...Sweet Alyce...

Roller Derby Season Tickets - High Country Hellcats - Sonora, CA

2011-02-03T19:57:00.000-08:00

VIP seating at all five home bouts, early entrance for preferred seating, VIP parking and 10% off of Hellcats merchandise at bouts.

brownpapertickets.com

CLICK ME

2010-07-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

Sweet Alyce Blog has relocated to facebook...

CLICK TO BE REDIRECTED

Collected Bout Advice Dump

2010-04-24T10:55:00.000-07:00

[When I started roller derby last year, as the time moved closer to the first scrimmage, I collected advice from where ever I could get it..and there it sits in a txt file on my desktop...Welp...somewhat obviously, I will not be needing this information so I thought I'd just dump it here...Not sure from whom I received this info. so take that into consideration....Feel free to add you own advice as well....maybe it will help some scared shitless new derby girl now or in the future...]

2 days before... drink lots of water up til bout time. get really hydrated.
eat small meals the day of bout.. so you don't throw up on the track.
apparently its been done a lot. ick.

drinking dehydrates you. so avoid it.

before you go out on the floor have a time in lockerroom where you all close eyes,focus and
and walk thru the game.. visualizing what you will do .. etc
positive stuff!!

when going out to the rink.. do not make eye contact with the crowd except when doing your warm up.
too much attention to the crowd messes with your head she said.

jitters are normal. she still has them every bout for the last 3 years, don't worry that you are losing your mind.
just focus on the game

when on the bench WATCH the other team to catch on to their behaviors

look behind you
talk to your pack
point out where the other jammer is
know when the other jammer is outta the pack and then help your jammer
be able to stop on the drop of a dime
then work on your sprinting to chase her down in 10 feet
bridging is fucking stupid
get your girls good at sprinting then & bring someone with you
gotta slow down the jammer with one then BAM w the other
do more hitting drills in practice groups of 4
line up in shape of cross girls front back on 1 team girls right/left on other team girl in the middle has to turn around & call out the number that the back girl is holding up while the girls on right/left are dive-bombing swooping in/coordinating when the girl has her head turned

Boy Eats Drum Machine's "ABQ," featuring members of the Rose City Rollers

2010-03-20T12:33:00.000-07:00

[Since my bullshit knee is still awaiting repair, I have jack shit to blog about here...Who wants to hear about the trials and tribulations of a derby girl turned NSO? Not me....but...]

Music video for Boy Eats Drum Machine's "ABQ," featuring members of the Rose City Rollers. Includes footage from "Brutal Beauty: Tales of the Rose City Rollers" where the song made its debut.

Commemorative Stat Panties, by aoife96 - 2007

2010-02-22T23:35:00.000-08:00

Phew...as my new NSO goddess Talon says: "Your welcome. now your bout cherry has been popped. funtimes- derby love. "

2010-02-21T22:36:00.000-08:00

Where to begin on such a night as this...?

How about with the last thing I remember, which was Friday night trying to get to sleep and thinking how if I can't sleep, no one who is playing tomorrow can sleep...(Turns out, most people slept....some didn't but most did)...I woke up about 7:30am Saturday and proceeded to get the E-stuff done first as usual....Next, I had Husbot call the Inns of Sonora to find out about getting down there asap and start preparing for the day...I started printing the forms but not before being stuck on if they should be printed in color or not and asking the yahoo stats group about it..a debate ensued and I had left the house and lost my wireless connection at the hotel...which brings me back to where I started this sentence, the hotel...Inns of Sonora had no idea what we were saying with the reservation...So I called RevRa..hoping I wasn't going to wake her up at 8:30 and mess up her derby sleep...Ok so we called the wrong hotel...innocent mistake...it was actually Days Inn in Sonora that the reservations were held....which brings me back to my wireless connection...the connection that I did not have in my hotel room....Anyways...I could get it in the lobby and didn't really need it too desperately because of the Sweet-Booger slumber party....but I'm getting ahead of myself.... :)

There I was with three unfilled NSO positions, but thankfully Talon was able to come up and omg..I would have died without her...not to mention Buck N Krazy, All Nate Long, Graves, Tripp Hazard, Doc Sinister (who had the room next to ours with Mrs. Sinister), Hurtz O Good, Split Decision, Refer B, Mermad, Bill Boyd, Cody and Cody's girlfriend (she's kind of denying this girlfriend thing but whatever she was great), Red Hot Ta Molli, Allison Blansit, Steve Harrigan, Shawa "Pirahna" Cavendar, Amanda Sexton from Atomic Assault, (oh did I mention the score? 162-59 Atomic won...), & Jayleen Bullock the Co-Head NSO...

Got to the room and dropped off my stuff and my husband and went to the arena to help setup. Sheeda Bomb was not only the MVP Pivot of the night, but also kicked ass making the Atomic Assault comfortable in the locker room. Nice decorations.Did some work here and went back to the room to figure out what to wear.

Next I remember seeing Talon like a desert mirage and me and her getting our stuff together for the 7pm NSO meeting which coincided with the Refs meeting...it was cute when we came downstairs and the refs were just coming out of the Zebra Locker Room (Tripps term), and we met in the middle and marched out to work the bout. During my meeting I giggle now thinking of what I told my first group...Write legibly, Concentrate, Don't have any blank spots and clear any weirdness with the ref BEFORE the next jam starts, hmm what else did I say..let me look at my notes. Ah, a false start is not counted as a new jam, and above all DO NOT CHEER! :) I must have zinged off a thousand questions to Talon, each time my face more and more weighted with concern...(Ugh...the players must have been freaking out!)

Just before we got out on the floor though, I found out that the Jam Timer, the position I chose, is normally a Refs Crew position, and that I was also to START the jams. Well see that is not something I knew, planned for or learned how to do. So THANK THE DERBY STARS that Buck N Krazy was kind enough to start the jams, and as he did he taught me so many new things...Here's the deal with my jam timer position, not in the order I learned these facts: I need two stop watches, one for the 2 minute jam, and one for the 30 seconds that the teams have to line up on the track, When the 30 seconds starts at 20 seconds I am to raise my arm up like one of the hand turn signals for a car without lights, forget which turn now though, and say SKATERS READY, something like that ...and then at 30 seconds put my arm down and then Buck N Krazy, the Head Ref blows the jam starting whistle, but I guess I do that now, gotta clarify that with him. Also part of this position is the team time out timer, one minute. The team time out is different than an official time out, I stop the watches when that happens.

Ok so YES I admitted openly that I owe my team and Atomic Assault 2 minutes. The first jam an Atomic Assault player called off the jam, but then was sent to the penalty box..or so it seemed to me..I guess what happened was that she was sent to the box before she called off the jam and so the jam did not in fact end when I thought it had..there weren't four whistles blown and the jam continued...the Buck N Krazy came over and asked me if it was 2 minutes yet, first I said No, then it dawned on me what happened..THEN the ref blew the whistle and I had in fact blown my first timing... :) so I owe them....

The bout...might be a good time to mention that Atomic Assault has played 6 bouts and the High Country Hellcats have played zero as of the start of this bout so in my own opinion now..that is not quite fair, but also must have shown the Hellcats that they are strong and can do more than they think because Talon tells me there have been way worse losses at first bouts...one she mentioned was like 100 something to 4.. That made me happy to hear even though I couldn't even tell the score from where I was so I thought they were doing spectacular..not winning I guess, but were playing like winners.

I saw one of my co workers and her very nice son at the bout, another lady that I and a lot of people in town know was there..my friend Nick from the library and hmm....I think that's all I knew well or saw of people I knew in the crowd...knew by name anyway...that was nice to see them there. I didn't see Mark Truppner from KVML there tho, that worries me. Hope he didn't come and go or something worse.

First thing after the bout ended and the place was emptying I went to get my first St. Stans beer of the day...I mean I even bought the Hellcats plastic cup and sticker so I could get the 7.00 St. Stans in it...not to mention I bought one of every shirt we were selling in the proshop...(Thanks Regina and Sirena! - And Sirena had to seal with the crowd outside and some people were hassling her..not cool. and neither was our door setup but we'll fix that next bout.) The beer tap was either empty or stopped working so no after bout beer for me until the after-party..which turned out to be held at Steve's Place down the street because Logger's power was out...The same person owns both places so it was like that Seinfeld episode where the lady owns Putamayo and Cinco De Mayo

Here comes the track rope story....so I went to pick up the track rope behind Coach Quad Queen as she pulled up the tape....as I wound it around my arm I saw Buck N Krazy coming towards me with the other end of the rope wrapping up on his arm (and in much better order than my rope too I might add), and it was like the start or end of a derby romance I could write...how they met with the track rope ends in hand and fell in love (imagine the Disney 101 Dalmations is it? Where the dogs meet in the middle with the spaghetti in their mouth..), it was cute and cracked me up...thanks for that Buck N Krazy..funny.

Steve's was packed and awesome and fun and every other word I'd have to consult a thesaurus to find to describe how much fun that was there! Thanks to the bartenders, Monica and the lady from Loggers who came over because they were overwhelmed busy...

Then it was near last call and now we near the end of the bout and the start of everything else....I had thought that Nicki Spitts and other girls would get rooms but no....it was me and Husbot and a lot of the Atomic Assault...so Booger Dawson, me and H-bot went back to the room and had the best time yacking until like 4am....first we raided a gas station snack shop and me n Booger bought Husbot a cool hat... We took all the food and as I said..yacked the night away...great time...We went to sleep and of course had to be back at the arena by 9am to clean up, or we would not be participating in the next event. I guess the people who didn't show up to clean up know who they are....

We got up cleaned the arena, some of us went to breakfast, (Sheeda Bomb, AMMO, Mighty AFROdite and AMMO's family and Hurtz O Good, a way cool ref. Then we went to unload Mighty's truck full of chairs at the Sheriff's Posse (thank you to them) and we were all done by about 2pm I guess it was...

I'm sure I'm forgetting all the fun parts...oh like Booger this morning, autographing the trashy novel we brought to read in bed last night...but we couldn't stopped talking about the day, and the last year and everything else under the sun....

I'm done, but suppose I'll just apologize for rolling over so many times while sleeping with Booger Gerle...She had some serious track rash on her shoulder and oh man, her hip again...so sorry to her if I woke her up...As I mentioned this morning at breakfast, now that I've slept with Booger I guess she has to be my derby wife... ;) *HEH*!

XOXOX

-Sweet Alyce...a not so sad anymore retired derby girl turned NSO....

Don't forget to check out the pictures, taken by a lot of people, Russell Reno Limprecht, Jasper Boyd and Pierce Jensen (aka husbot) on facebook and the videos on the MDG youtube channel..

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=20806&id=1670349459&l=63f372713f

http://www.youtube.com/user/MountainDerbyGirls

P.S. I realized another reason that makes me know that I made the correct decision about not playing roller derby for now, I needed to use Talon and the next time, Mermad's arms to get off my knee when we took a knee for downed skaters... :( *ouch*

Hellcats HELLYEAH!!!!!!! / Chapter 1, The First Bout

2010-02-20T08:49:00.001-08:00

Psychedelik Killas - Roller Derby Queen

Joe Buck - The Devil Is On His Way

Click to listen.....

Top ten roller derby nicknames in the U.S.A.

2010-02-19T15:09:00.000-08:00

...
10. Demonica Lewinsky, DC Rollergirls

9. Erin Dropabitch, River City Rollergirls

8. Teeny Mussolini, Dockyard Derby Dames

7. Gloria Hole, Brewcity Bruisers

6. Mazel Tov Cocktail, Blue Ridge Rollergirls

5. Joan Cougar Mentstrualcramp, Big Easy Rollergirls

4. Leave it to Cleavage, Sonoma County Roller Derby

3. Risky Bitchness, Syndicate Roller Girls

2. Slaybia Majora, Rose City Rollers

1. Beyonslay, Gotham Girls Roller Derby

From: http://blogs.westword.com

Vegan Derby Skates!!

2010-02-18T16:34:00.000-08:00

Vegan Derby Girl

I recently decided to go for it and join the local roller derby league, and I had no idea what I was in for when I did!

If you know me, you know that I try to incorporate my crafty nature into everything I do, so lets just say...keep your eyes open for some awesome derby related crafts in the near future!

So what do you do if you are vegan AND you want to be a kick butt derby dame? Well, you buy vegan roller skates, of course!

If you are just looking to go to an open skate here and there, or dont want to be left out when your friends go and rent those nasty leather skates...these skates would be a great option! They are also VERY affordable.

If you are looking to do roller derby and represent animals and vegans by rejececting the typical leather shoes, Riedell now makes a vegan roller derby skate! I researched online and these skates are pretty new to the market, but all of the reviews I have read have been excellent. They arent much more than most Riedell non-vegan skates, and a local skate shop gives a 10% discount to all roller derby people! It has been about 3 weeks now since I special ordered my vegan skates, a first for the shop I went to, and I am so excited that they will be in early next week! I got the exact ones in the photo, but I opted to upgrade to a metal plate instead of the nylon as I am a bigger woman.

