Argh! Not a good weekend!

- I missed the KCRW championship bout.  It was my last chance to watch roller derby live (locally).

- I was an hour late to work yesterday.  A full hour!  (Um, it was actually an hour and five minutes…  Oops).  Both of the owners were there, so I was a more than a little nervous pulling into the parking lot.  Surprisingly, the only “punishment” I got was one of the owners saying, “Just be sure to double check the schedule.”  He didn’t even sound mad.  Just, big brotherly – I guess that’s the best way to describe his tone.  It was the first time I was late, so maybe that made it “better” than if I’d previously had a problem with punctuality.

- I didn’t make any noticeable progress on the little guys special blanket.  I’m not entirely sure how I didn’t have time to knit more than two rows.  After all, I did have Saturday off.

- I wasn’t able to make it to the skating rink.  The timing just didn’t work out the way I’d hoped.

On a brighter note, I was able to spend some time with a good friend.  I was able to show off my skillz at the pool table (ha!  I’m so bad at pool.  I’m fairly certain a five year old could beat me).  It was nice to get out for a while without having to worry about the time, and without having to get up early the next morning.  That hasn’t happened in a long time.

And, unless something completely unexpected and hugely time consuming comes up in the next three days, I should be able to get some major progress on the blanket done, and go roller skating on Tuesday.  I might even have time to watch a whole movie from start to finish in one sitting.  That would be nice…

And *finally* some SKATING content (mostly frustrated rambling)

I created this blog with the intent of giving ample amount of space to both skating and knitting.  This obviously hasn’t been the case, heh.  The very valid, yet mindnumbingly mundane reason is… I haven’t been skating.  I’ve gone skating maybe four times this year?  All four times were at the skating rink during open skate sessions.  Wooo!  Don’t get me wrong, it was fun.  But, do you really want to read about it?  “Today, I skated in circles over and over again while bad music played over the speakers.  I took the occasional break during rink games, such as ‘the limbo’, ‘hokey pokey’, and ‘four corners’.”  Okay, okay, I know I could have blogged about techniques I worked on.  I could have blogged about falling on my azz and making a complete fool of myself.  I could have complained about the rental skate quality (or lack there-of).  But, honestly, my skating sessions were so inconsistent that it really wasn’t worth blogging about.  This will soon change!  (There.  You have it in writing.  Now it has to change soon!)

I’m motivated (again) by the upcoming Kansas City Roller Warriors tryouts.  I don’t have the time to devote to being a full fledged team member, but I am seriously interested in becoming a ref (less of a time commitment, and less out of pocket expenses).  I considered this option last year.  I almost did it, too.  But, I couldn’t get over the “all or nothing” mindset I’ve had since the very first time I got the roller derby idea in my head (and then failed miserably at the 2007 tryouts).  This time around, I will go to the skating clinic this fall.  I need the experience.  I need the motivation.  At that time, I will discuss with the necessary person/people what I need to do to become a ref.  Between now and then, I will make it a point to skate whenever and wherever I can (but not at the expense of my family).  These are the goals I am promising to myself.  I need this (well, not roller derby specifically, but something similar).  I need the social outlet that knitting (my only “real” hobby) has yet to provide.  I need the aggression outlet (not that I’m aggressive, but still… some people jog to literally run off steam.  Some people drive.  Some people lift weights, do yoga, jump rope, etc…  Whatever it takes to get them out of the house for their “me” time).  That’s what I need.  An outlet away from home.  If it turns out the roller derby isn’t in the cards for me, even as a ref, then I’ll come up with a plan b.  For now, this is what I’m going to focus on.

This weekend, I’ll dust off my skates and go to the skating rink.  Or maybe the park, if I can find my outdoor wheels.