Happy 2012 from Sara Skates!

Happy holidays my readers!  I hope the holiday season is treating you well.  It can be stressful, and also limits skating opportunities <-- dislike  I have been getting it in wherever I can.  I think I told you I've been going to Skate Depot on a more regular basis, it's been incredible.  Saturday is much more mellow than Thursday but it's what I can attend so I am used to it now.  The crowd is getting to know me and I've had lots of new partners, which is so exciting.  To me it's more about being accepted up there than the act of couple skating.   The music can be frustrating because it's so much slower than San Diego.  But I have found ways to skate to it that work for me.  Side Note:  Check out this awesome image circa 1937

Backwards couple skating in Cerritos has been a trip.  That is very different from the way guys skate down here.  Plus backwards skating is a big hot button for me right now anyway.  I am nervous from the minute I get asked to backwards skate until it's over.  But I have to do it, can't look like a chicken.  Sometimes my nervousness gives my partner the jitters, just because I'm so jumpy.  I focus on doing my step and a lot of the guys up there do all sorts of fancy stuff behind me, not sure exactly what they're doing.  But I've always been taught to keep doing the step, no matter what.  That's what I do.  All while trying to relax hahaha.  The way we couple skate is not unlike the picture below.

I skated at Skate World for family night this past Friday and it was a mess.  I think I've been going to Cerritos too much.  I couldn't stand the music, it was just painful.  It seemed like all they played was Kesha and LMFAO, no joke.  I know it's for the kids but that crap is hard to skate to.  I was hungry for a super slow Cerritos jam.  Plus the kids, I am not used to skating with them anymore.  I used to skate with them all the time back in the day when I was coming up.  Now I only attend Adult sessions.  Man they were just all over the place, going the wrong direction, cutting across the middle of the floor suddenly.  I found that super annoying.  I could only tolerate two hours and I know I didn't get a proper sweat on.  I just couldn't really go at my top speed with those nutty kids everywhere.

Trying so hard to get up to Cerritos to ring the new year in.  I want to so bad!  Hopefully I can get my ride situation worked out.  It will be such a disappointment if I'm not on my eights when the ball drops.  Working it, I can make it happen.  I hope you have a nice farewell to 2011.  2012 is going to be off the chain.  Thanks to all my faithful readers for the past three years.   Check out this roller girl, I've come so far!  The best is yet to come.  ♥

In Love with my Eights

Hello out there in the blog world!  I am absolutely thrilled to be writing a regular old blog post.  No more off topic entries or horror stories about my injuries.  In short, I took two months off following my accident in September.  It sucked, I hated not skating.  But I was messed up and needed the break.  Now I am finally working again and yes, skating again.  People close to me are alarmed and concerned.  My doctor's advice was to "please, please never roller skate again".  Sigh.  Where's the sense of adventure?  I am so passionate about skating, there's no way I can stop.  Sorry, worrywarts.

It's hard to describe just how great it is to skate again.  I guess it's because of the forced break, it's made me appreciate it so much more.  Feels JUST AMAZING.  The first few weeks were understandably shaky.  I definitely have lost some of my confidence.  But it's not scary - what is scary is backwards skating since that's how I got hurt.  Session skating and roller dancing, I haven't hurt myself doing those things so I have no fear.  But after the initial few weeks, my confidence is back where it was and I feel like a million bucks when I'm on my wheels.

As for backwards, I am really afraid of it.  In some ways, I just want to forget how to do  it so I can relearn the skill.  Obviously I was doing something wrong.  My friends want to help me.  I have done some very, very slow and careful stuff.  What I have done is backwards couple skating, lots of that.  It may sound silly but I feel safer with a partner. If I were to fall back, I would land on them.  Of course I only skate with highly competent skaters that know how to make sure we don't fall.  We haven't.  Just doing the couples skating has made me feel better about backwards altogether.  I know I will do it by myself again one day. It's just too soon right now.

I've been going to Adult Night at Skate World, of course, but what's even better is I've been able to get up to Cerritos almost on a regular basis!  It's so completely awesome.  Fingers crossed that my ride stays solid.  I've started doing downtown with the skaters up there and they are welcoming me with open arms.  I love it.  They do the same roller dancing we do but with different names and slightly different moves.  It's a trip.  I go up there and pick up new steps and then I show my crew when I come back home.

That's about it, and of course skating at the Bay every weekend.  Been doing a lot more teaching there, I like it.  We are always trying to recruit new skaters to learn roller dancing. It's a dying art!  You know you want to learn.  Hit me up.

Me and my buddy, Paul, getting our Halloween roll on

I Got Hurt

Hi blog world, it's with a heavy heart that I write this post.  I have not been able to update my blog because I suffered a brain injury roller skating on September 6, 2011.  First off, don't be freaked out.  If I wasn't okay, I wouldn't be writing this post.  I did get hurt but I don't want anyone thinking extreme stuff.  Let's face it, you can get yourself killed roller skating.  And walking outside, and riding in a car, etc.  So with that disclaimer, my story.  September 6 was Adult Night and it was a great, fun night.  I remember lots of awesome moments.  Nero was there and we did plenty of couple skating.  9:30 is the normal time for the beginners backwards special.  I remember going out.  They were playing "Lovely Day" by Bill Withers.  I was doing my usual backwards step, I went around a few times.