Whether you plan to just go skate with friends, or you want to kick some butt on the track playing roller derby...you dont have to compromise your beliefs or sit it out becuase these days we have options! I have also started a blog and facebook fan page where I will chronicle my journey from uncoordinated bike riding vegan to vegan derby girl! Not interested in roller derby? That's cool, I will also be posting workout tips, pre workout recipes and general healthy living blog posts as well!

Go Vegan, Thrash The Derby Track With Your Veggie Powered Skates!

Posted by: Heather from

Holistically Heather

Training Links

2010-02-15T17:36:00.001-08:00

From Hannah Grenade....

Yoga for skaters - http://bit.ly/9bDuAa
Off Skates training for skaters - http://bit.ly/9vxENz
Land Training for skaters - http://bit.ly/RDC5C
Dryland exercises for skaters - http://bit.ly/6YpNVy
Getting in shape for next season - http://bit.ly/7ir7J7
Cross-training with bad knees - http://bit.ly/6Pm7il
Get comfortable on your skates - http://bit.ly/cI4f6F
Eating to maximize your workout - http://bit.ly/cmARuD
Basic Line drill - http://bit.ly/bUhcmV
Sarto Start - http://bit.ly/6Ujb0R
Get low - http://bit.ly/9wBFzT
No.. really - http://bit.ly/81LCue
I'm serious - http://bit.ly/3rFJFk
Round or Straight Back - http://bit.ly/aQ3pHB
Eww cramps - http://bit.ly/93K3B1
Game day food - http://bit.ly/bLg0Hn
Skating hangover - http://bit.ly/2QzW53

Val Capone....Married to Derby...

2010-02-12T19:06:00.000-08:00

[Val Capone is awesome...also a great announcer during bouts too....Here Geek To Me interviews Val for Chicago Now she talks about what it takes to be a bad ass roller derby girl...

Last night at practice I tried out the NSO situation...I can't remember the last time I felt this sort of sadness...being off-skate stinks like rubber on rye bread.]

The Geek and the Roller Girl

GeekToMe
02.11.10

Last week I shared my talks with former roller derby girl Tequila Mockingbird and returning roller girl Kola Loka. Now I present to you my video interviews with Windy City Rollers fan-favorite Val Capone. We recorded them during the WCR opener last weekend. Enjoy!

Val Capone talks about being a Star Wars Nerd after the jump!

Evil Alice of the Bad Apples - Sacramento, CA 1st Bout Dec. 09 @ Red Red

2010-02-07T13:11:00.000-08:00

[Thanks to Evil's mom for sending me this link!]

Sweet Alyce. Web Mistress, Co-Head Non Skating Official, PR Contact, Display Case Maker

2010-02-07T09:33:00.000-08:00

Ok...I guess I can live with this decision for now...Coach Quad Queen was very nice in saying that anytime I want to skate a scrimmage or what not that I am welcome to come back to skating...Made my heart feel better...

At least I don't have to use this blog as a way to track my attendance anymore....so now I can just yack and yack at will...which is what I'll do...My blog will still be about derby...just different than it was before...More derby art...photos I take of my league...the challenges of being an NSO for the five home bouts this coming year....etc...

I came across this blog post yesterday that made me so nostalgic. Reminded me of the day I discovered roller derby....

From http://carichblogs.wordpress.com

The one where she talks about roller derby…February 6, 2010

*

This person, (Jonny Stranger), interviewed Catalac from TXRD Hellcat's team. I remember her from the Roller Girls DVD series. I wish the interviewer would have asked her about her injuries over the years...I'm curious...She's been playing since 2001....that's hopeful.

Two Helmet Bows Down. :(

2010-02-04T09:43:00.000-08:00

Hi Mountain Derby Girls and Boys,

It’s with a heavy heart (and helmet bows), that I have to let you all know that I have decided to retire from roller derby, if you can even call it that since I never played the scrimmage or a bout since Nov. 17th when I was injured.

My husband found out he will need to have both of his hips replaced this coming year. It is one reason why I can’t afford to get hurt again right now.

...Redacted...

Thanks to all again for one of the best and most challenging years of my life.

XOXO
-Sweet Alyce 3.14
Retired.

I just love this photo because I had no idea that Twisted Trixie kissed my helmet until I saw the photo later that night...plus it's the last pic in my skates, and the last one with long hair....

Referee and Non-Skating Officials Training Day

2010-01-25T19:23:00.000-08:00

Thanks so much to Coach Quad Queen for setting up this very cool day of learning how to complete all the carious forms for scoring and stats during a bout. I learned so much. It's right up my alley to keep stats and to make the software work the way we want it to, so this was extremely fun and useful...People came from Merced's Rollin Roulettes Derby Girls, from Stockton's Port City Roller Girls and from Modesto's SiNtral Valley Roller Girls. Talon and Roadkill Will were awesome! It was also great to meet Jayleen, who is Kileron's sister and she seems to be responsible for turning on some of our players to derby back last January..so ya gotta love her! She and I will be working on being proficient and organizing and training other NSO's as we go down our path of derbydom...That will be great to work with her.

After that a bunch of us went to the casino for some food and pool and gambling. It rocked major that Twisted Trixie was able to come and play after wards...I'm sure all the girls were beat too because I think they scrimmaged for like two hours straight, with learning bits in between. I just am so transported to another world when I watch my team play. I adore each of them just for being who they are...we are truly 'lucky' to have found each other... and thanks again to our Coach and assistant coaches who volunteer their time to make us better players...

Went to the physical therapist today. He was not convinced of the ortho doctor's conclusion that it was my iliotibial band (sp) that was hurt. But by the end of my appt. it certainly seems that it is the 'culprit' as opposed to my back making my knee hurt. I have 8 PT sessions scheduled out now and hopefully the guilt trip from work ends as I go through this repair process....I'm way over being singled out at work...they can suck it, seriously.. I do a lot there and just because I work in a quicker fashion than most I guess they think they can keep piling tasks on me, even after they've made union agreements which cut my pay. I work for money. Simple as that. I'm not retired and this is my career. Equal pay to equal work is how I see it....

Anyhoozle...I'm glad that there is hope for my knee and it will be better soon. I just have to play one real bout at least...maybe I will love it so, and maybe I'll be able to overcome the scary nerves before a bout...Although I've heard more than one skater say you are always nervous before a bout...Sounds like too much for me ..but we'll see. I'm having fun now so that's what matters now.

Pics from Sunday's learning:

2010 Display Case Creativity Fest!

2010-01-19T22:57:00.000-08:00

Alright, it wasn't all that..yet...I'm just warming up to the space. But we have the red background in place...(lines and all)...Gerle Haggard, my creative co-designer helped decide on a red colored background...I added the recruiting sign...(could be larger, but the two friends of the twins that were visiting thought it was large enough to read)... Then I scratched on four black fleur d'lis sort of patterns around the corners...After consulting with Nicki Spitts, we decided that instead of differentiating between the team High Country Hellcats and the league of Mountain Derby Girls wasn't necessary yet. Maybe when the second team is more formed we can do that...So I slapped a couple of High Country Hellcat stickers in the top corners...

Next, I'll be printing out larger photos of my lovely and talented team mates, their names and numbers. And also a giant HOME and AWAY bout schedule for this exciting Inaugural year.

By the time I went to the store for some red background and got that stuff up, it was 9pm already. But before we left, Sheeda Bomb was very cool and she and Nicki demonstrated the new whip they've been trying out..S O C O O L! I'm just so proud of everyone...! THEY ARE AWESOME!

School started again today so back to juggling everything...There must be a happy medium between school, work, and derby. Two classes instead of four should be a lot smoother than four classes..I hope.

Let's see....other news? Well, Kimstigator has had her cast taken off! Very good. Ammo needs to still be careful with her ankle as a long walk bruised it up again, but she's skated a few times now and is holding up. What else...hmmm...Oh Stihl Queen brought up needing a babysitter tonight and I thought of a roller derby child care center...a very niche job...But I could see it being used for derby girl moms...

I have an early meeting at work tomorrow so here's one picture...I love this team photo and think it's a really neat way to do it...

The Angel City Derby Girls

Useless no more....!

2010-01-11T07:30:00.000-08:00

I discovered that there are a lot of ways I can help my team from the sidelines while I wait to find out the future of my knee. There's the turning down and turning up of the music...timing the laps during endurance drills...take photos of the lovely players...and cheerleading...Maybe I can invent a cheer leading outfit and finally be the cheerleader I wanted to be in high school, but was too much of a st**** chick to even bother trying out. :) I could probably take attendance also. Anything to lighten the load.

They did a rehearsal of the show warm-up. Did MANY laps. And some other drills that don't have names yet....

Afterwards we went out for pizza and I finished three more player bio interviews for Slambo, our ref. Bryan, and Gerle Haggard...We had a chance to talk about things so I think these social nights are kind of important for that reason.

I've been sad not skating, but I can participate in the stretching portion at the start and end of practices and I do need that movement.

Planning night....and not planning

2010-01-07T23:11:00.000-08:00

I planned to be at the meeting tonight at 7pm. I didn't plan on infecting my dear team mates with my germs...No way could I have missed that meeting though. It was a must meet situation as there is so much to do for our first bout on February 20th.

First off, let's clear up the fact that Stihl Queen WAS at the first practice of the year on Sunday....she had to leave just seconds before we took this team picture. This is also the last picture of me with long hair, as the next day I had it cut up to my shoulders.

Chisel Bit, Jodrlicious, Kileron, Sheeda Bomb, Block N Deckher, Sweet Alyce, Twisted Trixie (so cute kissing my helmet....), Ref. Bryan, Pinkie Lee, Pitchfork, Ammo, and insert invisible Stihl Queen...cuz she was there too...

I apologize for being germy around my friends...We got a lot of things worked out for the 20th bout. Who is doing what, and all that jazz. I have a new responsibility that I was actually thinking about before it was offered and that is to take care of our glass photo display case at the arena. Along with the lovely and talented Gerle Haggard whose artistic skills are notorious because she makes the cutest cards and gifts for people..very creative she is....That will be fun to make. If anyone on the team has a specific photo of themselves that they'd like to see in the display case, please let me know. I'll put it in.

holy rollers minishrines by ~iron-kitsune

Not sure if I mentioned that I picked up my xray at the hospital, and in typical useless healthcare fashion, no one called to tell me the possible injuries to my knee. However the diagnosis says: "radiographic evidence of a joint space effusion. Mild spurring is present involving the superior pole of the patella. Mild narrowing of the medial joint compartment of the knee. Possible etiologies include: a) injury to the nonosseous structures of the knee; b) joint space infection, c) arthritus, d) occult fracture. I go to the ortho. doctor on Monday.

Roller Derby Rumble by ~Chickenoftheland

After the meeting, I was walking to my car and RevRa asked if I wanted to go out for a bit. The bowling alley was having a DJ that night. Of course I went. We had a lovely, relaxing time chatting. I always dig hanging out just bs-ing with any or all of the sk8trgurls...they fucking rule! Each and every one of them are unique and getting to know them is so great.

Rollerderby2 by *maskofmemories

Depending what happens at the doctor I'll know if I should be playing roller derby or not. It also just comes back to my main rule of life...I'll do it as long as I can live with the worst possible consequences. In my mind, the worst possible consequences is being paralysed from a fall, these falls can happen in practice or at a bout or in a scrimmage...so there's no really perfectly safe way to play. I don't see me ever being ok with that, and yet I don't see me ever leaving this sport either. Puts me in a real crappy position. At some point I hope it becomes clear what to do. Also I know that even if I decide to not play, I'll still want to be involved. I could be a super volunteer and do a lot to assist the league. The website, the display case, anything....I'm just very attached to the ladies and always want to support them.

SuperCoffee Spindlies 5 by ~sammiebookworm

Let's see...what else...? Oh, the first live bout on Derby News Network will be Saturday the 9th at 3:45pm our time. It's a double header. Milwaukee's BrewCity Bruisers head down to Indiana to take on North Central rival Fort Wayne. Justice Feelgood Marshall and Val Capone will announce the game.

*all the art on this post is from the awesome deviant art website....

Despite the sore knee, despite the smashed toe...still rolling with my girls...

2010-01-03T22:09:00.000-08:00

First practice of 2010...!

How amazing and wonderful to be back in the arena with my team!!

I tried on my skates a couple hours before practice to see if I could get my blood-spurting, Mt. Vesuvius toe in there without reactivating the red fountain of gore that it was a few days ago...check. Next I lifted my other leg up slowly to see if my knee would snap in half from the weight..I could feel the extra weight straining my knee, but nope, no snapping...Woo Hoooo! That put and end to my over-active imaginings of what it would be like to try and skate again...I felt much better at that point. I wrote on my facebook and the lovely Chilli Jam from Australia left me a nice post. It's been so grim since Nov 17th, waffling back and forth wondering if I could or would ever skate again...It's been like being a wounded animal in a pack...

