Been Meaning To Blog

So let's see. I did not talk about last Sunday, or open skate/scrimmage on Monday. Ugh. Sunday morning's practice was back at usual time, which is fortunate in that it's early because it's less hot in our warehouse BUT also it sucks because I have to wake up at 7 am.

Anyway, Rye led practice. There weren't very many people present, but that's ok.

I don't really remember the drills we did. Mostly we had the track. I'm sure we did falls and stuff. I know, at some point, we worked on double knee falls, but if we were having knee trouble, we could go back to single knee, so I did. And leaning! I do remember leaning. I leaned with Carrie. I was overwhelmingly unsuccessful. One time I knocked her down, but I promptly tripped over her and fell. On my face. Rye came over and asked if we were ok. She said, "That wasn't pretty."

We also worked on lateral movement, which is something I've improved considerably on. Maybe it's the loosened trucks. I dunno. But I'm much better. Then we did booty blocking. I did alright. I managed to get around a couple girls blocking me, but I tend to speed up when blocking. I stick my butt in her way, but I don't slow her down. I need to work on that.

Oh! 25 in 5! Sunday. My time was an unbelievable 4:31. I'm still not sure that happened. It was a fluke or something.

That's really all I got for Sunday.

Monday's open skate, I helped fellow newbies with 6-point falls. I think a few girls still have a mental block about everything landing at the same time. I tried to help, to the best of my ability. My tip is to aim for your elbows touching down first, instead of treating it like a double-knee fall, then elbow/wrists.

I also got used to the loosened trucks (which I did Sunday) and my new knee pads. Next up on the agenda, new wheels! I'm lookin to get some Poisons. Thinkin about the slim ones.

Scrimmage was hot. A few ladies got injured a bit. They returned to skating, but still kind of scary. I was doing my hotboard duties, which I've decided is easier with knee pads. If that's what I'm doing at the bout, I will be bringing my knee pads.

That's really all I got to say. Tonight's practice again. Oh yeah, Fister talked to me and said I could redo my t-stops. She said Monday, but that got all muffed up because of ECE. So I'm redoing next Thursday. I've got tonight, Sunday, and Monday to practice.

Practice/Rules Clinic

I intend (fully) to blog about tonight's practice, but not now. I need sleep now.

Ok, now let's see if I can remember everything.

Assessments Day 2 were last night. I was asked countless times why I was not assessing. The answer is that I haven't done hitting in 6 months. And I've only ever done Johnny Crashes once. I mean I could do pack stuff fairly well, and definitely the whips/pushes (maybe not inside arm whips), but hitting I have little experience with.

Anyway, the TC worked hard to ensure that those of us not-assessing got track time also. K-Rye, recovered enough from her knee bruise, was on skates and our trainer.

We worked on pacing. I was paired with .357 Maggie who took every time I passed her as a personal victory. But it was all in good fun.

I can't really think of anything else we did on the track.

So then K-Rye split us up into Grannies and those who'd passed Day 1 (curse you t-stops!) and newbies. We newbies worked on stops and drops and stuff. We did plow stops, t-stops, 6-point falls...in the area near the benches. Afterwards Mr. and Mrs. Litvak, better known as L8r Sk8r and Psy*Ren, led a rules clinic.

They went over one of the rules tests. Apparently newbies have been failing the rules test. I mostly knew the answers, when I was paying attention. Sometimes I'd stop listening and not hear answer choices or something. It was simple stuff like which kind of cutting the track penalty is a major, and which is a minor. Also the definition of in-play and the engagement zone and all that.

Then we ate at Solstice. And gossiped. And then I got a ride home and now I'm full circle/

Assessments, or How I Sucked Well

My second time assessing. I was not near as well prepared this time. It has been a good 7 months since I last assessed. There weren't as many practices prepping for assessments. I just got back on skates, like 2 weeks ago. There was a minor hiccup involving the rules test. Fister asked if I'd taken it. I said I took it in November. She said she's changed it since November. I said they did not tell me that. She said, "That's because I changed it." But she said she'd look at my score and determine from that.

