RollerCon 2015 - short late recap

Team Fasholes vs. Team Tomboys by Tristan King

I had an AMAZING time at RollerCon, it was my SEVENTH RollerCon and it was just as magic as any other year. I played some truly fun bouts with talented and kickass people, and most of all... i got to dress up while playing rollerderby... meeting old and new friends!

I was honored to be voted in for the East Coast Team this year, it is truly humbling and amazing to get to skate with this team. And AGAINST Team West that really had some of the finest skaters on it. Oh, and we won... but it was an amazing and hardfought bout...

Team Cruz always leaves me feeling like a BEZErKING VIKING, I am not complaining... I couldn't stop grunting for a really long time after...   Team Fashole just get better and better each year... both outfitwise and skating, this year we event made points...  we alsmost gave those tomboys a run for their money... with our tits out... yeah we did!!
Team Vagine is the highlight of the weekend, being able to be a part of a team with such talented and queer skaters makes me super happy. Skating for a cause, because we are who we are, and we are not afraid to be who we are. Oh, yeah, we also won this year again...

And as always, skating with Cheezeballs Precision Skate Bearings is always a great time and so are the bearings spinning in my wheels... even if we didn't win, we still kicked some ass and had a GOOD time both against Bont and S1!!

I also had a good time seeing that Roll Line Roller Derby had a booth there this year, and my Gladiator wheels totally tore up the floor..

Don't call me hipster! I am a gardener... or something...

The morning I left for Alaska I said good bye to the sunflowers

So for you who follow me on Instagram, you know that I took over Fisti Cuffs and Frozen Chosens garden this summer. I literally took over... I cleaned out a hella lot of debris and dead morning glory (with help from Frozen) and then I dug up all the soil and added a bunch of pots. Bought lots of soil and started planting... well, I got Frozen to drive me to Home Depot to get a bunch of plants 06.30 in the morning (he was the one who wanted to go that early, and he actually slept in the car while I went crazy on little baby plants in the nursery). I planted tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, lots of different herbs, jalapenos, peppers, zucchini, winter squash and watermelons...
And SUNFLOWERS! I love sunflowers... the only other flower I might almost love as much is a weed, and it's the dandelion. Dandelions are super useful, you can use the leaves for salad and make wine of the flowers. I know there are also some remedies you can make out of them. Have not gotten that far yet...
I spent lots of the summer on killing morning glory and some other weeds, on hunting down squash worms and trying to figure out why I had black spots on some tomatoes and how to get rid of mildew on cucumber leaves... I learned SO much, and I loved it! Well to be fair, I also had Brazilian Nut take me to Home Depot to get more plants and I ordered soil and strawberries from Amazon... yeah... there is nothing you can't get from Amazon...
I think I was mostly excited about being able to go out in the garden and eat a cucumber for breakfast whenever I wanted to.
I had to leave NYC before the growing season was over, so I never saw the end of it, but apperently the watermelons never came out, but it produced lots of tomatoes... and still is.
Growing things in NYC is not hard, well it is polluted, but as long as you have water, it will grow because of the heat and the sun. Sure there are all the pests, but it grows fast, and if something dies, something new will soon pop up...
Stockholm is not the same... we have a subarctic climate here, so it's going to be interesting to see how my balcony will fare next summer. I am also going to do some planing at my moms outside the city, because I want to do some real gardening, and not just the urban balcony pot gardening.

I truly enjoy gardening, it is just fun to get better at something, and also the joy of being able to give something to others. There is something really satisfying about being able to produce your own food.

I am also learning a new composting method called Bokashi, I made my own bin... well... more about that in my next blogg... Well, acctually next blogg will be a late post about RollerCon!

So this is what it looked like after a few hours of cleaning

And I got the plants

And more plants.... 

Another hard slap to the face...

Out and about

So I was hoping at least that I could travel to the WFTDA Champs to root Gotham on, to see all those people I love in derby. But also to watch the best rollerderby, the sport I love, and the athlethes that impress me each game! If I can't play myself, at least I could get the second best... but no, US decided  that I should not travel. It really sucks and it makes me really sad!

REALLY REALLY SAD and UPSET! It leaves me feeling powerless, I can't really decide on my own destiny of life. I can't grab life by it's boobs and go where I please. FRUSTRATING!

