And things are sort of better.

So I was fired yesterday. But that meant I was free for a different job a friend told me about, and so my resume is submitted for that, and hopefully I’ll hear about it soon. I also applied to CostCo so I can at least make some money while I’m taking these courses (plus they’re supposed to be a great company to work for, and it’s not like I haven’t got retail experience or grocery experience!) so hopefully there will be some openings at at least one of the 3 relatively nearby ones if the other thing doesn’t work out. Also, I’m web-imping for a friend, and that came about last night as well, and though it is hardly any money it’s good experience in general and good for my resume to say I created and maintain a website.

Today I met up with my boss and turned over my supplies/keys and then went skating. I warmed up by seeing how many laps I could do in 5 minutes (16, though I wasn’t trying too hard so I think I could have done 20 really. I had done 23 in 5 before, but not since last spring, and I figured I’d be rusty.) and then I worked on rule 3.4.1 (aka “Maneuvers through 10 cones, each no more than 5 feet (1.5 meters) apart (not to exceed 50 feet or 15 meters), placed through the straightaways and track turns, in less than 6 seconds”) though I wasn’t even at the “in less than six seconds part. I basically just lined up 10 cones 4-5 feet apart and worked on slaloming through them. It was a bit of a discouraging skating day, I didn’t have any painful falls but I had a couple “wrong” falls and I tripped over my cones a couple times (they’re the 3″ high ones, so they’re easy to start to skate over.) Despite having my not-a-camelbak, I got pretty dehydrated and ended up stopping a lot sooner than I wanted. I tried 5 laps in a minute (first time: 1 minute 34 seconds) then sat down, took off my helmet and rested, drinking water a little too fast, and generally being way too warm, and then tried again (putting my helmet back on was torture, shoulda stopped then I think!) and shaved 8 seconds off, but I felt so hot and headachy (and not a little discouraged that the improvement wasn’t greater) I stopped after that, geared down in record time, grabbed my cones (squatting to pick up the 10 in a line, being lazy and bending at the waist to get the two that mark the outside bounds of the track) and got home within the 15-20 minute window for carbs/protein ingestion (see here, hattip to Surly of Whip My Assets for linking that one) and grabbed an Endurance shake, and then some chocolate milk, but the headache got worse anyway.

My no-longer-boss called and we had a really good talk about what happened and stuff (the dog-walking business is half-owned and run by my cousin, and she wanted to clear the air about the firing and some stuff) and then I had some leftover chicken and some migraine meds, iced my brain, and napped. For over 5 hours, it turned out. So I didn’t get to start on the website project, but now I feel a lot better both physically and emotionally (much love to Sashion Victim, roller derby announcer extraordinaire and all around sweetheart, for refusing to let me talk shit about myself on FB yesterday! Love ya, Sasha!) I also checked my progress last night; lost 2.4 pounds since starting to eat healthier and all that jazz, and lost 2.5 inches off my waist. Also, my boobs have not reduced. (Yay, boobs!) Though if they do, as I told a friend, they will still be awesome.

So now I’m gonna actually water my mint and chives that are out on the balcony instead of just saying “I need to water those plants,” make some dinner, eat some dinner, and stay up to what will probably be the wee hours of the morning playing code monkey, because that’s how I roll when I code, and tomorrow I have to do a tiny art project in preparation for Saturday’s bout and contact the College Park unemployment office to see about UI. Also do the workout I didn’t do this afternoon. Eh. Not a bad end to the week. Plus, Saturday? BOUT DAY!!!!! And, though most of the first half of the week was crap, one other thing happened; Kyle sent us the portraits he took! Click the link below the photo to see all three

From Roller Derby Saved My Soul

This whole week has just been a complete clusterfuck.

I’m not going into it because it will start at self-loathing and devolve from there. Go watch Bonnie Thunders’ interview on HuffPost Live instead.

VBA Post

Uzi Q of Derby + Diapers nominated (and thus awarded) me for a Versatile Blogger Award! Thanks again, Uzi! According to the rules of the VBA I now have to share 7 things about myself and nominate some blogs.