But I was encouraged by something I didn't mention in my last post and should have. It was my 25 in 5 time. I hadn't done it in 6 months or so. I've only been back on wheels for about a week and a half. So I was super blessed/elated/in awe of/confused by/psyched for 4:45. 4:45! A fellow newbie, who'd never come in under 5 minutes and was just returning from injury got 4:42, so we had a happy joy moment...whilst drinking a lot of water.

Of course, they give you no feedback, so you sit and wait for them to tell you that you failed too many items and to go home. Or at least I do.

That was my goal. Not to fail so badly I was sent home.

We did one-footed glides and one other skill before 25 in 5. It was the TC (Training Committee) making sure we were warmed up. So then we did the aforementioned endurance torture. No one called out time marks, so we had no idea where we were. K-Rye was my trainer, and she called out every lap. When I got done, she gave me a thumbs-up. I didn't know if it was because I had finished or I'd come in under 5. I later learned I got 4:46, so clearly I'm on a good track.

So we moved on to strides and other fun stuff.

I knew I passed crossovers. I knew I failed t-stops. However I did get plows. During the assessing, I figured I failed a bunch of stuff. I was certain I failed lateral movement/quick cuts and baseball slides. I thought I'd failed 6-points. I performed a 6-point (4-point) and my right knee refused to go down. It was a 5-point fall, haha. I thought I failed the squatting and stickyskating.

Knee falls hurt a ton thanks to my decorative knee bruise.

But I kept going.

I thought I did hopping pretty well, both one-footed and two. My stepping was decent. I actually did well at pacing, for the first time.

However I was crapping at weaving through cones. Of course. I always have been.

I got the focus drill down. As long as I can see the granny's hand. Rosie did mess around and do weird things with her fingers, but I still passed.

Eventually, I find out I only failed t-stops. Wow. What a relief. I redid them right there, but still failed. I was told I would receive an email concerning my fate. Whooo...so now I'm awaiting this email.

If I am able to retake t-stops, I can go to Monday night granny practice. Which will help me prepare for Day 2.

What I love about derby is that when I fail, I'm encouraged. I'm more inspired to work hard next practice. Yaaay!

Some Updates

Now that's it been forever, I will attempt to recount Saturday's bout and Sunday's practice. And open skate last night, I guess.

We were playing Greenville. It was a doubleheader. I got to Grady Cole at 10 am. Well...not quite, I was late. Which was sucky. I woke up at 9:43.

I was doing sign-in. So after the late 10 am stragglers trickled in, there was nothing for me to do. I heckled with the "All Bitch, No Stitch" sewing circle (aka the skaters sewing WFTDA patches on jerseys). I hung with McBossy. I did nothing involving sport court or rubber and I was thankful. Greenville arrived and we had no sign-in sheet for them. So we wound up having them check in on a recycled sheet of paper and had them fill out their waivers.

I was doing the hot board duty, which is important because it lets the skaters know how many penalties they have. That was all well and fine until McB told me I had to switch to penalty tracking for the All Star bout. I've never penalty tracked. She said, "But you're doing it now basically." She also said, "We just love to throw you into jobs in high pressure situations." (Hearkening back to my being jam timer a couple of scrimmages ago.)

Both the B Dazzlers and the All-Stars won their bouts, many congrats to those ladies. Also, thanks to Greenville for making both bouts interesting and hard-fought.

Especially congrats to Hellin Felon (my mentor) on her MVP Blocker award.

Practice on Sunday was led by a hurtin Rosie. She went out after the afterparty. We worked on some basic stuff, but it was really good. Like we worked on our form for plow and t-stops. And we had partners give us feedback. I thought this was a fantastic way of doing it, because we aren't always able to get feedback on how we're doing.

