My helmet is officially cooler than yours

And by cooler, I mean dorkier...

Before



My fresh meat barcode decal was very abused. I seriously have no clue how that happened.

After







I am glad to say that I was the one that made this happen. I bought some vinyl and cut it all today. I'm pretty excited about it. Not sure if I've mentioned it on here yet, but my derby name is Militant Bulstrode (after the Harry Potter character Millicent Bulstrode) and my number is 9 3/4 (as in Platform 9 3/4). And of course, I put a Dark Mark on it because I'm a Death Eater. :D

Some you like, some you don't...

I think I'm just going to have to accept that sometimes I'm going to love the hell out of a practice and other times I'm just going to want to kick it in the face until it bleeds all over the place.

Thursday practice was not my thing. Well, parts of it were pretty great, but a few things made me so beyond pissed that I wanted to scream, cry, run away, and maybe punch someone in the face (emotions may have been amplified due to lady things). There was only one other fresh meat girl at practice on Thursday so we just joined up with the vets to do the drills they were doing. Thursday was all about endurance. We did a lot of paceline drills (calling inside/outside is what made me so pissed if you can believe it - two different people telling me opposite ways to do an insanely simple thing, argh!) and another drill that was pure hell. In the drill we would full out sprint for a minute and then follow it up with a minute of a skill (some skills were: backwards skating, plow stops, knee falls, tomahawk stops, lateral hops, lunges, and some other things I'm forgetting). It was a very long and very hard drill. I was glad when it was over, but very proud of myself for not dying. :D

Saturday practice was much better. I had gotten rid of the pissed feeling and the girl I was sort of angry at wasn't there, so it was all good. The theme of the Saturday practice was footwork. We started with a few off skates things and then put on skates for some hopping, grapevines, weaving, ducking, and tomahawks. We then got on the track for some roller skating dodgeball. It sounds scary, but it was seriously the most fun I've ever had. It starts out with everyone skating on the track and several people have balls that they throw at the skaters. If you get hit below the knees then you are out (and can throw the balls at the remaining skaters). We did the dodgeball game in a pack, too and it was really cool how the pack still stayed together even though a bright pink ball would be running through our feet.

The next "game" we played was Last Man Skating. With everyone an equal distance apart from each other, we skated around the track once. After the first lap, it was your job to knock someone down or get them off of the track. I lasted all of 1 minute the first time we played and then stuck through almost until the end on the second round. I took some pretty good hits and managed to stay planted until one of the amazeballs vets took me down. She told me she was going to give me a few laps and then she'd be coming for me, and she sure did! I don't think I would have ever been able to get low enough to withstand her hit. I fell hard and felt nothing. I LOVE MY GEAR!

After a few other games and activities we moved on to some scrimmaging (eeeek!!!). In one of the jams I actually had a really good block and was super proud of myself. In another jam I got to be the jammer and I actually made it through the pack a few times (although the vets were being gentle on us freshies!). It was very rewarding and yet scary at the same time!

Tonight's practice was also great (even though it only lasted an hour and a half). We weren't able to be at the rink tonight, so we practiced at the nearby park. All day I was dragging my feet and thinking that I didn't want to go to practice. Several times I even considered posting in the team's group that I wasn't going to make it, but I decided I would go. I wasn't really in the mood for trail skating, but we didn't do that. We went to a section of the trail that the team practiced on when they first started and didn't have a real practice space.

We did a paceline drill and then the freshies went off to the side with our fresh meat coach (I was so glad he was back!). This was another practice where it was me and one other fresh meat girl (although the other fresh meat girl changes from practice to practice - it'll be a miracle if everyone actually comes to practice!). We practiced one foot glides and then learned how to do a hip twist. I think I'm getting there while on my left foot, but as always, gliding on my right foot is just sucky. Oddly enough I'm better on my right foot when trying to hip twist. I think that because I'm so focused on getting my body to be correct I don't think about gliding on my uncooperative foot as much. We did a bit of weaving around some shoes, and that was that. There wasn't much to do in an hour and a half and it was getting dark, so practice was over.

I am so glad that I went to practice. Tonight was the first time I just didn't want to go to practice and forcing myself to go was the right thing. Also, I think the one fresh meat girl that was at practice tonight was quitting (or having some sort of emotional problem) when I left. A few weeks ago I was confident that we would all make it through fresh meat and now girls are just disappearing and dropping. It's pretty upsetting.

