Juggling - can you do it?

[Grok]

I'm curious how many Dopers can juggle. We'll define it as being able to complete at least 10 throws with three objects of your choice. You get three attempts.

And please, no cats.
:)

[Robot Arm]

I can juggle. Practiced at the pool table in my college dorm until I got the hang of it.

[MrVisible]

Been juggling since I was 16.

Three-ball, four-ball, some one-ball manipulation. Pins, rings, knives and torches, when I can find them.

Bowling balls, back when I was buff. Basketballs. Bus tokens.

Tons of fun. I just taught a friend of mine how to pass.

[hazel-rah]

I can do up to five, or three in one hand. Also many impressive yo-yo tricks.

Always meant to buy some pins but then I fell in with a group of friends with a violent hatred for juggling. They're suppressing their latent hippie/renfest tendencies. Poor things.

-fh

[GrizzRich]

The standard juggling fare...
clubs(3), balls(2-one handed, 3/4/5 two-handed) rings(up to 5), beanbags, fruit, etc.

and NOT so standard...
bowling balls (six pounders only please), hula hoops, metal milk-shake mixing cups, BB's, hammers, four-way lug wrenches.

I've got some tennis balls that I've filled with lead shot. Excellent upper body work-out.
I prefer lacrosse balls. Easy to see and grip, and a good weight.

If you want to learn, I'd suggest getting a set of square beanbags, usually available at magic shops. and then practice over your bed. Beanbags roll very little if you drop them. And practicing with your knees against the side of the bed keeps you from having to bend over so much to retrieve them when you drop them.

[Greg Charles]

I can juggle three balls. (I learned from the "Kompleat Klutz Guide to Juggling.) I've tried four and met with total, abject failure. Anyone have any tips?

[Monstre]

Yes -- 2 balls in one hand, and 3 in two hands. Haven't made it up to 4 yet.

[Monstre]

Oh, and that's tennis balls, pool balls, beanbags, etc. Haven't made it up to bowling balls or chainsaws yet. ;)

[OrcaChow]

Like Robot Arm, I learned at a pool table, but in military barracks. My friend who taught me made me juggle in bare feet, and he whacked me with a cue stick if I danced out of the way of a dropped ball. Wax on, wax off.

I never managed more than three objects. Usually tennis balls, apples, stuff like that, but juggling ice-cubes and cherries in idle moments earned me extra tips when I worked as a bartender.

[Anniz]

A little, but it was while ago I tryed.
I do wish I could it better though.

[Gut]

Just your basic three object juggler here. Nothing fancy like torches,pins,chainsaws etc. Learned from a magazine while babysitting one night many many moons ago.

[Mauvaise]

I used to be able to juggle when I was younger. Two in one hand and three in two hands. Small objects (started with tennis balls) only.

It started when I was ~12, my neighbour had some cousins visit from England for the summer and they showed me a game called "Plimsey (?sp) Mother Brown" which consisted of 'juggling' tennis balls against a wall in different ways.

I can't remember if adding a third was part of the game or just something we did to make it harder, but it was a small leap from against the wall to in the air juggling.

I'm not sure I still could now though.

[socpro69]

I can do a few different variations with three balls and if we only need 10 to qualify I can pull off four from time to time (well, it's more like two in wach hand).

I was taught by an uncle who rented himself out as a clown to supplement his income. He could do five balls or rings, catch em behind his neck, on his foot etc. I was only about eight at the time. I bring this up because one of my regrets in life occurred later that week when I was on Parliament Hill for Canada Day. A juggling clown offered me the tennis balls he was using in a condescending "Would you like to try this impossible thing little boy?" kind of way. Despite my mother's encouragement I got stage fright and froze (fucking clowns). I only regret it because this has become a little narrative which rears its ugly head every time the family gets together. I mean, cut a guy some slack, I was eight. *sigh*

[MilTan]

Count me in among the simple jugglers (2 in one hand, 3 in two). I've always wanted to learn how to juggle clubs, but never had the patience (or the clubs) to sit down and do it. So I content myself with playing around with 3 balls (under the leg, behind the back, simple stuff).

[kinoons]

lets see how my quest to become a jester is going...

I can juggle three objects of varying size/shape fairly easily

Circle juggling is my current endeavor, its more difficult

I play with a toy called a diabolo -- two sticks, a string between them, and an hourglass shaped axle to spin on the string. I've been doing this and am very accomplished at it (have my own trick on diabolotricks.com)

Flower sticks -- these are fairly new to me, I've been playing with them for a month. I'm learning them quickly and I seem to be doing well (5-10 minutes between drops)

[RickQ]

I can juggle too.

I can only do the three ball thing. I have not tried to juggle with anything else or tried anything like 4 or 5 balls.

Learned one night at a class with my brother and dad. It took me ages to get the hang of it, but when I did, I was the best of the three of us.

Wouldn't mind learning how to juggle with something like clubs too, that would be fun.

Rick

[Francesca]

I can't do it. I've tried and tried and tried. I've been taught by people who are master jugglers. And i still can't juggle. *sigh*

<perk> I'm quite good with a hula hoop though.

