As is often the case when I forget about things the world was not conspiring to help me in my last minute attempt to get photos of things inspired by my letter.  It has rained all week, I’ve been stuck in a work conference for the last three days and I had no idea what I was going to do.  But after the sun cleared, the conference finished early and I had a moment to think I inspiration hit.

This week I got a little something something in the mail from the talented Derby Vixen, TOE GUARDS!    They arrived just in time for the recommencement of derby training and I adore them!  It’s just a shame I spent so much time on the track on Tuesday night they got  little bit scuffed up.  I’m completely smitten with them.

Something else I’m completely smitten with at the moment, George’s TUMMY.

She has such a little Buddha belly going on these days and when the two of us are laying on the couch together I often find myself being forced into giving her tummy scratches.  She loves them.  And let’s face it at this stage of our relationship I just like giving her what she wants so she’s not off chewing the things I love!

So that’s my leg of the Alphabet Walk… I’m off to see what everyone else has posted.

Work has been hideous and drama filled, I’ve had to go for one of the worst possible infertility tests I can imagine and the results of those tests haven’t been great.  It’s meant that all week I’ve been looking forward to Friday with blind abandon.  Not because anything special was happening on Friday; just because it meant that my work week was over.

I cannot explain the relief of driving out of the work car park on Friday and heading for home.  On the drive home I daydreamed about getting home, changing into my jim jams and climbing into bed with another great book from Kinley MacGregor and forgetting all about the week that was.

Turns out the universe wasn’t done with me just yet… Thinking nothing could raise my spirits from the funk they were in I hadn’t counted on getting mail.  I got home to find a parcel on my doorstep and overseas mail in my mailbox.  Score!  Nothing makes me as happy as receiving mail!

Last week I had ordered lettering for the sides of my Derby helment.  I wasn’t expecting to get them until the middle of next week… at the earliest.  But here they were, waiting for me.  Yippie!  I grabbed my helmet, prepared the surface and stuck them on.  I love them!!!

I ordered them from Frank’s Sister on Etsy.  I was nervous about ordering them without being able to see them, but Frank’s Sister didn’t disappoint.  They look perfect.  They’re in great condition and are exactly what I wanted.  I’m so happy.  I can’t wait to hit Derby training on Sunday and show them off!

(I just noticed myself in the reflection of the helmet… lucky I had pants on!!!)

Time to turn my attention on to the parcel.  It was from Victoria Mason; artist extraordinaire.  I have been in love with Victoria‘s work for well over a year.  I even featured her work in a Friday Fancy last year.  But I hadn’t made the leap to buy a piece yet.  Then I saw her latest creation featured over on Kootoyoo.  I wasn’t lucky enough to win the necklace on offer, but I did have access to email and now I had Victoria‘s contact details I thought I would take a punt and get in contact with her to see when they would be available.

She was amazing.  Really friendly and helpful, just wonderful.  I feel really blessed that I was able to order one of her prototypes.  I expected to have to wait for ages to get one as they are so new, but no I was able to order one straight away.  Then a double shock – it arrived on Friday.  I wasn’t expecting to see it until next week.  I opened the parcel and fell in love.

This photo doesn’t do it enough justice.  It’s absolutely stunning.  It sparkles.  The detail in the crocheting is amazing.  Just beautiful.

I’m so happy with it, especially because it’s a combined birthday gift from my parents and HUBBY.  I feel like it’s something that I’ll be able to cherish for years to come and hand down to our children.  It totally made my week.

Needless to say I still got into my jim jams and climbed into bed with another great book from Kinley MacGregor; just I did it with a smile instead.

]]> http://www.gnomeangel.com/that-was-the-week-that-was/feed/ 6 http://www.gnomeangel.com/roller-derby-white-star/ http://www.gnomeangel.com/roller-derby-white-star/#comments Tue, 18 May 2010 11:44:19 +0000 gnomeangel http://www.gnomeangel.com/?p=1904 This ones for the girls who did the White Star assessment with me tonight – Shona, Ferne, Beth, Nat and Emily. You all rock and I can’t wait to start training with you for our first bout together!

I was singing this song while we were all standing in line in between our assessment tasks. I’d like to say I was as good, if not better, than Jensen but that would be a big fat lie.

