Friday, July 23, 2010

Santa Cruz Civic, Here I come!


Friday Night Scrimmage 7/23 7pm Santa Cruz Civic

Santa Cruz vs Santa Cruz: League members don black and white and duke it out with no announcers, no beer, no music, just derby. AND the debut of Dewey Decibel!

Yes folks, Tonight is my first time playing derby IN PUBLIC!

Maybe that is why I woke up at 3:30 am and could do nothing but wash dishes and pay bills. Yowie!  I've invited a ton of people, friends, family, co-workers, my library director, my city manager, Jose Luis Orozco, and even random strangers-- now I wonder if that was a good idea. My thinking is that having a crowd (loud!) rootin' for me will give me the added oomph to really kick ass. Let down my fans? Never! How will I face my teenage nephews if I totally bonk?

I'm taking this afternoon off work (to go take a nap, I hope!) to prepare and this mornining on the reference desk I plan to over and over visualize myself getting past walls, accelerating like crazy on my skates and blocking, blocking blocking.

Since Wednesday's practice I've been replaying Glitter HitHer yelling "Balls to the Wall! Balls to the Wall!" as she rounded the turns on our track at the warehouse. Balls to the Wall indeed. Please, derby gods, let me unleash my inner-amazon tonight!

So much to think about... what kind of face decoration shall be my trademark?  (I'm thinking a "READ" tattoo leftover from the Summer Reading Program), when will I get to play with my new team? (Seabright Sirens, along with Barbarian Librarian). And most pressing on my mind: Will I eat shit and look like a jive-ass turkey tonight?

This derby journey has been incredible. I want to thank Scarlett for making it all happen by simply saying to me "I want to do that" when we attended our first bout just over a year ago. Doing derby makes everything else in life so much easier. My world has opened up since I braved try-outs last year. I'm so lucky to be involved with such powerful women, dedicated coaches and off-skates bad-asses (I'm talking about you, Secret!) and amazingly awesome, gritty Groms (our junior derby girls). I hope to make you all proud of me tonight!

So if you're in Santa Cruz, come on down and watch for Dewey Decibel, hopefully skatin' like a mofo!