Thorildsplan Tunnelbana or how Sookie tried to beat the rain

Two days of non-stop rain. The two days I had for personal skating. One of STRD newer referees invited me to a skate park that is under a bridge and often skating in the rain is possible due to the amount of pavement the bridge keeps dry.

We were not quite that fortunate, I have a massive bruise from taking off when my wheels had gotten too wet. But at least I think my crash made the 6 year old girl skateboarder feel better about her fall...

I was happy to just get out of the apartment and go somewhere new.
The park was near a station I have been meaning to go to because of the tiling there. As usual I did not have a the better camera with me.

This week I also took a bus to check out a rumored outdoor 'covered' rink. This proved to be true and although the rink really, really needs to be clean up, at least we can skate in wet weather.
So for now practice is being held there.
I am going out early today to make up my skating time. I ran the last session and therefore didn't get to skate much. I might have to ref today so, again I won't get much actual practice time.
However, next weekend I am attending a skating camp in Berlin. Being organized by the Berlin Bombshells, and run by Swedehurt and Suzy Hotrod.
I just hope I can keep up...

"...no winning smiles will do here, no prettily drawn lists of good intentions."

I have been sick, but this is a boring subject -especially to me, I want to just curl into a ball and sleep and not think about sickness.

I have been losing time within the spark of ideas that could not or would not be allowed to fit into the appropriate academic box.

Jag tränar uttal, Ja skriver meningar. Jag pratar Svenska och compris.
Jag rullskridskor, Jag mycket, mycket giller rullskridskor!

STRD practice for Roller Derby is still outside, but this time of year, the rain does come down.
Sunday skating was cancelled, many skaters skated in PRIDE and were low after late celebrating- so we decided Monday and Tuesday for skating.
Yet still the rain came down, so we had to cancel.
INSTEAD-
Some of us went to the indoor skate park at Fryshuset- Monday night is GIRLS ONLY.

In a word: FUN.

"...dancing with scissors or bones full of wishes..."

So many things are different and so many things are the same.

We went running back up the hill- I am positive the hill has gotten higher, and steeper. Why does your brain immediately give you excuses? "Oh well, I have worked out or skated for the last four days in a row.", "Oh, well, I did eat a lot today.", "Oh, well, I am like a zillion years older than all the runners in front of me.", "Is that the smell of burnt toast? Am I having a stroke?".
But there were good distractions, cute little hopping frogs, snails with very fancy shells, and a FAWN.

Actually I needed to get out of the house, nothing I read for University was making any sense, and all my war documentaries are- as expected, depressing.
Also after running (thankfully not sliding or tumbling) back down the hill, we went exploring, in search of a work out space.
The space seems as if it is in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by trees and fields. The equipment is made out of logs, and I could barely do any of the exercises, most of the stations I needed to jump up to get too- of course you would think once I am hanging from some equipment my body weight would help me out...but not so much.

The night before was a more casually paced skate through the cemetery. I have now located Greta Garbo's grave, but I haven't ventured that way yet.
We were busy skating, followed by running some errands, and then going to Maskulina's garden to drink beer and laugh too loudly until the night grew dark and neighbors started to shut their windows against us.
Also we just never bothered to take off our skates, which was sort of funny...

*Cute hipster-hipsomatic photos stolen from Maskulina.

possibly too long of a link:
Here is the workout park:
http://www.stockholm.se/-/Serviceenhetsdetaljer/?enhet=275c88cf5f454e39a4e72b9782810366

"small frogs, small frogs, are funny to see, no ears, no ears, no tails have they..."

Midsummer (ending for me) about 3 a.m.

Midsummer about 1 a.m.

Midsummers Day about 3 p.m.

I thought the frog dance was about moose and rabbits. But when the ring dancers are waving funny ears it is for the lyric "No ears, no ears, no tail do they possess" and they are only talking about 'funny little frogs'.
But of course my Swedish language skills are not very good...yet.
I skated to this park and then I was tired, I watch a lot of ring dancing and kids hopped on sugar. I have heard many people in Sweden talk about 'Godis på lördag' and I see bowls with that slogan printed on them, this is the idea of your kids getting candy once a week. Apparently Midsummer holiday is an exception and the kids were going for it.

