Crates & Breaks

Wow, been a long time!  Anyway, check this event out!!

Check it!

These Here Breaks Will Rock Your Shoes

“You still gotta teach me how to do those baby windmills!” Zach said.  “Those are so cool!”

            “Yeah man, you can get ‘em,” I tell him.

            “Have you been breaking much lately?” Zach asked me.

            “Nah not really,” I told him.  “I’ve been pretty busy with work and school.”

            “Dude you gotta keep up with it man,” He said.  “You could be famous some day.”

I’ve never been that great at expressing myself.  I wasn’t shy, but I was always quiet; I never really had anything to say.  Breakdancing gave me an escape.  I never had to say anything when I danced.  All I had to do was listen and react.  Listen to the music, listen to my body, listen to the crowd.  React!  It was natural.  There were no rules other than to try to defy the rules.  Defy gravity, defy convention, defy the limits that your body has tried to set in place for you.  I listened, I reacted, I defied.  I did it all to hear the gratification of the crowd recognizing my existence.  To confirm that I was alive.

The auditorium was full.  Our set was going great.  The crowd was clapping to the beat, and everybody was on point.  The “ooohs,” “ahhhs,” and “WOAHS,” from the crowd, and from us, filled me with so much adrenaline.  The butterflies had vanished and the shake in my legs was gone, so I was ready for the big finale.  Michael started his set, and then quickly called me up to him. 

He wrapped me in a bear hug from behind my back.  He spun me clockwise, and the crowd didn’t know what to think.  My legs elevated in front of me as we spun, and I held my arms close so that Michael could spin me as fast as he could.  We got up to speed, and Michael directed me around his body.  He lifted his right leg in a large step and swung my entire body in between his legs.  Michael quickly switched legs, and my body followed through to the other side.  Michael guided my legs as high as he could take them and brought my body back around in front of him.  Michael carried me up under his right arm as he brought me across, and gave one final heave to send me flying through the air.

            My legs opened, and my eyes swiftly found my landing spot.  I brought my arms in front of me to catch myself to begin my windmills.  My left hand felt the floor, and my right quickly followed.  My left leg stayed high, and my right swooped under it to begin rotating.  All I could hear was the screaming gratification of the crowd.  I did a few fast windmills to dazzle them, and then shot up to spin on my head in a dizzying flurry that sent the auditorium into a frenzy. 

We were the only standing ovation of the night.

The “Breaking Room” escalated my dancing from a go home-and-practice-by-myself-after-school hobby into a full-fledged part of who I was.  Lunch hour was full of students sitting up in the small corner next to the side entrance of the small gym of East High School.  The green tiled floor was perfectly capable of maintaining a back spin, head spin, shoulder spin, hand spin, and all other sorts of spins.  Fridays during lunch was a time for battling.  There were challenges called out, rankings created, friendships and rivalries formed, and it all occurred within the red brick walls and push-bar glass filled doors of the Breaking Room. 

It’s my first year of breakdancing, and I can’t learn how to do windmills.  It’s been months.  Stab, cock back, swing, kick, spin, roll up, catch, repeat.  That’s what I was told to do, but it made no difference.  Making your body do what your mind hears is a ridiculous notion.  I just can’t do the “roll up.”  I can stab, that’s easy.  Right elbow stabbed firmly into gut, check.  Cocking back was easy to, and made a big difference in my momentum.  Cock back counter clockwise to spin better clockwise.  Swinging was awkward for a while, but I got the hang of it.  Kicking didn’t take too long to figure out, left leg up, right leg under.  Spinning is fun.  I can spin fast, slow, high, and low.  Right leg comes up; left leg starts to go under.  Rolling up.  How can I roll up when my left leg brought me down?  I don’t think my body is right for this.  I’m too tall, and my legs are too gangly.  Maybe I could learn other things instead of windmills.  I’ve seen plenty of b-boys that don’t do windmills.  Don’t kid yourself Chris, windmills look so cool, my mind tells me.  Damn it, I’m right. 

