No More Forgetting

No more forgetting that I have this blog! It's not a resolution, just something to try.

So in her time off, I guess a roller girl goes bowling. We tried that last night. Hit Man was tired, I wanted to get up early for practice, but things didn't really work out and we got home late. Very little fun was had, and only by me, so I don't think we'll be doing that again soon! I wasn't too tired at 7:30 but my nose was stuffy...I do not want to be sick, two bouts coming up!

So I skipped AM practice but was up for interleague at 11. Hung around after for 1 PM men's derby but only did an hour. My feet hurt. I had a lot of trouble with pain on the ball of my "pushing" foot (right) in my old skates. Certain areas are still sensitive that never were before those skates. I think I had poor socks on today and they just hurt. So we quit that but Hit Man had meatballs in the crock pot so it was worth it!

I came in to do derby MySpace stuff...I can no longer hear the TV. I wonder if he managed to nap after all? I am done with the derby online stuff so it's back to the couch. Weekends are fun.

All quite on the derby front

At long last, a little break between bouts (bbbb..). Still, that doesn't mean nothing is happening!

The first cool event is this Friday, aka tomorrow. NSRG and Rollerdome hooked up, and anyone who mentions us or brings our flyer gets in half price. Rollergirls will be there too, of course, so come skate with us! I might go, I wasn't planning on it but the boy is an airhead and he made plans ("uh, don't you usually skate on Fridays?" No, honey, I don't usually, and when I do I ask/tell you in advance. But that's okay, ditch me on our fun night). Afterwards head on over to the Nomad for the Zombie Christmas Ball and play spot-the-rollergirl there, too. Rollerdome is from 5 to 9 PM, Zombies start at 7.

Next Friday is WICKED cool. We partnered with Rogue Buddha Gallery (they did most of the work!) for an art show, "Blockers, Jammers & Pivots: The Influence of Modern Roller Derby on Contemporary Art". Part of the proceeds from any art sales will benefit the league, so check it out! I've seen a couple of the pieces and they are absolutely awesome. That starts at 7 PM on Friday the 12th.

Saturday, Dec. 20th we will be skating at the Rollerdome again, I am planning on goin to that one. Saturday skate is from 2 PM to 6 PM.

And finally, after some much-needed time off for me, we have another home bout on December 27th. Family in town? Treat them to some derby! Banger Sisters will be kicking the playing the Violent Femmes ' asses.

New TT selection was finally finalized, so I am still skating with the TT next year. So far we're hitting Sioux Falls again (best place for an away bout ever!), Oklahoma City, and Madison. We are still looking for some more WFTDA bouts, our hope is to play hard and kick enough ass to qualify for next year's regionals, as they will be in our backyard! Hosted by MNRG the North Central Regionals will be right across the river in Saint Paul. Wicked.

Look, I have a blog.

I guess I forgot about it. Since last time the world has been 98%* AWESOME!

After Cincinnati, we played the Chicago Outfit in August. That was a very, very close game, we pulled it out in the end 71 over 67. It definitely came down to the last two jams. With half our pack in the box at the 2nd to last jam, and despite not getting lead jammer, I managed to bring us within a point; Dusa closed the deal in the final jam.

League practice started back up in September, otherwise it was a quiet month. In October Hit Man and I went to Madison for Regionals. The NSRG home season opened, unfortunately we lost to the Kilmores. However it was a really good, close game which is especially amazing considering that half our team consisted of new recruits, and the only Kilmore newbie is a transfer for another league and she didn't skate! We lost 84 to 76.

That kicked off a month of very busy derby. On November 7th we drove down to Sioux City, IA to participate in our first tournament, at a new tournament, Rolling Along the River. In the morning, we beat the Omaha Rollergirls 84-45. Then we really beat Sioux City 123-9, but they are a brand spanking new time. The score may not show it but they were strong hitters. The team was fun, great girls, a lot of heart and an amazing effort especially from some (PBR jammed, pivoted, and jammed three in a row! No break! And this was later in the day, not in the first bout).

These victories and other team performances meant that we were now facing the Minnesota Rollergirls for the tournament championship. It is the first time we played each other officially, although we have been scrimmaging since last spring, at our open scrimmages and at some of their interleague practices. It was a close game.

Which we WON!

We beat the Minnesota Rollergirls, 42 over 31. Seriously it still makes me smile like a fool.

So to round up the busy-ness, a week later - this last Saturday - we hosted our first home interleague bout, against the Naptown Roller Girls' Tornado Sirens. They came out strong, scared us half to death in the first two jams, but we pulled it together double-quick and won 111 over 50. I'd had a cold since Sioux City, it really got bad Thursday night, so it was a pretty miserable night for me. I did fine in the first period but finally hit the wall near the end of the second and said no more jamming for me.

Now we don't have a bout until December 27th. I am skipping as much practice as I need to recuperate and get rid of the cold, but we'll be kicking butt next month!

* 1 percentage point lost for losing home season opener. 1 percentage point lost for personal issues.

Cincinnati Rocks!

