bettybruises

So
This Happened:




(The resizing on here sucks, so here's the link:
WFTDA 2012 Tournament Officials

What this means is my application was selected to work 2 of the Big 5 tournaments.
I applied for 3, the only one I wasn't selected for was Championships (this year :miao
My goals as an official for this year:
For myself-
1-Grow as an official (I have, but there is still room for more)
2-Get certified. This was put on hold because the WFTDA has restructured the certification process, for the better in my opinion. NSOs have 5 levels-like referees do, rather than the same test and certification but being eternally stuck at Level 1 because they don't skate. There is still time to achieve this goal this year. I just have to wait for the test to come out, I have all the evaluations I need and one letter of recommendation.
3-Get accepted to work one of the Big 5 tournaments. For those of you not involved in derby, this means I am working 2 of the four playoff tournaments--internationally (granted it's mostly teams from the US , but of the 40 teams participating in the regional playoff tournaments, London and Montreal will both be there, which makes it a worldwide tournament).
I CAN"T EVEN TELL YOU HOW EXCITED I AM ABOUT THIS!!!!


Also I am sooooo nervous! In a good way, but WHOA!!!! Little Betty gets to play with the big kids!!!!



In all seriousness, I've worked really hard for this and I am thrilled that enough people are impressed enough by how I have done at the various tournaments and games I have worked so far this year.
I started derby at the very beginning of January 2010.
In mid-February I broke my ankle.
In April I started officiating.
In November I started skating again.
On February 11 2011 I fractured my elbow (minor hairline fracture, but still)
I managed to survive this past Feb second week of February with no bones breaking
In March of last year I decided I was going to be the best effing NSO I could be, period.
In 2010, I worked 9 games from May-October
In 2011, I worked 31 games (1 tournament)
To date, this year, I have worked 49 games (after this weekend it will be 51, by the time I go to work Westerns, it will be 54, and by the time I finish this year I imagine I will be close to 75-80 games in one year).
In less that 3 years, I imagine I will have worked somewhere around 120 games.
There are only 52 weeks in a year.
I must love this, because I don;t get paid to do it and I keep going back for more.

Also, this year is the first year I have started to understand why officials burn out so quickly, and why 5-7 years seems to be the average shelf-life of a roller derby official.
That's not me bitching, it's just realizing how much you put into it and how draining it can be.

Still, I am so so excited about this.
If someone told me 3 years ago that I would be this excited to wear a fucking pink polo shirt, I NEVER would have believed them.

Also, on a completely unrelated note:
I got a new kitty.

And he's naked and looks like a wrinkly old man that is judging me: