the fresh and the furious: gta drift
July 18, 2012
The Border City Brawlers fresh meat team placed fourth out of fourteen teams in The Fresh and the Furious: GTA Drift tournament. We weren’t expected to perform that well; The Derby Nerd, a Toronto-based derby blogger, didn’t predict us making it through the first elimination round, and he wasn’t alone. We were ill prepared, having had barely two hours of dedicated scrimmage practice together as a team. But we came out strong in the morning placement round against Toronto’s D-VAS, who played a tight defensive game but didn’t really pull out a lot of strong offence, so with our own defensive weaknesses still untested we won the round 28 to 18, which put us in a good position going into the elimination round with a lower-ranked opponent, Lindsay, a very young league. BCB beat Lindsay 136 to 28 in what was the biggest goal differential in the tournament.
BCB vs D-VAS
BCB vs Lindsay
We then went on to win our quarter final bout 32-28 against Renegade Derby Dames (from Alliston), and to lose the semi final against Montreal Smash Squad (keeping them to a relatively low scoring game, 64 to 35, which felt like a pretty good result against the best league in the country). This put us up against the D-VAS once more in the battle for third place. After having fought back from their initial loss against BCB, the D-VAS had been shut out of the finals in a controversial reffing decision, so they were angry and had something to prove and they handed us our asses, 117 to 13.
BCB vs Renegade Derby Dames
BCB vs Montreal Smash Squad: this is me getting back blocked to the ground by Montreal’s jammer, which earned her a trip to the penalty box and us a power jam in our first jam against them. And for just a moment, we were up 18 points to zero against Montreal. Swoon!
BCB vs D-VAS, a much faster paced and rougher game than before
As for my playing, I was a bit outclassed and didn’t feel fully engaged in the games a lot of the time due to my still not-that-strong skating abilities (at this tournament, at least I wasn’t the only one). But I did manage to get in the right people’s way at the right time a few times, and to draw a few key back blocking penalties out of the other teams in doing so. And the next night back at practice I was way more on the ball in scrimmage than I’ve ever been before. I just needed to play against some girls I didn’t know to see where I need to do my work to improve.
Here is a nice round up of the tournament, from Derby Nerd.
Posted by jodi on July 18, 2012 at 7.14am
derby update
July 13, 2012
Haven’t had one of these in a while, and here’s why: it’s been a frustrating season, in which I’ve struggled to shake a bad attitude that has me leaving practice feeling miserable more often than leaving happy (and this bad attitude has opened me up to allowing some relatively minor illnesses and injuries to interfere with my practice schedule, creating a dismal spiral, as you can imagine).
When I passed the minimum skills requirements I was the only one tested that night to do so, and it happened two weeks after the house league teams had been drafted for the season, bestowing onto me the dubious honour of being the only skills-tested player in the league NOT on a team. For a while the teams were practicing separately, and while the Hiram Stalkers invited me to practice with them (and were all wonderfully welcoming and supportive and amazing), I often felt on the outside, especially when scrimmages were set up using established bouting lines and I was not on any of those lines. Things got better when the two teams began practicing together again, but being the only one not involved in real game play has meant I’m unable to improve at the same rate as my league mates. I’ve got more physical strength and endurance than some people in the league but those mean nothing when skating skills are weak, and there have been times when I’ve struggled to give a shit. < /self pity>
Tonight we’re traveling to Toronto with a team made up of skaters who haven’t had much game play (I’m the only one of the lot who has had zero) and tomorrow I’ll be bouting for the first time in the Fresh and the Furious:GTA Drift tournament hosted by GTA Rollergirls. We’ve had very little time to work together as a team, and on a more personal level I am woefully ill-prepared, and am pendulum swinging from determination to prove myself all the way to a fervent hope to just not be completely useless, and back again. Please wish me luck, but more than that, wish me courage. I could really use some.
And don’t tell anyone on the other teams that I’m anything less than 100% confident. Because I am NOT GOING TO BE THEIR FUCKING GOAT.
Posted by jodi on July 13, 2012 at 1.26pm
the listening project road show, volume two
July 12, 2012
The Listening Project Road Show returns to Phog Lounge on Tuesday July 17 at 8pm Eastern.
The poll is now open for voting on which records will be played. There are 26 records to choose from this time: one artist for each letter of the alphabet, 26 consecutive years of music. Even if you can’t attend the event in person, please be a part of the fun by voting for your favourite records!
