Editions of Me

Rollercon 2011 Recap

In a little less than 12 hours, I will be on my way to the airport to fly to ROLLERCON in Las Vegas! I have been uber-excited for the last couple of weeks, and ESPECIALLY the last couple of days, since the scrimmage. For the first time, I really feel like I've stepped solidly through the Doorway of Derby - I've finally overcome the hurdle of passing the Minimum Skills Test, which has taken me a year and a half to do, I've found a league that I love DEARLY and have no misgivings about whatsoever, and I've COMPETED for the first time (not a bout, but not 15 minutes at the end of practice either - there were refs and NSOs and stuff!) I finally feel like I am ON MY WAY, and now I just have to bust my ass to make the bout roster for November. Anyway, so I'm leaving tomorrow for Rollercon, which is a huge, week-long derby extravaganza with bouts, challenges, seminars, on- and off-skates athletic training, social events, and vendors. I had figured out a schedule in...

Having passed all my skating minimum skills means that I am eligible to compete in scrimmages, so at the last minute (literally, a few days ago), I decided to just go ahead and sign up for the mixed black and white scrimmage hosted by the B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls (for all intents and purposes, the big girls of this region, having been around the longest and competed nationally and all that - the league we ALL aspire to be!) at their warehouse in Oakland. BAD headquarters A mixed b&w scrimmage is where women from any other league who is scrimmage-eligible can show up, and are divided into two teams, black and white. At this scrimmage specifically, we were divided up into beginner, intermediate, and advanced, so while I was still SO nervous that I was on the verge of puking all Saturday morning, I at least did not have to worry about being hit by the likes of Brawllen Angel or Demanda Riot, two of BAD's all-star blockers who scare the crap out of me. So yes, I was terrif...

I have now passed ALL of the physical/skating skills on the WFTDA Minimum Skills Test!!! Yay!!! However, I failed the written rules test by two points, so I'll have to re-test that one next month. (Oh, irony! I'm usually the one who WRITES tests, not takes them!)

I'm trying out a whole bunch of looks using UD's new 15th Anniversary palette. (I wish it had a shorter, more convenient name!) - UDPP Original - Flow  all over the lid - MIA  in the crease - Vanilla  on the browbone - UD eye pencil in Corrupt  along the upper lash line - Bare Escentuals Buxom Lash mascara

I've been drooling over Junkshow since I first saw Temptalia's swatch :) - UDPP Original - Junkshow on the inner half of lid - Omen on the outer half of lid - Evidence in the crease and on the outer V - Vanilla  on the browbone - UD eye pencil in Binge along upper lash line - UD eye pencil in Ransom along lower lash line - UD Supercurl mascara

It's here, it's here! The new 15th Anniversary Palette from Urban Decay!!! It's sleek and pretty, and has ALL new colors! I can't wait to start playing with it!

A pretty purpley NARS duo that I've had a while - I totally THOUGHT I had already posted a look with it, but my search returns nothing, so here it is! - UDPP Original - Sugarpill Tako on the inner third of the lid - NARS Jolie Poupee matte purple (on the left of the compact) on the outer two thirds of the lid - NARS Jolie Poupee shimmer purple (on the right of the compact) in the crease - Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Liner pen along the upper lash line - UD eye pencil in Ransom topped with the Jolie Poupee shimmer purple along the lower lash line - UD eye pencil in Zero lightly along the lower waterline - MAC Prep+Prime Lash topped with Bare Escentuals Buxom Lash mascara in Blackest Black

Wet ‘n’ Wild Juicy Lip Balms Are A Win!