Seven things about me:

1. For exactly two months in high school, I went by “Annie” (my middle name is Ann.) Only one person called me that, though, so I switched back to my first name.
2. When I started watching Doctor Who last year, my friend Eric could not wait until I got to season six so I could be rechristened Mels and know what that nickname referenced
3. I played violin for a year or so as a kid before we moved somewhere that didn’t have a music program for elementary students. I constantly plot to get a cheap one off e-bay and reteach myself.
4. My second toes are longer than my big toes.
5. I spent a ridiculous amount of time in the seventh grade staring at myself in the bathroom mirror, on a quest to learn to raise a single eyebrow. (I succeeded. Can only raise lefty independently.)
6. Until I was 14 or 15, I was the only female cousin of my generation on my dad’s side; the other gazillions of cousins were boys.
7. I’m terrified of heights. I have both parasailed and done ropes courses to try and cure myself of it. Next step: jumping out of a perfectly good airplane.

Some award-worthy bloggers:
I’m totally cheating. I’m just gonna point you to a couple of my favorite links in the sidebar to the left. Try Diary of a Rollergirl, Eenie Meanie Skates, Unofficial Derby Official, Epbot, Fit and Feminist, and the Bloggess.

If you’re in DC today, why not stop by Nellie’s Sports Bar between 5 and 8 and spend some quality time with the DC Rollergirls before the bout on Saturday?

Humpty Dumpty and Duct Tape.

Today started off pretty okay. And then I got out of the shower. And everything started being wrong. Not VERY wrong, but a LOT of little wrongs which added up and added up until I thought it might be better to just drive headlong into a telephone pole. I didn’t. Obviously. But I wanted to, a little. It’s sort of second-nature now. Fortunately, equally second nature is telling myself to just hang on until I can skate it out.

This post was SUPPOSED to be full of TMI about catheters and squeeing over doggies. Instead it is an acknowledgement of my emotional Humpty Dumpty-ness and a reaffirmation of the miracle that roller derby is to me.

I got home FINALLY (it took forever, and I had to stop and get milk–the lack of which was the first little domino of my day) and changed out of my jeans and into skating clothes. Even that little change started making me feel better. I drove to Anacostia (which was deserted! WHAT?!) and geared up. This was my first time skating in the antiks (not counting in the store, which wasn’t really skating) so I did a couple test laps with breaks for adjustments (adjusting how they were laced, then loosening the trucks, and shortening the toe stops a bit)…then I went.

I thought I knew how to do crossovers. What I was doing before was NOT crossovers. It was like the inbred cousin of crossovers. My left leg didn’t provide any push at all, I had to stand almost all the way up to cross my legs and couldn’t understand how people were doing crossovers with their knees bent without tripping themselves. In these skates I not only felt comfortable doing the crossovers with my knees bent, my body instinctively did it the way it’s supposed to be! I still fucked up occasionally, but I was pushing with both feet, I was leaning into the center of the track, I could complete the diamond with only 4 crossovers rather than having to waste a lot of energy adding speed between turns. Then…

then I tried turning right. AND I COULD DO CROSSOVERS THAT WAY TOO!! Although it took a couple more attempts before I could do more than one in a row
I skated for about an hour, and was totally ready for another hour (my ankles and shins felt FINE, yay inserts and higher boots!) but after a couple passes working on agility with my cones lined up I took a weird fall and twisted my leg a bit–I felt the screws pull a little in my tibia. (To clarify–they are in place and didn’t pull out of place or anything, but the plate isn’t as flexible as my bones, so it didn’t twist and my bone did, a little, so it was painful. MINORLY painful, thankfully) it hurt but not a ton (by the time I geared down I was starting to think I was overreacting by deciding to stop skating for the day, but then I took a step up and felt a twinge–I was definitely playing it safe, not over-safe.) So I called it a day and drove home high on the knowledge that I CAN DO THIS.

