a weekend without any officiating OH MY GOD

I HRed the second half of scrimmage last night - it went okay.  Slowly but surely I'm learning.  Pack stuff changes so quickly - it's like "out of play in - you're in play now".  Then there's all the other stuff I gotta look out for.

Prompted by a thread I'm reading on FB about the reasons there is starting to be a lack of officials in high school sports and burnout, I decided to note how many games I have officiated since I started:

2017: 62
2016: 52
2015: 36
2014: 2 (I started in October)

(this is basically what's on my officiating resume, which includes things like 20 minute Beast of the East games and 30 minute ECDX challenge games)

I'm still definitely in the OMG OFFICIATING ROLLER DERBY IS THE GREATEST THING EVAR honeymoon phase.  I have to make myself take weekends off to ensure I don't burn out.  (it's not necessarily that I sit at home doing nothing - it's a "I have this thing I could go to, or I could officiate that game, I'll go to this thing.")

Anyway.  Things like ECDX and tournaments* are quite different for players than they are for officials.  Skaters might have three games an entire weekend - officials have that many in a DAY.  I had ELEVEN GAMES IN FOUR DAYS at Battle of the All-Stars.  It's a combination woodchipper and summer camp.
----
*I'm guessing - I never actually went to a tournament as a skater

Dilemmas, dilemmas

So for those of you scoring at home, I have bad eyesight (I know, a referee with bad vision.  how original).  For the majority of my life I wore contacts exclusively; in the last few years it's only been when I play derby. 

I'd always been leery of wearing them while playing; I've known skaters who fell and had their glasses cut their faces. (I had my own experience of this as a child - I got a door slammed right in my face and my glasses gave me a scar over my eyebrow [which I have since decorated with a piercing]).

Anyway.

Lately I feel that my distance vision isn't as sharp as it is in glasses, but that's just because it's been waaaay too long since I've had my contact lens prescription updated (that's getting taken care of in a few weeks).  They get dry and icky and can pop out on occasion (I had that happen to me as a player, mid-jam, once.  One of my teammates said "watching you put it back in looked so sanitary") and you can't immediately fall asleep after a game (which I tend to want to do at tournaments).

I bring this all up because it occurred to me that I've had my current hockey helmet for over four years now and it would probably be a good idea to get a new one. 

So there's a few things to think about -

1. I can't fit my current glasses under a hockey helmet, but I could probably under an S-1 or Triple 8
2. I could get sports goggles but they're kinda goofy looking*.
3. Plus I've heard that they can fog up 
4. A non-hockey helmet would be easier to decorate*
5. There's not as much potential for face-cutting actions as a referee
1. there's still some potential though
6. Getting an updated contacts prescription will most likely resolve the distance issue, which right now is the most significant thing for me
7. LASIK ain't gonna happen

*PRIORITIES, I HAS THEM

ECDX in the books

Any sort of tournament/extravaganza weekend is invariably a roller coaster of overwhelmitude for me, both physically and emotionally, and ECDX 2017 was no exception.

I had eight games refereeing - one WFTDA regulation, two WFTDA sanctioned, one MRDA regulation, one JRDA sanctioned and three half-hour fun challenge bouts - and one as jam timer (the weekend's MVP game).  It was a lot.  I didn't make it out to the pool at all (which, in the long run, was probably a good thing as I saw many, many sunburned people).

I have to admit that the Hamilton v. Burr game was a let-down.  There weren't that many people really into the musical - the announcers hadn't seen it (they'd gotten suggestions from people on what to say on Facebook) so the references felt kinda shoe-horned in.  I had my I'M A REFEREE - WHEEEE! nameplate though, and I made an AND PEGGY for another referee, so we were representing.

I also, of course, had my Impostor Syndrome going in full force and effect. There was also the OMG I JUST OFFICIATED A GAME WITH A VERY COOL AND WELL-KNOWN REFEREE SHOULD I FACEBOOK HIM/HER OR WILL THAT JUST SEEM TOO DESPERATE GAH (I did Facebook friend them.  They accepted.)

But there was also lots of HI FRIEND YOU'RE MY FRIEND I HAVEN'T YOU IN A LONG TIME LET'S HANG OUT and we hung out.

So it's all good in the end. :)

did not die!

the weekend went well!  The first game was very warm and stuffy and it was hard to breathe and when my jammer was lead and calling it off I could only get out the first set of four whistles before I'd have to stop and catch my breath.  I don't know if I would've survived doing three games there; hats off to everyone who did.

The second and third games in Ithaca went well, too.  I was front IPR for the regulation game, which I've only done a few times in scrimmage but I don't think I did too horribly.  The acoustics in their venue are horrible - sound just goes up into the ceiling and disappears - so at one point I was yelling OUT OF PLAY so loud my voice actually cracked.

Then a nice afterparty with delicious drinks (bourbon + lemon juice + sugar + club soda?  Tops.) and then home again, crawling into bed at about 3:15am.

Whee!

This upcoming weekend is ECDX and I'm STUPIDLY excited for that.

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

My Upcoming Saturday:

1. JR a men's game
2. Drive to Ithaca
3. JR a women's game
4. IPR a women's game
5. ?????????
6. Profit! (or die)

should be fun.

or deadly.

exciting excitingness!

I forgot to mention - I GET TO REFEREE THE HAMILTON V. BURR CHALLENGE GAME AT ECDX WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I'm going to make myself a nameplate for the occasion - I can't decide whether to be I'M A REFEREE - WHEEEEEE or THE ORPHANAGE

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED

And no one died!

There was only, like, one point where I got really overwhelmed.  Knowing the hand signals was soooo helpful.  It was the league's championship bout and was crazy loud so you couldn't really hear the refs, but I could see "oh, someone's going to be going to the box on a forearms call".

(And once again I reiterate my desire that team jerseys have the player number on the front.)

The doubleheader on Saturday went okay.  It was very warm and by the end I was definitely dragging.