I had heard some of the sad tales of people having there hoops stolen a few times around here But I had never actually had this horrible experience happen to any one in my area, until now.
I just wanted to share this story mostly to vent but to remind that there are still people out there who will not respect your hoops, so keep an eye on them.
I have been hooping and making hoops for about 4-5 years now. I have made many hoops and given away countless hoops to strangers because they have fallen in love with them. Sure I have misplaced a few at festivals and I have actually had some of those returned to me even weeks after the events. I usually take 10+ with me if I’m running workshops so I can kind of understand that it is easy for me to miss the odd one when I’m packing up and I’m not really attached to those ones so I don’t really mind.
But what happened on Monday was very very different and makes me so mad. I made one really nice rainbow Hula hoop as a prize for a trivia night we ran as a fundraiser for a performance troupe. Coincidently a friend of mine Ali ended up winning the hoop and I’m very glad of that because I always thought she would love hula hooping, and she did. Yay!!
Any way on Monday night Ali came to circus training to have a go at some Acro and to have bit of a hoop jam, we all had a great time. Then her and another friend of mine went to our local pub* to have a beer before they went home. Later that night a girl asked Ali if her friend could have a go the hoop and Ali was nice enough to let them have a play. Then when Ali was not looking they just left with the hoop.
I was so shocked when I heard this story I mean somebody accidentally walking of with one of many hoops from a workshop at a busy festival is a little bit understandable but taking somebody’s single only hula hoop just astounds me. I just don’t understand how a person can do such a horrible thing and not be plagued with guilt.
Luckily I have some spare untapped Hula Hoops at home so we are going to make a shiny new one the weekend. But that still doesn’t make things feel any better.
Any way I just wanted to share and get that horrible story of my chest.
Blue.
* note this place is not some dingy shifty place it is usually full of really nice fun people.
Ps. I put the following message in the “you Pissed me off” Collum of our local street press mostly as a joke but it would be nice if it comes back to us.
"The person that stole my friends Hula Hoop from the Pot Belly on Monday the 17 July, You Pissed me off! What makes you think you have the right to just go around taking other peoples belongings? She was nice enough to let you and your friend have a go with it and you thank her by walking out the door with it? Nice.
Just because it is a Hula Hoop and you think it is only toy, does not stop you from being a common thief! I urge you to return it to the place from where you took it. Other wise may the wrath of one million angry Hula Hoops rain down on you in a painful spinning fashion."
I just wanted to share this story mostly to vent but to remind that there are still people out there who will not respect your hoops, so keep an eye on them.
I have been hooping and making hoops for about 4-5 years now. I have made many hoops and given away countless hoops to strangers because they have fallen in love with them. Sure I have misplaced a few at festivals and I have actually had some of those returned to me even weeks after the events. I usually take 10+ with me if I’m running workshops so I can kind of understand that it is easy for me to miss the odd one when I’m packing up and I’m not really attached to those ones so I don’t really mind.
But what happened on Monday was very very different and makes me so mad. I made one really nice rainbow Hula hoop as a prize for a trivia night we ran as a fundraiser for a performance troupe. Coincidently a friend of mine Ali ended up winning the hoop and I’m very glad of that because I always thought she would love hula hooping, and she did. Yay!!
Any way on Monday night Ali came to circus training to have a go at some Acro and to have bit of a hoop jam, we all had a great time. Then her and another friend of mine went to our local pub* to have a beer before they went home. Later that night a girl asked Ali if her friend could have a go the hoop and Ali was nice enough to let them have a play. Then when Ali was not looking they just left with the hoop.
I was so shocked when I heard this story I mean somebody accidentally walking of with one of many hoops from a workshop at a busy festival is a little bit understandable but taking somebody’s single only hula hoop just astounds me. I just don’t understand how a person can do such a horrible thing and not be plagued with guilt.
Luckily I have some spare untapped Hula Hoops at home so we are going to make a shiny new one the weekend. But that still doesn’t make things feel any better.
Any way I just wanted to share and get that horrible story of my chest.
Blue.
* note this place is not some dingy shifty place it is usually full of really nice fun people.
Ps. I put the following message in the “you Pissed me off” Collum of our local street press mostly as a joke but it would be nice if it comes back to us.
"The person that stole my friends Hula Hoop from the Pot Belly on Monday the 17 July, You Pissed me off! What makes you think you have the right to just go around taking other peoples belongings? She was nice enough to let you and your friend have a go with it and you thank her by walking out the door with it? Nice.