I love Stockholm, I have spent much time outdoors, and I love it. The fresh air, the smell of the fall and how winter is slowly creeping up on us. Walking and running the woods, looking for mushrooms and drinking water straight from a spring, sitting in the sauna, going outside into the cold water and air.
It is almost everything I could dream of.

 I know I will hate November, it's that rainy, dark and cold month... the time of the year we all suffer... waiting for snow... I've started to compost, I'm planning to rebuild my kitchen, I've painted all the furniture, I want to learn how to build furniture, I am taking classes in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy... Things are looking up...

Running around with vegbles

6.30 am... I swear... doing this for a minute x 5, wakes you up

Everyone that knows me, knows that I really hate running, jogging, moving my body in any direction that doesn't include skating... ok, FINE, I do really like walking... BUT I have always been baffled by all those crazypants that tell me how WONDERFUL running is. Like really! I have always looked at them and thought to myself "you poor human beeing, who had lobotomized you". Well, maybe not that harsh,,, but surley something like that...

And now I have to confess... I have been running... and I sort of like it... I don't know why this is, maybe because it is out in the woods on really fun forest trails and I get to go to the sauna afterwards? Maybe b3ecause it is fall, and the temperature is just right. But yeah, I like running, and I like the sauna afterwards, and the naked skin in the fall air when we go outside to jump in the lake that slowly is going towards winter.

I love those aspects of Stockholm, that I can be in the middle of the nature just using my buspass. I love watching the season change and I can't wait for winter to be here... and as always, I keep on working out at Good To Go. It really is great, I've really gained a lot of core and upperbody strength. This morning I went to the 06.30 am session... I am seriously a zoombie whrn I get there... and then I leave as an almost functional person. It's very nice. For me, Functional Fitness works really well, I probably should spend an additional day at the gym... but I guess I have to lay down boundaries.

Oh, and then there was that little thing about being a vegetarian... It has been over a week, and I am not really missing eating meat, but I got myself some protein powder to consume after training sessions, I suspect that I will need that, I had vegan sushi the other day, and I must say I really did miss the real deal...

Vegetarian Day 3

So let me be clear...

THIS IS NOT AS EASY AS I THOUGHT!

I guess I was sort of cocky, because I've even been vegan before... but that was EIGHT years ago! I have to reform so many habits!

Yesterday I went to Hellasgarden with Panica and Sarra, we ran in the woods for about 8km and it was quite epic. The fall weather with sun and the nature just being stunning. I can get into this... I really can! And then we went into the sauna, dipped ourselves in the 9 degree lake and back in the sauna before I headed to Good To Go for an hour of work out. EPIC!

I did have my usual morning smoothie, and then I just totally forgot to eat lunch, so on my way to Good To Go, I grabbed a Gainomax and another smoothie that you just can buy in the store. And after training I went home and snacked on some fried tofu. I really like fried tofu...

For dinner I met up with my brother at a pub. I come here often for food, but i have never had a vegetarian meal at this place. They had one option, Mushroom risotto... I looked longing on the other options, thinking that no one would no.. .BUT I WOULD... cheater!  So I had mushroom risotto, and it was really good!

Yeah... it's a quest!
Getting fit and healthy, and trying it while being vegetarian. it's a challange. But challanges in life are what keep us all going... right!?

Vegetarian DAY 2

As I said in my blog yesterday I am aiming to go vegetarian, preferbly vegan, but I figured I am going to start light. And i might just fail miserably and end up just eating less meat. Nothing is easy in this world, and the meat and milk industry are horrible, both because of the way it treats animals but also because of the toll it takes on our environment. I guess I will be eating meat that is caught in the wild, I know that makes no sense to some people, but it does to me. I am against an industry, not the eating of meat itself. I do think we don't have to have meat with every meal, not even everyday.

I love the nature and the earth we live on, so I figured that I would get back to dragging my straw to the stack. I want to be a better human, not only for myself but the rest of the world. I mean, I want the earth to be a part of me striving to be more fit.

I love the north where I am from, and I don't want global warming to take over the beauty of it. So there, I am gonna do something, and yes I know... my carbon footprint i GIGANTIC, so I will do what I can, not traveling is not an option in my world.

