Scott,
Hey, what’s up, man. Thanks for the reply, and sorry to hear about your back. Hope everything’s alright with you now.
I’m not sure where I was the last time I wrote you, so here’s a quick recap. This all started with your bartending videos.
I did my first flair bartender competition after six months of training (Best in the West). I had no routine — just got up there and flopped — but I guess it wasn’t as bad as I thought; I got 6th out of 9 in my heat (which for my level was pretty cool, I thought). Well, I was taking the Flair Devil’s working flair course at the time, and the next day, while at the class Steve Pacheco said he heard about my “performance” and ended up offering me a barback job at Carnaval Court. He says, “Would you be opposed to being a barback again?” I’m like, “At Carnaval Court?!! I’ll be the guy who takes the trash out!!” So anyway, Steve got me a barback job at Carnaval Court, and it’s pretty much the greatest place in the world.
I’ve been working there for almost three months now, and it’s awesome. My second competition was King of the Ring II (semi-pro). I didn’t do as well as I would have liked (I missed going to the Finals by one place — I came in 6th overall)
— had a lot of drops and butchered my juggle — but oh well. My practice is hovering around four hours a day, so I’m gonna have to kick it up a couple notches.
That’s pretty much where I stand. I’m not doing another competition for a while (probably Flips for Tips in October), ’cause I just wanna practice and not worry about competing for now. I have a Level Test at work in one week (speed, accuracy, working, and exhibition rounds to think about), so I’m getting ready for that, but after that I can relax and try to make some progress. These guys are so good out there, and I’m kinda starting a little late (I’m 26 now!). I will say that flair guys will see me sometimes and they go “Hey, you’re that guy that’s always at the park!” (that’s the designated practice spot in town), and that’s pretty cool.
Yeah, so, it’s not a TOTAL success story yet (if I become a bartender at Carnaval, THEN my story will be complete!), but it’s still farther than I thought I would come in a fairly short amount of time.
And it started with your video series, brother! That’s funny, huh? I remember watching the first video thinking, “If I could just learn that stuff, I’d be set!”
Then I got the next video and I remember being blown away. I was pretty sure that I’d never be able to do all that stuff. But it pushed me, so I gotta say thanks. Scott, you da man, and maybe in a couple years you’ll be able to say, “Hey, I remember when that guy bought my first video series!”
Thanks again.
Shaun Plummer