it has been a crazy week!

Eesh! Thanksgiving went fairly smoothly, what with all the flitting around, and I ate a ton of tofurkey. Friday I worked a double and managed not to kill anyone in the process. Saturday day was crazy busy, I made fat cash and crashed at home. Kate and I were supposed to hang out with Penny before she left to return to the hinterlands of Chi-town, but we were way too exhausted. I slept. Kate was lonely in the morning so I took her to work with me. She had a California omlette at the bar and took my car home. Brunch was slow, but all my homies came in to eat. I saw Shawna, Boo-Boo and Lizzie. Joe came in too, and we talked about tattoo designs for my next piece. He gave me a ride home. I thought for a moment he had his motorcycle, and then I would have to ride without a helmet and I am so opposed to anyone riding without helmets that I lecture all of my two-wheelin' friends about it all the time. I got a ride in the car instead. On Sunday night in front of bad teevee with Shawna, I turned the heel on my first sock. Sorry for lack of pictures, I left the camera at the In-laws on Thursday. Monday was a double, we were so slow that I knit on my sock for a long time. Almost done! Yesterday I had breakfast with Jill, the boys, Mom, Toni and Aunt Patti. Jasper learned to say "please", "juice" and "doctor" while we were there. Smartest baby ever. I finished a book and started another, and then went to skating practice, where we were interviewed by Julie from the RFT. She was really sweet and even skated with us. Afterwards I experenced what seemed to be the longest work meeting in the history of BBh, but turned out to be just over an hour. Aaron Maye sent me the first ultrasound pictures of her baby, and I cried. I am so happy for her. Tonight Mom's taking me to see Wicked at the Fox and by a miraculous twist of fate, Kate is coming too. I am dealing with her decision to go to New Orleans as best I can, but I am sad. Later.

Arch Rival Rollergirls, great practice

Lookin tough
Originally uploaded by sarahkate.

So I put our league name in the post title in hopes of google sending some people here. We had a great practice tonight, Penny Royalty of the Windy City Rollers came, since she's in town from Chicago for Thanksgiving. She was awesome and supportive and answered our barrage of questions with a smile, even though she had been in the car for a gagillion hours and she showed us a thing or two on wheels. We had a good group tonight, FoJammi (future referee) came and brought his daughter Tasha, Annabelle came with me, Mom stopped by for a minute. We had fun and I got to break in my new skates. I also met Ken, who Barb has been talking to about possibly giving us skating lessons. He was really nice and I hope we can work with him. All the girls are showing improvement and dedication and we are getting better and more confident. I think confidence is what we all needed a big dose of. February looks really close now, but I'm sure we can pull off some sort of demonstration for the Mardi Gras Boxing gig. I'm high on roller derby right now.

I've been neglecting you..

This week has been kinda hectic, not that everyother week isn't, but I haven't blogged in ages. I also haven't fixed anything that didn't show up over my trip to Chicago. I promise to get that done soon. In fact I'm going to work on it now.

chicago recon

Only one of the chicago posts showed up! I have some serious fixing to do. I've been sick since I got back on Tuesday, which means I'm behind on blogging and christmas knitting. Must sleep now, gotta work tomorrow. I'll fix the blog tomorrow night. Sorry.

Warm-Ups

Warm-Ups
Originally uploaded by sarahkate.

Windy City Rollers season Championships! What can I say? It was awesome. Penny Royalty let us in early with the friends and family group, so we got to watch the warm-ups. The first bout between the Manic Attackers and the Hell's Belles was hilarious fun, lotsa fights and silly stunts being pulled. I especially loved it when both teams chased the refs around with whistles. The game ended in a tie 0-0 when the refs disqualified both teams.
At halftime Matt and Kate and I hung out with Penny in the lobby of the Congress. While I was in the bathroom the anouncer called out the names of all the other Leagues who were there to support the WCR, and they named us! Bobbi, Kate and I were the only three there, but they stood up and cheered for us. My sister brought her homegirls, Nandy Cash and The Littlegator who had a smashing good time. Gabe and Gretchen came too, and it was lovely to see them. Beth and her friends didn't sit with us, but we saw them afterwards.
The second bout of the evening was between the Double Crossers and The Fury. I don't think I have ever been more excited in my life! This bout was the polar opposite of the first one, no nonsense. The game was fast and furious and the first half flew by, with the Double crossers in the lead at halftime. I was sitting behing "Mama Needles","Sharon Needles" mother. when Needles hit the floor halfway thru the second half her mom covered her eyes, but Sharon got right back up and continued skating. I tapped her on the shoulder and told her her daughter was tough as nails. She said "Yeah, but Mama's not so tough." Sharon was okay. The second half ended in a 33-33 tie and the refs called for overtime. The last five minutes saw Yhe Fury score five more points and The Double Crossers three. The Ivy King cup went to The Fury, and I jumped up and down like a fool. I tend to do that.
After the bout we went to the Liar's Club with many of the girls from the League and got wasted on $1 PBR. Penny and Killy said they'd come to St. Louis to help us get the league going, and everyone we talked to was offering help and encouragement for the Arch Rival Rollergirls. Kate, Beth Matt and I stumbled back to Annie's house, after a brief stop at El Presidente for late nite mexican food. I don't even remember what I ate, and for those of you who know what a foodie I am, that's HUGE. I had a blast, and I can't wait until all the WCR girls come down for our bouts. I love Roller Derby!

chicago, chicago!

Well, I'm back in the windy city again. Kate and I drove up last night and I crashed at Annie's. Kate slept at Beth's and we all met up with Mattie this morning for brunch at Charlie's Alehouse. After several Bloody Marys and some serious food, we split up again. Beth has a paper to finish, Matt needs a nap and Kate and I just finished taking apart broken furniture at Annie's house. Carrie called and we are going to attend the warm-ups before the bout tonight! She also hooked us up with tickets for The Nandonator and The Attorney Outlaw, Annie's cohorts. A great time is expected, but now I must go haul furniture to the dumpster.

