katarina hit

No More Forgetting

noreply@blogger.com (Katarina) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 23:34:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Katarina) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:14:00 +0000

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.

noreply@blogger.com (Katarina) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:16:00 +0000

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!

noreply@blogger.com (Katarina) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 16:16:00 +0000

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)

noreply@blogger.com (Katarina) — Thu, 29 May 2008 00:45:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Katarina) — Fri, 23 May 2008 14:56:00 +0000

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?

noreply@blogger.com (Katarina) — Wed, 21 May 2008 00:30:00 +0000

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.

Just keep skating.

noreply@blogger.com (Katarina) — Wed, 07 May 2008 20:38:00 +0000

Concentration
Originally uploaded by lostrocket

Because you don't have time for anything else!

This is an awesome shot from the April bout, courtesy of saint-n-swine. Concentrating? Pissed off? I have no idea. We won but BARELY, 63 over 61, and have to rematch for the championship in less than two weeks!

Before we can get to THAT, this weekend is our second TT bout in Sioux Falls. I'm carpooling down on Friday night, Hit Man is driving with a buddy on Saturday. Then I jump ship and ride back with him on Sunday. It's going to be a damn busy weekend.

This week was all derby. Starting Saturday with three practices - went to half an Oddball so I could scrimmage, then a full team practice, and what turned out to be a TT picnic with no practice. Then I went rollerblading along the trails, probably at least 6 miles total. Sunday morning was the MS Walk which I did with a derby group. I did skip the May Day Parade...by the end of the walk I was done. So I went back to Jay's and fell asleep while he finished painting the living room. Uhm, oops, but damn I couldn't stand anymore!

Monday practice. Tuesday MNRG scrimmage. Tonight THREE practices, again - 1 hour each TT and Banger Sisters, providing the bread for a 2 hour league practice sandwich.

At least there is no skating tomorrow - but errands and packing! On Friday we're leaving for Sioux Falls hopefully around 5:30 and not too much later. I found green and white checked laces online - I bet they would be cute with my skirt but it's too late to order and too much for shipping!

I do have to order new bearings from Vixen; and I might invest in some actual outdoor wheels instead of just skating on crappy indoors. And I'm eyeing a new pair of Flat-Outs. I made the mistake of practicing on the first pair and they died way too quickly. I switched to the Fugitives because they came with my skates, but I would try the Flat-Outs again.

Right now I don't have the money for anything (except the new bearings), so it's all wishful thinking in any case.

Final Score

noreply@blogger.com (Katarina) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:13:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Katarina) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:00:00 +0000

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!

noreply@blogger.com (Katarina) — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 04:14:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Katarina) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:12:00 +0000

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).

Katherine and Addison

noreply@blogger.com (Katarina) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:23:00 +0000

Katherine and Addison
Originally uploaded by lostrocket

I suppose pictures of babies are much less exciting than pictures of derby! I just love this photo. The baby is not mine, she belongs to Jay's cousin (so you get to give her back, the best part!).

It was still a busy derby weekend. On Saturday we had Interleague practice from 1-3, it was rather sparsely attended (especially the 2-3 hour, as we'd hoped some other skaters would come to bout us) but we did some great drills. After that I had to run a few errands, then rushed home to get ready for the Minnesota bout.

Which I thought was awesome.

Sadly, it seems 99% if not 100% of my league does not/would not agree! Okay, the Bombshells-Garda Belts match was brutal - and not in a legal sense! Tons of fighting, but I thought it was great and exciting and also, hilarious (like when Ann E. Briated hooked elbows with and pulled down Marilyn Monrogue..and thought she would just skate away from that. Marilyn quickly corrected her by throwing her arms around Ann's neck and dragging her back down for a tussle..which got Ann, not Marilyn, ejected! Hah!). Surprising, too - it seemed like the Garda Belts were the ones starting all the fights! Plenty of dirty play on both sides, too.

The Dagger Dolls-Rockits match was less fun. It's just not exciting to watch a team be completely outclassed. The Dagger Dolls have a lot of work if they want a better showing (much less any chance of winning) in the finals. The only thing that's going to beat the Rockits is a really strong pack and solid pack strategy. They both have rock star jammers (although Jawbreaker outclasses pretty much every other skater in the country, nevermind just the league), and what it comes down to is whether or not you can strategize your pack to get your jammers out around Jawbreaker.

Sadly, we'll miss the championship. I am a little surprised but also happy that I can say "we", I told Jay he didn't have to come with - but any way, that weekend is our first Interleague bout and we'll be down in Lincoln, NE.

