Playing with the Big Kids :-)

First Tuesday training session today and I absolutely loved it!

It was great to be able to skate with not only the Carbons, but some of the Irons and Steels, and TIL fellas too. I look forward to spending more time skating with these rollerpeeps, I find it an excellent way to learn when you're around people that are better than you, a little bit of inspiration.

Hopefully with time, everything will become second nature and I wont have to think to force myself to do things. Now that I have practice 2-4 times a week it wont take me too long to pick it all up. Slowly but surely, my derby stops are just happening rather than me forcing them to happen. I'm still over thinking on my plows and t-stops, I embarrass myself at how shocking they are :-( We practiced doing derby starts, which I have tried once or twice before and failed miserably at. I did an inner 'humph' when we were told to start practicing, but I actually really surprised myself at doing them quite well. Not bad for a newbie :-D We also practiced some wall techniques which is a new one on me, but I seemed to pick them up quite fast. Really enjoyed blocking the jammers coming through. Mel and I perfected the 'bony bum' wall, aint nobody getting through that! After that little drill I now realise there is LOADS to have to think about whilst playing derby! Just simple things like stepping, keeping moving, looking, shouting, turning, not grabbing, pushing, skating, stopping, starting, blocking, the list could quite possibly be endless.

At the end of the session everyone went in for a scrimmage, but seeing as I'm still yet to learn contact stuff, Mallory and Maid took me to one side and showed me some hits. We did full body checks and hits, starting with just lateralling in and leaning. Once I'd practiced that back and forth a few times, I had to go in for some hits. A good bit of advice Mal gave me was to stop over thinking. This is so true. I found that when I thought too much about going in, I either chickened out, or messed up. I think I managed to get some good hits in there though, and could have quite happily gone on practicing but we only managed about 10 minutes before we were kicked out, but they were a worthwhile 10.

I was about to say I'm looking forward to Sundays practice, but it's cancelled . . . NOOOOOOOOOO! Looks like I'm going to have to make the most of Chesterfield practice and Thursdays Skate Central visit instead :-) Efforts levels at 100% ! ! !

Bellyflopping is not a WFTDA approved fall

Ahhhh, skate day returns. However, it didn't run as smoothly as I had hoped.

Before practice last week I was told to get there for 2.30, which I did, just, no thanks to the football traffic! This week I was under the impression that training would be the same time. Luckily I had decided to 'get there early' for 2pm to catch up with folks before training began at '2.30'. To my utter horror I arrived at 1.55 to find everyone getting ready and skating around. F*********CK!! Turns out Sunday training is 2-4, not 2.30- 4 as I had once been told :-/

I don't think I've ever got ready for training so fast in my life. Luckily I didn't miss any of the warm up, phew! We did some good warm up stuff, sticky skating, derby stance and squats. We then went into our 25 laps (25 and a half for me this week!) We then paired off and practiced stops; my plow stops still mightily suck (but got better by the end of the session), t-stops still a bit weak, but my transition stops are coming along very nicely :-D We then went into practicing laterals, hopping infront of each other then plow stopping. This all went swimmingly.

We then got into some pack work. The back three skaters had to do a knee dip, get back up then work their way through the pack until breaking free at the front. I made a good few attempts at getting through, but kept tripping up. The final attempt at getting through was pretty impressive (in my head). I saw a gap, made the leap, got through, got hit, got my feet tangled, and did a pretty hefty bellyflop.

Miss D shouted (in jest!) whilst laughing 'BECKY KIRBY, BELLY FLOPPING IS NOT A WFTDA APPROVED FALL'. Totally my bad, sprawled out like a tiger skin rug, I felt like a total tit for not falling properly. I was very angry at myself. Anyway, despite this, I was punished for not falling properly. I had an immediate burn and welt on my hip, and I was winded, big time. I got up and skated into the middle for some time out.

Mmm, Rink Rash . . but this photo doesn't do it justice :-(

Once feeling back to normal we got into pacelines, and double pacelines. That was great fun, apart from I kept getting grabbed on my ouchy hip :-(  We weaved from the back to the front, then front to back. All very enjoyable. I do love a good pace line!

After all this we worked on some blocking and hitting, but seeing as though I have only done about 5 (very basic!) minutes of this I had to sit it out :-(  In the end I pootled around the outside, and practiced my jumps and transitions. I was gutted at having to miss out, but hopefully I can get some help and then next time I can join in. 

