Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

The Cone of Silence has been lifted!  I'm going to OPR at Playoffs in Winston-Salem!

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

I wonder if I'll have my new skates broken in by then.  (Plates are getting put on Wednesday).

OH THEY ARE AMAZING

MY PRECIOUSES

I will be able to re-use the plates!  I ordered new cushions, kingpins, pivot cups - they'll arrive on Thursday, and then I will be able to mount the plates.

I am absolutely terrified of doing it.  I have a friend in the league who's done it before, and she said we could talk about it tonight.

MY BOOTS ARE ON THE FED EX TRUCK TO BE DELIVERED

...and now I'm wondering if the plates I have will be the right size

Gaaaaaaah

crunching along, as one does

INT. PRACTICE SPACE - NIGHT

OTHER SKATERS:

Queenie, are you okay?  You keep falling!

ME:

I'm trying something new!

Specifically, hockey stops and power slides.  I have gotten into the habit of stopping by doing turn-around toe-stops and coming to a complete stop before moving forward, which can be a problem if you're, say, following a jammer back and they swoop in and immediately rush forward.

So, I tried them, and I fell, and I did amazing spins because I had my weight distributed incorrectly, and I fell.

I also was trying not to use my left toe stop, as that's the foot with all the trouble.  I lowered my toe stop as far down as it would go (SKATES ARE GETTING CHUCKED IN THE RIVER) but it still bothered me.  I tried to break the muscle memory, and could during the drills, but once it came to more scrimmage-like things, left toe stop left toe stop left toe stop.  I went off skates for the last 45 minutes of practice or so.

I really hope the combination of partial toenail removal and new skates resolves this issue.

---------------------

Turns out the 8/3 event isn't a triple-header; it's only a single game.  That's good.

let's see!

Made the decision (with a podiatrist) that I'm going to get the sides of my toenail removed and that part of the nail bed killed, to just get rid of the toenail sitch once and for all.  The appointment's scheduled right after our last practice, and I'm told I'll only need to spend a week off skates anyway, so I should (hopefully) be right as rain for the games after that (a men's triple header on 8/3).

Speaking of men's triple headers, had one on Saturday.  'Twas quite warm.  I anticipated trouble with my toenail (and I was right), so I only refereed two of the games....and did scoreboard for the third!  It was fun - I only screwed up a few times, mostly with assigning time outs to the wrong team.  (At one point I realized that I'd screwed up and was trying to fix it and it wasn't working [I was trying to change the Official Review number] and the team's coach was starting to walk over to ask about it, and I was like I KNOW IT'S WRONG I'M TRYING TO FIX IT.  Then there was the jam timer, signaling to me with big huge arm motions which team was supposed to be using their time out.)

This weekend also featured the debut of my son as an NSO for adult games!  He penalty box timed and scorekept (while I was scoreboard operating).  He does really well; just needs to work on a few things and he'll be amazing.  I hope he continues with it; I kind of voluntold him this last time.   (Now that he's 18*, my husband and I are both trying to pull him towards our hobbies - bowling and derby.  Unfortunately, I think bowling has won, because they're going to be doing my husband's adult bowling league on Thursday nights in the fall, which is when we have scrimmage and our NSOs practice.  Ah well.)

The expected window for my new skate boots to arrive starts next Monday.  It's going to be a very WHERE'S MY SPY CAMERA** few weeks.  I hope the plates I already have work on them; we'll find out.


-------------------------
*ZOMFG
**This Simpsons reference is twenty-nine years old ZOMFG