Time flies!

Wow! Another two weeks flew by without a post (whine fest) from yours truly. I guess I have sort of hit cruise control. I missed one week of skating due to a particularly heinous back injury. I pinched a nervein my back, which still twinges at times. Once I could bend over and TIE my skates I was back at it. Oddly enough, Skating seemed to help decrease the pain instead of magnifying it as I expected.
This made me joyful. =)
I just moments ago filled out the official form to pre-register for SCDG tryouts. I am REALLY going to do this! Excitement and dread are warring for my attention right now. Am I good enough? Am I fast enough? Can I actually hang with these ladies? Or am I just making a fool of myself even trying out? I have been improving in leaps and bounds every time I skate, and I believe that, if given the chance, I will be a hell of a derby girl. I think that once I am skating more often than once weekly (which is all I can really afford right now since I have to skate in a rink and that costs money) I will improve even faster. I still have some confidence issues when I first put on the skates. I still have a few balance issues and need to build strength in my legs and abs. I think that regular skating will help me with these issues.
I have settled on a derby name, at least for now, until I run it by a few of the derby girls, or change my mind, or freak out.... I will not be disclosing this name until it is submitted to twoevils. Call it superstition. I know it isn't on the list and there are ZERO similarities, which greatly improves my chances of keeping this name.
I think that covers the bases.

SCDG League Championships!!!!

Last night was the SCDG league championship bout. I volunteered to come and help out as NSO, which was a complete blast! The bout was between the Death Dealers and the Leave it to Cleavers. The Cleavers were the defending champions, two years running. The Dealers have been the surprise favorites this season, and happen to be the team that my lovely friend Sushi plays with. It was a hard fought bout. The Cleavers fought hard to try to get that three-peat but in the end, the Dealers took the title. I loved being part of such a special day and it has just cemented my need to become an active part of the derby world. The Dealers were gracious winners and the Cleavers were just pleased to have been part of the whole thing. The Cleavers dedicated the bout to Barbara Billingsley, the original June Cleaver, who died yesterday, which was a touching moment. There were a few very tender moments, where some of the ladies who had chosen to retire this year were acknowledged, and the Cleavers gave their captain a boquet of roses as she is on LOA expecting her first child. This was a very nice glimpse of derby life. Way to go Dealers, maybe next year I'll be skating with you!

Click!

I don't know how I did it, but I finally got out of my own head and onto the track. After last week's fresh meat training night, I started to "just skate." The captains weren't a whole lot of help. There were about seven of us and many of them didn't know what the requirements even were, let alone have those skills ready. There were several other vets from the league there though and I spent quite a bit of time talking with Thigh Master, one of the Bomber Babes. She has roughly the same build as I, and faced a lot of similar challenges when she first started skating. We talked about crossovers, and general gutsy-ness. She was greatly helpful.
I just want to say that every time I have hit a stumbling block, one of the lovely ladies of SCDG has been there and helped me through it. Sushi, Thigh Master, Contessa Danger, Miss Mafiosa. I would never be where I am without them. THANKS!!! =*

I go to the rink to practice every Tuesday. When Sushi's there, she helps me out, when she's not, I just skate. I went this week with a new attitude and didn't even know it. I was skating around and the next thing I knew....crossovers. I didn't even think about it, just did it. Holy shit! Did I really do that? Yep! I did it. I can fall without killing myself or breaking my tailbone (again), I can stop (though it takes a bit of space), and now I can sucessfully crossover without panicking! All I really need to work on now is balance and endurance and I have the full list of requied skills. WOOTY McWOOT WOOT!

I spoke with the FM captain, Miss Mafiosa, and there is an official date for tryouts now. I have until November 20th to get ready. For the first time in several weeks, I feel like I can actually do this. I can be ready. I can kick some ass, take some names and maybe even chew some bubblegum! Now to figure out a derby name.... I'm taking suggestions (serious ones). Don't be shy, I'll consider all serious suggestions before deciding on my name.
Yay for me! Yay for skating! Yay for SCDG!!!!

Getting out of my head.

I have hit a roadblock. I can skate. I am actually getting pretty good. For some reason, I have been having insane panic attacks every time I get on my skates. WTF?!? I KNOW I can skate. I even tried a few crossovers yesterday while skating with the lovely Sushi. I can do this, why am I still freaking out? My body is capable of all the skills I need to have down within the next few weeks before tryouts, but I can't make myself do them. I don't know why I am suddenly all psyched out over this. Am I doing the right thing? Should I just give up? *sigh* I am going to fresh meat night at the rink. Maybe the FM captains will have some insight.
blah.

Uproar! Killer concert.