At the end we played a bit of endless jammer, and I got to be the Jammer, woop! I was jamming for Team Orange, and I pulled that star panty onto my helmet with pride! The aim; my girls had to aid me through the pack, whether pushing or whipping, I wasn't allowed to do a thing. I was a bit miffed at not being able to do a lap after breaking through though, I quite wanted to try and score some points! 

After all that, we were pretty much done. I'm not sure if I made any progress today, but I learnt a bunch of stuff. I also incurred two Track Cut majors . . . oops! But in my defence, I had no idea what I'd done wrong. 

Things learnt today:

Belly flopping is NOT a WFTDA approved fall

When you fall think small

When knocked out of bounds, come back in BEHIND the person that knocked you out (I always knew this, but didn't realise I'd done the opposite, hence getting the majors)

I'm looking forward to Tuesday practice now, I wonder what's in store!? I'm looking forward to getting up to speed with hitting etc, I felt kind of left behind not being able to join in with that today. Hopefully I can work on that soon, and then I can really get into it all.

My seat on the SSRG Rollercoaster

In the past 24 hours I've literally had my life turned around, in a flippin marvellous way!

On my way to the cinema last night I had a message from Miss D, the SSRG Captain, to ask if I was planning on going out later on. As I was on my way to the cinema I thought I'd be honest and tell her so, but said that I would be up for meeting up afterwards if other folks were going out too. After not getting a response I realised it wasn't a question but more a 'you will come out tonight' statement. I found out later what her motives were . . . 

Anyway, once the cinema finished, I made a quick walk up to the bars and found everyone in the Bowery. After a few drinks, and fun chats, and nearly pissing my pants on the walk between bars, I ended up getting stuck into a conversation on where my skating was heading. I've picked a name, I've picked a number, I'm apparently 'dedicated to the team without being creepy', but no-one could understand why I was skating with Chesterfield when I lived in Sheffield. I explained about the whole 'No room at the SSRG Inn' thing, and in a very whirlwind-like way it was stated that there needed to be something done about this. Miss D invited me to come along to practice today, and on me saying 'yes, yes I definitely do want to come to practice' she quietened everyone down and made the announcement in front of the others that SSRG had a new member :D

I was in shock, but a happy kind of shock, the kind of shock I imagine you get from being proposed to. It felt amazing!

After not being able to get to sleep last night for all the excitement, I managed to get about 5 hours before the nerves kicked in. You see, not only was today going to be my first training session with SSRG, we were also having our Minimum Skills tested!!! 

I got to training in fine time, got changed and headed out to start skating. The next two hours went by in a blur. There were some things I knew I just sucked at, but that means room for improvement. By the end of the session I was pooped, but, I had managed to tick off some of my minimum skills! woohoo! I've passed on:

• Pacing
• Receiving inside and outside whips
• Giving inside whips
• Sticky skating
• Speed and endurance
• Crossovers 
• Skating posture
• AND MY 25 LAPS IN 5 MINUTES!!!

I haven't been that knackered in years, and I definitely didn't take enough to drink, so next practice I need to remember the liquids! Anyway, to document this momentous occasion, here's a shot of me after practice, avec player number and happy happy face!

Got loads more to work on at practices now, and on Thursdays at Skate Central. For now, I think it's fair to say, I need a good hot bath, some soup and sarnies, and sleep. 

Here's starts my SSRG Adventure . . . and I can't friggin wait to get stuck in!

Forwards to backwards, and back again

Tonight I learnt transitions

Forwards to backwards, then used my toe stops to stop. 

Once I got confident doing that I went forwards, to backwards, then back to forwards again.

Now I can do them I feel unstoppable!!!

Next stop, backwards skating and linking EVERYTHING together!!! :D !!!

Whipping good fun!

I'll keep tonight's Practice blog short and sweet.

Now that we start a little later, it means it's not such a mad rush to get out of work, get home and leave again. Needless to say, we still rocked up at the same time as every other week.

Skates on, (laced up nicely now that I've put longer laces in) padded up, gumguard in and off we went. After a wee skate around, we got into stretches, some exercises, some tai bo moves, along with stepping to some music. Unfortunately it wasn't MC Hammer, so we couldn't practice our 'Hammer Slides'.

After our little warm up we practiced plow stops (look forward, LOOK FORWARD), and then got into some lateral turns. Thankfully my larking around at Skate Central is beginning to pay off, because I seemed to be a lot better at these tonight than I was before christmas. We practiced with just one or two down each side of the gym, then cranked it up to 2-3 with the cones a bit closer together. I can't say that they were perfect every time, but I got some real belters in that made a pretty impressive barking sound. So cool in fact that I made the 'ooohff, did you HEAR that!?!' face.

