Most Delicious Salad

Turkey (Honey-Roasted from Costco), raisins, cinnamon, balsmaic vinegar and kale stalks (save the actual leaves for kale chips!). Let the raisins soak up some of the vinegar before gorging.

It tastes about exactly as it sounds, so if you don't like the ingredients or think they don't belong together-- well, I can't help you. Go pour some mayonnaise on your bland taste! 

I feel so high class, drinking water out of a wine glass.

Have not been productive at all today. At least not in the traditional sense.

Productivity depends on the end goal, n'est-ce pas?

My end goal was to have all of my assignments done tonight so that I could get a good night's sleep and wake up early tomorrow, ready to face my laundry list of destinations.

Instead I did a different kind of laundry. The real kind. And cooked (sweet potato fries, kale chips and more kale chips), cleaned, and frogged around en ligne. I had my heart broken over cancer stories. I became depressed over my lack of romantic affairs. And I wondered if I'd ever get married, be skinny or have a job.

This wasn't the kind of productivity I intended, but I suppose I cannot un-live the day. I must march forth-- and maybe accomplish at least one tangible thing!

"If only I could sue my body for breach of contract with the natural order of things."

I've been reading a lot about cancer today.

From this series about a 22-year old woman who returns from Paris only to find out she has leukemia

to bawling over this video, which shows Josh Ritter's girlfriend and her former husband.

Life is so transient. And unexpected. Maybe being alone today has made me extra sensitive-- I feel so disconnected from The Outside and in some ways I hope I don't lose this feeling, because maybe then I'll also lose appreciation.

That's all for today, folks. Not sure how much longer my derby hiatus will continue, but this urge to blog has persisted.

Love and derby smooches,

SB

Why, hello there!

I've relocated to a big city and become big stuff.

Well, I do enjoy pretending I'm a local. Anyway I'll be here for the rest of the month and then possibly returning to derby, or possibly returning to the fatherland. I really don't know much about my future and certainly don't understand a lot of my present.

I'll get back to you with more vague thoughts directly. Until, enjoy...

(the music, not the bizarre collection of canines...)

"Who does derby on Memorial day?" asked a(n uninitiated) friend of mine.

Not a lot of people showed up at practice, actually. Which was fine by me!

Indoctrination

Here's a fun activity to do with a 3-year old when you're tired of re-building Jenga and re-reading If You Give A Mouse A Cookie...

Who knew 3-year olds could be fascinated by replacing outdoor wheels with indoor wheels? Perhaps not a widespread (or approved) babysitting activity, but it definitely killed an hour.

And hey, they paid only $6/hr... might as well get a bit of labor out of their son!

Teasing, of course! (Not about the $6/hr part, unfortunately.) I had to re-do his half of the wheels. But I do believe I might have lit a  derby spark in his soul! And that, as they say, is priceless.

Pride Cometh Before A Wipeout

Took my dog out for a walk and wore my skates.

This is not how it went down.

I knew this was going to be a near-fatal decision but decided I needed to face fears eventually. WWTHD?  Tony Hawk would certainly go for it, and so did I. 

Matters would not be so difficult if my dog were serene, mid-to-small-sized and intelligent. Unfortunately, she is none of these things. 

(Case in point: I came downstairs before my graduation last Saturday dressed in my black cap & gown. My dog went BALLISTIC and barked as I've never seen her bark before. Her tail kept her stomach guarded as she dove around the kitchen table, warning everyone that an intruder was in our midst. Meanwhile, I kept calling her name, attempting to encourage two of her brain cells to become reacquainted. It took several long moments for her to finally come to me, and even then she was quite suspicious.) 

In addition to being large and in charge, she is also quite skittish. The first half of our walk consisted of her barking at my roller skates (even though I'd tried to prepare her for the identity crisis by having her watch me put my gear on and talking to her all the while) and running in front of or behind me, which did not make for much of a straight trajectory. Then she suddenly remembered herself and without a warning went into poo mode. Negotiating the poo bag and her dirt was about as difficult as expected.

Finally we settled into a rhythm, and I decided to push myself a bit. I didn't dare go faster (because that elicited the reaction of her pouncing on my skates and / or nibbling my wrist guards) but tried to hop over every other crack in the sidewalk. I was doing pretty well. A guy on a bike going past said "Hey! How's it going?" and I wanted him to ask further questions so I could explain that I played roller derby and was pretty much a badass even though I looked like Bambi on wheels (with her pet gorilla attached). I was sure he'd buy it. 

I started imagining giving a radio interview and pictured myself all chilled out in a swivel chair with the DJ eating up my words. "Yeah, this is ___________ and I play for the _____________ derby dolls..."

It was just then, one house from my own, that disaster struck. 

I don't even know how it struck. All I knew was I was going down. The shit went flying and so did I. Thankfully not on the same trajectory. 

I didn't really get hurt. At all. (A scraped thumb is nothing to post on Facebook about!) But I did find it amusing that my radio interview was cut short. It's rescheduled for next month.