Brutal...

My reasoning skills told me yesterday afternoon that if I went right home after work and did my homework tonight, (ah, I see how the term was created now),  I could have all of it done by tonight (Wed) so I could attend Thursday's practice and get in synch. about where and when for the Joe Buck @ the old Eproson House in Twain Harte concert we're attending as  a team Friday night.

As I completed some of the assignments and reading, I accidentally stumbled on a link that had an assignment listed that I hadn't see on the other class page link I normally look at for direction. And yeah, the assignment was due at midnight, so I had less than one hour to turn it in...Nothing upsets me more than stupid mistakes and I was quite upset, in shock, in fact. I emailed the instructor to see where I went wrong in my thinking, and proceeded to rev up and go to work on it - I turned it in by 1:44AM and was asleep by 3:30AM. Let's hope she thought it was as good as I did when I last read it.

This morning, I'm left with a dark and empty feeling of having NO IDEA what my team mates did for practice last night, who was there, what neat stuff they learned and discussed, and all the great interaction we have together...

For work today, I didn't go to a monthly presentation that I have done for the last near 5 years - faithfully. And am using my vacation time to stay @ home and proceed with the kaljillions of readings, assignments, discussions and quizzes with their corresponding links and page numbers, until my circ. desk shift at 1pm.I hate doing homework at work because it's not really a proper thing to do I guess. Although it does directly benefit the library patrons the more I learn, and I didn't complete the paperwork in order to get my my school tuition and textbooks fees from work..so they aren't even paying for this extra knowledge I'm getting..But still feels wrong to do with the other employees doing work-work and not school-work...*sigh*

It's exactly High Noon..I need to relax for a half hour or so...it's a little chilly but full of sunshine outside right now...I think it's only fair that I use some of my time on myself.

No pics this time as time is not on my side...

Oh, except this one from Gerle Haggard...(Now possibly Spin Twin instead, as her name wasn't approved ) , in which my own backside looks fucking hot to me!

xo

☮♥Sweet Alyce♥☮ 3.14

So many memories...so forgotten overnight....

Ok well I had this whole blog in my head while AT practice last night, up to and including the title...NOW I can't seem to remember it - Pinkie Lee made it up accidentally and it was a perfect title...

skate plus.. by ~reinvent1

Maybe it's because I conked heads with Mermad...during a jam...? That effing hurt, man - my brain moved! ;) She said someone pushed her. Good thing I had my safety helmet on.. (see, now that commericial from the 80's I can remember..."Piece snapped off. Hit me dead centa. Good thing I had my safety glasses on"...)

First thing that comes to mind is P.Fork whipping Sam...That was cool, I was happy for her because she said later that she was trying to do more...That was great...

Pinkie Lee was pivot a lot it seemed like and she was kicking butt being a great last line of defense...I have been able to observe more since I'm not 100% participatory the last couple practices..I am not armed with information about how to make my knees work better..I took a glucosomine and controidin (sp) this morning..two horse pills a day...Going to drink more water and eat more bananas...

After practice was so much fun as usual...

.....Oh maaaaaaaaaaaaan!

I just got an 8 out of 10 on a school assignment for CSS class because I forgot to upload one file....I feel like crying..that sucks...what a pisser....*grrrrrr*

Wondered what everyone was doing @ practice...

Tonight I did homework from 6:30 until after midnight...every now and then I wondered what was happening at practice. Coach Sheeda Bomb was kind enough to give me a recap...I also heard there was a two hour bonding session after wards...I'm truly bummed that I missed that also...those are fun times out there in the pitch black...which reminds me...we need to get a light out there...

Oh, and while I'm at it...it would be nice if hockey stopped on time on the nights they practice before we do...

Here's Sheeda's update:

"...lots of drills and warm ups. then since we only had ... Read More5 on each team and i wanted to work the jammers harder we had one team against opposite jammer and the players on the team worked on good blocking and jammer worked on getting thru.. not easy . of course! it was a really good work out for stamina too. we would switch team on the track and jammer within the normal times. and then the last half hour we did scrimmage with both teams.. the ground we gained from working just on team defense was good at first but fell apart quickly due to fatigue. the late hours are harder."