I first saw Slim break at “The Renaissance.”  It was a small local battle, and he was a big shot Red Bull sponsored b-boy from Minneapolis.  His button up yellow plaid shirt, studded belt, tight stretching jeans, and white Adidas running shoes would have looked awkward on all others, but for him he made it look like the coolest outfit in the world.  He was the best b-boy at the battle for sure, but I didn’t like him because he could do airflares better than everyone else.  Everything he did was so smooth and funky.  His legs weren’t in perfect form when he flew in all sorts of directions.  They dangled, hung, and curled, but he made it look so much better that way.  It was his own style, and own it he did.  His dancing showed me that it didn’t matter how you performed your moves, but all that mattered was that you performed them in a way that accented who you are.

Dean and I have been practicing for hours.  Jason had come and gone, and a few of the younger guys stopped by the studio for a little while, but we are all that remains of practice for the day.  I’m working on combining some of my power moves together, and he’s trying to perfect his windmill variations.  We’re both in our prime, so we’re not too wasted yet.

Sweat drips from our faces as we call out different moves, combinations, and styles the other should try out.  I tell him I want to see him do some UFOs.  He gets down and quickly spins in circles on his hands with his legs slightly spread.  He lasts a few rounds until his feet start scraping the ground, and he loses his momentum.  He gets up and tells me to do as many flares as I can.  I place my right hand on the ground, and step back with my right leg.  I sweep my right leg under my left so that they both kick up into the air and start swinging around my body.  I manage eight flares before I fall.  My record is twelve, but I’m happy with eight, especially after all the breaking we’ve done today.  We keep going back and forth with 1990s, airchairs, hollowbacks, halos, and all the other moves we can think of until we can barely stand. 

Recently I went to an event here in Des Moines.  It wasn’t a battle.  The host, an old friend of mine, simply called the event a “jam.”  It was just a bunch of b-boys and b-girls getting down and having a good time.  All of the Iowa b-boy generations showed up.  Dean and I went to represent our old crew Bad Boy, our old friendly rivals the Floor Spiders were there, as were The Distinctive Nobodies turned All Out Kids from Iowa City, the young guns from SuckaPunch in Ames, and the new local Des Moines generation that called themselves Jedi Floor Trickz, among others that I didn’t know because I’ve been in and out of the game for the past few years.

I represented myself well.  Most of the b-boys and b-girls there knew who I was, and gave me the respect deserved of a b-boy elder.  The atmosphere of the jam compelled me to call upon my younger self, and I displayed moves that I had long thought were extinct to me.  I shook off the rust that had formed over the months since I last got down, and did what came natural.  The event brought me back to a time when breakdancing was simple.  Just dance.  No pressure.

           

Little Snorkie Charlee Snores So Loudly!!!

I'm so proud..  Amazing...

Correct Flow

Yesterday I went out to a bboy event here in Des Moines.  An old friend of mine Asphate Woodhavet held a little jam, and I went with a couple friends.  It was amazing!  I haven't really breaked in quite a while, but I was actually feeling really good yesterday.  There is some video that I'll have to get my hands on, but until then I took a bunch of pictures!  Enjoy the flow...

Yeah this is me.

Asphate Woodhavet from Maxilla Blue gettin' down on the mic.  

It was fun as hell.  I'll try and get some videos up at some point.

Peace.

Date Night

Candy and I have been doing these date nights every week where we pick out these pre-made popsicle sticks from a jar.  Whatever is written on the stick is what we have to do for that week.  So we've been doing this since the beginning of the year, and we've picked sticks like "All things Thai date," "Draw a Portrait of Each Other," "Dinner for Him," "Paint Coffee Mugs," etc.  Little things like that.  It's kind of like last year's event of the month, but it's a date of the week.  It's been really fun, and it's expanded our horizons a little bit.  Well last week we got "Go on a Scenic Drive."  So naturally since it's starting to get warmer out, and it was really nice out last Friday we took the RX-8 out for a spin.  We drove up through Madrid and out to Ledges State Park.  It took us a while to get there, because just about every road to get around there is gravel.  Well I didn't want to take my car out on muddy nasty gravel with a fresh car wash, so Siri took us around the entire place before we were able to actually head in there.  We finally got to Ledges and got to drive around a little while.  It was really pretty up there.  While we were driving around we came across a family of deer crossing the road in front of us!  There were 6 of them just casually walking across and looking at us a little bit.  It was really neat.  We then took the back roads back up to Saylorville Dam and we got out on the bridge and took a couple pictures because the sunset was pretty.  I really wanted to see the PANSTARRS Comet, but it was too cloudy!!!  Grr....  I really want to see that before it goes away, but it's been so cloudy here everyday that we can't see it.  Anyway, here's a few pictures of the car with the sunset and whatnot..

