Skating Makes Me Squee

I will just begin this blog, I’m not even going to address my lack of blogging. I guess that was me addressing it though! Please don’t think my love of skating has wavered in any way, because it sure hasn’t. It’s more to do with computer access and other such things.

So the new rink has opened in Murrieta, it is called Epic Rollertainment. Let me first say how completely exciting! Most people probably go their whole lives without ever stepping foot into an actual, brand spanking new roller rink. It’s beautiful; brand new wood floor to skate on, the sound system is simply impeccable, and the facility in general is just very new, clean and top notch. They are still working to build their customer base, and it's important for people to go up there and skate.  For me, it's a bit far but I have gone up a few times.  For now (at least), we have other options. The floor is bizarrely shaped; it’s shaped like a swimming pool. It’s not very big either; floor space was taken up in favor of additional seating (there are seats everywhere you look in this place). One positive is that this rink will attract children, which is important for the next generation of skaters. I am a fan of the new rink but my love for Cerritos is unmatched.

Speaking of which. I was so devastated to learn that Skate Depot in Cerritos, CA will close its doors in August of 2014. I am still holding out hope that this is a rumor. Honestly it’s hard to put into words how much it hurt to hear this. I guess I felt like that rink would always be open. Whenever I could, I could drive up there and have a skating experience like no other. I heard that the owners of the strip mall want to get rid of the rink as it doesn’t match the aesthetic of the rest of the strip mall. UTTERLY PATHETIC. This means the good skating will shift to Skate Express in Chino, CA. Even further than Cerritos. It’s all so depressing; people in the Midwest have no idea how good they have it with rinks at their disposal.

But it does mean that the final Back to Cali (tears, so many tears) this May will be more than just off the chain. It will be the skate party to end all skate parties. Of course I won’t miss it. When I first started going to Back to Cali, I thought “I’ll be here 10 years from now”. That certainly won’t be the case. Ugh it’s bumming me out to talk about it.

I fell hard at the rink a few weeks ago. My first time hitting my head since my accident in 2011. And yes I am super careful! I backwards skate very slowly but I was with a partner. He should have been directly behind me but he wasn’t, he tripped over some fallen skaters and we went down, and I felt completely on my head, probably in the same place as my injury. DON’T TRIP – I didn’t black out. We weren’t going very fast. The outpouring of support from the other skaters was touching. My head ached and I was a little fearful going to sleep but it’s all good. Since I did have a Traumatic Brain Injury in the past, any injuries to the same area have their effects on me. The two days following my fall, I had the worst vertigo. Really intense and easy to bring on. But it was just the two days and I’m all okay again.

Happy for skate night tonight. See me on my eights.

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!

Beginning of Spring Means More Skating

Hey Blog World!  How can it be three months since I did an entry??  I'm like the most remiss blogger ever.  As you all know, I get very busy with my non-skating life, working and being a parent.  But I always find time to roll on my eights, the best feeling in the world.

I do have some good news - me and my team were invited to audition for America's Got Talent once again.  We auditioned in 2011 and yadda yadda yadda, it was a disaster, courtesy of yours truly.  I get some serious stage fright performing in front of judges like that.  Anyway, we certainly didn't expect them to call but they did ask us to come up again.  They gave us a private appointment at a sound stage in Burbank.  We dressed up in our disco costumes and did our thing.  It was much, much better than 2011.  Not perfect but still a fairly strong performance.

We were so pleased to find out we have been placed in the "maybe" pile to audition for the celebrity judges!  How exciting.  I just can imagine the thousands of tapes they said no to, yet we got a maybe.  I definitely think we provide a good dose of different - the amount of singers and dancers on that show is just so boring.  You don't see a roller skating disco act every day, plus of course we're great.  They are going to let us know whether or not they want us before the judges.  The thought of skating in front of Howard Stern in my tiny booty shorts gives me heart palpitations.  But it would be a huge honor and we are hopeful.  Any chance to put roller skating on television is a chance worth taking.

In other  news, I've been skating up a storm.  Been going to plenty of family sessions.  The skate mates that have descended on our rink have come straight from hell.  Are you not familiar?  They are walkers, but for roller skating.  They cost like $5 to rent and once one is rented, every little brat in the place rents one.  They suck to have to avoid at every corner on the floor, and even worse when the kid falls and the skate mate goes flying.  Good times!  Nonetheless, all of this is great practice for me in quickly jumping lanes, darting around slow moving objects and stopping on a dime. 

Skating at the beach has been off the chain.  Spring has only just begun and the beach is just packed.  People adore watching us do our thing!  Nothing like a huge crowd of 30 or 40 people, cheering for us as we finish our routine.  Long live Skate This!

