Gimp Girl!

Since having started skating with Sacred City Derby Girls, or SCDG, I have learned A LOT! I've learned proper technique and have really started to hone my skills and I think I'm getting a lot better. My balance is better, my stride, my pace.. I just suck at my falls. I can take a knee pretty well, but when it comes to the harder falls, like baseball slides and four point falls, I seem to need a little more work around the edges.. In fact, I need so much work that I'll be doing the next six weeks off skates. Yep, no skates.. Want to know why?

I partially dislocated my shoulder during practice. It really sucks, actually, but it makes for a great conversation starter with perfect strangers.
Last monday we were practicing our 4-Point falls, which is where you land on both knees with control and then land on your wrists. I was really having difficulty landing with control and instead just kept plopping on my knees which could eventually lead to some bad knee injuries. One of my coaches, Sassy Longlegs, encouraged me to try to land with better control so as to avoid injury. And then one of my teammates suggested that it's easier to fall and pop back up when you have some more speed.
Of course, I'm always game to try new things, so I tried pushing my strides through the apex of the turn a little harder to gain some more speed before I got to the miniature orange cones marking where I needed to fall. After this point, my memory is a little cloudy, so if you were there please chime in!
I plop one knee down and am about to put down my second knee when I start to lose my balance. At this point, it should have been easy to complete the fall successfully, but I somehow managed to land on my shoulder instead of my wrists, and my body was facing the wrong direction.. I fell backwards onto my shoulder instead of forward onto my wrists, my face against the sport court. I heard my coach ask if I was alright as I slowly started to realize what was happening.
"Ow! No!" I tried to push my body upright to get off the track so that the next pair of skaters could practice, but my right arm wasn't responding at all. A shooting pain coursed through my shoulder and I realized it was dislocated. "I can't move my arm!"
"Just breathe, Cheryl. Just breathe," Sassy said as she skated towards me. I heard her tell my other coach, RoseVillain, something but I didn't understand it. "Can you roll onto your back?"
I pushed my left arm under my body and grabbed my right with it. I slowly picked it up and rolled over onto my back. As my shoulder blade began to lay into the sport court, I felt my shoulder roll back into its socket. It reminded me of dipping a chicken wing into a very thick dip with a small bowl, suctioned to the dip so it lifts the bowl as you pull it out.. That's the kind of squishy suction it was. It's not an amazing metaphor, but it suits me.
Anyway, after I felt it go back in, I told my coaches it was back and I could actually move it again. I should have been glad, but my eyes watered and dripped down the sides of my face, especially when Sassy said I was done skating for the day.
She and RoseVillain took my helmet and skates off for me and they got a length of cloth to make me a sling. I was offered several car rides home but I was convinced that I could get there on my own. And I did, even though it was a little difficult.
I called in sick at work early the next morning and went to see a doctor.
The doctor put me in a sling for 6 days and gave me an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon. The orthopedic surgeon announced that I have no torn muscles, but, just to be safe, he wants me to wear a brace for 6 weeks and put me on light duty at work.
I tried for almost a week to convince myself and my manager that I could still work, afraid of what disability might do to me. Less pay, more laziness.. I abhor being lazy these days. Sure, relaxing once in a while is always a good idea. But I spent almost 2 years of my life being lazy, and I've kind of grown to hate that time of my life.
So I called corporate and they told me that I could work if my doctors note of ability met the minimum requirements for my job description, but that the decision ultimately lies with my manager, who doesn't want me to work. The representative promised to email me and mail me the list of job requirements that day, but she never did. Fail.

So while I waited for my important documents to arrive in my email box, my sister, Tabitha, was having trailer issues in Stockton, which is only about an hour from me. So I jumped in my car early friday morning and drove out to see her, even though I only expected to see her for about 15 minutes. Since she started trucking school, I've barely gotten to see so much as a text message from her, so I was very excited to see her!
I got down there and shortly after arriving we found out she had 5 hours free, which is practically unheard of in trucker tongue. So I took her and the other trainee who's been with her this whole time out to lunch at a fantastic little hole in the wall mexican joint in Manteca called Taqueria La Costa. It was pretty much amazing, as I would expect any truly authentic looking and smelling establishment to be.

Then we went into a thrift store, then to Walmart, and eventually to a Halloween City. It wasn't the best time to be had, but any amount of time with my sister at this point is cherished, so I still enjoyed it, even though I got a little cranky..
We ended up spending nearly 10 hours together, which was pretty amazing and I was very excited! But I had to go home and get some sleep to help with my team rummage sale the next morning, so I said goodbye and tried to get home as fast as I could.. Ended up getting caught by the police and ticketed for speeding.. But I deserved, and the officer was nice enough to change the speed I admitted to going to something I could still go to Traffic School for. I just keep reminding myself that God caught me sinning, and He decided that I need to help my state get out of debt..

The next morning I got up to drive to Sacramento to help out at the rummage sale. Since I'm in a brace, I wasn't very useful feeling so I volunteered to help a few other girls wave at passing drivers on the corner of our street. I'm pretty incapable of waving a sign, so I just stood near one and pointed to it every so often. I actually had a blast standing out there waving to complete strangers with my arm strapped to my stomach for 2 hours. It was hot, and oddly exhausting, but it was awesome! I ended up sticking around a little longer than I was scheduled to, and ended up having a little bonding time with some of my 'big girl' teammates. We call them big girls because they are a part of the roster teams, which means that they're awesome enough on skates to be able to knock your socks off. I'm still a freshie, as I say, because I'm a complete noob on skates. I'm sure you didn't need to be reminded of that after taking a look at the super attractive blue strap I have on..

After the rummage sale on saturday I went to a barbecue way out in Sheridan, which is kind of a cow town and off of some county roads, but I actually enjoyed the 40 minute drive. Ate some amazing food, which turned out to be a competition amongst friends, and had a lot of fun with a bunch of my brothers random friends that I hardly know. I also got to hang out with his girlfriend, Stephanie, some so that was good, too, of course. It was awesome. Oh, and there was free beer. How could I possibly turn down a free beer? Don't worry, I only had one because I had to go home at some point.

So that's my week, pretty much. :)