Skippin'

 I am happy to report that my Thursday night Skipping debut went pretty well. Final score of 9-2 in 7 ends. We won and we all had a lot of fun. Team Clog and Bash are blast to play against. They have a lot of fun together and are pretty hilarious. They are among some of my favorite people at the club.



I'm totally loving the red #7 rock on sheet A. That rock can do no wrong.

 I have determined that I don't like to Skip. Too nerve wracking. I was too tense all the time; I ended up giving myself a head/neck ache. While it was a lot of fun, you can't really let loose since you have to be the one in control and you may be the one that has to bail your team out. I leaned on the Husband and our usual Skip a little, mainly because I'm a little iffy on the strategy. But I learned a lot and I have a lot respect for the good skips at our club. Plus - it's too damn cold to play Skip! I was wearing two pairs of pants AND two shirts under my jacket AND I was still chilly.

 At the table afterwards, the Husband and I figured out that I am undefeated as Skip. Now before you go 'wow', I'm only 3 and 0. And I doubt either one of those numbers is going to get higher any time soon.


Look at me pretending like I know what the hell I'm doing!! :)

Gearing up for a fun March

 Gearing up for a fun March - both literally and figuratively! I am currently searching for new pair of curling shoes, since my current ones are pretty worn out. I have also purchased some new pants. Why all this for the last few months of the season, you ask? You see, this is what I call the our busy curling season. Between out-of-town bonspiels, friendlies (both home and away, this year), and Rochester's own International Bonspiel, I am going to very busy in March and April. I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be a real test of my nerves though; school is bound to only get harded and I may have to get good at doing homework on the road.

 Now, let me tell you about tonight! Since school is on break this week, I am rejoining my Thursday night team for the night. And for this draw, our Skip decided to "mix it up a little." To "just have some fun." Wait, wasn't having fun the point all along?? Oh riiiight, we get too intense. Sometimes it helps us, sometimes it screws us up.

 So! Tonight is all about fun. Not only are we playing one of the more fun teams in the draw (we have dubbed them "Team Clog and Bash"), but tonight is my Thursday debut at Skip. Oh yeah, this should be fun. Now, I've skipped before on different nights. And I've actually had some successes. But I've also failed horribly at certain things. I'm just going to have to remember to laugh the fails off, and just have fun right? Sure.

Long Time No See

 First things first - I need to apologize for not posting in a while. The month of December is a whirlwind for me; between the holidays and my birthday and vacations, it's a crazy month. Curling slows down a little bit too.

We are now back into the 2nd draw. My schedule has freed up a little bit and I am now playing on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. In a few weeks my schedule gets more complicated and I have to drop playing on Tuesdays and Thursdays (so sad - more on that later.) But for now, I'm enjoying myself.

 Mondays I play with the Husband and some friends. Mondays are a night that new and inexperienced players can come to and get used to the game. Because of that, Mondays are a little lighter and not as competitive.

 Tuesday is with the team that I've become a Perma-sub for. We won the B division in the first draw, and that means we are now playing in the A division. And so far it's been rough. The A division is pretty good, and they don't let up on their opponents. We have played some really good tough games and won a few and lost a few. Last nights game was a real heart breaker. We were down 3 to 0 after two ends, and managed to claw our way back and steal some points to tie it up at 4-4 after the 7. In the 8th end my skip managed a once in a lifetime shot on his last stone, to draw around numerous guards into the button and nudge one of their stones out of the button - BUT! The nudge wasn't enough. A measurment was taken, and I don't remember the exact numbers, but theirs was sitting at something like .30 and ours was at .50. That was how close they both were to the button and how close they were to each other. Such a heartbreaker! But I didn't walk away feeling that bad, since it was such a good game to play. My team all played really well, and we forced the other team to play their best game. Personally I had an awesome game. I feel more comfortable with fast ice (something that used to rattle me) and am really comfortable with draws now. I was pretty good at finding my line fast and was narrow on only one or two. But even my narrow ones still ended up in a good areas. One thing I did not do at all last night was any hits. I'm a little iffy on hits, so I was hoping for some more chances to try it out.

Homework or Strategy Session??

 Now about my schedule - Recently I've planned a career change and that means going back to school. Starting at the end of January I am taking some classes part time and that means no more Tuesday or Thursday curling for the rest of the year. You have no idea how much this is killing me. I know that school and careers should be the most important thing in a persons life - but me, right now, it's not. I love curling. And I love curling on Tuesday and Thursday nights!! Tuesday nights are extremely competitive and I've watched and learned a little from some of the best players at our club. Thursdays nights are fun to play and there is a certain amount of nostalgia and setimentality I have towards my Thursday night team. So...just gotta roll with it I guess.

 The husband and I are planning some trips to out of town Bonspiels for the rest of the season, hopefully I get enough of my curling fix from those. Right now I am trying to put together a team to go to the St. Catharines Open in March. The husband is going up with some guys and I figured I would try to put together my own team. So far, I'm not having any luck, but I've got a few people thinking about it. St. Catharines is a cool town to visit, and I'm hoping to make a weekend of it. We'll see.

Highland Games Team Name

 After some discussion, we came up with a team name for the Highland Games coming up this Saturday. And no, the first two words are not euphemisms for...whatever. Get your mind out of the gutter. :) And the third word? Read and Learn.