Derby Love by *Spasticated-Rita

dutchland derby freakshow by ~mange

Lotsa Derby Girls, Strange Visitors, Broken Knees, Flat Beer

That basically sums up tonight's practice! There were so many ladies there tonight that the stretch-circle was kinda crowded. I love to see that!

Let's see who I can name from memory:

Me

Pinkie Lee

Nicki Spitts

Gerle Haggard

RevRa

Stihl Queen

Sam

Jules

Chisel Bit

Ammo

Tripp

New Guy Ref (handsome, like Tripp...we get good looking refs :)

P.Fork

Amanda

Kileron

Trixie

Sheeda Bomb

I'm stumped from here, but there must have been more...it was crowded.

We did some drills first and I participated in those, minus the knee falls because, seriously, I'm worried about my knees. I hope they aren't sore like this forever. I should do some research. It's upsetting and I'm sort of in denial that this knee pain is going to hamper by derby-ing. Chisel Bit fell on her already wounded knee also, but she is many years younger than me. So far the most strenuous drill has been that Zombie one that Stihl Queen learned about from the Castle Bombers in Merced. Maybe we'll do that one sometime again.

After the drills it was mach-bout time for one hour. I didn't participate in this. I learned a lot by watching them though, which is good, but not as good as actually playing. I will play Sunday if we do this again. I'm really going to try to remember what Hellbound Harlot told me about each position.

So..the strange visitors...some guys were in the stands during practice..that was odd....Who were they? I don't know, but I believe that they know Sam. I hope they go out in the world of Sonora and tell them about what they saw.. (Yes, we let them live to tell)... ;)

Oh and the flat beer....that was left over from Rev's birthday party...It takes a special woman to drink flat keg beer...and I'm happy to know some women like that... *hee*....

While I'm here, I must voice a complaint at the "picking teams" thing we do for mach-bouts. Ammo said it's to make fair teams. Personally, I don't see the logic. I think if we chose a different less mentally damaging for the people chosen last way of choosing teams we'd be able to handle more varied player situations.Yes we are competitors, but the idea of being chosen last is overly-discouraging, imo and not helpful to give a label of better or worse to a new player. Draw names from a hat, or have everyone line up and split the line..anything but this picking teams bullshit...IMHO.

by Elizabeth Ocean

Onward!

Lucky Best Fun Time With Derby Girls!!

Last Tuesday I must have wrecked up my left knee so much that I didn't practice Thursday night...They hurt so long that I was sure I was getting the flu, but no. No flu. After everything else stopped aching, it was just my broken knees left...The left one hurt before derby, but now they both aren't bending al the way without it hurting.

The BIG NEWS this week was not a practice, but RevRa's birthday party last night. Words cannot describe the fun. Mermad, Sheeda Bomb, Sam, Hot Ta Molli, P.Fork, Gerle and Nikki....We had a blast and ended up home safely by day break...

A few ladies went to Stihl Queen's mom's 50th birthday and from the looks of them online, they too had mega-fun last night... :)

Practice tonight was a nice change of pace. No scrimmaging but working with new skaters on WFTDA Minimum Skills. I just skipped the knee falls tonight and I hope my knees feel better soon...

Don't allow the Hollywood money for REAL GIRL & REAL GIRL POWER films to dry up - GO SEE WHIP IT!

Whip It: The Real Girl Movie of the Year!!

 www.huffingtonpost.com

by Rachel Simmons - Author, New York Times bestseller "Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls"

Posted: October 14, 2009

Here's the deal. Whip It, the new Drew Barrymore/Ellen Page film, is tanking at the box office. We have to go see it. If we don't, the money's going to dry up for girl-power films.

Not that you won't enjoy every minute. Whip It is the Real Girl movie of the year. Its motto: Be your own hero.

