A loss must be discussed

Right, so the Steam Rollers lost.

Oh well.

It was a VERY physical game, and it just felt like a blur of hits and fastness and reaction. It was our first game as a team, and I think it showed. The Suffra Jets have had more time skating together, not to mention a lot of them had been on teams together before, so they worked better as a unit. We’ll get there though. For the first and second period we were up to 40 points behind, but by the third period it started to come together. We clawed back slowly to a 14 point deficit, but unfortunately just ran out of time. We have plans for the future though. As Slice says, the backup plan is always world domination.

Next game is against the Ultraviolent Femmes, with the winner going to the championship against the Suffra Jets again.

And meanwhile we have a month off derby. Unbelievable….a whole month!! I am kicking it off by going away to Zurich for the weekend – a little surprise trip that Tom booked. Very excited as its another country to add to my list, and the city will be full of Christmas markets and snow!

Bout Footage:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=y9GIyvW6Xno (I am in dark red top with white knee caps)

A Glorious Tale of Steam Machines

In February I will have been playing roller derby for 3 years. That's a pretty long time. And yet, this Saturday is going to be the VERY FIRST time I am ever going to play a game with my own permanent league team! Why is that? It has a lot to do with my moves and my leagues.

When we started ACDG we just didnt have enough girls for league teams, so for a long time we just played black vs white or whatever. And then just when we split into teams and I became a Berzerker I ended up moving to London. I never did get to play a game with my Berzerker crew.

And then in London we had a whole expo season of Pink vs Black. Now FINALLY I have a league team! I am a STEAM ROLLER - and this Saturday sees the debut of the team I am co-captain of!

It's gonna be a tough game. We are up against the mighty Suffra Jets - a team that has half of their roster on the LRG travel team, and who on paper have a pretty powerful set of lineups. They have already played one game this season, and they beat the Ultraviolent Femmes pretty solidly. We figure this is a must win game for our team in order to make sure we get into the finals, so its gonna be a hard one.

Oh, and half our team is injured or ill. :)

But we are going to look damn cool.

Steam Rollers - the steam punkin bad-ass rollergirls of the LRG.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk

http://www.londonrollergirls.com/zero/teams/steam-rollers

The subject experiences a slight change of location

Oh yes, I forgot to mention it, but I moved! Now that I am an engaged woman, it was time to play house properly with Tom. I really did love the flat in Notting Hill and the great flatmates, but it was just getting way too cramped. Basically it got to the point where if all our laundry was clean, there was nowhere to put it.

So one day we took a little trip up to Hampstead village and said “wow, let’s live here!”

Then we had a reality check on the prices/availability and decided to walk down the hill a bit and see where it led us.

It led us right to Belsize Park. So that’s where we are now. Around the corner from the shops and café’s of England’s Lane, down the hill from the Belsize Park tube, close enough to Chalk Farm and Camden, and a short jaunt to Primrose Hill and Hampstead Heath.

It’s great to finally have space! We live in one of the “…modern developments from the 60s and 70s with underground parking and spacious spacious layouts…” quoted here.

We have been exploring the leafy neighborhoods and checking out the pubs for our new local. It’s great! And now I have two sets of furniture (one US, one UK) cause the flat was unfurnished and we had to buy everything.

Pic: view of central London from Primrose Hill park

A new map of London is presented

HA!

A woeful lack of updates are shared

Just been sooo busy. No time to update the old blog. Had a crazy summer of work, and in desperate need of a holiday I ran off to Rollercon 2008 in Vegas. I took Tom with me, and he actually had a pretty good time. Probably because it turns out he fell in love with Vegas. We also went to Los Angeles for some family visit time, and also had a few days of wine tasting in the Santa Ynez valley. Now we are back in London, and looking for a new flat just of our own. London Rollergirls has finally split into permanent teams and we are getting ready to kick off our next season. Good stuff! Check out this latest derby portrait taken at the last LRG expo game:

click here if you are viewing in email


Photo by Samuel Hicks

A cacophony of celebration

Yes, inevitably, there is a shaky video of the proposal. Be careful of your ears, there is lots of screaming...