Just because it is a Hula Hoop and you think it is only toy, does not stop you from being a common thief! I urge you to return it to the place from where you took it. Other wise may the wrath of one million angry Hula Hoops rain down on you in a painful spinning fashion."
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Australia
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Re: Stolen!!!
Wed, July 16, 2008 - 7:25 PMI feel your pain sister. At least 5 of my hoops have been stolen over the years, usually at festivals, but once (2) out of my friend's front yard. And even though I know it's not true, I like to grumble in my menacing voice, "there's nothing lower than a hoop thief" And I firmly believe in Karma. But I don't like how it's changed me. I keep such an eagle eye on them now, at least if they are really special, that it can take away from the hooping / music / whatever. At least we're fortunate enough that we can keep on making more!
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Re: Stolen!!!
Wed, July 16, 2008 - 9:20 PM"Other wise may the wrath of one million angry Hula Hoops rain down on you in a painful spinning fashion."
GENIUS! I also believe in karma, but I like to think that this is actually the karma that happens...haha, I can just picture it now...hoops flying everywhere and she can't keep them spinning to save her life...haha...I don't mean it in an evil way, just that it 's so funny to picture.
Anyway, I am sorry you had to deal with this and I am glad you put it in a column...if anything, I am sure it felt better to sort of publish it...
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Re: Stolen!!!
Wed, July 16, 2008 - 10:07 PMThat is so frustrating! I had a wannabe-hoop-thief try to steal one of my prized hoops at the Rothbury Festival recently - we were standing up front dancing to Bassnectar and had a stack of about 5 hoops on the ledge of the divider fence between us and the stage. Some girl who was on the other side of the fence walked by and just picked up my fabulous hoop and started walking away! Blatantly tried to steal it right under my nose. We had all of our purses and jackets piled underneath the hoops and my hoop had flashing lights taped to it, so its not like it was inconspicuous. We started yelling at her until her boyfriend, who was behind her, finally laughed and tapped her on the shoulder and she turned around and brought it back. Her explanation? "Well I saw the hoop and I wanted one, so I took it." Sigh. The hoop she tried to take took hours to make (two ribbons and 3 tape colors) and I was going to sell it at our booth until I hooped with it and realized I couldn't let it go. Needless to say, I would have been terribly upset if she'd gotten away with it! What got me was she was so unapologetic about the whole thing. Brutal. I told her to come by our booth the next day and *buy* one if she really wanted it, but.. yeah right. My hooping cohort next to me at the show said exactly what you did - bad karma. Stealing a hoop is bad karma. Gotta wonder what people are thinking sometimes. Luckily there were a hundred other people at the fest who hooped with us at our booth and were totally awesome. :-) -
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Re: Stolen!!!
Wed, July 16, 2008 - 11:20 PMYeah you would think that steeling a hoop would get you some pretty bad karma in return, i mean it's a hulahoop!!!
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Re: Stolen!!!
Thu, July 17, 2008 - 7:20 AMHOOP STEALING?!? Sweet bejesus, I'd be sooo afraid to do that for the helacious bad karma that could and would rain down upon me. I mean, you don't steal candy from babies, you don't make fun of people with disabilities, and you do NOT take hula hoops!... if nothing else for the simple fact that they are a joy mongering untensil, used to entertain and play with... especially knowing that they are more important to their each rightful owner than they'd ever be to the random passerby. This is awful. I've had similar situations where people would try to gather up a hoop and run outside with one, then when asked what they were doing, they responded, I just wanted to try it out and I'm too embarrassed to try infront of all those people (all the while banging hell out of the fresh tape job) . This is understandable, b/c not everyone first approaches the hoop with the confidence and vigor displayed so often in this group. But hoop thieves... wow. I'm glad you're making your friend a new one. And i have confidence that this story will, in fact, make it in the "you pissed me off" article. -
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Re: Stolen!!!
Fri, July 18, 2008 - 12:08 AMIt is very upsetting, but to some people, if it is not nailed down it's fair game. My suggestion would be, to make it harder on the thieves and use a cable bike lock and keep them secure.
On a different note, I went to a local town concert last week and brought extra hoops along. Caroleeena and another new friend were there as well and we had my husband keeping track of possible hoop walk-offs. Well, my husband asked a little boy to quit rolling the hoops down a sidewalk and even mentioned it to the dad (to which he acknowledged). But then two minutes later his son was standing at the top of hill rolling the hoop down the sidewalk and the dad catching it to repeat the cycle.
