Прекрасное Далеко....

This is probably the last trapeze post here - I'll shift it to the workout blog, or possibly an opt-in filter.

Today, I got up at 7.30, to go jogging at 8. Because I had to be finished before my personal Boot Camp with Ji at 10. After which I went in and trained straps. My straps coach moves way too fast. In each session, and from one session to the next. But that's ok, for the moment. My wrists are raw, but that's ok, for the moment :) Today, a quick skinning the cat to warm up, then all new stuff - single arm hangs (Hah, I know this from trapeze!), swings, and some strength moves. A solid hour of fun.

Then after work, trapeze. My trapeze coach has the opposite problem - he *meant* to give me new stuff a week or two ago, but he's kinda busy. So today he said "Try swinging your legs up, and if you wind up with your knees on the bar, that's cool. Don't hang there, though - lower the trapeze and get a crash mat, then practice hanging."

So, since I got my legs through and up on the bar first try (well, that's *why* he made me do 6 weeks of conditioning and core work first. There's no school like old school), I did that a few more times, played with skinning the cat on the trapeze (a slightly different beast), did some funky tuck and pike stuff from there, and then dropped the bar to do a kneehang.

Mother. Fucker. I anticipate another 6 weeks of just knee conditioning. And Alex Mischenko not only does this every day, but *catches* people. Pizdyet. Suffice it to say, kneehangs hurt.

But oh, my, what a rush. Serious fun. And I can't wait to do it again tomorrow. I have, apparently, decided that the best way to get over hot Russian aerialists is to become one. Or at least, as close as I can get.

Russian moment: We have 2 new flyers, Nina and Evgenia. Nina is mousey and quiet, Evgenia is blonde and ... loud. I will very occasionally get "spasiba, horosho" from Nina in reply to "Kak dela?" - more usually I'll get a shy nod. From Evgenia, we get shouts of "Super!!". Which I didn't know was Russian. And Evgenia waits to be loaded on the A frame next to my boss as I wander past him and give him the thumbs up for a particular clear, so sometimes she says hi. Today, with one leg casually slung up around her ear, she said "Hi", so I said "Genia! Nu sto?". She shouted "SUPER! Kak ti?". So I figured fuck it, and said "Zaiy ibees!". Which nearly got me slapped the first time I tried it on Nastyushka, back before I knew what it meant.

Evgenia, it is fair to suggest, is not a Nice Girl like Nastyushka :) From Genia I got a moment of shock, and then a wicked grin and a thumbs up. I love my crazy Russians.

So today, my first silks class. The feedback is much faster for silks. First thing, climb the silks. Fine, about 5 minutes to get the knack of wrapping and sliding, and then no problem. Compared to trapeze, which is now one week of "Hang. Hang some more. Wonder if I'm doing it right. Hang and lift my legs. Hang some more.". So, climbing the silks, taking my legs off, putting them back on, re-wrapping and climbing back down. Achievement! We like that.

And Nastyushka, of course, said "The dreadlocks, no good loose. Must tie them up." And our teacher Rowena said "Eh, they're ok for now." Which prompted a tirade of incomprehensible Russian from Nastyushka, culminating in the word "Discipline, discipline, discipline!" over and over. Which I guess means "Start out slack and you'll stay slack!".

And I think that means she cares....

( I build trapezes for Cirque du fucking Soleil. )
jai.
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Trapeze.
Nastyushka's apparatus

No photos of the pout, alas.

jai.
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With a pint of beer and a new ... trapeze?

So trapeze mark I, which was incredibly rough, is hanging in the grid for the aerial frame guys to warm up on. We used to have a "proper" trapeze up there, but its owner left in a hurry, so I threw mine up. It's basically a bar of steel with a hook welded to each end. Which is unattractive for a static, because it means you have to clip something in (a quicklink, in this case), which gives pinch points, and ... oh, trust me, it's just ugly.

The next one will be much more graceful, and therefore there will be pictures. Probably. It will have proper spliced rope, rather than industrial slings through quicklinks. And I might even tape it....

I'm already planning mark III, which will have even nicer rope and be stainless. but we can't weld stainless in the shop, so I may have to give it to our Chinese Mr. Fix-it and say "Please make this go away and come back welded.". But there's something about knowing that I did everything myself, from cutting the pipe to welding the eyes to splicing the rope.

