Oh, I just remembered what I wanted to write about

so as the "Queenie" in "Queenie's Meanies", I go from station to station during Fresh Meat, watching the skaters practice their falls and stops and derby stance and all that.  One of the skaters in charge (who's one of my teammates) told them that you really need to get comfortable on your skates in order to be good at derby.

My first skate.  Seriously.

As I think I've said in previous posts, when I was a little kid, I *lived* for roller skating.  I  begged my mom to get me skates, and until she did, I would stand on the cars from a Playskool McDonald's set and scoot around the basement (making sure not to run into the TRS-80 computer in the corner).

Eventually I got a pair of skates.  They were from a garage sale, white boots with pink pom-poms and metal wheels.   And oh I used them.  And used them and used them.  There was a pole in the basement, by the stairs, and I would spin around and around and around on it.  Eventually my dad would wire speakers in the basement that were attached to the stereo in the living room, and I'd put the "Hooked on Classics" tape on (the stereo had a cool thing where if you hit the REWIND button and the PLAY button simultaneously, the tape would rewind to the beginning and then start) and SKATE MY LITTLE BRAINS OUT.

For an 7-9 year old, I did pretty well.  I could skate backwards, do spins, one foot, all sortsa stuff.  I kept thinking "I WISH ROLLER SKATING WAS IN THE OLYMPICS".  Those metal wheels drove a black groove into the floor.

Then, we moved to a house with a mostly carpeted basement.  I grew up.  The skates didn't fit anymore.

Fastforward twenty-five years, I go out on the rink for my first practice with the league.  It's during Adult Skate night so all we can do is pacelines.  I have a pair of garage sale skates I bought ten, eleven years ago that I don't think I ever used.  I wonder if I'll have any trouble.

I don't.


I am so completely comfortable on my skates; they're extensions of my feet. I may hate them when we have to use them in leg exercises (at which point I can feel EVERY OUNCE of those 3.5 pounds each), but I can trust them; I know they'll be where I need them to be, but if they're not, I know how to get them where I need them to be.

So, I hate to say it, Eight Year Old Me, but I'm glad rollerskating isn't in the Olympics.  Roller derby is SO much better.