With that, my hubby went to the rescue and took it off the dad. Caroleeena told me she did not bring alot of hoops with her because this was her first time attending this event and she didn't know how the crowd would be. Luckily, the crowd did not spawn any thieves but I did learn it can be a challenge when sharing the love (hoop love):)
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Re: Stolen!!!
Fri, July 18, 2008 - 2:08 AMI like to treat everyone as an honest person until they prove otherwise and in the main I have found that they are, but there is always the one rotten apple that tries to spoil it. I've chosen not to let those rotten apples spoil my fun and that of others by not sharing what I have for fear of it being stolen. Yep, sure,that means that sometimes I lend things out and never see them again, but the happiness and joy that sharing brings far outweighs the nasty feeling I get when that one bad person walks off with something, so I come out on top.
Blueberry, I hope the person that took the hoop gains a conscience and brings it back, but most of all I hope you and your friend enjoy the chance this bad event has given you to spend a joyful day of creating new hoops together. -
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Re: Stolen!!!
Sat, July 19, 2008 - 1:15 PMHoop thieves are the worst!! Especially when you've spent time with the person and been nice enough to let them use your hoops and teach them tricks. I let a downstairs neighbor borrow my hoop once. It was my very first hoop and the only one I had at the time. I figured it was okay because all I had to do was run downstairs when I wanted it back. Apparently the neighbors had been planning to move. I did not know this. They moved and took my hoop with them!!! Who does that???
Another time I was at a beach party in Santa Cruz. There was one woman who took up a lot of my time. I had no prob letting her use a hoop, but she kept on bugging me to teach her tricks and help her out and stuff. I'm always happy to help out a bit at first, then I like to get back to my own hooping. I didn't want to come off as rude though, so I answered all her questions. At some point, I lost track of the woman. I was just happy to have her out of my face. Unfortunately I should have kept an eye on her. My hoop disappeared along with her.
Those are my only experiences. Now I've got a hawk-eye when people use my hoops. I tell them to stay within a certain distance. Most people comply with this, kids can be a problem though. Unsupervised kids especially. If I've got to babysit to much, (adult as well) I'll just pick all the hoops up, tie them together with a rope, and take em back!
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Damaged!
Sun, July 20, 2008 - 7:10 AMI just had a hoop damaged at the Farmers Market - a kid who played nicely with the hoop last week and previous weeks... for some reason mashed my hoop into the ground! Now there is a dent in it! I didn't get an apology or anything. No one has any respect!!
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Re: Stolen!!!
Sun, July 27, 2008 - 12:39 AMBlue,
I am totally saddened by your recent situation...I will be partaking in a WORLD HOOP DAY event w/my sister & we are bring ALL the hoops to share with....& frankly, I'm a lil nervous of how it could go south.
I have made the thought to Spray paint "blanks" (plain black tubing) a solid neon flourescent color so we can tell them apart from whether they brought their own or BOUGHT one from us in the past...& that way we can tape 'em up after with no hassle.
We will have 2 people watching, but it will be twilight....I hope we can rope off an area, but I am also realistic that some one may consider walking off with them....
I do believe a person who would steal another's hoop, is the same type of person who would punch their own grandmother in the face....a lowly & dispicable sort.
May their Karma return to them and they feel the error of their ways....
Thank you for attention to the subject, as it has reminded me to be aware for World Hoop Day. Peace & Many Blessings to you.... -
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Re: Stolen!!!
Sun, July 27, 2008 - 7:17 PMHere's an idea for you:
hooppain.com/2008/03/01/...philthyhoop/
Hey, it works! I actually do this with my psi-hoop because that's the one that would tear me apart if it "walked off".
When I am at an event and I don't have someone else there to keep an eye on my hoops, I tie them together with a long scarf I bring along just for that purpose. And I have also been known to share my hoops fairly freely, but not shy to look the "borrower" straight in the eye and tell them directly..." I put much time and love into making this hoop. You may use it - not abuse it and don't even think about taking it...that would be soooo bad for you...really bad, but hey, let me show you this trick".
As far as World Hoop Day, it would be nice if you have a few to give away...esp to kids, to share the magic and joy.... I have given so many hoops away - perhaps that has helped my karma in the hoop world. -
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Re: Stolen!!!
Sun, July 27, 2008 - 7:23 PMHa yeah. I have a bike lock i use on my hoops when i take them to festivals to share.
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