Friday

Worked from home most of the day. Chilled with my daughter, who was busy discovering her new electric guitar.

Saturday

Ate breakfast with Eleanor at Benna's, then took her shoe shopping.

Eleanor is a size six and a half, or size seven, depending on the style of shoe. That's a full size and a half larger than her mother at a minimum.

A little after noon, dance classes for both of us at Estilo. She takes salsa, then ballet. I brush up on technique in beginner salsa, then take an intermediate class that makes me work a little more. I am still pinching myself: is this unbelievably cool thing actually happening?

Dropped Eleanor off at her mother's and sped myself on the way to New York. Wrote Monday Fourteen on the Chinatown bus. Spent the evening hanging out with noisefootprint. There was upscale vegan-asian cuisine in Prospect Park, followed by roller skating at Coney Island.

Whee! I've never been to Coney Island, ever. Good thing I saw it last night because it's damn near gone. Hipster entrepreneurs are doing their best to rescue it.

The Dreamland Roller Rink is tiny, the rink surface is made of white snap-together tiles and the rental skates aren't that good, but it doesn't matter, it's a great scene and an excuse to keep the Childs Restaurant building open. There were several extremely watchable skaters and a Purple Rain theme, which folks responded to with an enthusiasm worthy of Sex Dwarf.

I spent two hours on the rink and have the blisters to show for it. Well worth it. I'm impressed with noisefootprint's stamina, considering she went cycling earlier in the day, got a flat and wound up walking her bike back from Red Hook.

Afterwards we downed beers at an outdoor beach bar dive type establishment and headed back to the surprisingly shiny subway station sometime after midnight.

Sunday

I managed to pass out by a bit after one, which was wise, because my Chinatown bus pulled out at seven A.M. I caught a few more z's on the bus, zipped home, hit Benna's for a disturbingly powerful caffeinated beverage and got my ass to my salsa performance class on time.

Wondering why I didn't skip class? You try skipping one of the last few classes before a public performance. Friendly warning: angry salseras wear heels.

We're getting tight, which is a good thing, seeing as we're on stage in three weeks.

After class I headed over to help new neighbor nohx settle into the neighborhood. By the time I got there her family were nearly done unloading the truck, but I managed to be of some help, somewhere along the line. Certainly I helped her find an excuse to eat lunch at the Royal Tavern.

Then I went home and fell down. There was a nap involved.

I try to acommodate the need to fall down for a sustained period of time at least once in any given weekend. My puritan streak still loses patience with me when I do nothing of any significance for any length of time, but my puritan streak can suck it. When the body orders you to stop, you stop.

Eventually I watched Noises Off and thought vague thoughts of karaoke, which I am still thinking now. Maybe I'll get my ass out the door, maybe I won't. I have been free on Sunday nights all summer and I have yet to do anything interesting with this privilege. Hmm.

Tags: brooklyn, coney island, new york city, noisefootprint, skating

Wow:

ROCK ROLL BOUNCE ....
CAN YOU IMAGINE SALSA ROLLERSKATING?
WELL COME CHECK IT OUT THIS SUNDAY @ JAMZ ROLLERSKATING CENTER AS WE ROLLERSKATE AND DANCE TO THE LATIN SOUNDS OF PHILLY'S OWN DJ SPANKY PLAYING THE BEST OF SALSA, BACHATA, MERENGUE AND REGGAETON FROM 6PM -10PM
THIS IS A FAMILY EVENT, I MAY HAVE TO BORROW SOMEONE'S KIDS :)
EVERY FIRST SUNDAY OF THE MONTH @ JAMZ ROLLERSKATING CENTER
http://www.jamzrollerskating.com/

I recokon I'll check this out, not this Sunday but maybe next month when Eleanor is with me on Sunday afternoons. Whee!

Tags: dance, kids, salsa, skating

There will be a Broadway adaptation of Xanadu, the dumbest movie on skates.

That is sort of awesome, as long as I don't have to go. Well... maybe with a flask. Maybe with two.

Edit: actually it sounds like they really get it:

"Just like Starlight Express?" [director] Beane was asked. "Yes," he joked, "minus the depth. That's what we're going for!"

Evidently they've noticed that the movie actually has a premise (a greek muse comes down from Olympus to inspire someone to open a roller disco) and that this actually offers interesting elements (Greek mythology, roller disco) from which someone might make a good story.

I might have to see this.

Tags: broadway, movies, music, musicals, skating, theater

A couple months ago I went roller skating at The Palace. I brought my skates. My beloved "skate your ass off on Kelly Drive" bargain basement quad skates.

I spent the whole evening struggling to keep up and blamed my technique.

Last night I went again, with new bearings. And it was a little better. But still pretty crap. I continued to blame my approach. Because, y'know, I'm a software guy. If something doesn't work, it can't possibly be broken! You're just using it wrong!

Around eleven I got sick of the pitying looks and well-meant cries of encouragement and indulged myself in a skate rental. Just, y'know, to rule out the possibility that my skates were at all relevant. Put on the shitty rental skates, find out you're just as lame in those, get back to figuring out why...

I stepped out on the rink and WHOA immediately FELL ON MY ASS, which never happens. And said um. and got off the rink, and rolled around on the carpet for a minute or so to get a feel for this completely different, utterly frictionless experience. And then got back on the rink. And never once had to pick up my feet unless I actually felt like it. I could skate as fast as I dared. I regretted not having figured it out before the backwards skate was over. Etc.

Oops: it seems my own skates are completely inappropriate for indoor use. Utterly period the end. And now the idea of skating on a rink actually sounds like an immediate pleasure and not something to get the hang of... someday.

Sometimes, it really isn't you.