Though I used to get dressed for practice out in the arena on a bench or something.. this time I wanted to be in the Cat House with the ladies...When I first went in the arena, cleaning day was still happening and I saw Pinkie Lee, and Ammo, and Block N Deckher first in the pro-shop, then Sheeda Bomb with a vacuum, then I saw Kileron, (who has a very sweet smile, btw). Next in was Stihl Queen, who for some reason, we like to hug sometimes...generally we aren't a huge team of huggers, and yet the love is overwhelming between us...at least that's how I feel when I see each of them...Stihl's husband bought her a pair of Wicked skates for xmas, she's very excited! Jodrlicious was back after a long time, Chisel Bit, Twisted Trixie, P.Fork...11 of us attended the first practice of this new year and new decade....and I was armed (or legged?) in my new GIANT Triple Eight knee pads.

To be safe, once I was dressed I brought everything except my laptop with me on the first trip across the floor..No need to fall and break it, I thought. The first step down to the floor, (which is like one inch high), was iffy, it hurt my knee when I stepped down and you know you turn your knee out ward a bit. After that it was ok, I took it real, real slow. Having not moved at all in like 7 weeks I really needed to just stretch and relearn in a sense how to move. When Coach QQ came to the floor, the ladies were in the center circle stretching. Everyone was sitting down and I got this horrible feeling that if I sat down I wouldn't be able to get back up without help. So I stood there, like a silly, while Coach laid out the 2010 season for us.

We're adding a half an hour to the Sunday and Tuesday practices now so that the first 45 minutes can be new player practice time, and the rest for other players. And we've moved our monthly meetings to the second Sunday of each month.

I was tempted to jump right into drills again, but I didn't at first. I just skated slowly, stretched etc. I got a charlie horse on the bottom of each foot a few times..three times I had to remove my skates. That started to happen towards the end of last year and I'm not sure why. I laced up a little looser and went on about skating the best I could. Jodrlicious was free skating around a bit and in a hilarious moment we plowed right into each other...and it happened in like slow motion...Very funny...Luckily I landed on my right hip (and no I didn't have my padded shorts on)..it didn't hurt too much and we took the time that we had laid out on the floor to chat a little and catch up... :)

At one point we did a little rehearsal of our 'show warm-up' that was cool and with time we'll be really smooth and solid looking while we do that...I did participate in that and luckily there's only once that we take a knee so that is ok. I can do that I think. Mostly I'm concerned about landing hard and being able to get up again quickly.

As soon as Coach Q sends me the group photo from practice I'll post it...

It's nice to be back on the Sweet Alyce blog and I would like to thank everyone who reads it...thank you!

See ya'll on Tuesday @ practice!

∞♥☮∞ Sweet Alyce 3.14 ∞♥☮∞

Red Red Holiday TODAY!

2009-12-12T07:52:00.000-08:00

WOO HOO!!! Gerle Haggard, Nicki Spitts, Sheeda Bomb, P. Fork, Slambo, and me are on our way to RED RED today!!!

Click to enlarge

Join the Sac City Rollers as we host our 4th annual charity Roller Derby tournament.

Teams from across the state are joining us to take part in a year-end tradition - the Red Red Holiday Invitational. Skaters from all participating leagues have their names put into a hat, then twelve teams are formed at random. Participants are guaranteed to make some new friends and possibly skate with their Derby heroines... or their rivals! It's a celebration of the end of another Derby season, and the start of the winter holidays.

All proceeds from Red Red Holiday 4 will benefit the Sacramento Food Bank. Last year, because of the generosity of California roller derby fans, we were able to donate over $3000 to help feed needy families. We will be accepting any donations of canned goods throughout the event. A can or two from every skater and fan would go a long way towards supporting this amazing charity.

The tournament will be an all-day event on Saturday, December 12th, at Norcal Indoor Sports, 1460 Tanforan Ave, Woodland, CA. Doors open at 11:30am, and play starts at 12:30pm, with the Championship bout to start at 8pm.

Don't miss a California Jr. Roller Derby scrimmage before the semi-finals! As always, we will be featuring vendors, a beer garden, and raffle prizes. Tickets are available in advance for $15 from Brown Paper Tickets or at the door for $20. As always, we have discounted pricing for kids. Children ages 6 and under get in free and 7- to 12-year-olds admission is $7 at the door.

Bunk City!

2009-11-24T23:15:00.000-08:00

Kimstigator broke her ankle in three places as soon as I got there...glad I was there with my crutches. Ammo is ace bandaged up and that concludes Tuesday's practice...

*sigh*

MDG First Scrimmage with SiNtral Valley Derby Girls

2009-11-22T23:59:00.000-08:00

It's been so hard to start this post because it's not easy for me to encapsulate my deep emotions that day.

First of all, seeing my team in white shirts was a new experience.

Typical of me, I panicked a bit when I was asked to do the 30 second timer along with the jam timer. So take that panic and increase it a million times and that might show how nervous everyone who has never played a scrimmage before with another team. I see from facebook that it was Purple Push Her's first scrimmage. Her team mates yelled at her a lot to call of the jam, I noticed. Personally, I do better with encouragement and calm explanations of what I'm doing that seems incorrect, but hey all teams work differently I think. Another thing discovered this week is that it seems that some teams even have new players use the term "fresh meat" in front of their names. It's not a gang for goodness sake...but again this is just my opinion. All teams work differently.

The ladies from Modesto and Stockton have been IMMENSELY helpful to us and we owe them a lot for their service...THANK YOU to them. It's like having a lot of big sisters.

I only cried two or three times during the scrimmage, once when I saw the team having their equipment checked by the officials. Once when the scrimmage started, P. Fork went out to play, and it hit me hard that I couldn't play too. Then I cried when Ammo fell...then everyone took a knee while she was tended to. That taking a knee during in injury is going to make me cry every time it happens I think. It's just too nice, and so respectful that it makes my heart melt.

I don't have kids so I guess the feeling of being proud of something I was part of was a little new for me...Proud is a good word...not a dirty word. When you put yourself into something with a group and it begins to come to fruition it does make a person feel proud...I would have been more proud of myself if I could have played. But proud of the team as a whole FOR SURE....They were all so beautiful, conquering their own fear and digging right in to the game at hand. Each woman with her own reasons for playing this sport, finally doing it. It was amazing!

The final (unofficial) score was 94-94. I'm sure it's a debatable score but it was perfection for this scrimmage if you ask me. As far as I know, there are no tie games, over time must be played, but in this case, although both teams were ready to put in a OT group, it was decided to let the tie stand.

I sat with Mermad, Rachel, Bill the derby widow of Sheeda Bomb and a person from SiNtral, whose name I never got, in the center track during the scrimmage. I have to say that it is then that I decided unless my head could suddenly spin all the way around, it was quite the uncomfortable position to watch a bout, unless you were a ref or other official with skates on...

Each and every jam absolutely floored me...I could not believe how professionally everyone played. It didn't seem like their first times at all and that speaks to the overcoming of fear that each woman had to do within themselves...I'm just so sorry that I couldn't experience that with them. Hopefully in December...where we are playing away from our home base...we can all freak out and go for it together then...assuming I am chosen to play at that bout, of course.

That after party and Bobbi's wonderful house was fantastic. People yacking around a fire is such an ancient way of being that I think it brings out the best in us humans...it's a perfect place to be...all warm and safe.

I'll save the after after party info for posterity... let's just say my throwing up from drinking streak has ended... ;) And Gerle Haggard is the chick you want to be with when you have to hurl...believe me...(Thanks LOVE!)

Well...it's quarter to 6..and I need a shower before practice tonight...maybe I'll edit this and spruce it up later on...

The rink seems like a stadium when crossing it in crutches...

2009-11-19T23:11:00.000-08:00

This picture kind of depicts how I fell on the outside of my left knee

Yeah that totally sucked tonight. Watching your team practice from the bench and being unable to play is a form of torture for a derby girl. I am really missing a big chance to play in an important scrimmage and it makes me very angry thinking about what I would have learned and how I would have been able to contribute to, or take away from *heh*, this. Pollyanna Pitchfork, originally the first alternate is playing in my place now on Sunday. My knee had better heal quickly and thoroughly is all I can say, because I am playing in Sacramento in December!

I recalled something from Tuesday's practice that I wanted to make a note of...I believe at one point Sheeda Bomb knocked four blue players off the track at once...that was rad.

Red Hot Ta Molli is air-brushing shirts for some girls, Kilaron's looks hella cool.

So enough brooding, it is what it is, this injury and situation that I've co-created. You know how I love data and statistics, Coach says I can take stats during the scrimmage. That will be good for me to learn. And on the bright side, I can continue to try to beat other derby girls in Bejeweled... :)

I forgot to tell Block N Decker, after going out on crutches last night, that I wasn't going to go to the casino after practice like I planned..crap...Well I'll call her.... As soon as I can walk I want to go there while she is working and during a comedy show...because I doubt she likes to hang out there when she isn't working...same how I don't like studying at the library when I'm off work.

When I came home last night I quickly, and very accidentally went to toss wood in the fire and knelt down on my hurt knee....Click here to hear what that sounded like.

Oh yeah, and in case you haven't seen it, the team we play Sunday left us a few comments on our league myspace page. www.myspace.com/mountainderbygirls.

Bopped by Boppin 76....

2009-11-18T00:37:00.000-08:00

Let's all say goodbye to my little friend, once known and loved as my left knee...

Four skaters came up tonight...I think all with Port City Roller Girls. Boppin 76, Shannibal Wrechher, Tiny Tornado and Loco Lisa....(two of them aren't on Two Evils so not sure what's up with that...could be like a Gerle Haggard sitch...But sorry to them for not being able to track down a link for em...was so cool of them all to come up...It's really crazy cool the way other playrers have come up to assist us over the past year...REALLY COOL. Huge difference between what how Crust All Mighty plays and how these girls played...they were told they didn't have to hold back on us at one point...I don't think we've even ever been told we don't have to hold back on each other before... or it would have likely been one of my own team mates to knock me down between February and today...Anyway...she hit me legally and them are the breaks...but it might have been good to let us all know that scrimmage to some teams is not a scrimmage to us...Maybe it should be called something else when it's truly a practice and not a scrimmage called a practice...All I can say is scrimmage and practice, whatever the fuck it gets termed, had better have the same insurance coverage..Personally, if I can ever play this game without knee pain again, I will strive to be a positional blocker like Crust taught us, and not just there to knock chicks off the track...too dangerous for a bunch of women who do this at their monetary and bodily expense...IMHO..

Anyway...the Coach let me jam tonight and thankfully I was knocked down during one jam by Miss Boppin 76, who I adore...Nothing broken - thank the Roller Derby Goddess! Tripp was cool with the insta-icepack, too bad I'm such a moron I didn't read the directions and didn't know how to make it cold..Last time I used something "magic" like that was a hand warmer at a NINER game in the 80's... I thought he said rub it til it got cold...like a chill jeanie in a bottle or something....Thankfully our experienced Coach knew to crack it on something and viola...cold as congress...! So..lil aspirin, lil ice and a lot of my cloak of invisibility trick and I'll be golden by Sunday at 2pm....

After practice the Port City ladies had to drive home unfortunately, or they would have enjoyed my birthday night with some of us tonight...Twisted Trixxie, P. Fork, RevRa, Block N Decker, Nicki Spitts, Gerle Haggard, Kilaron, Stihl Queen, Ammo, and Bryan one of our refs...I may be forgetting someone all went to Steve's after practice. Here's a tip..if there are no cars and the door is closed at Steve's that means it might still be open...A stranger bar person and the bartender bought me a beer..(one I took as a token for next time cuz no way do I want to get a DUI)....but that ruled...Some of them played pool, some played darts but it was just so nice to be in that warm bar with the wood stove and the coolest people ever...great birthday night!

Plus it was so sweet how everyone sang HBD to me after practice and before we left....Lesson being, YOU WILL GET HURT, AND YOU WILL LOVE IT, JUST TO BE WITH THESE REMARKABLE WOMEN!!! I don't care if my leg is attached to my head Sunday...I will do my best for them.

I can't believe male sports players get paid to do this stuff...Derby is SO MUCH MORE entertaining than most sports and these ladies give their money, their sweat, their bodies, and their true honest selves to roller derby...We work as co-ops....Voluntary Associations...all working for the betterment of our teams as a whole...It makes me freaking misty...

Anyway, now I have another TKO to think about while I play Sunday...it's like porn for my derby girl mind to imagine playing for payback...Stihl Queen can remind me all about my temporary rage when I need it most Sunday....Oh yeah..the after party is at her house Sunday after the scrimmage...the photos can be the first posted on the new, ALL skater owned:

http://rollerderbygirlafterparty.com

Oh! and one more thing....my double secret code word for keeping my new mouthguard in is working like a charm...almost always...I just turn my head when I choke now so there will be no more pictures of that whole scene... ;)

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me....Happy Birthday to me.eee...

Sometime before the last day of November I will answer my email...One more day of work tomorrow...some more homework to get in by the 22nd at midnight, and the scrimmage and I am doing like a movie star after a long, remote shoot...I'm going to find a hot tub to sit in until Nov 30th when work starts again....Would it be wrong to thank the Feds and State for losing all of our money and fucking over our budgets so I can have a relaxing spell of not working for the MAN?! Maybe...but fuck it...

No pics tonight...a hot bath and a bottle of aspirin await Sweet (and now sore) Alyce...

