ok so to update

1. I got a new contact lens prescription (my left eye changed a bit - gettin' old sucks, y'all) and they're much better.  I think I'll go back to wearing contacts while officiating, but reserve the right to wear glasses if my contacts get weird...

2. ...which is what happened when I went to Ottawa for a doubleheader - I had to switch to glasses for the last half of the last game.  Made a joke about "oh, NOW the ref is wearing her glasses so she can see."

3. LEAGUES NEED WELL-TRAINED NSOs.  A sanctioned game is not the place for a brand new NSO to learn his/her position.  We got a fair amount of the way through the second half before we realized THE PENALTY TRACKER WASN'T USING ANY PAPERWORK.

4. I think I found a lipstick that will do (more or less) what I want it to do - Maybelline SuperStay Matte Ink.  It still comes off, but nowhere near as much as everything else I've used.

5. OPRing a men's game tomorrow, then I actually have some weekends where nothing's going on ZOMFG.

a sad, bleak, black day for Queenie

RADAR DIAMOND WHEELS HAVE BEEN DISCONTINUED

INSERT BIG NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HERE

I GUESS I'M GOING TO HAVE TO BUY EVERY SINGLE SET I CAN FIND NOW

every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end

so Fresh & Furious went well! It was a fun tournament and it was interesting to see penalties that one doesn't normally see in the level of game play I'm used to.

So yesterday was my 9th derbyversary.  Nine years.  Sometimes I feel like I've been doing it my entire life, other times it seems like just yesterday I was lining up to do my 20 laps in 5 to be able to skate in a bout for the first time.  I don't like thinking much about how my life would be different if I hadn't discovered derby.

Not necessarily in honor of the derbyversary (it actually was just a coincidence), but a few things happened:

1. retired the hockey helmet.  NEW HELMET WHEE!

 2.  (related to 1) I refereed in glasses!  It went really well - I didn't have any issues with them fogging up.  (the Q was just a temporary decoration, stolen from my hockey helmet.  I have a few ideas on how I'm going to decorate this one.)

3. I retired my skate case (formerly a typewriter case).  One of the latches was breaking and it was getting to be more of a hassle than it was worth.  I bought a skate noose and we'll see how that goes.

wheep wheep

So QCRG (the Buffalo league) has been treating July as "Thank You" month, where they're posting nice things about their volunteers and officials and whatnot.

THEY POSTED A THANK YOU TO ME!

Queen Kicktoria also comes from Roc City Roller Derby to help us out and we are beyond thankful to her. She helps our games run smoothly and has helped us out more than almost any other outside referee. She's the first to volunteer to come if we need her.

 Thank you Queenie! We really appreciate you and all the driving you do to come hang with us.

And people wrote nice things after that blush blush eeeeee.

ANYWAY.

Saturday is Fresh & Furious, in Toronto.  That'll be fun.  Then Ithaca and then Ottawa and then who knows what else in the upcoming