Fran

[Crunchy Frog]

I can juggle. Been doing it for about 15 years now. Can juggle almost anything too (weight of the object permitting) - except knives. Haven't been brave enough to try and juggle anything sharp and don't think I ever will.

[Skelji]

I can juggle. 3 items for now, but I'm working on 4.

I stick with the usual assortment of balls, rocks, plastic cups, etc., and babushka juggling is fun, too.

I will *not* attempt knives, axes, or chainsaws.

[Gaudere]

I can juggle three or four balls (no comments from the peanut gallery, now). I can do passing juggling pretty well, and can sorta do the eat-an-apple-while-juggling bit, too. My brother can juggle as well, and if at a party we will sometimes do competitive juggling to see who's drunker (though he's better than me, being able to juggle pins/rings/eat apples/whatever while unicycling, and I never managed the unicycle bit). Greg Charles, if you want to learn to do four, start with two in your dominant hand, then move to two in your weak hand. Combine the two, and there you go! GrizzRich, hazel-rah, if you can do five I'm in awe. :)

[MikeG]

Yeah,I can do the three item juggling pretty well//both cascade and overhand. I learned with china teacups when I was in Africa...I am happy to report my years of working in a grocery store saved all the teacups (something drops? put your foot under it!) :)

all that hackysack helped too, I bet...

I have found that lacrosse balls are almost perfect for juggling - they have great density, they are predictable and fit the hand well. Plus you can bounce them against walls, floors, etc. for cool stunts.

gaudere, you can pass? ...<sigh> just one more example of your superiority...

[King Rat]

I cannot juggle, but I envy those who can, especially those well versed in the ancient respected art of cat-juggling.
Cat Juggling! (http://www.rexboyd.dircon.co.uk/website/photopage/catj.html)

How about a cat juggling? Click Here (http://www.ncn.net/~long/reddwarf.html) and scroll to bottom

[ITR champion]

Yup, I can juggle. My uncle gave me four classic juggling balls, but one of them got torn and broken somehow, so I'm stuck with juggling three. If I want to juggle four objects, I have to borrow tennis balls from my roommate, who's on the varsity tennis team.

[silent_rob]

Originally posted by Crunchy Frog
Can juggle almost anything too (weight of the object permitting) - except knives. Haven't been brave enough to try and juggle anything sharp and don't think I ever will.


Crunchy, you can still make people think you can. We sold juggling machetes at the magic shop I worked at (before it moved) that were pre-dulled. They still looked menacing, had the weight to "chop" a carrot for demonstration purposes, but were pretty harmless.

I can't juggle. I tried learning for a while, got up to a few throws with 3 balls, didn't have the time to keep up practice, and lost it. I want to learn this summer (there's a magic trick I want to use it for).

[Dragwyr]

I'm also a long time juggler. I started when I was 15 with the "Juggling for the complete Klutz" book. I moved onto rings, cigar boxes, clubs, and devil sticks. In college, I learned to pass clubs and then taught my college roommate how to pass as well.

I still juggle pretty well, but I've gotten away from it since I started studying and practicing magic. I guess I consider myself a magician who can juggle rather than a juggler who can do some magic tricks.

[Gut]

All this talk of passing and I just had to do a google search. I thought it was a way of getting around doing the 4 ball ball pattern of two in each hand. Alas, it means passing the object to another juggler. I guess I'm going to have to practice if I'm going to learn 4.

Here is where I found out how truly basic my skills are.
Juggling.org (http://www.juggling.org) Movies of patterns,funky patterns,basic patterns, and plenty of other juggling stuff.

[brewha]

Just another average juggler here. With the ten throw rule, I can probably qualify for three in one hand. I can juggle just about any three things in two hands, with an obvious weight limit. I can do the apple eating thing too. The only problem I have is if I catch the apple wrong and take a big bite out of the top or bottom of it. The worst thing I've ever juggled is empty beer bottles. I didn't drop them, but when they collided in mid air, they made a hell of a mess.

[Brunetter]

As Silent Rob knows, juggling is one of my fetishes. That is, watching someone juggle is a big turn-on. Weird, I know, but just watching someone who is that talented and dextrous with their hands ... ummm ... yeah ... woo!

Gotta go now ...


BTW, I can juggle too. And having one of my lovers teach me to juggle was one of the sexiest experiences I've ever had. *wistful sigh* I'm weird, aren't I!

[silent_rob]

Originally posted by Brunetter
As Silent Rob knows, juggling is one of my fetishes.<snip>

And yet, I can't juggle...how much does that suck? :D

But, I do plan on learning this summer. I've already started a little...

However, I am a pretty dang good magician, and good with my hands for that. ;)

[Cervaise]

I dunno about fetishes (maybe if I were juggling vibrators), but I can do the two-hands-three-objects and one-hand-two-objects. It irritates my wife to no end when I grab up lemons or whatever in the grocery store and toss 'em around for a bit.

[Jack Batty]

Originally posted by Grok
We'll define it as being able to complete at least 10 throws with three objects of your choice.
By that definition - Yes. However the 11th throw is usually followed by the sound of a lamp being knocked to the ground.