*
Update 11/18/09: Not broken. On crutches for three weeks (OR LESS I HOPE!)...Starting to swell up finally...(I kept wondering how something with no bruise and no swelling could hurt SO much..)

Choke, Gag, Puke

2009-11-12T23:30:00.000-08:00

Dear Roller Derby Goddess:

Please allow me to be able to hold a mouth guard in my mouth during a jam at least, and preferably for a whole bout/scrimmage.

In Roller Love,

-Sweet Alyce 3.14

This practice I was given the chance to play jammer. If not for the fact that I couldn't keep the freaking mouth guard in, in addition to the exceptionally dirty and slippery floor, it would have gone great.

While showering before leaving to the arena, it happened to be 7pm again and that meant the it was time to get the Led out on the classic rock station. Since I seem to have a musical block lately and can't think of what I want to hear, I grabbed my giant boxed set of Led Zeppelin albums...that was nice to listen to...

Stihl Queen and I were ready to hit the floor and the man-hockey guys have been nice about ending when we are ready. I appreciate their cooperation. It is fair to keep your agreements.

Anyway so I feel like when we're stretching that I need to become stronger, rather than more stretched out, actually, in addition to being stretched out I want to do things that strengthen my back and stomach. We did do a drill or two that focused on our thigh and hip strength, that was good. And I really liked the Coach demonstrating the proper form of bending..where and how to bend... I had been doing that Rodney Yee Mountain Pose (yoga position) and that helps me feel balanced with my skates..I'm constantly aware of balancing my body over the four wheels and being in the position that best distributes my weight. I want to feel sturdy, like a giant tree..rooted and balanced and strong.

So I bought two youth-sized mouth guards..will try to get them fitted and in before Sunday afternoon. I've been doing mouth guard practice and trying to leave it in while I do homework...

I have a ton of suggestions now to improve and expand our main website - http://mountainderbygirls.org. We're going to add a separate page for each player that they can update and Stihl obtained a list of good questions for each player to answer and I'll put it up on their page. I wanted to start this weekend but I need to be positive all my homework that's due is turned in first. Not positive about the LIBT212 class....And I still have the start of the group project due on the 17th so I'd better get on it...So ladies who might see this blog, be prepared to get all insightful on your own derby asses....soon...

xoxox!

Roller Derby Girl by ~SpottedPonyRider

Oh I forgot to mention..crap..I forgot again...!

Made the roster for the scrimmage...barely

2009-11-10T23:00:00.000-08:00

Well...I'm pretty sure if Mermad weren't hurt I wouldn't be playing on the 22nd....Seems like attendance, dues and passing the min. requirements will only be used when they need a reason to keep you off of a roster...Skill gets you on a roster no matter how much you show up or pay or if you passed the skills test, oh, and injuries to other, better players that'll get you on a roster..(me) ..I'm playing a blocker position...not a jammer...I'll do my best, of course, but will probably be pulled out to let P.Fork play....that's my prediction...For some reason, having the same first name as P. Fork has caused some strange comparisons between she and I...Or is it our close ages? Who knows...?

Part of me thinks that everyone should play at least one jam since this isn't even an official bout...it's a practice with another team...Hope I do ok and don't let my team mates down...

Scored 50.5 out of 84 on the written WFTDA quiz...

Pinkie Lee saw Jenn from Folsom the other day and passed on some good info...such as...no matter how much you drill you won't really 'get it' until you play another team...

Still don't know if Folsom won their bout or not...I think I saw one thing that said they did, not sure...

Paso Robles wants to bout on the 16th of January...and there's a Sacred B-team thing in December...

Crust is All Mighty Alrightie!

2009-11-09T14:24:00.000-08:00

It was very cool of Crust to answer more questions for us at practice. The suckie part is that I could only be there for one hour of her lessons and then I had to leave for the concert that I had pre-approved with Coach via email. I learned about how to skate the track as a circle and not an oval, VERY handy to know.So I missed half an hour more of lessons, and the next step in endurance of 8 two minutes on/off sessions. It must have been great judging from facebook because Kileron said it felt 'like a brand new team', I believe so that's fantastic to read.

roller derby by *eternalrequiem

Pinkie Lee is back from her trip and I was able her, as opposed to show her and let her eat her birthday cake. Hopefully Slambo has the pics on her camera and sends them to me. Pinkie would probably be pleased to know how happy the cake made Crust at last practice. Crust said she had been recently in search of cake...so that worked out.

Ammo made a great point that we need to have an emergency contact list handy to everyone at all practices, and maybe even all be trained in first aid. I asked Stihl a couple of questions about how she handled things with Mermad. The emergency list is a great idea.

Welp...back to work for me...

We ♥ Mermad

2009-11-05T23:30:00.000-08:00

Our team mate was seriously injured @ practice Thursday night...

On the lighter side of the news, Crust All Mighty visited us and is still deciding if she is moving here for sure. She is from the North Star Roller Girls, Minneapolis, MN, (same state my birth father is from actually). She was so cool and has the nose I always wanted to boot. We asked her a lot of questions and learned so much from her. I hope she joins and I hope she plays with us on the 22nd. It might sort of make up for not having Mermad now. So the hockey people were late getting off the track again, and again I say that behavior isn't acceptable when we pay for the time just like they do. Why would they assume we want to give them our time, I don't get it...I'll try to remember to bring it up at the next meeting..but maybe it will just be explained away that 'they're just boys' and that will somehow allegedly make it ok...?

So we did drills and I didn't fall on my knees but for once to do the two knee fall. That was not the brightest thing I've ever done in derby. I stepped out to get Mermad's home number because someone, I forget who now, asked me to call her husband. When I came back inside they were doing one more time, (7-two minuteseses on/off, instead of 6 like last time), drill and I jumped in and did one session and thought you know what I'm not even warmed up yet on account of all the hoopla going on so I stopped. Then the last half and hour we did 5 blue on 5 black and I used my new strategy of one less time using the sweaty panty on my helmet thing and Coach Q called Crust to jam with me. It was weird how unalarmed I was, that isn't like me. I might have been in shock though because of Mermad's pain.

We took off and she did go in front of me, but since everyone was trying so much to block her, I scooted through on the inside...seems like sometimes it's good to follow the other jammer into the pack and other times to go the opposite way...so many split decisions to make when being a jammer. I like how it's so computery like that. Anyway, that made me lead jammer and then I was going around to get through the pack to make points and Coach said something to me as I went by, all I heard of it was that Crust was right behind me, I fell at that point, got back up and kept going. Must have either been 2 minutes or I don't know what..right now thinking back I'm not sure what happened after I slipped and the jam ending...But oh wait yeah, I remember now..or no I'm not sure if I called off the jam with Crust or with Gerle Haggard. But I do remember now calling off a jam...cuz I really love making that gesture...it's PSYCHO HOT!

Ok..the last thing I wanted to mention, without dwelling on the horrifying incident with Mermad, is that Kileron made me laugh so hard when she said to me, "You know you can put those phone numbers IN the phone..." ROTFLMFAO! Pierce taped mine and his cell numbers and the phone card code to the outside of my cell phone that I never use..Maybe next time she can tell me how to reinput the voicemail phone number that I somehow erased...I have three messages on there....oh I mean IN there... :)

New Kitty! Nada Energy. Fuck It!

2009-11-03T22:11:00.000-08:00

I am burnt out tonight....I used three vacation hours to do my homework this morning...Worked 6 hours (4 of them at circ.) and now I've gotten into way too deep of a conversation with Pierce about 'diversity'...*grrr*

Last night was my first practice with Coach QQ back from her leave.

I jammed first with Nicki Spitts and I fell on my way around the track. But I forget about lead jammer...and the rules surrounding that..(if I had sufficient energy I would be studying WFTDA rules, but I don't)...so I forgot that I can fall and still be lead jammer and I believe that makes me able to call off the jam...and so once Nicki was ahead of me and asked if I wanted to call it off, I was all hell yes and she reminded me I was lead jammer...Did I already say that I think that means that we both score points, but I can call it off? I'm tired...(too tired to link Nicki's myspace page, which you should all have by now anyway...We should add websites to our league roster...

We have a new (new kitty!) player coming tomorrow night with her boyfriend..It's a surprise so I cannot divulge any more details...

Plus there's a total other surprise happening...tomorrow's practice is going to kick more ass..and I will try to jam first again so I don't get sweaty panty on my glasses while trying to put that dang thing on over my helmet bows....

Fuck it.

Oh yeah! I forgot to mention how cool it was that P.Fork ot only knew who Pearl Harbor and the Explosions were, but had seen them in concert in the past.... weeeee! :) Cool.

Down but not out...yet...

2009-11-01T23:11:00.000-08:00

I missed Thursday and now Sunday's practice. I was able to get to the Joe Buck show which was so incredibly fun, as usual. But the bands were really, really great too!

http://joebuckyourself.com You can hear his music there before you purchase....Very talented musician...

http://www.myspace.com/357stringband

http://www.myspace.com/drivinnails

http://www.myspace.com/frankenstein59

Here are some pictures from Friday night....

I like this one since the most of us are in it..

And of course we have to thank Mike @ Don't Call Me Mike Productions for setting up this gig for us...I'm pretty sure I can speak for all of us Mountain Derby Girls in attendance - we had a blast and thank you!

I was late getting there because I had just received a quiz score back from my CSS - Cascading Style Sheets class. I tried not to stop getting ready in order to see what the deal was with the 18/20 since I knew I took an exceptional amount of my time to read this text and answer the 20 questions...I was almost positive they were not correct in the scoring. So I gave-in and found my supporting evidence and asked for an explanation if I was actually incorrect because I was obviously missing something then. Anyway...I was late...

[and then today I found out that it was a "data entry" mistake and my score of 20/20 was restored]

[This picture goes with this neat blog post of a roller derby experience]

I'm pretty up to date/ahead in my classes, (Except for the thing due November 5th that the instructor hasn't posted the discussion topic so I don't know what else I can do other than I emailed her about it..), after working my ass off today, and yesterday, though I did hang out online, fucking around, a bit longer than I'd planned to yesterday. My goal is to attend every November practice and feel like I did my best in the scrimmage on the 22nd, also work my 40 hours, and do the class work I need to do. I think I made a good plan to accomplish all that...In fact, my dear friend Kevin said it was very mature of me.. haha..! Right...

The messed up thing is that for two weeks I've been promising a postcard to my Nona Laura...I have been making it my last priority..the very last...If I can just get that card written tonight before bed, or before mail pick up at work tomorrow, I'll be in perfect shape for the start of this week...

I ordered my name and number for my helmet today from http://wickedskatewear.com like Sheeda Bomb said we should do. Ladies, don't forget to get the code that gives you a 10% discount. I have it now if you don't.

I really loved hanging out with everyone Friday...Ed's and Lupita's were both fantastically fun...Everyone looked so gorgeous as usual and Tripp was at one place and the other ref Bryan was at the other place...Tripp even brought Mia...his awesome dog...we need some pics of her for the website...I'm just glad I took time out for that or I would be really depressed from not seeing my team mates for so long...

Goodnight and see everyone TUESDAY! FOR SURE.

∞♥☮∞ Sweet Alyce 3.14 ∞♥☮∞

Brutal...

2009-10-28T12:03:00.000-07:00

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....

2009-10-26T12:26:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-10-22T23:11:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-20T23:11:00.000-07:00

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:

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!!

2009-10-18T20:51:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-10-14T21:27:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-10-13T23:11:00.000-07:00

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....

2009-10-11T22:53:00.000-07:00

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...!

2009-10-08T23:15:00.000-07:00

Oh eM G!

-Sexy Roller Skating- by *ken1171 on deviant ART - 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

2009-10-07T01:07:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-04T22:29:00.000-07:00

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!!

2009-10-01T22:32:00.000-07:00

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...

Smash! Bang! Crack em up! ..Put em back again...

2009-09-25T04:00:00.000-07:00

Ok...that's a line from a different sort of derby...but it fits the incident at practice where at least five of us cracked up into a pile...

Let's go back and start at the beginning, shall we?

Just before practice we received an email from Sheeda Bomb telling us that she will be coaching us for now...She's cool, that's cool and all's cool with that...

I arrived to practice about 6:30 and it's always so fun to see everyone again as they arrive...I flipped on some tunes while we all readied-up and yacked...After my skates were on , I realized I had only put one knee pad on upside down - that's a big improvement from my normal dress-up fiascos... ;) So...skate off, knee pad off and flipped, skate back on and I was ready to roll.

It's still a little slow going for me trying to regain my strength after being gone for only a week, (but that's four practices), so I started off very slow skating and just trying to get the Mountain Pose feeling of stability again. I don't like this unstable feeling at all, totally buggin. I wish I could just lace up perfectly the first time, every time, so my skates feel like part of me. It takes one or sometimes two re-lacings to get them on just right.

We talked a little bit about the new coaching situation, about the possible Nov 7th mud-wrestling fund raiser, (No I will not be mud-wrestling, but I will be doing my part to contribute to the success of this event).