Leaving work yesterday I wanted a snack, so I went into SevenEleven, just to figure out that most snacks I usually would go for had some sort of animalistic component to it. So i decided to go for an apple... i really like apples, so it was a gain.

I was still sick yesterday, so no work-out, but I did go to a photo exhibition at Fotografiska with Martin Schoeller, it was really nice. And afterwards me and my friend took a walk and ate BimBimBap at a Korean/Japaneese restuarant. I had tofu instead of with salmon or beef... It was really yummy. I did have the miso soup, and didn't think about it until afterwards that it probably contained fish... I guess babysteps... babysteps...

Afterwards we went to a Chineese supermarket and I bought some other fake meat products and found some really odd things, like boobballs. What do you even use those for?

I hate when I am not able to work out, I sleep really terrabbly, and last night were no different. Insomnia, insomnia... so I lay around and draw pictures and watched bad Netflix...

Going vegetarian and more fit

So the past weeks I've been thinking more and more about that maybe I should go back to being vegetarian. I've never really liked the meat industry and I know I can live without meat, since I've previously been both vegan and vegetarian.

I thought I would give it a try... and I am also going to start blogging about that and my training more. I don't eat well when I am under lots of emotional stress, and I have lost almost 4-5 kilos the past month. I am so light now, I alsmost think I am going to become a jammer.

I haven't lost any muscle really, I've kept on training at Good To Go several times each week, even if I start to think I need go to a gym for some extra weight training. I am just not a gym rat,,,

Well... Let's start this

Yesterday I came back from Helsinki, and I have a terrible cold, that just was on the verge of breaking out, so I just stayed at work and went home and was intending to make vegan lasanga. But I was feeling so shitty, that I just settled for vegetarian.

I woke up with a really bad cold, and decided to stay home and do schoolwork in the morning. I made my new favorite breakfast: half a cucumber, an apple, water, some apple cider, a lemon, wheatgrass powder and some other green power powder. I throw it all in the mixer and it turns into some sort of juice/smoothie.

On my way to work today I grabbed a salad, and not until I had payed I realised that I had grabbed a chicken salad out of habit. I was so hungry and late that I just decided to eat around the chicken pieces. It did make mefeel bad, because the whole idea is not to support the meat industry, and now I had still payed for meat. HA... Things might take some time to get adjusted too..

Well, no work-out for me today, I am just not feeling very well, I am acctually feeling horrible and can't wait to get out of work and back into bed! I still have vegetarian lasanga at home, so that is what I am gonna eat! YES BOX!

I went to Paris and worked out... 

Ups and downs in life

Sometimes life feels really unfair, I just had a lot of things falling in place the last year. I felt stronger and more confident. I did a lot of soulsearching and found what I wanted to do. I applied for a masters degre and got accepted. I was figuring things out with the person my heart had been cirkeling around for a long time and I was feeling like I was at a really good spot in rollerderby.

I went home to Sweden and applied for my student visa, since I have a BA from a University in US,  a masters from a US University makes more sense. And I got a NO.

I seriously felt like I was going to throw up, my entire lifeplan sort of got turned over and I called my best friend and cried. I wanted this education really bad, and I wanted to end the season with the team that I had worked really hard with all season. It was heartbreaking in all sorts of ways. I miss my friends and I miss the freedom of doing what I wantto do, the freedom of follow my own heart and choices.

I am figuring things out, and of course I know that it's a first world problem. I am not starving and I have a job. I signed up for classes in Stockholm and been walking in the woods and loving the nature. I have been working out lot's and I am probably more fit than I've ever been. I have even started to run... and that my friends, is crazytalk in my world.

At Good To Go with Loony, Dominå, Calla and Smashed

I have amazing friends here and I have no right to complain, still, it is not a great spot to be in. This is not what I wanted, this is not what I planned for. I broke down the weekend Gotham played at playoffs, I wanted to be there so bad. I miss the team so much! I am also really sad I am missing ManChamps this weekend with Shock. I would have loved to be on the bench supporting my guys!

Things just don't work out the way you expect them to all the time, and I guess you can only do your best. Smile when you cry on the inside and pick up another book on the subject you want to study. In the end it is only you who limit yourself, your thoughts on what you can do... but also... I can't manipulate the thoughts of immigration... so my limits acctually are there...

