But with all said and done, the To-Do list doesn't stop getting shit piled on to it. Now that the holiday season is over I finally get to plan my wedding (which is a fucking headache FYI). Don't get me wrong, I'm so excited to get married and party with my friends and family, but with being to 2 maybe 3 weddings in my lifetime I know shit all about them.
I also haven't skated since the last week of November and I am dieing to get my skates back on. At the same time, this break from derby has been freaking fantastic. I got to have all of my nights dedicated to my future hubby and baby, and I got a shit load of things done around my house (the basement's still half full of boxes though). The whole stress free-ness of not dealing with a large group of women has been great, but really I just exchanged that for my largely all-female family. That being said though, I miss skating, I miss my team, and I can't wait to tone up some of the holiday jelly that stuck around.
The weekend before the World Cup I got the pleasure of playing against my sister and other Team Canada members at Oil City Derby Girls Sk8mare Before Christmas.
And that Toronto trip I posted about a few months back? Best freakin' time EVER. I got to meet my some of my roller skating idols, seen the debut of the PivotStar "Spaz" t-shirt, met derby-ers from around the world, and witnessed Roller Derby history.
Famous!
Not 5 minutes after arriving at the venue my sister, Gunpowder Gertie, whisked me over to one of the tracks where Team USA had just finished pummeling New Zealand and people were lining to touch hands with the skaters. Before I could even think or speak, I had skaters that I've been drooling over and idolizing the last 3 years skating towards me at top speed.
Yeah.
As they sped past I found myself quickly mumbling out loud their names as they went, which went something like this "AtomatrixDerangedSuzyHotrodroooooooollll". Then after they had passed my sister pulled me away to explore the venue. Fifteen minutes later she was introducing me to Bonnie Thunders, someone I've admired since I strapped skates on, and we were taking a picture.
My expression sums that up.
I did learn a few things though in my time at the Roller Derby World Cup, to keep in mind for the next time we attend a Roller Derby tournament...
1. Sleeping in is not an option. I was under the impression that a baby-free derby vacation would allow me some much needed sleeping in, WRONG. There is no point in not being there to line up at least an hour-hour and a half before the first game begins. Forget about partying too, by 9:00pm and 7 games later we were in bed.
Final day of derby. We got there by just before 8:00am, front of the line. This is what it looked like by 9:00am. The line continued to wrap around the building outside.
We found our friendly Saskatchewan Pile O Bone(er ;) ) neighbors while waiting in line too!
2. Watching a handful of the teams who came in scared, rookie, and getting their asses whooped the first day grow into strong, capable, strategy-filled units on the last day was amazing. It made me realize there is no excuse for mine or any other Roller Derby team to not adapt, grow, and change. Namely team New Zealand, who demonstrated amazing skating abilities, seemed to learn and flip back any strategies being used against them and by the last day, perfected their game. Team Scotland was unable to even manage an initial pass on Team USA but fought back fiercely, and then near the end of the second period, they scored the one and only point they would for the game. Easily the best point I've ever seen. It was inspiring to see the transformations from all of these teams.
Scotland vs USA
3. Save your voice for the last day. I had this radical "who the fuck is Suzy Hotrod?" shirt future hubby had made for me before our trip, and the very real possibility of meeting her at the World Cup was a huge source of anticipation and excitement for me. Unfortunately by Fridays end I had whittled my voice down to nearly a squeak, and by Sunday it was completely non-existent. For someone who never likes to shut up, this sucked. I wore my Suzy shirt on the last day specifically for when Canada would play the USA in the final game (I hoped). While walking around the venue collecting Team USA signatures on my poster, I caught Suzy as she was walking into the venue. All I could do was one of these: O.O, *points at Suzy Hotrod then at shirt*, Suzy: "Nice Shirt!!", Me: *wheeze* *points to poster*, *Suzy signs poster: "I was hoping to have some made..I saw one other guy around here wearing one, they're so awesome!". And then I exhaled the best "Thank you" I could manage and we parted ways. I didn't even have my cell phone to get a picture, and certainly was completely unable to participate in any conversation, but I got the signature and learned my lesson! And, as mentioned, I found one other person at the Cup who made his own Suzy shirt!
Guys got good style!
4. Team USA is incredddddibblleee. No excessive amount of letters or italics can quite emphasize just how really really amazing they are. They're all mostly tall and thick and in a weird way just generally pretty. These girls are athletic and dedicated on and off the track and it showed. Really they all looked like a bunch of sports babies, like they've been doing athletics since they first inhaled air. And although they were obliterating every single team there, they did it without boasting or being condescending. Truely sportsmanlike, and so inspiring to see what a person can really do with skates on their feet. White Flight and Joy Collision definitely were the sweetest team members I met, and after seeing how much of a triple-threat Joy Collision is and playing consistently with perfection the entire weekend, she's now one of my newest favorite skaters.
Team USA is comparable to bees, constantly moving, always together.
5. There is such a thing as too much derby. After four early morning to late night derby filled days, all of the games tend to blend together. Future hubby would be all, "Remember when so and so did THIS, and the refs called THAT?!", and I was all, *sleep*. I was ready for a mental break when the weekend was over, and was very thankful that I wouldn't have to breathe in that venue any longer. By the last game of every day, the venue would be packed to capacity and the air was literally sweat itself. It was all over our skin and coated the inside of our lungs.
Ready to fly back to Alberta with my nauseating flu I picked up from The Bunker. Great.
6. Atomatrix in my opinion is arguably the best skater in the world. Being on a seemingly impossible team to "stand out" due to the high calibre of play from every skater, she hardly was ever held back for more than a second, she practically flies on her feet and her body control is unreal, and the woman is BUILT! Not that you can't tell that from watching her on DNN but her muscles practically reflect the light back at you because the skin is so tight from AWESOMENESS.
I'm still trying to figure out how it's physically possible to skate tits-to-knees. One of these days..
We're already planning to skip any honeymooning after the wedding this year just so we can go to the next World Cup. I'm so excited to see how different all the teams will be in comparison to who they were in the first tournament, annnnd I'm genuinely hoping I'll be good enough to make the next national team, if I'm lucky and determined enough. So, that being said, with our second half of the Gas City Roller Derby Association's season starting in 11 days, I'm coming back with all new inspiration. Seeing the resiliency of the teams and the flawlessness of some of the best skaters the world has to offer was enough of a kick in the ass to make me want to keep learning and keep growing my own skills. Goals, I has em'!
Wear one of these one day?
Around TO...
If you've ever traveled for derby, you know that when you go to a city for derby, you don't actually see the city. So, on our last day we were able to take in a few sights, with a few more RDWC pics...
Future Hubby and I ready to take in Canada vs England
Working my best tree impression at MTV Studios.
An entire section dedicated to Star Wars at Pottery Barn. Someone needs to go here and buy me everything.
Team Canada has beaver fever.
England vs Australia for 3rd and 4th. Stephanie Mainey in red, new girl skater crush. Just wow.
This guy is READING. What. The. Hell. Save your slutty romance novels for the bedroom.
On our last day we ventured down to Younge street and, being the sucker I am for all things culinary, we went into a cookbook store (conveniently called The Cookbook Store). Gertie and TeeKnee were recognized by the store owner who had seen Gert on the Toronto Star that morning and immediately asked for a picture with them. This was awesome.
My sister has a knack for making the front page of newspapers when she plays derby. It's kind of like an ongoing joke in our family. So of course she made the front pages of TWO newspapers while in Toronto. The Globe and Mail and The Toronto Star.
