Maybe I need to add long sleeves to my costume...for multi-plate spins

The other week I was at the Texas Juggling Society meeting, had my son along, which was great, and I happened to be wearing a long-sleeved shirt...which I usually avoid when juggling. I don't like having anything down near my hands that might catch on a club handle or whatever. But having the shirt enabled me to come up with a new little trick when spinning plates: it's possible to put a stick in the sleeve of one hand, with a plate spinning on it, and then spin up another plate and hold it in your hand. Might be possible to get two plates going in each hand this way.

Jugglefest 2008: first thoughts

As usual, Jugglefest was really inspiring. I've got tons of ideas for tricks and routines now. Some highlights:

• It's now becoming a sort of annual routine to take one of my kids on Saturday and then tak e a different one on Sunday. Neither really juggles yet, but they're starting to try some things out.
• Nothing is as cool as watching some fantastic juggler from out of town, like the Belgian guy who performed Saturday night, Stijn, do his public show...and then getting to walk right up to him at the festival the next day and talk to him, get some pointers, and try out some tricks.
• Someone had a 3' diameter walking ball. I used to use one of these way back in ... sheesh, 1989 or so... when I was working at a summer camp that had a circus program.
• I tried a 4-man box-shaped club passing pattern. I wasn't very good at it but it was a lot of fun. There was a lot of rotation involved. I don't know why we don't see more of this on the public stage. Oh, wait, I do: because 4 people would have to practice it. Still, it was really neat.