What better way to start this blog off than telling you how I became involved in roller derby. In the not so distant past, September 2010 to be exact, I sat in the greenroom of the community theatre Stage III and waited for my fellow cast members to show up. Having the insatiable metabolism I do, I started poking around to see what leftover snacks I could devour.
That's when I came across it - an April edition of the Casper Journal. I'm both disgusted and grateful by how lazy my fellow actors were; by some karmic coincidence this paper had survived countless theatre cleanings and the multitude of destructive forces that rip through that place. And now I held it in my hands reading a story about a casper roller derby team.
So I'm just going to admit it and shatter your hopes before they get too out of control; I am not hip nor will I ever be. (I blame it on the fact that my mother cut my hair into a mullet for the first 12 years of my life insisting she was giving me a "fuller set of bangs").
*DISCLAIMER* This is not an actual picture from my tainted youth, but it looked pretty damn close.
I hadn't seen Whip It or Kansas City Bomber, I wasn't that huge into boy-ish contact sports, and I definitely didn't even know what a huge fucking deal this sport had become in the US over the past 5 or so years...
But still something about it clicked. Granted I've always been an EXTREMELY random person who jumps at the chance for just about anything to broaden my young horizon, but this gave me goosebumps. This was the first goal I wanted to try where I thought I just might actually fail; so I kept it a secret.
The first daunting challenge I faced was contacting the team. The version of the story that was printed contained very few details, no team name, no email, no website; a reference to USARS created my only clue (little did I know the whole story, chalk full of team details was on the Journal's website). So after tracking down a league list for Wyoming on the interwebs, and the list having no details of which team was actually Casper's, I ended up writing like ten thousand people, just to make sure I could get the right one... I get antsy sometimes =)
Less than 24 hours later I had my response:
Do you like my clever blackout marks? Totally did that in Microsoft Paint... bringin' back the 90's.
Little did I know this email would change my life forever. And even reading it now I get kinda choked up (but not choked up enough to refrain from giving you the finger if you mock my girlish tears of joy). This was just the beginning though. If you stick around this blog long enough I might just tell you my whole story... including when I realized I couldn't actually skate.
Oh! How could I forget! Your lesson for the day!
Be a "Yes" Man... er Woman... Person! (Gotta appeal to all the demographics if I expect this blog to succeed ;)
Don't ever ask questions, just do it! If you're already questioning, you're already doubting, and doubting just shits all over the rainbow of potential and success. Keep the rainbow clean! Don't give yourself any excuses to not take on a challenge, no matter how daunting. Plus if you end up failing, just do what I do and tell people you had a gas leak in your apartment that made you temporarily remedial.
That's when I came across it - an April edition of the Casper Journal. I'm both disgusted and grateful by how lazy my fellow actors were; by some karmic coincidence this paper had survived countless theatre cleanings and the multitude of destructive forces that rip through that place. And now I held it in my hands reading a story about a casper roller derby team.
So I'm just going to admit it and shatter your hopes before they get too out of control; I am not hip nor will I ever be. (I blame it on the fact that my mother cut my hair into a mullet for the first 12 years of my life insisting she was giving me a "fuller set of bangs").
*DISCLAIMER* This is not an actual picture from my tainted youth, but it looked pretty damn close.
I hadn't seen Whip It or Kansas City Bomber, I wasn't that huge into boy-ish contact sports, and I definitely didn't even know what a huge fucking deal this sport had become in the US over the past 5 or so years...
But still something about it clicked. Granted I've always been an EXTREMELY random person who jumps at the chance for just about anything to broaden my young horizon, but this gave me goosebumps. This was the first goal I wanted to try where I thought I just might actually fail; so I kept it a secret.
The first daunting challenge I faced was contacting the team. The version of the story that was printed contained very few details, no team name, no email, no website; a reference to USARS created my only clue (little did I know the whole story, chalk full of team details was on the Journal's website). So after tracking down a league list for Wyoming on the interwebs, and the list having no details of which team was actually Casper's, I ended up writing like ten thousand people, just to make sure I could get the right one... I get antsy sometimes =)
Less than 24 hours later I had my response:
Do you like my clever blackout marks? Totally did that in Microsoft Paint... bringin' back the 90's.
Little did I know this email would change my life forever. And even reading it now I get kinda choked up (but not choked up enough to refrain from giving you the finger if you mock my girlish tears of joy). This was just the beginning though. If you stick around this blog long enough I might just tell you my whole story... including when I realized I couldn't actually skate.
Oh! How could I forget! Your lesson for the day!
Be a "Yes" Man... er Woman... Person! (Gotta appeal to all the demographics if I expect this blog to succeed ;)
Don't ever ask questions, just do it! If you're already questioning, you're already doubting, and doubting just shits all over the rainbow of potential and success. Keep the rainbow clean! Don't give yourself any excuses to not take on a challenge, no matter how daunting. Plus if you end up failing, just do what I do and tell people you had a gas leak in your apartment that made you temporarily remedial.