Speaking of interleague, we did have "Cool Kids" at last night's practice so we scrimmaged. Basically, we're all going to die - our pack is ridiculously fast and brutal. A pile-up in every jam, a few called off for light injuries (Kayzilla came off holding her face/nose, thankfully no bleeding; I think Pogue got hit in the eye/eye area).

But to finish the weekend, on Saturday we drove up to visit with Jay's family in Alexandria. We went to the buffet in a bowling alley and over to his grandparents'. I got to spend lots of time with that little bundle of joy, and visit with his aunts, grandparents, and assorted other family members, as well.

Kiss Me, I'm Not Irish

noreply@blogger.com (Katarina) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:49:00 +0000

Well, our parade was not nearly so sunny and dry! This is a picture from last year's parade in St. Paul. It was still a lot of fun, but as parades go maybe a little small and lame. Oops! But it was fun! It would have been more fun to skate, and a few people did, but my skates were a Christmas present and I am not mucking them up in slush.

The after party wasn't as fun, I went with Pippi, Jowanna, and Dom to Pizza Lucé instead. Even with that, I was home around 10:30 PM. So, taking the morning off work was probably unnecessary. I really had wanted to make today a day off. I had a few too many things dumped on me to make that happen, but maybe next Monday or something. I really need some time to make my place presentable again.

ETA: MR. FATCAT'S VIDEO!

No Pinching!!

noreply@blogger.com (Katarina) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 19:53:00 +0000

At least it finally stopped snowing! It's been snowing all morning...kind of depressing, with the ST. PATRICK's DAY PARADE tonight. I'm definitely not SKATING in it now, but I'll still be walking! And cold or not, wearing fishnets, because that's just how we roll. I might cheat and wear old figure skating tights underneath...they will be too big, might look like crap, and are made to go over skate boots so they might feel weird on my feet BUT I will be warm.

I was totally pissed at practice yesterday morning. I scrimmaged three times in the past week: a team practice, an interleague team practice, and a full league practice. Suddenly Sunday morning, wearing yellow means you can't participate in the scrimmaging? All I got to do was hold the stop watch and time the jams. LAME. And then, no one brought the interleague shirts. So I was damn grumpy, but I chatted with some people afterward and that cheered me up. However, NO MORE YELLOW! No matter how I feel, I am NOT wearing yellow on Wednesday. We only have THREE practices before the bout - I am already very concerned my endurance has suffered, not having jammed in over a week. Instead of cooling down during the last five minutes yesterday, I skated my heart out, to make up for not scrimmaging.

My arm is almost up to it. Sleeping on Hit Man's bed was not good for it, like sleeping on a rock, but just one night in my soft mushy bed helped. Mostly, it doesn't hurt. Moving it certain ways still does, but I think I can scrimmage on Wednesday with a reasonably small risk of murdering myself. I will probably contort an ace bandage around my shoulder/arm, I don't think it will help but it will make me feel "safer".

Tonight - come see the NSRG in the Minneapolis St. Patty's Parade!
Saturday - Go see the MNRG bout!
Sunday - Easter. Brunch in Alexandria.
NEXT SATURDAY - COME WATCH THE NSRG BOUT!

Pain pills.

noreply@blogger.com (Katarina) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 21:29:00 +0000

Open scrimmage tonight and I am missing out, damnit. I haven't been able to fall asleep all week without Advil, because my shoulder is still bothering me. It is like so close to being all better that most of the time I forget it's not (which usually ends up in pain, like last night when I slammed the car door - too much force on my shoulder, ow!), but if it bothers me enough to keep me awake I probably should not go get knocked around. I don't know if any MNRG girls would show up tonight - they have a pretty intense bout schedule right now, only two weeks between the March bouts, and I think three before the championship - but let me tell you if I went to skate and got knocked by Jawbreaker? Bye bye healing shoulder! Dayum. So awesome. So sad to be missing it.

Instead, Jay is going to paint a window frame while I buy groceries, then we will get drunk.

Well, that sounds like a pretty good night, too.

MNRG and Sugar

noreply@blogger.com (Katarina) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 01:30:00 +0000

GREAT MNRG bout last night. So far two NSRG girls have told me they thought the Dagger Dolls/Bombshells periods weren't very interesting, I completely don't understand it! It was a very close game the whole night, and the teams were evenly matched. I admit it adds to the excitement for me since the Dagger Dolls are my favorite team, and while I think the Bombshells skate dirty it is entertaining to watch (they are my secret second favorite). Plus, Jay has a derby crush on Marilyn Monrogue, so it's fun for me to razz him all night long about how his girlfriend can't keep herself out of the penalty box! She did a couple jams last night as a blocker, not a pivot, and that's for sure where she needs to be. When she's on her game, her ass is a POWERFUL blocking tool, but she does not seem to have a good enough handle on pack-control to be a pivot.

Garda Belts/Rockits was a lot of fun, too - the Garda Belts started out SO damn strong, and held a 7-1 lead over the Rockits for much of the first period. Unfortunately by the end of the first period they'd lost that lead, came within 3 points of the Rockits in the second half, but ended up losing in the lowest-scoring game I have ever seen: Rockits 24, Gardas 14. The Garda Belts lack of good pack strategy was definitely the deciding factor. With their strong start you could really see they would have had a chance to beat the Rockits. Unfortunately their jammers were ALWAYS getting caught up front behind Jawbreaker, and at least one other Rockit blocker - and that is the moment when their pack should have been pulling back until the Rockits were too far away from the pack to legally block. Never saw it happen, and it cost the Gardas the game, for sure (it also wouldn't have hurt to mix up their line-up, too many times Angelfire was jamming against Jawbreaker, when they should have been throwing their best, i.e. Suzie Smashbox, out there to stand a chance). Still, I think it is impressive for anyone to score with Jawbreaker blocking, so putting points on the board at all is phenomenal! And obviously with such a low-scoring game, the defense on both sides was rocking.

Today I skipped practice, for a variety of reasons: I wanted to sleep in after MNRG (although we were home really damn early from that); while my shoulder is mostly better after being sandwiched, it is not up to being hit - and half of Sunday practices are spent scrimmaging; and with fucking Daylight Savings Time I lost an hour of sleep and had NO desire to be getting up at 7:30 AM while my body still thought it was 6:30! So we did sleep in and lazed around some more - can't wait until summer, when weekend days involve more than laying on a couch. Lawnmowing (yes, I will enjoy it for at least a couple weeks), being able to skate or rollerblade on the paths by Jay's, hanging around outside. SUNSHINE.

Anyway, we had an interleague meeting/get-to-know thing this afternoon, it was pretty fun. But people always bring cookies to stuff like this, and I wish they wouldn't - rollergirls should eat healthy but I am absolutely powerless around sugar. Cookies...sooo many cookies...and nothing but sitting on my ass all damn day! Well, back to the grindstone of practice and eating well tomorrow - with a 3-hour practice tomorrow night to really jumpstart things. Or, maybe - that third hour is scrimmaging, and I should not do that full-bore just yet. No jamming, and blocking from the outside only (so I am only hitting with my left). I think this week is another open scrimmage - plus a team practice on Saturday - so I hope my arm is LOTS better by Friday.

Tomorrow I have to finish a poster for our Saint Patty's Day events - it needs to get around NOW, but I didn't get to it at all yet. NSRG IN THE MINNEAPOLIS SAINT PATRICK'S DAY PARADE ON MONDAY! There, that was productive.

Brr and Ow

noreply@blogger.com (Katarina) — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 22:43:00 +0000

Well, I left this in the dust for a little bit. (The picture should show up, but you might have to right-click+show image.)

The Polar Bear Plunge was definitely awesome. I don't actually remember thinking it was too cold, except that my feet were FREEZING. The hot tubs were farther away than the changing room and that was too far to walk, so I just got in my warm clothes and got out! But it was a really fun experience, which might sound surprising. I pigged out on Old County Buffet for breakfast because I was told your body needs lots of calories to warm itself up. Whatever, soft serve at 8 AM is never a bad thing!

Then last Wednesday at practice I got absolutely crunched in a Kilmore sandwich. I would have kept skating that jam but thankfully I got lead so I called it off and didn't skate the rest of the night. My shoulder just got nicely fucked up. It seemed to be better yesterday but it's been bothering me a lot today, probably too much laying around and not enough ice.

Oh well, I won't be laying around tonight - MNRG derby! Which, in fact, I really need to get a move on getting ready for.

ILLUSTRATION 1.1: Calling off the jam.

noreply@blogger.com (Katarina) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 23:35:00 +0000

Banger Sisters vs. Violent Femmes
Originally uploaded by bjmacke (a.k.a. Apron)

This is why I get bruises! When your arms start out above your head, they are going to come down swinging HARD.

And I am pretty sure I am calling it off, not lifting my arms to show I'm not back-blocking - that's the opposing jammer in front of me, that's when the jam ENDS.

Insane in the skate brain

noreply@blogger.com (Katarina) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 21:25:00 +0000

No stats yet, it's eating me up!

I am eating myself up! Chewing on my lip, I am 100% sure there is a cold sore brewing. And my baggy of drugs had a hole in it so I left it at home - which means I did not attack quickly and I will have a big ugly thing on my lip tomorrow. Damn!

In other news, the March derby calendar makes me CRY. There are three nights when I have interleague practice (6-7), regular practice (7-9), and team practice (9-10). A: I will die of four hours of practice; B: I will die from not getting to bed early.

Other highlights:

Weekend 1: Polar Bear Plunge, practice, Interleague photos

Weekend 2: MNRG bout, a practice, and a meeting

Weekend 3: team practice, oddball practice, regular practice; a scrapbooking sale, and a Matt Nathanson show with Lifehouse (haven't bought tix but I might like to go)

Weekend 4: MNRG bout, interleague practice, no regular practice because of Easter (but probably a trip to Alexandria)

Weekend 5: How did March get so long? Only one thing this weekend but it's a doozy because it's OUR bout.

April - well it's not as covered in blue (my NSRG calendar label) yet, but I am sure when the April calendar surfaces it will be awful. It's even bigger as our first interleague bout is in April!! It's also the MNRG Championship. As of now Jay was going down to Lincoln with me but the bouts are happening on the same weekend, which I don't think we had realized. Will the pull of visiting the Bass Pro Shop on Sunday be enough to drag him away from MNRG? We'll find out!

It isn't March yet but I already can't breathe!

Bruises, which are disappointing

noreply@blogger.com (Katarina) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 04:20:00 +0000

So I thought I had managed to get one "war wound" from Saturday night - a bruise on my right hip bone.

Until I showed Pippi, who said I totally do it to myself because I call the jam so forcefully. The boy agreed; basically everyone agrees.

So when I call off the jam, I smack my wristguards against my hips so forcefully that I bruise myself.

That's all! Meeting was tonight, now I can't sleep.

bang BANG, that's how it's DONE

noreply@blogger.com (Katarina) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 19:43:00 +0000

Derby rocks! Banger Sisters rule!

Saturday night, NSRG derby; Sunday night, MNRG derby.

Saturday night, Banger Sisters take revenge on the Violent Femmes (who beat us in December), winning by 107 over 70-something (no final stats yet). It was awesome! It was HELLA difficult! We skated mainly with three jammers - myself, Dominatrix, and Torii; with Vixen thrown in every now and then. Last three bouts we skated all four of us, all the time. So it was a much quicker round of skating! 2nd half, I had a skate-sit-skate (instead of two sits to rest) late in the period, and that second jam I was dying. I took a whip that I had to hang on for dear life to get, as someone was coming in between us but I was NOT letting go because I wasn't sure I could keep skating without it! So I think it was the end of that jam that I threw up in my mouth coming off the track. I looked for something to spit it out into back at the bench - but was promptly informed I was going out again almost immediately as a blocker, because I had too many penalties to jam again. So I had to swallow it! YUCK! HOW AWESOME! One of my favorite moments of the night - I must watch too much Jackass. It turned out to be my last jam as a jammer, I think, but it really is mostly a blur. Sadly we ditched the after-party - I really wanted to try Buster Hyman's Spumoni Ice Cream with Cherries - but the bar was PACKED, no room to sit and relax, no way. We picked up Wendy's and I had an M&M Frosty instead.

So Saturday was an AWESOME night, the Kilmores also kicked ass - they won by so much that it was actually a little sad to see the Deltas didn't skate better, because we know all four of our teams are awesome.

Sunday night ended with a bang but had plenty of disappointments. The Rockits-Bombshells match-up was lopsided like our own Kilmores-Delts, and it was really, really sad to see the Bombshells skating so poorly. They weren't cheating as much as we've seen recently (still plenty of elbows to the back, and of all the times she was on the track we only saw Marilyn Monrogue complete ONE jam without being sent to the penalty box!), but their blocking was absolute crap, no defense, no teamwork. Dagger Dolls-Garda Belts was much, much closer - although it was really tense for a while, the Dollies were down quite a bit - but neither team seemed to be skating really well. All over all these match-ups, I was really disappointed by the haphazard strategy (or complete lack thereof), the lack of effective blocking, the lack of jammer strategy. Still, Dollies/Gardas ended with a BANG as the final jam left the scored TIED at 62-62! Rebel Stella lined up to jam against - I think - Suzie Smashbox, and it was super close and tense. Stella probably was pulling to win with about 20 seconds left, but in a move I think was unfortunate Candi Pain decided to hell with it and just pulled someone to the ground, I don't even remember who, and started hitting. So while the Dolls pulled out a 2-point win, I think it's a little tainted - their first win since the season BEFORE last ended with cheating. HOWEVER, you have to admit it was incredibly exciting!

