Moar Crap to Look at...

New season, new captain and co-captain, new attitude.

Remixed, remastered, and ridiculously rad.

Fight Crew lost Saturday's game in a second overtime jam on Saturday night, but just the fact that the game was so close that it needed two overtime jams says that we've come a long way in a short amount of time. Oh, and I didn't get kicked out of the game for once in my miserable life!


Oh look, a rare photo of me in the penalty box:




















Trying to put the smackdown on Gori Spelling:




















Tough Soles holds StefCON back while I give her some help to the infield face-first. I got a penalty for this hit. It was allegedly because it was a hit above StefCON's shoulders. Looks pretty legit from this, though:














Lusty Loveless gets an up-close-and-personal introduction to the track:














It was a good game. A fun way to start off the season. I needed that.



And I mentioned that I'm doing some shirt designs, right?

Well, HERE THEY ARE!

First, my little jammer girl that I've been trying to find a use for. Found one:














And there's this pissy little girl:





















The "You Can't Hit This" design was, uh, a hit at the game(oh, how punny!). The "Filled with Fury" one sold a few, but some tweaking on my part is needed to make this as popular as her sister.

HOWEVER, you can go to Rink Rash's site and order one or both of them and delight that you're helping me pay my afterparty Irish Car Bomb bill.

Expect to see more fun stuff at Rink Rash...working with them so far is great because we get to test a lot of different options for this stuff to see what sticks.

Kicking

While I've been hurriedly trying to draw to pay the mortgage, I was able to make some quick scribbles for upcoming stuff for when I have a week off to recuperate.

Another Fight Crew idea, to be done in a tattoo/flash art style, kinda:















Bout poster idea for the March game that Fight Crew will be playing in. Woohoo, She-Fink!:















Team pin-ups...a Siren:





















And for those who are coming to the game tonight, you can marvel at this shirt:





















Not for general sale...I gotta like you for you to be able to get one.

Now I gotta go get ready for tonight.

Stress

Ever have one of those weeks or days where everything seems to be happening at once?

I'm having one of those weeks.

I've found out that I get really stressed out and cranky when:

• I have a game

• I have to lead a practice the week of the game

• I have a shit-ton of work to get done the Friday before the game

• my team has a bunch of much-needed private practice time the week of the game

• I have to cross-train for a couple of hours every day in preparation for the game

• the dentist says, It's time for your appointment! Don't flake or we'll charge you!

• I found out that I did indeed delete a bunch of artwork files off of my computer that were relevant. Including the artwork for my team logo. The version the Art Dept. has is old and decrepit.

• when I came home after one of the afore-mentioned team practices, one of the douchenozzles who lives in the neighborhood parked in front of the house so I couldn't park in front of the house(there was plenty of parking closer to where they live). That made me fly into a rage.

• the Leetle Seestir needs a ride to the airport the Friday before the game when I have a shit-ton of work due

• I can only do so many t-shirt designs in a week

• I can't do any last-minute Art Dept. crap...just because I make this shit look easy doesn't mean that it is

• I can't work Saturday because of the game

• I won't be able to fully work Sunday because of the aftermath of the game, Hurricane Ken is visiting, and I'm going to be judging the flat track league's travel team tryouts

• I have to get most of my work done sooner than later, because the following Friday everything has to be FedEx'd to my current employer after notes have been made

Luckily I don't have too many notes going into this round of shit-ton work, I just have a lot of it. Where the hell are my minions?!

RIP

A few weeks ago I heard that there was a league split in one of my favorite California leagues, the Bakersfield Rollergirls.

I don't know why it happened, but it did. I muttered at the time that I hoped that the split wouldn't cause one or both leagues to go under.

Today I found out that one league lost, the original Bako Rollergirls are no more.

I'm very sad, as I liked the girls who ran it and the skaters who skated for them. And of course they had one of the best league logos out there:




















OK, maybe I say that because I designed that damn logo. I'm sorry to see it go away.

I just hope the breakaway league can keep derby going in ol' Bako...they need something besides Buck Owens' memory to keep 'em going.

RIP, Bako Rollergirls and Fabulous Logo, I'll miss ye!

My Laugh for the Day

For whatever reason, I'm "friends" with an old school derby league on Myspace. They send out some...interesting bulletins. Usually with...interesting Youtube clips:



I just about died laughing. What's with the non-skating girls who are punching each other? Who wants to see old people on skates punching each other? Is this appealing?! The added sound effects and shoddy editing don't sell the game the way they intended it to.