We did some fun drills, such as baseball sliding up and down the arena, up and down up and down - you know the drill-*heh* It's always amusing to see us chop chopping our way off the line..we did that one. I'm trying to recall the rest but as read on, you'll see why it's all kind of a blur...a VERY fun blur though...We did this new one where we stayed in a pack and Sheeda called out one name and that person had to take off from the pack, loop the track and get back in the pack...I liked that one because it's an interesting dynamic to see the balance of the skater trying to get around and the pack trying to stay together...I love the way everyone's bodies and our wheels work in concert so closely, there must be something scientific about this dynamic...all up in each others energy fields...Maybe it's something like a flock of birds flying in a pattern, the wind factor, something interesting happens there I think.

We had about forty minutes left when we suited up in our new blue and black mesh tanks and did some light-scrimmaging...I jammed twice and on the second one was paired up against Gerle Haggard, (first time was with Pollyanna Pitchfork). Gerle and I giggled and bumped fists, (because I saw that somewhere online or something about jammers fist bump and decided to do it too) and we took off, it was a bit confusing because when she went out of bounds I though the jam stopped as it seemed to when I went out of bounds on my first try, but it didn't so I kept going. I really have to practice not "blanking out" when I jam. I just remember taking the outside lane for the first time in my short and lame jamming career and wanting to try what happens to me when I'm the inside lane jammer, I was going to see if I could cut in front of her at the inside line...But no go, she jetted off ahead and I never got near her on the start...(god I'm so sluggish at this point..). Anyway...didn't touch her until *insert duh duh duuuuuuh* sound effect here until something tripped her up and omg five skater pile up! As we untangled ourselves I found my skate basically up Gerle's rear end, I think my toe stop hit her in the chin and I, or someone, who knows, ran over three of her fingers...Fucking A that was intense - So let me say sorry again to the lovely and talented Gerle who I hope isn't hurtin' too bad today.

After practice I learned that RevRa has invented a new system for indulging in libations after practice and prior to taking off to Steve's place. It was so fun because ladies who normally don't hang out too long after practice stayed around, Mermad, Trixie, RevRa, Nikki Spitts, Troubled Rachel, Pollyanna Pitchfork, Sheeda Bomb, Gerle Haggard, Nacho Hunny...(someone tell me if I forgot anyone..)...Rachel put on her car music and we had so much fun together, for like an hour, it was wonderful! Unfortunately, Pinkie Lee had to go....and probably others I didn't catch...I think there were 12 or so us there at practice.

Rachel, the twins and I went to Ed's to see Kimstigator after that. I didn't have to work the next day so I could finally relax. We had shots all around, (Hornitos, a new fave.). We yacked and then there was the coin slot staring us right in the face from a bar stool across from us and yes, when one twin dares another twin to do something, there's no turning back...I don't think coin slot girl will ever know how that penny got into her pants...unless she actually joins the team, which I heard she might...

I saw the bathroom at Ed's for the first time, there's a chalk board on the wall...Man we had fun leaving scrawls for each other on it...TOO FUNNY...I cannot remember what the last one is that I wrote and it doesn't show in the picture, but it was good for a laugh.

There were some nice guys there that I was talking with and there were some enjoyable conversations throughout the evening...At one point there was a scuffle outside between two tall guys, but not bad looking guys either. One guy had his dog with him, a black and white dog of some sort who looked like Helmut, but a dog. So I went out to film a little of that with my camera...No actual fight happened. Back inside let's see, how do I put this...Well, suddenly I felt someone's hand wrapping up in my pony tail and pulling my head back slowly...not like violent or anything..it was one of the tall guys who was fighting outside...he just smiled and I just looked at him with that NO YOU DIDN'T JUST DO THAT look...I have to say that is was a strange feeling for a married gal like me to have...Then later on, he actually spanked me! That one was a dare from one of the fun and evil twins I found out at closing time...

Ah, so closing time...I don't think I've ever been at any bar ever in my life at closing time. But in this case, Kimstigator was looking out for me and said to wait until the cops finished nabbing all the drunks off the road til I left for home. I seriously should have been wrecked and puking my guts up after a night of four large shots of this smooth tequila, but I was fine. Not the, "I'm so drunk I felt straight" thing, more the "I was having so much fun that I was immune to alcohol" thing.

Thus ends another Mountain Derby Girl practice night recap.

Oh, and when I got home, there was a baby bat in the terrarium with the little mouse we already have..another near cat casualty saved...I'll put a pic up of the bat later...it's so tiny...

[It's taken me forever to write this...so I apologize for not crediting all the art work properly...so a huge thank you to everyone who makes roller derby art and photos...you all RULE!]

2 Blue 2 Skate 2 Nite

2009-09-22T23:11:00.000-07:00

MISSING: My Sweet Alyce shirt is gone!!

2009-09-20T23:11:00.000-07:00

And I think it took my coordination with it!! This is tragic, my lovely black tank shirt for roller derby with my name and black kitty on the back and the Hellcats logo on the front has gone missing...I've looked everywhere...Jodrlicious even reminded me to check under my car seats and all I found were CD covers, (where I found the Jake LaBotz Sing This To Yourself CD cover I've been looking for), but not my favorite lucky best magic Sweet Alyce... :(

BTW..Jake has a new CD out I see....

Salama Derby roller girl V1 by ~Lenneth4

Anyway...we finished up our WFTDA minimum skills testing, and we had a very long discussion about shirts and mud wrestling November 7th...I just feel off somehow without my tank top...I mean yes I missed 4 practices while in Gatlinburg, TN...but still I think the missing shirt has something to do with this funky wonkie skating I've been doing the last two practices...Although the very wise bartendress at Steve's said only belief in superstitions make them real...so I suppose I shouldn't put so much into a mere shirt... *sigh*...

I don't even know by =Candy2021

Spitts, Pollyanna Pitchfork and I went out to eat and be merry after practice...that is all I'm authorized to say about that... *wink*

Instead of talking about practice..

2009-09-17T23:11:00.000-07:00

The Whip-It! Soundtrack

WHIP IT – MUSIC FROM THE MOTION PICTURE Track Listing

1. “Pot Kettle Black” – Tilly And The Wall
2. “Sheena Is A Punk Rocker” – Ramones
3. “What’s The Attitude” – Cut Chemist featuring Hymnal
4. “Bang On” – The Breeders
5. “Dead Sound” – The Raveonettes
6. “Blue Turning Grey” – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
7. “Your Arms Around Me” – Jens Lekman
8. “Learnalilgivinanlovin” – Gotye
9. “Boys Wanna Be Her” – Peaches
10. “Jolene” – Dolly Parton
11. “Caught Up In You” – .38 Special
12. “Never My Love” – Har Mar Superstar (feat. Adam Green)
13. “Black Gloves” – Goose
14. “Crown Of Age” – The Ettes
15. “HighTimes” – Landon Pigg featuring Turbo Fruits
16. “Unattainable” – Little Joy
17. “Lollipop” (Squeak E. Clean & Desert Eagles Remix) – The Chordettes
18. “Doing It Right” – The Go! Team
19. “Breeze” – Apollo Sunshine

5 New Whip-It Clips

2009-09-11T18:08:00.000-07:00

[3 missed practices.... :( Attending a library conference in Tennessee....]

*

From: www.aceshowbiz.com

Clip #1: Being Judged

Clip #2: Food Fight

Clip #3: Football Game

Clip #4: Ready, Set, Go

Clip #5: Stalking Me

Vote for our team picture on our local newspaper site!

2009-09-06T23:11:00.000-07:00

Click the photo and when the link opens click the VOTE AS BEST box...I mean...if you think it is the best of the choices you have...no pressure...

MDG

This practice was again led by Sheeda Bomb. Again with a surprise...not just endurance high (heart-attack-watch-like) endurance....Skate 5 minutes, break for 1, skate for 3 minutes, break for 1 (and a 1/2 ;), 25 modified push-ups, hold your body up on elbow and skate toes for 60 seconds, hold yourself up on elbow and hip, tricep muscle push-ups, 25 knee-drops across the arena, 20 bear-walks across 1/2 the arena....

I'm pretty sure I got some of everything done...maybe even most...Which would explain the lightning in my body two days later....("Are you having any pain?" "Yes I am." "Are you having any lightning with the pain?")

After this practice, and the usual hang out out front for a bit, commenced a WAY FUN-ASS-FUN WEEKEND....Spitts and I went to Steve's and Ed's. Then we decided to try the new restaurant within walking distance of Ed's which is now called Lupita's Eproson House...Excellent Mexican food, and graced by the charming Pablo who I just think is such a cool person...(and he smells nice...that's big in my book)...Plus he was so kind and all on my first visit..thanks to Pablo...!! We had a great time there...

Then we went to an undisclosed location to meet Rachel Trouble and Gerle Haggard....We all ended up at the twin's house trying on clothes and listening to music...so much fun!

I was home at a decent hour and got enough sleep to have more fun on Friday and Saturday nights..I laid low on Monday and also managed to get all my homework done..making me very ahead of the syllabus...gotta love that....!

Passed everything up to blocking which we'll do next time..

2009-09-04T19:46:00.000-07:00

That's about it from that night...Had everyone sign the Sierra Mountain Times...

Went out with the girlies afterwards...Steve's is fun....!

Awesome pics in this article

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 8:30 AM on 04th September 2009

Drew Barrymore brings sexy back into roller-skating as she poses in this risque magazine shoot.

To promote her directorial debut Whip It, inspired by the true story of a Texan roller derby league, Barrymore and her co-stars showed off their skating prowess in a sexy feature for Vs magazine.

Wearing skimpy outfits and roller-skates, Barrymore joins Juliette Lewis, Ellen Page and Zoe Bell as they recreate the action scenes from the forthcoming movie.

Get your skates on: Drew Barrymore shows her form as she promotes her directional debut Whip It for Vs Magazine

Barrymore, 34, shows off her slimmed down figure in a variety of sexy, punk outfits as she dresses like a raunchy roller derby girl.

The film stars Juno actress Page as misfit Bliss Cavender, who resists her mother's attempts to force her onto the beauty pageant scene.

Instead, she joins the Texas Rollergirls and becomes Babe Ruthless.

Roller derby is an American contact sport, in which opposing teams try to score points by overtaking each other on a circuit track.

Girls on top: A scantily-clad Drew crashes on top of co-star Ellen Page

Wild thing: Drew substitutes her skates for a £895 paid of leopard-print Christian Louboutin ankle boots with a 5 1/2 inch killer heel

In one shot, a scantily-clad Barrymore - who plays Ruthless' teammate Smashly Simpson, crashes on top of Page on the roller rink floor.

Wearing a pair of pink hotpants and a leather basque, Drew feigns shock as she sits astride her floored co-star.

In the colourful photos, shot by acclaimed photographer Ellen Von Unwerth, Lewis flaunts her slender figure in black bra, tutu and transparent body suit as she 'hangs out' in the locker room.

Girl power: Barrymore, Page, Zoe Bell and Juliette Lewis demonstrate their prowess

Hanging out: Lewis flaunts her slender frame in a transparent bodysuit

Enlarge

The full photoshoot and interview is in the new issue of Vs magazine

In the film, singer/actress Lewis plays rival roller derby player Iron Maven.

Playing up to the violent injuries players can often end up with in the game, Barrymore and Page pull their saddest faces as they hold ice bags to their 'bruised' face and ankle.

Barrymore admitted making the movie was a painful process and she regularly ended up with skating injuries while shooting the action scenes.

She told Time Out New York: 'What I love about the sport is that it’s real and high stakes. And by the way, it’s scary as s**t to do.

'I wouldn’t have guessed that the first film I directed would have a sports element, but then again it doesn’t surprise me, because I love girls getting to do what boys do.

'I love when [women] get to be women and not feel like they have to become a man in order to play in a man’s world.'

Playing tough: The group grapple on the floor

Battered and bruised: Roller derby is a messy game, but someone's got to do it

After 26 years in the film industry in front of the cameras, Barrymore admitted it was difficult to be the one in charge for a change - especially because she naturally rebels against authority.

She said: 'I wanted to throw myself in there so I could really go through what the girls were going through. I didn’t want to be that guy who said, “Just get in there.” I hate that - I hate dictatorship, I hate hierarchy, I hate sideline.'

Meanwhile, as well as promoting the film, Barrymore has also been filming Going The Distance with on/off boyfriend Justin Long.

Team work: The girls have a good hug

Despite splitting last year, the couple have frequently been spotted together in recent months, prompting speculation they have reunited.

Coy Barrymore told Time Out: 'We’re friends, and we love each other, and that’s all we know.'

To see more of the Whip It photo shoot in Vs magazine, visit the publication's website www.vsmagazinelive.com.

Whip It is released in the U.S. on October 2.

Flexible: |Bell warms up with some stretches

...stumbled on a Whip It widget today

My Left Skate...How I Survived a Surprise WFTDA Minimum Skills BLITZ!

2009-09-01T23:59:00.000-07:00

Pretend you just heard me telling my best friend about my entire day yesterday on the telephone.... Then add this..

I was answering a myspace request and passed the awesome REVRA's update..only to find (dot dot dot)...

Ra
can't wait to take out my aggression at derby!!! look out ladies, i've had a hard day!
at 3:37 PM Sep 1
Mood:neglected

I scoobied to the shower, gussied up, and went to 'roll it out', (as Rowdy to Ra to me said)...

