The Longest Post Ever or 'Is Rita under that pile of unicorns?'

So...we did a thing.

We had a game against the Ithaca League of Women Rollers (how badass is that name?) this past Saturday. Most of our team traveled up by plane. However, three of us were nutty enough to drive up. Devlin Syder, Hitsteria, and myself rented a car and set out. (Really, we were too broke to fly.) So we decided to make a little vacation out of it and take a trip to NYC on the way there.

We left Thursday evening, with our eyes set on the destination. We had a little napsy in PA somewhere. (I napped rather longer as I was helming the backseat. We arrived in the NYC area around 10. Thanks to an expert tip from my friend Freddy, we parked in Jersey City and took the Path train to the World Trade Center. After some brief sightseeing (a scooter van, the new WTC building is nearly done, saw where Bane and his cronies broke into the NYSE in Dark Knight Rises), we set about figuring out the MTA and heading to Brooklyn. Multipass!

Hits, who spends much time on the internet, pointed us down Graham Ave and we made a beeline for Five Stride.

This dude was just chilling on the bench out front.

There were no Bont boots in her size (she is really interested in getting Bonts), but the expert OMG showed her an option that would suit her foot. We all made our purchases (a Five Stride shirt and toe caps for me!) and asked OMG for a good place to get pizza. She told us Carmine's was a popular option, so there we went.

This sign was over the back bathroom.

I had the white pizza which was exquisite. The bathroom was a closet and some sunglasses may have leapt for freedom.

Back onto the train (Multipass!) and we headed to meet my friend Freddy for coffee. We had our coffees by the Seaport, which offered views of tourists and acrobats alike. I took a photo of a couple performing the Argentine tango for my mom. We walked Freddy back to work and tooled around lower Manhattan for a bit. Here are the greatest hits in photo form.

The Wall St bull. It's apparently hip to take a photo fondling his testicles. There was someone doing so when I took the photo.

The Brooklyn Battery Tunnel Ventilation building or something. Also known as the MIB headquarters.

The side of the Statue of Liberty once the cruise ship had finished obscuring her.

That is a squirrel.

We then set off to meet Devlin's friend Daniel. Daniel is a straight fashion designer, in New York. He is an endangered species. We met him for drinks at the Heartland Brewery in Union Square. I had a house root beer and it was delicious. I also sampled the pumpkin beer which was less delicious.

We parted ways with Daniel and realized we all sort of had to pee. We set about finding a bathroom, which are uncommon in New York. The 3-story Whole Foods provided us no relief. I suggested we go visit the Panera and I'd buy something with my reward card, but we pressed on to Canal St to do some shopping. I did purchase some pashminas in Union Square for my mother and myself.

When we reached the Canal St stop, Devlin and I made haste toward the 3-story McDonald's (sense a theme here?) across the street to use the restroom. We may have abandoned Hits a bit, but there were more pressing matters to attend to. Upon leaving McD's, we plunged into the sketchiness that is Canal St. I realized that most of our phones were dead and we were headed into a non-English speaking area. I grew uneasy, but my paranoia was for naught. We headed into Little Italy, which turns out to be a series of restaurants where men forcibly try to seat you for dinner and the shops are all run by the Asians of Chinatown. We made some small purchases (Hits found herself a fanny pack). But we elected to to move our party on up to Times Square.

When we escalated out of the station, it looked like daytime. Even the TGIF was covered in neon. Apparently cool thing to do is dress like a famous character and take pictures with people for tips. Devlin purchased herself a Swatch watch. We wandered past ads for Broadway shows.

We made our way to 30 Rockefeller Center where I got starstruck by a building. I love the show 30 Rock, so it was an honor to see where it is set and shot. We saw the Lego store where they had a miniature of the plaza area featuring all sorts of inappropriate Lego people. We visited the H&M on our way to Central Park.

Yes, Central Park. We went maybe 100 yards into the park. There was a bum asleep on a bench, an Asian couple making out, and very many rats. I ran up a giant rock before Devlin dragged us out fearing mugging, kidnapping, and other atrocities. After our Central Park adventure, we made our way back to the WTC to catch the Path train back to Jersey. By this time, I was so sleepy, I was delirious. I knew that I could not fall asleep in a train station then.

We made it back to our hotel in Parsippany, NJ and then a cheeseburger appeared in front of me and I ate it, Hasselhoff-style.

Ithaca

We left the next day for Ithaca. Hilarity ensued. Gaps are always funny, you guys.

I am not responsible for this.

But, of course, we were there to play roller derby. In a "semi-outdoor" facility. Speculation as to what that meant began some time ago.

It turned out to be a de-iced hockey rink. It was covered, but not totally walled in. The ILWR can only have home bouts when the rink is de-iced, from about May to early October. Of course, it was super cold Saturday. The temperature seemed to have dropped specifically for our visit. It was 80 in NYC the day before, and apparently warmER the day before in Ithaca. But when we arrived, it was a brisk 53, only getting colder as the sun disappeared.

The floor was also slick as butter. I wish I'd brought the outdoor wheels I have. Warm-ups were rough, but blocking wasn't so bad.

The game started well, the first several jams went back and forth with neither team gaining more than two points per jam. And then they got a powerjam and things swung in their favor. Though we've gotten better with penalties, Ithaca was better than us. We never got a powerjam on them and it showed. We did put forth a strong showing in the second half. And even more excitingly, I was called upon to jam when the rest of our jammers were either in penalty trouble, tired, or on the track. I jammed several times and managed to do some stuff.

Fast forward to the afterparty. It was a rousing event at the Chanticleer in downtown Ithaca. Upon arrival, they handed us glow sticks and drink tickets. We made the dancing. There were whiskey slaps. We took custody of some unicorns. There was an after-afterparty, which we also won. I was informed that we lasted longer than Montreal, so using the transitive property, we beat Montreal at afterpartying.

On the way back, we had a total of 6 unicorns in the car. Which is many. I napped in a pile of unicorns and I'm better for it.