We also worked on transitioning from skating front to backwards and vice versa. And I fell. A lot. And I bruised my knee. Apparently I've depressed the padding on my knee pads so much so that they move around on my knee. It's not that they've stretched out, it's the padding thing. So I'm buying new ones. I'm getting 187s. I'm purchasing them from a friend who quit derby so she's gonna sell them to me cheap. Yay Shelley!

So then I went to Open Skate last night. And I practice pacing with Hellin and stops and other fun stuff. I also helped Sandra because she was unsure of some stuff. And then I just kind of skated with Nita, which was cool too.

Anyway, I felt ready for assessments.


Up Next: Assessments.

A Brief Update

So we had a bout Saturday (our first bout as a WFTDA league). It was long, but fantastic. I was there for about 10 hours. I am happy to tell you that CLTRG won both bouts, but not without a hard fight from Greenville. Congrats to all 4 teams. And everybody won the afterparty.

Also, I had practice today. It was a hoot. I got my 25 in 4:45 and was ecstatic.

Anyway, I'm assessing Tuesday and I'm busy prepping for that, so I'll flesh out both events later.

Last Night

Last night I went to practice. Duhr-hur. One of the newbies who started the same time as me, who has ALSO been out for a number of months came back last night. It was really good to see her.

Fister was training. I don't even remember all the torture she put us through. There were pacelines and leaning and weaving and racing...

One drill in particular, Fister paired those of us assessing up with the grannies in attendance. It was a weaving drill. The grannies were on the inside, newbies on the outside. We had to skate next to each other, almost touching thighs. When we got to the back of line, the granny was to start weaving through to "prom dates." The newbie was to race around the outside of the prom dates. We were ideally supposed to meet up at the front. The first time we weaved, Les (my partner, Les Whip-It) beat me to the front. The second time, we got there at about the same time. I thought I was gonna beat her, but I didn't...

We did the pacing drill. Where a granny skates and then slows down or stops randomly. We have to be close enough behind her to touch, and then she starts skating. I only overtook her maybe 4 times, but I can attribute several of those to me being distracted. I get distracted by like squirrels. I was getting distracted by other groups and by Rosie almost running into me... But still, Les said I did well. And that for assessments, it would be better to do what I did, which was skate to the side of her, rather than run into her back.

At some point, we did a drill where we held the inside line and looked over our right shoulder. I guess we overall were abysmal at this, because Fister sent the grannies to herd us. Literally, herd us. They skated beside us to "encourage" us back onto the green line.

We also did butt-pushes. I like pushes. I am good at pushes. My partner was a newbie named Sandra (Sandra T, as there are 2 newbie Sandras). I don't know if she'd done pushes before, she was a little hesitant. But we rocked them together. However we both were having skate difficulties, anticipating blisters. After we did partner-pushes, we did free-for-all pushes. We just skated and pushed people and simultaneously got pushed. I accomplished my goal of pushing Da Bomb-Chell, who is very fast. Pushing her involved catching up to her and THEN pushing her. However I kind of felt dizzy and thusly stopped skating for a few, only to notice my blood sugar was low. I was shaking a little. Fister asked me what was up and I told her. So she told me that she had candy in her purse and to get a piece so I wouldn't die.

So I did. But then it was stretching time. Practice ran a little long, so understandably, I am sore today. Not too bad, but I can deffs feel it.

Sometimes, it feels like it's never all going to come together.

You know, doing everything while rolling. Like sure, I can do hitting while standing still. I can hip check the shit outta my friends. But I wonder if I can put it all together while on 8 wheels.

I stay upright (or rather, in derby stance) pretty well during practice. But when I go to scrimmage, and I look at what the grannies, I just wonder if I can do all that. It seems so far from what I'm doing. I've heard plenty of times, even from our All-Stars, that some of them couldn't skate when they started.

I'm sure I'll get there, but sometimes I just get down on myself.