It’s been a long time since I’ve skated. I did skate twice since the brake before this, but until today I didn’t realize that I was afraid to skate again. Not because I thought I’d break again, but that I wasn’t capable of skating well. I know better gear doesn’t make you a good skater, but it can help make you a better skater. I am already leagues better than I was before the break. In ONE 1-HOUR session! I did fall a few times, of course, and scuffed the toe of my lefty (my preferred knee for single knee falls) but that just reminded me to tape the toes with my super awesome duct tape (it’s teal with purple leopard print!) Duct tape keeps my skates safe. Skating is duct tape for my fractured soul. (yes, I am a cheeseball.)

Lucky Season 7 is coming to an end, and you should be at the DC Armory this Saturday, May 18th for the HOME TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!! Will Scare Force retain the Skate of the Union Trophy, or will the Bombshells take it for the first time ever? Doors open at 3, skates roll at 4 for the Demoncats V Whips bout for 3rd place and at about 5:45 for the BATTLE FOR THE TROPHY! Whoever wins, come party with us at Penn Social afterward!

First day on the job

So today was my first day as a dogwalker. They’re hoping to add more dogs to my schedule as they get more clients (they had a waiting list of people that they will now be able to take on since hiring me on) but right now it’s 4 dogs, each with a half hour session. The dogs are adorable, but I didn’t bring enough water (for myself–the dogs get their own, of course!) so I’m a bit dehydrated now. I think I’m going to wear my knockoff camelbak (70 oz!) so I don’t dry out again. The dogs are sweethearts, and I start on my own next week (this week I’m meeting them with the Wagabout owners, who have experience with these dogs and are imparting animal-specific knowledge.) You should see the first pup, he’s an actual puppy (rather than a dog who gets called puppy because ALL DOGS ARE PUPPIES) and SO TINY and he broke his leg and has a cast and a cone and IS SO CUTE AEITHWRPITJGRPIGJTHESTIHWGWS{EJGEG*explode*

I was hoping to go to Anacostia and skate this evening, but I’m at the point where drinking water doesn’t make me less dehydrated, so I think I’m just gonna take care of me tonight. BUT I WANNA. I dreamed of skating almost all night (and of safety assessments) except for one dream, where I dreamed our ref Screwy Decimal was our waitress and refused to make eye-contact with me. But still, it was derby-related. Totally counts. Tomorrow I’ll put my gear in the car in the morning and head to the pavillion straight from work. If I can figure out how to get there. At least for half the drive I’ll be going in the opposite direction as everyone else….

I’ve linked to Hyperbole and a Half’s Adventure’s in Depression post before; Allie is back and has another post, Depression Part Two, that is just as astute and accurate to my depressive experience (especially once she starts feeling again–I don’t generally get numb much, but I do HATE the positivity people!And everything else.) So if the first one helped you at all, check out this one as well.

PUYJ Baseline Test OF DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

OH EM GEE YOU GUYS, I AM PATHETIC. I can do all the things individually and in isolation for a while (well, probably not the half burpees, I’ve never tried them before) but one right after the other after the other? Not so much.

Okay, I overslept a little (you do NOT want to see what Kitty inflicted me with for that transgression) so I fooled around online while waiting for breakfast to digest. This is how things worked out:

11:00 AM I set up the cones 20 meters apart with a 5 meter cool down space behind the start line, got my iPod ready (which is the entire reason I ordered the laptop when I did–needed to get the mp3 on something I could hear while I ran) and commenced the yo-yo test.

I did better than I thought I would! It was not as painful to run as I feared it would be/ as it was last time I tried to run, and my right leg was working at about 90% capacity! So yay, that! My score was 4–I was about 3 feet from the line when the beep beeped. (On level 3, I was like 6 inches from it.)

I came in and fooled around online some more, put on an episode of Lost Girl, and when I felt rested (about 10 minutes into the ep) I started the other part of the baseline test.

