[ 001 ] you derby, derby girl, you.

Welcome to my adventures into the amazing world of roller derby! I told myself that I'd start a blog about it, so here we are.

The whole start to it was pretty sudden, so I'm sure the people who know me are like, "What in the fuck made you want to start roller derby all of the sudden?" Well, here's my explanation of what made me want to jump headfirst into it and how I got to my first day on quads!

I.. have always had a deep down love for skating. Probably not the most apparent thing in the world, not something I've ever outright mentioned or shown too much interest in, and probably the most random piece of information about myself anyone could ever come across, even if you've known me a long time.

So I used to go to this daycare in Garland called Castleglen Treehouse when I was a kid, and during the summers and any time off from school we had field trips. This was a pretty nice daycare, so I'm talking like 4 out of 5 days of the week I was probably off doing something.. guaranteed the movies on Friday and skating on one random day of the week at Texas Skatium. This is where it stems from. I was never any good or anything.. I skate with about the same finesse now as I did back then to be honest, but I loved everything but putting the actual skates on, to be honest. Long laces are a bitch to tie when you're 7.

Fast forward to end of elementary! I think this was the random time when my dad thought it'd be a great family activity for us all to get some roller blades. I remember my mom, dad, and I all getting our skates.. I don't think any of us were really good, and I think I was really the only one who actually got decent use out of my skates. My roller blades were also the cause of my only broken bone! 100% heard my wrist break while going down a driveway on my blades. But that's another story.

More recently, my son and I went to a roller skating birthday party hosted by one of my best friends for her little girl. I'm pretty certain I was the only adult who rented out some skates.. but then again, it was at the skating rink I hadn't been to since daycare days, and skating in general is awesome! I definitely fell in front of everyone. Probably more than once.

And then that turned into randomly wanting to go out to the skating rink, which turned into trying to get my son into skating by doing lessons ( he lasted through 2 lessons.. he is NOT a fan of rollerskating. )

BUT WHY DERBY, DAMNIT?

Okay, okay, okay. Sheesh.

Surely one of you out there has seen Whip It? That roller derby movie with Ellen Page that came out years ago? It's one of my favorites. So besides that point, my best friend Ell at one point actually invited me to a derby game that someone she somewhat knew was playing in. I think there was more drinking than watching involved and her boyfriend at the time was playing in the halftime band, but I remember it being awesome. Ell and I also have Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy roller girl shirts, respectively.

I think what pushed me over the edge though was watching Whip It a couple of weeks ago while cleaning my room. It just put the "OMG I WANT TO DO THAT" in my bones like it did the other 357695 times I've watched it.

I just got put on break from a rocky relationship, and honestly, I'm trying to branch out my life. I took up some financial responsibilities that I didn't have before. I tried out exercising regularly. I started looking up places I'd never been to before (like thrift stores, arcades, etc) that interested me that I wanted to check out instead of sitting at home all day. I CHOPPED OFF MY FLOWING LONG HAIR THAT I WAS REEEEEALLY DETERMINED TO GROW OUT TO MY BUTT. This is just one of those things, and one of those incredible timings in life, where it's like.. why the fuck not?

And so, my adventure began.