I don't think, anyway.

This clip, despite its ads at the beginning and end, is actually cool. I don't know who put it together, but they did a good job:



If Old School is going to try to compete with what's going on now in derbyland, they should stick with the approach the second clip takes. It's rad. The first clip makes them look desperate and totally uninformed as to what the attraction is to modern derby.

I still think the main attraction of modern derby is the bait-and-switch approach we take. We have these non-real names, non-professional uniforms, and no big funding to draw in the unusual fans who may or may not be into other sports. Then BAM! we switch it up by putting on a game that takes real athleticism to do. It messes with peoples' perceptions, and I love that. The camp isn't the main show, unlike the first clip I posted.

Speaking of derby, our first game of the 2009 season happens in a week. Fight Crew vs. Tough Cookies. Should be a good game. Let's see if I make it through without getting kicked out...we're switching to interleague rules this season, so I might get to skate an end-of-the-game lap for once!

Moar EPIC Prom Pix

Finally, you can see the full beauty that is Cagey Bea and StefCON totally goofing on me at the EPIC prom:





















But Xena shall extract her revenge:





















They're wily, though...the Taras accepted the Best Trainer award with style:





















While the Husband stared in total confusion over "Busta Armov":
















Moar doodles coming soon...gotta go buy an mp3 player today since the old one decided to totally DIE on me when I'm going to be riding the bicycle to an Art Dept. meeting tonight. I hope tonight's trip is more uneventful than the last meeting.

Ah, the HILARITY...

Last night was the annual Derby Doll prom.

The theme was "Heroes and Villains".

I wasn't particularly enthused about the prom or the theme, but I went anyway.

I'm glad I did, 'cos I found out my standing within the league:



















WTF? you might be thinking.

That's a sharpie tattoo mimicking my slowly-disappearing cat tattoo.

Why would someone do that for the Derby Doll prom?

Because they think Tara Armov is evil.





















Tough Cookies' StefCON 1 came dressed as "Tarametrics", complete with ugly tattoo, Fight Crew shirt, big jug of water, and a lot of jumping around. As she put it, "Tarametrics is PURE EVIL."

There you have it.

The hilarity doesn't end there, but I don't have photos yet.

Let's just say that StefCON isn't the only one who thinks Tara is evil.





Oh, and I got an award for "Best Trainer". I tied with Iron Maiven. Woohoo!

Cat Wars

I think I've mentioned before that our backyard is a crossroads for the local outdoor cat population. On any given morning we'll see between two to six cats lounging in the sunny spots of the yard.

This all started two years ago thanks to my sister. While we were at Rollercon, my sister was taking care of the three cats we had at the time. One day she accidentally let the little bastards out. She immediately found Lardo and Lou C, but couldn't find Max, the Angriest Cat in the World.

My sister frantically went through our backyard and even down the street, calling for Max alternately by her name and calling, Here, kitty kitty! The results? A bunch of cats showed up, but none of them were the one needed inside the house ASAP. Max strolled in hours later. My sister almost died of a heart attack from the whole experience.

Anyway, the cats that came like mice to the Pied Piper decided our backyard was awesome, so a bunch of them started hanging out there. One of them was this cat:




















It looked pissed off, doesn't it?

It took me months to be able to pet this cat, as it's skittish. But cute. I finally was able to start petting it, and so every time I went out to get my bicycle to run errands, the cat would be there, I would pet it, and our days would be more better as a result.

I call the cat "Kitty" because it answers to it. I assumed it was female at first because it looked tortoise shell-like, and tortoise shell cats are female, but Kitty is Head Honcho of the backyard, so I now think Kitty is a boy.















It has a collar, as you can see, but there's no name tag on the collar. Instead, there's a weird magnet-thingy on it. I've found screws and little pieces of metal shavings stuck to it before. I don't know if there's some sort of magnetic force field that keeps Kitty in this sphere, or what.

Kitty is now in our yard almost full-time. No matter what I come outside to do, whether it's getting the bicycle or throwing something in the trash, there's Kitty. I say hi to Kitty and stop to pet it every time I see it.
















This has pissed off our remaining cat, Lou C. So much so, that that's another reason why I think Kitty is a boy. Lou C digs the chicks, and I don't think he'd be so upset if he thought we'd be able to get a girl cat in the house. He yowls a lot when he sees Kitty now.


Kitty also has a friend:
















I haven't been able to pet this cat. It stays far away from me. But it has a similar collar to Kitty, so I assume that it also has the same owner as Kitty. I've thought about getting a paper clip and attaching a note to Kitty's collar asking what Kitty's name and address is.