(thats: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Swj7k9JosYM)

A bout, a victory, a proposal, a celebration…all are had in the summer sun

I had a bloody good weekend. Team Canada came to town, fresh of a major win against Glasgow the night before, ready to kick some London girls in the derby behind. Or so they thought…

Skating with London Rollergirls (and specifically the Travel Team) has reached a very interesting point. We think we are good….like with the potential to be actually GOOD…but we don’t have the benefit of real testing against hardened teams, and we don’t have the benefit of all the guest coaching you can get in the states. I know we aren’t ready to take on the big guys, but I have had this sense that the potential is there, and we have a crop of newbies that make it even more of a possibility. So I was really interested to see what happened against Team Canada, and I had a pretty strong sense that we were going to give them a big shock.

Team Canada has some great skaters, but they aren’t really a team. They are made up of gals from 5 different leagues, who have never skated together before. That’s a big disadvantage in derby, where after a certain level of competency in skating is reached, I think it becomes more about automatic strategy and teamwork. They were also jet lagged and travel weary. I have had to skate against a few tough opponents back in the states after long trips, and I know how it can sap your endurance. So major props to them for giving a super physical game the whole time.

And that’s a big build up to say that it was quite a game. I have to be honest, in the very first jam, Sky Rockit broke through the pack as lead jammer like a shot of nowhere and I pretty much said to myself “yup, we got it”. It never changed. We dominated the score line the whole bout, despite some great jamming efforts from the TC bench (watch out for Mirage and her wily skills). But man it was good. Super hard hits and takedowns, dramatic moments, rock star jamming, the whole lot…

The audience loved every minute of it too. I normally worry about a wide score margin, thinking that the audience will get bored, but it wasn’t a concern here. It was just a fantastically entertaining time.

And in the end, we won 128-45. The victory lap with the LRG flag felt pretty good. We look pretty sweet in black.

Victory Lap Picture:

Video highlights of the bout:

So then we all lined up in front of the audience for the bout awards, and Tom came up with an award envelope too. I won Penalty Queen (again)…not sure why I always get that in bouts, but not in practise, but whatever. (I think it’s the 20 feet violations!)

So finally Tom was the last one left with an award envelope, and he took the mic and pulled out a blank award and said he couldn't write down what he felt about this special person. Then he got down on one knee and pulled out a ring and proposed to me. I said yes, of course.

Proposal Pic:

Another proposal pic:

The whole audience was cheering, my girls were crying, and it was all around the biggest derby-cheesiest best moment ever. Straight out of a Hollywood movie, and pretty much a perfect proposal for a spectacle lover like me. Tom doesn’t normally like the limelight, but he did an awesome job, and I love him for it.

So we got to celebrate a lot at the after party. Then Sunday was the nicest warmest day we have had all year, and we sat in the sun in Clissold Park with friends and just chilled. The day ended with drinks with Canada in Kensington and a well deserved sleep.

So there you have it…quite a weekend.

A Grand Tour of Sunny Places is Commenced on the Holiday Weekend

A bit late, naturally, but here are some nice pics from my spring bank holiday weekend. Tom and I went to Hampton Court Palace and had a picnic in the gardens.

Tom and a garden:

Courtney in the vine walk:

Then we took a river boat down the Thames, through the locks, and got off at Richmond for a nice steak dinner at Gaucho Grill (Tom’s toss up favourite restaurant along with Bodean’s BBQ).

Boat through the locks:

Tom get excited about Gaucho:

We also spent a nice sunny day in Hyde Park, with me skating along the Serpentine Road naturally.

A good boyfriend carries all the stuff:

This type of activity seems to be part of a theme lately….with most weekend finding us visiting some lovely touristy type place. Ice cream sundaes at Fortnum & Mason, reading books in Green Park, meanders around old Hampstead village (lunch at Gaucho’s naturally), etc…. We actually joined as members of the Royal Palaces which means we can get into the Tower of London and Kensington Palace and Hampton Court anytime we want. We both like the crown jewels.

Skating, etc…

So the other day I surprised Tom with a present: a brand new pair of size 12 Riedell R3 speed skates. Muahahaha…..

