Somewhere between happy and a total fucking wreck

• 10:44 SHE POOPED IT OUT!! FINALLY!! NO SURGERY FOR ARTAX!!! #
• 10:45 @thebrianposehn THANK YOU SO MUCH! Everyone seems to be having babies, and I'm so awkward with that... now I know what gift to give them! #

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• 10:06 Still waiting for kitty to poop out the foreign object... also, I dyed my hair red! #

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• 13:41 They gave her a stomach x-ray... she swallowed something large and foreign and might need surgery if the mineral oil doesn't push it out... #

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• 02:42 Staying awake all night with my sick Artax cat... going to the vet at 9! #

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• 22:54 needs new derby name suggestions! I'm currently trying to think of something that's a reference to Battery by Metallica.... #

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• 18:30 we now have a working kitchen sink AND range! Going to the co-op to get some wheat gluten! #

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• 02:59 what kind of fat asshole collects menus? #

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Today was pretty awesome. Dustin, Brian, Holly and I went to the Settler's Park wave pool, where they have huge diving platforms and diving boards in a separate pool and also allow you to DIVE INTO THE WAVE POOL. Holy shit, it was so much fun. I am sunburned and have bruises all over my shins from climbing the deep end ladders while being smashed with waves. I did a flip off the diving board and landed on my back. I also got a dollar from Dustin, because I totally splashed some idiot who was trying to read a fucking BOOK while floating on a tube.

After that, we got Giovanni's and watched Ren and Stimpy. I also did a review for heateatreview.com of a Kid Cuisine cheeseburger dinner. Gross, but I LOVE writing reviews for that site!

After that, we went to the Oaks Theater to see THE ROOM. It was hilarious and great. Throwing plastic spoons all over the place when the spoon photo was on the screen was fun. People were doing callbacks and just laughing at everything. I love that kind of stuff.

Also, I officially decided to take a personal leave from derby. It will probably be for a couple of months. I'm not playing with the team in the September bout, and I'm actually pretty relieved about that. I wasn't giving 100% because I was so stressed out, and because I was so stressed out, I wasn't able to give 100%. It was a vicious cycle that I can only end by taking some time out to take care of myself. I'm now spending my free time working on the house so I will have a less stressful environment at home soon. Looking around at unfinished projects wasn't helping at all.

I want to go to IKEA tomorrow to buy our kitchen cabinets, but we haven't totally decided what we want, and I'm SO SICK of looking at catalogs and wandering around the store trying to decide. Building a kitchen isn't nearly as bad as I thought it'd be, but it still sucks.

Okay, my skin is burning off... time for a/c and bed!

So Dustin and I bought a ton of box sets from Jen and are currently watching Ren and Stimpy. Earlier today, we went to Trader Joe's and bought a ton of shelf stable indian food and were weirded out when we realized that none of it has preservatives or weird ingredients. It's SO good! So we made some channa masala and biryani with garlic naan, then installed the chandelier in the kitchen (which is way more difficult than it sounds thanks to the old gas light line sticking out of the ceiling!) Unfortunately, the chandelier much bigger and hangs much lower than we expected, so now we're thinking about moving it into the dining room and finding something else for the kitchen!

Here's some kitchen progress:



IKEA discontinued the freestanding kitchen units we were planning on using, so now we have to get real cabinets and countertops, which is kind of weird. We've already bought a stainless steel range and over the range microwave... this whole thing is making me feel ultra-adultlike. Yuck.

Derby has been kind of weird lately. Things aren't quite what I expected, but half of that is my own fault. I don't really know what my derby future holds... right now I'm just trying to figure out if I'll even have time for derby AND going back to school. I know I can't in the fall, but I need to figure something out by spring. I know quitting derby would be REALLY hard, but I can barely even make it a priority now... I don't even want to think about how bad it'd be if I had to go to school too! It's weird, because I feel like I've come so much further than I (and possibly anyone who knows me as the accident-prone spaz I am) ever imagined. Yet somehow, it's still not good enough for me. I guess I have a hard time doing things that I'm not the best at, so this has been a pretty huge challenge for me. Anyhow, I'm playing for the Blitzburgh Bombers on September 19th if anyone is interested in coming.

Here are some photos from the last public scrimmage:

Here's me looking like I just realized that Velvet needed help.



Here's me not seeing that Rust Belt was falling then falling on top of her. I have no idea how my right leg got in that position or where my left leg even is!