One thing I haven't done is feed Kitty. Yes, I know...MIRACULOUS. I've thought about it, though. Especially since it's been so cold at night and Kitty is still outside. Even though it has a thick fur coat, I worry about Kitty.

But Lou C doesn't worry about Kitty. Whenever I come back from wherever I've gone, Lou C gets very territorial and jumps in my lap and is very insistent about not leaving my lap. Awwww, someone loves me!

Kinda.

Today's FAIL

Me and computers have always had a tenuous relationship. Today is no exception.

Still not used to the new computer, but I needed to print out an invoice today.

OK, NO PROBLEM, I can handle this, right?


Except that the program I used to use for invoices on the old computer isn't installed on the new computer.

Dammit.

So I find another one.

And try to open an old invoice so that all I have to do is cut n' paste the date and the name of the show and be done.

But nooooooooooooooo.

Can't find any recent old invoice to use.













DAMMIT.

In fact, the only invoices I can find are from six years ago, and I can't open any of them.




















So I angrily start from scratch building another invoice, using the default font.

Got that part done, then I go to change the default font to the regular font that I like to use for invoices, my portfolio, etc.

It's not on the computer.

None of the fonts I'd amassed on the old computer are in the new computer.













DAMMIT.


By this time I'm in a flying rage.


Fonts are second to jpgs in terms of importance to me.

I have no idea where my old fonts are.

I don't know how to transfer them from the old computer to the new computer even if I did know.















BUT, to top it all off, my use for the fonts is extremely limited at the present time anyway.

Why?

Because most of the time when I use the fonts, it's for some art-related crap.

Which means I'm using Illustrator or Photoshop.

Which means I'm using a Wacom tablet and pen to "draw" with.

Which isn't hooked up right now because my old Wacom tablet is so old, it doesn't have a modern USB-type port to plug in to the new goddam computer that I'm beginning to hate more and more with every single fiber of my being.




















So basically I can scan in artwork, but I can't build it in Illustrator or Photoshop. And I have a pathetic font selection for invoices...I have that same pathetic font selection for artstuffs, but I can't even build the artstuffs, so who cares?


I'm now convinced that the husband got this damn computer for himself and not me, because I can't manage to use the fucking thing. Like I can't use the tv and dvd player in the living room. Like I can't use the dvd player in the den. Yeah, I can manage to watch dvd's only on my fucking laptop computer while I'm working. Thank gawd I'm still using paper and pens for work, or else the computer would've gone flying out the damn window by now. At least I can still watch tv in the other room, but who knows how long that'll last. It's not a great distraction from not being able to use the goddam computer.

So now I gotta hop on down to FedEx to turn in my pathetic invoice with my freelance. With my luck, I imagine I'll get hit by a bus. At least I have life insurance now.

I wonder if there's a way the computer could get hit by a bus, too?

I Don't Know Why I Did It...

I've been generally uninspired to write anything here for the past week.

I think it's because I feel that I've been doing mundane stuff that isn't worth writing about. No new drawings that are worth showing...yet.

But I feel compelled to post anyway, so here goes nothing...

About a week, week and a half ago, I signed up on classmates.com. Which is weird for me on so many levels.

I don't really talk to anyone I went to high school with.

I didn't like high school.

I was always baffled when adults would say at the time, You'll look back and realize that high school were the best days of your life! Thank GAWD that didn't turn out to be true!

I've never been to any of my class' reunions, mainly because I had no interest in it.

As I was looking through the list of names of my fellow high schoolers, I didn't recognize most of them. The people I did hang out with in high school apparently aren't on that site!

But, I would click on a name or two, and I enjoyed reading their little "biographies" of themselves. Not because I remembered them, but it's interesting to see where a person's life can lead them. One now lives in Australia. One is married with kids somewhere in the south helping to run a church. One has a winery.

Do I feel compelled to "reconnect" with these people with whom I didn't have a connection to begin with? No, I just like reading their stories.

So I posted my own little biography just for chuckles. I don't know if anyone from ol' Woodland will be as entertained with my story as I've been with some of theirs...I suspect I'm just talking to myself.

Which I should be used to by now!



Anyway, Happy New Year and all that rot. As usual, I don't do resolutions...but I do plan on skating an insane amount this month.

I screwed up my knee again last week, so no running as cross-training for me. Dammit. Hopefully I can get the knee back to fighting form sooner than later...apparently hiatus doesn't work so well for me.