After these we practiced WHIPS!!! Ahh, so much fun. I was giving whips first time round and once I got my stance sorted (after I nearly decked it on the first whip) I was not too shoddy. Then it was my turn to be whipped . . . WOW!!! So much fun! Paul gave the best whips by far, and even snuck in a little waitress style whip too when no-one was watching :-D

After all the excitement we played stuck in the mud, and did a few clockwise laps for good measure. My clockwise crossovers are coming along nicely, and with a little more practice they'll be just as good as my anti's.

Roll on 5pm tomorrow when Skate Central opens their doors and I can get some more practice in :-)

NSO's FTW!

Yesterday was my second and third time NSOing for SSRG :-)

Whenever I get the message telling me the jobs Im expected to do I have that moment of panic 'what if I cock up!?' Luckily my role for the day would involve a whiteboard and a marker pen, how tasking could it be really?

I caught the tram to where I needed to be and once I got inside I hung around for a while until more folks turned up. SSRG were having a practice, and I didn't fancy gatecrashing unless I had someone else there to do so with :-) So I loitered, a lot, quite possibly looking like an obvious spare part. Luckily people started turning up and when Glam arrived and I grabbed her just to run over what I was meant to be doing. I'd be operating the penalty whiteboards for the first bout, and doing penalty timing in the second.

AAARGH, stopwatches!!! I was not expecting this, but it would explain why I'd been sent the manual for this role aswell (pay attention Becky!)

Yes, so the first bout got underway, and my job was to write down any penalties, minor or major, on the whiteboards in the middle of the track. 1 Major Penalty equates a minute in the penalty box, as does 4 Minor Penalties. There's lots of different ways a penalty can be given, it seemed yesterday people were favouring Track Cutting, Back Blocking and Forearms. It was actually really good fun in the middle, and a lot less scary/lot more exciting than I thought it would be.

Time for Bout 2 and I was sent with two others to the penalty box. I was in charge of Blocker timing :-) While I was happy to do this, I was a little concerned that the only space I had for standing was right behind the penalty seats, and I was told that the boys skate in with some gusto- I did NOT want to be squashed! It was all fine though. I remembered to start/stop the watch at all the right times, and once I got stuck in I realised it was actually a lot easier than it had first sounded. I remembered everything I needed to say, when I had to say it and even managed to have some sneaky little chats with the skaters coming in :-)

Anyway, for now I love being an NSO, but I am looking forward to when it's my turn out on the track.  The only downside to being an NSO, that I'm not so keen on, is the 'being impartial' bit. I'd love to be cheering along with everyone else, but unfortunately I'm not allowed. So for now I'm supporting Team Grey, NSO's FTW!!!

(PS- Team Orange and Team Black, of course you are both awesome, I'm just not allowed to say so during bout time!)

What a waste

Whilst living in Gloucester, I fell in love with a derelict building.

I walked past it, to and from work, every single day for nearly two years and always envisaged owning it and turning it into a dance studio. I'm not a dancer, but I just knew it would have been perfect. The windows were huge, floor to ceiling with nice roundy tops on them, perfect for letting the light in. There were nice floors inside (if you looked carefully through the windows you could see them). There was a nice staircase too, leading from the street down to the building.

Then there came a sad day when a notice went up outside saying that it was to be demolished, to make way for redevelopment. 

I was absolutely gutted. 

So, with my trusty vintage camera, I decided to document the destruction . . . 

My lovely building

The first corner is knocked down

The end of the building fastly disappearing

Half way 

Damn you little Digger Man!

The final piece

 I didn't manage to get a photo when the land was completely cleared, but it just wasn't the same.

This took place at the end of March and I've been away from Gloucester for nearly 7 months, not entirely sure whether the redevelopment of the site has even begun yet. Such a shame, I wish they'd waited until I'd left before getting rid of this amazing building.

Life in 35mm . . .

One thing I enjoy in life is photography. 

Last year I found the fun of film photography, and spent countless pennies on developing those little 35mm bundles of joy. There was a stage where I went through nearly a film a week, until I realised it was getting quite expensive, especially when Jessops decided to charge me a different price each time, despite having the same service (!?!)

Blossom in Richmond Park, London

I was given a fisheye camera by my sister last christmas, and it had its first grand outing on a family holiday to France. It was late January, so we enjoyed some time out in the snow, and playing with the neighbours daschunds (ahh my god they're so cute!)

