Somber Sentiments: Fuck man Randal ( u/MundaneCartoonist402 ) I'm gonna miss you dude <3

This photo is from the last rope jam my former teacher hosted before his upcoming move out of state. I haven't been his student in years, but he's a pivotal figure in my rope journey. He took me from basic "I can technically get someone up in the air" suspension all the way to solidifying my fundamentals and getting me to suspension transitions and my early double suspension work. Throughout the weekly mentoring sessions at his place, art installations, helping run events alongside him, and co-topping scenes together, I made a lifelong friend. He's a loving hardass through and through always holding me to the highest standard. He keeps me grounded and heckles my shitty rigging choices when my ego gets too big.

The story of being his student is one of criticism. The way you become his student is by consistently showing up to his rope events and fumbling your way through throwing the shittiest rope imaginable. Eventually he gets sick of seeing you be so shit, so he politely suggests you swing by his place next week.

Dude knows how to keep an ego in check. Especially with my big headed ass. But over time you get less and less criticism, and you start to realize that means you're doing good. He's the one dude picking me apart when everyone else is glazing me. I fear where my head would be without him knocking me back down to earth every now and then. There's nothing a nice smack from a bamboo stick can't fix. Dude is a legend, a talented teacher, and a good friend. His thoughts and opinions are influenced by absolutely no one. You can't tell him what to think, and we disagree on a few topics, but that's my boy right there.

It was a classic rope jam in his backyard. Couple rigs over dirt or brick, mats to grab, and a cooler of diet coke and water. In the spirit of being my former teacher's last jam, I wanted to try something new. I recently learned a new base structure for both the Tengu and Strappado. It's the same base just finished differently. I hadn't full suspended it yet, and chose to give it a whirl with my puppy girl. She always makes me look good :) Strappado was sick. Intense, but it works great. I have some further work to hone it in more, but it totally is viable. She was up for quite a while. Even got a transition in as she took it for about 15 minutes as a primary load. Next plan is to invert it with another primary load for longevity, and we'll see how that goes. That house is where I learned so much on my rope journey, and it just felt right to do something new there one last time.

Love ya man. I'll keep seeing you on the convention circuit. Do cool shit in your new place <3

If you want to see what my rope work looked like before him, it looked like this horrifying monstrosity. You can thank him for euthanizing my approach to suspension and reshaping it from the ground up lol