The best part has been all the nature... Fresh air and woods... 

Freddie Thunders need a little help to get back on his feet....

Freddie went into surgery yesterday and is recovering well, but OMG and Bonnie need a little help with his medical expenses.

Last summer the three of them took me in when I needed it the most, and they deserve all the love and support they can get. Freddie cuddled with me many nights, and farted on me... maybe the farting wasn't the best memories.

OMG and Bonnie have worked hard for creating the rollerderby we play today, international rollerderby would not look like it does if it wasn't for them. This is a place for us all to give back a little to two (three with Freddie) amazing people that have done more for us than we can all understand.

Just a few dollars will take them a long way... they seldom ask for things and they have given the rollerderby community so much.

Please follow this link:

http://www.youcaring.com/freddie-thunders-389501

Swedish Championships 2015

The third swedish Championships was played last weekend, in a town five hours north of Stockholm called Sundsvall. I got a ride up with one of my best friends from Stockholm Rollerderby, Becky Lawless. Seriously, the car was so hot that I think we all melted away, BUT luckily we are in Sweden where the sun doesn't set in the summer (well, not until about 10.30 or so) and we stopped by a lake and soaked ourselves. well, at least me and Tess got in it, while Quad and Becky  did some serious gas station shopping.

Since I nowdays play for Gotham and not Stockholm, I wasn't going to play, but I was going to ANNOUNCE, and I do really like announcing. I think that and coaching is what I wanna do when I no longer want to play rollerderby competativley. Well, nevermind... when we got to Sundsvall we put our sleepingbags out on the floor of the classroom. All volonteers and players were housed in a High School... delightful... I probably should have brought my blow-up queensized matress... because I was busy packing pretty outfits for the announcing.

Me and Salivet announcing Gothenburg vs. Stockholm getting our tan on
Photo by Camilla Höög

I was scedualed to announce with Saliva, and our first bout was the semifinal between Stockholm and Gothenburg. Stockholm was the clear favorite in this one, and did not have much problems with pulling of a win. I was VERY impressed by a few of the Gothenburg skaters, this one girl whos name I never seemed to be able to get right, but she was #71 did a great job as a pivot/blocker, I would probably have jammed her more, since she was greatly sucessful everytime she got the starpass. damn those ladies in their lower twenties and all that talent. Well, me an Salivet were dressed nicley and we went with a flowery theme. It was really sunny, and I got a nice tan.

Elitseriekval Norrköping vs. Luleå See me and Salivet announcing in the background
Photo by Rickard Höög, 

That was the only bout that we announced on Saturday, even if I for sure watched the other semifinal where Crime City effortless beat Dock City. In the night me and Salivet took a round to look if there was anything fun to do on a Saturday night, and we probably would just have been better off just staying and laying on that classroom floor.

Sunday was the day of the final, the battle of the GOLD, the game that was going to decide if Stockholm would become Swedish Champs for a third time or if it was Crime Citys turn. AND I was going to announce it, and for this I had brought my fanciest dress! Well, nw I'm getting ahead of myself, we started out with announcing the Elitserie Qualifications. Sweden has an internal play, and currently it is Elitserien as the higest six ranked teams play in and Division 1 that are the six lower teams. In the end of the season the number five in Elitserien play number two in Divison 1. So it was Luleå Rollerderby (5 in Elitserien) playing Norrköping (2 in Div 1) to vinna eller försvinna (to win or disapear). It was SUCH a great bout, I haven't seen Luleå play for years and I never seen Norrköping before, and I was really impressed by both teams! It was fun to anounce, even if I had a little trouble getting all the blockers right in the beginning. AND it was sooo close, WOW!

The bronze game with Gothenburg and Dock City was REALLY exciting, especally the first half, before Dock City showed that they still are the number three team in Sweden. but Gothenburg showed that they are a true contender. At times Swedish rollerderby makes me teareyed, I love this sport so much and I love how everyone playing are pouring so much time and soul into it. AMAZING!