The plot: Bliss Cavendar (Page) is a 17 year old reluctant beauty pageant contestant, nudged along by her Good Girl mother (played by the terrific Marcia Gay Harden). Mom is a former beauty queen herself who sneaks smokes to project a Perfect Mom image to her daughter (and undergoes her own transformation in the film). When Bliss watches an all-female roller derby, she's enthralled. She sneaks off to tryouts and busts into the world of Austin derby.

Bliss' team, the Hurl Scouts, is Real Girl heaven: women who tell it like it is, don't care what people think and take up space - literally, by jumping on top of each other. When Bliss apologizes before she speaks in true Good Girl fashion, the team has none of it. "Find that thing that pisses you off," a teammate advises the timid Bliss, "and use it." Okay, passion doesn't have to be driven by anger, but it's a crystal clear moment of a girl learning how to access power and drive.

I like how parent-positive this movie is. Bliss goes too far with her Mom and gets schooled by one of the Hurl Scouts for being selfish. And it's Dad who skates away with the film, with his tearjerker line, "I can't take our daughter missing a chance to be happy."

Some parents might feel uncomfortable about the sheer brass of these women (with nicknames, for example, like "Jabba the Slut"). Personally, I wish Bliss didn't have to throw her Good Girl self under the bus in favor of more aggressive behavior. She goes too far when she knocks a popular girl over a railing at school to show off her newfound confidence.

That said, there's an infectious and heart lifting freedom in the way these women blow through a party, locker room or rink. You will cheer for Bliss when she is literally sprung from the prison of her beauty pageant life by this rollicking pack of women. I dare you to go see this movie and not wonder where you left your last pair of skates.

Bliss displays inspiring confidence with boys, modeling the kind of self-esteem you want your daughter to see on the big screen. An NPR reporter recently pointed out that the last scene between Bliss and her love interest "is so smart and so significant and so legitimately revolutionary given the sensibilities of 99 percent of the movies that depict teenage girls that that scene alone would make it a great gift for your daughter when she turns 13."

There's an email pinging around that wonders if "Whip It would have been better off if it was told in reverse: the story of a Roller Derby Girl who made herself over as a Beauty Queen, won the pageant and got the boyfriend in the end." Great question, but let's use the time we might have spent wondering and get our butts to the box office. Do it for the girl in your life. If we don't vote with our wallets, we may lose for years to come.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rachel-simmons/whip-it-the-real-girl-mov_b_321806.html

No, really a quickie tonight...

For only being there one hour last night, in order to get home and mash some homework together, what an excellent work out. Sheeda Bomb really knows how to get me sweaty and on heart-attack watch. ;)

Did a bunch of drills and then scrimmaged. One jam for me and it was with Trixie. She was called lead jammer and then she fell once, allowing me to lap her one full lap. And as I learned, since she was the lead jammer, only she can call off the jam, (which I actually knew), but didn't know I could lap her and she'd still be lead jammer...Tonight at dinner I continued learning the WFTDA 4.0 rules...I'm not clear yet even after reading alot, how the other jammer can become lead jammer...or if she can...

It was our first practice since last Winter that it was cold and very stormy. But despite thinking I needed to ear warmer clothing, luckily my Summer layer was on underneath and I was able to strip down in the first 20 minutes when I was boiling again...

Gotham Girls Roller Derby

Also, Rachel made this fun Halloween video for us....

http://monstermashup.com/231dfa

Whirling Derbishes Played by Rachel, Gerle Haggard, Sweet Alyce, Nikki Spitts and RevRa!

Another fear bitten into....

I have home work to do so this is a shortie. I sucked at jamming tonight when I did it because Regina is a KICK ASS blocker...I could not get around her if my life depended on it tonight..(which felt eerily similar to those nightmares where you can't run (or roll) away)...

