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.