2008-06-07 dsc_2889_f
Originally uploaded by Preflash Gordon

It's great to skate against teams that are friendly and well-sponsored! Although it was a little weird. See, Cinci welcomed us with all-you-can-eat pasta at a local Buca, YUM! And they had sandwiches for our lunch on Saturday, plus we got to scrimmage. And free pizza and beer in our locker room afterwards (and goodie bags when we got there!) But it was all with the Black Sheep and we skated against the Silent Lambs - so tons of socializing but none if it with our actual opponents.

Hot DAMN the scrimmage was HOT. Heat + Sadistic Sadie is the fastest jammer ever = I died. I totally died. Trying to keep up with her in a non-air-conditioned venue in the middle of the day when it was in the 80s or 90s outside was killer. So much fun and so worth it, but death. Totally.

Luckily it seemed like it was a little bit cooler during the actual bout, although some of Pippi's new boyfriends said the heat was their home advantage - they would just sweat us out. Of course they didn't, and we soundly defeated the Silent Lambs by about 113-31. The score got reported as 103 because of a mix-up with the scoreboard guys, but while 10 points makes a big difference for that jammer (go tin lizzy!), it doesn't really make a difference in the win! The Black Sheep jerseys are the exact same as the Banger Sisters, and some of their skaters reminded me of my home teammates, but luckily the Silent Lambs skate in white - like the inverse of the black - so it was like skating against the anti-Bangers. Kill them!

The Black Sheep bout was phenomenal to watch. I had seen them skate in MN against the Garda Belts but had forgotten how fucked up Sadistic Sadie is! The name really says it all, there is nothing she likes more than messing with the other skaters, especially the jammers. She doesn't do it in a dirty way (although there's a rumor she got sent to the box for spitting at the other jammer) - or at least she doesn't seem to but she was in the penalty box a lot - but she is wickedly fast, an accurate hard hitter, and a little devilish inside so she just excels at finding you, hitting you, hitting you again, stopping you, etc. etc. etc.

The Black Sheep skated against Steel City. I thoroughly enjoyed the skater named Cheeseburger - #1/4 lb. - funny! So totally random, kind of like how Hit Man thought my second choice for a name should have been "Junior Mint". Just because. They had a good game, although Black Sheep skated in a solid win it started out very close with a back-and-forth lead. When Steel City was winning, they had a super solid pack, with blocking teams so close together they looked like they were seriously squeezing - and hampering - the Sheep. Once the Sheep got their act together and stopped letting the Steel City pack stay strong, they pulled into the lead and held it.

Despite having two passengers I ended up doing the full drives down and back. I dunno, I get behind the wheel and it's so nice and easy that I don't see any reason to give it up!

I have been a total shit since the "end" of derby, tho. Not going to bed, not sleeping, not getting up, not doing anything, and I can't seem to STOP shopping. Derby practices gave me the structure I need to not be a waste of space. Luckily as I look at my calendar I see that derby is so not over - next two weeks I have four interleague practices and a recruiting committee practice (open for roller girl hopefuls! I believe the email is recruiting@northstarrollergirls.com!). July, while dead on the interleague front, has more recruiting practices, and then August will have both again. I bought a 10-session pass to the Oval and it is starting to look like there will be so many league practices I will never use it up.

I did not do any skating this week. Boyfriend night was Tuesday, for a wild change, and it rained last night. I could go tonight but just on the trails, I did not bring my derby stuff to work. However tonight I have to bake a cake, some banana bread, and pack for the weekend.

Cake? Cuz this weekend is INSANE. Friday night we will be going to the end of the season league party. Saturday is a retirement party for one of Hit Man's buddies, and we'll go from there right over to the Banger Sisters season party. On Sunday Hit Man's family is coming over for Father's Day/his brother's birthday. So a cake for the BS party, and then for Sunday I am trying to come up with something, too. A fruit salad, probably just fresh fruit together. Maybe something with pudding, I have both chocolate and vanilla mixes that I've had forever. I have a pretty new plate from the dollar spot at Target so I would like something I can serve on that, though. And I got a red checked apron from the dollar spot, hooray!

So this is hell weekend but I think it has slipped the boy's mind that we have a wedding to go to next weekend. He won't be happy when I remind him. I have to find a dress - two years ago for Easter I found one on clearance for less than $8, so that's my goal for this!

Last of all, I thought this was one of the best derby articles. It approaches the "second identity" in less of a "x by day, y by night" tone, and it hits my favorite nerve: sex gets you in the door, sport keeps you in your seat!

http://blog.mlive.com/annarbornews/2008/06/roller_derby_demands_athletici.html

Derby Never Dies (but it gets real quiet)

YAWN. Nothing new under the sun. Started an Oval "regimen". Eventually I'll settle into Monday-Wednesday evenings, but probably just through June and July - got a decent practice schedule in August. This week there's a scrimmage on Friday so I only went once, next week is another scrimmage so I'll do the same. Then the Cincinnati bout, then derby gets even quieter than it is now!