I wonder if it's legal to grow hemp in Macau?

These little things, they grow, they take on lives of their own. A while back, we nicknamed Olga and Nastya Белка and Стрелка after the Russian Space Dogs. Last week, Nastya dragged a chair into the corridor, where the light is better, so she could read between cues. So I stuck some tape on it and wrote космона́вт Стрелка on it. Which she loved. Today, someone has stuck pictures of Стрелка up on the door to that corridor.

This amuses me vastly. Someday we will all have left, and there will be an embroidered mission patch on the garage wall, and no-one will even know the story.

Anyway. There are more garage moments, but they are all variations on a theme, and that theme is me and Nastyushka, and that's boring to everyone else. But there will be stories over beer, oh yes, my droogs.

jai.
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Rocking the garage. I have Nastyushka hanging out pretty much all night, from levitators to ice blocks. Last week my automation board op was Sharom, who is quieter than most of our Malay boys, but has the same knack of reading my mind and just Getting Shit Done. And this week not only do I have Wadi back on my crew (ditto), but also Sharom's ... um ... cousin? The Malay boys rock my world. We have Wadi, Junior, Edy and Sharom. Solid work ethic, totally relaxed, and we got them as a bulk lot - they're all related in some odd way, and they've been hanging together basically all their lives. Krew. Posse. Family. Whatever you want to call it.

And it spills over - Wadi, Sharom and I can work the garage as a threesome pretty much without words. Most of that is Wadi and Sharom, but it comes from having worked with clued people for so long that you're totally in tune with the people around you, and how they're working. Junior does the same thing - watches, thinks, and just does. After 2 days in the garage, he's got the same rhythm - see something that needs doing, start it, hand it off with a nod when needed. I love them. And they bring you tonight's garage moment - Sharom behind his glowing auto board, side lit by the LEDs on his comms station, bopping from foot to foot like a DJ behind the decks, while Junior's iPod plays ... Matisyahu.
Because apparently, they're very big on Hassidic reggae, good Muslim Malay boys that they are. I guess it's not Ramadan anymore ....

jai.
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If you never spend your money
you know you'll always have some cash.
If you stay cool and never burn
you'll never turn to ash.
If you lick the boots that kick you
then you'll never feel the lash
and if you crawl along the ground
at least you'll never crash.
So why why why -
WHAT MADE YOU THINK YOU COULD FLY?
--Adrian Mitchell.

Yesterday, Nastyushka was kicking me in the back of the head, safely strapped to her iceblock. Today, she's in hospital, after a bad landing. Coach thinks she'll be ok, she had feeling and movement in her legs, just pain in her back. So fragile, even the ones you think are tough....

jai.
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Or: Mistakes I'm making so you don't have to.
Or: Oh, shit.

So the next Russian phrase I need is "I was only flirting! I already *have* a wife."

Unfortunately, I'm not sure it translates, and I think the closest I'll get is "No, I totally understand that your overly-muscled aerial catcher comrades, one of whom is an ex cage-fighter, now have to beat seven kinds of shit out of me. In fact, while they're at it, I'd love for you to kick me in the balls a few times!"

Free clue: When a crazy (but incredibly buff and hot) Russian flyer admires your shave and new tattoo by saying "Why? Are you looking for new girlfriend or something?", do not say "Sure - are you offering?". Unless you mean it. Next free clue: It's a lot like being 12. If she hits you, she likes you.

I think I'm safe. She suggested I join her for red wine in the training room after tonight's show, and I said "NO!!! ... uh, I mean, we're all going out for a drink to say goodbye to Jimbo. You should come along...", she said "Nyet, I only joke, I am training after.". So I *think* I'm ok. But I may have to hide behind Romka next week, which will be impressive, because he's 5'5".

Oh, and one more clue: After it dawns on you that she's flirting back, and that that could be dangerous, for fuck's sake STOP FLIRTING! I need a "Poor Impulse Control" tattoo....

jai.
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World-class aerial artist, in CK briefs and a pink cowboy hat. Oh, fizit, you really should have stayed a few more nights....

Let me just say, everything goes to hell when the Russians arrive.

jai.
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