most ppl do what they see others do. i don’t even look to see if others are watching if i’m outside throwing anymore with the exception of if they are going to ask me any questions.

sometimes i feel like answering them and other times i don’t.

I’ve curbed my jerk streak a bit, but the people who tend to be cynical towards yo-yoing are often people with very one-dimensional sort of lives that focus on the more material aspects of existence. In other words: they don’t really have any hobbies that they have any particular passion for. It’s one thing to like to sit around and play poker with friends, smoke cheap cigars and drink beer because that sort of thing comes easily and it is seen as socially acceptable because you are joined with peers. An example such as poker night with the bros as a hobby differs from yo-yoing in that yo-yoing is something that, aside from the yo-yo boom every decade, individuals tend to pick up on their own without any sort of social push. To drive the point home further, while very fun, yo-yoing is actually pretty friggin’ hard when I think about it. Yes, yo-yoing is very enjoyable, but in order to really persevere to the point that you are buying multiple yo-yos, checking out yo-yo blogs and such, you have probably put a lot of time and effort(as enjoyable as it may be) into something with a largely incorporeal pay off. You aren’t doing it for money and there probably isn’t much if any sort of social interraction spurring you on either. Yo-yoing and other solo hobbies that people take up outside of fad booms, and even persisting after the boom has completely died for that matter, are ultimately things that people take up and assign a great deal of value to for entirely their own reasons.

In my experience, a lot of people just don’t have the capacity to do something with no sort of reward that goes beyond enjoyment. I don’t want to slander the whole professional endeavor for any sort of solo passtime, but look at the whole phenomenom of younger people often having professional aspirations. There is nothing wrong with seeking to be widely recognised at something…especially something as obscure as yo-yoing, but I think that sort of psychology is representative of a larger trend in society where every maze has to have some sort of morsel at the end. Once again, I am not attacking any sort of professional institutions here, I am just stating an observation of mine that goes beyond yo-yoing.

I’d personally like to think that the answer to the whole professional aspirations thing is the emphasis that society likes to place on reaping rewards for your endeavors. You can see examples of that everywhere when people look at a middle-aged guy on a longboard like he is crazy as he passes by, a dude playing a guitar in a public place that isn’t busking being gawked at or the hushed tones in response to a guy yo-yoing while he’s waiting for their missus to pick out some damned clothes at a store. Look at the trivial sorts of things that they reward on television show; society is becoming entirely too focused on the equasions of: talent+practice=excellence and excellence=reward. An individuals happiness free of social restraints is not worth nearly enough anymore.

*active people (they yoers of course). i made interview with zammy for sleeper.hu (the biggest yoyoing website of hungary).i went ‘n’ i’ll go for contests not only for winning, just for fun! so yoing is my hobby and life not only a toy.

best regards from hungary and haőőy 2010 for everyone!

Roland Kovács

Yoyoing and I are essentially two good friends. I would survive perfectly fine without it, and it would be fine (maybe even better off) without me. But, I like it too much. I like its company, similar to how I like sitting and chatting with a friend.

I like the trials and tribulations (I spent 40 minutes de-shielding a bearing today) I like the thrill of meeting a new friend or finally landing that suicide. I like reading about how yoyoing made someone’s day special. I like watching a video, where, someone just like me, is putting out their version of what I like to do.

Would I be fine without it? Yes. Would I have a girlfriend? Probably not, now that I think about it. Would I have higher test grades? No, it doesn’t make me any worse at Developmental Psychology. Would I be more social, have more friends? No, I’m content with my lot.

Yoyoing hasn’t changed my life at all. I was running full speed for the finish line the whole time. It just gave me some encouraging words and a little boost. Yoyoing brings me joy, and it only gets better from here. It can’t weigh me down, it’ll only keep me going.

That’s what friends are for.