"Little sister on your rollerskates, its Friday night and you've got a date."

Friday? Really? How did Monday through today slip by me? I vaguely remember 'library lock down' to get an assignment posted by the end of Monday, and I know there was a day that I coached Roller Derby, and two committee meetings, and new assignments...Okay, the picture is becoming clear to me.
Believe me when I tell you that I want to be the person who stays home, in her routine, sleeping, reading, and listening to records. Yet, tomorrow after I coach I am flying to Melbourne and going to Geelong. I bought the ticket on the cheap months ago and although Jetstar allows changes, the change fee is more than the original cost of the ticket.
I think I can use the tune up of skating with Geelong, because the longer I am away, the more I feel as if I am just playing make-believe as opposed to actually helping to create a sports team. By being there I can soak up some new skills, and reaffirm to myself that I know the ones I have well enough to be imparting them to others.
Our Convict City Roller League is poised on the brink of making things happen. We now have numbers showing up to practice, and there is a gleam of hope in even the most tired of us. Dot Dash has organized a fundraiser, happening this Sunday to off set the costs of the skaters that are going to Adelaide for the Southern Slam.
http://greatsouthernslam.com.au/

This event will give the skaters here a chance to see Roller Derby in action and actually be part of the action.
Partially in preparation for the big Adelaide event; Riff Raff Saff, and Ref Fink were my house guests and the leagues guest coaches over the weekend. The rapt attention they were given by our group was commendable but also showed me that I need to step up and try to command some of that attention for my own coaching sessions.
They were great coaches and great house guests, and I even got a present! G.R.D.L. sent me a jacket for guest skating in the two bouts. I now have three items with 'Sookie Smackhouse' and my number printed on them. Hopefully when I am in America no other Sookie's will try and steal it from me. I check my email daily for a response from the fan club of Charlaine Harris regarding the 'saga of the Sookies', but so far I have met only the disappointment of no response. Perhaps not everyone wants their intellectual property turned into a Roller Derby moniker...

"...someone stole the life from you...your heart is on the floor"

I have been ruminating for days about this posting,- March 26th by my reckoning is the year anniversary of Roller Derby entering my life. I did a search on my own blog for 'skating' and 'roller derby' and I read through some of my postings. I have definitely been on a journey, and I feel more kindly upon reflection over those postings. I didn't want to post negatively, and I also felt an urge to censor myself because of the negativity, yet I wanted to 'write it out'.
A year seems unbelievable while the fact that I have only known Betty for less than a year, feels incredible for the opposite reasons.
I met Betty and Fink in mid-June-! Betty is the closest thing to a real friend that I have had in all my time in Tasmania, and I would never have met her without Roller Derby. Of course she is enough like me that she essentially walked out of the life she created. She is braving it out in the world at large-and as we are on completely different date lines, I no longer have text messages in real time. I completely understand the what and the why of her leaving, and having done the same thing myself, all I can do is laugh about my first friend here, leaving the country. Anyway I look at that situation, I definitely owe Derby for Betty and Fink being in my life.

Also I owe for the fun I have had skating in other places, Geelong, Queensland, and Hawaii, all part of the debt.
I am also proud of myself for trying something so unlike the idea I have of myself. My long held dislike for sports, my fear of groups.
In part I am also indulging myself, in my forties, to make up for the time I spent in my twenties, just making rent, or being the soft touch and covering shifts for friends, or my ill placed loyalty that caused me to be the type of assistant that was available to my bosses every whim upon my personal time.