 T-shirts have been made, so it's official:





Magic in the Air

 Cheesy title, I know, I know. But it's the only way I can describe what has been going on lately.

 Let me start with our last Thursday night game on 11/17, my regular night of curling. We were playing a tough opponent. A very good Skip (who also is the coach of the Juniors teams that play out of Rochester), and 3 other decent players. They were also coming into the game with us undefeated. So, I wasn't sure what to expect out of the game. But I left the house and headed over to the club with a positive attitude, and just wanted to have as much fun as possible. But then, something interesting happened on the way to the club...its SNOWED. And I mean real first of the season snow. And to make it ever better, it was Lake Effect snow. The best kind, if you ask me. Now, one thing to know about me is, I LOOOOVE snow. And especially the first snowfalls. So, I was super excited and giddy and silly in the car on the way to the club. And I thought to myself, that it was a good sign for the evening. Well, we all played real well, and we made them absolutely have to make the big shots. So - we won. Not only did we win, we shut them out. We won 12-0. The points went 2 in the 1st end with the hammer, then 3 in the 2nd (W/O hammer), 1 in the 3rd (W/O hammer), 2 in the 4th (W/O hammer), 1 in the 5th (W/O hammer), and 3 in the 6th (W/O hammer). Wow, was all I could say all night. To beat one of the better Skips in our club, and to shut him out, is pretty cool.

 Also that night, I witnessed an 8-ender. Yes, you read that right. We all gathered around the glass and watched the end unfold and it was pretty exciting. The Skip that got it is the man that does the ice at our club, so does that mean he has a little bit of an advantage?? hehe. Funny thing is, before that end, they were behind by quite a few points. 5 or 6 I think. So putting up the 8 was really the only option they had if they wanted a chance at winning the game! They held their little bit of a lead and went on to win.

 Then, two days later, we faced the fine folks from the Niagara Falls curling club. We had a promising mix of players, but since we have never beat NF in the history of the friendly between our two clubs, you never know. I played very well. I had some sweet guards, and my weight was pretty good. There were some wacky spots in the ice, which would make some stones go hay wire, but all in all it was some real good curling. I won both of my games...and as club we did really well. We won, 121-104. Very Nice. It was nice to send the canucks home with the ugly goose trophy. It felt good to have contributed to the win. I was told that my team and I needed to win our 2nd game in order for the club to win. I'm just glad that wasn't figured out and expressed to us BEFORE we went on the ice. Having that in the back of my head would have drove me a little crazy.

 Lastly, I'm happy to report that I am temporarily curling on Tuesday nights now. A team was looking for a female lead to be a perma-sub for the rest of the draw. I like Tuesdays, there is a fun mix of teams. I'm sad to say I can't do Tuesdays after Jan 23rd, since I have a class then. So, for now I'll just soak up as much Tuesdays as possible.

International Competition!

 The Niagara Falls Friendly is this weekend at the club here in Rochester. This will be my first international competition of the year. hehe. Friendly competition though.

 Every year our club and the Niagara Falls club play a friendly match and alternate between the clubs. Last year was my first time ever playing in Canada, and it is where I recorded my first win ever. I'll always be a little sentimental about curling in Niagara Falls. As a club though, we got our asses handed to us by the Canucks. And so we came back home with the ugly trophy. Hopefully it goes better for us this year on our home turf. If not, then at least we are now serving Strongbow Hard Cider at the club. Yum.




Interesting fact: According to the U.S.G.S. (United States Geological Survey) of Niagara Falls, it appears that almost 1/3 of the Canadian Falls lies within US Territory.



Thursday Night Roller Coaster

 Last nights match was wild. With a whole lot of factors leading to it, we lost. But it was still a fun game. It was fun because it was challenging. I had an awesome first end, personally, but after that I was just all over the place. C-O-N-S-I-S-T-E-N-C-Y is something I lack, clearly. We all struggled last night, and we all are in various stages of some nasty cold or Flu that has been going around. But even if I was 100% healthy, I still struggle to be consistent. I can't do two things at once when I deliver; I can't maintain proper weight AND line together. And it's extremely frustrating. What do I need to do? Go down to the club early on a Saturday morning and do drills that only focus on one thing first, and get good at that one thing?? Then move on to the next type of drill?? I'm leaning towards that, especially doing line drills. Nothing frustrates more than when I'm too narrow. Too often my narrow rocks will curl into a dumb spot and just make a mess and clog things up. They then become useless rocks. It's almost better if I didn't throw them at all!

 Like I said, last night was still fun to play. I got a hell of a workout (SWEEEEP HAAAARD was all I seemed to hear from my skip), and because we all struggled a bit; the challenges made things interesting. We weren't totally out of it, until the last two ends. And at one point we even had a good start on a 8-ender. But we foolishly talked about it, and sure enough the next rock didn't even make it into the house. First Rule of the 8-ender: Never talk about the 8-ender!

 The Thursday night team intends to play in the Highland Games at our club in December; my only hope for that day is that we all healthy. Playing sick is rough. If we are all healthy, it should be a good day. If you want to curl in Rochester, form a team and come on out. We'd love to meet you; Slàinte.