Meanwhile, practice tonight! Lookin forward to it. And practice on Sunday has been pushed to 11 am, instead of 9 am, since Saturday's bout day, so it'll be easier to for my bus-ridin self to get to.

Derby Fans...

...are hardcore.

There aren't local bouts every weekend. So for diehard fans, there's a lot of traveling! A LOT! For instance, I live in North Carolina, and there are like 15 leagues here. But they're at least an hour away each. So, if I needed to catch me some derby on a week when CLTRG isn't bouting, it's over an hour.

Option 2: The folks at Derby News Network (DNN) do their damnedest to make sure those of us who can't make it to tourneys are kept in the loop through streaming "boutcasts." These are video/audio feeds that are sometimes done professionally, but usually just someone's handicam or something. One I watched was even from a cellphone. I tried to watch an even more recent one that was solely audio feed. Sometimes video is lost, sometimes audio, sometimes both.

If a casual civilian, someone not from the derby-verse, asked me about derby, I wouldn't send them to one of these streams to learn. It's nothing like the excitement of being there at a bout. It doesn't convey the excitement that the crowd shows. And it's a commitment to be rooted in front of your computer for a couple hours, watching the tiny video.

I do this frequently. Sometimes, I spend whole weekends watching tournaments at some exotic location like Fort Wayne, IN. One thing that makes it worth it is the textcast. Alongside the video window is a little chatroom. There are people all over the world, sitting in front of their computers, just like me, who come together to discuss this great game. They're quick to respond to score requests. They love to compliment skaters' maneuvers. They really represent the derby family we all know and love. I was honored to have a chat with the one and only Val Capone, announcer/skater extraordinare. During another bout, I was typing to some Australian ladies who were watching at 4 am local time!

So here's to all the folks who work to put these feeds together! Thanks to DNN for their tireless work! And a special thanks to everyone I've ever chatted with and those I will chat with soon just for being there and being committed to this sport!

Derby Goals

The B-Dazzlers have an away bout on October 22nd. My aim is to be bout-eligible by that point. I would like to make the roster also, but...baby steps.

In order to accomplish this, I will,
-get my gear to a point where it works for me
-attend every practice I am able to
-attend as many Open Skates as I can
-go skating on my own, either outdoors or in local rinks
-assess every time I feel competent enough to

Now I've only been back at practice for a few days, but it's tough after 6 months away. So my hope is that this goal will remind me to push through and keep going when I am tired and whiny.

I'm also happy to report that I am once more consumed with all things derby. I've begun voraciously reading derby blogs again and scouring the internet looking at new gear and reviews of said gear.

Anyway, things are well in the derby-verse and I can't wait to strap on my quads again in a few days!

Bah!

This is going to be the loooooooongest post ever. I have posted since April. There's been another home bout AND I've returned to practicing since then. Geez.

For the month of May, I asked if I could be allowed to attend Open Skates to ease back into skating. But Open Skates happened before scrimmage (when I had work) and occasionally on Saturday mornings (when I had work). But then I lost my job, so I have a lot more free time.

I returned to practice last Thursday. It's all kind of a haze. I was unsteady on my skates, I had trouble with derby position...but I made it through all of practice. I felt like I was gonna be sick, but I kept pushing, and I did not vomit. Yay! I did notice that I still have some trouble with being too fast in pacelines, so not everything was forgotten. Haha.

Also, I was the sorest mofo for the following 2 days. Or maybe more. But it was a good sore, an I-worked-out-and-used-muscles-that-have-been-dormant-for-months sore. I don't remember anything in particular. We did the usual drills, push-carts/chariots, pacelines...We also did this cool drill, as packs. One pack started at the pivot line, the other at turn 3. The goal was to pass the other pack, as a pack. So we had to keep our pack together, but our speed up. My pack was the bomb diggidy. We passed the other pack several times. We repeated the drill and passed them some more.

And then I attended Open Skate on Monday before scrimmage. It  was really helpful actually. Jack was helping her mentee with some of the skills, so then everybody else joined in too. I realized I can still do a 6-point fall and a baseball slide. Also a single-knee 180 degree fall. I also did a little bit of sprinting, on my own terms. I fought through the slipping and crossed over. I even did a few laps in the optimum path, crossing over the whole way.

My job for scrimmage was supposed to be error tracking, but I've been moved to hotboard. Which means I'm super important and in the middle. But not jam-timing, which I did last scrimmage. Anyway, it'll be great fun

So please everyone, come out this Saturday evening to Grady Cole Center. You can buy your tickets from Common Market (either location), The Sleepy Poet, The Last Word, Tutti, or your favorite roller girl! Tickets are $10 adult/$5 children in advance or $14 adult/$7 children day of. However there might not be any tickets at the door, so get your tickets now! Doors at 5:30 pm, bout at 6 pm.

Whoooo!

I totally forgot to post about scrimmage the other night. I went for the first time in forever. (I also forgot to post about the March 6th bout, but this is my blog, so nobody's going to punish me.)

It was awesome. I've missed roller derby and plan to have my skates back on ASAP.

Scrimmage was cool. Hellin didn't go to the box at all, I was proud of her. It was a very clean game. I did action tracking again. Seems to be my default. I've now taught several others to do it.

Afterward we went to Growler's Pourhouse and hung out, which was super awesome.

Again, I'm distracted by the internet, and hungry, so I close here, but at least I posted.

OH YEAH! Also, I submitted my derby name. I hope to soon be Rita Maneata #106.

Less Tired Now

Let's see if I can manage to recount last night's practice now.

So I hadn't been to practice in a while, like a week and a half, so I knew last night was gonna be tough. Also the group of newbies we've got has advanced some, so our practices are getting harder.

The first thing Foxy does is count us off. 1s and 2s. I knew this would be bad. Sho nuff, Foxy tells the 2s to get up and we're doing the 25 in 5. I counted for Hellin. Then the 1s got up. Foxy told us she'd rather we crossover the whole way and get over 5 minutes than come in under 5 and not have the form. I have trouble on the straightaways, skating the optimum path, coming back in for the turn. I start striding there rather than crossing over. I worked really hard to crossover the whole time. I thought I was doing well.

My time was 5:01. I'm not ashamed, it's fine with me. That is the product of not having skated in a week and a half. Foxy said that for those of us planning to assess next go-round, this was a good benchmark. I've already come in under 5 minutes, so I know I can again.

We did a stamina and endurance drill, and it was long and grueling and not that interesting. It was beneficial to build up the fundamentals. Yay.

We worked on arm whips with partners. Foxy somehow paired me with Caitlin. I swear, I'm gonna ask to be called by my last name if this doesn't stop. Caitlin's derby name is Cal-Q-H8r, which does not roll off the tongue. Sometimes they call her Cal-Q, but overwhelmingly no. Anyway, I worked on whips. My inside arm whips still need some improvement, but they're gettin there.

Then we did pushes and whips. And I'm pretty good pushes, so this was not a problem.

So then Foxy went offskates and grabbed the blocking dummy and we did some hitting. Foxy said that during assessments, she noticed that a lot of people were not comfortable with hitting. So she set up this obstacle course. We lined up, hit the dummy, cut to the inside of the track, did some lateral movement, and then toe-stop walked. HOWEVER I had a lot of trouble with the lateral movement, I think the cones were just too close together. My lateral movement is improving. I need to work on making my feet move in the proper manner.

So the hitting. We were doing hip checks. I managed to keep my elbow out of the hit, which is good! However I went down a bunch. But I got right back up. Foxy started out on the outside of the track, then switched to the inside. The inside screwed me up. The second (I think?) time through, I went down on my general hip/butt/thigh area and it was one of those that resonated in my back. I took a second to stretch out my butt, and it still hurt, but I got back in line and went through again. And I fell down again.

Luckily, it was stretching/cool down time after that. I came home and iced my butt. Still hurts, but it's better. Might have to take an ice pack with me to work, just in case.

I hurt like a moose this morning. But I got through the blog.

Also, I'm likely to be inactive for this month, so I'll try to continue to post, but I don't know how often it'll happen. I think I found a pair of roller skates that might fit Josh, so maybe he'll consent to going skating with me. He's already said he'd go to a rink with me, but maybe he'd skate outdoors with me too. (Hmmm....)

Didja Miss Me?

Ok, it's only been since Sunday. But I keep doing these posts in between practices about like goals and stuff...but then I get distracted and wind up discussing skates or something.

Anyway, I had practice tonight. I went. And today was the longest day of my life. I left my house at 11 am this morning, not planning to return until 10 pm or later...I walked about 2 miles throughout the day carrying my bookbag. Purse. And derby bag. One day (not this evening), I will weigh all of these things. Just to know how much I was carrying. My skate wheels beat a tattoo against my knee. My bad knee.

Anyway, I'm super exhausted. School, work, then derby. I had to turn down a stagehand gig because I was simply unable to. If I'd been able to get back to my house, to get proper clothing and my c-wrench...I might've. But I declined. So Josh is working. It's the Trans-Siberian Orchestra load-out. I get his show shirt, if there is one.

I've been trying to get back to my point here. I'm just so tired that distraction/digression comes easily. THE POINT IS, I am supremely tired and not ready to blog about practice tonight. I'll be back, in full blogging-fashion tomorrow. I'll try to blog before work tomorrow.

So to my readers (all 3 of you), sorry, but I will tell you ALL about this evening's (well, now yesterday evening's) practice. Nap time before my boy gets home to tell me all about his day!

This Morning...

I should've gone to practice. But I couldn't. I was not in a place emotionally to do so. And I had a lot of trouble convincing myself to take off my warm jammies and get into tights. I couldn't face the warehouse at 30 degrees. I missed the point where I had to leave to be able to take the bus on time...

Anyway, I feel crappy about it. I need to go skating soon to make up for my lameness this morning.

I know this isn't a strictly derby-update, but it's related...

Parade

Twas the parade today. Oh yeah. Waking up early to go walk in the rain. Those roller girls, man, they really make it worthwhile.

It was raining. And cold. And everybody was freezing. I was glad I had not passed assessments and was walking, because I wore jeans!

The roller girls had a LOT of fun. It was fun to be around them. They were skatin' around, actin' a fool. We had some guests from out of town and one of them was jumping over girls.

We were in front of the Charlotte Royals, our favorite rugby boys. They were in good spirits despite everything.

A fun time was had by all.

I went home and watched the parade and though football wrap-up delayed the broadcast, it did come on eventually and there I was, RIGHT in front of the camera. Teehee. They missed the jump that Jess did in the area. (They also cut the Royals, which I was sad about...)

Then I went to Golden Corral and pigged out.

(I know, this was not the most eloquent post I've ever written, but I'm tired and full. Forgive me.)

Assessments, Day 2, Take 2

I would love to say I passed. I would. But I cannot. I had to quit assessing due to injury.

So this morning, we had quite a mixed bag. Grannies, newbies, brand newbies, assessing newbies, and a ref. (Yay Scuzzy!)

We all warmed up and the trainers asked us to do 25 laps non-derby direction. Seemed daunting. Not in a pack. It wasn't timed. So we start. I'm not bad at non-derby direction, though I'm used to doing it outside the track, so I turn a little wide. Anyway, I'm proud to say that I kept up with Jack the Maniac, one of our fastest skaters, until she lapped me somewhere in the 20s.

I felt kind of off. My skates felt weird. I didn't think it would be a good day...

We then began with Day 2 stuff. We didn't quite realize it though. We did a paceline with weaving. I thought I did well, but I have no idea. Except for the second time when I fell. But I got right back up and continued.

