Oh, the memories

All this talk of freshmeat has me looking back on my freshmeat days. Man, this was back when my thighs were soft and squishy enough to squeeze into pants. We took this photo in the back of the CRLS gym back when we were practicing there. Clearly this was either at a league meeting, or it was before we all put on our gear and started sweating. Man, I do NOT miss that horrible, nasty, impossibly sticky floor. I do miss fitting into pants, though.

We've all changed so much since this photo! From right to left:

• Dreadnought(aka the author of this blog) is still blocking her butt off for the Nuts and is a member of the Executive Board.
• Vicious Vivacious Vera captained the Cosmos last season and is still part of team SPACE BRAIN.
• Bully Mia continues to be a Pissah (fo' life, as they say) while co-heading Comm Comm.
• Queen Kamayhemmayhem transferred to the DC rollergirls and now skates for the Cherry Blossom Bombshells.
• Trixie Von Toxic had a lovely baby boy and is still with BDD as an Exec Board member and manager of the Pissahs.
• Xena ParadoX is transferring to Charm City and moving to the Baltimore area I type this.
• Trish Squish is captaining the Pissahs for the second year in a row.
• Sugar Hitsleft the Nuts this season to skate full time for the Massacre, and is head coach for the league for another season.
• Mrs. Dash is also taking her mad jamming skillz to the Massacre, leaving her beloved Cosmos after a year of captaining.
• Krushpuppy is taking a break from skating after captaining the Massacre for their first trip to Nationals.
• BritKnee Breaker is captaining the Nuts for a second season, and will be coaching the Massacre too.
• Varga Bomber is moving away after a season of captaining the Pissahs.
• Maude Forbid is rehabbing a knee injury while repping the treasury on the Exec Board, and will be returning this season to kick butt for the Pissahs.
• Nora'Easter left us for Maine some time ago, and will hopefully return to derby someday because she was so darned good.

It's weird to think that we all had to learn the skills we do automatically now. Sugar Hits used to have to think about crossovers in order to do them correctly, and now she's expertly teaching our freshies these very steps. Dash and Breaker had to get used to bending their knees, and now their crotches are about an inch from the ground when they skate. Squish had to learn how to lean people out, and now it's about as easy to move her as it is to push a city bus. I had to take my assessments over and over again in order to be stable enough to even attempt contact, and now I can (sometimes) pick people up with my butt.

When did we all get so good? Has it really been almost three years?