My youngest sister is about to turn 18 next week. My mother, in her infinite wisdom, wanted to give her a great gift. She got her tickets to a concert called Uproar which is a great group of hard rocking groups. I only really knew two of the bands in the tour well, but those bands are bands that I really love. The concert opened with one of my favorite under appreciated bands Halestorm. They are fronted by a tiny little woman with a huge voice names Lzzy Hale. The only part about this group that is almost as cool as Lzzy is her "little" brother Arjay who is the drummer of the group. He is easily one of the best rock drummers I have ever seen/heard. He is animated and fun to watch as well as OWNING the riff. They were given the short end of the stick and only got a half hour to play, but the did play my three favorite Halestorm songs. It was cool to see a woman who can rock just as hard as any man in the business. She even mentioned the fact that she was the only woman on the tour.
Then came a group I am not familiar with. I didn't care for them. I personally could have just had that much more Halestorm.
After the group whose name escapes me, came Avenged Sevenfold. I had gotten them confused with a different group and was pleasantly surprised. I had expected an emo-whine-fest and I got hard rocking fist-pumping goodness. The visual aspect of the show was well done and appropriate to the music, which was much cooler than I expected it to be.
After Avenged Sevenfold came the other band I knew well, and was super excited to see. Disturbed rocked the house, played all the songs I wanted to hear and was just overall coolness.
If you're not into hard rock/metal, you woul dhave hated this concert, but I had forgotten how much I love hard music and going to concerts. However, I was also reminded that I am not 21 anymore. Wow, does my body hurt. All in all, it was a great experience and my kid sister and my husband and I had a great time.

Tagged by my sister.

So normally, I just post about skating and the (mis)adventures I have while trying to let out my inner Rollergirl. My sister is a member of a blog chain and she has tagged me. I don't know how to tag others, but I will answer the questions she posed to me. Answers are below.

Are you a night-owl or an early-bird? And would you change it if you could?
I'd like to say I'm a night owl, but in the past few years I have been working at a job where we start early and, sadly, my sleep schedule has adjusted itself accordingly. I cannot sleep late anymore, and I cannot force myself to stay awake past around 10 or so.

If you could go back to any moment in your past and make a different choice, would you? If it's not too personal - what was that moment?
I wouldn't change a thing. I would like to have discovered derby sooner, but there was no moment that could have changed this.

Do you believe in prayer?
Prayer is a very loose term. I feel that a person can be in contact with deity, but I don't believe that asking said deity for favors will acheive anything real.

If you won a $500 shopping spree, but had to spend it in ONE store - what store would it be?
Sin City Skates. Duh. (At least until WRD gets their skate shop going...)

What is your favorite food?
Whatever C. makes. Lately it has been what I call "yummy beanie goodness" and what C. calls "Tuscan white beans"

Who has been your biggest inspiration in life?
My mom. My mother is a saint.

Which room is your favorite room in your house?
I love my house in general, it is small and cozy so there is no need for a favorite room.

Are you a country-girl, or a city-girl? And I'm not asking where you LIVE but who you are!
I am a bit of both. I am overall a city girl, but I love to go camping and hiking. There aren't skating rinks in the mountains though. I have developed a love for skating and hate it when I go more than a few days off-skates.

There X. I have answered your questions. I can't figure out the taggy-thingey.
To all of my other intrepid readers, feel free to check out my sister's blog which is linked over there ------> Hers is "This is the Year"

On a completely unrelated note, I have been thinking about derby names. I will not post them here, as I don't want to broadcast them all over the interwebz until I make the league and submit them to the official roster. I have a few ideas, but am open to suggestions. Feel free to post your (serious) ideas in the comments section.

There will be another post momentarily as I went out last night and must share!

Skating with Sushi OR Man my legs hurt!

This week I was able to meet with the lovely Sushi who has offered to help me learn the necessary skills I have to have to pass tryouts.
Sushi is the awesomeness!
We met at the rink, and put on our skates. She had me deliberately take a knee, to prove I trusted my gear. This was hard for me. I have been a bit of a chicken since that first fall, since I managed to completely avoid my $200 protective gear and bascially sprain my butt. Eventually, I was able to take a knee on purpose.
We also worked on posture. I have been bending wrong. Gotta strengthen those thighs, beacuse MAN, correct posture is harder than I thought. I did manage to get in a few laps in the correct posture, with a proper stride.
We worked on stops. More specifically, I was informed that I can't just hit things to stop anymore. (I actually knew that, but have been scared to try real stops). I have the general idea on toe stops, and get the theory on T-stops. Plow stops I had already more or less figured out, but just need the strength to actually DO them.
She gave me a few exercises to work on to strengthen my legs and help me get up faster when I DO take a knee, or two, or faceplant. I have been working on some of these and boy are my thighs burning. I didn't realize how lame and weak I had let myself become.
I haven't even put my skates back on this week, due to an insanely busy work week, but I plan to work those stops when next I skate. I also have yet to even contemplate trying a crossover. *shudder* No. I can do it!
Faith and fear. I still trust that I can learn these skills and make the league in October, but I still have that little jerk of a voice trying to tell me I'll never learn it all in time. I just stuff that little bitch back down and skate a little harder.
I can't express how much I appreciate Sushi's help, there is absolutely NO WAY I would be able to teach myself all of this in time. She is an awesome friend and I hope I can live up to her expectations and example.