Experience #45
Theme: tough chicks-Roller derby!
How to play: Two teams of five players each are on the starting line. The jammers for each team are in the back, and start after the rest of her team skates off. The whole goal is for the jammer to lap everyone on this oval track and begin scoring points. For every opponent a jammer passes, she scores a point. All the while, the other four players, called blockers, are trying to knock their opponents down to make it harder for the opposing jammer and easier for their own jammer to score. At the starting line, the blocker with the striped helmet is the pivot. This position guides the speed of her blockers, paying attention to where her and the other team's jammer is. The pivot might signal for her team to skate faster, so it is harder for the other team's jammer to catch up to the pack and thus score before the clock runs out. The pivot might signal for her team to slow down if she sees her own jammer is trying to catch up to the pack. Jammers wear the star helmet. As the whistle blows to start play, the jammers wait until the rest of the pack gets 20 feet ahead. Then the jammers race off, trying to be the first to get through. The jammer who does get through the pack first is the lead jammer. Only the lead jammer can call off the jam before the clocks ends. The advantage to being the lead jammer is obvious: you can call off play if you are tired, and calling off the jam prevents the other team from scoring. Of course, the lead jammer can strategically let the clock tick, skating around and racking up more points before the three minutes allotted for each jam elapses.
So now you know the basics of roller derby. The costumes are wild the player's names tongue and cheek, and the crowd a bit rowdy. All good fun! The Eves of Destruction event featured the junior teams: the Rotten Apples vs the Candy Crushers. They were fearless. The main event saw the Belles of the Brawl vs the Margarita Villains. They were tattooed mamas that were obviously fit and ready to rumble. Joining us at this event were Chris, Shawn and Chantelle.Experience #46
Theme: Food-Food fight!
My friend Jack, who's 10, suggested this event. I thought it might be freeing of the constraints of proper manners at the dinner table. My parent, God love them, were neat freaks. (This is why I'm the way I am!) An example of this is that they often took out the little vacuum to pick up crumbs at the breakfast table, while the family was still eating! So flinging mashed potatoes to one of my brothers was definitely out of the question.
Alison suggested we use her yard. She and her family have recently moved into this beautiful home in Sooke. She invited her neighbours as a form of meet and greet. Well, It was fabulous. All came and participated, no injuries or upsets occurred. We started off with the egg throw; all was good until Don hit Alison in the face with the raw egg. Peas, spaghetti, pudding, and Jello started to fly. Goop was applied to faces, inserted into shirts; people slipped and ran around squealing and having a great time. The grand finally was the pie throw. I sat on a chair and got pies tossed at me, mmmmmm whip cream...Don had set up a hose from his kitchen sink so we had warm water to hose each other to do a preliminary clean before going in for our shower. If you are planning a party and have plastic tarps and a grassy spot-try a food fight. It is quick and easy to prep and soooo much fun!
