January 18 - Twisting and Shouting - Day 1

“It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Today was the start of my first Twist & Shout, one of the biggest balloon twisting conventions in the United States.

Balloon conventions feel at times more like a family reunion than any sort of expo, and that's never more apparent than on the first day. It's great gathering of friends and rare to have a conversation that isn't interrupted by someone else coming by for a quick hug and chat. 

I was able to attend two 4-hour master classes - the first with Sam Cremeens, where he demonstrated and talked about the concepts he uses when designing his motorcycles.  One of Sam's hobbies is building real motorcycles, so he is a wealth of information and was able to show important details and purposeful changes for customization.  ... and Purple finally met his brother..

The second was Takehiro Kai who taught his rose column, which is an interesting modular design.  Modular things like this tend to be more work than concept though, "Here is what you do - now do it 80 times and link them together."  It's the tediousness of decor in twister form.  Don't get me wrong - it looks fantastic, and he showed a few different smaller roses in addition to the one that goes with the column.  Takehiro is a great teacher, I look forward to his other classes.

Then came the Welcome Reception and introduction and official beginning, followed by the start of the competitions. I had to run try to take a nap if I were going to make it to the Pajama Jam later that night, but I also had to stay and watch the Scott Tripp, the consummate performer in the 3-minute competition as he stood there - contemplating his uninflated balloons while the flurry of activity of the other competitors occurs all around him, part Casey-at-the-Bat - pure comedy gold.

... I never got a nap!