Click this link to vote: LISTENING PROJECT: VOTE!
Posted by jodi on July 12, 2012 at 10.59am
heraldry nerd
July 8, 2012
Today I put my name and number on my derby helmet, finally, with two colours of adhesive-backed vinyl.
The blue is 3M Scotchlite, which my dad gave me so that I can cover my bicycle frame with it and make it glow at night. So my helmet numbers will glow in flash photos (theoretically). Here’s a photo taken with flash in our dark basement:
Posted by jodi on July 8, 2012 at 3.12pm
in which the beast finally frees itself
July 3, 2012
Today began as a lazy, sleeping in day: we had left the alarm off and were awakened by a sudden and violent thunderstorm, only rising when driving rains made closing some windows a necessity. The day was quickly downgraded from a “walk to the gym” day to a “yoga at home” day, because RAIN. So mid-morning I dragged my dusty yoga mat out of the corner and unrolled it in the middle of the living room, in the same spot where Peter does his yoga every morning.
I stood at the top of my mat, feet together. Took in a deep breath, raised my arms over my head, looked up at the drooping ceiling above me and thought, hmm, wouldn’t it be funny if the ceiling (which has been drooping for a very long time, due to a long-since repaired leak that happened before we owned the house) picked this moment to collapse, when I haven’t done yoga at home in months?
I swept into a deep forward bend, held it for a moment, placed my hands on the mat, stepped back into a plank, lowered myself into cobra then up into downward dog. 5 breaths. Then stepped my right foot back to the top of the mat, raised my head a little, and. . .
Half a dozen tiny crumbs of plaster dropped onto the mat next to my hands.
I stepped up to the front of the mat, looked up, and felt a light dust on my face. I stepped off the mat, a few feet away into the doorway of the dining room and called Claire from the kitchen to come and have a look. We marveled at how the gaping crevice in the ceiling no longer resembled a demonic grin (which I had dubbed “Azazello” due to its once sporting a single jaunty fang, before the gap widened enough for the fang to disappear).
Azazello in March 2009
We laughed about the prospect of the ceiling falling on me when Peter does his yoga safely every morning in exactly the same spot. I was just about to work in a “rain on my wedding day” joke when The Beast burst forth from its plaster bonds and leapt to the floor in a powdery crash. Right at the top of my yoga mat.
Azazello in March 2011, slowly flexing its maw
Free at last!
Kevin is perplexed.
Nobody is doing any yoga here today. But soon we will be doing some drywalling.
Posted by jodi on July 3, 2012 at 1.06pm
detroit disco, july 1
July 2, 2012
Shot with the Canon EOS Rebel T2i and some kind of disco filter.
Posted by jodi on July 2, 2012 at 12.59pm
in which the desire to fit in here is less strong
July 1, 2012
A conversation, in line at the variety store ten minutes before the start of the pre-game show:
Guy behind me: Who is going to win the match today?
Me: (grinning, tapping the crest on my Spain jersey)
GBM: I hope so. . . might help keep things calm on Erie Street*.
Me: In no way is it going to happen like that.
Now it’s half time and Spain is up 2-0 over Italy. I kind of wish I could run over to Erie Street just to see what the mood is like over there, except I also don’t want to go anywhere near the place.
*Windsor’s all-Italian neighbourhood
Posted by jodi on July 1, 2012 at 3.48pm
in which we cut our losses
July 1, 2012
Pomatomus sock that was never going to get finished + vintage button = cozy Blackberry sleeve!
Maybe this will keep me from pocket dialing Bob all the time, which I did three times in one night while on a trip to Toledo (racking up both long distance AND roaming charges; yikes!). If nothing else, it will single me out as the nerdiest at that moment during every restaurant meal when all the people at the table disengage from conversation and start beeping and booping on their devices.
Specs:
Pattern: Pomatomus socks by Cookie A., from Knitty
Yarn: Trekking XXL, colour 495
Mods: Step one, start the sock, fall in love with the pattern as you knit really quickly to the ankle, get distracted by some other shiny thing and let it sit in a bag somewhere for seven years.
Step two, unravel to the length of your phone, divide the stitches onto two needles and close the bottom with a three-needle bind off.
Step three, pick up a couple of stitches at the cast on edge, knit a wee flap, stick a buttonhole in it. Sew on a button. Slide your phone in, button it shut, congratulate yourself and sally forth, free of expensive and annoying pocket dials.
Posted by jodi on July 1, 2012 at 10.21am