One of my favourite things about film photography is the anticipation of what the photo will look like once developed. Will it be in focus, blurred, or have a scratch over it? Another fun thing is when you've had a film in the camera for so long, that you forget what you've actually taken photo's of. Its always a surprise to get the pictures back and think 'wow, I forgot I took that'.

After trawling the internet for hints and tips, I heard that using expired films worked really well for enhanced colours, and that 'old fashioned' look. Team this with a retro camera which belonged to my mum in the late 70's-80's and I got some pretty interesting photo's.

Me and my old cat Guido with an old school colour flash, and a set of run down warehouses by the docks in Gloucester.

The Fisheye came to loads of different places with me last year, trips back home to Wensleydale, visits with friends to the playpark and the safari park, around my house and even on the way to work. 

Guido has thumbs!

 

 

On a trip to London in March, the weather was absolutely beautiful. Bearing in mind that the camera I was using was at least 30 years old, and the film about 10, I was so pleased with my photo's; the colours were so vibrant and I must say I've never seen blossom look so pretty. 

I'm slowly working my way through three different films on three different cameras, so trying to take at least one with me when I go out about my business! I took my fisheye to practice a few weeks ago, god knows what those pics will look like. I guess I'll have to wait and see :-D

Well, this evening took a bit of a detour in the fact that skating WAS open! A last minute offer of a lift down there was quickly snapped up, and we were there just before 7, I would get an hour at least, so I had to make the most of it.

I don't think I've ever got ready so fast, so fast that I forgot to do the velcro up on one skate, oops!

Anyway, like I said, I was determined to make the most of it, so I made sure I pushed to get in some fast laps. Of course I had a little play around as well :-)

Luckily there's still time to Mary Poppins it up . . .

Where's Mary Poppins when I need her?

So, being denied the right to skate caused a major sad face tonight. I had my bag packed ready and everything :-(

However, it may have come as a blessing in disguise as my bedroom NEEDS SORTING!

Time to get everything in its rightful place and reinstate my crafty room. Currently neither of my desks can be used because they are covered in stuff. Nothing in particular, just generic stuff. Once I get them sorted the one in my bedroom will be for drawing, Lego and techy stuff, the one in my crafty room will be for sewing and (once I get all my tools) jewellery making, thanks to the guidance of the Tatty Devine book I got for christmas :-)

Its also about time I treat myself to sleeping in the middle of the bed, not on 'my' side anymore. Due to being messy, I rarely see the other side of my big bed as its always under a pile of, yep you guessed it, more 'stuff'. It's times like this I wish I could click my fingers and have everything tidy itself away.

Note to self: Must refrain from tweeting until bedroom is looking acceptable!

YAY, Wednesdays are back to normal!!

Just back from CTRV training, and boy am I glad its back on!

Back to that excited feeling from being challenged, from encouragement, and from being able to laugh at myself. My internal me is jumping up and down and clapping giddily with excitement whilst Holly is telling us what we'll be doing, but I think I keep it cool on the outside by just having a big grin and eyes as wide as saucers!

Tonight we practiced our one footed glides, clockwise skating (with very pretty crossovers- athankyou!), we had a little bash at hip whips in a paceline, and then we played some games. I know what you're thinking, a school gym full of a bunch of twentysomethings playing games . . . ? Yeah, stick in the mud and chariot races on skates are chuffing great fun!! Think I need to work on my 'agility' because I'm quite good at 'untagging' folks stuck in the mud, but not quite nimble enough to avoid being tagged. Goddamit I need to learn transitions, and toes stops, and fast! Think I might need to make myself a little checklist, because the past couple of trips to skating I've not really pushed myself, only slightly. I want to learn!! 

Hopefully Skate Central will be open tomorrow, if it's not I might have a very sad face! 

Aaargh, I want to go skating again, I don't want to go to bed!

Cheer up Chuck

After spending some time over the weekend with a very broken hearted friend of mine, I decided I needed to cheer her up somehow. Since we're both experiencing the same issues I thought about what would make me happy, and decided to do it for her.

I grabbed some spare material and threads I had lying around and whipped up this little gem.

With a little bit of concentration I had it up together in a couple of hours (it would have been quicker had I not been distracted by 'The Return to Oz'!!)

It went in the post to her yesterday, so hopefully it should have arrived today. It cheered me up just making it, and the prospect of it cheering her up is quite exciting :-)

Thinking I might end up making a few more of these if people ask nicely :-)