THE THE FINAL... it was REALLY great to get to annonce the two Swedish teams I've been a part of. I know almost all the players from both teams and there is so much talent and brains on both teams. Both teams went to US this year, Crime City to Beach Brawl in Florida where they DESTROYED their opponents and Stockholm to ECDX where they beat both Charm and Detroit, teams ranked way above them. When the new rankings are coming out in a few days this will place both those teams in WFTDAs Division one, meaning that they are both going to head back to US, to playoffs. I am SO excited that little Sweden has TWO DIVISION ONE teams! Dreams do come true.

Well, well... After the first ten minutes Stockholm had taken a clear lead, both teams played really awesome, but Crime had one too many penalties. In the end Stockholm pulled away and took a clear win. Ahhh... amazing! I was supercold... brrrrrrrr...

Me and Salivet announcing the SM final!
Photo by Martin Sörensen

Hm, I am trying to remember who got the MVP's and so on... I think I missed someone.... but this is what I remember...

Quad Shop MVP: Lil Slinky (Stockholm)
Quad Shop MVJ: Curly Håår (Crime City)
Peoples Choice: Anja Knees (Norrköping)
Sticky Skates MVP: Stopless (Gothenburg)

Awards Cermony
Photo by Camilla Höög

Stockholm - rollerderby and family

Practice at Ekvallen with Stockholm

So far I gotten to see a big part of my family and coached Stockholm Rollerderby!

I've picked mushrooms, cuddeled with sheeps and tried to find my moms cat. Many things happening...  I am resting my body a little, last month I skated over 45 hours... My body likes just a tad bit of rest...

It has been good times! 

Staffan, my brotehr having deeep thoughts

I picked mushrooms with my mom and stepdad

Things that make me cry...

...well in this case it is just emotional happiness.

USA recognised homosexual marrige in all the 50 states. It is a huge step forward, love is love and will always be love. I really don't care who you marry, maybe I will never be married, but I love to read that we are all the same, we are not treated different in the eyes of the law. a human can marry another human that they happen to love. Ok, fine... there are limits to everything, but you know what I mean...

In many times I don't think I care that much, until I read the articles online and see the happiness it creates. Love is supposed to bring joy into our hearts, it's supposed to be something we celebrate, not something that is a burden and something we ALWAYS have to fight for,

I know there are many opinions about marrige and the significance of it, but when it all comes down to it, I like to have the possibility to say no, rather than not have it avaible to me if I meet someone I want to marry, no matter what the sex is.

SO FLY THOSE RAINBOW FLAGS HIGH... because rainbows and unicorns will always win in the end! And a BIG WELCOME TO USA for stepping into the 21st century... 

ECDX 2015

Unicorns and Unicorns

Another amazing ECDX, the pool was back this year, and that for sure was a plus!

I had such an amazing time.

So proud of Gotham ALLSTARS, so amazing to be a part of such a strong and determined team! Hard work is all paying off!! HARD SMART TOGETHER!

I am also super proud of Shoch Exchange! Super well done! It's a great experiance to be a part!

And STOCKHOLM Roller derby - you guys killed it! So amazing! 

Something like that... 

Happy Midsummer and ECDX

It is that time a year again....

The best part was to get to see Stockholm play so well...

BrewHaHa and new unifoms

Gotham got new unforms and we got sponsored by Roll-line... and they are really soft and you can barley notice that you are wearing them. Iwas suprised, since i usually don't like a high neck, but I didn't notice it at all, they really were like a second skin, and I could just concentrate on killing Minnesota jammers...

We re selling the black one as a fundraiser, so if you are interested to get one, please let me know and I can make it happen.

BrewHaHa was superawesome, last time I was in Milwaukee was watching Champs in 2013 with Eagle, so of course i had a little nostalgic moment. *sigh*

Well, well... I really like playing on concrete, so I was excited about that. I was only rostered for the Minnesota game, so I had the pleasure to watch the team beat Tampa on Saturday. My team is amazing and every player is such an inspiration, all in different ways.

Of course I rather play, but it is always a gret experiance watching my team play and learning from that. I'd lie if I didn't say I wasn't upset about not getting rostered, I think it's healthy to get upset. I just have to tell myself that I do play for the best team in the world, adn I have to figure out how to be even better on the track and also be proud that my team mates are doing so well.

It was fun and challanging to play Minnesota, and I learned some things about myself, I still have to tell myself to get lower and be more communicative. Always strive to become better...

