update

helmet confusion resolved - I'd tried on the helmet of a teammate, and it was a hair too big.  She said she'd ordered a small, so that's what i ordered.

Turned out she actually had a large.  ERPS!

I don't know if I do an exchange on the helmet, if I'll get it in time for next Saturday's bout.  There're a few local places I can go, so I'll probably end up buying another one and then returning the incorrect one.

Last night's scrimmage went well - had a few people tell me I kicked ass, and my team captain told me that I've got the right ideas when it comes to strategy and to keep yelling it out when we're on the track.  I had to jam twice - didn't get lead either time, but the second time I did get one point.  "You worked really hard for that one point," the coach said to me as I went back to the bench - it was true - I was trying SO HARD TO GET MY HIPS AROUND THE HIPS OF THIS ONE OTHER BLOCKER, and apparently I did it to the ref's satisfaction.

The weather is looking not-too-good for the parade tomorrow.  Sigh.

so's.....

I did not go to practice on Tuesday because life conspired to throw a lot of crappy things at me at once (one of which was the fact that the hockey helmet I bought I couldn't fit on my head) and my response was to just take a nap.

The chick from Turnaround Skates is coming to our bout on the 23rd; I'm going to ask her advice on new plates.  I am thinking the aluminum version of the ones I have now (DA 45 Avengers in magnesium), because I really like what I've got now except for the whole breaking part.  I also need to get toe guards that cover the entire front of my skate because I go through shoe laces like whoa.

and I say to myself, "what a (fill in the blank) world"

so it's like any time I try to do any cardio on my own (like jogging a mile or doing random hopping stuff) I SCREW UP MY RIGHT ANKLE.  Moral of that story (again, you think I'd have learned it the first time): DON'T DO CARDIO OUTSIDE OF PRACTICE.

Anyway.  Where did I last leave things?  The A team captain told me she'd heard I'd done well during the practice where I scrimmaged with them.  That may very well be true, but I think now my odds of ever getting rostered for an A team bout are pretty much nil, as they now have 14 people on the A team.  I'll still go to practice, though.

Boot Camp Class #2 went well; most of my group is really on track to awesomeness.

I ordered a hockey helmet for travel season (we want to be matchy-matchy with glossy black helmets, I didn't want to paint over my crown, and I wanted to get as head-protecty a helmet as I could) and supposedly it is out for delivery right now.  Whether it shows up in time for tonight's practice is anyone's guess.

St. Patrick's Day parade is on Saturday and the forecast does not look that great (cloudy and cold with some snow, high 34).  Somehow I don't think we'll ever repeat last year's weather (sunny and in the 70's).

First home bout of the season is the 23rd, yay!  Ticket Queening isn't that bad this time around, since the college we're holding it at handles all the online sales.  April is when things pick up for me (LUCKY ME).

okeydoke

I did not, repeat, NOT, throw up on Tuesday.  But I suspect the warmup was a bit easier than usual.

I'm not gonna lie - tonight is gonna suck

I haven't been to an A team practice the last three weeks, I haven't done any exercising outside of practice.  I fully expect to vomit and die; my only hope is that they don't happen simultaneously.

I had an epiphany last night about positional blocking - you don't have to get wide and low.  If I do that, it just makes it harder for me to get where I need to be.  A moderate stance is easier to move from, juke-wise.

I was really horked off for a lot of last night's practice, but I honestly don't remember why anymore.  I suppose that's a good thing.

and so on and so forth

I really, really, honestly and truly intended to go to practice on Sunday.  But, my mother-in-law died (she'd been sick for while, so it wasn't a shock, but still) and I needed to keep an eye on Maverick while Roy went to the funeral home.

But I did help out with Boot Camp!  There were about a dozen or so skaters there, and my group is the awesomest.  They picked up the hang of everything quickly and I am confident they will do amazingly.

in which I realize YET AGAIN I really should probably exercise outside of practice

yesterday afternoon I got a text from the coach of the A team - some (previously injured) skaters were finishing up their tryouts at scrimmage, and they were going to be skating short - would I be willing to skate with the A team during scrimmage night?

Um, sure!

Usually during scrimmage night we do B team vs. A team.  Last night was a black/white mixup for the first half, then B team vs. A team.  During the mixup I ended up jamming twice, which went okay - I got lead jam once but had to call it off before I could score, second time I had a bit of a problem getting through.  I could hear the A team coach yelling at me to KEEP MOVING MY FEET while I was jamming, so I tried doing that.

Then came the second half, when I skated with the A team.

I really need to do more (read: some) core work.  I kept falling.  A lot.  It was frustrating and I got really annoyed at myself for being such a slacker.

But there were some cool parts, too.  One lineup I was in, everyone else was an A team jammer. I made a comment like "one of these things is not like the other," and Captainness Awesome was like "what are you talking about?" and I said "you guys are all jammers" and she said "so are you," which isn't true but it was nice of her to say.

Then in one of the last jams of the night, the jammer on the B team jumped the apex, and I made sure to be RIGHT WHERE SHE WAS GOING TO LAND.  BLAMMO.  It wasn't a hit; it was a full-force collision.   I think I landed on my right ear.

But she got the penalty, so it was all worth it.

So yeah, more actual working out is in order.
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I was asked to help out again for the upcoming Boot Camp, as sort of a "den mother" to new skaters - lead them through the stations, cheer them up when they need encouragement, that sorta thing.  I'm looking forward to it.
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 I don't remember where I left things, but both my plates are screwed up with regards to my toe stops.  On my left skate (my primary stopping foot), I was able to pull out a bit of plate that is supposed to surround the hex nut that holds the plate together so the toe stop doesn't move.

this is bad, right?

 And then something happened with my right plate so the same thing's happening, although there doesn't seem to be any corresponding metal that I can yank out.

I went the hex nut route for a while, but I was still having problems with the nut coming loose and all that (which kept happening to me with my old nylon plates).  So I switched to Blue Loctite, slathering the bejesus out of the threads of the toe stop and the inside of the plate and whatnot, but I think it's still loose.

Maybe I should just weld the suckers in place and be done with it.