We did whips and such next. I think I might've passed arm whips. I did well. Next was hip whips. First we took them and I did well with that. Then we gave them. This is where it happened. Someone came up and took a hip whip from me. I went down. I twisted and flailed and went down right on my knee. No slide. Straight down. I got up and kept skating and another granny took a hip whip from me. Down again, same knee. I went to the center and sat down, tried stretching the knee. I got up, gingerly, and tried to continue. We moved on to pushes after that, but I had to sit out.

They asked me if I thought I could continue or if I'd have to quit. Weighing my options, I elected to stop. They asked if I'd be able to continue with the other newbies or not. I said I'd like to ice my knee for a bit first. I managed to get up again, but squatting hurt, so I just very tenderly skated.

So I quit, but for my own good. It did not hurt my pride (much), I knew I was doing it for the benefit of my body. If I'd passed and injured my knee further, I'd have to sit out practice/scrimmage. If I'd failed and injured my knee further, I wouldn't be able to schedule any redos to be able to pass. So January assessments, here I come.

Yes, I Can!

You know, the other day, I experienced a lapse in faith. I started thinking that I wasn't ready to pass assessments, I wasn't ready to become a granny. I doubted my abilities. I doubted everything.

And it totally screwed me.

Gone was the, "I am GOING to pass assessments" mentality. In its place was, "I don't think I can."

It was not a good thing. I screwed up some stuff on Sunday that I really should not have. And then Monday night was just a marathon of suck. I was frightened of what mysterious things a granny practice would reveal.

(Ok, I had a brief hiatus because my cat decided I could not blog, I had to love her.)

Anyway, it was all bullshit. Doubting myself caused me to screw up. I went into last night, still nervous, but more positive about my chances, and it made a huge difference. I was able to execute several successful plow stops, my derby stance was better, it was just generally a better mindset.

It's ok to be scared, but it's not ok to let that prevent me from trying my absolute best. Yeah, I'm not as practiced with some of these skills, but that doesn't mean I can't try.

Also, I went down the list of skills and instead of agonizing over what I didn't pass, I congratulated myself on what I did pass. I got my 25 in 5. I didn't know if I'd be able to do that. That was a big deal. I passed every single fall. And I didn't put my hands on the floor during a single one. Single-knee left and right; single-knee, 180 degree; baseball slide; "6-point"...I did all of those. I'm proud of that. I passed stepping and hopping. I passed focusing. I passed my rules test. Every single one of these things is an accomplishment.

So I'm glad the lights went out last night. Gave me time to reflect before I go hit some bitches!

Assessments, Day 2

So this evening, we were to get there at the same time as normal practice (7:30 pm) and warm up with everyone and then we'd squeeze in our redos, and start doing our Day 2 skills. Foxy was hatin on my tutu. I was super psyched and more than a little nervous.

They had us skate around and practice things while they did the 25 in 5. One of us had to redo that skill. So I worked on getting used to the colder floor.

Aside: Our floor is a concrete floor, I hear it's a little faster than what we bout on, but having never used it...anyway, it's gotten chilly in our warehouse as it gets cold down here in the South. So the molecules and stuff in the concrete don't warm up as much. Thusly the floor is faster, less grippy. We've been noticing this at least since last Monday's scrimmage.

So I failed t-stops and plows on Day 1 (Sunday). I fell on 2 of my plow stops. I spent some time working on those today. I refined my technique to work with the floor. I worked on my stickyskating also.

So they get done with the 25 in 5 and the grannies start a non-derby direction pack drill. I head to grab my water and join the other assessers when SUDDENLY the lights go out. We've had the lights not come on, but no one seems to have encountered them going out like that.

So the offskates folks start trying to trip the brakers, flip lights, reset...whatever. Meanwhile Foxy gathers all of us for her Fab Ab Workout. (Seriously, this woman should have a series of workout videos.) There were crunches, leg lifts, partner work...all kinds of fun fare. We squatted and stepped in a circle. And I know I'll hurt tomorrow.