I had an awesome night tonight, despite not having skated for five weeks and never having done jumps before.  I passed the endurance part of my test – 20 laps of the track in under 5 minutes.  Everything after that was gravy.

If I pass my white star I’ll start training with the league on Sunday, and then it’ll be training twice a week.  Rock on!

Right now however, I stink and need to get some sleep.

There are some days when I think I’m going to die from an overdose of satisfaction. ~Salvador Dali.

Last night was my third training night for CRDL Freshmeat.   I got lucky and had an hour of warm up skating before training.  Normally there’s basketball training for school kids on the courts before our training session, but not last night.  It was brilliant.  It gave me a chance to get my skate legs happening and spend some time talking with some of the other Freshies.

I also managed to have a pretty good stack prior to training.  It was great.  This will sound weird but I was glad to get the fall out of the way.  Falling is something we all have fears about, so it was great to get it out of the way and realise that it wasn’t going to be a huge deal if you fall over.  I fell, I bounced back.

The session had it’s highs and lows.  I managed to achieve a few little victories that showed me I was improving.  I managed to hold ‘derby stance’ longer, I did a knee touch fall perfectly, managed to get a handle on T-stops and answered some pop quiz questions correctly.

Again the numbers of Freshmeat made it hard at times to work on the techniques they were teaching.  At times it felt like some of the trainers were more concerned with catching up with each other than helping out the learners.  I even saw one trainer laugh rather nastily when a Freshie took a dive, which is just not cool. Luckily there are way more wonderful things about it all then negative.

We were lucky enough to have Smarty Pants back for another training session which was awesome.  She has amazing skills and such a crazy kick ass attitude.  She has a great way of translating techniques into a variety of ways for people to try and understand how to implement it.

It was the first time at training that we really got a chance to mix with the other Freshies.  I haven’t laughed so hard in ages.  At one stage I thought I was going to spit my mouth guard out from laughing so hard.

I left training on a high and was amused to find myself thinking about driving home like it was on a derby track.  I actually went to put my feet in the t-stop formation instead of touching the brakes at one stage.  When I got home I was absolutely bubbling.  Poor HUBBY had to listen to me go on and on about how wonderful training was and how much fun I was having.  It was such a great feeling.  I haven’t had that in a long time.  I can’t wait for next week!

♦♦♦♦♦

If you’d like to see other flickr faves sans the life story check out ArtMind.

Week Two of Freshmeat is under my belt and I’m hooked.  It’s been surreal.  It’s also been a little painful.  I’m so unfit and lack such muscle tone that I’m struggling every Wednesday to walk.  Three hours is a mighty long time to be training when you were living on the couch previously. But I’m loving it.

This week we were lucky enough to have the much famed and loved Smarty Pants from the Texas Roller Derby League’s Holy Rollers come and give us some training tips and tricks.  She was brilliant and really managed to break some of the things I was struggling with down into terms I could understand.  I may have even learned a new thing or two.

I thought I would share some of the brilliance that is Smarty Pants.

There’s only one downside to at the moment.  It’s quite a big group of freshmeaters so it can be hard at times to get a clear space to practice moves or get some one on one time with the trainers.  I’m sure as the weeks go on and the numbers thin it’ll get better.  I imagine it’s quite hard to teach a class that size as well.

I also need to be doing some more training in between the classes.  It’s going to get harder and harder to improve if I don’t put the hard yards in.  I also need to start working on getting some stamina and core strength up.  Which won’t happen if I don’t get off the couch and the internet.  After all, I’m an athlete now! *wink*

Not many people in my circle play, or understand why I play, World of Warcraft.  In fact, if you’d told me that I would become a World of Warcraft player two years ago I would have told you to “get real”.  But here it is nearly two years since I first started playing and I’ve spent 80% of today playing World of Warcraft.  And you know what, I enjoyed every minute of it!

I don’t know why, but I love playing this game.  I love the changing environment.  I love the graphics.  I love the yearly in game events.  I love it all.  I even love that it’s task based and has it’s own economy.  I’m just crazy like that.

When I haven’t been playing World of Warcraft I’ve been completing the first of two of my Doll’s for Haiti.  I had planned to only do one and get it in the post today, but HUBBY has yet to secure a job so I’m holding off on spending the money on international post until we know what’s happening there.  I’ve also decided that one doll would get lonely in the post so I’m doing a boy and a girl.  I’m not 100% happy with how the girl has turned out, so I’m going to mix it up a little when I make the boy.  I’ll be sure to post all about it when they’re done.

