Author: BassoonMan

Tai Chi and Banners

After the horrible past few days, I had a great opportunity to try something new today – a Tai Chi class (really!). A few weeks ago (June 9th), as usual, I met an interesting person while sending my banners on their maiden voyage (my blue one wasn’t quite finished as I still hadn’t added the stars I had planned) – a Tai Chi instructor by the name of Ryan – at Doheny State Beach. Ryan and I chatted for a fair amount of time as I was flying and also let him fly my Rev 1.5 (it’s almost as fun to watch others as it is to fly myself). As Ryan indicated he liked my banners (okay, I’m proud of them), he asked me to come by one of his Tai Chi classes he was going to hold that was planned for today at the same place (Doheny State Beach). As I can ALWAYS use some more stress relief and certainly never tried before, I thought I’d go. He also asked me to bring my banners.

As usual, it was tough getting up this morning (between the stress and my sleep disorders, it was next to impossible) but I managed just the same. I got there just before ten and put up my banners. Not only was there a light but steady breeze but it was also a beautiful day. I’ve also got to admit that Tai Chi was really great – very relaxing and I can’t think of a more beautiful place (or day) to do it!

Following Tai Chi, most folks stuck around and socialized. I had brought my fighters with me again and spent quite a bit of time flying my Fandango, along with letting others give it a try. I think I might now have the hang of flying fighters (at least as a beginner). It was great fun watching others struggle and then learning how to fly the Fandango too. After that, I took the video attached to this entry to show them blowing in the wind. Stupid me, I forgot to bring my mallet and had to pound the stakes into the ground with a rock (which is the reason why they’re leaning so much in the breeze – I couldn’t get the stakes down as far as I wanted). I certainly hope I can do this again soon – it was a terrific way to spend the morning. Unfortunately, I came back and slept another seven hours. Oh well…

I think I might start finishing my arch kites. While the kites themselves are done, I haven’t added the spar pockets, made the spars (each kite only has one – the vertical one), or sewn the kites together (they’re sewn to the line that also serves as the horizontal spar).

My Fighter

I’ve been quiet lately – too quiet. I often allude to some of the stressful things in my life, which kiting helps relieve, but I don’t really say much about it. I’m going to break the silence now (at least on this blog) to note that one of the things that I’ve been fighting for the past year and a half is the fact that the Los Angeles Child Support Services Department (LACCSSD) has been literally stealing my money based on their entirely fraudulent claims that I’m “in arrears” on my child support. Not only have I never missed a payment in seven years but I’ve actually over paid. In fact, after the subhuman creatures from LA County started harassing me, I even obtained a court order that PROVED I had overpaid. That; however, hasn’t stopped the cretins from garnishing my wages, trying to get my teaching credential revoked, stealing two years worth of tax refunds, stealing my unemployment checks when I’ve been laid off from my part-time job over the summer, refusing to provide an accounting of all the money they’ve stolen from me, and a lot, lot more.

Having spent countless hours writing to countless people and agencies, the Los Angeles County Fraud Unit finally picked up on my complaint (good for them) and has opened an investigation. As it turns out, they’ve already found a MAJOR computer problem whereby the LACCSSD has been waiting three months (actually MORE) before posting payments. Of course, that hasn’t stopped LACCSSD from stealing more – two days ago, one of LACCSSD’s shysters tried to blackmail me into sending them even more money (they OWE ME!) as a condition for fixing my credit report which they destroyed a full year ago. Even though LACCSSD’s latest bogus audit finally shows that I was overpaid at that time (which the court had long ago determined), they are trying to extort more money from me as the condition upon which they’ll stop their fraud. I reported that shyster to the bar association. Anyway, I’ll rant about these monsters later (and on my other non-kite related blog). Like I said, I’m currently lining up an attorney to sue the Los Angeles County monsters in Federal Court. BTW, LA County just lost in Federal Court for doing the exact same thing to another father just a few months ago. Again, I’m lining up an attorney to sue them at this very moment.

That explains just one (of SEVERAL) of the horrible things that I’m dealing with right now – that explains why I’ve also been so silent. While I haven’t flown at all for the past couple of weeks, I have been working on an “arch” – I’ve just about finished thirty kites (I still can’t believe that I’ve actually made them) and will be assembling them soon. I’ve had horrible sleep problems for the past couple of weeks (hardly sleeping at all and when I finally pass out, I sleep forever) so I’ve worked on my arch. Today, after church, there was a good breeze which cried out of a bit of flying. Church started one of their special summer Saturday night activities (they had “Luau Night”) so I hung out for the music and Polynesian dancing they had before going to a park, across the street to put up my fighter.