My conflict lies with Roller Derby in Tasmania.
If I am frank and honest with myself, Roller Derby here at home...tumultuous...confusing...aggravating...defeating...
I actually feel more alone here because of Derby-I am apart of a group, but not with the acceptance or common ground I have in Geelong.
I always feel like the new girl at school, offering myself all the time, and never being taken up on invitations.
Certainly a lot of what happens isn't personal, but in an odd way it is personal exactly, because it isn't.
Looking back on my posts I also realized how much I have given up for Roller Derby. I was quietly happy; taking long walks, learning to sew, gazing at stars and sitting on the beach. Now my time goes to trying to engage a group of women, designing session plans, thinking of ways to convince them of what I know to be important from the experiences I have had, just to be mostly disregarded. I could write here about small improvements, but I am finding that too hard at this moment.
Then there are the scraps of misconstrued impressions that the various women have of me, when so few have bothered to get to know me. I want to be proud of myself, I went to that first practice alone, then I went to a bout (in Melbourne) to learn more, when no one could house Betty and Fink I offered, and figured it all out, alone. I would speak up and offer ideas, yet continually be misunderstood. There was talk about going to a bout in August, but no one answered me back about going, so I booked a ticket and made my own plans. I had heard that 'dropping' into other leagues practices was okay, so I rented a Prius and offered to take any of our skaters with me to Geelong's practice, but no one wanted to go with me, so I went alone.
This of course is how I got my opportunity to skate in competition, but this seemed to make me more of an outsider back on the island.
My thought process is in this snarled loop, the league offers me very little. But without the league I have nothing in the way of Derby here on the island.

Yet, I suppose the telling sign of how Roller Derby has crawled in and set up house, is that I do have plans to continue. I keep coming up with plans, and just guarding my disappointment when the response is less what I wanted. I obligate myself a month or so at a time, knowing I won't back out of an obligation.
I can barely dredge up the memory of seeing the flyer here in Tasmania, I was with Monte, Roberto, and Zok and I idly said while taking a photo of the flyer- "Do you think I am too old for Roller Derby?" and pretty much they all laughed and said "Yes"! (insert a sort of snorting duh noise).
But I went anyway...

"...Sukie was a kid she liked to hangout in the graveyard..."

Upon arriving in Victoria, on the mainland of Australia, my days have been busy.
I am surrounded by friends and lively because of that.
I had a really good skating practice. The Geelong league did a drill that I have been reading about and wanting to try out in Tasmania, but was unable too.
The drill has many names but I think 'Trappers and Runners' is the most fitting. The idea is a good bit of strategy and also involves some basic skills so this means that the drill works on different levels.
The session was followed by accompanying a friend and being on her community radio slot. Anyone who knows me, knows there is nothing I enjoy more than talking about and selecting music for people to hear.
Lastly, I went to Deakin University, the institution that will (hopefully, without tears or disappointment) see me through my next degree. I got a student i.d. card, talked to some office workers, and checked out books from the library.
The weeks ahead are full of adventures. I get to go along and hang out for another radio slot. Plus there is much skating here, then a road trip to skate with the Ballarat league, and then an intensive four day training in Townsville. Townsville is up in Queensland where I have never, ever, been to in all my life.
Tropics!
Insects!
Warm water and jellyfish!
Skaters who have day jobs such as Army, or in the Mining industry!
Check in to see if I survive.

"Used to be one of the rotten ones and I liked you for that."

I have been living in Australia long enough that I am starting to forget the American equivalent for certain aspects of living.
Here, in Tasmania green waste is taken to the 'tip' which is a word, basically meaning dump, as in "No tipping allowed here".
Our tip is privately owned, normally the cost for our Jeep load is about $5 AU, this is reduced to $3, if we remember to bring recycling such as cardboard.
We live within a township so actually our recycling is picked up by the city.

The tip also takes salvage and random items. Each tip has a 'tip shop', which to my eyes is a free-for-all junk yard.
I don't have a lot of luck finding items in places such as these, I like my thrifting to be a bit more upscale, honestly I find the tip to be a bit like dumpster diving in a bad neighborhood, plus if you find an item there is a price for it.

However, Zok found what he wanted here, a couple of frames and some glass.
I, too found items, and I am not sure why, but both of my items were free.
The table cloth which isn't showing well via photo was thrown in by the tip shop with Zok's other purchases, and the cigar box was from a store I quite like, hidden amongst a strange array of magic items. I only wanted the box, so the lovely man separated the box out for me and gave it to me-
Gratis.

