Definitely not going to EJC

So my summer vacation dates were announced by my employer today. I will not be able to go to EJC.

EJC 2008 August 2-10

Will I make it to the EJC 2008 in Karlsruhe?

I found out at work today that the Korean government has not decided when the summer vacation will be for public schools. I don't work for a public school, but my private school follows their schedule.

The possible dates are July 26 - August 3 or August 2 - 10.

If the dates are August 2-10, I am definitely going to seriously consider attending the EJC.

Currently the best price from Seoul to Berlin is $1155. That includes a 5 hour layover in Russia.

Going into Frankfurt would cost $1171.

Going into Stuttgart would cost $1461.

I'm liking the Frankfurt option.

Korea Juggling Festival

Today I discovered the place where I want to hold the first ever Korea Juggling Festival. There is an outdoor amphitheater nearby the Lotte World amusement park that is perfect for juggling. It has high ceilings, a large round juggling space, rubber mat flooring, a stage, and seating.

Check out some pictures:






The thing to do now is talk to the local juggling store owner and get him to inquire about reserving the site.

51 Days to The WJF II

I'm really looking forward to this year's World Juggling Federation convention. I watched last year's on ESPN and since then have bought the DVD.

I can see the WJF growing like the Ultimate Fighting Championships did after if first began. In the UFC, in the beginning, there were no weight classes and hardly any rules to the fights. As the event got more attention from the media and scrutiny from the public it began to create more and more weight classes and rules to keep the fights fair and fighters safe.

There is room for the WJF to create more skill level classes or age level classes and to expand the competition to include regional preliminaries. I imagine Jason Garfield, the WJF founder, has already begun to think about these kinds of things and it will be interesting to see how it all works out.

I'm all for expanding on the skill levels and creating regional competitions because that will make the competitions more accessible.

Quote of the Day

Do not go about worshiping deities and religious institutions as the source of subtle truth. To do so is to place intermediaries between yourself and the divine, and to make of yourself a beggar who looks outside for a treasure that is hidden inside his own breast. ~Taoism

2005 Portland Juggling Festival

Next weekend is the 2005 Portland Juggling Festival. I went to last years and it was a interesting experience.

It was my first festival and I'd only been juggling for about 9 months. I had recently hooked up with the Corvallis Juggling & Unicycling Club and so I basically hung out with one of their jugglers and bounced around through the workshops.

I realized while I was in the beginner juggling workshop that I enjoy helping people learn to juggle.

I learned how to contact juggle from Greg Maldonado. Contact juggling is much more relaxing than Toss juggling is, but popular lay opinion thinks Toss juggling is relaxing... go figure! Oh, and Greg told me he would be back again this year to teach more Contact juggling. Hooray!

I was allowed into the Extravaganza during the performers' warmups. That was AWESOME! I got to see Jason Garfield, the Galchenkos (sp), Ivan Pacel, and the Stanford Juggling Research Institute goof around while getting ready. I have to say that the warmups were more entertaining that the show and there were only 20 or less people in the auditorium!

Funny thing, before the Extravaganza, I while I was at the festival, I saw this huge, muscular, bald guy walking around outside. He looked pissed off. He had a tank top on that I could have swore had the letters UFC written on it. I used to train in Mixed Martial Arts and those letters mean Ultimate Fighting Championship. I thought this guy had come to the festival to break some jugglers' arms. Turns out the shirt actually had the letters WJF and the huge, muscular, pissed off, bald guy was Jason Garfield.

And when I was inside, I saw Ivan Pacel do 5 Ball bounce juggling with tricks while I was walking by and I said something corny like "Well done!" I had no idea he was a professional too. If I had, I would have asked him to do something harder :-)

To say the least, I'm excited about going to my second juggling festival. I wish I could have gone to more throughout the year. Nevertheless, I'm going to this one and it will be a great time!

Oh, and by the way... I'm going to perform in the Renegade show this year. I put together a 9 move 3 Ball routine so I can get in front of people and see how it feels and if I can do it without any mistakes! After that, I want to challenge everyone there to a 3 Ball 360 competition. The winner gets a buck! I really hope that someone takes up the challenge.

World Juggling Federation

The World Juggling Federation or WJF was created by Jason Garfield, one of the world's best jugglers. The WJF is a juggling competition that is similar in structure to that of a gymnastics competition. You see, traditionally in organizations like the International Juggling Association (IJA), competition was not based on technical juggling but rather on performance/entertainment juggling. Jason Garfield was dissatisfied with this because he wanted to stick to technically difficult tricks and not waste time on crowd pleasers (which generally aren't technically demanding).

The WJF's 1st competition was held in Las Vegas, Nevada in December of 2004. ESPN2 aired the taped competition in January, February, and March.

The WJF is planning the 2nd competition for December of 2005 also in Las Vegas, Nevada.

It is my dream to be able to compete in this event by 2010. Wish me luck!

Check out the WJF website! http://www.jugglingcompetition.com/