After a couple jams, I warmed up to the idea of attempting to intentionally knock people. I actually didn't recall who I hit until she said "Alright Alyce!", (like the totally cool pal she is), it was the lovely and talented Miss Nikki Spitts I had knocked....I guess seeing that I had done that legally and all gave me the confidence to do it more...I did knock Trixie off the track at one point...Hot Ta Molli cheered of the track and that was nice to hear too.. and what was funny is both of them recounted the hits similarly..something like, I was getting pushed and turned around and went Whoa, that is Sweet Alyce.!

I guess since I'm in observation-mode, (seeing if I can in fact do this or not -until Nov 22nd), their encouragement or lack of it has become important to me and a gauge of whether I'm doing this game/sport correctly and in a way that benefits the team as a whole.

http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=7459273663921702200

I want to thank Pinkie Lee for making me more aware of my nervous smoking...I'll have to ask how she quit them next time I see her..(I would guess cold-turkey..that's the sort of "broad" she seems like to me...) ;)
(HI PINKIE LEE IF YOU READ THIS...!)

Here are a couple of derby related tunes for the Mountain Derby Girls, who I love dearly, each and every one...

Roller Girl, by The Phrenologists - mp3

Roller Derby Girls, by 900 Pound Gorilla - mp3

Roller Derby Queen, Psychedelik Killas - mp3

To hear them right click on the names and click Save Target As, Or Save Link As. Then Click Desktop (or your Music folder, or wherever you want to put it). Then when it's done, double click it and it should open in the default program you have setup to play music with.

Or, you can right click on the name and click Open in New Tab or Open in New Window and depending on the speed of your internet connection it might play.

[*Realizes she suddely feels like the nerd Sheeda Bomb described* *heehee*]

 Sooooo...so much for keeping it short....I gotta hit the homework now....

Blargh Matey!! New Roller Girls on the loose...!

Oh eM G!

-Sexy Roller Skating- by *ken1171 on deviantART - Click the pic, she moves!

I got fucking laid out tonight! And it's not as bad as I imagined...I got up as fast as I could, against the instinct to just sit there, and I was overcome by a furious rage to get her back...It's really amazing what a little adrenalin can do to a body...I blocked her, but I didn't exact the same on her as she to me...didn't knock her over...Then the jam ended and she came rolling over and hugged me and said sorry.

That kicked so much ass...

Irish Roller Girl by ~paulorocker

Then we were all hanging out after wards having a beer (one)..and I moved my laptop to the ground because I wanted to show the ladies a slideshow of 305 of our derby pics over the past nine months....I did it without setting my beer down and it poured into the frame of the screen...then - out went the lights...the screen dimmed to almost black...I went home as fast as I could and did a Kim Kommando on it, blew it dry with a blow dryer on cool and viola...all is well in the virtual and physical worlds...

Thinking back, I think I have been knocked over in the past one time..I'd have search this blog for the incident report... ;) But even so it was not as memorable as this time...

So tonight we scrimmaged 7 on 7 with a couple players off at a time...Tripp was there to Ref and it was a blast...I think I won one a jam or two...not positive as you know..the blackoutish thing that happens to me when I jam...My spirit must just FLY out of my body or something...? This scrimmaging went on for one hour, the official bout time so that was awesome...

Stihl Queen did some drills before Sheeda Bomb (WELCOME BACK) came on the track as she was assisting new players and so Stihl did a drill called the zombie where we lay facing the wall on our backs with our arms crossed over our chests. At the whistle we had to get into the ready position asap then the next whistle take off and full blast it to the end on a knee and back to the zombie position to do it again... Stihl said they (The Castlebombers in Merced/Atwater) do it at the END of practice!! Great drill.. Oh and also nice to see Clover again... missed her...and Troubled Rachel and Jodi too came in later...(while I do not monitor my friend's whereabouts, it is so nice to see them when I do...) The new players, Sam and Jules were also there, they jumped right in to this, I love that about them...

Roller Skating Lisa by ~thekofchrisguyagain

Kilaron came in later and thus we have Mermad and Kilaron the solid-ass-solid blocker chicks..Regina too.. she is good at that part...Andrea and Sam jammed so great and Trixie too...It was just a lot of fun and although I'm still going to see how I do at the Nov 22nd scrimmage, I feel a lot different about keeping this up than I did a couple of days ago...

