Back in Seattle
Seattle doesn’t feel very different from Vancouver; however, nothing beats the sandy beaches and coastal mountains of home. For the Americans reading this post, it’s not that far! A three-hour drive or a four-hour train ride. Cross the border and come up!
On the morning of the 12th, Coleman and I met up for brunch. Although we've known each other for over 13 years, it's crazy to think that this was only the 7th time we've met in person. Despite not having the same excitement we did when we first saw each other ages ago (also coincidentally in Washington), it's always great seeing each other again, especially after a few months.
Our first meet-up was with Sterling (the Sterling Quinn). We met him during his lunch break at work, so we only had a few moments to capture as many tricks as we could. The wind was unrelenting, and the Amazon security guards patrolling the area were relentless, but we managed to get it done.
After having our brains melt from watching some of the best technical 1A and 5A yo-yo tricks in the game and almost getting kicked out of Bezos land, we headed to Volunteer Park Conservatory to film some tricks. Mind you, it was nearly freezing, incredibly windy, and Coleman had all of his stuff on him, so we fumbled around before eventually deciding enough was enough, and had to get out of the area.
Before going on the trip, Coleman and I agreed that we’d both try to film as many tricks as possible for two full-length videos. His video would predominately be taken under the canopy of trees (for obvious reasons), and mine by bodies of water.
So, after leaving the forested area, our next stop was Marsh Island, right across from the University of Washington. This ended up being the perfect spot because we had arranged to meet up with members of the Puget Sound Throwers Club around campus. Happy accidents tended to be a theme of the trip.
Before hitting the road, we wanted to plan out as much as we could and make sure as many yo-yoers in each area were available to film a trick or two. If you know anything about yo-yoers, planning anything is like herding cats … So, we had a group chat for each city that we visited to make sure that everyone was on the same page.
For all of our stops, we were both so grateful that everyone was excited to meet and was flexible on timing. Coordinating everything became my role, while Coleman focused on filming and driving.
Everyone from the Puget Sound Throwers Club was so lovely. After our brief hangout, we met up with Martín to warm up over a sizzling stone bowl of beef bulgogi and tofu soup.
Martín was gracious enough to host us. Coleman and I stayed with Martín in the fall when we went to see Kings of Convenience. If you haven’t met Martin, he’s one of the kindest faces in the yo-yo community, always more than willing to lend a hand and support. His friendly grey cat named Bug, and his literal yo-yo library became our home base for the night. We connected over music by “The Last Dinner Party”, “Jungle”, and “Kamsai Washington” and raided his collection to see how we could improve the prototypes we had in hand.
After playing with the yo-yos, we all felt that there was just something missing. The yo-yos didn’t feel “complete.” It’s hard to describe “completeness” beyond it just being a feeling, an intuition tuned after playing with hundreds and hundreds of yo-yos. All of our intuitions pointed to how they just needed a “little bit more.” After playing with the Turning Point Mustang and the Hydrangea Lisianthus, we landed that on they needed more midweight. The aluminum was much closer to being “there,” but the titanium felt like it was far off. With the caps, too heavy and rim-weighted, and without the caps, too light. Pulling inspiration from the Caribou Lodge Beartrap, we initially intended for the caps to be easily removable, with the hole in the center a means of easily detaching it with your finger. But the fit was too tight.
The caps of the titanium Canopy continued to be polarizing feature throughout the trip. Some people really liked the overall look and feel, while others questioned what they were for, many thinking they were for finger spins. After going back and forth with Rueben, we agreed that we’d make a handful of improvements to the aluminum, and then send the titanium in for another round of prototyping.
After going through the footage of the day, playing dozens of yo-yos, and watching dozens of music videos, we headed to bed, excited for what the next day would hold. It felt like we had already experienced a week’s worth of adventures, but we had only just begun.