We're home again after a week-and-a-half trip to SoCal to find a car for Jack and collect (most of) his stuff that was still down there. We were successful on both accounts. I got to visit with my friends Cecile and Roger (and their new puppy Cornelia), and I attended derby practices for a team in my in-laws' town and in L.A. area. The former was really awesome - 18 people skated practice and we were doing drills and did a quickie scrimmage at the end. So much fun! It reminded me what I like about derby. The L.A. one was a drag - apparently a newbie practice, and without any real drills or anything happening. I guess most of them weren't full contact, so there was no practicing anything that involved hitting. They didn't even bother to lay out a track... so I didn't stay long, and I regretted wasting my time/gas driving out there when I could've gone to a different team's practice that I'm pretty sure would've been legit. Oh well. I just wish they would've communicated to me that this was a newbie learn-to-skate deal instead of a real practice for full-contact skaters - but then again, the chick who was running the show kept talking to me like I wasn't full contact, so maybe that's why they didn't bother to tell me.
I also got to go to a skate shop in the Valley that had tons of selection and I bought some outdoor wheels so that I can skate outside now... well, when it's not raining, anyway.
It feels good to be home. Jack is deep-cleaning the kitchen. I am trying to tidy up the other spaces in the house, and alternating with doing my homework assignments - lots of reading! I'll have to write my first paper by the end of next week, then I'll really feel like I'm back in the student realms again!
Derby practices here have reminded me of everything I dislike about derby, unfortunately. Largely, I am losing my interest in our practices. So few people are coming we can barely do any real drills, I feel like my skill level is going nowhere fast, and I'm sick of just going around and around and around in circles with no real goal in mind. I miss having a coach, I miss having eight people or more at a practice. I can't help but feel like I invested all this time and money towards reaching a goal, and now that I'm ready to grab it, it's just gone. Everybody else has good memories of bouts and teams to fall back on. I don't have any of that, just a dwindling hope that maybe I'll get to play in a bout someday before I die. I've already sustained two injuries that have proved to have long-term consequences, I've spent probably around $300 on gear, and paid my monthly dues for 10 months - another $200. For that much I could've just bought that mountain bike I'd been wanting and be tearing it up on the old logging roads and minding my own business. I had hoped, too, that derby would lead to hanging out with new friends. I don't know what the deal is, but the few times I've tried I've been flaked on, and I don't have the energy to try more than a few times. So needless to say, that hope has been pretty well dashed too.
So I'm considering putting The Rogue Ranger to rest for awhile. Maybe she'll come out again if we move to a place with an actual, functional team. Or if NCRD has some miraculous recruitment and gets back up to a realistic number again. But I honestly don't know how many more weeks of this I can take.
On a bright note - as Jack reminded me - I get to go to my Friday crafting group for the first time since I started work last summer! I'm so excited to see those ladies again. I'll have to wear the cardigan I made for the wedding, and maybe I ought to put a few wedding photos on my phone to share. I'm going to knit myself a pair of new slippers because all of mine are falling apart right now. I just ordered yarn for a sweet cardigan pattern, too, so that'll be the next project and judging by the pattern it'll be tricky enough to keep me entertained for awhile! I just finished knitting a pair of fingerless gloves (for the first time!) for Jack - he likes them and will supposedly wear them to keep warm, but I guess the weather's too fine tonight because I can see them sitting on the chair across the living room. ;) Anyway, they turned out real cute and I'll have to put up a picture of them when I get a chance.
Well, the night is wearing on, and I ought to shower. I skated 50 laps at my solo practice tonight and then did Day 19 of Yoga Camp. I've fallen very far behind in that, but hopefully will get back on track now that we're home and not moving around so much. I'd like to finally check out one of the local yoga studios next week, too. It's been so long since I've had an instructor-led class - October in Sequoia I went to one of my friend Tara's classes, but the last one aside from that was probably last January... eesh.
How are my goals doing so far? Create more is definitely thriving; so far I'm being a good student; embrace movement has been doing so-so, but hopefully will iron out now that we're home from our trip; read more is being consumed by grad school reading assignments; and be happier is doing alright overall, but as you can tell is hitting a bit of a road block with regards to derby at the moment, so we'll see where that goes. Waste less is so-so, and make a record? Well, I've been giving a lot of thought to which songs... but I'm definitely feeling like that's on the back burner now that I've started grad school. We'll see if I can carve out some time for that next week since (as I keep saying) we're not traveling anymore for awhile.
Until next time!
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