When I DID get to practice Coach-Q tells us we're doing the WFTDA (Women's Flat Track Derby Association) Minimum Skills tests to see if we're ready to at least scrimmage...

OK. Fine...we'll pretend that I haven't been CONSCIOUSLY skating with BOTH feet and that I DID NOT NOT PASS 1.2.2...Ask Sheeda we both KNOW we know and do that 1.2.2..so ..umm..yeah...I'll see you at the do over, skill 1.2.2...ya rat bastard! ;)

The main thing is that we're all half way done and Thursday night will be the second half of the tests...

I would like to give AMMO a hug or two for her "DON'T GIVE UP, ALYCE!!" that she shouted during one of my last 20 laps in five minutes laps...Man was I tore up at that point..but it could have been way worse...I really started slowly so I didn't burn out like the quick-out candle that I can be sometimes..I paced myself...what a concept...

The most challenging part to me was the hopping. Keeping two feet together and hopping over an obstacle...

Thanks to RachelTrouble for this viddy link!

Coach's dad was there and made me laugh when he said that I "looked at him like he was a pervert when he was in the library last time.." - I kind of remembered that when he said it...I saw him and was wondering if that was her father but not knowing his name...Now I know his name.. :)

After practice some of us not to be named roller ladies went to Steve's where we met a local woman, (who happens to be distantly related to the authoress Eudora Welty), we signed another Sierra Mountain Times and we five talked about so many really groovy topics last night it's hard to choose one...books, lesbian experiences, music, (I dug imagining seing Dick Dale and the Del Tones as Nikki described there being two drummers playing at once), all sorts of fun we had..

In fact it's almost criminal how much fucking fun roller derby is...

"JOIN US".... (LOL!!!!!)

First after-practice at the mysterious Steve's Bar....

2009-08-30T23:11:00.000-07:00

Lotsa firsts at tonight's practice...Even though Gerle Haggard's car was in the lot I didn't think of knocking when I got to the arena and the doors were locked..So I sat outside in the heat and listened to Atmosphere at Outside Lands Live...I'm not sure if they did that song I like or not since they played past when I went inside...

The first first was my first time watching someone, (Stihl Queen) read this Sweet Alyce Blog... :)

The up and down on the knee drills with Sheeda tonight were a challenge...my legs started to hurt pretty quick..maybe I hadn't stretched out enough...got through that "wall" and then we did a few relay's back and forth which are always fun - going FULL-BLAST INTO the wall...(which I did only once even though I went on one knee to stop I was still going to fast so my skate hit the wall)...

Walking on my toes I realized helps be feel VERY much more stable in my skates. I suggested to Sheeda that we incorporate the on the tow jumping jacks into stretching and she asked if I would like to do the after practice stretching. I said yes...(scary...) But I did it and no biggie...except that it hurts today because I also did leg lifts with our gear on during the end-stretching period and that was hard...But I did really enjoy the jumping jacks on the toes.

A little out of order here, but towards the end we teamed up and did a couple jams...Good thing it caught me off guard when I saw my self lined up on the jam line with Kilaron...(*dun dun dunnnnn* that's supposed to be a sound effect)...anyway...I was scared for a sec...She did great and went right in front of me to the inside line...I think I usually been on the outside at the start in the past)...She went to lead jammer and then I'm not sure exactly what happened...it was kind of a blur...I had to pee right after that and next I saw her on the bench nursing her poor split open blister on her foot...

Here's a pic from that jam that Pinkie Lee took....I didn't know it was me when I first saw it...

After all was said and done, we had our after practice yack session out front and then Nikki, RevRa, Gerle and Sheeda and I all went to Steve's Bar...where the lovely and talented Sheeda bought me a couple beers which I will gladly repay her on our next night out...(thanks Sheeda!)...and the final first of the night was the bartender asking us to sign the back of the Sierra Mountain Times article about us from this past week. That was fun. It gave me the idea to get us all to sign one and put it up on the display case board at the arena..so I will have to remember to do that...

No extra pics tonight...gonna bask in the glory of my first cool action shot... and in B&W to boot..my favorite... :)

"The game is being played behind you...!"

2009-08-25T22:31:00.000-07:00

That's what it says on the top of the second page of my notes from this past weekend's roller derby clinic held at High Country Sports Arena where we practice...(I don't write their name out so much so I thought I'd link it here...if you like hockey, or just roller skating or need a place to have a party give em a ringie.)...

Here's what I saw when I got there Saturday...These are the two ladies who so kindly gave up their time to teach us...Rowdy Piper and Hellbound Harlot of the OC Roller Girls. Hellbound was with the Derby Dolls prior, and Rowdy Piper will be with the Dallas Derby Devils after she moves there this week.

Somewhat menacing for a brief second as a novice to the sport. We'll see just how novice I am in certain ways by the end of this story...(STOP LAUGHING STIHL QUEEN!) ;)

Going through my notes here, I see that my first note came from talking with Nathan Rule. He came up with Rowdy and Hellbound. I was asking him about what my husband Pierce could do and he mentioned the skateless refs and scorekeepers, timers and what-not..so good there's something he can do if he ever wants to...He also mentioned that since MDG has no refs yet that there is such a thing as rent-a-ref. In combination with what Rowdy told us, a couple of times even, that the game is the ref's game. You can play by the rules or not, but it's basically the ref's game.

Nathan also told me about wearing weights like three weeks of practice prior to a bout and how much faster you can skate once you take them off....that kinda blew my mind...I used to wear those ankle weights a lot when I was a carhop...it helped me skate lighter then and so I'm glad I've been reminded of that now...Finally Nathan solved our first derby disagreement in the officer's meeting a few weeks ago, it was the compromise I suggested to us disagreeing about a practices attended minimum. He said they usually have no rules about minimum practices except prior to a bout or scrimmage and that is that the skater must attend 6 or 8 practices in a row prior to one of those events. Sounds fair to me...I didn't care for being the lone person who didn't want a practice minimum, it's never fun. But I am glad we all had that great discussion about it...it was important that we all felt heard and think we all felt we were heard. Plus it was our first test of getting over disagreements.

Rowdy and Hellbound taught us about that as well. How to have the HONEST discussions while were in our stretching circle together prior to practices and after warm-up skating. I think it's a great place to do it..Moral of all that was - LEAVE IT ON THE TRACK. Again, I cannot imagine being done wrong by a skater possibly in the future and then "leaving it on the track" but you know, I think men athletes do that all the time...so fuck it..yes we can too.

Let me write this again because it was a sorta AHA moment for me....

THE GAME IS ALWAYS BEING PLAYED BEHIND YOU!

Equipment-wise, besides the fact that Rowdy's mum is married to the owner of Reidell Skates, we learned about knee-gaskets and TSG Force-3 knee pads, they don't slip-on, they velcro all the way on and off. I suppose you could wear both the gasket and the better knee-pad at once too. But it sounded like the Force 3 was enough on its own.

TSG Force-3 Knee-Pad

Also, we learned about metal being better than nylon plates, ceramic bearings and different toe-stops. As far as bearings, she mentioned Reds and Mini Logo. I won a set of Reds in the raffle so I'm saving them for my pink Mojo wheels if I ever want to switch to pink wheels...Maybe I will if and when I ever bout.

Last on my Saturday notes I see that Rowdy said she liked skating on wood and using Blue Zodiac wheels.

As far as drills went...WOWIE were they awesome! I see I didn't write them down like I thought I did, but Coach has a list I hear..I'll get that from her. I remember doing the hitting drill with Hellbound Harlot, making her the first actual derby girl I've hit...not to be confused with my first hitting with my own team mate Nikki Spitts. So these two ladies are on my dreamboat memories list. Ya never forget your firsts....

Another drill that was very new for us was going around the track acting as if you'd been hit out of bounds and practicing spinning back fast and getting back in the pack formation behind the person who knocked you out to avoid a penalty.

I also learned a lot about the importance of guarding the line...Being able to skate AT IT...not on it, not over it, not away from it..but AT IT...Even though great skaters can legally walk over the air above the line and sneak past you...it's a very important position to be in.

We practiced rotating from 1, 2, 3 and 4 positions, always having one of the found AT THAT LINE. Doing the waterfall, which looks REALLY cool when used at a fast pace. She said that it's not an all the time thing to stay in this formation or do this move, but it's a way I guess she meant....staying in a diamond or vagina shape :).. I can't find an image of the hand formation Rowdy used, but put your index finger and thumbs together and make a diamond-like shape...

We skated and went up and down, almost like walking, but on our knees...falling and recovering on each knee, one after the other.

The great thing I wanted to learn about was the toe-start. I used to be SO MUCH MORE comfortable on my toe stops, trying to sneak around my house in my skates without my mother finding out...walking in my skates through gravel and grass and what not...Then with these new skates it's just different. But now I feel way more comfortable again. We did like jumping jacks on the toe stops.

That's all from my notes from the clinic. I am forever in debt to the the three of them for coming up and laying it all on us..we needed it...and I think all the ladies loved it.

This brings us to tonight's practice...Oy...let's start with the organic lasagna I wolfed down before I left...that'll bring us to driving down the hill to practice and throwing up in my own lap...*shakes head*..whatever...that was a new one...

I felt much better when I got there of course and so even though I was a bit late from the barfing and the slow truck in front of me. I hit the floor about 7:22 p.m. We did some of the drills from the weekend with Sheedabomb and I guess there were about 10 of us there tonight...She'll be doing the next two practices as well. At one point, when we went to do our "touch three" drill we call it now, Ammo pointed out that my elbow was above my elbow guard... *blush*..So I skated out of the pack and went to fix it, and there I learned about the LEFT and RIGHT tag on each of my elbow and knee-pads...WHO FUCKING KNEW?! Not me..not Red Hot Ta Molli, and not Mermad....So as I took off the elbow pads...Stihl Queen pointed out that my one knee-pad was also upside-down...What a goofy roller-girl I am...If I had a dollar for every wardrobe malfunction so far...Anyway...before I get to sleep tonight I will be marking each piece to make dressing easier...

After practice, Trixxy, Nikki, Gerle and I hung out under the nice slice of low moon and yacked it up...Looked at pictures and talked about how fucking scary it would be to play Demanda Riot, of the Bay Area Derby Girls...

And Nikki gave me a pack of Roller Derby brand bubble gum cigarettes from the new candy shop downtown...pretty cool...

Back to school blues.....

2009-08-18T23:55:00.000-07:00

In very un-like me fashion, for some reason I thought yesterday was the day to register for my classes...turns out it was the first day of the class I need to take...Long story short...I practiced from 7-8...7:18 is actually when I got on the floor....My new friend at work is going to give derby a whirl...so we met before practice and left where we were about 10 til....It took me until 7:18 to get on the floor, as I said, and that was partly due to introducing my friend to another rookie, (don't care for that term), player...and, as usual, I messed up putting on my gear...I always forget to put on one or more knee guards before my skates... :)....Also, unlike my "normal" self, I went to change at the end of work and found I forgot my pants..or spanks...or stretchy pants..whatever they are called now, at home..so I rushed to buy a pair on the way to meet my friend and cool...got a pair and though they are terribly long and had to be pushed up my thighs to make the wrinkles of them go away, here's to them shrinking...

[Funnny..and clever...
Velma Revolver is my 3rd favorite roller girl]

Practice was led tonight by Sheedbomb. We began with giant 8's, I was late for stretching and pre-skating so I just skated up real quick and fast a couple times and then went to the big 8's with the others...Next we did the dreadfully painful squatting on command trick...but I do enjoy getting the really painful parts over with quick... Next we did a spread the track as quick as a lick drill..where we are attempting to get from one side of the track to the other asap.

We moved on into the chop-chop start and land on one knee in the middle and the end. The more times we did that, the more it was a challenge to get up without touching the floor. I'll get better at that.

Then it was (yeah, I know we did a lot in my short time there tonight!), two knees fall in the middle, and a baseball slide out...or rather, a full-body slide out...fuck baseball ;)... We then did some actual stopping on the line drills and for some reason my plow stop was not in as top a form as last time...

Into the pack formation we went and we did the lovely snake weave...(so sexy)...

Finally we whipped each other from behind and through the pack...criss-crossing usually...I see now that some ladies grab hands and not my forearm...we talked about that at the last practice and felt we should expect a grab on the arm and not fingers...some people maybe forgot or weren't here for that lesson...

Ok..some do..I'm not quite there yet... :)

Anywhoozle...it's 12:15 am on the 19th and if I had stayed for the whole practice like I wanted to, it would be 1:15 am now...so I have that going for me...it's like winning an hour of sleep!

xox

-Sweet Alyce

Sweet Alyce Techster....

2009-08-16T21:00:00.000-07:00

Today was a general meeting day since we missed it earlier in the month. As soon as I arrived just before 3, Coach asked for some assistance with her new computer. That was fun! Got her all spruced up, and changed the printer software she installed from Spanish to English and all her updates are up-to-date and all that jazz...The meeting went a bit long which was good so I could finish up her pc and not be late to the floor...(well a couple minutes late actually)...

