Nationals Part 2

This time we were in the middle, so
we weren't the loud kids.

Time for day two, now with new photos. Warning: there are numerous links. I can't help it if I like to show off the one piece of HTML code I actually understand.

We hit up the shuttle early the next morning to catch the first bout. Nothing had caught fire or exploded in the night, and the quilt was still up. Other than a few empty soda cans on the table housing my flyers (classy!) the quilt area was unmolested. Thank goodness, because taking it down and putting it up every day would have killed me.

Not pictured, me wondering when
the heck I was going to go to the
bathroom, because OMG derby!

Saturday was the day of constant derby from sunup to sundown. I was running on coffee (gross) and some coffee cake (less gross) and that's about it, but the promise of more exciting derby and showing off the quilt had me feeling pretty wired. This was a good thing too, because people were everywhere to be found. It was crowded as hell with newly arrived visitors who couldn't get Friday off work. The jet-lag was palpable.

Not pictured: people not
just waiting for their
friends to come back
with their beer.

I talked up the project to a lot of people who hadn't heard of it and made sure they walked away with flyers. I ran into people who had contributed, several of whom I'd never met face to face (I'm lookin' at you, Dagney Taghurt). I also met an old internet friend from the pre-derby days. Metallikat, now a London Rollergirl, used to run a spectacular guide to synthetic hair extensions. Meeting someone with whom I'd corresponded regularly before either of us strapped on skates was easily one of the highlights of the trip. I was so excited I was quite rude to her two friends and didn't introduce myself. I'm so sorry, ladies!

Not my photo. I shamelessly clipped
this from Busy Burger's Yelp page.
Don't judge me.

We hit up Busy Burger during the dinner break and had a surprisingly delicious meal, considering the burger honestly didn't look like much. We ran into Randy Pan the Goat Boy and Vince Hannity and made our way back to the venue. They paused to chase the "Untouchable" tour bus and tried to touch it, proving it's totally touchable. I consider this to be further proof that announcers have the most fun at these events, although the Bay Area Derby Girls and Montreal might disagree with me.

Section 113 represent.

Back at the venue we enjoyed derby, derby, and.... wait for it... more derby. My folks later asked me if watching the same sport all day ever got boring, and my answer was simply "absolutely not." Sometimes it felt like we were watching a new sport with each game because the teams all played so differently. It was hard to peel myself away from the action to check on the quilt and feed myself. I managed. Still, "eating" mainly consisted of stadium popcorn, because that kiosk had the shortest line.

There ain't no party like 

our announcers' dance 

party.

Leaving my seat was also made much tougher by my entertaining company. Thanks to Pelvis and Lady Oshun, section 113 clearly had the most happenin' dance party. Much fun was had, even by those of us who were too busy holding cheese fries to get up and dance. This helped me survive my the loss of my favorite team in the tournament, Gotham. RMRG beat them to the soundtrack of my wordless screams of loss mixed with reluctant muttered amazement at the overall outstanding playing.

Not pictured: other group
names such as "Moo Bitch!
"Roller derby rocks!"
and "Monkey Bean"

The day concluded with Pelvis going out once again, and me hanging out in the lobby with Salome Splatter, "Mr. Splatter" (AKA our awesome roommates for the trip") and Three Day Bender. We missed our chance to snag a $100 that was just lying on the floor next to our table, watched derby people try to infiltrate the ritzy wedding in the Empire Room of the hotel (there was a conga line, people, they deserved it) and let the evening wind down calmly and pleasantly.

I'm told that the hotel was absolutely crazypants with celebrating derby people for much of the night, but I can't report on what I slept through. More on the last day soon, as this is becoming more novel than blog post. Sometimes I forget that teh intarnets are supposed to be all about speed and such.