Anyway, the lights never came back on, they dismissed us a few minutes after 9. We commence Day 2 of assessments Sunday morning.

I have more time to gain confidence. I will pass my assessments. I WILL!

Granny Practice

Just remember that I forgot to blog about Monday's Granny Practice. Well, to sum it up, it KICKED my ass. It was super intense.

The first drill was something that should be simple, weaving through a paceline. We had 2 parallel pacelines and you had to stay with your partner around the track. The partners at the back weaved up and when they got to the front, they raced the 2 people at the front of the line around the back. Then the people who were just at the front weaved through. Except for the the first partners, everybody raced, weaved, then raced again. This was the fastest paceline I've ever been a part of. After I raced, I tried like hell to maintain my place, but I couldn't. I was struggling and falling back. Rox kept giving me little pushes to help me, but I was panting. I went to the middle when I just felt like I wasn't getting enough oxygen to my brain. I grabbed some water and took a few deep breaths and right when I thought about going back to the paceline, I felt dizzy and lightheaded. No bueno. I sat out the rest of the drill.

Then we did something where we paired up and knocked our partners out of bounds, then cut across the track to maximize the inconvenience for the out of bounds skater. It wound up in a lot of backwards skating, which just confused me.

We did a relay where we skated to the first cone, did a single knee, 180 degree turn, skated back, turned around, skated to the next cone, did a plow stop, skated back, skated to the far cone, did a tomahawk stop (or a double knee fall) and skated all the way back. Meanwhile, the rest of our team was squatting. I can do a power stop, I have done them, but I was unable to. I think I fell or otherwise screwed up both times. I need to work on my transitions to backwards skating at speed. Usually, I just fall.

Anyway, my skating was totally off after Sunday's suckage. I think I've lost all confidence in my skating ability. This does not bode well for my chances of passing my assessments this go-round. But I guess I need to work the nerves out. So, if I do manage to pass, congrats to me. But if I don't, that too is fine. I'll be all that much more prepared next time.

Also, my left ear is waterlogged and I've lost most of my hearing in it which, if it doesn't clear up by tomorrow, is SERIOUSLY going to complicate things.

I'm shaken, but I still know why I want to do this, so I consider that a success.

Assessments, Day 1

I did all that psyching myself out yesterday and today and let me just say, it screwed me. Our assessing training folks were Rosie, Fister, and Foxy.

Started out with the rules test, which I ALSO psyched myself out about. I just sat there thinking, "I don't know any of this. Shit. I'm gonna fail. Ack." I was unfamiliar with ALL of the bonus ref hand signals. But Fister graded the tests and I passed. I missed 5, but got ALL 4 bonus signals correct, meaning I passed.

From there, we busted into the 25 in 5. I counted for Hope, and poor Hope was hurting. She had food poisoning and was not skating at her best. I'm hoping she feels better by now and I'm certain she'll do better Thursday. I finished with a time of 4:46 (again). I didn't actually know that until much later. But, hey, I passed!

I was so nervous I was shaking when we started doing skills. My legs were shaking AND numb. And my feet quickly went to sleep and occasionally felt like cement blocks.

I did well with the focus, except for apparently standing up. I came up with a clever way to properly determine the number of fingers up. Sometimes the granny cocks her hand funny and it becomes hard to see what fingers are up. BUT if you look at her hand, you can see how many fingers are in. I failed pacing, but I think we all did.

I failed some really silly little things. I failed t-stops, for instance. And plow stops. And a bunch of stuff because my form was off. BUT I did not fail out, so I'm optimistic. I've got a few skills to re-do, I already re-did t-stops.

Fister invited all of us to come to Granny Practice tomorrow night, so I look forward to getting the snot beat out of me. And then, re-doing all my skills I failed, and passing all of Thursday's skills.

I need to get low, wide, and confident!