Lesson Learned

from Fresh Meat Otter

Yeah, I started a tumblr yesterday. I really like Roller Derby Otter, but most things don't apply to me since I'm just a freshie. So behold, I have created Fresh Meat Otter. I've made about 10(?) of them so far, and here's my favorite -



So anyway, to the point of my post and the graphic up at the top. Apparently Saturday practices aren't that well attended (last week was the exception), so we got to strap on our skates. Because I thought today would just be another day of land drills, I didn't even think to bring my skates. Honestly, it didn't even cross my mind. So after we did about an hour of off-skates training, I was able to race home, grab my bag and race back (I did it in 8 minutes! Hell yes!). Once I got back to the rink I had to take my outdoor wheels off and put my indoor wheels back on. I did them wrong, too. I have two kinds of wheels and I'm used to them when I skate. I put the wheels on wrong and my skating just felt sort of off (as evidenced by the almost!spill during laps).

All in all it was a pretty okay practice, but I didn't walk out of there as exhausted as I usually do. Hopefully tomorrow's outdoor skate will put me in my place. Also, I'm currently wishing I had a full set of good wheels rather than two half sets of average wheels. It'd be nice not to have to think of which are which. :P

Mouthguard Fear

That horrible moment when you are fitting your new Protech Dent Mouthguard, and somehow you made it fit way too tightly and are afraid that if you try to pull it off, all of your teeth are going to come with it. That summarizes every single thing that I was afraid of going into my mouthguard fitting. And it's exactly what happened (minus the total loss of teeth). I only slightly cut my gums with my fingernail (I was in a panic to take it off).

It took a couple of minutes (that felt like hours) to get the too tight mouthguard off of my teeth, but I succeeded and dunked it back into a new bowl of hot water. I tried again, this time making sure that the point of my wonky canine (it grew in funny after my baby tooth was knocked out by a flying piece of one of those clacking foam baseball bats that don't seem to be around any longer) did not get caught in one of the holes. I did less sucking (heh, first time in my life that I'll ever say that) and paid more attention to how it fit behind my teeth.

Once it set up, I was able to take it off (I find it's easier to grab it from the back/side area than from right in the front. Front removal requires two hands, because I am insane or something. I tried talking for a bit and I could partially understand myself! I haven't tried drinking yet, because Rome was not built in a day (or rather, Shae does not instantly get over her aversion to having plastic in her mouth). As long as I don't think about the fact that there is plastic in my mouth, I don't gag.


yes, it's pink

I won't even be using it until at least next Sunday (I'm going trail skating or to Barber Park with Heather and Itzel), but it's one less thing to worry about. Also, I've updated my Gear Post to reflect my recent purchases of outdoor wheels and better bearings! :D

I survived without dying of nervousness!!

Tonight was the recruitment information event, and I went to it! This morning I had myself convinced that I didn't like roller derby at all and that it was better if I just skipped the event to throw my skates into the Silver River. To say I was anxious is putting it mildly. I was actually sure I was going to vomit. Of course, once I got there it was a different story.

First off, the gear I've been waiting on: the coach was supposed to bring my elbow pads and wrist guards tonight, but he left them at home. So while I should have had them last Monday, I won't even have them until Tuesday. To avoid drama I am not going to stir things up or get pissy, but let's just say that he should be glad that I'm being civil. Seriously.

Okay, with that out of the way LET ME TELL YOU GUYS ABOUT RECRUITMENT, OMG.

I got there about five minutes before it was supposed to start. They had a sheet to sign in, so I wrote down my name, why I was there (interest in being a skater), email address, and phone number. I got the fresh meat info packet which had information on fresh meat, advice, stuff I should have in my gear bag, the FAQ from the site, Roller Derby 101, WFTDA minimum skills requirements, gear guide, an off skate workout guide, and roller derby nutrition tips. All sorts of great information! The team was just finishing up practice so the captain (I'm unsure whether or not I want to mention which team I'm going for in text just in case someone decides to google themselves and comes across my stupid blog) came over and we started to go over everything.

They have practice three times a week, where each person has to attend at least 2 of them. Since the team is in the middle of a venue change, location will depend from practice to practice until they get everything all sorted out at the new venue. For next week, the Tuesday and Thursday 6:30-9:00 practices will be at the rink, and then the 3-6 practice on Saturday may be at a public park (woo trail skating! Also, I require outdoor wheels immediately!) or another venue. Also, this means that I will continue to go to the Monday Adult night since I won't be able to get my skating fix for a few weeks.

The fresh meat is a 12 week program, and the minimum skills is at the end of that 12 weeks. The first two weeks of practice will be off skate practice which will allow all of the ladies to get all of the gear required to skate.

