Skate Your Life

Hey Blogosphere! How is everyone enjoying their summer? I have been having so much fun on my eights! It’s been a gorgeous, hot summer in San Diego and there is nothing like rolling with the cool summer breeze washing over you.


I know I have been a terrible blogger and I have zero excuses. But I will update you on the relevant skating happenings and do my best and keep up in the coming months.

America’s Got Talent finally called and said thanks but no thanks. Sad face! BUT the silver lining was that they invited us to participate in the filming of the opening sequence for the show. While it may seem like a token compared to being on the show, it was still really nice to be included. They said they wanted colorful, lively acts which is why we were included. We filmed it up in January and let me tell you, THE BEST TIME EVER. We had an absolute ball! The shoot was funny – everyone participating was rejected by the judges either this year or last year. Some people had been called randomly after their YouTube videos were seen. There were showgirls, dancers, punk rockers, can-can girls and then of course us – a groovy disco roller skating couple. Our part of the video was so cool – Nick walks up, lip synching in the camera, and we come in right behind him. Along with everyone else. BUT since we were on wheels, it was no problem getting right ahead of everyone! Perfect! After the shoot, Nick was so gracious taking pictures with everyone. So without further ado, here is the video below. Check me out at the :37 mark on the left hand side of the screen. Yes I am the cutie with the red afro wig and I get about three solid seconds on screen, amazing!

http://www.nbc.com/americas-got-talent/video/nick-introduces-americas-got-talent-season-8/n37404/

So that is that. In other news, May was Back to Cali, my 4th year going! Such an incredibly rad time, every year it gets a little better. Since my accident in 2011, I keep a cautious distance from the super-fast lane, and at an event like this, it’s even faster than usual. Scary! But so exhilarating at the same time. I was able to skate two of the four nights. The second night was fun but somehow even more packed and of course someone got hurt and we had to wait a good 20 minutes for the ambulance and getting the floor cleaned. That definitely interrupted the flow. But all in all an awesome event and you know I’ll be there next year!

My street skating every Sunday continues. The beach has been getting so incredibly packed, I am parking further and further away. Those beach parking lots are treacherously dirty, full of little things that want to take this skater girl down. So far so good. I stumbled on a rock on the intersection a few weeks ago TERRIFYING. Let me fall on the sidewalk or parking lot please, don’t take me down in the middle of the crosswalk in front of a dozen cars.

So come out and see us do our thing every Sunday at Mission Beach. You won’t regret it. in fact you will probably want to buy a pair of skates and learn how to downtown. It’s what happened to me!

Rollergirl Rolls On

Hey skate peeps,

I know I haven't updated in forever but I have excuses.  My home PC has gone the way of the dinosaur and there are no repairs on the horizon.  Nonetheless, I have been skating up a storm as usual.  Let me give you an update.

Back to Cali came and went over the weekend of May 27, and was somehow even more incredible than last year.  I had simply the best time.  I truly felt like I got my groove back after all the rough times of 2011.  I jammed in the fast lane with the best of 'em.  The floor was crazy packed, I heard a rumor there were 900 people but I'm not sure the floor can hold that many people.  The only downside were the accidents.  I attended two nights of the four night event and the ambulance came out on three separate occasions for the injured.  Always sad and for me, brings back a lot of memories.  One of the accidents in particular; I heard the whistle blowing and saw the commotion ahead of me and everyone started slowing down.  It was a big guy, easily 300 pounds, lying on his back, out cold.  A small pool of blood gathered under his head.  I clapped my hand over my mouth and got off the floor quick.  We had to wait about 30 minutes for teh ambulance to take him away and then the floor had to be sanitized.  Prayers that he made a recovery.

Beyond the tragic stuff, it was a skate of epic proportions.  Definitely got me wanting to hit up Cerritos on Thursday nights again.  In March, i felt intimidated by the fast moving crowd.  But I have moved past that and am ready to roll as they only can at Skate Depot.

I have been performing all around town in the past few weeks, it's been great!  We performed at the Festival of Arts in North Park, and at the San Diego County Fair a few weeks ago.  We will be performing there again on July 1 at 3:00 pm.  Hit me up if you want details.  Show skating is great but definitely harder.  I know these routines like the back of my hand but I do freeze up a bit when it's show time.  Argh!  My defense against this is practice, practice, practice..and then practice some more.  :)

In backwards skating news, I am getting closer with the backwards rexing crossovers, it's a pretty amazing feeling.  Still scary and still really rely on my teacher when we go into the turn.  Now to master doing it alone.  More trips to Cerritos will help it along.  I wouldn't dare do it alone among the nuts that skate in San Diego.

