A to Z Flashback: 2013 -- How To Be...

All the background here is the same as it was in my last flashback post so, rather than go through all of that again, just click the link to check it out.

Which brings us to last year's theme: How To Be...
You can go back and read the intro post, or you can go off of this summation: With the Internet, we can be whatever we want to be. Or, at least, we can find out how to be whatever we want to be. Or, more specifically, as a writer, I can find out how any of my characters can be whatever I want them to be, and I never have to leave my house to find those things out. Pretty amazing, don't you think.
And, yeah, I'm pretty sure last year's theme was my wife's idea, too, although I didn't seem to mention that in the intro post. Oh, well, I'm sure it's there somewhere.

So here's the A to Z of "How To Be..."! Remember, you can still leave comments. The posts won't bite. Probably. Okay, well, one of them might smash you, but, other than that, you're probably safe.

How To Be...
an Archaeologist
a Brain Surgeon
a master Chef
a Demolition Expert
an Electrical Engineer
a Fighter Pilot
a Genetic Engineer
a Human Cannonball
an Incredible Hulk
a Juggler (this post contains a juggling lesson from our very own A-to-Z founder, Arlee Bird)
a Knight
a Lumberjack
a superModel
a Ninja (the favorite post of Alex Cavanaugh)
an Ornithologist
a Paleontologist
Q (you just have to read this one to understand)
a Race Car Driver
a Super Spy (this is the one that explains how the "How To Be" idea came about)
a Translator
an Umpire
a Ventriloquist
a Werewolf (my number one most viewed post of all time... by a lot)
an X-ray Technician
a Yodeler
a Zen Master

After the series was over, I summed it up with a post about what the series had really been about:
How To Be... a Writer

Based on the popularity of the werewolf piece, I followed it up about six months later with
How To Be... a Vampire
Surprisingly, that post has not really proven to be all that popular. The werewolf post continues to get dozens of views each week. Sometimes, the Internet is weird.

Winterblast in the SofA District (a local color post)

Apparently, I don't know all that much about where I live. No, seriously, every time I think I have a grip on Sonoma County, I find out that I'm wrong. Well, not that I'm wrong, exactly, but just that there's always something else I wasn't expecting.

Like last week, my wife tells me that she wants to go to this Winterblast celebration in the SofA District over this past weekend, and I was all "huh? SofA District? We have a sofa district?" I couldn't figure out why there would be a need to have a whole district for sofas. That is, unless they could fly like that one in Hitchhiker's.

"The South of A Street District. It's like the artists' quarters."

"We have an artists' quarters?"

"Yeah, that's what they call it."

Just to make this clear, this was the 9th Annual Winterblast. The 9th one! And I was only just hearing about it. But, then, I don't always pay the best attention to things going on around me. But that's beside the point. The point is that we went to this Winterblast Celebration. A Celebration which included a sofa parade. At night. Because the whole celebration was at night, which made taking pictures more difficult than I would have liked, but I managed to get some that work.

This being an artist event, though, meant that there was a lot of cool artwork on display, and, yes, I took pictures. Unfortunately, I didn't do a great job of keeping track of what artists painted what stuff, so I'm going to show you some of my favorite pieces and, then, give you some links to the artists' sites.

BrinoIsm
Saltworkstudio
Serena Hazard (actually, the first one with the tree is from this artist)

I did get the information for this last piece I'm going to show you. It's by Michele Bottaro, and it was my favorite painting I saw at the event. Really cool... and not for sale! (Not that I could afford it if it was, but, still...)

There was also art on building walls and such, like

and this heart in someone's window that I got with the full moon above it:

And there were some street dancers:

And, then, of course, there was the SofA Parade:

And, if you remember this post, you might recognize this couch (it really seems to get around):

All in all, it was a pretty good event. I would have spent a lot more time looking at the art, but it was fairly crowded and hard to move from studio to studio. I think the event could benefit from some extended hours and a parade that happens when it's still light out. I guess we'll see what happens next year.

Wunderkammer Pt. 2 (a local color post)

My wife and I were unable to see all of the things we wanted to see while at the Wunderkammer but, by far, the best thing we saw was a pair of jugglers called... um, I can't remember what they were called. The Brothers Something-or-Other. Or the Something-or-Other Brothers. At any rate, they were great! The younger one (and I think they did call him the younger one, but I may also just be thinking it because he looks younger) was a bit of a contortionist. Here he is playing jump rope with his arms as the rope:

And him juggling with his arms all pretzeled:

And juggling while standing on his "brother":

More juggling while standing on his brother:

Passing the balls back and forth:

Upside down juggling:

And swords!

They were a lot of fun. They had great banter, too, which was just as fun as watching them do their crazy stunts.

The other big thing at Wunderkammer is the handcar regatta. That is rather what it sounds like. It is a race between old railroad handcars. Modified handcars, but handcars. We didn't watch all of the races, but we did watch them introduce all of the racers and their vehicles. Here are some of the pictures from that:

The master of ceremonies.

This one ought to be self explanatory.

This one ought to also be self explanatory.

The only actual legitimate handcar in the regatta.

We think these guys were escaping from somewhere.

These guys just needed a TV, and they would have been all set.

Rail sweepers. Except, I don't remember if that's what they called them, but it is what they were for.

