggling balls anymore.

We’re working on a new two person juggling trick. It’s a variation on the steal. It’s a side-by-side steal pattern and it’s more difficult to do than the front steal. We have to orchestrate it a little, sort of like the ever-popular Wolfgang Amadeus (“Bud”) Mozart’s Symphony No. 573.8 in J Minor, Op 74: II. Andante Pizzacata Beef Jerky de Bigfoot. I bet you’re wondering how I got to know so much about classical music. Anyway, we’re getting there.

We’re both working so hard on juggling that our shoulders are sore. I do a total of 200 throws of the cascade every day in addition to other tricks. Sena does air juggling at the dinner table. Maybe we should be doing some shoulder mobility exercises.

I’m pretty consistent about wearing safety goggles. Sena won’t wear them. You should comment that she ought to start right now. Thank you.

Claw Back Those Juggling Balls in The Steal!

Sena and I have been practicing the front steal trick in juggling. It’s another two-person juggling pattern that took us a couple of days to get right—sort of.

We tried it at first by counting the throws (and catches), which helped us sustain the pattern. On the other hand, it was a lot more fun not scripting it that way. You do get a lot of great practice doing the 3-ball cascade.

Neither one of us knew when the smash and grab was coming. We just stole balls whenever we felt like it. When Sena stole the cascade, I clawed it back and vice versa.

Stealing in two-person juggling is not a crime—it’s a hoot.

Geezer Level One Leg Stand Juggling

This is just a suggestion for whoever’s on the rules committee for juggling world records. Recall that a couple of young guys grabbed world records for longest time juggling the 3-ball cascade while standing on leg.

The current world record is a little over 22 minutes. Wow!

I think there needs to be a new category—for older persons like me. I can tell you I can’t get past a few throws while juggling the cascade on one leg.

I’ve made a short YouTube on the kinds of allowances the world juggling records judges might consider for geezers.

I might have a ghost of a chance to set a world record in my age group if the officials decide they like my idea.

Sena and Jim Do Two Person Juggling Again!

Against all odds, Sena and I did what looked impossible the other day—Two Person 5 ball 2 Count Asynchronous Juggling. For some reason that was harder to learn than the first two person juggling trick we learned.

You can find only a stick figure GIF of how the trick is done on the web. It’s harder than it looks. It took us about 3 hours to get it right. It’s hard to appreciate how it’s done in a YouTube when the jugglers are shown from a side view. On the other hand, the balls fly in every direction and moving the camera closer might have resulted in knocking over the tripod.

It’s not a competition, even thought it reminds you of a table tennis match. You have to put the ball where you partner can catch it. The pattern is similar to the cascade in that on count 1 you throw a ball from one hand to the other and on the two count you pass a ball to your partner. The count is very important.

It’s very important to lob the balls up fairly high. This gives you enough time to catch what’s flying at you.

It’s great exercise. You can see why I wear safety goggles.

Air Purifier Went to Code Green and More Odds and Ends

Just some odds and ends here today. Our new RENPHO Air Purifier went to Green Air Quality yesterday around lunchtime. It’s the first time since we got it that it changed. Green still means “good” air quality. Blue is “very good.” Orange is bad, red is “polluted,” and magenta is “evacuate now!” The fan speed increases a little between air quality indicators. It went back to Blue in about 20 minutes. We’re not sure what made it switch. I would make a comment about Sena cooking tater tots for lunch to what you might call Black quality, but then I would have to leave town.

I saw a new juggling trick that has attracted some jugglers to post new world records. Since I like to brag about being able to stand on one leg for a minute, I can tell you there are world records posted for longest time juggling the cascade while standing on one leg. There are two records. The first one was set in 2017 by a young man who did it for almost 11 minutes. Then, in April of 2023, another even younger kid did it for over 22 minutes.

I’m thinking there is a need for an “Old Guy Juggler” category so that I could set a new world record for juggling while standing on one leg for 4 or 5 throws. I’m sort of practicing.

Sena and I are trying to learn a new 2-person 5 ball juggling trick. For some reason, it’s a lot tougher than we thought it would be. Slow progress. I’ll keep you posted.

Our freshly repainted doors are supposed to be delivered today by a couple of painters. I’m wondering if I’ll hear the three-legged pig joke from one of them. How about a painter joke?

So, the painters finished painting my house and hand me the bill. I notice that by the paint, it says $0. I say, “You guys did such a nice job, why didn’t you charge me for the paint?” The head painter says, “Don’t worry about the paint, it’s on the house.”

Clumsy Juggling

We decided to kick it up a notch with our two-person ball passing juggle routine. We switched out three of the bean bag Zeekio balls for some glowing LED juggling balls.

The LEDs are bigger and heavier than the bean bags, which led to more challenging passes. They also look better in low light, so it was a little harder to see the balls flying at us. We really didn’t know when we’d have to change our grip—so we often ended up losing our grip.

Clumsy juggling is fun juggling.