A Most Stunning Weekend Recap

Friday night, I hit the Centaur float loading party with a few of the derby girls in search of the Grand Marshall so we could find out where we were in the lineup.  I'm curious as to how the Krewe actually gets any WORK done at said party, but that's beside the point.  We wondered around, didn't find the Grand Marshall but we did have a good time.  We climbed onto not one but TWO floats, and dude - anybody who is doing parades NOT on a huge float with a bar in the back is obviously doing Mardi Gras wrong.  I'm not going to go join a Krewe or anything, seeing as I wish to keep my 14.827 minutes of weekly free time all to myself but I'm going to have to find a way to bribe myself onto one of those floats eventually.  Somebody should get on my plan for that.  And then we went to a bar and skated in the bar so we could play with our outdoor wheels a bit, and it was good.

Anyway- Saturday morning we got the van, got to downtown, got our spot in line as # 72 and #73, and put on our skates to try out outdoor skating (since most of us hadn't actually done that yet).  It was fun.  Rolling around to the floats was a blast, and not just because the gypsies had jello shots.  Then we decorated our van, and then we waited. And waited. Being more than halfway back in the lineup got us on the road around 6:15, and off the road around 10:30ish, I think. 

Thoughts on parade skating:  The family section was great.  People were giving us beads and high-fiving and interacting nicely with us. A few mommas called us names that were a bit unsavory but nothing got out of hand. Then we went down the steep gravelly hill into the "adult" section and it wasn't nearly so fun.  People were harassing us to give them things (we weren't allowed to throw beads since we weren't a Krewe vehicle), getting into the road with us, slowing us down, cutting in front of the van that was trying to keep all of us in its headlights, and interacting in a not-as-nice way.  Also- with 70+ groups ahead of us, a lot of trash was on the road. I got a trinket's plastic bag wrapped around my axle and went down pretty hard on my knees, then was "assisted" by a drunk man with a pocket knife- good times.  Lots of beads/ beer bottles/ trash in general littered the road by the time the parade was reaching the halfway point and it didn't get better.  Also- 5.25 miles is a LONG way when you're dodging trash and drunk people.  We've got a plan for making a better parade experience for next year, though. My plan personally involves nightsticks and getting Mouse to make us a few stun guns out of disposable cameras. 

Oh, and in the interest of full disclosure, I didn't skate the entire distance. About a half a mile from the end I went to shoes so I could help try to prevent incidents (and because my toes were quite angry with me).  I so should have been a bouncer. I think I missed my calling.

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So, we got home at Midnight from the parade, and even though Mouse was at the house did not really hang out with her at all. I took a bath, counted my bruises, and went to sleep hard. We'd brilliantly scheduled a 10 AM scrimmage with The Vixens for Sunday morning to run through NSOs and stuff.  I was surprised that I was both on time and not dead.  The roommate (whose new derby name is Bee-lz-Buzz) had his NSO staff ready to go and I think we did a good dry run.  Now we just have to do it again in front of all 650 spectators to whom we've sold tickets for this bout and try not to puke in the process. 

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Monday I had to silence my cell phone because every 14 seconds I had another Facebook notification.  Seriously- I'm not sure when I've ever felt so freakin' loved ever.  I have the greatest people ever, and some of the little personalized birthday wishes just totally rocked my world.  And THEN! My cats sent me flowers. And THEN! Then my derby peeps brought me a cookie cake and a lovely card and a gift card AND a 12-pack of Woodchuck Cider, which just goes to show that they know that the way to my heart is by being filtered through my liver first... So the day ended on a very nice, very good, happy sort of note.

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And now it is Tuesday, I've got my office door closed so I can listen to Tom Petty loudly without disturbing anyone, I've got a lunch date at noon and tomorrow is a vacation day. Life, it is good.