I want to Roller Skate by ~weirdklown

But man, Gerle Haggard a few weeks ago, not sure if I mentioned how she and her twin blasted FULL ON INTO each other a week or so ago and Gerle's ribs are fucked up...she fell or was smacked down tonight too and they seem to have become worse..This is not good..we talked about hanging out in nature tomorrow with our art supplies so I can maybe get her to go to the ER...Love that chickie-do. All of them really...this is is a wonderful experience for me whether it ends tomorrow or in my 60's...

[For some reason I still have no links for Mermad...I'll have to see what' sup with that on Sunday]

Whip It! on Friday, Western Tournament Finals on Sunday, Practice on Tuesday

Friday's Whip It premiere was so much fun! I think we all loved the movie...at least from what I've heard and I don't think it was ONLY because of the derby theme, (maybe it was for me because I don't really ever go to the movies..). The story was sweet, smart and funny in parts and I loved Daniel Stern as Bliss's father...The music was plentiful and great, though I cannot for the life of me remember where I heard the Peaches song that was being played in the previews. I'll have to see it again, Nikki Spitts said she did the next day with her mom, who was also there Friday and night and that was nice to see her...Donna is cool; such a nice woman and incredibly popular for making such very excellent twin ladies for us to enjoy and have fun with.. ;)

We all met at around 6:30pm or so, at the theater, only to find that D*nnis, the manager, didn't say anything to the new general manager of the place so she at first didn't want us to be there. Luckily she changed her mind, possibly because we had some of our friends and family there..Trixie's Great Uncle, who had a great idea of us raffling off the chance to be the ref at the mud wrestling gig that is now not happening until next Summer, mine and P's friend Jerry was visiting us so he could come to the movie, Stihl Queen's best friend, who she actually used to trip us (me) up when we all thought we were busted, (for what I don't know), because he is a cop and drove up in his cop car, that was funny. The twin's mom like I said up thar, and other husband's and friends...

Ok, so,  point being, we were able to stay as long as we didn't skate, and we didn't. We passed out flyers to people, some of us put them on cars. Some of is realized again in life how shy we are...(not just me this time)....

I was BLOWN AWAY at how creative all the ladies were with their Hellcats red and black shirts....Pollyanna had the Pollyanna thing down so I suddenly felt the need to claim hearts and peace signs for my own persona-in-the-making. Doesn't her shirt look incredible?! And she did it overnight! All the Mountain Derby Girls looked smashing and we thank Amanda and Hot Topic for our new plaid skirts...

Our two new self-proclaimed fans helped break the ice...(see pic below)...very cute...

During the movie we laughed and clapped and wooted and all that fun derby girl bonding stuff...

After the movie, I actually have burned the line from the movie into my brain.. "Why don't you put on some skates and be your own hero?" and said it to a young lady at the concession stand as I passed her a flyer (I actually remember from her coming to the library). 

Mermad was hungry, so she and her husband and some of us who stayed, (see pic below) went over to the closest restaurant/bar and had some beers, couple of shots and again with the laughing and this time with added major yacking...Man, we hens can cluck!

We hung out there til someone go the urge to skate, I forget who, and so we took off to the rink, blasted music and skated...Pollyanna Pitchfork was playing hockey with some people when I left with Trixie about 1:30am...She was kind enough to give me a ride back to my car after I ...umm...recovered.

 

I made it home safely and Jerry was sleeping but P was awake..that was a fun talk about the movie and the night and all...Did I mention what a wonderful guy I'm voluntarily hitched-up with?...Love that guy...(I'll call him Pierce)...if I haven't already called him that here...