Oh, and as you can see, my hair is blonde now. I don't really like it, but I'm keeping it for a while because it was a pain in the ass and really expensive to do. It seems no amount of toner will get the yellow out!

Haha, I have no idea if anyone is even reading this, and it's weird to just be babbling on like I used to.

Based on the responses (or lack of) to my last post, I'm declaring this livejournal officially dead. It's kind of sad. : (

Okay, so I'm tossing around the blonde idea again. If I do it, I want to try to keep some length, but I have a feeling my hair will be too damaged for that to happen. Would any of these hairstyles not look dumb on me? I feel like my neck isn't swan-like enough for any of these.









BE HONEST. WOULD I LOOK TOTALLY STUPID??

• 09:44 Tired of work. Just want to play roller derby and not worry about anything else. #

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• 13:27 I am realizing that everyone didn't fall off the face of the internet...Twitter and Facebook just replaced LJ and Myspace. #

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• 12:37 is on the computer and weatching the box at the same time #
• 12:41 on the com and watching the box at the same time. #

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I passed all of my tests and am no longer FRESH MEAT! I played "Queen of the Derby" with a lot of good players last night and held my own pretty well (even when getting double teamed!) I got shirts with my name and number, and I'm getting a BUTT!



X-Men is finally set up in the office!

Also, Watchmen is tonight, and a ton of Parkersburg people are coming up to see it in IMAX at the Waterfront. I think we're also getting Primanti's and maybe going to Games n'at!

Star Destroyer
#3720 to 1

(My number will get shortened to 3720 when WFTDA puts a 4 digit restriction on our numbers. Sucks, but it's easier for the refs!)

Last night, I bruised my hand and hurt my foot/leg when my skate went sideways and my foot bent at the ankle with most of my weight on it. Fortunately, I caught it before it went down all the way and snapped my ankle, but it still hurts. The good news is that I PASSED MY FUCKING SKILLS TEST! I know it's not over yet (we still have a contact test,) but I knew the balance and agility part would be the hardest for me personally. Since my group passed, we started on contact tonight, which meant giving and receiving whips, which is sooo much fun.

Roller derby is pretty much consuming my life at the moment, and I love it.

Also, our two travel teams are playing Stepford, CT and Akron, OH on Saturday! If you're interested in attending, please let me know!

As much as I love Pittsburgh, the last traveling team bout in Indianapolis makes me kinda jealous of the Naptown girls. Look at their crowd!





And they get news coverage!

(photos courtesy of tomklubens @ flickr!)

I know I'm usually against these because they're pretty much setups for failure, but here are the things I'd like to accomplish in 2009. Call them what you will.

1. Take better care of myself.
My bloodwork came back normal, so the only culprit left is my lifestyle. I eat horribly and am lazy as hell. I know this. The laziness is changing thanks to derby, but I still need to work on it. I need to get a weight bench and start lifting at home. I also need to pay attention to what I'm putting into my body. We will have a kitchen within the next few months, so that will make it easier. In the meantime, I will try my best to avoid eating terribly.

2. Get back in touch with old friends.
I miss them every day. Some I didn't get to know as well as I could/should have, because my priorities were so messed up. Some I knew very well and just lost touch with when I moved or became all weird and socially anxious. I hope at least some of them miss me too. I guess I'll just have to contact them to find out.

2. Do something that matters.
I want to do something that helps other people. I'm looking to change careers and at least get into something that I am passionate about. This may mean utilizing my Political Science degree, which is kind of weird, but stuff like Prop 8 really makes me wish I had gone into politics or law. As I get older, I feel more and more strongly about certain issues, and I'm starting to reconsider my place on the sidelines. I also want to start baking cakes and cupcakes again when the kitchen is finished... maybe someone will pay me for them!

I am so excited!! The ceiling is like 2 feet higher than it was before (it was dropped,) and it's somehow in almost pristine condition. I have no idea how someone could allow the walls to get this way.

I donated our old range to a single mom who needed it for the holidays. She got laid off and couldn't afford to pay for one they were renting (ugh.) I think we're keeping the fridge for a while since it's newish and the replacement will probably be the last thing we buy.

The kitchen we are putting in is from IKEA. It's the Udden stainless steel line, which happens to be super cheap and awesome.



The appliances will all be black, since stainless would probably make for a stainless steel overload when combined with the countertops and stuff.

Does anyone have any good color ideas? We're not afraid of anything (obviously!)