If you ever want to come to terms with your own morality, go to an open skate night at a rink that is hosting a fundraiser for a Church's youth group. There had to be 200 people there tonight, and well over half were under 4'5"... all of which had been cooped up indoors all day, fed a hearty dose of caffeine, and then turned loose like a pack of wild hyenas. Hyenas with wheels on their feet.
Some rinks have established rules- go this direction only, unless told otherwise. Fast to the inside (or vice versa). Do the jam skating and other fancy stuff to the inside, or whatever. Rules.
This is not that rink.
I don't handle change well, if it's not a change I'm hoping for. I'm stubborn that way. 90% of my skating experience lately (which is most of my skating experience, truthfully) has consisted of some variation of "skate with grownups, hopefully go fast, turn left." My initial gut reaction to the crowd and chaos was "nothing good shall come of this." Then one of the girls said something about it being an exercise in observation, and my gears thankfully shifted. I stopped worrying so much about speed and technique and keeping up with somebody specific and instead tried to pay more attention to things like who was where, what was moving, and which child was gunning for me and figuring out evasive techniques that didn't involve falling down... and it turned out to be a good exercise. Roller Derby is about those things, too, and although in an ideal world nobody is just going to run across the track mid-jam, being aware of things that are out of the ordinary is probably a great skill to have.
And speaking of the girls- after practice, I went for a drink with two of my teammates and it turned into a great bonding experience! All around, a good night, and a nice start to the festivities that will usher in my favorite holiday of the year.
I'm a happy girl tonight... happy, but tired.
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