Then the worst happened.  I took a normal step back and somehow completely lost my balance.  It's hard to describe because I don't really know what happened.  I fell back and basically landed completely on my head.  My skates somehow flew from under me.  I didn't hit my butt, my elbows, not any other part but my poor head.  I completely blacked out.  Friends have described the sickening sound of my skull hitting the wood as being difficult to erase from memory. The next thing I remember is being on my stomach, looking at the lines painted on the rink floor.  My glasses were off.  One of my best friends, Wonder Boy, was laying next to me, trying to get me to wake up.  He helped me to my feet.  My head was in terrible pain and there was blood on the floor. It was obvious I needed medical help.  I felt completely disoriented and confused.

The next few days after that pass in a blur.  I was admitted to the ICU at the hospital.  I had fractured my skull and had bleeding on one of my frontal lobes from the jarring to my brain.  Although I had cracked my head open, the crack was not deep and I luckily did not need stitches.  If they had done stitches, they would have shaved my lovely blond tresses.  Thank goodness for small things.

Anyway, it's been 12 days sicne the injury.  I feel a little better each day.  I'm eager to skate and also completely terrified.  I really can't believe I got hurt like this, this is not a usual roller skating injury.  It's fairly common to hear of broken wrists, bruised tailbones.  Normally if I was backwards skating and I felt like I was losing my balance, I would turn around.  I would take a step back.  Why I didn't, I will never know.

I sure as hell am not quitting skating.  But I have to take my time getting back into it.  Obviously I have a new found fear for when I'm skating.  Never worried about cracking my head open before!  Imagine if I was at a rink with a concrete floor. Shudder.  But I do need to make sure I'm good before I go back.  The biggest side effect for me is dizzy spells.  I also have completely lost my sense of smell and taste.  Absolutely bizarre.  I taste absolutely nothing, I have no clue if I have bad breath, I don't know if the fruit is ripe or not.  I can't even taste bacon for pete's sake.  The doctor said to give that a year to return.  Brain injuries are no joke.

So the blog will continue, but not as often.  And I can't do the pretty pictures right now, I'm sorry.  My home pc is kinda janky.  I will still be skating, I will get back to the level I was at and beyond that.  I can't wait to get to Cerritos.  But I have other things I must consider, like my job and family.  Yes I have a real job that I'm not able to go to right now.  And I have a family that means more to me than anything in this world.  I never really thought a three hour session at the rink could end with me in the hospital, or worse.  Definitely a new perspective.

I love you guys and thank you always for your support.  You'll hear from me again very soon.

See Sara Skate!

Hello out there in the skating world!  I have been having the absolute best time skating.  I know I sound like a broken record, but I can't help it.  Roller skating is too awesome! I have some new skating adventures to report on.

I skated up in Cerritos last week.  I went up with Nero so it gave the two of us lots of opportunities to practice our couples skating.  We did a fantastic job and neither of us fell the whole night.  We did a bunch of backwards couple skating, which was really exciting because I have only done that a couple times before.  Once we established the steps, we were golden and our steps were perfectly synchronized. Being up there at that rink, the music and people were as incredible as ever.  I saw tons of awesome skating.  I was really in the zone the whole night, and my confidence was way up.  I skated over in the fast lane a good amount of the time and held my own.  Some of my friends that do downtown were also up there and it was super fun to do routines in the middle.  We got a lot of kudos.

After doing this blog for more than a year, I actually have some video of me skating.  Now calm down, because it's not like a proper skating vid or anything.  But Paul and I did make some instructional videos to teach downtown, and this is them.  Shooting the video was a good time.  It was a gorgeous sunny day.  I wish I hadn't been chewing gum, but I can fix that next time around.  I was honored that Paul asked me to do the videos with him.

Roller Dance Instruction #1

Roller Dance Instruction #2

Adult Night at Skate World has been great, as usual.  No place like home.  Last night the power went out in the middle of the session.  What a trip!  Absolute darkness.  Luckily no one got hurt as it was towards the end of the session.  I was in the middle of the rink with Paul doing routines so I did hold on to him for dear life for a split second haha.  But of course your eyes adjust after a sec.  And everyone in that place had their cell phone to use as a flashlight.  Then they told us to leave and the excitement was over.  But a memorable night for sure.

I'm going back to Cerritos in a couple weeks *excited* can't wait to do it again.

Photo Credit to Fashion Edit

If You're Lucky Enough to be Irish, You're Lucky Enough

St. Patrick's Day greetings to all my readers, all 17 of you! Haha It's St. Patrick's Day and I've got to find some leprechaun roller skating images on google.  Hopefully that's what you are looking at right now.