Tags: skating

Home around quarter to one. Nervous and fired up. Need to shave, change, practice a little, get to the performance by four... y'know, none of this is going to take any time really. And my house is already clean. And if I hang around here I'll just get anxious...

[Looks at skates]

[Thinks about the perfect weather]

[Vanishes to Kelly Drive for an hour]

The new bearings are awesome. Almost right away I had that loose feeling that took longer and longer to get as my old bearings got more and more messed up.

I particularly blame the day I insisted on skating the Wissahickon connector trail. That was fun but not especially bright.

On the way back past the art museum some undergrad-looking chick did a double take and sort of stammered and said "whoa! whoa! you are l33t sir!" (*) and I was all huh? This does not happen. Am I hot today or is she on something? And where can I get some pls?

[Looks down]

Black quad skates... boot-cut jeans... PBR T-shirt (**)... OIC.

The skates are so much happier now. Nearly lost a toe stop, but I was nearly to the end of the line anyway. Might even make it to a real rink on Wednesday.

I am now nicely loose and chill for the show.

(*) Yes, she said L33T.

(**) Total hipster laundry day coincidence: I won it last night at the Peekaboo Revue. Because I had a condom, you see.

Tags: kelly drive, philly, skating

Installed Bones Reds bearings on my skates. Easiest thing inna world. My attempt to clean the old bearings left me thinking this was a bigger deal than it actually is. Turns out those were spectacularly shot from all my long-distance outdoor skating. It is not normal to have little ball bearings flying away everywhere.

The wheels just spin and spin.

Can't wait to try them. My next shot at it would be... uh... maybe Wednesday night? Unless I play hooky at some point.

I don't seem to have spacers. This doesn't appear to be a safety issue. They might improve the ride, though. If I feel like paying shipping on an $8 order. Rrr.

Meanwhile you can buy decent recreational skates for $29.95 on skates.com at the moment, which is a good deal.

Tags: skating

So I released a big ol' piece of software today and realized a break was probably in order.

I haven't been out quad skating in months. But my wheels are totally gunked up. No trouble, I'll unbolt 'em and clean out the gunk and...

Lose half my goddam bearings. As in the individual little bastard ball bearings gone goodbye zoom.

[Headslap]

That's what I get for working out on the patio where such things can truly escape.

There is a disturbing quantity of gunk, too. Getting it all outta there without losing any more bits and pieces is... a big project.

So much for skating today.

I'm going blind trying to figure out what I need in the way of replacement bearings on skates.com. Fun, not so much. I think I need (and can readily afford) edit: two 8-packs of Bones Reds. And I'm pretty sure I know what to do with them once I have them. Pretty kinda.

But new, better skates would be nice. Uh, without the pom-poms option plskthnx.

Did you know it's easy to spend upwards of $200 on a nice pair of outdoor roller skates? Not that I'm going to do that. Would make an interesting takeoff on the Shoes song, though.

Tags: skating

There's a roller derby bout this weekend. However I have other highly worthy plans. And my favorite team isn't skating anyway (*).

So I was catching a bout in NYC instead on the 22nd. Whee, the Gotham Girls (glances up at the September page of his 2007 Gotham Girls calendar).

But those plans fell through — for most excellent and understandable reasons.

My own skate wheels aren't spinning freely. To fix that, I seem to need a socket wrench or at any rate a wrench of a diameter I haven't got. And I haven't had time to acquire such an object.

Last weekend, someone tried to steal my bike. And they couldn't. So they screwed with it, as much as they could, about $30 worth. And they trashed my Philly Roller Girls bumper sticker. Philistines.

I am thinking I should go skating at the Palace again, next Saturday. I wonder if I can scare up a posse.

(*) The Broad Street Butchers, of course. Although all four local teams are pretty awesome.

Tags: skating

... Is awesome. I will definitely skate there again. Everything about it is a really good time. The lights, the music (80's on the funky side), the crowd. Mostly my generation or older, some younger adults too. If you're worried about being swamped by 18-year-old kids, stop worrying.

Mark took some pictures, which I'll post eventually.

My skates have taken a beating outdoors. I'm experiencing a lot of friction, I can't glide for beans. Next time I'll try renting and see if that's better. I might want to get an alternate set of wheels for indoors only. And generally speaking, learn some skate maintenance.

Not surprisingly there was a rollergirl on the rink, Cherry Bomber of the Penn-Jersey She-Devils. She was practicing whips and generally goofing around with an acquaintance who didn't wear a jersey but clearly knew her stuff too. Another She-Devil maybe? I'dve asked, but was concentrating on not getting run over by the roller dance guys. Straight outta roll bounce. A+++.

They are resurfacing soon, the classic hardwood floor will be even nicer. I'll be making the effort to get out there again some Saturday.

Tags: northeast philly, philly, skating

The Palace Skating Center in Northeast Philly has adult-only public roller skating on Tuesday mornings. Donuts and coffee provided.

Now, seeing as it is nearly 20 miles from South Philly and all but inaccessible by transit, I won't be getting up there for a quick skate break on a Tuesday morning. Much more likely I'll finally get around to it some Wednesday or Saturday night.

And I don't even eat donuts, for the most part. Or drink coffee, ever.

But I gotta say, the combination of grownup munchies and quad skating is highly appealing. It's no wonder these guys are still open when so many roller rinks have gone the way of the... um, let's pick a new metaphor for once... the way of the VIC-20.

Edit: okay, okay, it's not "all but inaccessible" by public transit, it's served by multiple buses. It is, however, impractical by transit from here— a full hour each way, even if I cycle up to second and market first. Ow.

SEPTA just doesn't seem to be set up for express service between there and here, or even between there and Center City. By car it's only half an hour, door to door (via 95).

Tags: philly, skating