as the post-bout karaoke got better and better (worse and worse?) Cannibal Cookie summed it allllllll up "...i love roller derby, it's a worldwide network of people who don't give a fuck"
from the penalty box
i got friends all over the world now. there was this girl, let's call her "Maggie" she was over from the States, travelling around our big island nation in our far away hemisphere and she pops up in Brisbane town needing a place to stay and she get's one, for 2 weeks, wife included, cause she plays derby. oh it's a beautiful thing!
when i retire, i plan to travel the world being led by the invitations of the derby sorority. see how far that gets me. i would like to go to Spain and Japan.
(upon further investigation: Japan NEVER STOPPED playing roller derby! but maybe they ain't quite WFTDA though - a "roller derby Spain" search led to
a link to a dating site that was actually an ad for a flight centre...i think. due to my inherit lack of interest in researching anything i could end up freekin anywhere. joy!)
i went to NEW ZEALAND last week! Blood & Thunder 4 day training camp. i came back a new derby girl.
lower! LOWER!!!!1 - i grew up in the country, nature girl here misses her trees but forgets to leave the city on a regular basis so that she can magically re-centre and energise just from seeing all the greenery - NZ is BEAUTIFUL.
2 - week off work - fucking HOORAY
3 - the skate rink was freekin 20 metres from the beach! fucking GLORIOUS
4 - i did a jump turn on a half pipe!!!!! (highlight of trip)
5 - oh and i got really good training from some really good coaches and players.
i realised that i've become pretty complacent skating with the same old crew every week. being a good derby player is hard work, but it gets to a
point where you are kinda going through the motions. being a kick-arse, other-derby-girl-impressin', game-changing, violent goddess of rolling shoes is not something you can sit around day-dreaming about if you ever hope to live it. i'm back on the intense train of pushing it after seeing some really impressive skaters.
i spent most of day 1 trying to figure out if Suzy Hotrod from Gotham was wearing some sort of butt-enhancer. no, she "works out". i started thinking that the training was mostly aimed at an intermediate sort of level, but for me (feeling a little advanced) i really got to solidify techniques and felt like a i got a lot of "icing on the cake" err so to speak. by which i mean, while i felt like a knew a lot of what was being taught already, there were all these teensy tips and tricks and strategies, that were i a newer skater, probably wouldn't have meant much, and all added up so that by the end, and back at SSRG scrimmage last night, i was brimming with derby education...oh no...it's getting all over the floor! i'm dripping the knowledge all over the kitchen guys, sorry, watch your step!
it's all a bit too mammoth to go into right here right now, but let me tell you: Quadzilla has cool as fuck gold-plated plates (oh and some okay moves i guess;), Carmen Getsome (also from Rat City) is an amazing derby machine. Head ref Hanging Chad (where's he from? i don't know) is the ultimate in knowledge, temperament and assurance.
aw, goodbye signing of the polka dot dressmorning after camp...
Ladykiller: how's you're groin?
Kinky Rinky: it hurts. how's your groin?
Ladykiller: it hurts
Rouge: it reeeally hurts when i cough! waaaaaaaaaaaah!
so me n Ladykiller n Kinky Rinky then drove across beautiful, but nauseating mountain ranges to hot springs to soak our tired bodies and then we found
a motel and drank delicious, delicious NZ wine......
guys...guys! FUCK! after this bottle...and the next bottle...we've only got like TWO more bottles!!!
