#16 – Juggle

I'm staying for a couple of weeks in northern B.C. with my good friend Lindsay. Yesterday, I brought out my juggling balls to practice and mentioned that I need to start working on my tossing skills again after a hiatus. Lindsay said, "Nobody you could look at you right now and say you're not juggling." I think she's right. So I'm just going to cross this one off the list. I made a better video of my juggling back in April, but this is shorter and more to the point:

So I can confidently say I can juggle three balls, which was the original goal to begin with. I have no illusions of ever becoming the next Selyna Bogino or challenging Jason Garfield to a duel. He's the Ball Master. I am quite content to let him keep the title and move on to bigger and better things.

Juggling 3 Balls

Learning to juggle is like learning to ride a bicycle. Once you've got the basic move, you can't unlearn it. I can safely say I can keep three balls in the air, but only for just over a minute or so, on average, before I drop one. Here's a bit of proof:

I started learning to juggle about two or three years ago, but after a couple of weeks I stopped practicing and then have picked away at it in fits and starts. Kind of poor that this is the extent of my ability in all that time, but then, I never was a rapid study. Also, I've realized that, as with learning to ride a bike, there's this steep learning curve in the beginning and then there's this long plateau where you just can't get rid of the training wheels for what seems like eons. In terms of juggling, that seems to be the one minute mark.

122 Tosses

So I can juggle for a while now (about a minute), but my limit seems to be just over 100 tosses. I can't figure out how those guys do it for, like, half an hour, and not just with juggling balls, but with swords. Sometimes swords on fire. You can't drop those, though; it's not an option. Someone's toe might get cut off or burned, or both.

For anyone wanting to get started, though, here are a couple of tips:

1. Practice standing next to your bed. This way, when you drop the balls, you don't have to reach down to the ground. The balls will be at waist height. 

2. Start by tossing just two balls from your left to your right hand and then back the other way. Try to make the balls reach the same height with each toss, directly above the opposite hand, so they neatly fall down into your hand without you having to reach for them. 

Juggling Demo 3

Can you dig it?

Juggling Demo 2

So far, the best I can do is about 20 seconds. I'd like to be able to keep three balls in the air for at least three minutes, but maybe that's going too far. What constitutes being able to juggle? Am I there?

Juggling demo

This is where I am so far. Maybe I've plateaued, or maybe I just need to keep practising. 

Any advice is appreciated, all you clowns out there!

Three balls, 15 minutes

Every day for the past couple of weeks I've been setting my alarm for 15 minutes and practising tossing three balls in the air. I'm getting better. I can keep them going for up to 20 seconds now, but then I always end up throwing one too far in front of me and then the rhythm is broken. More practice time needed. Like, 10,000 more hours of practice. I want to eventually be able to juggle knives on fire while blindfolded.

Progress on Board and In the Air

Been practicing the ball tossing while standing next to my bed and listening to Bach. The height of the bed means that when I drop the balls I don't have to keep bending over to pick them up, and the music helps to keep a rhythm. At this point I've got one rotation down - I can get all three balls in the air and catch them, but that's where it stops. So it's a slow process, this learning to juggle.

As for Moby Dick, I've reached chapter 35, which means that Ishmeal and Queequeg have finally boarded The Pequod and met captain Ahab, and I'm about one sixteenth of the way through the book. Have yet to meet the whale.

Learning to juggle

Yesterday I met up with a busker friend of mine who gave me a few tips on how to juggle. It seems there are a lot of ways and things to juggle, but I just want to get the basic three ball routine down. I never expected juggling to be easy, but I went to a barbecue last night after my juggling lesson, and was surprised to find that everyone there (I mean EVERYONE) could juggle like it was nothing. People I've known for years who were all like, "Oh, yeah, I can juggle. Check it out."  And then they proceeded to perform a circus act while carrying on the previous conversation and drinking their beers. Where was I when everyone learned to do this? The irony of it is I actually took a clowning course at university but we did not learn this skill.

I'm thinking either I shouldn't bother to learn since it's obviously so passé, (unless I can quickly progress to juggling fire and live chain saws, which may turn a head or two) or I'd better damn well learn otherwise I'll be the only one in town who can't keep her balls in the air. Or, um, something along those lines. Anyway, it's on my list, and I've already made juggling balls, so I might as well just get on with it.

Here's a simple recipe for juggling balls that don't bounce and have good grip:

1. Wrap a few handfuls of dry rice in cellophane (make the ball of rice smaller or larger depending on your hand size)
2. Cut the spout off a regular (12") balloon and stuff the rice ball into the balloon
3. Cut the spout off another balloon and wrap the first one with it 

Now make a couple more and you've got yourself a nice homemade set to learn with. Or just to throw at the neighbour's cat if juggling really isn't your thing.