I have to stop waiting one day before I blog about the drills we did..I'll have to think backwards here...So we ended with a opposite-wise slow skate to cool down...then we jammed fur on four during the last half an hour...That was awesme! Gerle Haggard, even though she felt like shit had a kick-ass jam! That was cool! I jammed twice...I lost my balance and fell as I came out lead jammer around the first turn...That sucked...Still got through but not firstly...Later on I jammed again and again that "thing" clicked in my head like it used to when I would speed too fast down the 101 freeway...In and out and like I can see the path open up a split-uncountable second before it opens...It's like jamming from the immediate future..hard to explain..Anyway...got through first on that one and just barely ahead of the other jammer but was able to call it off and THAT ALWAYS RULES!!

(get this sticker at http://www.wickedskatewear.com)

Falling in front of each other was another drill...That is good to see just how small I can fall...Kind of odd getting used to thinking while falling...Like an emergency plan is always in my mind and I just hope I remember it when I'm in an actual emergency situation...

Hmm...now the first drills still aren't coming to mind....*tap tap tap*...what were they? I'll start writing them down so I don't forget..guess I'll end this here...

Tuuuuuuuuuesay Afternoooooooon.....

2009-08-11T23:11:00.000-07:00

What a fun surprise on my way to relax before practice - out the door of the establishment comes Nikki Spitts! Inside was Gerle Haggard and Pinkie Lee and how fun we got to hang out for an hour or so before practice...Good, quality derby-gabbing fun! I fully admit that I suggested we blow it off and luckily my team mates talked me down from being a total fuckoff....

Coach Q wasn't in this evening so Sheedabomb directed the practice and I was personally happy we didn't do a hardcore endurance session...Sheeda gave me some good stretching lessons, as I seem to not get the concept...(I always get screwed up on which way to turn to stretch when one leg is over the other...)

Throughout the practice we did the following:

We all partnered up, and Trixxy and I did the drill...which oddly I cannot remember the details of now...(I really have to force myself to write these posts as soon as I get home...I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot of things I wanted to write about now)...

Another was three in front and one behind, with the point being for the the three to stay as a wall while knowing where the behind skater was and communicating that information between the three...I learned a lot about blocking doing that one.

We lined up at a far end and took off with a duckwalk and then with toe-starts, went down on one knee in the middle, got up and restarted, down on one knee at the other end and back up and same thing back to the start. Getting up again was not as easy as ususal...My B & C vitamins must have worn off... :)

Thankfully, Rachel Trouble had a bandaid in her purse for my ailing pinky toe... (Thanks Rach!)

Groovily we did the snake weaving drill which I love and that was awesome...I wonder why that one is so fun for me? Trixxy said she liked that one too...Maybe it's the zen-like flow of the line...it's almost like one of those desktop things with the balls that clank together in cadence....

Some of us hung out in front afterwards and then Nikki, Gerle and Shawna and I went to have a beer @ Steves. I hadn't been there before but it's the closest place to the arena. It was closed if you can believe that...So we went to the 'downtown' area (silly..check out that vid!)...The ladies didn't care for that vibe so we went across the street to the bowling alley...Another place I drive by and never have been inside of...Lo and behold when we went in, the WATCH program adults were there and I saw a whole bunch of people I know from work...patrons of the library...That was really cool to see them out having fun, they were doing Karaoke of all things! Very sweet. I purchased my beer and we went from the bar there to the alleys and sat at a table...Those always hungry twins snagged the guy working there and he was so nice he made us some popcorn and gave us some chips...(those taco chips! I love those!)....

I forgot to tip the guy because I thought we were going back in after we went out so I'm going to go by there later today and give him a tip...

And before I forget I wanted to say WELCOME BACK to MERMAD...! She had been back last practice but I wasn't so it's been a while since I've seen her...Got to Love the Mermad...

Quickie...

2009-08-04T22:52:00.000-07:00

Well...truth be told I was home early from work today and so getting motivated was JUST about to be a no-go situation...But then...out of the corner of my interneteyeballs was another Whip It! trailer and hey...you cannot watch a derby movie trailer and not want to RUN to practice...I showered and took off and got there by 8....I thought for a sec. that Coach saw me bring P's basil sauce and bread into the locker room..but luckily I had a towel over it...

One of the first sounds I heard and I knew that there was a derby stampede happening...man the sound of everyone's wheels slamming onto the floor is so fucking hot! Then I heard the wall slamming at the other end...*sizzling*

I was able to get in about three drills ...once I got out there...Coach told me all about her trip to Peoria, which we will not blog about...Then at the digiclockgoddess clicked to 8:45, the Happy Birthday song started...Coach wanted to do one more drill and even though I would have been ok with that..and bucked up...When I hear quitting time, I'm all over it..So we went off and had a groovy time eating, the other thing, and being merry....Talking about how much we love 7 layer dip and all that juicy stuff...Then Pollyanna Pitchfork announced she'd written a poem for Coach's birthday...(It feels weird to have a coach all sudden in my life..tho at least she isn't a "life coach" then I'd really be a douche)...Anyway...Polly read her poem which was written with the assistance of her poet kids and it ruled...If I can get the poem I will post it...

We cleaned up, went outside for a little ritual and came home...for some reason I got a little self conscious about my eyebrows...maybe I should have a look at them tomorrow and see if they seem weird to me in light of the new information I gathered tonight...

Tomorrow we're meeting to go to a comedy show at the redone Lake Tulloch Resort...

Sheedabomb's practice.....14 Skaters...TONS OF FUN!

2009-08-02T19:49:00.000-07:00

Great new drills to try this time! I enjoyed Ammo's practice too so this is not a comparison here...different doesn't mean better or worse, it simply means different...I heard that somewhere when I was a kid...Anyway we did this cool thing first with one skater pushing another with one hand, the front person lifts one leg behind them at a time and balances around the corners...

We did another solo one where we lifted one leg behind us and bent forward down the straightaways with our hands down towards the ground...but looking up forward...which is something I constantly have to remind myself to do...

While we were doing this one where we duck walk off the line and then go down on one knee at the middle line then a 180 on a knee at the far end, then back, Gerle Haggard went down too hard on her knees and ouch for her...I hope she feels ok soon.

We did a 14 skater weaving snake line and we did it a few times in a row - I fucking love that drill...not sure why..nice flow to it maybe and it feels so cool when we're going fast and are in synch so well...Major YAYS for Rachel for participating in a buncha stuff she was hesitant to try and she kicked butt and did great! Way to go Rachel!!

Roller Zillas by ~antigone1736

Finally the ass-kicker came along...and I didn't eat all damn day today for some reason so I was a bit worried. We skated three or for at a time on the track for 5 minutes...We'd done this once before but stopped at 20 laps, at that time, I had 50 seconds left of the 5 minutes. This time though we just skated for the whole five minutes. Natcho Hunny and I were in a group and think maybe our counters gots messed up somewhere possibly...she had 28 laps and I had 26 and yet we both agree that neither of us passed each other and should have had the same number..so I'm going to split the diff. and make it a 27 for myself...which is way better than I thought I would do with these "well-loved" lungs of mine...

Red Hot Ta Molli provided the extremely excellent, wompin' rowdy fun practice music this afternoon so thanks to her, and thanks to Sheedabomb for the killer killer practice!

Oh, and before I finish...with there being two people with my same first name on the team, (myself and Pollyanna Pitchfork) let's just get used to calling me Alyce...that name works for me..I can't answer to my real name anymore at practice...gotta get all Pavlovian with Alyce...

Marie Smashtoinette by ~Magzdilla

Concluded the evening with a smoke out in the burning sun with Trixy and Nicki Spitts...who by the way should be thanked for emptying the trash and cleaning up after those nasty hockey boys and teens from the weekend...

Special Smoochy thank you to my wonderful husbot "P" for hanging out during practice being all gentlemanly and not staring at us while we skated so as not to make anyone uncomfortable...what a nice guy... :)

Cool pic I stumbled on this afternoon...

Ammo's practice....and Unintentional Derby Meat (YUK!)

2009-07-30T22:30:00.000-07:00

Once I get there and get rolling - I wake up - I have fun - and I practice....

It turns out that not going to the last two practices did not in any way make me feel better...Judging from my house, I can't even tell if I gt anything extra done with my extra time, except to sleep more...you know..so I can wake up and go work my ass off at my actual work...But I miss practice when I'm not there... Also, may I suggest being "about to go off" on someone as a precursor to a GREAT practice...? Tonight I was a wee stirred up from some "gnat" online, (whose Delta Tau Chi name is now "Derby Meat"... ) making it that much more fun to practice tonight. [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077975/quotes]

Ammo had us do a hitting drill twice that was very helpful to my passive nature...(as were the simmering thoughts of carving up the Derby Meat...)

We did the relay again too, that was cool...This time I learned to slow down a bit near the end and we were told to slide out...which was better than trying to stay upright and stop on stoppers that do not stop well on this type of floor we skate on....

Crap! I see it's 11:11 already... I was supposed to call Nicki Spitts and meet her at Ed's....oh well...Maybe we can go out this weekend...drat...I wanted to get out of here tonight...

Husbot left a gift for me when I got home tonight...he must have bought it on ebay...It's a poster for a bout between the The Bay Bombers and the NY Chiefs from 1963 @ Shea Stadium....very nice...what a sweetie he is.... He grew up watching the LA Thunderbirds while I, growning up norther in CA than he, watched the Bay Bombers on tv...

I feel like I pulled something on the back of one leg...we'll know for sure in the morning..as usual...

Fun-ass-fun practice and looking forward to Sheeda's on Sunday....!

Saving Private Wonderland

2009-07-26T12:11:00.000-07:00

houston roller derby 108 by ~HangNail1

After speaking with a team mate or two about the Sweet Alyce blog...I realize that I do enjoy keeping track of what we do at our practices, recording my growth and all that, on this blog. I was going to discontinue with all the details as I was becoming increasingly self-conscious about having my exact progress recorded this way..but you know what, after more thought and all I think it is a-ok to post details and damn the consequences. Yes it's true, I don't like to hurt anyone or be hurt...that's my darkest "secret" I guess...So there it is...all out there like a smoking gun...I might be too passive for derby...I wouldn't mind being injured in a fair game...but I would mind injuring someone in a fair game...(?) And let's face it...not everyone plays by the agreed upon rules...another something to get used to...

derby tights. by *starryday

Unfortunately I will have to miss todays practice....and if I take all the right vitamins, I won't be wiped out for Tue and Thu practices this week...I like to do at least two practices a week and sometimes all three if I can....With the cut backs and new extreme work at the library, it's like when I first started working there, I've been having to sleep as soon as I get home for about an hour to recover from the day....so to have more strong practices I will have to get used to this feeling and do more to strengthen up...

Before I have to leave this afternoon to the valley I will be laying under the air conditioner with my wheels on and doing some radical stretching...Nothing feels better on the gut area than leg lifts with skates on...I've noticed that derby doesn't do much in the way of gut-repair...mostly legs... (der)...Also I need to do some work on our website before I go or it won't get done this week...

Sheedabomb will be conducting practice today with the absence of Coach Quad Queen...and I hope her run-over fingers are better....(Sheeda is our first team mate to bleed from an injury...)

Here's a bit of fun for your Sunday and will see sie meine sehr verehrten damen on Tuesday

MIA PSYCHO'S ROLLER DERBY GIRL'S GUIDE TO BOYS

Oh and one more bit o news...Chisel Bit and Stihl Queen and Kilaron (all cousins! who knew!? not me) have returned to the Mountain Derby Girls...I wish Vintage Barbie would too..I miss my friend who I joined this gig with...COME BACK VINTAGE BARBIE! ♥

Meeting day..and after 62

2009-07-05T19:30:00.000-07:00

possible practices since I joined roller derby, I'm changing the way I do this blog....

right

now.

Watch the movie Hell on Wheels for free...

[h/t Derby News Network, and FiveOnFive Magazine]

It's Always Fair Weather (1955)

2009-07-02T21:41:00.000-07:00

Girl Crazy Boy Crazy Roller Crazy

2009-06-30T22:24:00.000-07:00

New drill tonight..the weaving drill with an additional bit o fun....cones to weave through as well...

I think I finally understand the sound system at the arena...this is good....

20 laps in under 5 minutes...!

2009-06-28T23:11:00.000-07:00

One more WFTDA requirement checked off the list...tonight we did this endurance drill and my group did our 20 laps in 4 minutes and 10 seconds....50 seconds to spare, (if I did the math correctly)...

Hottest temp during practice ever - 104 degrees..Thankfully there are more fans on the floor now so it was much less hot on the floor than in the arena itself, or outside where it was a fucking sizzler....

My ankles/calves started hurting a bit about 20 minutes til the end and my headache came raging back as well...I felt like if I did the jumping drills my brain would fall out of my head....

by CORY OBERNDORFER

The Attack of the Massive Headache Continues...

2009-06-25T21:30:00.000-07:00

MASSIVE HEADACHE

2009-06-23T21:30:00.000-07:00

tic toc tic toc....

Niet Aanwezig

2009-06-22T09:48:00.000-07:00

Roller Girl by ~wackycracka

Father in Law Day

2009-06-21T18:30:00.001-07:00

Did not practice...