I also managed to hand in all the documentation for my new job.  Apparently a security clearance takes 48 hours to complete and once that’s done (and I’m cleared) they’ll extended a start date.  So I’m thinking I’ll be back at work within the fortnight.  It’ll be strange to be going back to the first place I ever worked full time, but it will be nice in other ways.  (Like the income and security!)  HUBBY’s contract offer fell through and so he’s back to the drawing board.  But I’m positive that all things happen for a reason and it’s in GOD’s hands.  Until it’s sorted out we’re just going to have to watch our spending.

Tonight I played indoor soccer as a fill-in for someone who wasn’t able to make it.  I had a blast.  I’m so unfit it’s not funny and I have no idea how the actual game is played, but I still had fun.  Unfortunately the person who started the team wasn’t so thrilled to have ring-ins.  Oh well, you can’t win them all.  (Oh, and we didn’t win the game either!)  Maybe next season we’ll try and field our own team or something… who knows maybe Roller Derby will be more than enough for me to handle!

All in all it’s been a fairly relaxing day.  Spoke to my parents which was good (like always) and we had some laughs.  I’m really hoping that we’ll still be in a position to go away in April/May.  If we’re both not working soon though it’s looking shaky.  Just need to have faith I guess…

Yep, you’re reading that correctly.  It’s a loss of over 20kg.  Can I notice any difference?  Sometimes, but it’s hard to tell as I just seem to be me.  I’m sure once I get back into double digits it’ll start to sink in, but at the moment it seems a little hard to equate.

Anyways, enough about the boring stuff on to the exciting stuff; ROLLER DERBY!

I was really nervous about the social skate as I didn’t know anyone that was going.  Despite my desperate pleas to HUBBY to come with me as my support crew he refused and sent me on my own.  I did take my good luck charm; a string voodoo doll keychain that Alivicwil gave me for my birthday.  And he did bring me luck – I didn’t fall down! Yay!

I did manage to remember how to do a cross over skate on the corners which I was really happy about.  It’s a little weird to do while wearing knee pads, but I’ll get used to it.  It was also bloody hot being out there in the middle of the day skating on a black concrete basketball court covered in all the protective gear.  But I had a blast.  It’s given me the little boost I needed to get some more practice in before Freshmeat starts in March.

I did get some disappointing news while there, my name is already taken by someone in America.  It sucks, so I’ve had to put my thinking cap on and try and come up with another derby name.  Lucky I’ve got five months before it becomes important!

I had a blast and a laugh.  I cant’ wait for the season to start.

I was struck by the thought on the way home that had I not had the operation in December I probably wouldn’t be in a position to play this sport.  It’s still going to be hard going carrying the amount of weight I am at the moment, but it won’t be as hard as it would have been 20kg’s ago.  It made me get all misty eyed.  It’s like a new person is coming out from behind the blubber.  I’m getting back to the person I’ve wanted to be for so long and that’s scary and exciting.

Image: Get Excited and Make Things by Matt Jones

Today I went to my first ever Brown Owls meeting.  I must confess I was rather nervous about attending.  I’d class myself more as a wannabe crafter than a real crafter so I was convinced they’d see me for the wannabe I am.  Strangely enough they didn’t turn out to be the Nazi Crafters from Hell I’d convinced myself I’d be greeted with while trying to convince myself that I’d be better off staying at home.  In fact they were all really, really lovely and damn talented!

I took along the crocheting I’ve been working on, both as my show and tell and my project.  I was happy to learn that I’d actually been making good progress with my pieces.  I thought I was moving slowly with them, but I managed to finish off my third square.  (Albeit *after* the meeting as I was too busy gabbing.)

The wonderful, and uber talented, Michelle from Poppy, Bean and Bloss taught me how to crochet flowers.  I may or may not have under counted my petals but it’s great to know how to make them.  I’m going to do a flower based granny square blanket next I think… although I am looking at the ripple blanket on Attic24 with some lust and envy.  Can you have more then one crochet project on the go at once?

