Yo La Tejo

This is how I roll.

Things have been pretty busy here at Chez Yo La Tejo, what with teaching and grading, working and writing, and all kinds of looming deadlines. It's kind of killing my joy.

But there are two things that I can always manage to find time for, no matter how crazy it gets: friends, and knitting. My good friend Marisa came to visit Austin a couple of weeks ago for the Women's Flat Track Derby Association national championships. Marisa, a.k.a. May R. Daley, kicks ass as a member of the Windy City Rollers home team, and she was in town to cheer for the road team. Woot!



I'd never been to roller derby before, so getting to see it for the first time at the finals was really the way to go. We got there for the first match at 11 am, and then bought ourselves Bloody Marys and settled in for a full day. I'd heard that the sport was pretty rough and while that was true, I was just mesmerized by the grace of the skaters.

Marisa tried explaining the finer points of the game to me, but all I knew was to look for the lead jammer to break away from the pack. The jammers score once they catch up again and pass other team members.

When the lead jammer breaks away, the crowd goes nuts, and she gets her own referee, who follows her from the inside of the rink, with one arm raised in the air and the other pointing directly at her. It's so cool. I want a lead jammer referee in my day-to-day life, giving me points when I teach a good class or make a good cup of coffee. On second thought, having someone following me around pointing at me might be kind of creepy.

Later that day, the Windy City Rollers went up against the Texecutioners, but sadly lost after fighting hard. It was a bummer, but just seeing all the hardcore fans that traveled to Austin from Chicago to support their team was pretty amazing.

The second day, we went back for the last bout at night, and I took a sock project like a big geek. I brought it out for a little while, and sure enough, the derby girl next to me (decked out in tattoos and short, brightly colored hair) asked me about it. Turns out she's a knitter too, but she bluntly admitted to collecting more stash than she was able to knit. Huh. And that's a problem because...?



Here's the beginnings of the Fancy Silk Sock from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks, in Regia Silk; I've gotten quite a ways up the cuff and will soon make it to the heel, si dios quiere. Sweet Jesus, please, yes.

Finally, it would seem that my birthday keeps getting celebrated, waaay beyond the birthday month. My friend Vero, who was in Japan for a whole month, brought me back some lovely gifts. (It should be noted that I am famous (or infamous) for roping my friends into celebrating the Birthday Weekend, or the Birthday Week. But I've never before succeeded in making it a Whole Month. Mwahahaha.)

Among the very cool presents Vero and her husband Mike gave me (which included the perfect erasable pen, pretty stationery, and a cute-ass bento box), there was this little guy:



I wish I could tell you what his given name is, but the tag is in Japanese, which I do not read. He is wearing a track suit that says Hokkaido on the back (which is the second largest island in Japan, according to the infallible Wikipedia).

Oh, and that codpiece, you ask? Well, you can pull it. And when you do, he vibrates and giggles merrily.

Joaquin looks concerned.

posted by Olga @ 7:55 PM