My Fandango

The last time I flew, was at the monthly San Diego Kite Fly for June (I didn’t take any photos) where I actually managed to learn how to get my fighters (the Hoopty and the Fandango) up in the air – what a thrill! Anyway, I had both of those with me today and spent some time getting my Fandango up. While it was getting late, I still had fun. I only had my cell phone with me but did manage to get one picture of my Fandango. Double clicking on the photo will display a larger version of my kite. In addition to the one picture I managed to get, I also captured a couple of videos – again, these were taken with my cell phone so their not of the greatest quality. As you will note from the video I’ve added to this blog entry, my kite managed to get away from me (I accidentally lost my hold on the line!). Fortunately, I trampled after the line and managed to step on it! One of the very interesting things about fighters is that they are quite small. They are intentionally built so that they are unstable. The way in which they are controlled is to pull on the line when the top of the kite is pointing in the direction you wish the kite to go. By letting the line loose, the kite will spin out of control (intentionally) and once it’s facing the desired position, you pull on the line again. It’s really quite fun! So far, I haven’t built one yet (I’m working on my sewing skills with my kite arch) – but making my own fighters is certainly on my list of things to do. Hopefully, I’ll get a reprieve from the other horrible things going on so that I can fly more. Right now, making kites is how I’m using my time when I can’t fly (i.e., late at night) and am not dealing with attorneys (during the day).

Oh, almost forgot! Towards the end of my brief flying experience today, a tree ate my Fandango (ugh!) Fortunately, I had the poles I’m using with my banners (I finished putting stars on my blue one but haven’t flown it since I did that). I was able to fish my kite safely out of the tree!

Bol, carp, and banners


Bol, Carp, and Banners
Originally uploaded by Bassoon Man.

Pictured here are my bol (the parachute thing), the carp windsock and blue banner that I made at the Junction Kite Retreat, along with two other banners (the red and white ones) that I made last night. All of them are quite large (the bol is eight feet in diameter, the carp is about five feet long, and the banners are approximately fifteen feet tall).

While the winds weren’t great, there was enough for all of these flying goodies. In addition, I was able to fly my Rev 1.5 SLE (I just bought a lighter set of spars so that the Rev essentially becomes a 1.5 SUL (which weighs less and flies in lighter winds). As usual, I met the nicest people while flying – a park ranger approached me with the idea of putting together an annual kite festival at Doheny (wouldn’t that be great?!) and I met another guy who was interested in the banners and gave him an introduction to the Rev.

Hata Fighter KiteIn addition to the above, I also tried flying some of my fighter kites. So far, I can’t get either the Fandango or the Hoopty to fly – both of them spin like mad but that’s about it. I did get a Hata up and had a great time with that. It’s not very fast but I was able to keep it aloft for a very long time. I’m sure that I’ll be making some of my own fighters in the very near future.

I’ll be flying many of these tomorrow at the San Diego monthly kite fly.

Caught my boy reading under the banner


Caught my boy reading under the banner
Originally uploaded by Bassoon Man.

Having just returned home from Junction, I couldn’t wait for my first opportunity to go down to the beach (Doheny State Park) and put up my banner and send my carp on its maiden voyage. As usual, there was almost no wind but I managed to get both up. My boy, located under the banner, spent the afternoon reading a book while I tried out my new fighters for the first time. I had no luck with the Hoopty and just limited success with the Fandango. I’ll keep trying. At the moment, I think I’ll start working on my next banner.

Junction Kite Makers Retreat 2007

As I’ve noted before, I’ve got a new addiction – kites. Yeah, it’s rather amazing to think that I’m hooked on this wonderful sport (my mother doesn’t quite know how to tell her friends that her son, a grown man, is now playing with kites) but I’m having a blast with them. As this wonderful hobby can get quite expensive, I took a challenge made of me on one of the Kite Aerial Photography forums and decided to try and make my own. Some of my earliest attempts are already outlined on this blog. Anyway, I lucked out and found a very cheap flight to San Antonio, Texas, so that I could attend this year’s Kite Makers Retreat held at the Texas Tech University Extention Center in Junction.

