Skating Updates

Hi Blogosphere! Sorry I have been out of touch. Not having my computer at home is seriously cramping my style. I have done a bunch of skating since my last update. Skating in Cerritos on Thursday was awesome! There was a big group of motorcycle clubs meeting up at the rink so it was extra crowded. They do a different style of downtown up there, which I attempted to learn. A gal gave me some tips on backwards skating, and she also told me that I look down all the time when I'm skating. I had no idea I did that! I am trying to break the habit.


Friday night I was at Skate World and it was nuts, so many kids, ugh too much for me. It made me long to be back in Cerritos with all the mature skaters that don't fall. Another cool thing that happened in Cerritos was that I bought a Skate This shirt. Skate This is the skating club in San Diego and I feel like I am a decent enough skater now to rock the shirt. I love it, but it's a very plain and ordinary shirt. My wizard crafting friend, Emily, is going to make it even better! Yay I can't wait to see what she does with it. :)



Sunday I went to the Bay to skate, and it was an awesome time. I am still trying to perfect my duck walk. Even though I can do it somewhat, it needs lots of work and I can't do it very naturally. Nonetheless, I can pretty much do the continuation now. Paul worked me with another routine, the #3 and I made some headway. Only problem is that the routine has about four different turns in it, and my turns are pretty weak. Yet another hurdle for me to get over. I know I can do it.



Last night I was at Skate World for Adult Night. It was like skating in an oven with a wood floor. Made me miss the air conditioning in Cerritos. Oh boy, it's going to be one hot summer.

Summertime

Been having lots of fun skating the past few days. Saturday night I was at the rink and got that duck walk down. Yay me! I couldn't wait to show everyone at the beach on Sunday. I did it better on the smooth rink floor on Saturday, and it was a bit trickier on the cement but I was able to do it well enough that everyone could see I was moving to the next level. Now I am busy learning the continuation, a tricky step that is a combination of the downtown and the duck walk. Really hard! I spent my entire time at the beach learning it (2 hours), and even then I am not at 100%. I'll knock it out tonight at the rink for sure.

In other news, my car got really ill and I had to spend all my Vanilla money on the repair. Blows so much. My dream of Vanilla skates has to be put on hold for now. I am going to the ebay route now, trying to get a deal. My feet are small so I have that going for me. I am watching the listings like a hawk, I know something good will eventually show up.

I'll be at the rink tonight and then going up to Skate Depot in Cerritos on Thursday...but I have to work Friday! Ooh it will be a sleepy day. The plan is to get there early and leave by 11:00 so I can get in bed hopefully by 1:00. I'm young, I can make it on four hours sleep! And a beautiful weekend is on tap, perfect for skating by the ocean.

I'll leave you with De La Soul, Roller Skating Jam Named Saturdays Good song and even better video.

Roller Skates Go Forward and Backward Only

Hey World! I was pleased to see that my good friend in England has logged into my blog, so now I have international visitors! Cool! Thanks to everyone for hitting my site and reading my blog. I heart google analytics, the data is just fascinating.

Anyway. On to skating. Had a fabulous time at Skate World on Tuesday night. All the regulars were out in full force. I was able to monopolize Paul for a full 30 minutes, and he is teaching me how to do the duck walk. He said it will help tremendously with my downtown, so that is my homework. It is hard! He makes it look like a walk in the park. He was very patient showing me how to do it, but I really need to put in the time practicing to be able to do it correctly. So much of skating is a leap of faith, and I have a major fear of falling so I don't always take the leaps. I guess that's why some people wear all the protection, so it doesn't matter if they fall.

I skated the backwards beginning skate, and it was so cool to feel myself improving bit by bit. I still suck, but not as bad ha ha ha.

Skating at the rink this Saturday, and then to Bay Sunday. Then next Thursday there is a road trip to Cerritos for Adult Night! Yay I can't wait to go again, it's going to be awesome!

Roller Skate for Poise and Charm

Had a great weekend skating my little butt off! Friday night I hit up the rink, I got there early before there was too many kids. But even still, it was just one of those nights where the kids are acting crazy. Too much kool aid or something. I don't like skating with the kids acting that way because they are reckless and taking too many chances around the floor. More than once I saw a preteen boy jumping over a fallen child. Bunch of punks is what they are. But I am trying to give off a super friendly vibe at the rink, even with those punk kids since they are there every single weekend, just like me. Anyway, it was a decent night of skating, just a little nerve wracking for my taste.

Saturday I decided to do a little skating in my garage - I know it sounds funny but as a beginner, I need all the practice I can get, anywhere, anytime. Also in my garage, there is a section of the concrete that has been worn down over time and it's very smooth and ideal for skating. I turned up the car radio, opened my car doors and got my roll on. It was beneficial to practice alone as I usually don't so I was able to try some things that I might not normally try with an audience. It was a good practice session.

