Roller Skating: Totes fun!

This week I didn't have a job, but instead of feeling bad and worrying about it, I went out and did pretty much all those great things I posted about in advance - to see if they were actually great. For you! The doing stuff odyssey began on Wednesday with "80s Roller Skating" at Long Beach Skateland in Stratford to support the dudes of derby, the CT Death Quads. Roller skating is fun anyway, in a retro, arrested development kind of way. Dressing 80s and doing it in the company of derby guys and gals made it that much cooler. The rink got pretty packed, and the guys put on a delicious bake sale as well. Check out the enthusiastic participation:

(Derby girls, including hoola hoop sensation LB)

(Friend-of-the-blog Jennifer is looking for any excuse to wear out her homemade Thundercats costume - please invite us to your 80s themed event)

(Katie Scenic as "your shitty metalhead boyfriend" - that costume was a real stretch!)

Roller Skating is fun precisely because it is so physically stupid - the invention of inline skates really should have rendered it obsolete, but current trends in nostalgia have deemed roller blading hella lame and elevated roller skating - especially in the context of roller derby - to obscenely cool status. I made do with my crappy rentals, managed not to take any spills, and felt sufficiently worked out after an hour and a half of skating. I'm not tempted try derby myself, but I will definitely participate in any more friendly skates, and I'm interested in checking out Rollerdurance for a fun fitness challenge in the future, though I can't find evidence of any upcoming events right now - it's like derby practice minus actually pounding on each other, though you need to wear pads and helmet to participate.

If we're still excited about roller skates after this week, we'll keep you posted about upcoming derby activities, like the CT Roller Girls 2011 Season Opener Double Header (March 5) or whatever the CT Death Quads get up to next.