Name Trouble

So at yesterday's Fresh Meat gathering, Pigeon had a list of our chosen names and Jackie O-Smashes was on the reject pile!  Why? Apparently, when Pigeon searches for it, the name gets a high similarity rating because of this result:  Jaque O'Smashus.  When I search for it, Jackie comes back with a medium similarity result to other names.  So confusing!

I referenced Brian's master punning list and selected another name:

Pigeon said it was okay when she searched the Registry for other names that are similar to it.  I searched for it too and came up with these results.  Scarlett O'Scara gets a high similarity rating, so does this mean that my name choice is actually no good?  I really am confused by this naming process and I think my brain is about to explode!

Tryouts Comin' Right Up!

If you're thinking about trying out, read this:
Roller Derby: How to Get Started by SVRG's Retox Fox

It's Hittin' Time

I think that last night was the first time we worked on really hitting people at Fresh Meat practice.

Due to the inclement weather (remnants of Typhoon Melor), only eight or nine of us showed up for our hour-long practice.  We started with some pace line and pack drills and then we moved on to some mini-scrimmaging.  Each team was down a pivot, so we each only had three blockers and one jammer. We worked on opening holes for our jammer by hitting fellow blockers and we were also allowed to hit the jammer.

For some reason, I always seemed to be on the ground or stuck at the back of the pack.  I had one moment of glory, however, when on our second or third jam, FM Kat was jamming and I was still stuck in the back of the pack.  I wanted to help out Kat, but the blocker in front of me was FM Kellie.  Kellie is a force to be reckoned with out there -- she played hockey for years and is just a super solid skater.  So for me, a not-so-confident skater, I had a moment of hesitation before taking her on.  I had no choice, however, but to engage.

I made contact with FM Kellie and down I went!  I heard a body or two (or three) hit the ground after me.  I don't really know who all went down, because I had, well, um, closed my eyes when I went in for the hit.   Hating the idea of causing skater pile-ups, I just started to automatically apologize as I scrambled to my feet.  Coach Charlie was skating toward me with this giant smile, telling me to stop apologizing.  She shook my hand and congratulated me for doing what I was supposed to do!  Kellie and Kat also gave me congratulatory taps and words.  Yay!  I still don't know what I did or if I could do it again...

We finished the night by breaking into groups of three.  The skaters on the outside took turns hitting the person in the middle into the next person.  For example, I would hit FM Evelyn into FM Alayna and then Alayna would hit Evelyn into me.  I threw multiple elbows (sorry ladies...still new at hitting!), but overall I think I had some decent hits.  Coach Crushed N. Slayedher complimented me when I hit without a tell, because there was no change in my body language prior to going in for a hit.

I spent an inordinate amount of time on the ground yesterday and my bottom is really sore this morning.  My left shoulder muscles are also pretty tender.  I think I had a pretty good practice, but I really need to work on remaining upright after collisions.

Red Alert: Must Submit Name!

Okay, so apparently they want us to hand in our names as soon as possible -- even if we have not passed our assessments!  Due to the lag time associated with name submissions, it looks like they are trying to streamline the process so as to avoid future delays.

That being said, I guess it is time for the unveiling of the name I will be submitting.  All the credit for this one goes to Brian, my fiance, who came up with this back in July or August.  We had a few other contenders:  Annie Chokely was my favorite for a while, but we already have an Anny [UpYours] on the team; Luna Shovegood was something I came up with while watching the latest HP movie, but Luna Skategood already exists on the Registry, Luna is kind of close to Lulu, and when you google the name some girl with the Cajun Rollergirls comes up; and I really wanted to do something using Clarice Starling, but just could not come up with anything.

So here goes...what do you think???

The only thing I haven't chosen is a number.   Any suggestions?

The Name Game

There are scrimmage assessments tonight.

[crickets chirping]

Don't worry...not for me!!  Silly people!  I may be crazy, but I'm not that crazy!  There are about six Fresh Meaties who will be going through the scrimmage assessment tonight and they'll do great.  They've proven that they are strong skaters and they always seem to work really well together when they are in a pack. As for me, well, I think I'll need three or four more weeks...er, I mean, months before I am ready to go through that scrimmage assessment.  I'd like to imagine that I could take a beating or two in the assessment, but I have no idea what I'm doing out on the track.  I don't know anything about the roles of blockers B1, B2, or B3.  I try to listen to the Pivot, but eventually I just do something wrong or fall or lose my place and feel like a grand disappointment.  So until I have a better grasp of general pack strategy, I'm just going to sit these scrimmages out.

In other news, once these ladies pass their scrimmage assessments, they'll be able to put in for their derby names (I think).  Yay!!  That's so exciting.  I can't wait to hear the names that they've chosen for themselves.  Will we have a Rotten Rita or a Smashing Sally?

[do I hear crickets again?]

