Yo-yoing has been a hobby of mine off and on for close to a decade. I still remember getting my first decent yo-yo. It was in 5th grade, our school had a professional demonstrator come put on a show. I wish I could remember who it was, but still can't figure it out. He represented SuperYo, and so for about a week after, SuperYo was selling yo-yos at our school. My mom bought Tiffany and I both Sonic Spin IIs. It was a modified style ball bearing yo-yo, the bearing of which is cased in plastic runners.
I had a lot of fun with my SS2, and practiced quite a bit for awhile. Sadly, our school decided not to allow yo-yos at school after about 3 weeks. I hear that is pretty common, I guess a lot of schools brought in presenters, and then subsequently banned yo-yoing. Ironic. Anyhow, when I couldn't yo-yo at school anymore, it wasn't long before I kinda lost interest.
For several years, I would come across my old SS2 and get interested for awhile, but lose interest after awhile.
Fast forward to late 2006, when I decide (for reasons I can't remember) to get back into it. I start exploring things online, and locate a nice store ( The Yo Store) and buy a Duncan Freehand Zero. I liked it so much, I found myself buying more and more yo-yos, and here I am today. I still bite something fierce, but at least I enjoy it, and am getting better slowly.
Have a look at my collection
A note to people interested in buying some yo-yos. I have never done any business with Yo-Yo Guy, though I hear they are decent. I have done a couple orders with Yo Store, and the owner (Mike) is a good guy. For some reason, they have kind of a bad reputation in the yo-yo community, but I assure you, it isn't warranted, he is a good guy. Yo-Yo Nation, is quite possibly the best business you will ever have the pleasure of dealing with. They have the best customer support ever, and one of the owners (Pat) is actually a 2A pro.
If your interested, here are some links:
Stores:
Yo-Yo NationI have accounts, though I almost never post, I am "Teslafreak" on all of them
Forums:
Yo-Yo Nation Forum