He was amused and shocked (dunno why) and now he has to learn to skate.

I don’t think he will end up as a derby ref, but it will be nice to have him able to roll around with me.

Speaking of rolling around.

This weekend is pretty much one of the most exciting things to do with London Rollergirls to date. Its our first ever international bout. We have a team of skaters from 5 different Canadian leagues coming over to play us as Team Canada. This is a big one. Winning means major props for us…and we are going hard core for it.

Mutiny on the Mountie Poster:

In other LRG news….last week I competed in a BBC game show called Eggheads. It wont air for another month or so, but it should be AWESOME.

Eggheads pic:

Mondays and relationships are pondered

Mondays in general are always a bit sucky, naturally, because you have to go back to work and deal with all the stuff you left behind on the glorious Friday of the past. But when you are in a relationship you get this little added bummer…. after a nice weekend of cuddles and fun, you all the sudden feel you are going through couple withdrawal!

I felt it keenly today, so Tom and I arranged to meet halfway between offices (me at Oxford Circus and him on the western edge of the square mile), for a little extra dose of coupleness. In true romantic style, Tom brought me a big bunch of red roses. Very sweet – and they are making me smile as they sit on my desk inviting glances of envy from all the ladies in the office.

Tom is off to an emerging leader course for work this week, so we will have 3 whole nights to miss each other, but then a nice long bank holiday weekend to be sappy again. Instead of spending too much money to go to some village in the country, we are planning a London tourist weekend. We are going to visit Hampton Court Palace and maybe do a London Walk, and if the sun shines even a picnic in Hyde Park. I have been here a year so its time to pretend to be a visitor again for a long weekend.

P.S. the flowers and trees are in bloom and it’s SO GORGEOUS here right now. Lilacs and cherry blossoms everywhere…especially in my hood of Notting Hill.

On the Occasion of the Happy One Year London Anniversary...

Let’s pull a quote out of the archives to start this off:

From approximately one year ago, specifically April 22, 2007:

“…It was certainly not how I expected to feel on my arrival, but I guess in hindsight I should have figured on it. I mean seriously, a lot of people make this kind of move because they are tired of where they were before. I love LA...I love my friends and the life I had in LA. I did this because I always wanted the chance to live here...not because I wanted to leave LA. For me this is a challenge I gave myself....not a reward. So it's hard. But yeah, that day I was seriously questioning myself. And I still have that thought from time to time...but it's more geared towards allowing myself the possiblity of not living here for a long spell...and being ok with going back home if that’s what feels right too. People have told me that I am pretty ballsy to make this move, and I get it now...cause it sure ain’t easy…”

So here I am. One year to the date of my arrival in the UK. I have come a long way from pulling up in a black cab to my temporary flat on the Camden canal…and I am still here. There are no plans to leave.

Life does go on, I do adapt, I get over the homesickness, I get over the fear, and the longing for familiar things. New things become familiar, new friends are made, new bonds are forged…and it all combines to make me feel that London is now home.

But I am still ballsy and brave. I did it. I moved to London. I made it happen, and I enjoyed it…still enjoying it. Pretty cool, eh?

Following a holiday, the writer becomes busy

I always seem to slack on the blog posts after a trip or holiday. Most likely because returning from a holiday usually finds me thrown back into work or activities with no free time. That has definitely been the case this time.

So here I am reporting a while later.

The trip was good. I really enjoyed the sunshine and the beach and the Pacifico with lime down in Mexico. It was also fun to hang out with my brother, see my dad, visit with cousins and aunts, and introduce everyone to Tom. Tom wasn’t a huge Mexico fan…the street food and poverty weren’t too his liking…but he did enjoy the family, which is what really counts anyway.

Then it was back to LA for a short time. Once again I felt a sense of oddness about being back in LA. It’s like I don’t belong there anymore, but yet I have strong ties in friends/family/familiar scenes. Tom did like it quite a bit. We went shopping and had posh drinks and enjoyed lovely Santa Monica. It all felt a bit short, but I was ready to come ”home” to London.

And now Tom is officially living with me and that has been really good. It’s nice to have that feeling of being in a serious relationship again, knowing that you can come home and always have that person there to support you. He might even learn to rollerskate!

