Roller Skate It Out

To my elders,

Tonight was my first day of Roller-Skate-Boot-Camp. Seriously. Like, proper Roller Skates, Quads. With 4 wheels. Mine are black with neon purple wheels. Naturally. So why am I learning to roller skate? That is quite simple: Roller Derby. No, I'm not playing. I'm not cool enough for that. And by "cool enough" I mean I a) so can't take a hit, and b) and waaaayyyy too much of a newb skater to be anywhere near good enough to play.

Lesson learned: How to stop, How to fall, and How I should be standing. Which basically involves squatting. I may need to start doing lunges or something. I feel muscles I didn't know I had. And was out Sweatin' Tall Josh. But it was awesome. I feel like, well, more to the point, I no longer feel like I'm going to die just trying to skate in a straight line.

Now, I am crap at winter sports, and diving, actually, because I can't lean forward. Leaning forward = hurting yourself. And my base-r instincts won't let me do it. But skating is close to the ground. Ish. And squatting means when you fall, not If, When, it either onto your padded knees, or not that far to your bum. Which ain't so bad.

So I am feeling a false sense of confidence. I will get moderately good without ever having fallen, and then, one day, probably in a couple weeks, I will completely wipe out and will have to start over again. Or basically over again. But I'll get there. And maybe, just maybe, I will be ok enough at this that I can ref properly, on skates. Because that is the point of my Roller-Derby based Roller-Skate-Boot-Camp. So I can become a "Roller Derby Cop" as one of my co-workers said. Aka a Referee.

-K