Sunday I decided to put on a brave face and take Felix with me to the beach to skate. I was nervous but my friends said they would help, plus Felix also told me how good he would be. He was true to his word! What a little trooper. It was chilly but he was bundled up and he sat and played in the sand for a good long time, long enough for me to get warmed up. There were lots of good skaters there. Then he asked if he could sit on the rock wall and watch the skating. He loved it! It was so cute. I got some more instruction from Steve, and this lady, Kathy, was there, who is an amazing skater. I introduced myself and asked her for some help with my toe jam, since she does it so well. She gave me some good tips, and I was eager to spend some time practicing but I had to keep my eye on Lixy. It will be cool to practice what she showed me at the rink on Tuesday. A great skating weekend all in all!

Rexers Reunion/Weekend!

It was so interesting last night at the Rexers Reunion at Skate World! Great learning experience for me. For those who don't know, rexing is continuous backwards skating in an hourglass pattern. The rexers were fabulous to watch, they just do it like it's nothing. I saw probably three falls the entire night - this was definitely a no amateurs night. The music was very different; it was this old timey organ kind of music they played back in the day. No before that, back in the day day.

My favorite part of the night was the spot rexing special. For some explanation of what it is, I took this excerpt from a website called tothegoodlife.info: Spot rexing is done individually in the center circle of the rink with a prescribed 36 steps. Basically they are skating backwards in a tight circle and it's completely impressive to watch. I would love to be able to spot rex one day, but it's pretty far off from what I do at the moment.

I found a video that shows some very nice rexing here. Imagine 20 or so people doing that around the oval, so fun to watch!

I did make a video of my skating progress recently, and I was going to post it but then my computer died. Waaa!! Hopefully I can post one soon. I am going to Skate World tonight for the evening session 7:00 - 11:00. Although it was a good time last night, it will be nice to skate to normal old school music and current pop. Looking forward to it!

Rink Sessions/Outdoor Skate

Hi skating world! I have been having a ball doing plenty of skating in the last week. I went to the rink on Cesar Chavez Day since I had the day off work. There were plenty of kids but I am getting better at negotiating them. I was one of the only adults there and I had the center circle completely to myself, very cool. I got in some good practice that day.

Easter Sunday I was able to get to the Bay just before everyone left. I got there at 6:00 and everyone else got there at 2:00 so I was way late. Steve was still there so I immediately tried to grab a few lessons before he left. He showed me a bunch of the steps for #3 so now I just need to practice so I can do it at the right speed. I'm pretty slow right now. I also told him how I was going to buy some jam skates, and he gave me a lot of good info about the difference between a high boot and a low boot. He has both so he knows. Apparently the lack of a heel in the low boot is going to be a major factor for me. He said it would almost be like learning to skate all over again, which just sounds depressing. He also said my skates aren't as crap as I think they are, but it would be good to have a higher quality boot. But it would just be so boring to buy new white boots, even if they were a quality brand. I want red skates!!

Skating tonight and I won't be there - boooooo! (sigh) Oh well, I am a mom first and skater second and tonight I've got kid duty. It will be great to see my boy but I know I'll be thinking of the rink when 7:30 rolls around. Hate to miss Adult Night! The good thing is that there is a Rexers Reunion at the rink on Thursday so I will be able to go to that. Only two hours so I'll have to skate hard. I'm also toying with the idea of taking my boy to the Bay with me on Sunday so he can play in the sand while I get a little skate in. It's a little intimidating though - I might try to recruit some of my skater friends to go with me for an extra parental eye. Skater friends, you know who you are - wanna go?

News Thing

CW TV did a piece at the roller rink this past Tuesday! It was pretty cool. I found out that Skate World was asking skaters to go to the rink as the crack of dawn (7 am) for a news piece. I thought that would be such a fantastic way to start the day - get a little skate in before going to work. So I made it happen! I made arrangements to go in late for work, and layed out my skating clothes at the foot of the bed.

I was at the rink bright and early - the first one there actually. You can count on me to be punctual. The owner's kid showed up and let me in - and let me start skating! It was so incredibly awesome: the only lights on were on the rink floor, and there wasn't another soul in the entire roller rink. It was eerie too, with the only sound my wheels going over the wood; normally the music is the only sound you can really hear. It was worth everything to have those 10 minutes alone on the floor, practicing things I never could on a floor crowded with people.

About 20 people showed up in all, a few other dance skaters like me, some derby and some kids. The guy from the news, Ruben, was super funny and seemed genuinely cool. I did get a few seconds of fame; you can view it here but you have to scroll through the video thumbnails to find the skating one (there's no way to link it directly). But the coolest part was getting my skate on before work!