Well, that about does it for Wunderkammer this year. At least, I'm pretty sure I covered everything. Everything we did and saw, at any rate. [Maybe, next year, I'll plan to take a look at the food stuff for those that were wondering.] I didn't take pictures of the stuff they were selling, although, maybe, I should have. They had a lot of costuming options for sale, but it didn't occur to me to take pictures of that stuff.

Wunderkammer Pt. 1 (a local color post)

Every year here in Sonoma County, we have a big steampunk event. Yeah, I see the envy building in some of you already. For years, we have talked about going, but there has always been something that got in the way. But not this year. My wife and I ditched the kids (okay, not really; they were just doing something else) and went to our very first Wunderkammer.

The name is appropriate, although not indicative of steampunk in and of itself. It means "a place where a collection of curiosities and rarities is exhibited," and there were plenty of those. Some of them were walking around.

I think she's a clockwork angel. See?

The picture doesn't quite do her justice, but she gave off great "living doll" vibe in person.

Oh, and there was a freaking long snake skin.

And a car.

And a bike.

And a giant rocking horse.

There was also a magician.

And jugglers!

These guys were pretty awesome.

In fact, they were so awesome that you'll have to wait till the next post to see more pictures of them. It was a pretty cool event, all in all. I got for my wife one of these

which is pretty darn cool. I definitely want to make sure we go again next year.

For now, I will leave you with a picture of the band:

How To Be... a Juggler

When I was in high school, I decided one morning that I should be able to juggle. It was a spur of the moment kind of thing. It wasn't that I wanted to be able to juggle, just that I thought that I ought to be able to juggle. No, I have no idea why I decided that. At any rate, it was a Saturday morning, and I was at work in the gym at church, but it was a pretty slow day or too early or something, because I only had a couple of kids. They were both just skating, so it didn't leave me with a lot to do other than just be there. Maybe I was just bored, but I don't remember that as having anything to do with my idea of "oughtness" about juggling.

A few tennis balls later, and I was learning to juggle. I worked on it for a few hours until I had it down. Or up. Or around. Or whatever.

Once it was late enough that people my age were crawling out of bed, teenagers began to show up, and I had to actually do some other work; however, my best friend showed up, and I demonstrated my new skill. His response was something like, "That's great, but you're doing it wrong." He took the tennis balls from me and showed me the proper way of doing it, which was not around in a circle like they do it in cartoons. My reaction was something along the lines of, "Well, this is how I'm going to do it," because I wasn't going to go back and try to learn some other way of doing it.

Maybe if I'd had access to Arlee Bird, I would have learned to do it right the first time. What? You didn't know Lee could juggle? Well, now you do. And, due to the miracle of the Internet, something I didn't have back when I was in high school, here he is to tell you how to juggle!

Take it away, Lee! Or something like that...

     It takes a lot of balls to be a juggler.  You've got to learn to throw up and then catch what you've thrown up.  Er, this is not coming out right.   Let's just toss out this opening and let me start again.

     Juggling is an art that incorporates the mental disciplines of math, science, and physics and blends them with the physical disciplines of movement and balance.  Juggling is not difficult if you are willing to focus on what you are doing and then practice.  Once it comes to you it's much like riding a bicycle or something of that nature.

      Want to learn to juggle?   Start by learning the basic three ball cascade pattern.  This is a matter of keeping three objects moving in regular alternating arcs for a sustained period of time.  You must learn to maintain a continued one, two, three waltz rhythm with the three arcs.  A juggling count is very helpful in the beginning.

      The first step is to master one object, preferably a ball or a spherical beanbag, tossed from one hand to the other.   Learn this toss from right to left, then left to right, repeatedly without dropping and keeping the same identical arc each time.  Back and forth, back and forth, until you've perfected the feel of the toss and the catch.

     When the first arc is mastered, then start with a ball in each hand.  Focusing on the arcs, toss the first ball from the right hand.  When that first ball reaches the peak of the arc and begins to descend toss up the ball in the left hand in an equal arc, but not on a collision course with the first.  Repeat over and over until the movement comes naturally.

      As you continue the alternating passing of the two objects between your hands, begin to imagine the third object becoming a part of the pattern.  Now instead of the one-two repetition of throws, think of the one-two-three rhythm with the two objects and one imaginary object.   After the tosses, the hand movements, and the rhythm are ingrained in your mind you can add in the third ball.

      The visualization should have helped, but the actual third object might be intimidating and confusing at first.  The main thing is don't give up and keep that waltz rhythm in your mind.  In the basic juggling pattern your hand and arm movements remain the same and the arcs of the objects should also be repetitive.  Juggling is like music.

      I recommend that you practice over a bed so you don't have to chase balls or bend over too much.  You will be picking up dropped objects a lot at first.  Juggling is good exercise, but in the learning process it might be more exercise than you'd want.  Your focus on the juggling pattern will also be better if you aren't chasing objects all over the room. 

      After you've essentially mastered the basic pattern you will be ready to experiment with more arcs, heights, speeds, and other pattern variations.   And don't forget the essential rule when performing your new skill before an audience:  If  you drop something just keep going and act as though it was meant to be.   Learning the skill of recovery is one of the most essential components in a jugglers bag of tricks.

      Now go learn to juggle!  There are many healthy benefits for mind and body.  You might even be able to pick up a few bucks juggling on the street for tips.