Audrey's Oubliette

So what’s in a number? It is used as a way to measure something. That way you can know how much more or less something is. In roller derby the WFTDA (Women’s Flat Track Derby Association) has a set of skills you must pass in order to be bout ready. One of those tests is to skate 25 laps on the derby track in 5 minutes or less, commonly called 25 in 5. I already passed my assessments back in Sept 2009, but every few weeks I try the 25 in 5 just to see where I am. It is one of the few things in roller derby in which you can easily measure your progress.

Now I am not saying that speed is the most important thing in derby, for I feel it isn’t. Speed helps but maneuverability, awareness, taking and giving hits, etc are far higher on my list of important skills in derby. Of course speed does help when you are a jammer, but a slower jammer that is better at the other skills can make it through the pack quicker than a fast jammer that is not as good at those other skills. Plus your pack blockers greatly determine how easy or difficult it is to get through a pack. But I am getting side tracked.

Anyhow, last night at practice I did the 25 in 5 in 3 minutes and 42 seconds or an average of 8.88 seconds per lap. That beat my previous best time of 3.47 which I set roughly a month ago. It was a nice surprise as I didn’t expect to get close to my 3.47. Maybe that is what helped. I wasn’t going into it trying to beat my time of 3.47, I was just skating. Well that and also trying to keep pace with one of our fastest skaters in the league, which she came in at 3.39. Though I think she can still skate faster than that. I remember 8 months ago when I was a newbie trying to skate in under 4.30 and hope to be able to one day make it in under 4.00. So this is my brief moment to go, “Hell Yeah!”. Now I set my next goal to skating the 25 in 5 in under 3.40 and striving for 3.35.

A little over a month ago I got my first derby injury that was more than a bruise. Our league was in Raleigh skating at the a scrimmage-a-thon put on by the Carolina Rollergirls. Well the day had been going well and I skated in two scrimmages earlier. So I was joining in some derby drills to learn something new and pass the afternoon waiting for my final scrimmage later that evening.

Of course a simple drill goes ends up going wrong. I took a hit and went down, falling on my knee and elbow pads like you normally would. Well after hitting the concrete my elbow pads ended up sliding out from under me and my chin decided to kiss the concrete…really hard. At first I thought I had just bruised it, but it did sting. That is when I noticed the blood, more than just a little scratch. So I sat on the concrete dripping blood from my chin as they called over the paramedics. The paramedics said I needed to get stitches. Off to urgent care I went. I ended up with 13 stitches, 6 internal and 7 external. This is the first time I have ever had stitches. I was told after I left they had to get something to clean up the blood and had little bio hazard signs posted around the spot. That made me laugh. I wasn’t able to skate in the late scrimmage, go figure, but we did kick butt and win it.

Well it has been a month later and here is a photo of what my chin looks like now. It healed rather well and over time it should fade more. I can still feel what I call a “bean” under the skin. I am guessing it is scar tissue and the internal stitches. Hopefully that will go down in size even more. Over the month is has gone down about 2/3 the size. All in all I consider myself lucky that I didn’t fracture or break my jaw. Hopefully this will be the worst derby injury I ever get.

So this is my second bout poster for the Charlotte Roller Girls. I had to knock this one out pretty quickly while also working on our bout program layout for the 3.08.10 bout. In the end I think it turned out pretty nice. It is busier than I would have liked. Though being a double header I had more info than usual that I had to put on the poster. I think my Illustrator skills are improving. I have a number of the quick keys down now and I am finding myself wishing Freehand had this or that tool or feature like Illustrator when I am using FH at work.

This poster was easier to design since I already had elements finished, like the header that is now going to be used on all posters and bout programs. Plus I had converted all the sponsor logos to vector art last time. I need to start thinking about the next poster I will have to get done by the 4.10.10 bout. I want to try and go with something a bit different style wise. But who knows. I do have certain criteria that has to be met, the logo at the top, all the sponsors, bout/ticket info, each team playing must have their official logo, plus the image has to show real derby action. Something that people see and know it is roller derby. I hope you like it.

On an entirely different note I am liking the new layout options for blog posts, go Wordpress.

Well I am going to attempt to get back to writing on my blog about general things I have been up to. So my blog will move away from focusing mainly on gaming stuff. Though it will appear from time to time.

Since joining the Charlotte Roller Girls I have been doing some graphics for the league. Mainly laying out the bout programs and some team roster pages, etc. Well this year the committee I am on has taken over getting the bout posters made. I was asked if I wanted to take on designing them. I agreed as I would like the challenge, plus it gives me a chance to get to know Illustrator better. Work is still using FreeHand and it is a dead program since Adobe bought them a few years back and it will eventually stop running on the Mac OS.

The poster is being printed as four color process and not screen printed as spot colors so I was able to use almost anything I wanted in Illustrator. That was nice change since at work everything is screen printed and you have to design stuff with that in mind. There is a bit of a learning curve since I have only used Illustrator for basic things. Overall I think I am going to like using Illustrator more. There certainly are a ton more artistic options. I just need to get the quick keys down and not mix them with FreeHand. Well enough rambling for now, here is the poster.