Okay, so I know I'm not really all that great at this name picking thing.  And that is why, back around the time of tryouts, I tasked my mom, friends, and boyfriend with coming up with a variety of names.  They did not disappoint.  I probably had about over 100 names to work with.  Some were taken, of course, as we discovered when checking the Roller Girl Name Registry, but others were not.  The excitement for choosing a name, however, has sort of died down for me.  Once I started practicing and realized that this Fresh Meat process was going to take me quite a while, I thought I would let the dust settle a bit and when it came time to pick a name, then I would allow myself to get all excited again.

Don't get me wrong, out of those 100 names, I did cling to about three or four that I thought would be good, but there's always a chance that those names will get chosen by someone else while I'm waiting to pass the scrimmage assessment.  Oh well!  It will just be back to the drawing board at that point.  And if all else fails, I also discovered that when having trouble coming up with names, a great little source for inspiration can be found by perusing lists of old Garbage Pail Kids.  See what I mean:

We Review Whip It

On Friday night we went out to the Whip It premiere in Santa Cruz...here's what we thought:

FM Rachel: I went into Whip It expecting to totally identify with Ellen Page's character, Bliss, a bit of Fresh Meat with TXRD's Hurl Scouts. I wanted her to struggle more and to be really bad at skating (like me) and then to triumph, but after a three minute training montage she just seemed to start flying around the track. How is that possible??? There were some other things that bothered me, namely: the food fight (who is going to clean that up?), the underwater sexy scene (why aren't they drowning?), people not wearing seatbelts (what kind of message does that send our youth?), love-interest Oliver (take a bath and do your laundry!), and on-track fighting (we don't do that!).

For all the things that I didn't like, here's what I did like:

• Kristin Wiig (Maggie Mayhem): I have a big fat crush on Kristin Wiig. She makes me laugh every time I watch her in something. Plus, in Whip It, a film with a lot of characters and very little character development, we actually got to know a little bit more about Maggie Mayhem and I liked that.
• Andrew Wilson (Razor): Another Wilson brother? Who knew? But this guy may now be my favorite one!
• The dad: Daniel Stern (think tall villain from Home Alone) was great as Bliss' father. He was sweet, funny, and tender. I absolutely loved the scene at the end with the lawn post. So touching.
• Alia Shawkat (Pash/bff): It's Maeby Funke from Arrested Development!! I thought she was just slightly underutilized in Whip It, but she was still adorable and funny.

So that's pretty much it.  My recommendation: See it if you love all things derby and are willing to overlook the movie's overall cutesiness.

FM Daisy:  I went to Whip It hoping to see something I wished I could have seen as a 12 year old. I was not disappointed. The tag line "Be Your Own Hero" is something every girl (perhaps of any age!) needs to hear. It's a great antidote to the message girls get about staying in the background. Don't limit your dreams! Be Your Own Hero! Kick ass for yourself! (And kick your own ass!) Push yourself and fight for what you want to do in this life... not your mom's antiquated picture of what femininity is!  Seeing it with skaters and other fresh meat was great, but hearing the Junior Derby girls cheer at their favorite parts was what really made my night. Those girls are being their own heroes!

• I agree with FM Rachel. The quick-training sequence did not show an accurate picture of the trials and tribulations of fresh-meatdom. I felt a little redeemed when Iron Maven said she's 36 and has had to work her ass off. I could definitely relate--It's hard to be in your late 30s and see some young whippersnapper have it come easy!
• I liked that Bliss was afraid of hitting... (not that I can relate with that At All...*whistling*)
  
• I thought the different derby personality types were pretty accurate renditions of real phenomena: Maggie Mayhem was wonderful-- tough, encouraging and hilarious! (My friend Vin says she reminds him of FM Alayna.) Smashlee Simpson didn't give a s*&$t about much... and I've seen girls like that--acting crazy and having fun and not worrying about rules or even knowing that tryouts are coming up. It was fun to see Drew Barrymore having a good time--especially beating up her 'fiance' and him loving it! Iron Maven (the divine Juliette Lewis!) was a great nemesis. She was the scary, scrappy girl--the loose cannon aimed right at you! Yikes!
  
• I loved the parents. The mom really was trying (willing to buy combat boots "At least they don't have duct tape on them") and good movie dads almost always make me cry. I loved how he looked up derby on Google. Awww!
• The Love interest: *slight spoiler alert* I really liked how the romance part of the story turned out. Was relieved that Bliss followed her bliss--put herself first ahead of some stupid guy who didn't respect her. Are there any movies besides this and White Men Can't Jump where a girl doesn't settle for a loser guy? Let me know!!
• I liked that people looked real. Dude (Oliver) had a big nose and bad teeth, Maggie had wrinkles, Bliss was super pale and Pash was super freckled. Movies are more realistic to me when people look like people I might know rather than supermodels.

All in all, I say see it! To make it even better, when you sit down in that theater seat, tune in with your inner 12-year-old girl and soak in the reminder to Be Your Own Hero!

Zombies Unite