Derby Girl by ~DirtyGirlKink

So where am I...Ah yes the rest of the weekend..That was all derby, all the time..I watched just about every derby bout in the 2009 Western Regional Tournament...I was trying to get a bunch of other things done at the same time so I think Pierce saw more than I did...He kept scores on the brackets sheet and was all into it...There were a bunch of good bouts, some close and some wide scoring....one being 319-27...Sunday Demanda Riot played her sister Miss E-Vil...FUCKING RAD!! Oly Rollers went into the tourney number 1 and ended up number 1.

Just like Mary, along comes Tuesday...don't even ask me what happened to Monday, I have no clue... Pinkie Lee and I talked fb last night...and looking back it was those finals this past weekend that started chinking away at my idea of playing this game/sport I've seemingly wanted to play since watching the Bay Bombers with my Nona Cristina on Saturday mornings...(she was waiting for Big Time Wrestling to come on)...

Tonight's practice sucked like rubber on rye bread for me...I didn't break anything, which is important, but during my pre-practice shower...I got it loud and clear  - In my way of thinking, which is to see if I can live with the 'worst' outcome I can think of when I make a decision about something... I simply cannot. At least that is my preliminary choice...I realized, and imparted to some of my friends tonight that not because of some moral or ethical ideas, but because I could not live my life normally should there be some tragic outcome to hitting or being hit...or blocking and being blocked or jamming and being slammed...whichever way you slice it, it's not in my nature to be physically aggressive...I cannot see myself getting over guilt of hurting someone or my bitterness should I be hurt...especially if someone were not following the agreed upon rules...My friend online from the Blog actually pointed it out to me today (or yesterday) in an email...and I've all along expressed doubt to Pierce and to my Blog that I was never positive I could do this part of roller derby...

Dangers of Derby by ~Misket1313merp

Longer story shorter...I'm just going to keep doing the best I can for now..I'll admit it wasn't pleasant to see this in myself when I realized it...And I have to thank RevRa, Spitts, Gerle, Trixie and Pinkie for letting me bounce these thoughts off of them tonight and last...We've talked about me reffing..that isn't the worst idea I can think of...just not the number one lucky best idea...

I always say I don't want to regret anything..I regret that I didn't discover derby in it's earliest days so I'd have had possibly more years to play and less years to know about my own non-physically aggressive nature...

Things I'm purposely not blogging about:
The weird moment with Stihl Queen and Chisel Bit Friday night.
The weird moment with Hot Ta Molli tonight.
The weird moment with Coach Quad Queen last week.

death of the derby. by ~dressONbackward-

This "leaving it on the track" thing is a VERY CRUCIAL part of roller derby, imo...Let's say the middle of the track...the circle like we all decided...because ON the track clear heads must prevail.
staring fishnets by *starryday

Nikki Spitts made a comment about 'playing the part' of a derby girl...I forget why, but the phrase stuck in my head...It's a very cool part to play I realized... :) and if I'm lucky (and who knows what else)....I can keep playing. We'll see. For now I'll keep going...




staring fishnets by *starryday

WESTERN TOURNAMENT PLAYOFFS..My favorite bout was Demanda and Miss E-Vil

From: DerbyNewsNetwork.com

5th/6th Place: (5W) Bay Area 105, (6W) Duke City 103 -- Recap to come.

Boutcast/Textcast Here

Looks like Oly Rollers went in Number 1 and out Number 1 in this tourney.

Best of 3...Whip It!...& the Western Finals!!

Check out Roller Derby Poster Artists
*

Sunday - Didn't.

Tuesday - Did.

Thursday - Did.

Not much to report....Except we have a new Ref - his name is Tripp...

TOMORROW is the premier of

We'll all be suited up and at the local Regal Cinema at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow night....Come on out and see the movie with your local roller derby team - The Mountain Derby Girls! But don't try to follow us to our double secret fun house after 10:30 show...there's going to be too much fun there...you won't like it... ;)

And tune in to http://derbynewsetwork.com for live coverage of the Western Regional Championship which begin at 10:00 PST tomorrow....The Bay Area Derby Girls will be playing in this tournament..including the exceptionally awesome Demanda Riot...