St. Louis, home of sports champions

The St. Louis Cardinals won the world series tonight. This year it means more than it ever has before because we have christened our new stadium with a world championship victory.
The St. Louis Arch Rival Rollergirls were also victorious this week. Sunday we kicked the tar out of the Chi-Town Sirens travel team, "Chicago's Finest Rollergirls." This was our first bout against another league and we met the challenge and returned victorious. I hope these victories, baseball and derby both, set the scene for the future. I have no doubts that the St. Louis Cardinals will continue to deliver world class baseball for the next five hundred years. I can only hope that the ARRG will deliver satisfying derby too.
So that's the short post, look for pictures soon of the Chicago bout and my new knitting progress!

Grave Danger on Ebay!

Someday, we will all have fans like this, I hope.
Now go check outDanger's Autograph for sale on ebay.

Why I wasn't at Derby Practice last night.

Last night, by some miracle of rockstar bartending and general coolness, my brother-in-law Zach managed to score free tickets AND BACKSTAGE PASSES to Cirque du Soleil "Quidam!" I went with him, so did Mom and Toni and the kids. I didn't take any pictures, it's verboten, but OH MY GOD!
I saw Dralion a couple years ago and was so swept away by it. I knew what was in store for me, but no one else had been to a Cirque performance before. The best part was watching their faces.
Quidam is the darkest of the Cirque shows. It is a sort of Alice in Wonderland story about a little girl who changes her reality and gets sucked into the world of Quidam. The performers were amazing. Acrobatics, clowning, people flying through the air. The music is spooky and unreal. The costumes, well, it's Cirque du Soleil. The costumes are always unearthly and amazing.
After the show, Stephan, the guy who gave Zach the tickets, took us on a backstage tour. He's one of the technicians for the show. He runs all the machinery that hoists and drops the performers. He took us around and showed us how the tents are set up, how the scaffolding is set up, how all the machines work, the computer program that synchronizes everything and the dressing rooms for the performers!
I saw the wardrobe closet, the mask storage, giant skeletal wings, and all the shoes lined up! He took us back, behind the tents and showed us the cast and crew shower trailer, the kitchen and all the generators that create the power for the show.
He explained how the tents are set up, and broken down. Stephan also told us that when this engagement in St. Louis is over, everything will be packed into shipping crates and sent overseas to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates for a tour that starts in December.
Nothing has ever moved me like watching a live Cirque du Soleil performance. I've been twice now, and I must say, afterwards, you feel like you can fly.

Cold Hands

Trying to prevent chilliness due to weather changes, I knit myself some fingerless gloves/wristwarmers. No pattern, just eyeballed.
Guage: 4 stitches/inch on size 10 dps
Yarn: Magallanes 100% Wool Hand dyed, Araucania Yarns, Chile. Color 301.
I think they look smashing.

recap on the way

The bout went great, everything was pulled together perfectly. I promise pictures and details tomorrow, when I am coherent.

Arch Rival Rollergirls Second Bout: Rollergirls from Outer Space!

It's that time again Derby fans! Come see the Arch Rival Roller Girls on Sunday October 8th at the All American Sports Mall.
The first one hundred fans in space or alien themed costumes get a free ARRG iron-on patch! Everything is Sci-Fi themed, so drop in after Archon and round out your Sci-Fi weekend with some all-female flat track roller derby action.
Your faithful blogger will be there, as always, announcing the action and wearing hand knit socks.
Tickets $10 at the door or in advance from Fifi's, Mokabe's Coffee House, Hartford Coffee, and Euclid Records.
See you there!

Tuesdays are for sharing!

Not feeling very photogenic today, so I hope this will stand in for the self-portrait.

I don't usually blog about my dreams because I think it is cheesy. This one was too weird, I had to share it.