It's summer, the perfect time to get out and skate to your heart's content.  The main thing to concern yourself with outdoors skating is being a strong skater on one foot.  That way you can step over the cracks and other debris.  There's no need to fear outdoor skating, just step over!

Time to Roll

Hey skaters!  April greetings to you and all that.  Been getting my roll on like a boss.  I've never felt stronger on my eights.  The feeling of racing around the rink with the wind blowing my hair back - I truly think I will never get tired of it.

The weather is starting to heat up in San Diego and it's so perfect for roller skating.  I skated at Mission Beach last weekend, the weather was sensational.  Felt like the middle of July.  It was spring break so the beach was packed.  I couldn't find anywhere to park amongst the millions of other people so I parked a few miles away and skated in to the skate spot.  It was so awesome to flex my street skating muscles and not have anything go wrong.  Using your roller skates as a form of transportation is the best feeling.

I was at Skate Depot on a Thursday a few weeks ago.  The first time since my accident, actually.  Man, I'm rusty!  The crowd felt very intense and intimidating.  But my skating has changed since my accident, and I'm definitely not as much of a risk taker as I was.  I still had an absolute blast and it just makes me want to get back to going monthly so I can get used to it again.

My newest skill I've been working on it backwards crossovers.  It's also good for couples rexing.  It is hard!  But it's exciting to learn something completely new in backwards.  Backwards skating is still frightening for me and I'm very hesitant to do it without a partner.  I am trying to work back to backwards skating alone again, but the crowd is so sketchy in San Diego.

Looking forward to rolling hard all this summer.  Definitely want to do more street skating, that was such a rush.  Roller skating, the forgotten form of transportation.

Hello Summer

Hello out there in the blog world! It's a hot sunny day in San Diego and I am behind on my blog, as usual.  I'm a very busy girl so please bear with me.  I am home from my trip to Vegas last week.  Man that stuff goes so fast!  I shouldn't complain about the 85 degree heat here since it was a cool 115 in Vegas.  Vegas was awesome, I had such a great time.  I did all sorts of non-skating things so I won't go into that.  I was so tempted to put on my skates and skate the Strip and at the same time, not tempted at all.  The hordes out there were pretty frightening and I would imagine that it is illegal to rollerskate on the Strip.  But a girl can dream.

I did hit Adult Night at Crystal Palace on Sunday.  Their Adult Night is strange because they have an all day session on Sundays from 10-10 or something like that.  They just stick the Adult Night at the end, from 7-10.  So the kids can stay, which is annoying.  There were some tiny kids there and yes, they could skate but not good like the adults.  The music was hitting it but the crowd was tiny.  It was the night before the 4th of July so it may not always be like that.  I made the best of it and saw many of the same regulars as previous trips.  I saw some very cool shuffle skating going on and of course I did my downtown thing.  San Diego style, yo.

It's so hot now in San Diego, it couldn't be more perfect weather for skating at the beach.  Love it!  The awesome thing is that I just got my boy some roller skates of his own so I really want to help him get his skating legs this summer.  As a small child, being able to roller skate well brings you so much clout.  I know he will like it more once he gets better at it, plus skating at the beach will probably be more fun for him than being at the rink.  I will bargain with him - one hour of skating equals one hour of sand play.

Cerritos next week, baby!  I am so excited already.  I cannot wait to roll up there!  It's going to be the bomb.  I haven't been to Cerritos for over a month and all my injuries have healed.  I am ready to get re- injured lol!  Every time I skate up there, I pick up a little something else.  So here's to picking up a little something else.  Now put on some skates and get your roll on out there!  It's a great way to stay cool.

First Day of Spring/Skating Practice

Went skating early this morning by the water. I haven't skated since Tuesday so anywhere I can fit it in is good. I went downtown by the convention center. Behind it there's a very pretty park area that sits right on the water, and I know some basketball courts there that are good to skate at. The cement is nice and smooth - it's no roller rink, but it will do. Here's a pic of where I skated:
I took my broom and swept one of the courts before I started. There were only a few guys playing basketball, so it was pretty deserted. One thing that sucked is you have to pay the parking meter there. So I paid $2.00 to skate two hours. Later skateboarders and more basketball players came, but they were pretty respectful of my space.

It was a beautiful day today here in San Diego. Pretty darn hot if you are roller skating, that's for sure. I was boiling but that's the beauty of roller skating - when I would get hot from the dance skating, I would just skate around a little to get the breeze and cool off. Here's a pic of the view I had to endure while I skated: :)
I got in a very good skate practice and morning work out. I did get some tourists watching me, and that makes me feel nervous like I'm going to go down. But I guess if I want to skate at the beach this summer, I better get used to it.

I'm heading to Skate World tomorrow for the afternoon session 1:30-5:00.