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.