"Radio live transmission...listen to the silence ring on..."

After my last post, I immediately wanted to go out and skate, so that is exactly what I did. The house slash farm that I was staying at had a nice long country road to the left that ended in gravel, and to the right ended at a sort of Stephen King country highway.
I stayed to the left.
I still find seeing cows to the left of me and sheep to the right; charming.
I got violently ill the early morning on the day I was leaving for Geelong. I was shocked really, I get sick very rarely, and all I could think was "Bad luck", and "Oh no! I have to skate!".
After a few collapses and a complete emptying of my body, I seemed better.
I got to Geelong and as one might expect, did not exactly shine at practice.
I have a chance to make up for that, when we practice again tonight.
I also got offers of extra help, perhaps due to my performance, and no matter what I need extra training!
I knew I was out of my depth when a girl crashed right in front of me, and I fell on her, getting her skate in my shin, which is never good...afterwards, one of the coaches said "You have to just jump over the fallen skater".
I of course thought- "Okay, that will just get put to the top of my today list, 'Acquire super powers.' check!". Of course the skater who advised me, then did exactly that in the next scrimmage.

I don't know if my pictures are clear, but one is from part of the yard where I stayed, I have never, ever, seen water in there but the no swimming signs always remains...
Also the platform for the 'V-line' aka country line of the Victoria trail system.
The V-line was much nicer than the city line, which provided a view of Melbourne that was simply, not flattering.

My attempt at blogging via my iphone via the Australian network did not go as planned, so sorry for the strange post earlier...

"If you didn't mean it, why'd you say it? If you didn't feel it, why did you fake it?"

My trip away was good, in fact, it was great.

I went to see the Andonovski' clan, and we made peanut butter cookies, I am sure my American friends will be impressed that they had peanut butter in the cupboard, but if you look at the photo, note that the peanut butter usually goes along with buttered bread and vegemite!
The making of cookies was to try and salvage a bit of peanut butters' true nature.

The Convict City Roller Girls who attended the double header between 'GRDL Bloody Mary's vs. VRDL Big City Bruisers' and then 'ADRD Adelaidies vs. VRDL All Stars' were well rewarded. The games were great. The last match went into double overtime with the crowd thundering so loud, I felt as if I was at a stadium watching a Heavy Metal band.

I loved the way the Geelong GRDL team played, the level of pack communication and grace of their skating was something I would really aspire towards, so I was very excited to be going to their practice the next day. I actually got to skate at two practices. They have good practice space (heated!), and I found the floor surface much easier to skate on.
The skaters have been skating much longer than we have, and I felt the benefit of having those skaters around me to emulate.
The Sunday we skated in the afternoon, and most of the league that live in Ballarat, were in attendance, as they are preparing for their first bout. Leagues help each each other, so they came to get pointers from Geelong. While I am used to twelve skaters being a good turn out, I was looking at a rink with at least fifty skaters!
I was intimidated and ecstatic at the same time. I have been working really hard on improving my skating, and I was happy to be able to show Betty Bamalam and Ref Fink (who I blogged about previously when they came here to guest coach), that I had indeed learned to stop on my skates.
Imagine my surprise when at the end of the session, the Geelong league asked if I would be willing (willing!) to come back and skate in their home bouts, the first one being September 12th.
This by comparison is like my having been in a garage band that has never gigged yet, and being asked to go on tour with a band selling out clubs.
Scary, yes, but an opportunity not to be missed.

My goal is to not break anything of mine or any other skaters. (Yes, I am talking bones here.)
To not foul out, and to execute one good move per jam.
I have two practices before I am pushed out onto a floor that is likely to be attended (surrounded by) a thousand people.
The learning experience will be immense and I can bring that back, here to Tasmania with the goal of helping our league along.

I turn around and go back to the mainland on Wednesday, good timing really as our practices here are canceled because are space is rented out.

This is what happens when a girl leaves her house.
Scary!
Exciting!
(Did I mention SCARY?)