A peculiar turn of events regarding the knee

Well la ti da….I finally managed to finagle my way through the morass of the NHS and get back to the hospital to hear the results of my December MRI. Turns out that I have been unintentionally healing from a non-displaced tibial plateau fracture for the past three months. Oops on the NHS!

I am in two minds on the whole thing…

1) PRO: I am relieved that I do not need soft tissue surgery to fix a meniscus or ligament tear. Plus, I am cleared to go back to full derby, providing I ease into it a bit

2) CON: doing the normal hypochondriac shuffle on google, I read that this type of fracture usually results in a knee brace and no weight bearing during at least 2 months of healing time. Folks, I won a dance contest on December 21^st…there was definite weight bearing! So I am a bit paranoid that it didn’t get the benefit of a good diagnosis and healing that it should have had. The fracture clinic at UCH (which is admittedly run by one of the best sports ortho docs in London) didn’t seem that worried, and basically said I had the benefit of 3 months of healing, but I just wish I had known earlier, and had been able to treat it properly!

What have we learned?

• Will NEVER EVER play roller derby again without good private insurance, which I now have…no more waiting on the NHS!
• Bette Noir has joined the ranks of the “broken bone” club, and now qualifies for the ‘ol AC/DG crutch tattoo (which she will be banned from receiving by the lovely Mr Posh)

In which a change in our heroine's living situation arises.

And duh....why didn't I title all my blogs in the above manner to match the overall theme? From now on I will. :)

---

So I am about to get a new flatmate. Yup, Tom (aka Mr Posh in the derby world) is moving in. He has been keen on living with me for some time, and he spends about 5 nights a week at my place as it is.

Finally my flatmates said “why doesn’t he just move in and pay some rent?”

:)

So when we get back from the states, Tom is moving over to Notting Hill…leaving southeast London behind. Eeek!

No seriously, I am cool with it, obviously. Just a bit nervous because I haven’t lived with a guy “officially” since my ex-husband – and this seems to put the final nail in the coffin of any vestiges I might be harbouring that I am still “single” or unencumbered by a relationship. I think that after the long struggle to accept divorce I had finally reached a state of enjoying singleness. And then of course I met Tom…who rather than being the kind of guy you have to pin down for some shred of commitment, is pretty much the poster man for “serious relationship”.

Anyway, I really didn’t want to leave my flat, as regular readers and friends will know that I LOVE where I live. This makes everything cool….cause now I get to live with Tom and stay in my hood. Notting Hill Carnival 2008 after party is definitely on this year!

So Courtney Goes To London moves to Phase…3? Yeah I guess Phase 3 sounds about right. Briefly proceeded by Holiday in the Sun 2008 Phase 1.

Exhibit A – where I will be sipping mai tais next Friday

Exhibit B – the house we will be staying in while in Todos Santos with my family

http://www.mexicovacations.com/mx/32731.html

LRG Update...

So the second London Rollergirls bout was absolutely amazing. It was so close after xmas that we were all a bit worried about turnout, and at one point were even thinking we would have about 50 people in the audience. HA….hardly. We were totally sold out about 2 days before the bout, and we even had ticket scalpers outside the venue on the day! You know you have arrived when someone is trying to tout your tickets.

I had a fantastic time announcing, and definitely would want to continue doing that if I ever had to retire (along with coaching). More importantly though, the gameplay was just super amazing. The difference in skating skill level between the first game and this one was truly great to see. We probably had about 10 bout rookies in the lineups and they held their own and showed potential that makes me happy for the future of LRG. And for the girls that were skating their second bout, well I may be biased, but many of them showed skills and gameply knowledge at the same level of gals that have skated more than one full season. The audience could really tell too. Our first bout had an audience that didn’t quite know what to do…but this time around people were jumping up and down and screaming their lungs out by the end of the bout. This was probably helped by the fact that the game pretty much went down to the last two jams, with Team Pink finally taking the win.

On an unfortunate note, we had a broken leg in the 1^st period from veteran skater, Ana Ki. She is sporting a titanium pole in her left lower leg as a souvenir of derby now.