The pictures turned out alright.  I was kind of taking them a little fast, because at that point it was starting to get a little chilly.  It was still a really fun drive.

So the night before all of this happened.  I went up to Ames to go and break with my old buddies.  It was really fun, but it kicked the shit out of me!  It's been a while since I last practice, and I'm not quite in breaking shape right now.  I've been working out quite a bit, but breakdancing uses entirely different muscles that I haven't used for quite some time.  I wasn't terrible though, but I was sore for about 4 days...  I'll upload a video of some practice highlights once I get through with editing the footage.  It was pretty amazing!

I also started trying to get some autographs by sending out fan mail!  I got my first success last week!  I sent out a basketball card and letter with a SASE to John Paxson of the Chicago Bulls.  He played for them in the early 90s during the championship years, and now is a part of management.  I sent out the letter to him on February 25th, and got something back last Thursday!  Here's what he sent:

I was so excited!  I'll probably try some more later, and I'm waiting on another right now.  Hopefully it's a success, because I reeeeeaaaaally want it!  We'll see.  

That's it for now.  I think I'm forgetting something, but that will just have to wait until next time!

Also Candy and I have now been together for 6 1/2 years!  Crazy!!

Come Together

I have a few videos on Youtube from a concert Candy and I went to.  On Valentine's Day we went to go see Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles.  I had heard a lot of good things about these guys, and we were pretty excited to go.  I'll let the videos do the talking.  These guys sound just like the real deal.  I've got three posted up on Youtube now, but I should have a couple more in the next couple days so check back to it.  Here they are, they were amazing!

Don't Sweat the Technique

It occurred to me that I haven't really posted much bboy related on here.  It's mostly been about my car or some other personal thing about me.  So here's a few videos from my youtube channel to wet your appetite.  Some of them are a little old, but I'll be getting back in the lab soon.  There's a battle I'll be attending at the end of March, and I want to make sure I'm at my best for it.  Check it...

That's it for now.  If you want to see others check 'em out on my youtube channel (here!).  Otherwise, I'll probably post them up at a later date.

Side note:  Check out my other blog: mustwritefiction.blogspot.com 

It's just a bunch of little mini writings that I may come up with from time to time.  It might be interesting.  Or amazing....

Peace out for now.  More to come later...

Rawwwwwwr

I'll just leave these pictures here...

This is my car as it sits now...  I got the Seibon Carbon Fiber Rear Lip back in December.  I also got the new shift boot and shift knob this past week.  I think everything looks pretty nice.  I've still got quite a few things to get for this, so it's nowhere near complete.  It's getting there though, and once it's there it'll look amazing!

Halfway Gone, But I'm on My Way

Well the last time I updated Candy and I were just getting back from Colorado for Candy's birthday.  That was almost 4 months ago!!!  Slacking does not begin to describe how badly I've treated this blog...  Well that shall change!  A new year will soon be upon us, and with it will be updated posts from yours truly!  It will be amazing I promise.

So a quick update on everything that has been going on.  September Candy and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary!  We started dating on September 18th, 2006.  Our Colorado trip was our event-of-the-month for September, so we didn't have anything else for most of the month really.  Early October I went out with a couple of friends and we took some pictures of our cars, here's a couple of pictures..

October for our event we went out bar hoppin' for Halloween!  Here's a quick pic from my instagram (@k_Guhl) of us at Ultra Lounge in West Glen:

I was an astronaut, and she was Alice (from Alice in Wonderland) with a half sugar skull.  It was kinda funky, and she got a lot of compliments.  It was a really fun night.  Next Halloween we're planning on doing something pretty big, so I'm looking forward to that.