Tuesday crew 11/08

Tuesday crew 11/08
Originally uploaded by sarahkate.

Huge skating practice tonight. The meeting has drummed up quite a bit of interest, and more girls have been emailing all day. The flyers seem to be working. Travis came to practice tonight, if he ever stops being such a huge mack he'll make a great referee. I didn't skate tonight, my tummy hurts. I did situps yesterday, and then I ate Indian food for dinner and I just didn't feel up to it. The email list is up to 77 names now... if only I could get all of them to come to practice. Kate and I are really excited about going to Chicago this weekend, I can't wait to see Annie and Beth. Matt and Bobbi are taking the train up on saturday night to meet us and we will drive them back on Tuesday morning. I'm going to try not to buy any comics while I'm there, but we'll see how that goes.

fondue at glenna's

fondue at glenna's
Originally uploaded by sarahkate.

Kate and I went to Glenna's for dinner tonight. It was a small clothing exchange party, and she made two kinds of fondue. There was a miso one for shrimp and scallops, and a cheese one with bread and veggies. We met Lindsey and Julie, and Bobbi came later. We all sat around dipping those long forks in the little pots and sampling the tasty treats. It was such a relaxing time, just hanging out with the girls.

Arch Rival Rollergirls first meeting!

Sunday night was the big roller derby meet-up at Duff's. I felt nervous and disorganized, but it went well. We had about 37 girls and a few guys show up. I made some shoddy handouts, shoddy because Kinko's on Grand closes at 5pm on Sundays, but everyone seemed happy with them anyway. I got a bunch of new names for my listserv and we formed some commitees to get stuff done. We have a t-shirt commitee, which is connected to the publicity commitee, which is connected to the fundraising commitee which is connected to the sponsorship commitee, you get the picture. Mom came and was very supportive, Just seeing her smiling from the back of the room really helped me get through the whole public speaking part of it all. Steve of Royale and Panda boxing fame came too. He had an absolutley brilliant idea. He's throwing another Hoosierweight boxing match this spring during Mardi Gras and he wants us to have an exhibition bout at the match. This will help durm up an audience for us and it will be so much fun! Clara spontaneously catered the meeting by showing up with a steam tray of pasta salad when she got off work at Mangia, Drew did a great job keeping everyone in libations for the meeting without hovering, Karen rocks for letting us have the meeting there, Aaron Maye was so sweet for making the copies for me, and Kate is the best houseboy ever. I owe a debt of gratitude to Carrie, aka Penny Royalty, from the Hell's Belles for all the support and advice she's given me. This league is taking off and my dream of roller derby in St. Louis is coming true! Skating practice is again tonight and I am so excited to get out there and roll I can hardly sit still.

Anna and Knitting

Spent today with Anna, the eldest daughter of a friend. She was off school so we hung out, drove Matt to work and had lunch. I did a bit of Christmas knitting and then I listened to Toni on the radio. It seems the March of Dimes is having some sort of fundraiser for the hospital where Alan was born and they interviewed Toni on the air about her experiences. She was smart and eloquent and didn't swear at all or say "um" too many times. Alan did a little plug for the radio station "The Bull Rocks!" and um, whatever, no they don't, cause Anna and I sat through half an hour of bad "new country" just to hear Toni, but it was for a good cause. Next time Tone, get KDHX to sponsor the pledge-athon, and arrange to be interviewed by Denny Clancy on Blursday. THAT would be classic listening enjoyment. I worked tonight, hosting for dollars and got to hang out with Steve. Unfortunatly D. had some crazy-assed couple who had her tearing her hair out and I had to bite my tongue and apologize to them for something that was truly their fault, their stupidity, their bullheadedness, but at least I got them to tip her. Urg. Some people should just never leave the house. Sunday is the big roller derby meet-up and I'm not finished with the handouts. I have all of tomorrow night to finish, but I think I'll be having a highschool flashback and spend the night at Kinkos, battling errant gluesticks and wrestling with copy machines. Ah, I love the smell of toner in the early morning.

Action Shot!

Action Shot!
Originally uploaded by sarahkate.

Wednesday night skating practice was the biggest yet. Fourteen girls showed up, many who had never been before. We are all getting better on skates, and I am totally excited about the meet-up at Duff's on Sunday.
Matt's friend Carrie, who is in the Windy City Rollers League, emailed me last night and offered to help me get this thing off the ground. Everyone has been so supportive and helpful, not to mention as excited as I am. All of the girls who came for the first time, and everyone who has been there from the beginingare still so enthusiastic about the League. Mom has been talking it up to everyone she knows (and she came to practice last night!), I just hope I can pull this off. I am going to have to do some serious delegation of responsibilities. I'm a bit scared that I'll screw up, but I know at the same time that I can pull it off. I just have to keep telling myself "You have tons of support, you can do this."
Now I'm going out to buy some kneepads. I need all the support I can get.

Tuesday crew

Tuesday crew
Originally uploaded by sarahkate.

Good group tonight, all three Climer sisters and their mother showed up! As you can see, we're getting bigger!

The cast and crew of the show

The cast and crew of the show
Originally uploaded by sarahkate.

Last night for Halloween we performed Rosemary's Baby Shower in the window at Blueberry Hill. Pictured above: Diana as Rosemary Woodhouse, Sarah Kate as Satan's Auntie, Amelia as herself, Rachel as the Princess of Darkness, Stephanie as the Resident Nun, Caitlin as Eva Kinevil, and Emily as Satan's Secratary.
Several folks got drunker than skunks. We had a great time.