Holy crap
Holy crap - it's livejournal. o.0
I have not written in this thing in basically a year...and reading back over that last post...it's kind of...surreal.
An incredible amount of insanity has happened since then, including Dames and I have now moved, I've started two additional jobs, and most notably - I'm skating with a new league now: The Jerzey Derby Brigade.
Yeeeeeah...the big move...drama. The truth is, it just wasn't a good fit anymore for a lot of reasons...it was an incredibly painful decision and I lost some friends over it, which makes me really sad. On the other hand, I did manage to keep some friends through it, and I'm really grateful for that. Plus, I'm finding I'm really fitting in and finding my place on the JDB...
So I've decided to repurpose this LJ with one simple focus: What did I do today to be a better derby girl?
I still want to be bouting with a burning passion...Looking at my list from last year, though, I can see the progress I've made, and that makes me really happy:
Here's last year's "State of the Union:"
"STUFF THAT NEEDS IMPROVEMENT:
1) Crossovers
2) Flamingos
3) Weaving
4) Pack skating strategy
HAVEN'T LEARNED IT YET:
1) Jumping
2) Side-to-side jumps, hops, Texas Two-steps
3) Duck Walks, Toe Runs
4) Pushes
5) Hip Pulls
6) Whips
7) Forcing out of bounds
8) Hitting (Hip check, shoulder check, Can-opener.)
And here's the thing that's really scaring the shit out of me:
ENDURANCE / SPEED:
1) 5 laps in under 60 Seconds.
2) 20 laps in under 5 minutes. (Current record = 15.)"
The good news, is I've made huge progress on a lot of these since last year. My crossovers are looking pretty good...I still need to get them a bit more consistent and reliable, particularly once I start to get tired - but I think this will just come with more and more practice. My weaving and flamingos are looking REAL good. I pretty much have them nailed, particularly the weaving. Sweet. I'm even getting the one-foot weaving down. Pack strategy could use improvement, of course, but that's the kind of thing you work on throughout your derby career - and the kind of thing that will get WAY better once I pass my assessments and am scrimmaging more.
From the "Haven't Learned It Yet" pile, I'm proud to report that I can now Jump, give Pushes, Hip Pulls, and Whips, Force out of Bounds, and do a nice shoulder hit.
Things that I can do but need major improvement:
1) Side to side jumps, hops, and Texas Two-Steps
2) Duck Walks and Toe Runs
3) Hip Checks
And the only thing from the list above that I haven't learned how to do yet is Can-Openers, which you don't even need to know for assessments.
Other things not needed for assessments but that I'd like to work on/improve are reversals, (turning from forwards to backwards), 180 Toe Stops (aka Tomahawks), and skating backwards.
Altogether I think I'm in pretty good shape! I don't really see any -
:THUD:
Hmm...that was odd.
:THUD:
Umm...is that glass of water vibrating?
:THUD, THUD, THUD: RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRR!!
OH SHIT It's Tyrannosaurus WRECKED, aka, my speed and endurance. XP
Yeah. That's still the big hurdle, folks. And instead of 20/5, it's now a neck-breaking 25/5 that I need to scale. EEeeeps.
But what can I do, folks, except do a little bit every day to be a better derby girl.
Nice to be back - hope to be posting a lot more often. Keep me kosher!
xoxo
Bruiser
I have not written in this thing in basically a year...and reading back over that last post...it's kind of...surreal.
An incredible amount of insanity has happened since then, including Dames and I have now moved, I've started two additional jobs, and most notably - I'm skating with a new league now: The Jerzey Derby Brigade.
Yeeeeeah...the big move...drama. The truth is, it just wasn't a good fit anymore for a lot of reasons...it was an incredibly painful decision and I lost some friends over it, which makes me really sad. On the other hand, I did manage to keep some friends through it, and I'm really grateful for that. Plus, I'm finding I'm really fitting in and finding my place on the JDB...
So I've decided to repurpose this LJ with one simple focus: What did I do today to be a better derby girl?
I still want to be bouting with a burning passion...Looking at my list from last year, though, I can see the progress I've made, and that makes me really happy:
Here's last year's "State of the Union:"
"STUFF THAT NEEDS IMPROVEMENT:
1) Crossovers
2) Flamingos
3) Weaving
4) Pack skating strategy
HAVEN'T LEARNED IT YET:
1) Jumping
2) Side-to-side jumps, hops, Texas Two-steps
3) Duck Walks, Toe Runs
4) Pushes
5) Hip Pulls
6) Whips
7) Forcing out of bounds
8) Hitting (Hip check, shoulder check, Can-opener.)
And here's the thing that's really scaring the shit out of me:
ENDURANCE / SPEED:
1) 5 laps in under 60 Seconds.
2) 20 laps in under 5 minutes. (Current record = 15.)"
The good news, is I've made huge progress on a lot of these since last year. My crossovers are looking pretty good...I still need to get them a bit more consistent and reliable, particularly once I start to get tired - but I think this will just come with more and more practice. My weaving and flamingos are looking REAL good. I pretty much have them nailed, particularly the weaving. Sweet. I'm even getting the one-foot weaving down. Pack strategy could use improvement, of course, but that's the kind of thing you work on throughout your derby career - and the kind of thing that will get WAY better once I pass my assessments and am scrimmaging more.
From the "Haven't Learned It Yet" pile, I'm proud to report that I can now Jump, give Pushes, Hip Pulls, and Whips, Force out of Bounds, and do a nice shoulder hit.
Things that I can do but need major improvement:
1) Side to side jumps, hops, and Texas Two-Steps
2) Duck Walks and Toe Runs
3) Hip Checks
And the only thing from the list above that I haven't learned how to do yet is Can-Openers, which you don't even need to know for assessments.
Other things not needed for assessments but that I'd like to work on/improve are reversals, (turning from forwards to backwards), 180 Toe Stops (aka Tomahawks), and skating backwards.
Altogether I think I'm in pretty good shape! I don't really see any -
:THUD:
Hmm...that was odd.
:THUD:
Umm...is that glass of water vibrating?
:THUD, THUD, THUD: RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRR!!
OH SHIT It's Tyrannosaurus WRECKED, aka, my speed and endurance. XP
Yeah. That's still the big hurdle, folks. And instead of 20/5, it's now a neck-breaking 25/5 that I need to scale. EEeeeps.
But what can I do, folks, except do a little bit every day to be a better derby girl.
Nice to be back - hope to be posting a lot more often. Keep me kosher!
xoxo
Bruiser