goaly goal goals

Let's see how things went:

• "Take a big ol' step back.  I don't need to officiate every game.  I don't need to apply to every tournament.  I have a family and I do like seeing them every once in a while.  This one will be tough."

Didn't really get this one; had a lot of weekends in a row where I was away doing things.  

• "Part II of this: Take as little time off work as possible.  I'm a paralegal who is the only support for a sole practitioner, and while there are other people in our office who can help out if necessary, it's just a lot easier if I'm here. I took a lot of time off this year, and I kinda need to make up for it, so I can...."

Failed on this one, but due to sickness rather than derby (Thanksgiving and Christmas were the worst).

• "2020 Goal - Officiate a game in Australia.  Aw yiss."

Don't think this will be a goal for this upcoming year.  It will be at some point, though.

• "HR a sanctioned game.  This is more of a second half of 2019 goal; I'm still not 100% confident on HRing yet (though in a scrimmage this past weekend, I tried HRing from the front and I really liked doing it) and while we're encouraged to reach for the stars, I want to make sure I'm not setting myself up for a crash and burn."

Didn't do this, but only on a technicality - I HRed a game between WFTDA charter teams, but it wasn't sanctioned.  With the level of gameplay our league has in sanctioned games (almost D2), I'm not comfortable doing our sanctioned games yet.

• Apply for certification, if it's open.  Durrrrr.

Did it.  Did not get the result I was hoping for, but received good feedback and was encouraged to re-apply early.

• "Be a good teacher/role model/whatever.  I'm Co-Head Referee for the 19th Wardens for 2019, and we have several newer officials who are starting out on skates.  I want to provide them with the support and training and whatnot that I received when I started as an official, because it was top-notch."

I tried my best on this; don't know how successful I was.  I'm not the best teacher; when I'm asked how to do something, I'm just sort of like "um....I just do it."

Geez, looking back, this year was kind of a big flop when it comes to my specific goals.  It didn't feel like one, though.  Anyway....

hmmm

so apparently I need to only referee in very cold venues, because at Tuesday's practice I was nailing hockey stops like a motherfuckin' BOSS

my left toe (for those of you scoring at home, that's the one I was having issues with and had the sides of the nail removed) has started to bug me. I figure it's probably because I had the sides of that nail removed, and the sides are digging into the tender flesh of my toe that is supposed to be covered by nail.

I CAN'T WIN.

I haven't tried putting padding around that toe to see if that works.  That'll be my next step.

I organized this. I'm kinda proud of it.

things! lots of things! big shiny things! little shiny things! THIIIIIIIIINGS!

I'm back skating; toe is doing a lot better so I'm happy about that.

I was also elected as Head Referee for our league for 2020!  I ran unopposed, but still - I'M IN CHARGE OF THIS WHOLE REFEREEING SHE-BANG NOW

whoop whoop

I found our crew's old helmet camera in the storage locker and am employing it.  I took footage of last night's scrimmage (I was sole pack ref).  Not quite sure I want to look at it, as it probably will be nothing but "PACK IS - HERE - WAIT - NO PACK - DAMMIT - OUT OF PLAY IN FRONT I SCREWED THAT UP".

I SOed again a few weekends ago at a smaller league about an hour away.  It was supposed to be a Level 2 juniors/regulation double header, but the venue's HVAC got backed up or something and started dumping water into the OPR lane two jams into the second half of the second game.

I had one disaster - I set my keyboard hotkeys so that shift + that key is the undo of that key's action.  This was fine, except at one point I accidentally hit the shift lock key and was like WAIT WHY ARE THE TEAMS LOSING POINTS WHY DIDN'T THE JAM START PROPERLY GAAAAAAAH.  Took a short OTO, got everything set, everything was fine.

This weekend I'm going to Pioneer Valley Roller Derby's Late Night Derby Affair (pretty much a combination of scrimmages, wacky zany scrimmages, SKATE DANCE PARTY and fun).  I've wanted to go the last several years and since this is the last one apparently, no time like the present.

updating for the sake of updating

I've taken myself off skates for a little bit to let my toenail heal finally and totally - I was having some issues where my skates (still dreamy) are in the break-in stage where they put pressure on my toes, and I was starting to bleed through socks.  It's the off-season, so I'm not missing out on events because of it.

Working on FIPR off-skates as much as I can.  Realized (duh) that a lot of it involves listening to the RIPR and reacting to their pack definition.  I know, right?

I also learned that while I can skate backwards with absolutely zero issues, running backwards is completely terrifying.

Oh!  I don't think I've mentioned it here - guess who has two thumbs and is Co-THR for the Battle of the All-Stars Tournament next year in Hatfield, PA?

[INSERT INTERNAL SCREAMING HERE]

So far the planning hasn't gone too awry, and my co-THR and I are both on the same page with respect to things so far (it's his first THR rodeo as well) so we'll make our way through it as best we can.

I've also been thinking about what other tournaments I will apply to next year.  I know I said 2020 would be Australia Year, but it depends on what sort of time I can get off from work.  (I don't have a specific number of days I can take off per year; I work for an sole practitioner attorney who gets panicky if I take a lot of time off at once.)  I've applied to a few already, and will apply to others once their application opens, but in the mean time it's the waiting game.

growth is a good thing; really, it is!

So I don't think I mentioned it, but I finally applied for certification last month.

My results came back Monday night - I received Level 1.

They said that while in many respects I was well beyond Level 1, they had concerns with certain things - some of which they acknowledged might not be issues anymore (based on the evaluations I had on file, which were kinda old), but that I need to be better at calling 20' and to be more confident in calling skaters out of play.  (I agree with that last part 150% - I've always had trouble with that part of IPRing.) 

They also said that once I can get evaluations that show that I've conquered these things, I'm encouraged to apply for an exception to to the renewal period (2 years) and apply for a higher level earlier.

So while I was initially bummed that I didn't get a higher level, I understand and agree with everything they said. 

This will definitely affect things in the future.  I'll need to get as much IPR experience as I can, which will affect my tournament applications, which will affect my tournament attendance next year, I'm sure. 

But onward and upward, as they say!

I did it!

"Dreadfully Strong Coffee" was our crew name

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: officiated Playoffs!
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: officiated my 300th game!

ZOMFG that was a great weekend.  The games we got were SO GOOD.  We started with Santa Cruz/Paris (the one that broke 98% of the brackets) and it only got better from there.  Our crew was so tight; we picked up what was needed from each other and provided it instantly.  (We also had the most GIFable moments of the entire weekend.)

(Except for the part where I took myself out of our Saturday evening game because I'd gotten sick and was throwing up, like, twenty minutes before the game started.  That sucked.  But I went back to the hotel, took a shower and a nap, and two hours later I was much better.  I ended up having a wicked bad cold, but I can handle a wicked bad cold.)

---------
Usually I don't buy T-shirts from tournaments, but I made a few exceptions this time:

• I bought a Rainy City Roller Derby shirt with the "Dead Inside" dog logo, because, well, that's me
• I bought a 2x4 shirt because they were walking around the stands during the championship game to raise funds, and I was pretty drunk at that point
• I bought a tournament T shirt because how else am I supposed to prove I was there?
• PREPARE YOURSELVES FOR BIG SOPPY EPIPHANY MOMENT HERE:

All weekend I walked past the Strong Athletic booth.  For a long time I'd wanted to get a particular shirt of theirs, but told myself "that shirt applies to other people.  It doesn't apply to me."

Reader, after my last game of the tournament, I bought that shirt.