Oh My.. what a Poi-gasm.

So I've been stuck in a poi rut lately and I was wondering whether it was just being at this phase where I can't wrap my brain around the movements I thought I needed for ore intricate moves, or just because my life was in a rut - in gneeral. Well, last night answered that. I was bored and went back to my old routine - not having close poi friends around regularly, when we meet up its more of an "OM MY god its good to see you" and not very tech explanations of moves. Not that I blame them, iId rather hang with them then hear a 20 minute long speech on how to get a move...

But... due to my own learning style, this requires a back to the drawing board of me surfing around the interweb for videos by those I'm inspired by, to get new moves. So last night I dug up good ole Nick of Playpoi and his tutoiral on the 4 beat Thread the Needle.

wow - the windows it just created. I've always been able to do Thread the Needle or "Crossovers" both overhead and underhand...
since last night, some royal screwing around with poi and hte video on superslow... I have disovered NEW bits!!!!

Hence My ming and hands have come to grasp.. crossing over overhead thread the needle, crossing over underhand thread the needle, Split time thread the needles, this neat thread the needle with isolations thrown in ( I did it, then had to break it apart to figure out what I was doing that looked cool in the mirror hehe), and a rough (needs polish or WD-40) 4-beat thread the needle and a true butterfly weave (I think I was doing them before but without realizing and being fully aware of my movmeent, so I can now do on cue, yay!!!)

So I'm super excited I've found a new doorway again, and this leads to one conclusion.....
I learn easiest with a video I can forward thru, rewind, and play slower as needed.. so that I get the different views
of what's going on, till I can put it together in my head.

Also..... Poi is best learned about midnight in the winter,, with adequate indoor space, a mind that's no longer spinning
at 4,000 revolutions per minute, and a new respect for the boundaries of space... and finding new planes to work in to avoid walls.

I'm posting this here for advice. It seems pretty odd to me that I share very little of my life in my blogs yet
when I need advice, a general conscience, I come here. But I trust answers in multitudes or my wise friends.

So... here's goes my scenerio without naming names. I have a good friend who is highly interested in fire spinning and fire performance. My own passion and artists pursuits - I don't discourage this. He's interested in Staff, Meteor,and Fire Dart. Currently, he only has tried staff.

Now.. I've seen him spin fire. Now, just to get this out there - I know I am -far- from the best poi spinner out there.
hell, I'd be honored to be called an intermediate level. To be honest, I've hit a plateau up until recently where I realized
my hang up was how my mind pictured my hands/arms... always picturing their movement identical or mirror opposites.
I couldn't free my mind to move my arms independently of one another, with out having to be either the same or exact
opposites. Someone, somewhere.. either my blog or Wildfire tribe suggested just walking around with poi in hand all
day long and consciously stalling just 1 to reverse direction, and switch it up randomly all day. THANK YOU!! My arms now
have independence - there are new moves to conquer and new exciting poi movements.

Anways... so my friend, is learning staff.. literally trying moves for the very first time, with the staff on fire. He has no training
in martial arts and actually, has never ever ever practiced with any staff like object not on fire. He has not watched any online
tutorials and just sorta.. tries to learn as he does. I've seen him spin occasionally adn when he does, I get frightened.

His reason for not practicing at all - if the staff isnt' on fire? He claims he makes "stupid mistakes" when the staff isnt' on fire, that he doesn't make once its on fire. Sound miraculous to you? Does to me too... I wonder if he knows the mistakes/awkwardness of his spins.

His response... that others often state, " That was your first time? your just learning" and are amazed. I wonder if he's correctly identified their wonder.. or .. if its really horror. I know personally, he's hard to watch. I'm jumpy and cringing.

So.. now forward to our conversation as we might be sharing an apartment, and he sees me practicing poi, assuming I'm bored. Chances are, he's correct - I've become temporarily bored and decided its 15-20 minutes of work on some new move/concept I'm trying to incorporate into my poi a bit more. However, practice is essential before lighting up kids. Make sure you can spin without clobbering yourself before lighting up - at least that was the motto I was taught.

Am I wrong for giving him a slight " you shouldn't do that" and heavily encouraging him to find even just a long broom handle and practice spinning a "staff-like" object if nothing else?

Everytime this situation comes up, he tells me I'm nagging and people tell him he looks "awesome" for a newbie on fire. I guess what they don't realize is when he asks " how did that look" its because he's trying a move he's never tried before, not even once.

What are others thoughts on this? Am I being a nagging bitch (sorry not PC)?
Is staff - so safe- its not really necessary to practice before lighting?