[Grok]

Originally posted by Brunetter
As Silent Rob knows, juggling is one of my fetishes. That is, watching someone juggle is a big turn-on. Weird, I know, but just watching someone who is that talented and dextrous with their hands ... ummm ... yeah ... woo!

Gotta go now ...


BTW, I can juggle too. And having one of my lovers teach me to juggle was one of the sexiest experiences I've ever had. *wistful sigh* I'm weird, aren't I!

Um, did we date?

If not, perhaps we should - I was a professional juggler for a few years. Believe it or not, the juggling actually did net a few ladies.

And you all thought it was a geek skill...

[Crunchy Frog]

Originally posted by Grok
Believe it or not, the juggling actually did net a few ladies.

And you all thought it was a geek skill...
Where are these ladies? I've been juggling for about 14 years, and while people have been impressed by it, it's never gotten me any booty. I need to move to where you are. Are many ladies into the juggling thing there? Are they attractive or do they mostly look like me in drag?

And FTR I don't look good in drag.

Just trust me on that, ok?

[Grok]

Originally posted by Crunchy Frog
Originally posted by Grok
Believe it or not, the juggling actually did net a few ladies.

And you all thought it was a geek skill...
Where are these ladies? I've been juggling for about 14 years, and while people have been impressed by it, it's never gotten me any booty.

I think it was more the nature of the juggling I used to do. The trick that got me the most female attention was juggling two ping-pong balls with my mouth.

It gave girls ideas that I might have *other* oral skills. :)

[Crunchy Frog]

Originally posted by Grok
I think it was more the nature of the juggling I used to do. The trick that got me the most female attention was juggling two ping-pong balls with my mouth.

It gave girls ideas that I might have *other* oral skills. :)
Well that makes more sense. I can see how playing about with some balls with my hands wouldn't be too impressive.

Hell, that's a standard slow weekend for a single guy. :D

[Scarlett67]

Mr. S and I both can juggle. He's the one that got me started in it. We can both do two balls in one hand and a 3-ball cascade. I surpassed Mr. S, though, one fall when he was working a lot of overtime and I filled my evenings learning to do the pins. Now I can do them and he can't. We tried passing a few times but just ended up beaning each other.

[Iguana Boy]

I can juggle with 3 objects - I have almost got the hang of 4, but 5 is a long way off.....

[AbbySthrnAccent]

I can juggle with three objects, if they fit nicely in my hand, small bean bags, tennis balls, and billiard balls for example.

Abby

[Dragwyr]

Originally posted by Brunetter
As Silent Rob knows, juggling is one of my fetishes. That is, watching someone juggle is a big turn-on. Weird, I know, but just watching someone who is that talented and dextrous with their hands ... ummm ... yeah ... woo!


Brunetter: How YOU doin?

I started juggling when I was 15 with the Klutz book. I've never really tried more than 3 objects, but I can juggle clubs and rings. I can pass and after teaching my college roommate to juggle, I taught him to pass. I can juggle cigar boxes and do some tricks with Devil Sticks. I can even do some contact juggling, though it is only with the right hand.

I've kind of gotten away from juggling, though I can still consistantly juggle 3 of just about anything you give me. I've been studying magic now for the past 10 years. You would think there would be a good way to combine the two arts into a cool act.

[lno]

I started juggling back in eighth grade, and by high school four friends of mine and I formed the troupe Three Guys Named Ed. Those of you who were in Minnesota from 1992 to 1995 may have seen us at various gigs (plus the Renaissance Festival a time or two). I dropped out when I went to college.
See, the name is funny because there we'd come out on stage and say, "I'm Joe!" "I'm Kris!" "I'm Nate!" "I'm Dan!" "I'm Fred!" "And we're THREE GUYS NAMED ED!" Um .. well, it was funnier back then.

Then I ended up as a founding member of the juggling association at college, and happily passed flaming chickens back and forth for a few years. (See, you just dip the rubber chicken in the lighter fluid you use for the torches, set 'er ablaze, and have at it. Go really fast. I mean, really fast. Then throw them away and make your jokes.)

So, yeah, I'm a juggler. I've never really been into the alternate forms of juggling - cigar boxes, devil sticks, diablo, contact juggling, etc - but rather just more and more elaborate ball-and-pin patterns. Give me cigar boxes and I'll drop them; give me five clubs and I'll amuse myself for weeks.

[Myrr21]

I learned as a defence mechanism against all the pins that I would throw into the air just for fun. After being hit a few times on the noggin, you start to think being able to catch them is a good idea.

Also have a neat (ball) pattern that involves rapidly crossing arms--to use a hand to catch the ball on the opposite side--and uncrossing.

[cmkeller]

I can juggle balls, clubs and torches. No more than 3 of any at a time; just the standard way of throwing them, nothing fancy.

[xizor]

I am a self-taught juggler of 3 objects at a time, usually balled up socks

[brad_d]

I can juggle three objects, but only in the plain vanilla pattern.

The hardest aspect of learning for me was breaking the tendancy to throw the objects forward - I would wind up chasing them around the room.

I often hear people comment about how difficult it is to juggle objects that aren't all about the same weight. I've never found this to be a problem for me.