While I’ve already ranted about my lost luggage (so I’ll spare those details here), I’ve just finished looking at the (few) photos I was able to take – my cameras didn’t arrive until Sunday afternoon, along with the rest of my luggage. Some (most) of them are posted below. As I’ve already mentioned, I arrived very late (early) after driving approximately 120 miles to Junction. I was so tired (it was 4 AM) that I checked into a local motel for a few hours so that I could get a bit of sleep before driving the last few miles to the retreat. I arrived sometime around noon on Friday (May 25th). At that point, I only had one kite (my Rev 1.5), and a few other items. Fortunately, there were already several people around as they were sitting on the kite field watching a few fliers. It was at that time that I met Bob, one of the esteemed instructors, who introduced me to “fighter kites” for the first time – small, highly maneauverable single-line kites. While they are very small and rather delicate, they can do rather amazing things (in the hands of an experienced fighter, that is). Bob gave me a few lessons on fighters and I had a great time.

The kite retreat didn’t officially begin until dinner that night so I spent the time looking around at some of the fighters on display and chatting with various people as they arrived. I also got a chance to fly my Rev but the wind conditions weren’t too favorable – as always, the winds died down the moment I began to fly. (So, what else is new?) That; however, lead to another great moment, another guy, Sid, had also brought one of his Revs but it was different than mine – it was even lighter. As a result, he gave me a few lessons and I spent quite a bit of time flying his Rev (I just bought a set of lighter spars yesterday so that my kite will now be able to fly in similar low-wind conditions too).

360 Degree View of Junction Kite Field

Click to see 360° view of the kite field

Friday night was devoted to making drums with Bob (oh, what fun) and just hanging out. There were so many different courses to choose from, on Saturday, that it was difficult to pick which one I wanted to attend. I ended up going to the crap [sic] making class (we really made “carp” windsocks but, due to a typo prior to the retreat, the class was inadvertently renamed). I spent the entire day (eight hours) making my carp – I learned how to applique, along with other fun kite making techniques. Fortunately, I was able to use someone else’s equipment as I didn’t have mine with me (it was lost with my luggage).

Late Saturday night featured “bait night” – as a Junction tenderfoot, I hadn’t a clue as to what that meant but quickly learned it was an outdoor gathering where everyone sits around and eats gross stuff (i.e., “bait”) like smoked oysters (yum), eel (yum), and God only knows what else ! Of course, we had a great time!

Banners at Junction Kite Makers RetreatSunday afternoon offered another set of classes – this time I took the banner class with Eddie – my finished 15 foot banner (the solid blue one) is pictured at the left. Of course, there were others who were far more experienced and made rather elaborate ones too – Eddie’s is the black one with the sun and Janet (one of our “crap” instructors) put one of her “craps” on her banner. As I am still a beginner – I just made a solid colored one. I plan on adding stars to mine, along with two other banners – solid red and solid white. How patriotic!

After my luggage arrived (Sunday afternoon), I finally had my equipment. I immediately startedField of deer at Junction sewing my banner with my own machine and worked until dinner. One of the things I hadn’t yet experienced were the deer that were allegedly hiding just outside our view at all times. As I was whining about that, some of the kind folks at the retreat pointed out that a few million (or so) of them had decided to come out from the trees and had parked themselves on the kite field. As to be expected, I grabbed my camera and SLOWLY walked out onto the field (which is far bigger than it looks). The deer, of course, were extremely aware of me too and had no intention of letting me get too close. Just the same, I did manage to get a few pictures of them – if you look closely at the photo to the right (double click on it for a larger view), there appear to be about two dozen of them resting on the ground.

Junction Flying FieldThe time went by too quickly and Monday morning was our last class. I spent the time finishing my banner and puting it up on display (how fun). It actually turned out okay and I’m rather proud of it!

The retreat ended after lunch and we had to pack up. I returned to San Antonio that afternoon but was too tired to do much – I ended up taking a nap (until 8 PM, no less) and caught a late night movie. I knew I would have some free time the next day so I wasn’t rushed. One of the thingsFaçade of the Alamo I had planned to do while in San Antonio was to “remember the Alamo!” Obvioiusly, I remembered as attested by the following photo.

While the Alamo is rather small, it was quite scenic and I’m glad I went. The following is a photo of a veranda that I managed to get without any tourists walking through it (I was lucky).

Veranda at the Alamo

So, after all of the wonderful experiences I had (except for the lost luggage), will I go again? I sure hope so! I met all kinds of wonderful people and had a terrific time. Can’t wait until next year!