Volume 2, Issue 18 August 17 -August 30, 2000

All of a sudden there's this fuzzy, soft, little rectangle thing in my hand, and he takes it and smoothes it over my cheek. "Yummy isn't it?" he chuckles, while placing it on the knuckles on the back of his hand, tossing it up in the air and catching it again on the back of his hand. It looks like a hacky sack for the hands. Then he chucks it to me and I'm surprised when I actually catch it on the back of my hand, right on that groove where my fingers and hand connect. He tells me to keep my thumb flexed up, and I toss it back to him, like a little rectangular flying saucer beanbag. He catches it and starts jamming, tricks behind his back, swirling it through the air, all while only using the back of his hand, "Absorb the impact, see?" he says smiling. "It's like playing with an egg." Of course, I am a little intimidated and I wonder where in the hell this guy came from. He beckons me into his trailer, "The Myachi Mobile."

It was what Steven Ochs and his friends played back in school at Vanderbilt, and what other kids have been doing at thousands of schools and hangouts across the country for years. The lighter game, which involves tossing a cigarette lighter on the back of your hand, with partners and tricks, was the inspiration for Ochs's creation of the Myachi, which lets you take the "lighter game" to the next level.

Pronounced "Mee-Ah-Chi," Ochs (a. k. a. "The Myachi Man") describes his invention as many things" a handgame, stress sack, and the perfect lucky charm!"

Myachi can be played inside or out, alone or with friends, sitting or standing. The Myachi Man makes his toys with cutting edge fabrics, all different textures and "flavors," and filled with the "softest sand in the world." You could be tossing everything from vinyl, to soft-crushed velvet, to smooth, supple suede. Flavors come in everything from grape crush, cherry swirl, glow pop (glow in the dark), green pea, cherry sorbet, a whole animal print line, and more.

So what? You have this little beanbag sack thing, what's the big deal? Oh, but it is. Ochs gazes at the first Myachi he ever made, sits back in a captain's chair in the Myachi Mobile, and sighs dramatically. "Yes, it is, quite simply, a movement --a growing trend -- The Myachi Movement! We have people from 6 to 60 tossing the Myachi ... kids in schools, people in their offices, cute girls in designer dresses, hardcore concert goers, skaters, the whole rave crowd. It has even been banned from two schools in the U. S., since the kids wouldn't stop playing with it."

Ochs eagerly shoves a framed picture of the band Creed in front of me, pointing out what they wrote to him: "To the Myachi Man, you rock!" He smiles, "Yup they were jamming with this thing, they were almost as good as Tony Hawke!" George Clinton and Janeane Garofolo were also quite adept at the game as well.

Ochs flips a grape crush Myachi over to me. "Here this one goes with you. It matches your personality, and your sunglasses too." Laughing, he picks up a leopard print Myachi and does a trick called "The Snake," where you have to twist your arm back behind you in a fluid swirling motion, and then bring it forward again, all with the Myachi remaining stable on top of your hand.

"Yeah, I used to be stockbroker. Just a few years ago, I worked on Wall Street. I was an economics major in college. I have a whole closet full of suits at home but this was my dream." Ochs led a pretty comfortable life back then, but every day he had an idea that was itching his brain, all day long, nagging, nagging, until he just said, "Fuck it!" He quit his job, got a Winnebago, painted it all with all these funky colors and designs, threw on a pair of jeans and began traveling the country with his idea. He grins, "Now, everyday, people tell me that they wish they had my job!"

I discover that this game really is the ultimate test of hand-eye coordination. Myachi takes practice, skill and a sort of laid back, nonchalant finesse that Ochs has tried to market into "The Myachi Movement." In his late 20s, Ochs is fun, cute, and witty. He is also a great teacher, and that is essentially how he sells his product. He lets you play with it first, patiently teaching you the basic skills, and then once you get the hang of it, he plays with you until you cannot bear to part with your new little Myachi friend.

Of course I am in awe of this guy. His hands move effortlessly around the Myachi while he talks to me, like it's just a part of his being. "Well, my favorite trick?" Scott pauses and thinks for a second. "Yeah, it's gotta be the 'Cold Fusion, ' where it's all about ambiphibiosity. You know, a whole fluid motion with the hands." He swiftly flips the Myachi back and forth between his two hands.

After spending a few weeks in Boulder and Denver, The Myachi Mobile chugs off into the distance, in the direction of the MTV Beach House in San Diego. I stand there, and whisper, "Goodbye Myachi Man," pledging to practice and be able to do "The Snake" for the next time they come back around. Look out for The Myachi Man and the Big Dog in their Winnebago early this fall. Until then, check out the website (www.myachi.com), learn a few tricks, and become one with the sack.

Run for the AIDS Project It took them eight days, but they finally made it. Essie Garrett, Tonya Chiarochi and their support crew of John Fodor and lama Simone Serenity Lane came into the Detour in Denver after running 222 miles from Aspen. By running this distance they're trying to get money together for the Awareness Center of the Colorado Women's AIDS Project and WestCAP (Western Colorado AIDS Project). The four were welcomed in Denver by Sheila Keathley at the Detour, about a mile from their final destination, the Women's AIDS Project on York Street. The run was dedicated to Paula Westerfield, a recording artist who lives with AIDS. "Paula is a very courageous woman," said Essie. "People should realize that. They should also realize that AIDS is a disease that can happen to everyone. My mission in life is to help others to learn to be compassionate, giving and caring." The 222 mile run that Essie and Tonya finished last week wasn't the first time Essie's ran for HIV/ AIDS. She's run from Denver to San Francisco and the other way around, from Atlanta to Denver, and from Omaha to Denver. Essie asks all Coloradans to make a contribution to the AIDS Project. "If everyone in Colorado would give $5, imagine how much we'd get," Essie said. "Every dollar counts." If you wish to make a tax-deductible contribution, it may be sent to: Women's AIDS Project, 1600 York St. Suite 201, Denver, 80206. Please note that the donation is "for the run." Valerie van de Flier