I told Jay, how am I supposed to have two nights of derby, and come back to work and function? Thankfully I am pretty busy and doing alright. Tonight we have a league meeting instead of practice. Hopefully we'll get stats and scores and photos soon, although it does take a few days. I update everything in a Myspace blog on the official NSRG Myspace as soon as I get it, and we get it up on the website ASAP as well, so watch those spots for everything!

Mr. FatCat always makes us awesome vids - check this one out! It starts slow, but I'm the "grand finale"!

Roller derby ruined my life

noreply@blogger.com (Katarina) — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:31:00 +0000

Well, no, of course it hasn't; it just means I am missing the company holiday party tonight. Maybe your company holiday party is lame, but mine is having the same awesome band that played last year, High and Mighty. I really wanted to see them again! Plus, the food is great, and I think it's funny to watch coworkers get drunk (and I suppose I am simultaneously entertaining them with my own drunkenness).

However, tonight is our pre-bout team meeting, and while I was ready to skip it (shh!), the boy disagreed and insisted on/reminded me of the importance of being there. So if I did skip, he wouldn't have been my date for the party, and that would be no fun. Buzzkill. So I'm going to the meeting, and he's watching Jackass 2.5 with a friend whose partner also said "no date" - as last year she had to pull over on the way home so he could throw up. Oops! It is an important one this time, hopefully it will make me more confident for tomorrow night - instead of more nervous. I already couldn't sleep last night because of nerves (I'll just have to make sure I get drunk enough to pass out tonight!). Still, once I fell asleep I had an awesome sex dream, so that's alright.

We are getting Chipotle tonight as they are a league sponsor; so go eat at Chipotle!

Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Katarina) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 18:49:00 +0000

I am apparently obsessed with cupcakes. It started with a pair of underwear, then earrings, a belt, more underwear, and now I am going crazy trying to find a shirt, with cupcakes, to really beat this one to death.

I am going to buy some cupcake-themed postcards tonight, but it's a birthday thing. I will pick my sister up a cute photo frame and put the postcards in, obviously destined to be replaced on her end but cute while it lasts.

Lots of fun bouting on Monday night. Last night's practice was just silly. It was a "games" night, but the games got dull, my attention span dried up, and no bouting meant no adrenaline to keep me going. YAWN.

Tonight I am ditching the boy, I just have too much to get together with the bout on Saturday. I'm going to Kohl's and Border's for some necessities, then home to clean some skate wheels, change laces, whatever I can get done tonight so I don't have to do it all on Saturday. I don't want to add more stress to that day.

In other news, why is it so difficult for people to make sheets with fun, cute, bright patterns that DON'T have a crappy thread count? Oh, and that don't cost tons of money (come on, Sin in Linen, have a damn sale!). And, since I'm scrapbooking again, it would be really nice to find stickers and embellishments with quad skates, not inline. Those are my complaints. For now.

Naptime, Milk and Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Katarina) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:37:00 +0000

Derby practices should all include naptime, and when we wake up we should all get milk and cookies.

I am so tired. I didn't leave J's until "late" last night - it's late when it's a half-hour drive home, 2 trips to get everything up the stairs, and then deciding your stove is dirty and cleaning it. My beautiful Valentine roses are on the table and will be pretty much the first thing I see when I walk in the door. They are lovely, I really don't know that I've ever seen such large blooms.

Other than that the weekend was not at all exciting. I went to an open house after derby practice on Sunday, or tried to - I get to the cul-de-sac and the signs are in front of the wrong townhouse. I went in anyway, it's part of a section with 2-bedroom units so I wanted to check it out - it was hideous. I learned that the open house I was expecting was canceled, as the seller had a fight with her boyfriend and (temporarily?) took her place off the market. Funny, but flaky. We went to the grocery store on Saturday, I ran some other errands on Sunday, but pretty much just watched TV all weekend. I can't wait for warmer weather.

Sunday practice was okay, b&w scrimmaging. Tonight is more bouting, last night before the real deal on Saturday. This weekend will be huge; our bout on Saturday, MNRG on Sunday. Better find some time to sleep between now and then.