In isolation or with the roller derby workout, I can plank for a minute. Arms extended plank, even (rather than down on elbows plank.) I can do 10 proper push ups in context of my arms workout. I can do lots of sit ups. (Only it turns out I was doing them wrong.) But when I started the rest of the test (at 12:00 nooooooon), I did 17 push ups (about half down on knees) before noticing that the timer didn’t start and I didn’t know how much time had elapsed. I rested for a couple minutes and restarted, making sure the timer started too. (I got 18 knee push ups in, but I’m pretty sure I coulda done more had I not messed up with the timer!) I only did 7 half-burpees (my GOD those were crazy. My arms are like “WTF MATE^^”), I did 33 seconds of elbow-planking, and exactly one stage one sit up. See, I had been doing sit ups wrong for the past 30 years, I sort of throw my shoulders forward and use their momentum to sit me up. So I did a proper stage one sit up (arms at sides when you are on your back, as you it up they rise, parallel to the floor, until your wrists are even with your knees. Stage two is elbows at knees, which was super easy once I got stage one done, but I couldn’t do it on it’s own without lifting my feet, which is a no no) I tried stage three (arms crossed across your waist) and OMG I AM PATHETIC I barely got my shoulders off the ground. So I tried a stage one again (really I wasn’t supposed to try stage three, but it looked so easy!) and I did one. ONE! Sad, sad, pathetic me! At least I’m practically guaranteed to improve on that!! And I’m sure I’ll improve on the others, as well, but the most dramatic improvement will no doubt be sit ups. (Planking before doing sit ups no doubt helped make my abs weak.)

After that I had an Herbalife Rebuild – Endurance shake and OH MY GOD THAT TASTED AMAZEBALLS I want to work out again just so I can have another (and blend it up with some pineapple and lime juice into a frothy tropical concoction to drink with a straw. Seriously, it says it’s vanilla flavored but it tastes both vanilla-y and coconutty, and while I hate coconut texture, I love me some coconut flavor.) YUM.

But instead I will try to get my mom and grandmother to agree to mothers day plans (grandmom will probably be pretty easy, mom is not interested in planning) and then actually shower for the day.

Getting Ready

I’m back at my place. Been cleaning up the mess past me left for then-future-now-present me, because past me is a jerk. Also been spending time with The Boy, because except for short visits I haven’t seen him in ages. The kitties are delighted to be home, of course. They displayed this by not peeing anywhere they shouldn’t, yay! The healthy eating took a little bit of a back seat to, well, occasionally forgetting to eat. But I’m back on track, just in time for the start of Pump Up Your Jam. Baseline test starts tomorrow. Tomorrow morning after breakfast: yo-yo test. Then I’m picking up some presriptions before having lunch and doing as many reps as possible (AMRAP) of pushups in 60 seconds, then 60 seconds of rest; AMRAP of half burpees in 2 minutes (and two minutes of rest); plank to failure, then 2 minutes rest and a 6 stage core test.

I’ll do this again on day 45 of PUYJ, and compare the scores. I deally, my score on day 45 is way better than tomorrow’s. I want to take my skates for a test drive, but I don’t want to tire myself out for tomorrow. And I have so much to do inside! But it’s gorgeous out and it’s supposed to rain a lot all this week. (Hence the yo-yo test first thing after breakfast–gotta get it done before it rains.)

Apropos of nothing, I TOTALLY WANT A SWING IN MY HOUSE/APARTMENT. (okay, apropos of I have been watching Lost Girl on netflix.) Also, if there are any capitalization errors, it’s because the new laptop has a smaller than usual shift key on the right.

Selling my R3s, BTW, if you know a freshie or a wannabe who needs skates have ‘em email me at lovelylikebeestings at gmail dot com. Speaking of said email address, no one entered Art Crawl. I am disappointed in you all! DISAPPOINTED! *mom face*

So tomorrow: My ass gets kicked but good. If I’m still alive at dinner time, well, Tuesday is rest day, mothahfuckahs! Oh and Thursday? Day one of working a paying job with Wagabout. Not the highest paying gig, but it’s more money than I’m currently making. Looking into adding to it with a second job, which will cut into my training time, but does need to be done if I can score something.