Final Score

Final Score
Originally uploaded by lostrocket

79 over 50, North Star Roller Girls for the win! We traveled down to Lincoln, NE to play the No Coast Derby Girls' interleague team, the Mad Maxines. First interleague bout of the season - first EVER for me!

It was a total blast. Jay and I drove down after work on Friday. We left work a bit early (4), but it still made for a long late night, driving in crappy weather. Rain or sleet or snow, who knows! Wind shearing across the car so I couldn't floor it. WHATEVER! We checked in and mixed drinks "roller-derby-on-the-road style", meaning I took a swig of diet coke and a swig of amaretto.

Saturday morning we spent spying on people from our window. I had practice at 1 PM, then back to the hotel to get ready. We skated at the Pershing Center, or as the announcers called it the "palace of pandemonium" (awesome). The floor was AMAZING. I wish we could have hacked it up and taken it home with us, it was a great floor to skate on. Super fast without being slick, and wheels made a "whooshing" sound on it.

First period was fantastic. Score at the end was very close, only a 2-point lead, but for me it was my best period. I felt I did very well. 2nd period the stars just did not align, between penalties and everything else not only did I hardly jam (if at all?), I barely skated. Third period I was back in it more, but not doing as well as I would have liked. And then, I had to sit out the last two minutes because they sent me to the box for TWO majors! I still don't know what they were. Maybe something to do with the opposing blocker who hooked her elbow with mine?! NOT MY FAULT!

However: I can't complain. We won. The team skated well. It was my first interleague bout, it just means I came away with things I want to work on. And I still skated well, it's not like I completely fuxx0red things up. I just always want to do better.

Now we've only got two weeks to the next NSRG bout! This weekend is an Earth Day Clean-Up volunteer thing, an 80s bar party/fundraiser at Plum's in St. Paul, and then a non-derby benefit auction on Sunday. Next weekend = the Banger Sisters defeat the Kilmore Girls again! RIGHT, RIGHT?!
TRAVELOGUE!

Weak Week

This week was all messed up. I get too little sleep at the beginning and I just can't get back on track - bizarrely, when I am tired, I have a harder time going to bed. Unless I am completely exhausted, last night I finally hit that and went to bed at a reasonable time. During the day, being tired makes me feel hungry, I have had way too many handfuls of peanut M&Ms from the candy machine this week. Too much pop. Everything has just been blah.

Tomorrow is big and busy. Interleague photo retakes at noon followed by two hours of practice (but maybe before that, modeling merch? Ooohh!). And finally the announcement of who is actually playing in Lincoln next weekend (we don't have constant alternates, roster is being decided on a bout-by-bout basis). Hit Man says, "They can't go to Lincoln without their rookie of the year!" Oh bless.

Tonight is the premier of BSG season 4, which I might try to watch but it will be replayed Sunday and next Friday so I might not force that on the boy who doesn't like sci fi. I've been playing some original BSG over at hulu.com, it's interesting.

Sunday is just regular practice, Monday ditto (plus Interleague), Oddball Tuesday, Wednesday meeting (and Interleague practice). Sometime between now and next Saturday morning, Twyla (my car) has to go to Valvoline for a check-up and some tuning up. Maybe tomorrow, although most of the afternoon is shot to skating.

Tonight there is an open scrimmage. I have struggled with to go or not to go. It is so much fun, but the truth is my shoulder is not 100%. It's like 99%, but it hurts more than it should to get hit on it. With Lincoln next weekend (again, I hope!), and the Kilmores in three weeks, I feel like I am walking a fine line between not getting hurt, and getting benefit from extra skating. At this point knowing that it hurts more than it should to be hit on my shoulder, and knowing that I want to skate next weekend, I had to decide not to scrimmage tonight. The next open scrimmage is in two weeks, I should be able to skate that.

Next Saturday morning, we're driving to Lincoln, baby! Let's show them some Minnesota NOT-so-nice (the nice side will drink alcohol with them after the game).

Viva Las Vegas!

Because it's a work night and I am an intelligent person, instead of going to bed I sat down to look at the stuff I want from Victoria's Secret, and don't ask me how but I ended up taking care of the rest of my RollerCon stuff.

So now I am registered (did that weeks ago), have a hotel reservation (at least that's refundable), and an airline ticket (that is NOT refundable). And no one from my team has committed to going, but there better be some teammates and league mates coming along! I just..well, I squeezed it into my budget, so damnit, I'm going for it.

Yet to be squeezed into budget: car maintenance and Cincinnati away game. Hope that IRS surplus check is as big as it can be!

April Sucker's Day

I maybe already hate April Fool's Day.

Buster Hyman sent out a thrilling email saying that WFTDA 3.0 has been released, we have to learn the new rules and pass a 50 question test to be able to bout. I was all over the WFTDA website looking for them, before I had even gone looking I had written (but thankfully not sent!) an email to my captains ("Seriously, can we not change the rules with only two bouts left in the season?") - and then I said wait a second, that's right, Hit Man was in the lunch room getting sugar packets to use as fake cocaine...it's April Fool's Day.

The next thing was a ThinkGeek.com email with some really cool products, all of which turned out to be April Fool's Jokes ("personal soundtrack" t-shirt with speaker, USB pregnancy test, and the biggest disappointment - caffeinated breakfast cereal).

At least Ger, of saint-n-swine, has posted some really awesome bout pictures on Facebook. It was a really awesome bout for pictures! I had to hang out with my mom on Sunday so I have lost the buzz/adrenaline high that would have lead to an energetic write-up, but basically we kicked some serious butt and beat the Deltas by about 30 points. In the last bout, both our top jammers (MEDUSA and Torii) scored 46 points each. And they both regularly score that much, I think 'Dusa even had 64 in the first bout! So to hold the Deltas to not much more than 30 points is absolutely incredible (final score was roughly 60-30, official stats haven't been sent out yet and I don't remember exactly).

My mom and dad were there, with my Grandpa, my godparents, my mom's friend, and then three more of my mom's friends - from high school! (plus their husbands.) Jay's mom and her boyfriend showed up as a surprise (and Donna brought me a rose, awww), and Craig and Shannon were there, too. It was a big night for me! Plus my drunk father was talking about coming back next month - I told him to save it for the championship.

In two weeks - just under - I'll be skating in my first interleague bout down in Lincoln (well, I hope. Final roster decisions, if they've been made, have not been announced; we have a team of 17 but only 14 skaters can play).