Even though about 40+ people RSVP'd for the event on facebook, only about 10-15 (?) were there as fresh meat (most of the rsvp people were on the team or didn't show up). At least two of the girls have done derby before and two of them used to be on the team. There were some people that didn't show up to the meeting, but had already spoken with the captain about it, so I expect more people at practice Tuesday than were there today.

After about an hour of going over the information and a brief q&a, the captain asked if anyone had skates and wanted to skates. ME! ME! I had my skate bag and I was desperate to get on my skates. I popped my contacts in (I was wearing my glasses because I spaced my contacts completely until I was almost out the door) and strapped my skates on.

Pretty much all of the girls that were practicing left at this point (since they had been practicing for the last 3 hours), so it was about 20ish people hanging around. No one was on the skating floor, so I was the first to step on. It was great. I am a fidgety person. When I'm nervous I wrap my index finger in the hem of my shirt, fold and unfold papers, pick at anything I can, and adjust my glasses like crazy. I was doing all of those things during the meeting and talking bit, but once I took my first stride, it just melted away.

I did a lap before I was joined by the captain. We got to the first curve and she asked if I could do a crossover. I said that I thought I could do a kind of cross over and showed her what I've been doing. I do it right, I just need to push with my left leg a bit more so I get more speed from it. We chatted for a bit while we did some laps. A few more people got onto the floor and I got to speak to another one of the derby girls. We talked about how kids are scary, and that she was a transfer from the Jacksonville team, and I asked her about the public skate session that started at 7pm (it was about 6:50 at that point and I was planning on staying for the session). She told me that it is a very dangerous session to go to. Kids will skate the wrong way, stop for no reason, fall in front of you, cut across tons of skaters, and STOP TO TEXT. Soooo, yeah. I decided to skip the public session and pack it in when the others girls did.

I also admitted to the captain that I had been stalking the team's facebook page and website. When she asked if I could identify everyone by their face I lied and said no. Honestly, I can probably name at least 75% of their players. I AM A STALKER AND NOT PROUD OF IT.

The Last Skate Session

Last night was my last normal skate session before derby starts up. Recruitment is THIS SATURDAY! From what I can figure out, it seems that the first hour and a half will be information on joining, policies, dues, practices and the like, and then the next two (?) hours will be the normal public skate that takes place at Skate Mania on Saturday nights. Eeeep!

Anyway, back to last night’s skate session: it was fantastic!! I actually left work on time for once, so I had plenty of time to have dinner and do some other things around the house before I left to skate (if only I could leave work right at six every single night). Even though I used my new wheels on Saturday, last night was really the test to see how they worked. The new wheels were amazing. It was so weird to start out because it was ridiculously smooth and with just a few pushes I was going faster than I ever had before. It was scary for the first five minutes, but then I got used to it.

The control I had was amazing. My old wheels would slip a little when I was doing a crossover so I usually only tried to do one around a curve; with my new wheels I can do several in a row and really pick up speed. On the straight areas I only had do three or four pushes to get me to the next turn. I tried what Heather’s league calls “sticky skating” and I was able to get around the whole outside of the rink (although it took a bit of time). The last time I tried that, my wheels and legs slipped in a strange way and I ended up slowly falling to my butt.

The best part about skating last night was that almost no one was there (apparently not many people like to leave the house when it’s raining like crazy). Near the end of the night I was literally the only person skating for about 15 minutes. I was able to push myself to go faster than I do when there are other people around. It was great!

I went skating on concrete yesterday. My knee is swollen.

Luckily, those two statements are not related in the slightest. Today I helped a friend move, and because I am so very graceful, I smacked my knee on the U-Haul's trailer hitch. Of course it's the same knee that I keep hurting, so that's delightful. It's bruising and pretty sore and I feel completely stupid. The worst part is, I was in such pain I couldn't stop giggling/laughing. Is that going to be my new thing? Am I just going to laugh when I get hurt? That can't possibly be a normal thing.

Sooo, to the important skating bits of this weekend! First off, I have updated my Gear Post!! I ordered and am waiting for my elbow pads, wrist guards, and mouth guard (should receive them tomorrow or Tuesday) but I do have my wheels!!


When I was first putting my wheels on

I got these wheels from a fellow cross stitcher that I know through flickr and tumblr (it's been super awesome to see how many of my fellow crafty and stitchy friends are also into derby). She's doing derby and is currently upgrading, so she offered to sell me her wheels at a super cheap rate. So now I have some Radar Tuner and Radar Flat Out wheels!!