And on to boot camp…

This past Saturday, LRG hosted the first ever European Roller Derby Boot Camp. We had skaters and refs from the across the UK leagues, and even a few from Stockholm, Sweden. It was pretty sweet. We had five hours of skating and training – covering the basic basics for newbies, and also hitting all the major elements of play for the more advanced girls. The session ended with a two hour pick-up scrimmage with everyone getting involved to their levels. Everyone had a fantastic time at the boot camp and the afterparty, and I really felt like for the first time here everyone understood what it was like to be a part of a roller derby community. We have the benefit at LRG of having lots of visiting gals from the states and other leagues, but many of the smaller start up leagues in the UK and Europe just don’t get that. So for them, I think it was very important to get a feel for it.

Ahhh London....

I love this quote from an article in February’s Vanity Fair:

I’ve been spending a lot of time in London lately, and it’s the perfect place to be. It’s as expensive as hell, the dollar stinks, but the parties are nightly, and restaurants are jammed, as are the theatres and the hotels.

I just read that and thought - “Damn right, and I live here!”

If I go back and read my very first entry in this blog, it makes me remember how excited I was to come here. Sometimes in the everyday grind, it’s easy to forget that I am actually here. So lately I have tried to look around a bit more, and really witness where I am. It’s so magically different from the west coast, and it really is pretty amazing. I love the buzz here. It’s like the fantasy and sophistication of NYC combined with the more charming and everyday British sensibility. I love being on the cutting edge, in a city that is at the peak of it’s game, but still being able to live a normal life.

I love going down to the local coffee house on Portobello Road on Saturday morning and watching the tourists and thinking “hell yeah, I am a local!”

I love the fact that I am used to hearing an English accent, to the point that an American one jars me a bit. I love reading the free papers on the tube, and checking in on the latest with Kate Moss/Girls Aloud/Amy Winehouse/etc…

I love my job in the London digital world…where people work hard and have a lot of passion, but also know how to have fun and seem to prize the fact that I am eclectic. In fact, I think I really like being the crazy/eclectic/outgoing/sassy American. I probably enjoy standing out a bit, but also feeling like I belong.

That’s how I feel in London.

2nd LRG Bout!

Tomorrow is the second London Rollergirls bout, and I am pretty damn excited! My usual experience is that on a second outing, the attendance tends to go down a bit. But momentum in London is obviously rolling, because we are pretty much sold out already! I think we are going to surpass our capacity from our first sell out bout, and have to turn away people at the door. We need a bigger venue!! Our capacity right now is 499, which includes crew and skaters....I think ideally we need something that fits twice that, but London real estate and venues are just madly rare and expensive.

Anyway I am having anxiety dreams and making lists in my head during the night in prep...and I am not even skating. Since my knee is still on the mend, I decided to sit this one out and instead I will be announcing the bout and acting as press liason. Yeah, big stretch I am sure.

I can't wait!!

Need some warm sun!

So I basically had the flu all of Christmas. I managed to just about make it to 10:30 on Christmas day, at which point I collapsed into bed with the shivers and shakes. At least I had a nice Christmas dinner and a whole ton of champagne first. Dating Tom has made me a champers girl....how very London City of me...

Anyhoo....I managed to drug my way through New Years eve, and then spent it on the couch with a relapse. Another great NYE. Oh well.

And now I am back in the office, having started my new job! That's right, I just officially became a full time employee of Grand Union, which is where I have been freelancing until now. They lured me in with a new position/promotion: Group Project Director. So now I have a new title to add to the old resume. I am pretty excited actually. I think it will be a great new challenge, and I really love the people here, so it's a good environment. Plus we are moving to swank new office right near Oxford Circus in a few months, so that means major shopping opportunities at lunch! (Bonus, of course!)

But all that aside, I am definitely looking forward to a visit to LA in February. Thankfully logic has won over, and instead of going to the snow in Bend, I am now going to Mexico for a week. Hooray! I need some sunshine bad....

It will be fun to show Tom LA too...and make him eat spicy Mexican food, which as a true Englishman, he will probably hate.

:)