Pretty in Pink Prom RollerDisco

Brooklyn has a park called Prospect Park and there is a roller rink there - and Lola Star runs a different theme roller disco every Friday night during the summer.

So last Friday I took three non-derby friends to skate to music, and it was real fun. Dancing around on skates really is the best fun ever, except from rollerderby. I can't say I am real good it, but I do my best!

Since the theme was Pretty in Pink prom I found a 8 dollar sparkly pink dress at one of the many vintage stores I frequent for fun outfits. At the rink I ran into some of the NYSE guys, and Otter even talked me into entering the dance contest with him. I think we at least were entertaining!

This is something I could do every Friday night!

Me and AK "dancing"

OKStupid adventure...

So after much thought (or not) I decided to get on another online dating adventure... Tinder hasn't really been my jam at all, so I figured why not re-activate my OKStupid account...
 It is an adventure... Like really?
I've only put down an interest in women previously, but thought I branch out for the men. Don't wanna come off as too picky, since I myself stated earlier this year that at least I fall for a person, not a particular gender. Even if I at this point have found myself attracted to fewer men than women.

SO there it begins...

First I of course ran into a few people I know, because you know, it happens, and it is interesting... at least we weren't enemies... (if you don't have an OKStupid account I will happily tell you that you don't just match with people, it also tells you how many percentage of enemies you are.) So after establishing that my friends aren't my enemies, I could go on and recive messages from potential matches.
Quite quickly a 21 year old guy wrote and asked me if I would consider hooking up with someone much younger. I answered "ha ha ha ha" but probably could have come up with somehting more creative.
A 23 year old messaged me and asked if I would dress him up as a girl, and I helpfully said "Yes, I would be happy to do that" but then he was more into telling me I was hot and not so much into picking lipstick shades for himself.
Then a 63 year old man wrote me a message where he praised my good looks and also told me that he used to watch rollerderby when he was a teenager. I frankly didn't know hw to respond to that... so I didn't ...

So far so good, rolling two days into this and still havn't really "talked" to anyone that have sparked any of my interest. I hate to give up on OKStupid, but I am not sure that it will work out for me this time either, I mean my Tinder dates have so far been a little on the crazy side, and I don't know why I expected OKStupid to be any different.

Well, I probably don't have time to date anyone anyway, because you know "I have derby"

It is so much fun to skate outdoors

I love rollerderby, I love the sport the community and all that... but I also really love to rollerskate! I do like ice-skating, but not as much as rollerskating...

Today two of my roomates (Kenbo and Violet) strapped on our skates and went outdoor rollerskating with a stop for brunch. Then they left me for work so I stroll-skated my way back to my house to put a dress on and go out for a drink... 

DerbySMASH and Denver

Check out and support mine and Krissy Krash project... we want it to be easier for derby people to connect and meet--- ALLOVER the world!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/891631540/derbysmash/video_share


I am going to Denver with Gotham Allstars this weekend to play Rocky Mountain and Denver!! We had the last practice today and I am PSYKED!!

OFF SKATE WORK OUT - because you are worth it

We are all worth it, our bodies are worth it!

We play a FULL CONTACT sport, that means that we are throwing our bodies into each other. It's gonna hurt, and sometimes you might even break, It happens... its not sometign we want to happen, so that's where the off-skate work out comes in. NOT so you can eat as much icecream as you want (even if it is a nice side-effect) but for your body to be able to take it.
For your body to be ready to take 172 pound Swedish wrecking ball... well, I am not that much of a wrecking ball, but off-skate has healped me become a better skater.

I am strong, so I can stay low, I am strong so I can take a hit, I am strong and my muscles weigh a whole bunch and makes me stable. I become a trustworthy skater on the track. I am fit, so my team knows I will last an entire game. Also my fitness makes me able to recover faster, and I am alwys ready to go, go... GO... and sometimes I rest, because that is also important!

My strenght and fitness comes from working out at places like Good To Go when I am in Stockholm and with Gotham and the amazing off-skate programs that Violet Knockout puts together for the Gotham Allstars. It also comes from my determination to become a better and stronger athlethe...

So my message to all of you out there, don't skip the off-skate, it might be what saves you from injuries in the end. AND it also gives you a body you can be proud of, a functional body that will make you able to excel in the sport you love!

Can't wait for the 2015 travel team season to really start...