I am on cloud nine after tonight's practice.  This, after five hours' sleep last night, a long day in a cube, co-worker's retirement party, and emergency trip to Meijer because I forgot to pack practice clothes when I left the house this morning.  I wound up with a sport skirt from Meijer (and some herbed cheese with fancy crackers for the retirement party), so practice started off a little odd right from the start, what with me all skirted and feeling conspicuously girlie.  In fact, I forgot to take off my work jewelry, and halfway through practice Flaishans noticed and started calling me Donna Reed.

The DJ on the radio just now said as he was leaving his shift before midnight, "Pabst, you can go to bed now, you've had a long day." I'm pretty sure he did, anyway. So let me just bullet-point the five Disneyland-esque fabulous things from tonight's practice.  And then, I will float off to sleep on waves of euphoria... and thoughts of that cute DJ.

• The Stabbing Pain From My Right Skate Is GONE!  It's hard to convey the pain I've endured from my right skate all this time.  Since I bought them--and everyone said I just needed to be patient, break them in, etc.  So I've been trying to be patient.  But an hour into skating, I become the little mermaid, willing to feel as if she's walking on slivers of glass just for the privilege of walking on land--for me, the privilege of skating.  It's been this one particular spot, and the pain increases and increases and by two hours into skating, eventually some maneuver I'll make causes just the regular pain to suddenly supernova into my entire being and I fight blacking out and puking.  TONIGHT... Stan the amazing man used a heat gun to stretch the boot of my right skate in the affected area, and... NO MORE PAIN!!!  He did it at the end of the night, when the pain was already bad, and when I put that skate back on and hit the floor, dudes, the No Pain Factor felt like... Christmas. Chocolate. Heaven. A dream. Falling in love.  Too good to be true!  I could've skated another six hours.  So yes, this is ***huge news*** for me and my skating.  Finally, my skates feel like my little buddies down there on my feet.  I can't wait for practice Wednesday.
• Backward Crossovers!  Yep, I did crossovers skating backwards tonight.  I can't believe it, either.  Maybe it was the presence of new veterans with us, inspiring us to make leaps in our progress.  Maybe it was Coach Slyde's instruction.  Maybe it was the skirt.  But it happened, I lived it, and it felt amazing.  God do I want to be a strong, skilled skater.  One step closer tonight.
• Keeping My Feet Underneath Me  Okay, I'm not skilled enough to get the terminology right on this one, but Coach explained that we need to keep our feet underneath us, as in, underneath our core--that our box of power or something like that comes from this.  Sounds funky, I know, but something just clicked and I *got it* and once I did and started skating that way, I FINALLY felt a sturdy sense of balance that has been lacking in my skating.  Not to mention that it made me pick up speed like crazy.  The sturdiness is what I've been working on for some time, so this is huge for me.  I feel like it's a break-through, a turning point, in my skating.
• I Can't Remember Number Four  So I'll just restate that the absence of pain in my right foot is like gaining wings.
• The Air Was Crisp And Cool Driving Home!  Our rink is not air conditioned.  We have been practicing in August.  In a very, very, very hot and sickeningly humid August.  The air conditioning in my car has been broken all summer.  It's as disgusting and miserable as you can possibly imagine, driving home sopping wet from two hours of work and sweat covered in pads and a helmet, with nothing but hot, thick wind through the window all the way home.  Tonight, on top of everything so wonderful, I was covered by waves of crisp, cool air all the way home, and this was a beautiful, luxurious, sanity-restoring thing.  

If I can remember Number Four later, I'll edit this post.  But I wanted to get all this down while I was still freshly giddy from the experience.  I love roller derby.  I love our league.  I love that I'm getting better at something that takes hard work to get better at.  I love that my league supports each other so wholeheartedly.  And I really love that we are putting in the work to become strong, skilled skaters.  It will make the eventual "play" of our bouts all the more fun... ;)