Derby girls are everywhere.

This morning we skated with Twisted Pixie, a skater from a new league in NY. We had a great time skating around in the basketball court and talking about derby. She skates in an OSDA league (they're working on building a guy team, girl team, and a co-ed team), and she cross dresses, so our derby experiences have been very different. We talked about derby names, and different ways of blocking, and drills we've done. We're planning to skate again tomorrow too, and I'm psyched.

I love how easy it is to make connections like this through roller derby. If I had been walking down the street in bondage pants and purple synth dreads and I passed another person dressed similarly, I'd be as likely to get a snotty look as a smile. If I see another person on roller skates with a jersey carrying a derby-esque name, we geek out for a while and make plans to practice together and have breakfast. 

Derby can be as cliquish as any goth club, but it's funny how that mainly seems to apply to one's own league. Meeting people from other leagues has always come with an almost creepy level of acceptance. I don't get it. Still, I really like it. :D

I love skating.

Today has been AWESOME. Highlights include:

1. Watching a bunch of morons in a car get trapped in the throng of drag queens going to drag bingo. One real beast of a woman in said car yelled "get off, faggot!" when a drag queen tried to pose for a photo next to the car, and even hit the drag queen when she walked over to the car window. This is obviously a colossally bad idea when in Provincetown, surrounded by about a hundred gay people. The drag queen returned the favor by nailing the bigot pretty hard in her torso, and the crowd cheered. I half expected the crowd to flip over the car!

2. Speaking of fierce, one shop in Ptown bought a bunch of Project Runway gowns! We saw them on display the other day, but two drag queens wore two of them to drag bingo tonight. One was in the Christian Siriano prom gown (it really is hideous) and the other was in the Stella trash bag gown (so, so, so bad). I got to see both up close and see how jacked up they are inside. Crazy stitching everywhere! It's a good thing the judges don't see what's inside them...

3. We met another derby girl! Well, she skates as a woman, and does OSDA as opposed to WFTDA. We're meeting "Twisted Pixie" tomorrow at the basketball court for some skating. So awesome.

4. Steve looked hella handsome in his cowboy hat and huge stompy boots. It's fun to walk around with such a hot cowboy during the cowboy-themed Carnival week.*

5. Skating around in a frilly pink thing while eating fried dough made me feel oddly like a little girl in a fairy princess costume. I can't describe how much fun that was. I want to do this all the time.  I definitely get a lot of fun attention this way. Lots of photos of me will surface on the flickr pages of total strangers later in the week. Hopefully my ass looks good, because you could definitely see it.

6. I'm very aware of how much better I've gotten as a skater since I tried street skating here last year. I'm not as terrified of the hills and potholes as I was before. Sometimes I need reminders that I've improved so much. It feels pretty great.

*No one has openly mistaken him for a drag king yet. I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

Hooray!

Steve has been waking me up as early as possible (not that early) so we can go to a little basketball court near my parents' P-Town rental. This is where we're practicing skating. I still can't believe such a perfect skating surface just happened to be a two-minute walk from the place we're staying.

It's fun to go out skating with him. He's making SO MUCH PROGRESS in a short time! He'll be ready to skate around at the skating rink in no time. He's bending his knees, leaning into turns, and barely falling at all. Hell, when he does fall, he falls the right way - toward his pads and not on his back. :D Hooray for my skating monkey!

I just hope I'm not being a huge annoying jerk as I try to learn how to do hop-turns. I'm so worried about being that dumb-jock boyfriend who wants to "teach" his girlfriend basketball and spends the whole time stealing the ball, dunking, and doing victory dances.

Hee hee

I skated up and down Commercial St. today and had a lovely time. Steve walked with me, kindly carrying my crocs so we could stop for a lunch break. On hills I tended to lose him (because I'd have to speed up to go uphill, and I couldn't help but pick up even more speed on my way down). While I felt bad about that, this gave him the chance to overhear some choice things that people said about me when I was out of earshot. Two gems:

The (presumably) straight-ish couple
Woman: [whispers to the dude with her]
Dude: So go tell her that!
W: No!
D: It's ok. We're both attracted.

The two gay guys on bikes passing us in the opposite direction as I race down a steep hill in a deep squat
Guy 1: I just wanted to smack her ass.
Guy 2: Yeah, but she looks like one of those derby girls. She'll probably kick your ass.

I love Provincetown. I want to keep my skates on all the time here.

TUTU!

I just got back from Patterson's Back Bay Dancewear. It was the best mother-daughter trip ever. It's a dance place in Burlington, MA, and we went there in search of a tutu. As you can see, we found one.

We spent about a half hour digging through the craziest ballet, hip hop, jazz, modern, and flamenco dancewear that I've ever seen. I even saw ice-skating dresses. I was in a totally different world, and I was completely shocked at how much fun I was having. My tutu and sparkly-thing-loving, rhinestone-obsessed inner child is alive, well, and doing little pirouettes in my heart. :D

Naturally, when we got home, everyone had to take a turn in the tutu. Well, the dogs didn't really want to, but we have opposable thumbs and used them to assert our places as dominant members of this tutu-wearing pack. I think Goblin could rock a little version of this one if I appease her with enough snausages. Molly barked through the whole thing, but we managed to get her to hold still juuuust long enough to pose for a photo. I'm sure the neighbors thought we were stark raving mad.

After about a million dog treats and a million more blurry photos later, the humans had to have a go in the tutu. I wish I could get them to wear them to my first bout in the Spring. I suspect they wouldn't be as easily persuaded as the dogs, though. Anyone want to donate a new convertible or a house on Commercial St. in Provincetown or pretty much anywhere in Tuscany?

Photographic evidence

I told you I really do play roller derby.

Wow, they work fast.

They updated The BDD website to reflect the new team draft stuff. I should really update my bio.

Hooray!

I feel really, really good. :D

YAAAAAAAAAY!

I'm a Nutcracker!

I'm on a team with Xena. I'm so happy it's just insane.

Even better than the above, Steve totally saved my ass from taking a very, very expensive and lengthy cab ride back home from Boston. He is the best husband ever.

Yaaaaay! My summer has absolutely rocked. BEST SUMMER EVER!