November was a really big month for us.  On November 9th, we left for our big vacation that we had been planning.  Here was our itinerary:  Fly to Washington D.C. and stay for a night.  Drive up to Baltimore the next day, and stay for another night.  The next day we would be leaving Baltimore on the Carnival Pride cruise ship for Florida and the Bahamas for 7 days.  The trip was awesome.  Washington D.C. was really cool to see, and I wish we had more time to see all of the sights.  We did cram quite a bit into such a little amount of time though, so I'm impressed at what we got accomplished.  Here's some more instagram pics:

 

The next day we went up to Baltimore, and I was actually surprised by how much fun we had!  Baltimore is a really cool city, and I would actually go there again.  The Harborplace area was really nice, and we had a lot of fun.  

 

We left Baltimore the next day, and set off on our cruise ship.  The Carnival Pride was a lot like our last cruise ship, the Carnival Legend.  They're sister ships, but have different themes.  It was kinda different and kinda familiar all at the same time.  The cruise had its ups and downs, basically because the weather was so temperamental.  Keep in mind we left not even two weeks after Hurricane Sandy hit, so it was still pretty windy and the seas were really wavy.  Needless to say, the boat was rocking pretty good!  The only other negative part was our debarkation.  We were late coming back in because the winds held us back a good six hours from our return to Baltimore.  Because of this Candy and I missed our flight back home, and went through a huge hassle of trying to get a new flight, etc.  Then once we got back into Baltimore the debarkation procedure was so disorganized it was not even funny.  Couple that with everything that happened that day, and it made for a very stressful day!

So enough of the negative parts.  Let's get to the good stuff!  The cruise was GREAT.  The entire vacation was GREAT!  What made it even more amazing was that I got engaged to the love of my life.  I proposed on the first formal night of the cruise.  It was so stressful lugging that ring around the whole time before that night!  It was very hard making sure that she didn't know it was coming.  Here's the story...

We were getting ready for our formal night.  Candy was wearing a black dress, and I had my black suit, mint green shirt, and Burberry tie.  As we were done getting ready, and heading out the door of our cabin I excused myself feigning some forgotten chapstick.   Candy waits for me outside, as I quickly grab the little black box from its hiding spot in my backpack.  I stick it in my suit jacket's inner breast pocket, and head out the door.  We make our way down to the atrium lobby where the multitude of photographers are set up to take pictures of all the guests in their classy garb.  We take a few pictures, and I can tell that I'm not going to make it past dinner with this box in my pocket.  One wrong placement of a hand in a picture and my surprise would be ruined!  I shoosh my fiance to be off and away from the crowds of the busy ship, and begin my search for a quiet place to pop the question.  We head down past the sports bar and coffee shop, and walk past a wall with a painting of Aphrodite in Front of Mirror as it's wallpaper.  I figure that it would be fitting to have Aphrodite watch as I propose.  We walk down to the end of the hallway, and by now Candy is getting stressed about having to walk so far just to sit down.  I tell her that there was a reason I brought her here, and as I get down on one knee and put my hand in my pocket she puts her hands to her mouth.  I take the box out, and open it with a flick of my finger.  I ask her, "Will you marry me?"  She responds with, "Are you serious!?"  I take a second to answer, and I remove the ring from its box.  I grab her hand and with a anxiety running through my veins I place the ring on her finger.  She can't believe it, and we kiss for a moment.  I rise and sit next to her, holding her.  We both look down at the ring as it sits sparkling in the dim light.  Her eyes, wet with emotion, rise to meet mine.  I realize at this moment that she hadn't answered my question, and bring up this very point.  She laughs, and says "Well, yes, of course!"  We talk for a few moments as we're sitting there, and then decide to head back to the atrium lobby.  We sit down in the atrium as we're waiting to be let in to the restaurant for dinner, and one of the photographers calls to us, "I see the pretty ring!  Come take a picture!"  We laugh and take some pictures celebrating our big night.

And of course here's a picture of the ring!  I'll post the pictures that the photographer took later once I get them scanned (I've been lazy since we got back!). 

The rest of the trip was great!  We went to Cocoa Beach in Florida, Blue Lagoon in Nassau, and Lucaya Beach in Freeport.  We had engagement pictures taken in Freeport at the beach too!  Enough of me talking, here's some pictures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Our wonderful waitress Rossana!! 

That's it for now.  I'll update again with some more pictures, and some updates from last month including a new addition to my car, our December event-of-the-month, and Christmas!!!