It’s not entirely worth breaking the process down by days, but I will talk in general about how I go about my daily juggling:

First, I just start juggling. It’s easier to do a ten or twenty minute session if I can just get started. I haven’t been juggling the goslings much, although I did on the first day. Usually I just grab my set of three red juggling balls, and start with simple, standard 3-ball juggling. I need to work on my form, so I spend a few minutes just trying to perfect my aim and timing.

One thing to note: I juggle while standing up against my bed, facing the bed and the wall. This way, whenever I drop a ball (which is most of the time), it lands on the bed, instead of the floor. Which is nice, because then I don’t have to bend over to pick it up. It sounds like such a silly, simple thing, but it’s very effective in allowing me to focus, and to juggle for a longer period of time without getting frustrated.

Sticking with 3-ball, I start switching so that my initial throw is from my non-dominant hand (my left hand). I’m partially ambidextrous, but I tend to favor my right hand, and end up practicing too much with that one. So it helps to remember to give the left hand some practice, too.

Just for fun, I’ll throw in some little tricks, like making the first throw from behind my back (I’m very bad at that) or under my leg (better at that). Or I’ll try "claw" juggling, which looks like this:

Only in my case, it looks more like a crazy blonde girl clawing at the air and dropping three red balls.

I’m also trying to focus on my 2-ball juggling, which is where you juggle two balls in one hand. Once again, I’m much better at this on the right hand. Which isn’t really saying much, because even on my right hand, I’m pretty bad at it. For now. Progress is being made!

Areas to Improve

First of all, I need to juggle earlier in the day, and for longer. I can’t just do it right before bed because I’m "supposed to." It needs to become a bit more routine.

It might be good to, at least once, juggle in front of a mirror. On the other hand, that may confuse me and mess me up. But I think it would be good to see myself from a different perspective.

I also think I need to watch at least one juggling video a day. I know, that just sounds like an excuse to troll YouTube, doesn’t it? But my former instructor, Jeff Peden, said that watching good jugglers helps improve your juggling, by giving you good mental pictures of good form.

Lastly, I need to develop some quantifiable goals. Things like "3-ball for 100 throws" and "4-ball (2-ball in each hand, simultaneously) for 10 throws."

But this week? I’m just going to juggle. Small objects. Red juggling balls, mostly. And probably some goslings, as well:

Aren’t they just adorable? I picked them up from a vendor at San Diego Comic-Con a few years back. (If you don’t get the reference, “juggling goslings” is a concept from the canceled Fox show Firefly.) Actually, I bought the juggling geese before I even learned how to juggle properly!

These days I can juggle… badly. I first learned to juggle in high school - occasionally our gym teacher would bring out  a bin of what I can only call “miscellaneous stuff,” some of which was juggling equipment and video tapes. My friends and I very nearly learned how to juggle scarves.

A few years and a set of juggling geese later, I found out that I could take a class in juggling to fulfil one of my required gym credits for college. That actually went really well, since the instructor for the class was Jeff Peden, father of world-class juggler Wes Peden. Jeff was a super awesome instructor, and thanks to him I can actually juggle three balls now, and can almost juggle two. (Juggling two is the first step toward juggling four… juggling even numbers is actually very different from juggling odd numbers!)

So the reason that I’m not very good at juggling has nothing to do with my instructor… it’s simply because I don’t practice enough. I was pretty good about juggling every day when I was enrolled in the course, but that was a year ago. I haven’t made any progress since then. But I really, really want to.

Why Juggle?

Have you ever noticed that people who can juggle are awesome? Just in general - their awesome meter is larger and fuller than the average joe. I’m sure there’s a scientific study about that somewhere: The Effects of Juggling Skill Level on Overall Awesomeness In Humans Over the Age of Nine or something.

Ok, even if I just made that up, it does make a lot of sense. Juggling is both a mental and physical skill. It draws on a variety of talents, such as coordination (which I could always use more of), spatial relations, rhythm, concentration, stamina, and the ability to crack jokes and entertain an audience while keeping several objects in the air.

That last part is particularly important, because I’m the “funny aunt” now that my sister has children. I am not to be outdone by my brother, the funny uncle! Who, by the way, can also juggle, which is what makes this so important. There’s only room for one awesome and hilarious juggler in this family!

So, starting this week, I will juggle every day, to try and make a habit of it. If there’s interest, I may even post a few videos of me juggling (badly). What do you say? Would you like to see me juggle?