Yes!!! The THO Still Happens When Your Team Mates Call Off The Jam Too!

2009-06-18T23:31:00.000-07:00

Nikki Spitts wooped on her jam...I did not... See how things change ;)

I tried to use Seinfeld's line "I choose not to run!", so I could bask in my minor glory a few more days, but I changed my mind and jammed with Hardly An Angel...She can run like the wind!

I was 1/2 an hour late tonight because I forgot my clothes on the way put this morning, but all in all a good practice...and I'm VERY glad that my first fall, first jam win, and first jam loss are over with...it's all cool runnings from here....
Blogger: ...Sweet Alyce... - Create Post
Went to Ed's in Twain Harte, where Kimstigator tends bar, with the twins, their way cool mom, and G-Girl...coupla beers...then home...

For sure going to see Castle Bombers on the 11th and Sacred City on the 18th...

Yippee Fun! Another first! Calling off my first jam!

2009-06-16T22:15:00.001-07:00

Ok, so we aren't being 100% aggressive with blocking because we're still learning...However that does not in any way diminish my excitement of calling off my first jam!!!!!!!! It was so fun! And so fast! And felt soooooooooooooooooooooo great!

We split up into 5 black team and 5 red team and took turns jamming. My turn was last and I got to play against my dear and awesome friend Nikki Spitts!! (I ♥ Nikki cuz she's broken me in twice now during these precious moments of learning we're all going through) - Great fun and we were fucking SAILING man! We kept clipping each other on the curves and omg what a great sport this roller derby is - EXHILARATING as hell! I finally passed through the pack, (unconsciously, b/c it's all kind of a blur out there), and was able to call off the jam with that totally fucking cool body signal that derby girls love...(I assume)....A total T.H.O. situation!! One of MANY I hope....We are going to be a great team if ya ask me!

The other fun part was practicing whips and pushes with my other dear friend, Miranda...We did it left-armed and I think we both learned a lot by doing it very slowly at first like Coach Quad Queen suggested...I've been seeing the importance of doing everything very slowly to get ones form down before adding the speed ingredient...

Even though I think Sister Mary Jane of the TXRD Holy Rollers is just standing there in this picture with her hands on her hips, she is still portraying what it looks like to call off a jam.
(Sister Mary Jane's myspace page)

Pump Up The Jam, Technotronic, mp3

Bumps & Doinks - Been knocked down....finally

2009-06-14T20:07:00.000-07:00

Between secret negotiations with Villain Ava and Nikki Spitts, & Kimstigator too, I managed to overcome a couple of skills that have had me wondering...the knocking down and the being knocked down. Nikki knocked me down at my request...and I'm pretty sure I still haven't knocked anyone down because Villian Ava went sailing off to my right before I could get over there..Kimstigator and I did whipping drills as partners and I learned a lot from that...

Best part of tonight was, even though we've done similar drills like this in the past, was being in pack formation and everyone took a turn at working their way through the pack...I noticed that I do this like I drive...and for national security reasons I won't write it down here...can't give away all my strategies... (ha!)... All around groovy practice and really felt like doing derby tonight for the first time. I LOVED IT!! :)

Oh!! And my friend Nicole from worked joined the league tonight...! So did her boyfriend, he will be a ref! Is that so fun!? Going to be great fun skating with her....woo hoo!

So on vacation I forgot to post...

2009-06-11T21:45:00.000-07:00

Tech-Rollin....

2009-06-09T21:56:00.000-07:00

Website updates tonight...watched the practice from above my laptop....I didn't want to spend my time I should be taking care of P (henceforth known as husbot) working on our website...
What a wonderful group of women! I'm very happy to be a part of this league...

Vacation Day...& the Clam Slam...?

2009-06-07T18:30:00.000-07:00

[I was planning to rush home to get to practice from Redding tomorrow, and I still may, but I really miss my mom and nona and the last time I saw her here was two and half years ago, so I think I'll take my time getting home tomorrow and may or may not make it in time to practice...In the meantime, I will read about derby and here's an interesting article I found the other day on roller derby that I hadn't ever considered might exist, a team based on gender preference...Lesbian derby...how hot is that!? Not sure I like everything about this, interesting nonetheless...]

Queer rollergirls take Pride with camp-ridden Clam Slam

Saira Peesker, cp24.com

Clam Slam organizer Natasha 'Nasher the Smasher' Jesenak (centre, in green) crashes into Alicia 'Bambi' Bernard (in leopard print) during the 2008 Toronto Roller Derby season. Both players will take part in the event, which celebrates the sport's queer side. (George Knight Photo)

View larger image

Clam Slam organizers Aimee Haskell and Megan McPhail put up a poster for Muff Dive, a fundraiser for the Pride roller derby bout.

Toronto Roller Derby's queer contingent wants you to watch their Clam Slam.

A team of the city's hard-hitting derby women are taking on gay players from across the country in the official Pride Week roller derby game, promising even more camp than usually found in the flashy and physical sport.

Held on Friday, June 26, the game pits the hometown Clamdiggers against The Vagine Regime Canada, an "away" team featuring queer skaters from Kitchener-Waterloo, Edmonton, Victoria and even further afield.

The event will feature more than just tough girls in sexy outfits skating around a track, says one of its organizers.

"People will get to see an exciting game, hot rollergirls and gay dodge-ballers in short shorts," promises Natasha "Nasher the Smasher" Jesenak, a member of Toronto's Chicks Ahoy team. "It's going to be a fun, gay show."

In addition to putting a focus on gay players, the Clam Slam will be emceed by artist/drag queen Andrew Harwood, who is described by organizer Aimee Haskell as highly entertaining and "a little raunchy."

"He fits the bill for our rock-and-roll, queer, trashy derby event," notes Haskell, a former Chicks Ahoy player who was sidelined by a broken ankle last year.

Harwood's role as announcer involves explaining the action at track level to the crowd, so those who aren't well-versed in the sport's rules can be assured of a helping hand on game day.

(A quick primer: Each team has four blockers and one "jammer" on the track at a time. The jammer must pass players on the opposing team to score points, while the blockers try to help their jammer pass through the pack as they block the opposing jammer.)

Drawing new fans to roller derby

The game's organizers hope the event will expose new fans to the game, which already receives significant support from Toronto's gay community.

"Hopefully it attracts fans who would watch soccer and baseball and stuff, but also fans that wouldn't be into sports," says Jesenak, who took up the sport largely due to its queer-friendly image.

So did Haskell, who says she fell out of team sports in her teens after realizing she didn't quite fit in with her teammates.

"I found the sports community rather conservative in a lot of ways," she says. "Roller derby offers a package deal. You can still experience your alternative lifestyle within the sport."

"Derby also seems to accept women who may not have had a real sporting background, or who don't fit the image of what an athlete looks like," adds Jesenak.

"We teach people to be athletes, where other sports expect people to be athletes already."

The sport's popularity among queer athletes stretches well beyond Toronto's borders.

Clam Slam organizers first got the idea for the match while in Las Vegas at a roller derby convention last year. There, they learned about the original incarnation of the Vagine Regime and its fearless leaders, Injure Rogers and Chaos Fury.

"The Vagine Regime has been really inspiring," says Haskell. "We heard about that and were inspired and wanted to see an event like that go on in our city... A real inclusive, spread-the-word celebration of dykes in derby."

The Clam Slam isn't the only event during Pride week that will bring derby girls to the fore. The league was chosen as this year's honoured group for the Dyke March, which will be held on Saturday, June 27.

Clams will slam at George Bell Arena on June 26 at 7 p.m. Queer players who want to get involved can email clamdiggers09@gmail.com. A fundraiser for the event, "Muff Dive," will be held June 5 at Club Z.

A Proper Meeting...Then More Vacation...

2009-06-04T20:38:00.000-07:00

Proper by ~rosemarylouise

Note to Self: Blogging on a non practice night...

2009-06-03T21:19:00.000-07:00

Who did this? This rules!

I had my skates on but....

2009-06-02T22:31:00.001-07:00

it turned into an impromptu meeting about the bout. More new skaters at this practice too...Worked on updating the website for the lil event Saturday at Jodrlicious's Nail Salon...

Sierra Hope Ride

MEET THE HIGH COUNTRY

MOUNTAIN DERBY GIRLS!!

Sonora's All-Female Flat Track Roller Derby League
Saturday
June 6th
@11:00 AM

Upscale Nails
18266 Smoke St.
Jamestown, CA‎
(209) 984-5800‎

The ladies will be selling slushies and other goodies to delight the senses...

The Morning After...

2009-05-31T18:51:00.000-07:00

Attendance for our first exposure to the public was about 320!!! I think that's awesome!! There were a couple of mishaps that we learned from such as the plumbing going out and flooding the two team's locker rooms, one worse than the other I heard. Terrible...Plus we did not have enough water for them to drink. I also heard from some players that they would have preferred to have the after-party closer to the rink, like at Steve's bar across the street from the arena.

Last night was one of the best, most fun nights of my life!! It was so much fun to see people I know from work, and to have my friends and family come to see our debut!!

Thank you to the Sacred City Derby Girls and the Port City Roller Girls for a kick ass fun bout and for all their hard work, and the effort it takes to takes for them to get themselves on the road and up here to Sonora! Thank you Thank you Thank you!! And thank you also to the player from NorCal Roller Girls who passed on a lot of good info. to me.

As for today's practice, a few of us made it. Plus a few new ladies showed up, which is fantastic! We drilled some stops, and got some good hard skating in. Practiced some blocking, some drills stepping across the expanse of the track quickly and my favorite snake drill....

Rehearsal....and plans...

2009-05-28T22:28:00.000-07:00

Saturday night's event is going to kick ass!! Although I cannot wait to get back to regular practices. The Sacred City and Port City ladies will be very inspirational for our team to see...Some of us have been to Sacred bouts, but it will be great to meet them and Port City girls and learn how they do what they do....Hopefully they will be kind enough to offer up some good advice from their own experiences playing roller derby...I wish we had way more time to plan this event, but I suppose we should just ride the horse in the direction it's going....

While we interrupt this budding derby life, let's have a look at some way cool derby haiku....

http://derbyhaiku.blogspot.com

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

ODE TO DAVID BOWIE

riff raff, wannabes
derby roadkill- - step aside
slam! bam! thank you, Ma'am.

Posted by lead jammer
*

From http://www.derbyluv.com

Clean the arena night....

2009-05-26T18:45:00.000-07:00

Getting ready for Saturday's BIG EVENT....

Backwards and Press...

2009-05-24T19:00:00.000-07:00

Not only was tonight a fantastic workout, but Greg from Sierra Mountain Times spent the whole practice with us. Very cool of him to spend his time. He said he wishes this had started when he moved here in 2002, (I too wish I had been able to start this 7 years ago)...I was able to clarify that we are not going to be competing within a month let alone a week...glad that is cleared up...

Tonight I skated backwards doing crossovers!! Woo hoo for me! It's taken, oh I don't know, a few practices to be able to do the bit I did tonight, but wow it feels great to get through something I didn't know how to do before.

We did small figure eights, working on our shoulder positions. T, toe and plow stop drills too...one and two knee falls and wowie on my last two knee fall I was messed up on which knee to drop on first and in the middle of my fall I changed from right to left, I now know what it feels like to fall like a total tard and if not for my padding I might have twisted by knee and forearm..Sure glad nothing happened.

For the first time we did drills going through a pack and on the second time through we got to try to actually block a player...Awesome feeling to break through!! And since it was one skater going through, the pack was much larger than the regulation 5 opposing players, there were like 7 or more I think....

No Practice

2009-05-21T23:11:00.000-07:00

Went to Modesto to get my laptop fixed and to buy all the red & black clothing and accessories in Modesto....

First practice without Coach Quad Queen

2009-05-19T23:11:00.000-07:00

It was a very different practice without our coach. We decided as we went along which drills to do. I felt really worked out and exhilarated afterwards. Four of us were able to go out after practice and had a BLAST getting to know each other better. I LOVE my team mates!! We talked about our plans for getting the rink ready for the exhibition bout on the 30th...lots to do, painting, cleaning etc...Probably won't be able to skate the week prior since we'll be working to get the arena ready....

I'm addicted to the show Rollergirls....a must netflix series if you're a derby girl or a fan....

Back to practice....great one...!

2009-05-17T20:17:00.000-07:00

Tried a bunch of regulation minimum requirements...was about 5 seconds from doing 5 laps in one minute...Lots of stops drills, some falling and used a large stick to develop a form around the track which has recently been drawn onto the arena floor...

Also finally had a good time to go out with more of our team mates...we went to Alfredo's and it was kick ass to be able to get to know the people who were there better...Not much time when we are skating all the time we see each other...great fun to go with a great practice..

Found out we made it into the Weekender this past week... Coooool! So that's The Pine Tree and Weekender (new issue not up yet) who have shown good taste in sports teams this past week.. ;) I heard that The Pine Tree will be doing an article as well in their 27th issue, by Kim Mathie..Very nice...I'm thankful our effort produced some interest...we pay for all we do so it's great to get some community support for our first fundraiser...