Too much noise...

This morning, at work, I refused to get online. I quietly working on the fall campaign letters and would only log on after two hours of working - even my work email was turned off. I needed to find a way to get through the noise of so much "Internet". My Facebook, MySpace, Blog, email, email, email, email. It's a lot like eating too much sugar. The next thing you know you want a cookie after lunch, you want a glass of wine after dinner. You're never quite satisfied and just want a little more. And though I usually can manage the mania of email, sometimes you cannot. You check your stuff 13 times a day thinking it might, will be different. And it's not. And you just need a break. You need to shut it off. You need to dim the lights. Turn off the noise.

And we're on a roll...

This weekend my "home" team CarnEvil, who managed to secure last place in the league again this season, went to Sacramento to play Sacred City Roller Girls. I'll be the first to admit I was concerned about this bout. I hadn't seen Sacred play in more than a year but they were a league to be reckoned with and I have to admit I thought we had a killer of bout on our hands. We got there early enough to sign paper work, buy a t-shirt, finds some good seating on the floor and watch some good derby before we played. We watched their "A" team play a WFTDA sanctioned bout against Dallas and Dallas took them apart and beat them by 70 points. At that point I became rather confident that could be our second win this year... And we did win by 50 points.

We started off strong and managed to stay together and play together as a team. There was no one who wasn't doing their job or having an "off night". We managed to stay calm, collected and together. It was rather fantastic, I have to admit - to win. I jammed a lot (as we were short a jammer in our group) and wracked up a bunch of points. But the team wasn't dependent on just one or two jammers - we are finally at a point where we have enough and are truly stronger as a team.

The whole weekend was a great time. We got in late on Friday. Saturday we had breakfast, coffee and early conversation. Some people went to "Old Sacramento" and some of us swam around in th pool, doing cannonballs or sitting in the sun reading magazines. After the bout, we all hung out together at the after party - the Sacramento gals being the greatest of hosts. We scrimmaged on Sunday and drove back in the late afternoon to catch our flight back to Seattle.

Monday wasn't nearly as productive as I had hoped it would be - though after a weekend with very little sleep, what could you expect. Four of us went up to Bombers practice after work where we scrimmaged with Rat City. I wasn't sure I wanted to scrimmage - though it's one of my favorite things about derby - because I was still beat. But it turned out to be a GREAT time and we managed to hold our own for the most part - giving us the boost of confidence we need to go to Bend and take on Lava City Roller Girls.

I think we're on a roll...

Heading to California, looking forward to Bend, taking a break

I head to Sacramento with my team CarnEvil to play Sacred City's B Team. Our travel team played them (and got schooled - bad) and I've seen them play a couple of times. I'm really looking forward to this bout - its going to be fun. We're done with our season. We're going as a team and we're out to win - for us. Not for anyone else. Not for ranking. Not for the season. Just for us. It should be a great time.

Work has been incredibly stressful - for the usual 97 reasons. I have about 3 weeks of vacation to take before the end of the year. One unpaid and two paid - plus a couple of extra days here and there. I'm going to take a few days in Bend, Oregon (because I'm going to be there the following weekend to play another bout as a Bomber) and go to breweries and explore this little city in the middle of Oregon. I'm going to then take a few days at home. I'm going to sew an apron I cut months ago. I'm going to clean up the "office space" that needs about two hours of attention. I might take a crafty class. I'm going to visit my friend's new business and go out for a tasty beverage. I'm going to take stuff to the Good Will. I'm going to go skating in the morning and take cat naps with Fezzy in the afternoon. I'm going to read a book. I can't wait! I can't wait to stay home. For vacation.

Inspiring your dad...

I spent an hour trying to change the spark plugs in a drizzly, poorly lit parking lot behind my apartment. Of course, I should say it like it is - Lara did most of the work - I ran around getting tools, trying to loosen the spark plugs and calling my dad when we couldn't get a single one out. It was ridiculous! My father when over the "Lefty Loosey, Right Tighty" (duh) and then we chatted some more after we gave up. So with a pocket full of inspiration or more like, these things don't rust! It can't be rusted in! (The crunching sound we heard was not the bult pulling away from the rust, but the ceramic spark plug top breaking off. That's how tightly screwed in they were.) It's got to come out!

And eventually they did...though it took an hour. And with a bunch of additional calls to my father with other thoughts and advice (some asshole who changed them last tightened them too tight. There is no reason it should take two people to take out a spark plug. - dads words.) After two handed pulls (and we're talking roller girls here) the spark plugs eventually came loose and were changed. The horrible (rather violent) idling problem seemed to be solved. And my father, after all those calls after midnight, said he was proud of his daughter - because she was changing her own spark plugs. That made me laugh. I'm gald it didn't take too much.

Inspired...

I spent the weekend with a 1,000 roller girls in Las Vegas for the third August in a row. I wasn't really wanting to go when I bought my ticket - I was experiencing derby burn out. I was overwhelmed at my job and wasn't sure that spending 5 days with a bunch of roller girls in blazing hot Las Vegas was the remedy. Turns out it was just the thing.

I took some classes with skaters I've always admired from blockers like Anna Maul, Ginger Snap and Carmen Getsome to jammers who amaze me like Sadistic Sadie and Fortune. I skated with other rollergirls (and guys) in open scrimmages on a polished cement floor which was like "Bambi on ice" (remember in the film). Some people were upset about the floor (it truly was impossible to skate on) but it made me laugh and it was a great equalizer. We ALL sucked. We all struggled and it made most of us, dress in black or white shirts for scrimmaging, laugh - a lot. (It also gave an an excuse for just about anything we didn't do correctly - you just blame it on the floor.)

I saw a lot of the Freemont Street bouts which were outside and usually very fun themed - Star Trek v. Star Wars, Amazons (tall skaters) v. Shorties (obvious), Ref v. Skaters. They are held in Old Vegas which has it's own charm and is far away from the Disney-esk modern casino of the Las Vegas Strip. I managed to eat extremely well as there was a Whole Foods near the facility where most of the classes were held (we weren't outside in the parking garage). Even early morning plyos were indoors.

There was the usual "roller girls taking over the Imperial Palace Casino" at 3 a.m. Patrons would walk in and you could see their jaws drop at the spectacle. I learned from a bartender at the Margaritaville that the locals, who knew about it, LOVED it when the roller girls came to town. They knew how to party - they were generally very nice (a lot of us work in the service industry) and are very fun. I did spend Friday night out but I didn't roll in past 3 a.m. any time... and that was ok.

When Bess and I went to drop of the car rental, I thought of just taking off on Highway 15 and heading into the Spring Mountains surrounding the city or even heading east to Utah to go to Bryce Canyon. I was feeling inspired...

* even Vegas can be inspiring - they have a Farmers Market!