Stix

Considering that my blog is entitled "SIR Isaac Stix" I figured I ought to inform you just why that is. When I was in seventh grade a friend of mine (Mike) brought a pair of homemade gravity sticks (or devil sticks) to school and showed them off. Naturally, everyone thought they were the coolest thing ever. Nobody was any good at them at that point, even Mike was only able to do a few simple tricks. Still, just seeing the concept performed was impressive.

For my next birthday Mike gave me my very own pair. Mike and his father would make pairs of gravity sticks and sell them. I figure I got the pair I did because nobody wanted to buy them. Not that they were defective, they were just pink and purple. Nevertheless I was extremely enthused with my gift and immediately set to practicing with them.

I was then immediately discouraged by my complete lack of ability. But as someone somewhere probably said at one point...

"Patience is talent and talent is patience."

 I much prefer that saying to "Practice makes perfect." Cause it doesn't always. You can practice all you want, but unless you are patient, you won't get anywhere. So I was patient, I worked on keeping that center stick in the air. Five years later and I can make jaws drop. I don't claim to be anywhere near the best but I consider myself to be a low-level pro.

My pink and purple pair are long gone, stolen a year after I recieved them. (I know, right? Who wants to steal pink and purple sticks?) I got another pair from Mike the following year, this time they were black and red with a skull pattern. Eventually they wore out from heavy use and I gave them away to a friend of mine (who hasn't really used them at all). After that I decided I needed something with a bit more durability and quality. So I fired up the interweb and bought myself a professionally made pair of the brand Lunastix.

For fourty bucks I got my very own Master set of Lunastix. I couldn't have been happier. Despite being very different in feel from the homemade pair they were easy to use and much more durable. That being said two years later they were pretty beat up. I had abused them more than I should have. Anyway, after one of the handsticks broke in half I upped the ante and bought one of each style of sticks from Lunastix. I now own a Wizard set, a new Master set, and a top-of-the line Equinox set. That's how I blew one half of my first ever paycheck.

Which brings me to today. I don't practice nearly as much as I used to, but that's mostly because all my hobby time is spent on video-related projects. Maybe in the future I'll combine the two and make some neat stuff.

And that is why It's SIR Isaac Stix. My initials are SIR, my middle name is Isaac, and gravity stix are a major part of my life.