Rollerskatedreams Reporting!

Hey skaters!  I am returning from the dead with a brand new post, how bout that hmmmm??? Yeah I could give you a bunch of excuses but how about no.  How are you doing skaters?  Been getting your roll on?

As the new year approaches, what I would love SOOO much is to buy some new skates.  Man my poor old skates.  Remember when I bought them, 40 posts ago or something in 2010?  I remember the first time I wore them at the rink, I thought these are too heavy for my legs.  Haha memories!  I have such a love for these skates but if you recall, they had a hard life before they got to me.  They lounged in some closet in the midwest for years and years before finding their way to sunny California.  Not to beat a dead horse but these are my Snyders I am talking about.

So once I got the hang of tearing up the wood in these babies, I set about damaging them as is my way.  No not really but yes really.  I am so bad about skate maintenace (new years resolution list forming).  I tend to put them in my trunk and take them out again when I hit the next session.  BAD BAD SKATER.  After the first six months, I took them to the cobbler and he's like WHOA.  What was happening is that my boots are so old, the leather was separating from the ankle up.  The leather was just super old and giving out.  So at that time I paid to have leather sown over the cracks/separations.  I always lift my skates from the plates now, never the boots.  I even bought some leather conditioner but you know I never use that stuff.  Ugh my poor babies. 

Now my tongues never had any sheepskin or other protector on them, so that is where my next problem comes in.  From tying my skates, I got all these really deep, hard grooves in my tongues.  Over the course of a night, the shoelace would begin to make contact with my skin leaving some lovely welts on the front of my ankles.  Not that I would take them in, that would be way too proactive.  No I cut up some of my knee high socks and fold them a few times over the problem area at my ankle.  Problem solved!!

I really do need to get some new skates bcause one of these days these babies will just give out on me.  My buddy has a shoe stretcher and he has stretched my boots for me a couple times. He says "do you have a sentimental attachment to these boots?  If not, buy new boots".  No it ain't sentimental, it's pure laziness!

I will put that on the list - buy new skates.  It takes so long to break skates in, it's quite terrifying to think of going that far back to basics.  I have seen some drop dead gorgeous skates in the Riedell catalog, and they come with a pretty little price tag too - ouch!!!

I will do a better job of updating in 2013.  Just know that I am skating, that I adore skating, that hasn't changed. Computer access, that's something that can change.  Remember friends:  Don't hate, skate!

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.

I Am Right Here, Skating Beside You

Ugh I am like the most remiss blogger ever!  I cannot believe I missed an entire month of posting for the first time since I started this blog in 2009.  Oh well, what can I do.  Hello blog world!  It's not that I haven't been writing because I haven't been skating, not at all.  I have been doing my thing.  I have been skating as much as possible.  Every Adult Night without fail, of course.  That would kill me to miss a Tuesday.  I've been having a pretty damn good time.

I fell about three weeks ago.  Of course since I have such a major fall under my belt, everything else just pales in comparison.  I was skating in a tight pack and when we went into the turn, this guy kicked my wheel and I went straight down.  It was so fast.  I somehow managed to beat up the side of my hip/leg, maybe I was in the middle of a crossover.  Anyway, it was instant all-consuming take-your-breath-away pain.  The guy was fine and wanted to skate off but I made him walk me to the bench.  Wtf man, where is the chivalry.  My poor leg was hurting so bad.  I took a few minutes to shake it off and then got back on the floor cautiously.  But after 30 minutes, my leg was just throbbing and I had to go.  I had an epic bruise lol, I felt very derby.  Now three weeks later it looks much better than the gray/purple/green/blue/pink loveliness I had going on there for a minute.

I have been making some tiny inroads with my backwards.  Up in Cerritos, I have skated the all ladies backwards a couple times.  I'm more confident up there, plus it's not many people when it's only the women on the floor.  I am very cautious though, I keep my speed way down and focus on staying in the moment of what exactly I am doing with my feet.  It's very easy to zone out because the steps feel so natural.  I have also been learning backwards crossovers, something I have never really known how to do.  It's hard and challenging but exciting when I see improvement.

Carey Grant and the lovely Marilyn Monroe get their couple skate on

Been skating at the Bay on Sundays; it's still considered winter right now in San Diego so the weather has been difficult.  Sun but icy cold wind.  I brave it for the most part, unless it's too gray out.  Hoping for blue skies this weekend.

In other news, Back to Cali is coming up Memorial Day weekend at Skate Depot in Cerritos.  As you know since you have been reading my blog since the very beginning, it is the premier skating event in Southern California.  This year I am aiming to attend all three nights so I can soak up every little bit.