Regionals: Day 1

Johnny Deep keeping me company

I'm sick. Being a high school teacher and spending several days around sick teenagers will do that to you. Because I'm a glass half full kind of girl, my immediate reaction to this is to say "well, at least this gives me time to write that regionals update." My loss is your gain.

Hooray for tables!

We left for NY following a full day of work plus an equally full evening of parent teacher's night. I'm sure the ride to White Plains would have felt long if I'd had a different set of car-buddies. Pelvis is always a great traveling companion, and we were also rooming/carpooling with the Reverend Al Mighty and Hayley Contagious. When we hit up a nearby diner, they didn't even make fun of my choice to have a banana milk shake and chili cheese fries after midnight, even though it was clearly a bad idea. That's friendship.

We slept for what felt like ten minutes in our very comfortable beds, only to be woken up in the morning by a very awake Reverend Al serenading us with "Springtime for Hitler." The fact that I didn't attempt to drown him in the toilet speaks volumes about his charm. That, and the fact that I realized we all had to be at the venue by 9AM to fulfill our vendor/announcer obligations, so he was actually doing us a favor. We raced to the venue to do our respective thangs. The big day had arrived.

I could hear their strategy. It was neat.

With the help of the very accommodating and generally wonderful ladies from Suburbia Roller Derby, we hung the quilt and set up shop. To say I had The Best Spot Ever is an understatement. I was right behind turn 4 and could see everything! I got a ton of foot traffic as well. In fact, I got so much foot traffic that I needed to make more copies of my flyers before I ran out entirely. Thankfully there was a Staples next door. As they say in the commercials, that was easy.

Convenient!

I spent the day talking about the quilt, handing out tons of flyers, and watching bout after bout after bout. It was an incredibly enjoyable day. My face hurt from smiling so much, even though I was so exhausted I felt like I might vomit under my vendor table. My roommates all went to one of the after parties to go ride a mechanical bull, I stayed home to watch the Discovery Channel and eat the best pizza I've had in years. Seriously, look at the photo and tell me you don't want some. Yum.

Fancy knife and fork pizza.

My day ended with me falling asleep and being vaguely aware of everyone else coming back to the room at some point. I definitely had pizza dreams, mainly consisting of the Reverend Al regaling me with stories about his life. Since these dreams so closely resembled the actual car ride, I won't trouble you with details.

More on the trip soon, once I've absorbed more cold meds and I feel slightly more human. Amazing experiences often come with a price, and for me it's usually a few day's worth of some kind of cold. Clearly this tournament is no exception.

Eastern regionals. Yeah, that happened. *THUD*

Back from regionals and taking a quick second of my lunch break to let you all know I'm not dead. Ok, so I know you read this to keep up on the quilt's progress and not take notes on my general well being, I get it.  Still, a dead Dread is an unfinished quilt, right?

I have a massive update to post once I get a nap and some time with my family. Expect tales of chili dogs, an amazing vendor spot right by turn 4, squares donated during the tournament, and that time when Pelvis and Dumptruck were creeping me the hell out in gravelly stereo. Oh, and if I find ways to delicately phrase things I might be able to throw in some Reverend Al Mighty stories. There could have been no better roommates than him and Hayley Contagious.

I loved showing the quilt at Derby in the Burbs. Can I do it again, right now?

The only upside of today's schedule...

Steve has to load the car. Sure, it'll be rough going from a full work day to parent teacher night to the tournament with no break in between, especially considering that we'll arrive after midnight and have to be at the venue by nine AM. Epic fail. However, because I can't go home before we leave for the trip, Steve offered to save me from having to play the wild game of car-tetris that is loading the quilt into the trunk.

Thanks Steve. You are truly a total sucker the best husband.

Packing for Eastern regionals

Suburbia Roller Derby was kind enough to hook me up with some hanging space for the quilt this weekend during the WFTDA Eastern Regionals tournament. How nice are they, eh? I couldn't be happier. Well, now that I've figured out a possible way to maybe hopefully hang it up, I couldn't be happier. 

You see, the old hanging system was just godawful. I have no desire to ever see binder clips again let alone use the things to hold up a heavy, ten-foot-by-ten-foot quilt. Last night I put our sewing machine through hell attaching a ten-foot tube to house a length of rope. Hopefully this will be sufficient to keep this bugger off the ground for three days.

I'll have to ask if there's a nearby hardware store just in case something goes terribly awry. I hope to avoid spending my trip to regionals standing on a ladder and holding up the quilt with my hands.

Tequila Mockingbird - by Ska Face

If you play derby, you've heard of Tequila Mockingbird. She skated for the Windy City Rollers as a member of The Fury, one of their home teams. On August 25th, 2007, she fell during a bout and suffered a serious spinal injury that left her unable to walk. Although she went through what all derby skaters fear, every photo I've seen of her shows her sporting a stunning smile. Through physical therapy and an incredible amount of perseverance and hard work, she has regained some movement in her limbs.

Ska Face, her teammate on The Fury, made this square in honor of her. I'm especially grateful to receive this contribution, as the quilt wouldn't be complete without it.

Tequila is still recovering, and her medical care is expensive. Please take a moment and go to www.helptequila.com and make a donation. We derby skaters (and refs, and fans) have to help each other out, eh?

Because my husband rocks

Here are some more photos from the show.

The Reception

Anyone who has ever exhibited knows the "I hope this works" feeling right as the doors open. Will people come? What if they can't find parking? What if they all went to the beach instead?

Well, they came.

Then more came.

Still more.

They brought their kids.

Even little ones.

Really little ones.

They brought their friends too.

Even ones on crutches.

They even brought flowers.

I have no idea how many people were there. People from every area of my life showed up. Tons of my teammates were there, and just as many Cosmos and Pissahs. Friends from before derby showed up. My in-laws were there. Friends from NHRD, PVRD, and CMRD came. Announcers, refs, and volunteers made it out. Potential freshmeat came. Derby widows from every team were there. BDD alumni came. My boss, a coworker, and even current and former students made it. 

At the end, when just derby people and close friends were left in the gallery, I tried to let everyone know that it was time to go home. They cheered "Dread Smash!" instead and clapped for me. Of course I cried. Seeing all these people at the show, in a place where there was absolutely NO parking, in a gallery where it had to be at least 90 degrees with no air circulation and hardly any space to stand.... it was simply incredible.

I'll post more photos as I get them. I also have some new squares to show off too. Please note, that although I showed the quilt last night, the project is far from over. I'm planning on adding more to it, so please keep sending me your contributions. Last night was wonderful, and I hope to keep quilting and exhibiting until I retire from derby. As long as my knees hold out, I hope that will be a long, long time from now.