(The Venice Cafe is a bar in the Lemp neighborhood of South St. Louis. The Venice is famous for its amazing mosaic tilework inside, which covers the floor, walls, ceilings and stairwells. The outdoor patio is a magical wonderland of sculpture, mosaic and fountains. One of my friends works there.)

I was at the Venice Cafe, but the Venice Cafe was a huge church, with only two walls still standing and a bunch of strange, hot pink plaster on the inside. The tile and fancy paintings were still there, but it was sort of half inside, half outside like a garden, but with three stories of wooden floors and big clawfoot bathtubs full of vegetation. The whole place was filled with painted furniture and people were sitting around drinking jasmine tea from tiny china cups and eating sugar cookies. (Neither of these things are available at the real Venice Cafe, as far as I know)
Anyway, I was there with my mom and some random lady gave me a spinning wheel. It was a huge, old wooden one with this intricate loop system that the spun yarn was fed onto before it went onto the bobbin. The yarn had to pass thru all these metal loops around the room before it was finished. I was practicing spinning wool and some other plant-based fiber onto the wheel and all of a sudden the fiber turned into huge swaths of cloth, used clothing, laces, ribbons, posters, and painted butcher paper. I had to hurry up and spin all of this stuff into yarn, but it kept getting stuck in the loops around the room. I tried to cut it into strips so it would fit, but I wasn't fast enough. Then it was morning and the bar was closing. Danger was supposed to kick us out but she wasn't around.
My mom told me that since I didn't finish spinning all the materials and paper that I couldn't keep the wheel. I was very bummed, so on my way out the door I set the church/Venice Cafe on fire. Mom was really mad, and refused to buy me any pastries.

I'm chalking this one up to pregnancy folks. There is no other explanation.

Wasting time can be so much fun!

So Casey does all these "myspace bulletin" things. I read them and usually that's it. But lately I've been filling them out. This one was so much fun I had to put it over here for you all to see. Filling this out was the highlight of my evening, and that's saying quite a bit since we did the monthly roller derby meeting in almost exactly 2 hours.
So here are the instructions:
1. Put your music player on shuffle. (I used iTunes)
2. Press forward for each question.
3. Use the song title as the answer to the question even if it doesn't make sense, but be prepared to be shocked.


I SWEAR I DIDN'T MAKE THIS UP.


How am I feeling today?
LONDON GIRLS -VIBRATORS

Will I get far in life?
USE IT- THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS

How do my friends see me?
CARNIVAL- THE PILLOWS (from the FLCL soundtrack)

Where will I get married?
BABY TALK- LUSH

What is my best friend's theme song?
TOMMY GUN- THE CLASH

What is the story of my life?
MY GIRLFRIEND'S IN THE FBI- THE DRAGS

What's high school like?
DIG YOUR OWN GRAVE- HEAVENLY

How can I get ahead in life?
SHE PUT THE WHAMEE ON ME- SCREAMIN' JAY HAWKINS

What is the best thing about you?
WHAT DO I GET- BUZZCOCKS

What is tomorrow going to be like?
PROVE MY LOVE- VIOLENT FEMMES

What is in store for this weekend?
VAMOS- THE PIXIES

How is my life going?
MYSTERY GIRL- THE YEAH YEAH YEAHS

What song will they play at my funeral?
BANANA SPLIT FOR MY BABY- LOUIS PRIMA

What do my friends really think of me?
YOSHIMI BATTLES THE PINK ROBOTS- FLAMING LIPS (no, really!)

Do people secretly lust after me?
A WORRYING THING- YO LA TENGO

How can I make myself happy?
ARE YOU THERE GOD, IT'S ME MARGARET- THE MR T EXPERIENCE

Will I ever have children?
START!- THE JAM (!!!!)

Who will you marry?
REBELS OF THE SACRED HEART- FLOGGING MOLLY

Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend?
PILLS- NEW YORK DOLLS

Do you have polka dot panties on?
FUN AT THE BEACH TONIGHT- THE B GIRLS

Thanks Casey. That was the best waste of time ever.