So some of you have probably noticed that I have left my poor little blog abandoned for quite sometime. Well at the beginning of this year I finally got around to going to watch my local roller derby team, Charlotte Roller Girls. I really liked it. Then after watching a few bouts I got this crazy idea to go to one of their meet and greets at the end of April about joining the league. I figured I might like it and maybe I could be a ref or something. I had been a bit burnt out on gaming and wanted a little break. Figuring I could help out with derby once a week.

Fast forward roughly 6 months and here I am, consumed by the sport called roller derby. It took me by surprise that I would love it so much. So the once a week got upped to 2-3 times a week at practice, plus events. I did skate as a ref for a bit, but now I have passed assessments and I am skating on the B-dazzlers team for the Charlotte Roller Girls. As you can tell by my blog this has left me with very little time for anything else.

So unfortunately my various gaming projects are still on my desk waiting for me to return. I have no desire to quit gaming and have managed to play two games in six months. I do miss it and think about it. But for now the rush of adrenaline and desire for speed is winning out. But don’t lose hope. I will update the blog and continue on at some point. I just can’t say exactly when it will be.

Here is a picture of me jamming at a recent bout.

Obviously I haven’t been updating my blog much lately and this one isn’t anything exciting. My Cold Wars trip, and subsequently games, has been canceled. Generally a group of my friends all go to the HMGS cons together to help defer the cost. Unfortunately the group going to Cold Wars fell apart due to other responsibilities and such. I am sorry about having another convention cancellation. But that is the nature of going to the HMGS conventions since they are 8 hours away for me. Again I apologize to those that signed up for my game. But at least with the bit of extra time I now have I can put it towards working on the last core pieces of the rules.

Well I have submitted my games for Cold Wars. I am taking a slight departure from the normal modern Forsaken game and setting this one during WWII. I am not running two different games at Cold Wars. I am trying to spend my time on moving the rules development along by not taking on convention games that require as much prep time. Granted setting the game in a different era has still generated a fairly large “to paint” list for myself. I am looking forward to running the game for players.

Operation: Cerberus – 13th July, 1944 France
F-396 Friday 7pm & S-397 Saturday 1pm

Recent intelligence has revealed the mysterious German division Das Geheimnisvolles Korp are working on a secret Project:Die Ladung. Intelligence is cryptic but there are references to bringing back the dead and summoning spirits. The DGK are setup at a chateau in the French countryside. The Allied Forces have been forced to execute Operation Cerberus, sending in a specially trained force. Their objective is to eliminate the threat before it can be used to halt the Allied advance, or worse.

Fall In was a great con this year. I had full games each time and the players seemed to enjoy the games. I was thrilled to have the Shellendrak Manor (by Worlds Works Games) finished and ready for gaming. Both games ran smoothly and I enjoyed changing up the games from a zombie game to a ghost hunt. My blog entry here has the descriptions of the games I ran.

Unfortunately I was so caught up in running the games that I did not get many photos. Hopefully you like what you do see.

Under Projects (to the right–>) you will find journal entries about the trial and tribulations of building Shellendrak Manor with foam core. It has been a while but I have gotten back to working on it and I added an update about working on the roof/attic.

Well Fall is just around the corner and with it comes two conventions I plan on going to. They are Southern Front (Raleigh, NC) Sept 26th-28th and Fall In (Gettysburg, PA) November 7th-9th. I will be running two different scenarios of Forsaken at the conventions. Here are the games and times for both conventions.

Southern Front (Raleigh, NC) Sept 26th-28th

Friday 7pm Apocalypse… now?
In a previous mission, your elite team of operatives was able to successfully acquire a sample of a virus that turned the majority of the population of Providence City into a flesh-eating undead horde. Top secret internal documents from the Lazarus Corporation’s warehouse were also recovered during the mission revealing the bizarre and depraved experiments that lead to the virus’ outbreak. This information has helped pinpoint the origin of what is now being called the Resurrection or R-virus. Epidemiologists have determined the “hot zone” location as a private mansion owned by the reclusive Cyrus St. Lazare, founder of the Lazarus Corporation. Once more, the various talents of your special operatives are required. Your mission is to infiltrate the St. Lazare mansion and recover any important documentation and/or, if possible, a cure for the Resurrection virus. Once this objective has been achieved, the St. Lazare mansion must be destroyed along with any remaining evidence that cannot be secured and removed by your team.

Saturday 8pm Haunting of Raithe Manor
A group of young ghost hunters have been hired by a mysterious benefactor to investigate Raithe Manor. Usually, all their investigations into the paranormal reveal that the events were staged. But this time seems different. Locals say the abandoned manor is truly haunted. The story goes, that since old man Raithe died under mysterious circumstances, anyone foolish enough to enter the manor has never been seen or heard from again. Perhaps the four ghost hunters and their dog can prove otherwise.

Fall In (Gettysburg, PA) November 7th-9th

Friday 7pm Apocalypse… now?
See description above.
F-140 table IK2 in the main ball room.

Saturday 3pm Haunting of Raithe Manor
See description above.
S-141 table IK2 in the main ball room.