Now I'm beat, part 2

After my nap I had to go back to the Convention Centre (actually just down the street from the hotel) for the last bout I was in. I think the 6.5 hour break was not a very good idea; I felt sluggish and it took me a while to warm up properly. It took me the entire previous bout (Pirates vs Ninjas) to warm up, and still I felt a bit bleh.

Speed Junkie helping out her jammer in one of the other bouts.

The last bout I was in was Rum Balls vs Fruitcake, and I was on team Fruitcake. (I'm surprised there weren't any jokes about balls that I heard.)

Oh yeah, speaking of balls, I forgot to say that this happened during the day as well:

It was right after the second bout; I have no idea what was going on but it was some kind of giant inflatable ball racing thing. I reckon this would be cool to do in a swimming pool. I didn't get a go though; there was already a huge line and I was still on skates (you had to wear your gear but not skates to have a go in the ball).

Anyway, third bout. It was set up like the second bout, with the benchie just allocating positions for people. I jammed a few times, but I felt pretty tired and I didn't do any big points-scoring laps (also I think by this time people were aware of who was used to jamming and would wall up MUCH more than they did for people just "trying out" and stuff). There was one jam where I didn't even score any points and got pummelled by the opposing team and it took me like 3 laps to get through the pack. Ugh. But yeah, I blocked a bit more there and I did some good, hard hits on people, and then usually got them busted for cutting because I scooted back and brought one of my teammates with me. But yeah, I was pretty happy just to block but not do any fancy shiz.

3/4 of Team Sparklebutt: Slam Gamgee, me, Shirley McSlain.
All our pants are different shades of sparkly yellow.
(Photo credit: Jugglenaut)

It also turned out that three other people on my team had bought gold or yellow derbyskinz during the day, so we made it such that we had a Team Sparklebutt lineup. It was really fun. And it was just hilarious because our strategy was basically just to stick our shiny butts into the opposing team's faces and let the camera flashes do the work. Of course, that wasn't REALLY our strategy, but it was fun anyway.

I also didn't pivot the entire day. The first bout I was more focused on just getting my jamming/blocking skills done, and the second bout I was only ever given the jammer panty when I was in the lineup. The third bout I was given the pivot panty, ONCE. And then on that jam when we went to line up I looked and the pivot was in the bin. FUCK. So then I had to rip the pivot panty off my helmet and throw it off the track, only I ended up throwing it at an opposing blocker, who of course was like WTF is this and then the whistle went and we had to kick the panty off the track. Whoops. But I had to do that because otherwise there'd be two pivots and WTF is that bizzo. Anyway, we lost that bout as well and I was so knackered at the end of it.

Protip for jamming: be fueled by the sheer terror of getting hit.
(Photo credit: Jugglenaut)

But then, afterparty! Only there was a little bit of clusterfuckery and the venue was at capacity so we couldn't even get to our own afterparty. And then they had a buffet but they ran out of food. But we ordered food at the bar and then Shirley brought me a beer which was nice of her. She was on my team and a really good, shouty pivot. Then there was a lot of 90s hip hop, and then some spoken word/rap thing which got weird very quickly (e.g. one of the rappers was talking about how when he was 9 he got raped by his babysitter and then there was another one where basically the entire rap was "fuck the police"). We were all super tired by that point, and just wanted to leave, so it seemed to be a good time to bounce.

The next day we loaded back into the car and drove home. But that was all pretty hard to do; I woke up and my joints were stiff as fuck and I could barely walk. Even now I have to pick up my legs with my hands to cross them or get up stairs because my legs are so sore. But yeah, now I've bouted, had a great time (thanks, RCR!!) and I met a whole bunch of super awesome people, and it's good to be home.