A Visual Timeline from Sunday

 This past weekend was WFTDA Championships in Denver. Well, Broomfield, to be more precise. We didn't see any of Denver, as the game venue and hotel was in Suburb Hell. I've never seen so many SUV's and minvans in my life.

Thankfully we didn't drive much, just to and from the venue.

The games this year were incredible. Every year the gameplay overall gets better and better and better. Discipline seemed to be the outstanding theme to me. The individual skillsets of each skater didn't have the impact of well-disciplined gameplay by the entire team. Gotham proved that.

But of course I was there to drink and heckle. Which I did. Copiously. We even had Team Heckle shirts. We looked good while we yelled.

Here's some photo highlights from Sunday.

In between the two games on Sunday, there was a band that played Salt n' Pepa's Push It, The Knack's My Sharona, and Michael Jackson's Billie Jean amongst other cool stuff:

After the last game, I broke out the Sharpies hastily.

First off, Veronica Scars from Scarred Designs:

Wanton Rebellion quickly followed:

Dinner at one of the local restaurants. We were chided for applauding when two old oblivious farts who wouldn't move when this hoarde of derby miscreants first descended onto the scene finally left after 30 awkward minutes of us glaring at them. By the way, not only were they done with their food, but they were finished with their beverages and their table was otherwise clean. Go talk in the bar, doofus.

Back at the hotel , we found ourselves some Rocky Mountain Roller Girls and Oly Rollers. Drinkin' and rasslin'.

This is actually a calm dogpile by their standards:

I settled down with a glass of wine and the company of Knockser Socksoff and her hubby G. No Evil. Of course I ended up drawing on her:
















I love doing Day of the Dead themed pinups!






















After I was done with that, Knocks asks if I wanted to draw on Julie. Julie? I wondered to myself, then I realized she was talking about Oly's Atomatrix.

UHM, YEAH. MIGHT AS WELL DRAW ON ONE OF THE BEST SKATERS OUT THERE.

I'm such a fangirl.



RMRG's Deranged had made me promise to draw on her boob earlier in the day. But the hotel was strict enough where I knew the whole rasslin'/drinkin'/drawin' shebang would be shut down faster than Rick Perry's chances of getting into the White House if nudity erupted. So we settled on me giving her a tramp stamp:

O HAI again Atom!

I spotted 2010 WFTDA Champs MVP, Sassy, and managed to get her to not only sit still for a tattoo, but she had to take her shirt off halfway to get it done:

Deranged, Ecko, and Psycho Babble take a little nap using Oly's jackets:

Tannibal Lector was next. She had to rearrange both her shirt and bra to get this done:

And so the night went on. I ended up having a fun conversation with Angel City's GoGo Gidget and Duchess von Damn, as well as fellow Team Heckler Skatum.

Duchess eventually got tired:

And so did Skatum.

The party started to break up for the night, but not before Hellarad's Mister Moxxxie found a mustache soulmate:

Pretty much one of the best derby days evar!

Last Night

I played my last game with Fight Crew.


We lost by only ten points against the Swarm, but we had almost half the team ejected for penalties(of course I was one of them), and there just wasn't enough firepower or time left to turn it around. So that's that. They're going to LADD Champs to face the Sirens and we're not.

But the reality of not skating games with them anymore hit me hard on the dark drive home. I didn't cry(though I wanted to), I didn't drink. I feel empty.

But I'm not quitting derby. I can't. I'll still be heckling in Denver next weekend, announcing in Chicago the weekend after that, skating the Thankscrimmage pick-up games on Thanksgiving weekend, and I'm looking into flights to Toronto for the Blood and Thunder World Cup. Aaaaand, Issue 18 has a pretty damn cool story on ME. Complete with my art and some hilarious photos.

But it won't be the same as skating with Fight Crew.

The calendar's getting full

What does this week's busy-ness entail?

First off, the Sportster is back on my shit list.

It's been running fine for months. My main fears while riding it came from having to go through the ridiculous and massive construction zone that is the 405 freeway through the Sepulveda Pass. But overall it's been dependable. Until Monday night.

Rode in to work as usual. No problems. I was able to leave work while it was still daylight, giving me plenty of time to stop off for gas, get home and prepare for the annual trick-or-treater Halloween onslaught. I made a stop at a liquor store to pick up appletini mix. When I started the bike, the damn thing would turn over, but not catch.

WTF. 

I unscrewed the gas cap in case of vapor lock. No difference. I switched the petcock to reserve. No difference. I cussed loudly at it. No difference. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!!

So I called Fred, the Motorcycle Whisperer, and he suggested a test to see if I had a spark to the spark plugs. According to my roadside test, no spark. Which means either ignition or coil has gone out. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!

As usual, AAA came to my rescue. The first guy to show up wasn't in a flatbed tow truck, and as I saw him pull up, I thought, WTF THIS TRUCK DOESN'T DO ME ANY GOOD AAA KNOWS I'M ON A MOTORCYCLE WHY IS THIS DUDE HERE NOW I GOTTA WAIT FOR A FLATBED TRUCK AND THIS SUCKS GODDAMMIT WHY TODAY I HATE MY BIKE I HATE MY LIFE AND WHERE'S THE GODDAM REAL TRUCK?! When the guy steps out of his truck, he immediately says, The flatbed is on its way. I'm gonna help load the bike. WHEW! And then he says, You looked like you were about to kill me! Yeah, sorry about that.  The flatbed truck showed up within five minutes.

Bike got home via AAA with no further dirty looks or mishaps. I'll have to find a way to get it to Fred's house on Sunday.

The next few weekends will be busy. This Saturday may be my last Fight Crew game. We're going to San Diego to play against the Swarm. The winner of Saturday's game goes to LADD Championships to play against the Sirens. Both teams have a 2-1 record. NO PRESSURE.

Next weekend is WFTDA Championships in Denver. I shall be heckling.

The weekend after that is the Kitten Traxx Invitational in Chicago. And I'll be announcing with Dumptruck. THAT WILL BE STUPIDLY FUN.

Thanksgiving is somewhere in there.

And then, the first weekend in December. I'll either be playing in my LAST EVAR Fight Crew game, or I'll be in Toronto doing announcing at the Derby World Cup! I got the acceptance email this week! So either way, I WIN!

I also get to throw in the occasional drawing. Roger Assaultrey and Gia de los Muertos handed over a couple of themed slam sketchbooks to draw in. These are usually items passed around at events such as Comic Con, with fantastic artists contributing to the contents. Roger and Gia had a Blues Brothers and White Stripes themed books. These are my scrawlings:

See what I did there? Frank Oz? Muppets? GET IT?!

True story, I'd never seen the Blues Brothers before now. I know, I know.

The White Stripes one was a little easier to wrap my head around, since I know who they are and like their music in general:

It was nice to use my horribly neglected markers for both of these.

And now, back to work!