I only got to skate with them for an hour yesterday and it was a very miserable skating session. Heather, Itzel, and I went out to Barber Park to skate at the rink there (Barber Park is where the Orlando Psycho City girls do their practices every Sunday). Heather and Itzel are heroes, because this is where they practice every week, and were practicing at tonight (even after the sweaty ordeal of moving Itzel). It was so damn hot and the coated concrete was really dirty. I will need to wash my wheels before I take them anywhere because they got so gross.

Hopefully tomorrow night's usual Adult Skate session will give me a chance to properly test out my wheels. I definitely noticed a difference even on that crappy surface, but I imagine the difference will be even greater once I get on a different surface.

Also, eeep! Less than a week until recruitment night! I think I'm starting to really bother Heather and Itzel because I spend all of my time interrogating them on what they do at training. I want to get started now! I know I will regret saying that, but I am excited to learn! They can do all of these cool falls with an IDGAF expression and they act like it's not an amazing thing that they're doing. "Oh, we're just doing a fall and turning around 180 degrees and then getting up in less than a second, no big deal." JEALOUS, I am so jealous. ONE WEEK!

Date and Venue Change!!

I'm so glad that I am so obsessed with checking the Cannibal's facebook page every day or else I would not have seen this.



There are several awesome things about this change:

• I am familiar with the venue, I skate there every Monday
  
• No hard concrete (like at OEC, where they were going to hold the event)
  
• Indoors! Their other venue is/was (dunno if this is a permanent move) outdoors. Florida is hot as balls.
  
• Skate Mania is literally five minutes away from my house

And a few not so awesome things:

• I've noticed my wheels sort of sucked on the skate surface the last time I was there and my t-stops are bad (more like t-slide and skid), I run into the carpeted walls for stopping and that will be a hard habit to break
  
• The interior of the rink is filled with christian/jesus paraphernalia because it doubles as a community center; not much of a complaint, but this list is short!
  
• It's two days sooner than I thought it would be, which makes me freak out just a teensy bit.

In other news, the last two days at work I've been reading the WFTDA rules and decided to see if there were any quizzes/tests out there to see how much I've learned. This one is a pretty good test...and not just because I did well. It covers some basic information, which is always good to know.

August 8!!

Tonight was great! I spent almost all of the skate session (7:30-10pm) on the rink doing laps. The rink was a bit more crowded (ha!) than normal, and I think about 20 people showed up. This is the largest amount of people I've seen at the Adult Skate, but of course, only a few people skate at a time. At the end of the night, the woman that handles the money and the music said something along the lines of, "Shae, I'm so proud of you. There hasn't been a moment when you've been off your skates!" I think out of the 2+ hours I was there, I was only off the rink for 15 minutes tops.



So not only did I get a lot of skating time in, I got to meet a former coach of the team I want to join! He told me I need to be in derby stance (which is painful and will be even more painful when I skate it in for hours rather than minutes) and that I need to stop leaning in around turns. I tried to stop leaning by not doing crossovers as I went around the turns and feeling what my body was doing, but it naturally just wants to turn inwards.

The most important bit is that recruitment is going to be on August 8!!! Less than one month!! I am nervous and scared, and not at all ready! But omg, I am SO EXCITED!!

The only downside is that I'm still without several pieces of gear that I have to have in a few weeks. I think I'm going to do a fundraiser type thing through my etsy shop, but I'll spend tomorrow at work coming up with ideas for it and figure out what is going to work for me. Also, there are a few other things with work and practice times that I'll need to figure out, but that can wait a few weeks.

BUT OMG, AUGUST 8TH!!!! HOLY CRUD!

My Gear

I have a giant wish list of things I want, but my bank account keeps telling me that I should wait. In the next few months, I plan to acquire the gear I need, so by the time recruitment comes around I should have everything I need.**

As of right now I have:

• Riedell R3 Skates
  
• 187 Pro Knee Pads
  
• Triple 8 Helmet
  
• Gumball Toe Stops
  
• Wrist Guards
  
• 187 Elbow Pads
  
• Protech Dent Hot Pink Mouth Guard
  
• Radar Tuner and Radar Flat Out wheels
  
• Radar Pure wheels
  
• Bones Reds Bearings

Definitely not a long list, but it's more than I had 2 weeks ago. In the next few months I want to move a few things from the list below to the list above.**

Derby Wish List

• Custom Toe Guards
  
• almost!goatse Derby Shorts
  
• Wicked Skates
  

I'm going to be modifying and changing this list as I learn what I need and as I start to collect more of the items on my list.

**At this point the text above is worthless since it's recruitment time and I have all of the gear I need, but I want to leave that stuff up there for funsies.