Thank you so much, everyone, for coming out to support me last night at Providence Roller Derby’s first bout of the season. Seriously, I had the biggest fan club there, and it’s because you are all so awesome!!! Thank you for even paying to get photos taken with me! Sorry to those of you who got blurry photos. 🙁 I hope you all enjoyed the game as much as we enjoyed skating for you! It was so much fun having you all there; you made it that much better. I cannot thank you all enough! And, holy merde! I even got to jam. TWICE! And I scored TWO points! I NEVER score points! I was concentrating so hard to just keep skating and avoid getting knocked down that I didn’t even know I scored! Yeah!

Last night is kind of a blur. Actually the last few days are a bit of a blur. I had a work event Thursday evening and had a few cups of tea because I knew it was going to be a long night. I went to practice for the last half hour or so just in time to practice our entrance and get a few last minute notes. I stayed up until 2am finishing last minute details and projects and getting my gear all together. I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep, so I just stayed up and kept myself busy. Staying up too late (and having a bit too much caffeine at the work event) did not make for a very pleasant morning. I was sick pretty much all day, which made me even more nervous, and therefore sicker. I got home with only one hour before we had to leave to go set up at the rink, and there was still so much to be done. I really only had one major freak out, when I got the dumb and could not brain to save my life (which therefore made me even more freaked out). But we got to the rink only a half hour after I wanted to be there, so it wasn’t all bad.

I didn’t have too much to do for set up, since there were a ton of people there to help out. I had more time to concentrate on not vomiting, so that was good. Before I knew it, we were in uniform, had our league photo taken, and were warming up and getting last minute advice from our awesome team captain (the illustrious Sass E. McNasty). The next thing I knew, the rink was filling up with spectators and we were being introduced. I did NOT fall during introductions, which was a HUGE relief. (He got my intro/motto a bit wrong, but what can you do… it was in French, after all.) Next thing I knew we were ready to start, and the weirdest thing happened… I stopped being nervous. It was just like at practice. But with more people around. (The nervousness came back in flashes throughout the night, though. Especially when I was handed the star helmet cover and our manager said “you’re jamming next, Foxie.” In my head I was all “What? That’s not the line-up we discussed!” Outside, I was cool and said “ROCK!”)

When it was my time to skate, I just stepped right in there and did what we’d been practicing all along. There are so many variables in roller derby; there’s never a clear answer to any question about strategy. All answers start with “it depends.” But once you begin to understand which variables to look for, making a decision on what to do at any one time becomes a bit more clear. Most of the time last night, I did what my team mates were telling me to do. But on a few occasions, I knew where I had to be, and got myself in a position to be useful, without anyone having to tell me what to do, so that was a huge improvement. I only managed to hit a few people here and there, and never did I knock anyone down, but I stayed alert, in position, and I was difficult to knock over for the most part. Granted, most of the time I got hit, it wasn’t really that hard. I think I did my job well enough for a rookie. It took two of the Mob’s best players to actually knock me down, so that was awesome. (And one of them had to hit me three times before I actually fell.)

I’m so happy to be on OMH, and not just because we kicked serious ass last night, but because we work really well together. We worked so hard in the weeks leading up to the bout, and I’m so glad it came together so well. I’m so proud of us! As Dukes would say, GO TEAM!

I am so happy so many people came out to see me skate last night! I seriously took a dozen photos with my fan club. You guys are awesome!!! And Sandra even brought me super cool present (which Dukes put in her car during clean up, thinking I had gone already, so I have to get that back from her.) I can’t wait to hang up my new “roller skate luncheonette” sign! I’ve got to find the perfect spot for it. After clean up, we went to Jerky’s for a super fun after party. It was so much fun to dance with my friends, both skater and non-skater alike. We got home around 2:30, quarter to three, and crashed.

I slept so well last night. I don’t even think I moved all night, because the ice pack I went to bed with was only an inch or so away from where it was when I fell asleep. I don’t think I did too much damage to my already damaged leg. I went down hard, though. When Lotta Pain hits you, you’re going to go down hard. (I gave her a big hug at the after party though!) The hematoma has a smaller, secondary bulge, and the area surrounding it is pretty tender and bruised. But those padded shorts did their job and protected me from more bruising and rink rash. (I think if I hadn’t already had the hematoma alien, it wouldn’t have been that bad with the shorts on.)

I’m pretty drained today, but I keep getting flashes of awesome every time I think about last night. Everyone on the league has been super supportive and wonderful to all of us newbies, and I’m so grateful to have finally joined this sport. The grueling practices, the expensive gas to get to three (sometimes four or five) practices a week, the pain of falling on concrete, the time it sucks away from the rest of my life… it’s all worth it. Every little bit of it. All of the inconvenience, drama, and pain is overpowered by the awesome at a bout: The lights. The music. The fans. Getting to show everyone that we’re not just a bunch of girls on wheels in hot outfits (though our outfits are seriously hot), but that we work hard to be the best athletes we can be in a sport that seriously kicks ass.

Thank you all again, from the bottom of my skater heart. I cannot possibly thank my friends, family, and coworkers enough for making my first bout so wonderful and memorable. Thanks to my team mates: you ladies rock so hard. Thanks to the Mob Squad for hitting hard and never letting up. Thanks to the Rats for running a wonderful bout. Thanks to JeT (aka Jean-Luc Renard) for picking up the slack around the house and keeping me fed and for being super awesome and supportive in every way.

Now, back to reality. Today’s mission: excavate the house from all of my piles of crap. I could have sworn I had a dining table. I’m sure it’s under there somewhere.

Edit to add: photo above provided courtesy of Eric Pascar (Living Art Studio); for more photos from Eric, click through the photo above or here. No photos of me doing anything wicked awesome, but nothing embarrassing, either, so woo!

Editing again to add: here are some photos by Ara Ghajanian.

Editing yet again to add: here are some photos by Mama’s Boy Media.