St. Patrick's Day and roller skating don't really mix, although there is a rink in L.A. where alcohol is served at the adjoining bowling center.  I really couldn't imagine skating drunk, that just sounds terrifying.  It's so easy to make a mistake when you're sober, who knows what you might do if you're drunk.  But I digress.

You know I've been getting my roll on.  Adult Night this past Tuesday was so fantastic.  For one thing, there was only a handful of amateurs, so that's always good.  The DJ played lots of my requests, which is awesome.  And there were no major accidents the whole night, thank goodness.  (There was a bad one a few weeks ago that ended in the paramedics taking the girl out. Scary.)  I am feeling so awesome in my new skates, I just can't believe I left them on the shelf for six months!  Was ready to sell them!  There's a time and place for everything.

My backwards skating has improved dramatically in the last few weeks.  My buddy, DJ Dave, has been really helping me with my backwards crossovers and has driven the point home about shifting my weight from foot to foot.  This is the basis of roller skating and the key to success on your wheels.  I still kinda suck at turning around but I am working on it all the time.  I am also learning backwards couple skating, which is so totally exciting.  Of course also very easy to get knocked down but so far, so good. 

We really rocked on our downtown routines on Tuesday night.  I saw the amateurs looking on, mesmerized.  One of them came up to me and asked if we were professionals.  That made my night.  When everyone is on the beat and we are perfectly synchronized, we probably do look like professionals.

In other news, I am skating at the rink this weekend, which I am so excited about.  It's been at least a month since I was able to fit in skating on the weekend at the rink.  I'm especially glad because they are saying rain this weekend so probably no beach skating.  Then Cerritos later this month, so excited!  Can't wait to get my roll on Skate Depot style.

Skate Like It's Summer

Hi out there, I know it's been a few weeks since I have blogged.  Honestly, I was struck down by the flu bug.  Forced off my wheels but the evil hand of fate!  Oh well, it was bound to happen as I haven't been sick for a few years.  Guess it was my turn.  I didn't skate for a solid week, which was so bizarre.  Then I went skating and it totally got me sick all over again.  I wasn't ready to be back on my wheels, apparently.  Let me catch you up.

Right before New Years, I skated in Cerritos.  So unbelievable.  There is simply nothing like skating up there, it's just the best.  I had such a fantastic time.  It was really crowded and very frightening over in the fast lane so I stayed out of it for the most part.  Lots of people do the same style of skating as me around the floor so it was a blast to follow people, or get in a line of five or six people and mimic their steps.  So fun to know I can keep up now.

I am just barely returning to a normal skating schedule after my illness.  I will definitely remember that I have to stay home on Skate Night when I've been ill.  I have so much fun skating, I don't really think of it as an exertion or exercise.  I skated last Tuesday for the first time after my sickness.  It felt a little weird!  Just took me a couple dozen rotations to get comfortable again.  Then I was golden.

We are having unbelievable weather right now in San Diego, so after a long two months off, I was able to skate at the beach this past Sunday.  It was glorious.  Brilliant blue skies, hazy sunshine and a cool breeze coming off the water.  I love to be on the wood in the rink, but skating in the sunshine is an experience like no other.  Fantastic skating day.

Skating at the rink tonight.  Some of the rexers organized a Skate Night so it should be on the crowded side.  Last week, there was a gal there who told me she rode her motorcycle 80 miles to skate with us.  Very cool!  She told me about a rink in Fountain Valley.  I mapped it and it's about the exact distance of Cerritos, maybe slightly less.  She claims they have a great Adult Night on Thursdays.  Have to see for myself but sounds like a road trip in the making.

Adult Night March 9

I had a great time at Adult Night this past Tuesday. The DJ was playing a lot of good music and I felt like I was in the skating zone. I am getting better at braking so it is not quite as intimidating to go fast around the oval.

I made a bunch more progress skating on my toes. It's exciting to explore this new area of skating. I remember how hard it was when I first started, it seemed like I would never be able to skate on my toes without falling. Now it feels so natural. I did pretty well during the beginners backwards skate - I still have to go pretty slow, but at least I am not falling or having to brake.

I am just dying to be able to skate on the week days when the rink is closed. This winter seems never ending. It has been incredibly cold. This weekend, I'll be able to go to the rink on Saturday only. Looking forward to skating, but not all the kids I'm going to have to contend with. Yay for Friday tomorrow!

President's Day Skate

Went to the special President's Day skate at the rink today. It wasn't too crowded, maybe 50 or so people so that was less stressful for me. I did a lot of practicing around the oval and doing my crossovers. It was mostly kids at the rink so I also had the center of the ring virtually all to myself. I focused on doing certain moves and just practiced the same thing, over and over until I gradually improved.

I skated about three hours today. I did fall once right when I first got to the rink, because I tried to stop too quickly. It was okay though since I fell right on my wrist guards. After that I did a bunch of exercises to practice slowing down and stopping.

Adult night tomorrow, woo hoo! That is going to be so fun. So it's Tuesday 7:30-10:30, you should come and you can just tape Idol.