Temptalia recently posted a review of Urban Decay's Peace Deluxe eye shadow . I have to admit, though I've had the color a while, I've never given it much thought because it IS a rather bright blue, but the review inspired me to give it a try, so here are two easy Peace-based looks I came up with: Please excuse my shiny skin. It's summer. - UDPP Original - UD shadow pencil in Clinic on the outer 2/3 of the eyelid - UD deluxe shadow in Peace on the inner half of the eyelid (overlapping with Clinic) - UD eye pencil in Zero along the upper lash line - UD Supercurl mascara - UDPP Original - UD deluxe shadow in Peace all over the eyelid - UD Goddess in the crease - UD Piccadilly to blend the line (it's actually a discontinued color - it's a pale, pale teal) - UD eye pencil in Binge along the upper lash line - UD Supercurl mascara

UD launched their fall collection today , and OH MAN, there is so much good stuff! Among them are new Urban Lashes, a brand new cage-less eyelash curler, a growth-serum mascara, and brow markers. Below are the ones I'm MOST excited about: 24/7 Waterproof Liquid Liner!!! This is one product I will buy multiple shades of: Sephora-exclusive Super Saturated High Gloss Lip Color: And the piece de resistance, that I woke up at 7:30 this morning and went straight to my laptop to order: The 3rd of their 15th anniversary items - a palette with ALL NEW exclusive shadows!!!! Urban Decay NEVER releases palettes with all new colors (at most, I've seen them do 50/50), so this is SUPER exciting. And the colors are gorgeous too - I'm most excited about the colors in the middle column :) I am SO looking forward to creating some looks with this thing. And it's just beautiful to look at, besides. I've been staring at photos since Temptalia announced it yesterday.

I re-tested jumps tonight at practice and PASSED!!!! That means I've passed everything except shoulder checks (which we are all testing on Thursday) and the dreaded written test (which is a week from tomorrow - better get studying!)

Finished! This is the Beloved Shawl from the Stitch Nation website. My goal was to knit a lacy shawl, and I did - though, I did choose a worsted weight one :) Having slaved over this one, I have TREMENDOUS respect for the knitters who can knit those ginormous, complex shawls using lace weight yarn. I did decide to end the shawl early - instead of doing the full bottom edging, I just stopped after row 6, knit two rows, and bound off. I really just wanted to be done. It's really more of a shawl-ette. But, I did it!

I've been remiss in my beauty posts lately - it's summer break, so I've been pretty much staying home all day every day except for when I go to derby stuff. So I've been very busy with derby. Tonight was PRG's SKATE HOP fundraiser event, and it was 50's-themed. I've never been a poodle skirts kind of gal, so I went for pinup girl instead: A very simple look: - UDPP Original - Sugarpill Chromalust in Lumi all over the lid - Stila Stay All Day Waterproof liquid liner in black, flicked up at the ends. (But first I used UD's eye pencil in Gunmetal to draw a guide line. Then I just traced over it with the liquid liner.) - MAC Prep+Prime Lash - UD Supercurl mascara - UD Afterglow Cheek Tint in Greedy - MAC lip pencil in Brick - MAC lipstick in Russian Red

PRG skated in Redwood City's 4th of July parade today and it was AWESOME! You know, we're a pretty new league - we're still recruiting, trying to grow and establish our presence in our area, so I was SO pleased at all the cheering we got. I guess the title of my post should be "Everyone loves a rollergirl" :) What felt awesome was hearing, at random points, "I WANT TO BE A ROLLERGIRL!" with such awe and excitement - I felt like we got to be heroes today :) I hope that our being there inspired at least a few people to strap on some skates!

I was a NERVOUS WRECK going into tonight's testing. SHAKING IN MY BOOTS. Why? Because I knew that tonight was the night of the dreaded... 25 in 5 !!!! It is the five most grueling minutes of my life as a derby skater. 25 laps around the track in 5 minutes. It is hard, near-all-out sprinting, and is probably the most formidable part of the Min Skills test for a lot of new skaters. (I'm guessing that those who've already passed it don't really quiver at the mention of its name anymore.) You THINK that 5 minutes doesn't sound too bad, but you know, in addition to practically sprinting, your body still has to hold you up on your 8 wheels. And the whole going around in circles thing makes it kind of tedious too, so you have that mental hurdle as well. It has been the one thing that I've never successfully done. EVERYTHING else on the Min Skills test, I've done many times at practices, but finishing the 25 in 5 has been my archnemesis ever since I started. T...