Getting inspired by the Rat City Roller Girls

Maya and I had yesterday to ourselves. Sarah was on call at the hospital and the Green Bay Packers had their bye Week for the Season. With Fall in full swing - the weather in Seattle has been straight off a dorky postcard for the last month or so - we hit some of the normalish highlights for a lazy Sunday. Hot chocolate with lots of whipped cream at the Herk in the U-District. Plenty of time in the park - Ravenna Park, for the first time on my part, which is a great park if you ignore the homeless campers stopping in to bathe in the public restroom's sink just off the playground. But the real highlight of the day was a first for both of us. Roller Derby. Not amateurish, hipster silliness. No, I'm talking professionalish, hipster seriousness. Namely, Seattle's own Rat City Rollergirls had an all-star bout since their 5th Season ended recently with a loss at Regionals. There endeth all I knew about the Rollergirls before we went to the bout. But given how much Maya loved it, I expect that we'll be back more than once in Season 6.

For those that think they might have misread the above paragraph, yes, I am talking about old school roller derby where tough chicks skate on 4-wheeled skates around in a circle. Drew Barrymore's movie "Whip It" (which I've not yet seen) features the sort of league that the Rat City Rollergirls compete in. I won't even try to sum up the rules and the importance of the scoring. That would be like me trying to call a soccer match with no goals scored. I appreciate what they do, but I ain't no expert. For me, seeing Maya get all amped up cheering for these empowered grrrls was the draw. We even got to know one of the stars (Sarah who skates as Wile E. Peyote). We met her at her insanely hip skate shop in Wallingford earlier in the day. We had to go there to get tix. And, boy, is Maya glad we did. Wile E. was dominant in the bout, and Maya insisted we go talk to her in between periods. I told her that Maya was cheering specifically for her and Wile E. responded that "you gave me courage." Now THAT's how you get a girl fired up about sports. Maya wanted to go get skates as soon as the match was done last night at 7pm. They're expensive, but we'll figure something out because I don't want her to forget the excitement of seeing grown up grrrls playing hard and having fun. We should all be so lucky as the Rollergirls.

One quickie review - the new album on constant repeat for me this past week is the eponymous album from a British band named "The xx". Or the XX. Their music is as stripped down as their name. Their sound has a taste of P.J. Harvey mixed with a ton of other indie references that might not apply all covered with a drum kit and echo effects. Sound silly? Not at all. They're unique. And sexy. My rating - a solid B. Well worth a looksie.

Hope your own jammer is getting by those blockers with ease today. Rock on.