The Oval is nice but it is hard to skate when it is so damn hot. I do a warm-up and stretch, then run through some pyramid 80-100s - building up in 30 second intervals to 2 minutes, then back down the same way. Takes 16 minutes so that's pretty good. Then I do a three-round four corners with two kinds of crunches, plank, and push-ups. Then it gets a little varied, maybe some skating around pretending to practice weaving (no cones), or ducking, squatting, stuff like that. Might try "10 Minutes of Hell" but I don't self-motivate very well (I need other people to push and measure myself against) and I actually hate skating in circles. I did skate 10 full minutes today but it certainly wasn't "hell" as it wasn't very fast. At least it wasn't too hot - last summer when I was doing that it was basically "stay alive for 10 minutes" because trying to skate that hard in that heat was ridiculous. If I can skate for at least 45 minutes, preferably an hour, it's a decent workout.

So, next weekend is Cinci, weekend after that is the league season end party and the team season end party! I just hope I remember the weekend.

WFTDA

WFTDA logo
Originally uploaded by lostrocket

Finally! After driving me crazy for a long time, we voted on whether or not to pursue an affiliation, nobody voted for OSDA and a shit ton of people voted for joining the Women's Flat Track Derby Association. I totally want that little pink patch on my ass. There are a lot of good arguments about the direction of the sport (basically, derby - at least women's derby - is going with WFTDA, and if you don't you're probably going to miss out on something) but my arguments are simple. They are goals. And those goals are to be ranked, to be nationally ranked, and some day to be HIGHLY ranked. I can control the competitive streak pretty well but it's still very vicious.

Not much in derby news right now! I will be going in to work soon and then heading to the Oval after that. Sometime tomorrow - I think - Hit Man comes back from Canada, I plan on picking some steaks up at Cub (No Name has some awesome coupons out right now) and treating him to a nice dinner. Unless he's so tired that even being treated is too much!

I might hit the mall today. I might hit the mall tomorrow. I might see Indiana Jones. I had a whole week and my apartment is still a total mess. Don't know as I'll ever get it clean again!

Where's the derby?

Whoa what a letdown. Derby season intensity: 9. Two bouts in a row ups intensity: 10. All of a sudden...derby is over intensity: 0.

What a weird week so far.

Sucktastic championship bout on Saturday night in which we got our asses phenomenally kicked. It was kind of a comedy of errors, jammer in the box, make up the points, get another jammer in the box, eventually stop being able to make up the points, lose by 20. It's kind of draining, and it was super depressing organizing the stats last night. Too depressing to face posting the summaries to MySpace, and then today I got too busy so I still haven't.

We tried the after party but basically felt it sucked, so we went home, got drunk, and had sex. Got to bed probably much earlier than if we had actually partied, which was nice as Hit Man got up at 6:30 to drive to Canada for his fishing trip, and I got up at 7:30 to take care of shit and be able to pick my mom up by 10. She was, of course, 20 minutes late getting ready, which kind of snowballed and we left the mall probably 20 minutes later than we should have and couldn't get on 35W anywhere. All the ramps are under construction!

Eventually we did make it and I got to the Target Center just in time to get my skates on and join the scrimmage. We skated in the street during the MN Lynx's season opening block party and it was a lot of fun, way more fun than sucktastic Saturday! It was great, but we didn't stick around for the game - more things to get done with Mom.

So Saturday and Sunday were busy, then on Monday all of a sudden my life is EMPTY. There is no derby practice and my boyfriend is out of town. It's not like I'd see him much on a Monday anyway, but I miss him because I COULD see him if I wanted, only I can't, because Canada stole him.

At least there is derby tomorrow! One hour of interleague practice followed by a hopefully no-more-than two hour meeting. Work starts summer hours this week; I don't generally do the summer hours because I just don't feel the benefit, but I do half-participate this week (no way am I putting in four ten-hour days, but I will do enough that I should be able to work no more than four hours on Friday) and will get some good skating in at the Roseville Oval on Friday.

And the Oval finally published June's schedule, so now I know when it's open late enough for me to hit it after work - so I'll probably be skating there on Mondays and Wednesdays, when I don't have a practice. On the weekends I can hit the trails up at Jay's - and maybe sometimes during the week, do the 6.5 mile circuit we did for the MS Walk but on WHEELS. Everybody tells me my body needs a break but in college I rollerbladed year round; if I'm not doing actual derby, hitting and all that, why can't I skate all summer? At the Oval I do mostly speed/endurance drills, and this summer I'll do some strength stuff too (four corners. I would have been too embarassed before but now, I'll just throw on a derby t-shirt and feel like I am awesome so why not!).

And derby isn't 100% over any way; Cincinnati bout is June 7. Then it really is kind of over for a long time - next bout won't be until late in August. RollerCon will break that up at the end of July, and we still have events, and hopefully some open scrimmaging.

We have so many events that I almost don't have time for a visit home until August or even September. I had tentatively marked down a weekend in July, 11-13, but we are scrimmaging at Bastille Days that weekend! It's French, I have to go. The next weekend Charm City is playing the Dairyland Dolls in Madison and I had wanted to go check that out but I guess making it up to my sister for skipping her graduation should take precedence. And at least a trip to VA is free, driving myself (though hopefully not alone, I am not the only Charm City fan I know!) to Madison is not.

ANY WAY. Not sleeping enough this week, I am going to try to get things wrapped up and have my lights out by nine. Wow.