I’m really excited and inspired by my little outing today.  The women of the group are all so talented and have so much to offer.  It was great to talk to people that read the same online blogs as I do, and had some new ones to add to my already massive reading list.  It was also great to talk about online ordering for craft supplies and get some hints and tips.

I also had a question that’s been playing on my mind now for a couple of days answered; “How do you carry your works in progress around?”.  Well it just so happens that Michelle (yes another one) from the fabulous Button Tree Lane makes just the little cases for such a requirement.  They’re awesome and I want one!  You can check them out on Etsy at ButtonTreeLane.   I really love the triangle shaped cases, but I think I would fit more into the box shape.  Although I could get one of each… eventually.

I’m really glad I got out of my comfort zone today and did something that scared me.  It bodes well for my first outing tomorrow with the Canberra Roller Derby League.  It’s a social skate for the Freshmeat, which I am, so it should be a laugh.  All in all this year is shaping up to be a good one.

]]> http://www.gnomeangel.com/brown-owls-meeting-001/feed/ 2 http://www.gnomeangel.com/roller-derby-freshmeat/ http://www.gnomeangel.com/roller-derby-freshmeat/#comments Mon, 01 Feb 2010 04:44:22 +0000 gnomeangel http://www.gnomeangel.com/?p=1422
Illustration by Monica Gallagher

In December 2009 I was lucky enough to attend a Christmas Bout for the Canberra Roller Derby League.  Despite only being out of hospital for three days I was so excited by what I was seeing.  As soon as we got home from the bout I went online and registered my interest in the Fresh Meat course.

It seems I wasn’t the only one interested in it.  The League advised that over 320 people had registered their interest in attending the course.  It’s amazing to think that there’s that there is that much interest in Derby within the Public Servant city that is Canberra.

In January 2010 notification went out to everyone on the mailing list that Fresh Meat was officially open and that there were 50 places on offer.  I nearly wet my pants in the excitement.  I couldn’t register quick enough.  I paid my fees, sent in my completed forms and waited with baited breath to find out if I had been lucky enough to secure a spot.

A week or so later I got confirmation that I was in.  Cue excited chicken dance!

So that was a couple of weeks ago and since then I have successfully managed to order my skate gear from Sydney Derby Skates.   I was really nervous about ordering gear that I had never tried on before, but the measurement chart and information on the SDS site was awesome.  My skates fit like a glove, my helmet is snug as it should be and all my pads fit.  Joy!

The only snag I hit was wheels.  My skates came with a set of indoor wheels on them, but to be able to skate in the wilds of Canberra I needed a set of outdoor wheels.  I figured as much when I ordered them so I ordered a set of outdoor wheels.  Shame I didn’t factor in that I would need bearings for those extra wheels.  Luckily some of the Roller Derby girls I had met through Cousin and LeeLee were able to help me out.

They gave me my first lesson in skate maintenance, told me where I could buy bearings from in Canberra and made me laugh till I thought I’d bust a lung.  I’m having so much fun and the training doesn’t even begin until March 2010!

I’ve put my skates on and geared up already.  Did a loop of our street and nearly peed in my pants.  I’m so worried about falling over on the bitumen; it’s been years since I had gravel rash but the memories are still fresh!  I need to find a nice carpark somewhere where I can practice without the fear of being run down by the local bogans.  The Dali Slammer has told me of one in Southern Canberra, but it’s a bit far to travel at the moment.  There’s a place I pass each day on the way to work that I think I might check out and see what the surface is like.

I also need to start practicing my squats apparently.  It’s one of the things that all the Derby girls agreed on – practice.your.squats!  So I started yesterday.  I’m trying to include squats in everything; playing with dogs, cooking dinner, brushing my teeth, getting out of bed – you name it I’ll be squatting through it.  I’ll have thighs you can crack walnuts with by the end of the year!

One of the things that has given us much merriment in Casa Wilsonia is picking a Roller Derby name.  I wanted something the reflected me and struck fear into the hearts of my competitors.  We went through a few different names, such as Clawed Monet, Dee Dee Mented, Angel of No Mercy and Hell’ll Do Ya.  I even put a call out on Twitter and Facebook for people to submit suggestions.  In the end it was HUBBY that came to the rescue and gave me the handle that will become synonymous with pain and destruction in the CRDL…